Find your wings, then set out with courage

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Courage is nothing more than your faith reaching THROUGH your fear, displaying itself as action in your life. It’s okay to be afraid, but ACT. – John Hope Bryant

I had an interview and collaboration with John Hope Bryant recently, and the world is a better place because of his message and energy of hope.  This is someone who has created an organization which has raised 500M for financial literacy to help alleviate poverty in the U.S. and beyond.  His foundation, Operation HOPE,  was founded in the wake of the civil unrest of 1992 Los Angeles and dedicated to alleviating not just the poverty, but the social pain of the ‘other’ America.  That is – to bring hope and meaning to the other America that lives in constant economic and social pressure.

He told this marvelous analogy about eagles:  Most bird species learn to fly in small ground bursts building confidence, or like ospreys can be coaxed from their nest by food, but not eagles.  Eagles are literally kicked out of the nest by momma and forced to leave their comfort zone while the father circles diligently below in the event they falter and need to be caught.  Eagles must be pushed to leave their comfort zone and exercise their innate capabilities which they have yet to realize.

John Bryant believes in the same kind of idea.  He urges leaders to first allow people to find their own seat and role of comfort, instead of being shown specific tasks and procedures.  “Let them find their seat and then approach them.”  Think about the importance of Autonomy in building engagement: let people choose their task, their team, their technique.  And then push people to reach beyond their comfort zones to learn to fly.  Everyone will make mistakes and it might not be graceful at first, but if you first allow people to choose their place of comfort and then push them in the direction of their possibilities, people can show that innate creativity and learn to soar.

Leading Global Innovation and New Market Opportunity

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So much has been written about Leadership.  We try to find a universal theory.  There is none.  The condition changes.  The context changes.  Some things stand out for that emerging context that most leaders have to pay attention to.  Practice them.  Inspire others, develop others, and multiply others.

– Ram Charan, March 2010

The context is indeed changing, and rapidly. As recently as just 2004 barely 20% of companies had adopted corporate-wide functioning offshoring captive strategies to leverage that promise of low-cost labor sourcing of services and technical expertise to not just Chindia, but Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and other global talent pools.  (Arie Lewin, ORN).  But yet “Emerging countries are no longer content to be sources of cheap hands and low-cost brains. Instead they too are becoming hotbeds of innovation. They are redesigning entire business processes to do things better and faster… Forget about flat – the world of business is turning upside down.” (The Economist, April 2010)

That’s right – EMC learned this lesson years ago when they opened a technical facility in India and immediately offshored/insourced the more rudimentary and mundane tasks that the U.S. engineers didn’t want. You can guess the Indian engineers were frustrated, annoyed, and characteristically weren’t so inclined to give the discretionary, passionate effort to their work to build measurable difference. (Gebauer/Lowman)

So what to do? There are several stances an organization can take in recognition of the ability to globally-source innovation, and leveraging emerging available markets:
Find new audiences: C.K. Prahalad dedicated the last decade or more of his life to the cause of gestating innovative products and services at the Base of the Pyramid and serving through capital mechanisms the largely un/under-served billions at the BoP. Rapid prototype products and services and serve these markets.

Source innovation for your existing audience: It may be more accessible than you think. Consider InnoCentive whose mission is to “harness collective brainpower around the world to solve problems that really matter.” Innocentive operates as as an inverted eBay, offering puzzles and real-world problems from companies around the world with hard cash rewards. Think you can solve how to virtually verify plastic product package sealing? Or provide a metric for how to evaluate the effectiveness of an R&D facility? Or even (yes!) help the Gulf Coast respond effectively to an oil spill problem? Sign up, solve the puzzle and get paid. Some of the best minds around the glove are wrestling with these problems from their homes and offices and work groups and getting rewarded by the companies and people in need.

I know it sounds daunting, but consider this: whether you are a mid-America regional bank manager, or a small business developing killer web apps, you can both leverage the mechanisms of innovation AND find new markets for your existing business. Doing nothing, or sticking to your knitting is not an option. Market niches are temporary, and the world is abundant with talent and opportunity.

Don’t go it alone. Give Trust.

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“I don’t care how talented you are, if you cannot work as part of a team, you cannot reach ultimate success.  With a talented team that wants to work together, you can accomplish anything.  I have taken very talented smart people who did not play on a team and shown them the door.” – Joe Tucci, CEO EMC

The temptation is great to take over the process, assignment, or whatever task, and either lead or wholly do it yourself, knowing with self-confidence that if you do it, it’ll get done ‘right.’  Or at least the way you want it done. And maybe you will accomplish that specific task to your satisfaction. But at what expense? If you are responsible for working with multiple people and projects, your myopic diversion means you aren’t spending time and energy in what matters strategically, and then of course – what message does that send about trust?  Rosabeth Moss Kanter wrote an entire book about the intersection of confidence and trust, and in it, she examines what the winning teams have in common (trust and respect), and what short-lived winning teams have (Prima Donas or luck).

In my experience both as an entrepreneur and lead collaborator, if any project hits the rails it’s either because of my own lack of communication, or lack of support and follow-through, not because the people I trusted where incapable or unwilling.  Here’s what I suggest (and Julie Gebauer and Dan Lowman back it up with the numbers in their book.)

  • Show the entire picture. Imbue Purpose: No one ever cares for perceived make-work activities that they feel have no relevance or value in the major game plan.  Explain why the task matters in the whole story and people will feel part of something larger and important.
  • See it through: Check in regularly with a little “how can I help” attitude which conveys that you didn’t just check out and expect that a package will arrive on deadline day.  Yes, set clear deliverable expectations, but stay with it and convey the attitude that everyone is on board to support and reassure success.
  • Don’t take over:  When watching the project unfold, resist any urge to jump in with a “I’ll just do it myself” attitude.  That don’t fly.  This is a key part of the give-trust equation.
  • Roll up your sleeves: When checking in on progress, find points of inflection and challenge and offer solutions that you are willing to contribute to.  Then do it.  Play your part.  As Terri Kelly, CEO of W.L. Gore says “No one may commit another.”  Communicate that this is as much your deal as theirs.
  • Bring in the resources: This is an opportunity to reach deep into your own network – internal or external – to bring talent and expertise that can aid the solution.  But be careful not to over-engineer.  If you are at, say, a design point, then tap a graphic artist who can aid just enough to allow the team champion to leverage that talent and bring the project to completion.  Don’t make it about the sourcing in such a way as to hijack the project.  That sounds to anyone like, “Well, looks like you couldn’t do it.  I guess we’ll bring in a pro now.  Thanks for your efforts thus far.” Remember, you trusted them as the pro.  Treat them like a pro and give ownership to the project.

In Julie Gebauer and Dan Lowman’s book, Closing the Engagement Gap, they show an internal EMC study demonstrating 93% of EMC people enjoy working with their coworkers.  Since this is true at EMC and elsewhere, facilitate and enable, but dear friends, please don’t get all Prima donna about it.

Relationships Are All There Is

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“Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.” –Margaret Wheatley

Recently we were collaborating with a prominent speaker, author and scholar on an interview project about creating sustainable innovation processes. Anyway, his assistant and collaborator Mary (not her real name), had been working tirelessly over a several week period to make sure everything went smoothly the day of our production project. She coordinated the facilities reservation, understanding our interest in a quiet yet convenient location for the talent, helped shepard the contract process, corresponded with the technical requirements of our production team, brought his visual and instructor materials two hours in advance of his arrival, and brought donuts and coffee as well. She was professional, thorough and cheerful throughout the entire process.

The principal talent (her boss) arrived twenty minutes late, tersely introduced himself to us, and then, after examining the materials Mary had brought, he declared them entirely inadequate and her performance and preparation abysmal. He quite publicly said she did a terrible job, and because of her lack of preparation he was going to have to improvise. We were stunned and embarrassed, and I quickly redirected his attention to the project and the content we hoped to record that day. Mary retreated to a corner of the room and we proceeded with our filming collaboration.

Mary excused herself before we had finished our project and I didn’t have a chance to speak with her. So later that afternoon I called her and simply said, “Mary, I just want you to know his behavior to you was inexcusable and it didn’t go unnoticed. I want you to know I think you did a fantastic job and it’s been a great pleasure to work with you and he should have never said those horrible things to you.”

The line went quiet and I thought I had lost the connection until I heard her quietly crying. She went on to say that he had been treating her like this for months ever since she took the job but she was afraid to quit because he was a family friend. I told her she was young, ambitious and immensely talented and she should think seriously about first talking to him, and then leaving. A month went by and I received a surprise email from her – she had quit her job with the verbally abusive egotist and was heading off to Australia to accept a new position after she traveled and explored a while.

I certainly don’t claim credit or responsibility for Mary’s life choices, and I do think I lost an opportunity to say something in the moment when he spoke to Mary so appallingly. But remember this: ease suffering when you can. Relationships are all there is.

There’s no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit

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Hal and Bev Hunter won “Citizens of the Year” in Rappahannock County for 2009. Hal’s motto is, “There’s no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit” and it’s an apt saying for those aspiring to accomplish remarkable things. The excerpt below is straight from the Rappahannock News and you can read the full article here.

There are many who volunteer their time, energy and more in Rappahannock County – and then there are Hal and Beverly Hunter. County residents since 1968, the Hunters have, particularly in the past decade and most visibly over the past couple of years, put in countless hours looking after the continued health of Rappahannock’s watersheds, its farms and viewsheds, its hungry people and its educational and arts communities. They have done so quietly, relentlessly – and cheerfully.

For their work with the Rappahannock Friends and Lovers of Our Watershed (RappFLOW), the
Rappahannock Food Pantry and Plant-a-Row program, historic districts and conservation in general, Beverly and Hal Hunter are being recognized jointly as Rappahannock News’ 2009 Citizens of the Year.

“The choice of Hal and Bev as Citizens of the Year is in some ways an inspired one, but in some ways a no-brainer,” said County Administrator John W. McCarthy, who has worked with them on many projects over the years. “It’s a no-brainer because it’s hard to imagine any couple that have given more of their time, efforts and energies to the community at large. And it’s inspired because . . . it’s nice to see the deserving rewarded.”

Take this to heart: If you can identify a need, have a will to make positive change, and don’t care who gets the credit, you can change the world.  I’m very proud of my parents.

The more you give, the happier you are

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A remarkable event occurred just a couple weeks ago at USC Marshall School of Business.  Three titans of leadership – Warren Bennis, Bill George, and John Hope Bryant gathered to share their insights on emerging leadership practices and what it’s really going to take to reset the economy and re-establish trust in the financial sector, and it’s not rocket science.  According to the panel we need to restore collaboration, trust, humility, passion, and purpose – and no, it wasn’t Robert Fulghum on stage, but the message remains the same.

John Hope Bryant is the author of Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear Based World, and Chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE Inc., a non-profit social investment banking organization self-help provider of economic empowerment tools and services for the underserved.  He has a powerful message that ultimately you must ask yourself, “Does my work matter?  Am I making a difference?”  John encourages people everywhere to abandon the pervasive selfish attitudes that dominate contemporary thinking – the ‘what’s in it for me?’ attitudes, and instead focus on what you can contribute.

Bryant urges us all to shift our thinking to how we can contribute, how we can give, how we can ease suffering, enlighten others, and offer our time, interactions and energy to giving.  In his work, he sees time and again that those who give without concern or interest for WIIFM, always wind up healthier, happier and spiritually (and economically too) richer.

Not convinced?  Consider this research paper on happiness by Elizabeth Dunn, Lara Aknin, and Michael Norton published in Science Magazine.  The basis for the study was the supposition that people’s happiness is more affected by their behavior, than by their income level.  Most people are familiar with the consistent research that once basic food and security needs are met, money does not equal happiness.  Their proposal was that what we do with the money and resources we do have, has a greater affect on how we feel than the amount of resources we have available.  In one section of the study they followed people who were receiving bonuses of various amounts, and tracked what they did with it.  Some paid bills or the mortgage, or treated themselves to something special, while others gave to charity or bought gifts for others.  This kind of charitable or gifting behavior they called “prosocial.”  Take the results to heart, “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to prosocial spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself.”

You can see the entire panel discussion here.  Enjoy!

The Purpose Driven Leader – Rick Warren on Peter Drucker

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“Every social and global problem is a business opportunity in disguise.” – Peter Drucker

Last week we attended the Peter Drucker Centennial conference in Vienna, Austria and had the incredible opportunity to interview and film world thinkers and leaders who were there celebrating and discussing Peter Drucker’s legacy and the future of management and business in the world.  Peter Drucker called himself a ‘social ecologist’ – which is to say he focused on understanding and improving human interaction, our constructs in business, government and communities, and that impact on our lives and environment. Another favored definition is: ‘the study and practice of personal, social and environmental sustainability and change based on the critical application and integration of ecological, humanistic, community and spiritual values’

The key words there are ‘integration’ and ‘application.’ Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life, attended and gave the opening address at the conference and spoke of the three primary characteristics that defined Drucker’s life and work: Integrity, Humility, and Generosity.

These three traits are the antidotes to the three traps of today’s leaders.  The first trap is to segment and partition our lives into work life, home life, sporting life, community-service life, etc., and instead our greatest strength comes from integrating all the disparate interactions, ideas and energies into a unified and integrated whole.  The etymology of integrity is from the Latin integer, meaning wholeness, or the unit of one.  Rick pointed out that the second trap is to focus and try to remediate what we think are our faults.  Often humility is misunderstood to mean acceptance of weakness or inadequacy, when instead humility is freedom from arrogance and pride.  And that intellectual freedom gives way to the ability to recognize the marvelous and to embrace wonder and curiosity.  And then, importantly, to be inquisitive and open to learning.  Rick had a powerful story about how each time he went to visit Peter Drucker and learn from him, he wound up trying to answer and wrestle with Drucker’s own persistent questions.

And finally Rick echoed Drucker’s advice that management and leadership was a liberal art yet a practical calling, and we all need to focus on what we can give and contribute in generosity.  The third trap is to hoard.  It’s no accident that to be miserly with time, energy, resources, talent, etc., is to be miserable.  From Peter Drucker to Rick Warren to you, pause to keep Integrity, Humility, and Generosity ever present.

You can see Rick Warren’s address here.  Doris Drucker’s address starts at about minute 35 and Rick Warren’s presentation at about minute 52.  Enjoy!

Make Innovation Accessible

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Gary Hamel and Tim Sanders

Now that's a lotta guru! Here is Tim Sanders chatting with Gary Hamel after a recent event in Mountain View, CA. Tim came down to the studio to record a fresh series of videos on the Keys to Talent Management, and I can tell you they are pitch-perfect.

Gary Hamel believes there’s a very good chance that over the next few years we are going to see a revolution in management.  A revolution just as profound as the revolution in management that gave birth to the industrial age.  One of the primary influencing factors is the compounding rapidity of change we’re facing.  Product innovation and speed-to-market lifecycles are compressing, and in order to stay competitive, even relevant, organizations need to start constructing environments which allow product and service innovation to emerge organically.

It’s simply not possible to perform competitively in a tiered command-and-control manner any longer.  To be sure, seismic change efforts marshaled by Ed Zander of Motorola or Anne Mulcahy at Xerox, are indeed awe-inspiring.  Remarkable corporate turn-arounds have historically been about executing on steely-eyed vision.  But that’s not the kind of change that will bring lasting and sustainable competitive advantage.  The kind of culture needed to foster sustainable creativity and engagement starts with something Hamel calls “management innovation.”  Then the process, product, and business architectures that create lasting competitive advantage start to emerge naturally.

Our next live event on Oct 20 features Matt May who talks about making innovation accessible at all levels of the organization, and the importance of creating environments where people come not just to do their own work, but rather improve the work of the organization.  Matt demystifies common descriptors about innovation being incremental or evolutionary or breakthrough, and instead prefers defining innovation as simply doing something better than it’s been done before.  Define innovation in this manner, and Matt says you can create an environment where innovation is suddenly accessible and achievable at all levels of the organization.

Leadership character vs. The Hippo

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Paul Templer is from Zimbabwe and grew up with my college roommate Anton, so I had the privilege to meet him years ago when he was traveling the states.  When he was visiting us in NC, I commented how much I appreciated his velskoene shoes from Africa – they are traditional leather bush boots, pronounced ‘fellsquin’ and known commonly as ‘fellies.’  Anyway, at the end of his visit he said he would like me to have them and I insisted to pay him something.  He said, “surprise me with whatever you want to pay for them, but they are yours.”  I gave him the $40 or so in my pocket and enjoyed these African boots, but even more so, appreciated his warm fun company and stories from Africa.  That brief story is just to set up his generous character.

A few years later we had all graduated and set off on other adventures, and Paul returned to Zimbabwe to become a licensed river and bush guide and establish a touring company.  This story you might vaguely recall from over ten years ago, because his heroic efforts hit the international news wire, and was later featured in a National Geographic story.  Paul was guiding a group of tourists down the Zambezi river and had divided his clients between himself and the two other guides aiding him that day.  Paul was keenly aware hippos are notoriously territorial and took precaution to keep his group close and periodically bang the side of the boat to encourage the hippos to surface and be seen by their little armada.

Suddenly his friends guide boat was flipped by a 4,000lb hippo and both the guide and his clients were launched into the river.  Paul responded immediately and lept into the river to save his guide and direct his clients to the shore, but the hippo attacked Paul repeatedly holding him down beneath the surface, and eventually when he was freed by the beast and swam to shore, his arm had been nearly severed and his lung had been punctured.  The nearest surgeon was 270 miles away in Bulawayo over a dusty difficult jeep ride, and hours later upon arriving and the doctor was left with no choice but to amputate Paul’s arm.

Paul’s second act has been to marry, father three beautiful children and become a successful, dedicated and talented speaker, coach and inspiration for many around the world.  In the wake of this event, Paul has found strength.  Check him out – be inspired.

Law #6 of the Saver Soldier: The Law of the Last Mile

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Ever moved? Wrapped the flatware and taped and labeled the boxes? It wasn’t moving the sofa and the bookcase and dining room table that almost broke you – you had friends, pizza and beer when that went down. It was disassembling, organizing and cleaning the fridge that killed. Or it was the ancient college papers, photo albums and misc camping gear strewn in the attic that had you cursing. Or maybe the loose hardware in the garage that you finally just swept up and threw away because you couldn’t think straight enough to organize it. After the pizza and the friends are long gone and the house appears virtually empty, it was that last 2% that sucked your energy and time. It was the lonely, dirty work that had to be done to get to closing.

When you moved you didn’t have a choice, closing day and walk-through with your buyers was looming. At work, think of it the same way: closing day is coming. The law of the last mile is finish what you started, take ownership, execute, get ‘er done. In Tim Sanders’ new book, Saving the World at Work, failing to finish affects more than you might think. Lack of execution on stated goals can infect a culture with an implicit suggestion that abandoning projects is OK, and can become anticipated. Tim cites Tom Peters’ suggestion that every project be outfitted with a 2% person – someone who owns that closing 2%. A cleaner.

And if you want to work and play and collaborate in a culture that covers the last mile, show the way. Or as Jim Kouzes puts it, “Model the Way.” Because leadership is the relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow. And believe, if you choose to lead the last mile, they will indeed follow because nothing inspires like finishing.

To cross the last mile, build both transparency and accountability into your projects. Keep progress highly visible to avoid starving the project of energy and to maintain momentum. And build accountabilities into the system so everyone understands the clear contributions and role they play.

Learn the Laws of the Saver Soldier