Don’t save Par, make Birdie

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“You don’t know how strong you are, until being strong is the only option you have.”

There’s an old adage that suffering yields ingenuity. The list is deep of artists, innovators, and inspiring leaders who found strength in the depths of adversity. It’s a beguiling truth since we tend toward safety and risk aversion in most aspects of our lives and business. So the question becomes, “If we aren’t currently in the depths of adversity, how do we find deep creativity and inspiration within contentment?” Or a better question might be, “How do we intentionally perturb ourselves in the search for creativity and inspiration?”

Statistically it’s true that golfers become better putters when faced with making par versus making birdie, from the same distance, with the same lie. We have surety and conviction when attacking the status quo, and make poorer choices when reaching beyond ourselves to excel, even when the goal remains the same. When we are on the edge of social risk, we retract, concede, and assimilate back to the norm – we make par.

Try this:
Choose between getting $900 for sure or a 90 percent chance of getting $1,000.
A. Getting $900
B. 90 percent chance of getting $1,000

Choose between losing $900 for sure or a 90 percent chance of losing $1,000.
A. Losing $900
B. 90 percent chance of losing $1,000

See below for the analysis, but the answer is clear. If you, like most people, chose A and then B, you could well be $100 down at the end of this exercise. What’s your social risk tolerance? What’s your measure of personal need for gain?

(Jamie Lalinde, Vanity Fair) The results of this simple problem set, for which most participants answer A and then B, were used to develop the thesis that would make Kahneman and Tversky famous: prospect theory.

In a 1979 paper, they documented a peculiar behavioral tendency: when people faced a gain, they became risk averse; when they faced a loss, they became risk seeking. As a result of their discovery, Kahneman and Tversky debunked Bernoulli’s utility theory, a cornerstone of economic thought since the 18th century. (Bernoulli first proponed that a person’s willingness to gamble a certain amount of money was a product of how that amount related to his overall wealth—that is, $1 million means more to a millionaire than it does to a billionaire.)

Along with playing a large role in Kahneman’s being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002, the theory also spawned a new academic pursuit, the field of behavioral economics. Prospect theory, Michael Lewis writes, explains “why people are less likely to sell their houses and their stock portfolios in falling markets; why, most sensationally, professional golfers become better putters when they’re trying to save par (avoid losing a stroke) than when they’re trying to make a birdie (and gain a stroke).”

Money is a by product of contributing value and meaning

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As the legend goes, Peter Drucker was once asked by a business owner to review his financial statements and see if he could find better, more innovative, ways to make money from studying, and tweaking, his financials. To which Drucker replied, “You don’t make money, you make shoes. Work on making shoes. The money is just a by-product.”

The lesson reminded me of an interview I had with Yvon Chounaird, founder of Patagonia, who said in the interview, “Over the past forty years I have yet to encounter a business problem that cannot be solved by focusing on product excellence and product integrity.” Despite, and because of, the magnificent growth Patagonia has enjoyed over the years, Yvon and Patagonia found sustainability by consistently refocusing their attention on quality and excellence. The journey was not without various hurtles and faltering moments while those around him were distracted by financial growth alone. For the full story see this interview.

But my point is this: Everyone I talk to is talking about building meaning in their work – building meaning into their everyday life and endeavors, As Teresa Amabile reminds us, progress in meaningful work is what motivates and engages us. We’re preparing for an upcoming event with Benjamin Zander, renowned conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, and I listened to him talk recently about the importance and value of contribution, as opposed to competition. They aren’t the same thing – competition is when you mentally compare, evaluate and attempt to trump. Contribution has no such relative marker. Contribution is when you try, when you show up and muster what you got – hopefully from a source of practice and competence – but nevertheless a real try.

Dispel your worries of competitive evaluation, and focus on your best, and give toward your best efforts with honest intention.

The Both/And Equation

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The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they surpass him or her in knowledge and ability – Fred A. Manske, Jr.

We have an upcoming interview with Tom Griffin, Chief Teaching Officer of U.S. Cellular, and in preparation I was reading some of his articles and work. One of the key tenets of leadership philosophy at U.S. Cellular is the belief that developing people is as important as business results. It’s the both/and relationship between both accomplishing the target objectives and developing the skills and capabilities of those who work in the company. They recognize that only by increasing their own people capabilities can they continue to develop innovation and advantage. Because of course, as the market continues to shift and change so rapidly, new solutions will always be needed. If the company becomes satisfied with accomplishing business objectives alone, without developing new ideas and skills simultaneously, you’ll quickly find yourself at a loss to compete.

That, plus remember what studies have shown people want most from their companies and leaders:

  1. Senior management’s sincere interest in employee well-being
  2. Opportunity an employee has to improve skills and capabilities
  3. Organization’s reputation for social responsibility

Creating opportunity for people to develop skills isn’t just providing increased competitive advantage for the company.   It’s also valuing and respecting everyone’s innate interest in personal and professional growth.  It’s a positive loop – develop people and they will naturally apply those skills and ideas to develop your business too.

Make your work your play and never work again

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When you do what you love, you never work again. 
– Confucius

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi calls it being in Flow. Ken Robinson calls it being in your Element. It’s a wonderful state to be “in the pocket” (musicians) or “in the zone” (athletes).  The historical model of business competitive advantage dictates that a few wield the insight, and the many provide the mental brawn of execution.  And so this model squanders the potential collective insights of people who make up the bulk of the executing talent we employ.  Yet research shows those enabled to find their voice, skill and passion, are the most likely to build stronger collaboration with customers to build successes.

Recently I posed the term Echoleaders to mean those who find their voice and begin to build resonant ideas around them.  Resonance is when the energy applied is in sync with the intended outcome. I mean to say we should be vocal in what we believe, and by giving voice to our passions – in work, play, whatever – we’ll naturally find those in our field of vision who can echo back their own experiences and then collectively we find new paths of creating constant value and innovation.

Just watch the Facebook or Twitter scroll you participate in and the ‘like’ affirmations and comment participation demonstrate your resonant posse on any given idea or moment in your life.  Each point of participation is a building block of collaborative effort. All contributions are cumulative. The point is this: if you focus on your skill and passion, you’ll find an interested like-minded group to participate in the journey.

Make your work your play. Wherever you are on the Org chart, reach beyond your task and team, and give voice to what you believe. If your heart and intent is authentic, a growing party of fellowship will happily join your venture.

Nothing is more precious than to be able to decide

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“When I set out to take Vienna, I take Vienna.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” – Napoleon

I posted about an interview we did recently with Dan Glaser, CEO of Marsh, but it’s not enough.  I’ve been reviewing the tapes and it’s so rich with cool ideas to share.  Dan Glaser has restored performance discipline at Marsh and enjoyed seven quarters of increased performance, but look behind the curtain.  Yes, he restored focus but here’s another clue to how he got to financial excellence – “let your leaders run.”  That’s the expression he used when building expansion and opportunity at Marsh.  You might think a 5B insurance giant might be laden with bureaucracies.  And there is some of that, but Glaser started only two years ago with a few, but focused, ideas, and he doesn’t miss a trick.

First, he looked to the ground floor – he spent time interviewing and lunching with the people who do the work at Marsh.  He would walk the halls and ask associates, “What are you working on?” and “How does that fit in our greater mission and values?”  In many cases he ran into people who reported to four different people, which created conflict in their behaviors and actions.  The first step was to streamline the reporting process and get people aligned with the projects and ideas that provide value to customers.

Then he asked his managers – he appropriately calls them leaders – to pursue possibilities, not probabilities.  Probabilities suggest what might happen to you, to the organization – what you might have to react to.  It’s a limiting and reactive mindset.  Glaser asked Marsh leaders to look toward possibilities, not probabilities.  Possibilities leave the future open to be created, the landscape to be defined by wide-open opportunity.  The sky is the limit mentality.

But to be sure, while leaders at Marsh are offered the open leash to explore, they are indeed held to specific business initiatives which will create value for the customer, build growth for associates, and create shareholder value.  Glaser famously (at least internally since he is a fairly private person) held his key leader retreat in a windowless conference room in their NY offices, not in a swanky resort, and built the culture that they intend to be a lean, highly performing, multi-national focused on delivering results and customer value.

Here is an interview excerpt in which he is talking about allowing white space in the organization to allow people to create. Enjoy!

Building an international business? Go Native

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I first heard the phrase Go Native (with respect to business anyway) from Stuart Hart, author of Capitalism at the Crossroads. Stuart intended this phrase as advice to companies looking to construct and gestate new products and services in partnership with indigenous markets. Last week we had an interview with Bruce Churchill, President of DirecTV Latin America. He understands the implications and expansive power of working closely with local operators and distributors, and not trying to manage businesses in foreign cultures from a head office located deep overseas.

Going native in emerging market ventures means leveraging the benefits of:
Culture: who knows better than a local operator in Venezuela that La Vinotinto is the football (soccer people!) team to watch and not La Furia Roja. A programming operator in Miami or NYC can’t possibly replicate the value of the local knowledge of cultural interests.

Credibility: again when creating the promotional and assembling programming packages (in the case of DirecTV) who knows better than the local operator in Lima, Peru what the population will respond to. Famously, think of Chevy’s efforts to market a car in Latin America called NOVA – uh, that’s means “No Go” in Spanish. Ow.

Financial excellence: operating on the local Mexican Peso or Venezuelan Bolivar means that the operating business isn’t managing currency fluctuations, but the local operator is working on local currency. In the end, reconciling P/L is more actual.

Ultimately, DirecTV disbanded offices trying to manage the business ventures in Latin America remotely from Miami or New York, and gave the creative and operational power to the local operators. The result? 62% Q3 growth reported November 5, 2009. Seriously.

Know Thy Customer

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Last week we spent two days in NYC Times Square filming CEOs at the Business Today conference – what an incredible opportunity.  We filmed Ron Meyer, CEO of Universal Studios, Peter Georgescu, Chairman Emeritus of Young & Rubicam, Paul Stebbins, CEO of World Fuel Services, among others and we were immediately impressed by one consistent thread throughout all of the interviews – right-brain thinkers will rule the world.  According to everyone we interviewed Dan Pink is right – the innovative, intuitive, symphonic thinking skills attributed to the right-brain creative types are the mental skills that best suit the greatest business leaders of today and tomorrow.  And they consistently emphasize the importance of having a balance to the standard image one has of the always-on, type A, linear-thinking blackberry cowboy.  Georgescu runs and meditates.  Stebbins is a black belt in karate, and is astonishingly well-read in not only business books, but classic literature and poetry as well.

Here’s an example of this innovative right-brain thinking in action leading to business success: Years ago, Peter Georgescu was trying to win a big PR and media account with Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Since he knew he had to do his homework and understand KFC’s business and culture inside and out to be credible, he and his business partner spent a week working at a KFC restaurant.  He learned how to mix the batter and the eleven special herbs and spices, serve the biscuits and coleslaw, clean the floor, anticipate the lunch rush, and so on.  Later, at the conclusion of his team’s six hour proposal presentation, Mr. Lambeaux, a franchise owner asked Georgescu a baited question – “Why don’t we lead the marketing campaign with a pitch that we have now added our secret recipe to the extra crispy KFC product?”  Well, KFC’s famous recipe chicken is pressure-cooked while the extra-crispy recipe is deep-fried, and the secret recipe batter won’t stick to the chicken in the deep-fryer.  It was a trick question and Peter looked thoughtful and said, “That’s an excellent idea Mr. Lambeaux…”  Pause while everyone in the room waits to see what he says next… “but unfortunately with the current technology you are using to cook the extra-crispy product this would be impossible.”  Mr. Lambeaux smiled and Peter won the biggest account of his young career.

Georgescu’s lesson is that a key characteristic of top-tier leaders is competence, rock-solid competence.  But in my reading I also see it was his innovative and daring thinking to spend a week working at a KFC to acquire that core competence.

Yes you are in sales!

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tom_peters.jpgI know – you work in engineering, or marketing, or IT, or maybe in finance, but you are still in sales. Sure maybe you can write fantastic code – but if no one know this you may find yourself in professional Siberia. And if you think you’re not in sales, your days are numbered. In every nook and cranny of business today there are opportunities to evangelize your capabilities and expertise to drive energy and business – to your business. And think you don’t have a business presence? Think again, because every interaction you have is another opportunity to be completely present and focused, and excel with whomever you are working with. As Gareth Jones says, “Whether you are cleaning the BBQ grill or managing an intricate acquisition project, perform every task with excellence.”

And who knows Excellence better than Tom Peters? He knows better than anyone that in the end, everyone is in sales. Enjoy!