I’ve learned the hard way that going all out on every front isn’t the way to lead an organization to breakthrough results. When leaders call everything a number-one priority, they leave people without a meaningful way to make choices about where to focus their time and resources.

Early in my career, during a crisis, I essentially took all our priorities and just moved them around on a piece of paper, think that would be enough to solve our issues. I was organizing work, but I wasn’t really leading. That experience, and many others, taught me that categorizing and assigning varying levels of focus to different priorities is a fundamental part of leadership.

When it comes to setting priorities, I suggest three main categories: Maintain, Improve, and Breakthrough. Maintain priorities cover the day-to-day business that simply has to get done. Improve priorities are areas where we want steady progress. Breakthrough priorities are the one or two things where we are looking for a genuine step-change.

When I think about breakthrough priorities and visioning, I look for six characteristics. The vision must be created from nothing, bold, simple and memorable, unifying, inspiring, and widely declared. It should represent what we genuinely want to create rather than simply a slightly better version of today's reality. And people need to see themselves in that future and understand why achieving it matters to them.

I’ve seen plenty of visioning efforts fail because leaders build the vision on limiting beliefs, keep it to themselves, fail to revisit it, focus on what they don't want, hold on to behaviors and systems that no longer fit, fail to create a compelling reason to act, or try to map every step from today all the way to the destination. People need a broad view of the journey, but it is the leader’s role to help them focus on the next few steps they can actually see and influence.

Key Points

1. Not all priorities deserve equal attention.

2. Calling everything a "number one priority" defeats the purpose of prioritization.

3. A breakthrough vision must be created from nothing, rather than simply a better version of today's reality.

4. A compelling vision must be bold, simple, memorable, unifying, inspiring, and widely shared.

5. People need to emotionally connect with what achieving the vision will make possible for them.

6. A vision should be revisited regularly so people can connect their day-to-day work to the larger purpose.

7. Leaders should articulate what they want to create, rather than simply what they want to avoid.

8. Leaders sometimes need to create a compelling reason to act boldly, particularly when there is no obvious crisis forcing action.

9. Don't try to map the entire journey from point A to point Z. Focus on the next steps while keeping the broader destination in view.

Quotes

• “All the work is not equal.”

• “Doing the best you can on many fronts is not the same as setting priorities.”

• “If you as a leader are just dumping everything on your people and calling everything number one, then they don't really have a good way to think about things.”

• “Your vision can't be a new and improved version of today's reality.”

• “If you widely share [the vision] and you don't keep it a secret, people can find all kinds of ways to contribute to the journey.”

• Transcript

  In this video, I want to share with you a few tips on how you can focus yourself and your organization on a few breakthrough priorities that will change the game. I believe it's really important for us to learn from our mistakes. And I can tell you one of the lessons that I had to learn the hard way was the value of setting priorities and not just putting your head down and focusing on doing the best you can on many fronts.

  I still cringe when I think about an assignment when we had a crisis that was unfolding in front of us. And I basically put all of our priorities on a sheet of paper. And I remember putting them all in these different bubbles and basically assigning these bubbles to different groups and all of that. So essentially, as a leader, I was not adding value in setting priorities and focusing the organization. All I was doing was just moving things around and saying, okay, now let's organize these tasks this way or that way.

  So what I ended up learning in that process was that it is important to make sure that priorities are put in three different categories. There's always a lot of work to be done, right? But these three categories define what type of attention we pay to each of the priorities and how much time and how many resources we put against them. The three types of priorities that I'm referring to are Maintain, Improve, and Breakthrough.

  So what does that mean? That means that a lot of work that we do really has to do with basically delivering the day-to-day business results. Those are things that we don't really think about. They just need to be done. We need to put a certain amount of resources against them, make sure that we have our bases covered.

  Then there are those priorities that go into the Improve bucket. These are results or systems or behaviors that we aim to improve, steadily improve. So we do need to put some amount of resources against those.

  And then there's the breakthrough bucket. And this is usually where we identify one or two priorities where we are expecting to achieve a step change improvement. We don't want to identify too many things in this bucket. And that's where people go wrong sometimes, right?

  Now, I've had bosses who would come to me with a number one priority every other week. And I remember distinctly in the midst of that situation where I learned my lesson about setting priorities, I had a boss who just kept dumping number one priorities on me. And at one point, I stopped and asked him, which one of those number one priorities were really number one? And his answer was that they were all number one priorities. Well, it may be that we must deliver all of those, but if you as a leader are just dumping everything on your people and calling everything number one, then they don't really have a good way to think about things and set priorities and make choices around how to allocate resources, and so on.

  So what's really important is to make sure that we have our bases covered by ensuring that those maintained priorities are getting done. Then identify one or two breakthrough priorities where we're expecting a step change and make sure that we have those covered and then put the rest of our resources against those priorities where we want to steadily improve the results. This principle is something that is helpful for individuals as a person. But when it comes to organizations, it's even more important because you want everybody to be on the same page. Now, let's talk a little bit about these game changers and these breakthrough priorities, because this is where a lot of leaders get this wrong.

  In my mind, there are six characteristics that are really important if you are developing a vision, if you're coming up with those breakthrough priorities. The first one is that you've got to create that vision from nothing. It cannot be a new and improved version of today's reality. Your vision can't be to cut your quality defects by 10%. That's just simply saying we're going to maintain 90% of our quality defects and just reduce it by 10%. Now, you may have milestones. You may have targets that you set. but the vision itself really needs to be created from nothing. If we had nothing, what would we create?

  Number two, the vision has to be bold. It has to be something that when people look at it, they're not gonna go like, oh yeah, sure, we can do that, no problem. No, it's gotta be a bold future that is being declared.

  Number three, it has to be simple and memorable. I cannot tell you how many organizations I go to where they say, oh yeah, we have a vision statement. Well, what is it? Well, I don't know. Let me look it up and all of that. And it might just even also be on the wall, but nobody knows what it is. They haven't been able to internalize it. So it's gotta be simple and memorable.

  Number four, the vision has to be unifying. Now you can accomplish this in a variety of ways. in how do you develop that vision, how you identify those breakthrough priorities. Do you get people involved or you just go into a room and come back and say, okay, this is our vision, these are our priorities? No, you can actually start unifying people by getting them involved. Number two, in how you are writing it and how you're expressing that vision or how you're defining those priorities. Do those words represent ideas that people can relate to? And number three, in how you roll it out to make sure that different people in the organization can relate to it and see themselves in it. They can see something in it for themselves and they can see something in it for the organization. So these are ways that you can make sure that your vision or your breakthrough priorities are unifying.

  Number five, your vision or your priorities have to be inspiring. They have to be emotionally appealing to people. It can't just be about some numbers that don't really mean anything to people. We're going to increase our sales by 20%. We're going to deliver this type of result. Well, what does that really mean for me? Do I see myself in that future and what does it mean in terms of my experience and how does it impact me? So people need to be able to emotionally relate to that vision or the results that will be delivered as a result of focusing on those few priorities.

  And lastly, the vision and the priorities need to be widely declared and shared with everybody. This is something that has to go beyond just having a town hall meeting or putting something on the company website or looking at it from time to time. It has to be shared widely.

  Now, these ideas are nothing new. This is not rocket science. We all know these, but there are some nuances to creating a vision, to identifying breakthrough priorities, and actually going through the process of communicating and implementing the work. And these nuances make all the difference in the world. In fact, there are a number of reasons why visioning efforts fail. So let me go over a few of those with you here.

  Number one, we create a vision on top of limiting beliefs. The vision has to be discontinuous. It cannot be just a better version of today. By definition, what that means is that it's going to be bold and it's going to challenge us to really think about ourselves as someone who can actually deliver that. And this is where you run into your deep-rooted beliefs. If you have really believed about yourself that you're not good at this or you're not good at that, and you don't deal with that limiting belief, then that's gonna slow you down. Likewise, if an organization has a low self-image, a negative self-image that says, oh, you know, we've never been able to do this and that, once you set that vision in place, you've gotta make sure that it is developed based on what's possible, not what's holding us back based on our past, and that we actually talk about it and we work through it so that those limiting beliefs are challenged and dealt with.

  Number two, we don't embrace the feeling of having achieved the vision. So what does that mean? That means that we are not only going to elaborate on what that It means that we're not only going to talk about what it means for the business to deliver those results, but we're going to talk about what it really means for the people who are delivering those results. What sort of benefits will we get from delivering those kinds of results? Something that people can sink their teeth into and emotionally connect with.

  Number three, we keep it to ourselves. As I said, a vision or concept, the priorities need to be shared widely. But oftentimes we don't do a good job of sharing openly with everyone what this vision is going to do or what these priorities are going to make available to us. Sometimes that's because we feel like, oh, well, these people are not really affected by it, or those people just need to do X, Y, and Z. And whether we're going for this vision or that vision, it doesn't matter. But you never know. If you widely share it and you don't keep it a secret and you let everybody know where we're going, people can find all kinds of ways to contribute to the journey and accelerate progress.

  Number four, we don't revisit the vision often enough. In other words, we develop the vision, we share it, we put it on the walls, and then we go on about our business. It's important to revisit that vision. It's important to bring it up in different meetings to say, okay, how are we doing against these particular priorities? How are we doing in moving toward our vision? So that people can relate their day-to-day activities with the priorities, with the vision.

  Number five, we form the vision based on what we don't want versus what we want. I remember distinctly coming up with a vision in an organization where we weren't doing very well. But instead of saying, well, we just want to not be the worst, we said we're going to be the best because that is what inspires people. Not that we don't want this or we don't want so many quality defects or we don't want so many injuries. No, we have targets for those results, but the vision itself doesn't need to be based on what we don't want. It needs to be articulated based on what it is that we do want.

  Number six, we hold on to old thought patterns and behaviors that no longer fit our vision. And this is why it's important to revisit the vision on a going basis so we can check ourselves. Is this system, is this process a fit for where we're going? Are these behaviors a good fit for what we want to achieve? Is our mindset the right fit or not? So these are all the minor changes that will make a huge difference if we continue to make those adjustments along the way.

  Number seven, we don't create a compelling enough reason for us to act boldly. In some organizations where they have a burning platform and basically they have a situation where they either have to get better or they're gonna shut down or fail, that reason is there. It's like, look, we don't wanna lose our jobs or whatever it is. But in cases where we are not great, but we're not bad enough to actually act, it is a leader's job to create a compelling reason to act and make things happen.

  And finally, one of the things that we do that holds us back is that we try to chart the entire path of how we're going to get from point A to point Z, when in fact, we can only see a small part of that path. Now, it's important to step out into that future when we declare that bold future and look back from there and identify the key milestones. But when it comes to executing and achieving that vision, it's important to make sure that we have a plan that covers the short term without being bogged down with what's gonna come next and without being overwhelmed by the size of the challenge, because we're only going to make so much progress in the next few steps that we can see. It's important to recognize that the path will unfold in front of you. So yes, get a broad view of the overall journey, but focus in on what's in front of you and don't get overwhelmed by what it takes to make it happen.

  So again, these are just a few tips for you to, number one, set priorities and don't put everything in the same bucket because all the work is not equal. There are some things you're doing to maintain your results. There are some things that you're doing to steadily improve things. And then there are those one or two things that everybody needs to be on the same page on that you're trying to achieve a breakthrough in and create a step change improvement. And then make sure that when it comes to those breakthrough improvements, that you have those characteristics that I talked about in place. And then stay away from the pitfalls that I mentioned to make sure that your visioning effort does not fail. I'd love to hear your suggestions on what you have seen work or not work when it comes to creating a vision or identifying breakthrough priorities.

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Download the Transformation Blueprint mentioned in the video

I recently found myself confronting a transformation that I had been putting off, and I realized that, as often happens with transformation, I was the main barrier to making it happen. That experience led me to reflect on what has helped me overcome hesitation and make extraordinary things happen in the past. I reverse-engineered those lessons into what I call the Four Cs of Transformation: Commitment, Clarity, Cadence, and Community. I have discovered that while discipline has a role, it is often only a temporary solution. Without the Four Cs, discipline rarely produces sustainable results.

The first C is Commitment. We need to be honest about whether we are truly committed to the outcome we say we want. We can strengthen that commitment by magnifying the benefits of achieving our vision while separating real, actionable barriers from stories and fears that may be holding us back. I have also learned that commitment must be about more than just ourselves. When we focus on the difference we can make for others, we have a much more powerful reason to persevere.

The second and third Cs are Clarity and Cadence. Once we know what we’re committed to, we need Clarity about what must happen to make it a reality. I find it particularly useful to start from the desired future and work backward, rather than allowing today's problems to define my entire plan. Then we need Cadence, a structure that turns intentions into action. My Always, Never, and Sometimes framework is useful for helping decide which behaviors are non-negotiable and where we want to leave room for judgment and spontaneity.

Finally, we need Community. Transformation becomes much more achievable when we have people who encourage us, hold us accountable, benefit from the outcome, and celebrate the milestones with us. Whether we’re pursuing a personal goal or leading an organizational transformation, I have learned that nothing great happens by default. We must always be intentional about creating the conditions that make transformation possible.

Key Points

1. The Four Cs of Transformation are Commitment, Clarity, Cadence, and Community.

2. Discipline can help, but discipline alone is often a temporary solution.

3. Transformation begins with determining whether one is truly committed to the outcome they say they want.

4. We can strengthen commitment by clearly identifying the benefits of achieving our vision, for ourselves and others.

5. We must distinguish between real, actionable barriers and fear-based stories that may be holding us back.

6. A powerful commitment must be about more than personal benefit.

7. Clarity means identifying the actions and milestones required to turn a vision into reality.

8. Looking backward from the desired future can help us avoid becoming consumed by today's problems and immediate priorities.

9. Cadence turns intention into action by creating schedules, routines, and structures that make progress more likely.

10. The Always, Never, and Sometimes framework helps establish clear behavioral commitments while preserving room for judgment and spontaneity.

11. When we miss a commitment, we should regroup rather than use the setback as an excuse to quit.

12. Community creates encouragement, accountability, motivation, and celebration, all of which make transformation more sustainable.

13. The people who benefit from our transformation can become part of the community that helps us achieve it.

14. Nothing great happens by default. Transformation requires intentionality.

Quotes

• "Discipline is a temporary solution to overcoming your desire to give in to temptation and get off track."

• "If what you're committed to only benefits you, you’re often not a big enough reason for you to hang in there and to make it happen."

• “The vision and the dream is kind of a faded picture. But all these other concerns and the potential barriers are very crisp and clear right in front of you.”

• “You have to realize that these pleasures and the pains involved are not always equally represented in our thoughts.”

• "Amplify the whisper and tone down the noise."

• “Staying on track with meeting your commitments is so much more effective when you have a community who cheers you on and is willing to call you out when you're getting off track.”

• "Nothing great happens by default. You've got to be intentional."

• Transcript

  In this video, I'm going to share with you the four key factors, what I call the four C's, of bridging the gap between where you are and where you want to be. I'm also going to give you a free gift from my book, The Transformative Leader. It's called The Transformation Blueprint, which will help you get a head start on planning and implementing your transformation. What has prompted me to make this video is that we, as The Ghannad Group, have been planning a fabulous transformation that we believe is going to make a huge difference for the community of leaders that we serve. And it's been kind of on again, off again. And the main barrier has been yours truly.

  I've been dragging my feet and my state has kind of ranged anywhere from hesitation to full on sabotage to make sure that we're not making as much progress. So I've been doing a lot of soul searching and I've been thinking through what is going on? What is at play here? And what I've discovered in the process is that there are key elements that in the past have helped me overcome this kind of issue and continue to push through to make things happen. And I managed to reverse engineer, if you would, the key factors that helped me get past this type of hesitation in the past. So I'm really excited about that. And I wanted to make a video and share this in case somebody else is in that same position.

  So if you have a dream, if you have a vision, if there's something you always wanted to do, and it seems exciting, and there's no real good reason why you shouldn't pursue it, but you just haven't done it, this video is for you. To be completely transparent, I'm not sitting here trying to pretend that I'm perfect at this and I never get off track. In fact, I've had more failures than I've had successes in pursuing extraordinary goals. But what I can tell you is whenever I made sure that these four key elements are in place, things have turned out to be absolutely amazing. Now, before I tell you what these four C's are, I want to just own up to the fact that discipline did not make the cut when it came to listing what it takes. So let me tell you why, because

  I really believe that discipline is a temporary solution to overcoming your desire to give in to temptation and get off track. Yes, discipline plays a role, but without these four Cs, discipline is just a short-term measure that does not produce long-term results and is not sustainable. So now let me tell you what the four Cs are. The four Cs are Commitment, Clarity, Cadence, and Community.

  Let's talk about commitment. The question here is, are you truly committed to that outcome that you say you're committed to? We all say we want this and we want that, but not all of us are truly committed to that outcome. You know, everybody wants to be healthy. Everybody wants to be wealthy or whatever, but they don't want to become that, right? Because the process of becoming does require you to make certain sacrifices and do certain things and all of that. Now, one thing to examine is the pain and pleasure balance. What is the pleasure in achieving that outcome that you say you're committed to? And what is the perceived pain of making it happen? The problem is that it's not an easy exercise to go through to identify the pain and pleasure. Something you have to realize is that these pleasures and the pains involved are not always equally represented in our thoughts.

  If you think about it, that vision that you have, dream that you have, that thing that you want at some point is whispering to you. While all the concerns and all the sacrifices you have to make and all the potential risks that you have to take, those things are screaming in your ear. They are loud. The vision and the dream is kind of a faded picture out there. But all these other concerns that you have and the potential barriers and perceived issues are very crisp and clear right in front of you. To sort through whether you are truly committed to something or not, what I suggest is that you find a way to magnify the benefits that you will get by making that thing happen, by bringing that vision to life. And at the same time, sort through the concerns and barriers. For instance, you could sit down and write down all the benefits to you and to others and to your community and to the world of making this vision a reality. Just make a list, a very specific list of what's in it for you, what's in it for them, what's in it for all of us, if that happens. And that way you're taking it out of your head and writing it on a piece of paper. You're amplifying in a way the benefits that you would get.

  At the same time, the concerns that are swirling around in your head, what you could do, you could also write those down and you could sort through what's a fact and what's a story that you've made up. What's something that is actionable and what is something that is just a fear from the past that has kind of resurfaced. You can engage somebody else and reading that list out loud to them And that always helps because when you read something out loud, it has a lot more clarity than when it's going through in your head. And actually, if you read it out loud to somebody else, they can help you sort through fact and fiction. And that way you can identify those actionable barriers and then set aside some of the stories that are coming out of your fears.

  So as you go through this process, what you're doing, in fact, is you're amplifying that whisper and you're toning down the noise so you will be more likely to get action on those things that you can do something about to overcome the barriers while you're being fueled by this energy that you get from your excitement about that future that you are about to create. One other thing I will mention about your commitment is that it cannot only be about you. If what you're committed to only benefits you, you are often not a big enough reason for you to hang in there and to make it happen. It has to be about somebody else. When I was writing my book, initially, it started as an idea to make a difference for others. And I was truly passionate about it. And I was writing every single day. Then at some point, it occurred to me that I was going to be an author. I may be famous. I might even be rich. And so at that point, it became about me. Oh, I need to finish this book because this is going to be good for me. And I have to tell you, that slowed me down a lot because every time I sat down to write, I would write something, but they would not be as meaningful. It was not until a few weeks later when I discovered that it had become about me And I rededicated myself and I committed myself to the people who were going to read this book that it started flowing again. I have many of these examples where I have not been a big enough reason for me to hang in there and make something happen. But when it's about somebody else and the benefit they get, then that's a big enough reason.

  So the question I have for you is, what is it that you are committed to? And I think it's important for you to be honest with yourself. That if you truly are not committed to something, then let it go and honor your choice. And it's totally fine. But find something that you are truly committed to making happen. Assuming you are committed to a cause or an outcome that passes the commitment test.

  The next thing you want to do is have a certain amount of clarity around what it takes to make that outcome happen. Now, you may change this list of things that need to happen as you learn more things, as the circumstances change. But based on your current knowledge and everything that you know, write down everything that needs to be done to make it happen.

  Now, this doesn't necessarily have to be in any particular order. Just brainstorm a list and then organize it later. But identify what are some of the key actions that need to be taken. What are some of the key milestones that you need to reach in order to achieve your vision? A word of caution for you is not to just be focused on the immediate challenges that you have. You see, a lot of times when I take leadership teams through an exercise to come up with a strategic plan for the next three years, what happens invariably is that they want to put everything in the next six months and then they don't know what they're going to do in the next two and a half years. So I have a way to facilitate the process so that we're not only focusing on the immediate priorities that are in front of us and lose sight of what needs to happen in the long term. So we do that with a simple and very powerful exercise.

  In fact, one of the ways that you can do that on your own is take an approach that doesn't start with the present moment looking into some distant future. Assume that it is a year from now, two years from now, whatever the timeline is for that transformation that you want to make happen, And then look back from there, independent of today's reality, independent of today's challenges, and just plot out what are some things that need to happen over the course of this timeline to make that outcome happen. And then fill in the blanks with some of the things that need to be done in order to overcome the barriers that you're dealing with in the short term. That way you have a better picture of what it takes to go from point A to point B and not just a view of what it takes to deal with today's problems. Going through this exercise will give you a great deal of clarity on not just what you're committed to, but what you believe, at least at this point, it will take to make it happen. Now, if you're going through this process with your team, of course, you would get them involved in generating ideas. And in fact, it is extremely helpful for everyone to contribute to this process and give their input and ultimately have a certain level of clarity around what it takes to make the vision a reality. Once you know what you're committed to and you have a certain amount of clarity around what it takes to make it happen, you've got to then move to the next C, which is cadence.

  You've got to put a structure in place to make sure that those things that need to happen actually happen. You see, without cadence, we end up with things like these New Year's resolutions that vaporize within 14 days, right? So yeah, my New Year's resolution is I'm going to lose 20 pounds. And I tell you what I need to do is eat less dessert and exercise a little bit more. But then it fizzles out because we have no schedule. We have nothing that we have really committed to in the way of making it happen. So creating a structure is really important. Again, even more so if several people are involved in this, if this is a team effort, but most certainly also for you, if this is an individual goal for you. A practical exercise that I recommend to you is to take all the behaviors and the actions that you've already identified and put them in three buckets. Those three buckets are Always, Never, and Sometimes. So let me explain.

  Always, that bucket includes all the things that you know that you must do without questioning. These are things like okay, I get up in the morning and I brush my teeth. This is not like, okay, do I have time or not and all of this. So those kinds of things in our lives that we do without thinking, without questioning, the always bucket contains those. So for instance, if you've decided that you're going to lose some weight and you've decided that you're going to exercise, you say, okay, you know what? I will always exercise three times a week. You might put in the Never bucket, some things that are the opposite of what needs to be done. So if what needs to be done is we stay away from too many calories and so on and so forth in that particular example, you might decide that at least for a short period of time, you will never have a piece of cake, right? Whatever that is for you, but you get real clear that there are things that you will always do and there are things that you will never do and you don't question them. Now, you can come back and revisit that list and you can change it as often as you want. However, you want to stick to those lists and you want to do what you said you were going to do. Now, why do we have a Sometimes bucket? Because we want to also allow for some spontaneity. We want to allow for some creativity. We don't want to dictate on the front end that I will never do this and I will always do that and there's only two buckets. No, we want to leave some room for judgment.

  Now, going back to this discipline piece, you may decide that you just don't have the discipline to overcome the temptation to have that piece of cake if you go to a cafe that serves all those delicious cakes. And so you might say, I will never go to a cafe. However, somebody else might say, you know what, I trust myself to be able to handle that, so I will sometimes go to the cafe. So it's important to put those actions and behaviors in those three buckets, Always, Never, and Sometimes. Now, once you do this, what you wanna do is create a schedule. If you said you're going to exercise three times a week for 20 minutes on what days, at what time, do the best that you can on the front end, to set it up in a way that has a good chance of getting done. And by the way, if you don't do it, then don't just kind of use that as an excuse to get off track, but reschedule it. Okay, something came up and you messed up or something happened. All right, so you didn't do it today. What are you gonna do now? When are you gonna reschedule that for? Now, I know this is a very simple process and it may not seem like it is all that powerful, But this cadence, this schedule makes all the difference in making sure that those things that need to get done will get done. Once you have a commitment and you're clear and you've got the right cadence in place, the last C is community.

  Staying on track with meeting your commitments is so much more effective when you have a community who cheers you on and is willing to call you out when you're getting off track. When you have accountability partners who are willing to be there for you to make sure that you are continuing to meet your commitment, it makes all the difference. A community is also essential in keeping us motivated to keep going because they will benefit from the outcomes that we achieve. If you are committed to improving your health, your family and your friends could be your community because they will enjoy your longevity. They will enjoy your vitality. If you're working on a project at work, your coworkers, your colleagues, the other stakeholders at work would benefit from the outcomes of that initiative. Finally, there's nothing like having a community that you celebrate with. It is important to celebrate the milestones, no matter how small they are. So I would encourage you to identify your community. Declare your intentions. Let them know that you want them to hold you accountable if you get off track. Remember, nothing great happens by default. You've gotta be intentional.

  And my hope is that these four Cs, Commitment, Clarity, Cadence, and Community will help you get going with that commitment that you have been putting on the back burner for some time. Now, I also promised to give you a tool and a process from my book. The tool is called the Transformation Blueprint, and the guide that I'm getting ready to share with you that you can download for free asks you 10 questions, and it gives you explanations on how to answer these questions so you can prepare to implement your transformation successfully. Please click the link in the description or comments and download this tool, and I would love to hear how it's working out for you. I wish you the very best. May you boldly declare, courageously pursue, and abundantly achieve the extraordinary.

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I believe accountability has gotten a bad reputation because we often associate it with punishment after something has gone wrong. But accountability can be much more empowering. Contrary to popular belief, we cannot actually "hold" anyone else accountable. What we can do is create the conditions in which people choose to act accountably. That starts with clear expectations, timely feedback, encouragement when people do well, and a willingness to address low performance rather than simply tolerate it.

For me, creating those conditions begins with setting a high bar while assuming positive intent. If I assume someone is lazy or incapable, I can use that assumption to excuse myself from giving them the feedback and support they need. But if I believe they want to do the right thing and are capable of doing it, I have a responsibility to give them clear direction, provide feedback, and expect their best performance.

I often demonstrate this paradox in my workshops by asking people to rate their organization's accountability from 0 to 10 and then rate their own personal accountability. The organization typically gets a 3 to 5, while individuals rate themselves between 6 and 9. That gap exists because we often fail to hold ourselves accountable for creating the conditions that produce accountability in others.

I also believe that failing to hold someone to a high standard can actually be a form of disrespect. If I genuinely respect someone, I believe in their ability to do better and I am willing to give them honest feedback. Ultimately, leaders are judged by the worst behavior they tolerate, not simply by their own behavior. Accountability, therefore, is not a final act of punishment. It is an ongoing process of creating an environment where people can and do take responsibility for their performance.

Key Points

1. Accountability should not be viewed primarily as punishment.

2. We cannot hold other people accountable, but we can create conditions that encourage accountable behavior.

3. Leaders must assume positive intent and believe people are capable of doing the right thing.

4. There is often a significant gap between how people rate their own accountability and how they rate organizational accountability.

5. Leaders must hold themselves accountable for creating the conditions that produce accountability.

6. Failing to give someone feedback or hold them to a high standard can actually be a form of disrespect.

7. Leaders are judged by the worst behavior they tolerate in the organization.

Quotes

• "You cannot hold anyone accountable other than yourself."

• "If we assume that people don't want to do the right thing, we let ourselves off the hook."

• "If you truly respect someone, you hold them to high standards."

• "Leaders are not judged by their best behavior. They're not even judged by their worst behavior. They are judged by the worst behavior that they tolerate in the organization"

• "[Creating] accountability is a process of creating conditions in which people [choose to] act in an accountable fashion."

• Transcript

  Accountability is often a dirty word in organizations because most people associate accountability with the action that is taken when something goes drastically wrong. But there's a whole other way that we can look at accountability that is much more empowering, much more productive, right? I mean, let's face it. When we think of accountability issues in organizations, we often think of holding people accountable. Why isn't somebody holding this person accountable? In my view, you cannot hold anyone accountable other than yourself. All we can do is create conditions in which people act in an accountable fashion or not. Now, those conditions can be created by doing several different things, being clear about expectations, making sure that people get timely feedback, making sure that they are encouraged when they are doing something well. And at the same time, also making sure that we don't tolerate a low performance and just kind of let the person off the hook. And when I think about creating conditions in which people operate in an accountable fashion, it has to start with

  setting a high bar for people and making sure that at the same time that we hold them to high standards, that we assume positive intent and we assume that they want to do the right thing, right? Because if we assume that they are lazy and they don't want to do the right things or they don't have any capability, then we let ourselves off the hook on giving them feedback. But if we assume positive intent and we know that the person is capable, then it is only natural that we give them clear direction, we provide them with feedback, and we make sure that they are basically performing to the best level that they can perform. Now, in my keynotes or workshops, I ask people who say we have an accountability issue,

  I asked them, if you were to rate from zero to 10, the level of accountability in your organization, 10 being absolutely amazing, zero is ultimate chaos and nobody's doing the right things and all of that, give yourself a score as an organization, but don't tell me. And then I asked them a second question. I said, I want you to rate yourself on your own personal accountability. And then I make a guess and I'm, always right in that the answer to the first question is often somewhere between three to five. And the answer to the second question is most of the time somewhere between six and nine. And so how is it possible that everybody in the audience rates themselves that high, but the level of accountability within the organization is always lower? Well, it's because we don't hold ourselves accountable for making sure that the right feedback is given and the right action is taken. I remind leaders that while I really believe in treating people with compassion and respect, we often miss this idea that not giving someone feedback, not holding them to high standards, or sometimes, as I said, we say, oh, bless his heart, he's never gonna do any better. That's a sign of disrespect. If you truly respect someone, you do hold them to high standards. And when you fail to do that as a leader, then you are judged by others by the behavior that you are tolerating. Leaders are not judged by their best behavior. They're not even judged by their worst behavior. They are judged by the worst behavior that they tolerate in the organization. So let's start thinking about accountability not as a final act of doing something negative to someone and start thinking about it as a process of creating conditions in which people act in an accountable fashion.

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One of the biggest barriers to collaboration I’ve seen is holding to a mindset of "I've done my part" instead of "I'll do what it takes." It reminds me of the story of a cobbler who agreed to repair one side of a customer's shoe but noticed the other side was about to fail. Although he wouldn't be paid for the extra work, he faced a choice that every leader encounters: Do I do only what I'm compensated for, or do I do what's right? That same choice determines whether organizations thrive or become trapped in silos.

I have seen this dynamic play out repeatedly in organizations. One memorable example involved employees arguing over who should wash shared spoons in a laboratory. Every attempt to solve the problem with rules and schedules failed because the issue wasn't the process. It was the mindset. Everything changed when people stopped asking, "Is this my job?" and instead started asking, "What needs to be done?" When everyone takes ownership, collaboration becomes automatic.

This principle applies at every level of leadership. I've coached senior executives who felt they were doing more than their peers and wanted the other person to make the first move. My advice is always the same: be the one who breaks the cycle. Waiting for someone else to change only guarantees that nothing changes. Transformative Leaders role-model the behavior they want to see rather than demanding it from others first.

Real transformation begins when we stop measuring whether we're doing our fair share and start measuring whether we're making the difference that needs to be made. Going beyond the call of duty may not always bring immediate recognition, but it builds trust, inspires others, and creates a culture of proactive, enthusiastic collaboration.

Key Points

1. The story of the cobbler illustrates the choice between doing only what you're paid for and doing what’s right.

2. A 50-50 commitment focuses on completing assigned responsibilities, while 100% commitment focuses on achieving the desired outcome.

3. Silo mentality often begins when people define their responsibilities too narrowly.

4. Processes and rules cannot replace a culture of personal ownership.

5. Leaders must role-model the behaviors they expect from others instead of waiting for others to change first.

6. Collaboration improves when people ask, "What needs to be done?" rather than, "Whose job is this?"

7. Taking the first step often encourages others to follow.

8. Intrinsic satisfaction from doing the right thing ultimately outweighs external rewards.

Quotes

• "The difference between success and failure is often the willingness to do what you won't be acknowledged or compensated for."

• "Fifty-fifty commitment says, 'I'll do my part.' One hundred percent commitment says, 'I'll make sure the job gets done.'"

• "The fastest way to change a culture is to role-model the behavior you want to see instead of waiting for someone else to go first."

• "Stop asking, 'Is this my job?' and start asking, 'What needs to be done?'"

• "Every organization has people waiting for someone else to take the first step. Transformative Leaders break that cycle."

• "Go ahead and sew the fourth and fifth stitch, even when no one is paying you for them."

• Transcript

  There was a cobbler and a guy came to him with his pair of shoes. And the cobbler took a look at the shoe and it was damaged on one side. And he told the guy it's going to take three stitches because apparently in those days they charged by the number of stitches. So this guy says, okay, it's going to take three stitches over here. It'll be really great. So the guy leaves his shoes and he's going to come back the next day. So the cobbler goes to work and he puts those three stitches on. and yeah, sure enough, it looks really good. But then he notices that on the other side, the shoe is about to fall apart and he's going to need to put on a couple more stitches. And so this cobbler wasn't very rich, he wasn't doing very well, and those additional stitches were going to cost him, but he couldn't charge the guy anymore because he had already quoted the price. So at this point, he was faced with this challenge of,

  Do I actually give the guy the shoe because I've done everything that I said I was going to do? I'm going to charge him what I said I was going to charge him. Or do I actually go out of my way and fix the other side of the shoe because I know it's going to fall apart? And so the moral of the story there is that that's the question that we are often faced with. Do I only do what I'm going to be acknowledged for or what I'm going to be compensated for? Or do I go above the call of duty and do some things that I may not be compensated or acknowledged for simply because it is the right thing to do. The cobbler could have stopped right there and said, look, it is not illegal nor is it immoral for me to just give the guy his pair of shoes back. He's going to pay me what I asked for and I have done what I said I was going to do. Now, I run into this all the time in

  my practice, and certainly in the many years that was in the corporate world, I saw it all the time, where the difference between success and failure, the difference between working in silos within organizations or working together collaboratively was whether we were willing to go out of our way or we were just really careful to say, okay, wait a minute, that's not our job, it's their job. This is not something that I'm getting paid for. That's what they need to do and so on and so forth, right? So in real life, I've seen many examples of this and some of you may have heard the story. I was a plant manager at one point and we had this one problem that as the plant manager, I got tied up in many times. People would pull me into this one issue and the issue was this, that in the lab, we had a problem. We had a number of spoons

  And nobody would wash them. They would use the spoons and then dump them in the sink. And then the problem was, wait a minute, you didn't wash your share of the spoons. Well, you need to use it. You wash it. Now I washed mine. And so this problems of people are not washing spoons always would bubble up to the plant manager and I would have to go play referee. So they tried all kinds of things, right? They said, okay. I tell you what, on Mondays, I'll wash the spoons, and on Tuesdays, you wash the spoons. So they tried to structure this collaboration. They tried to put some structure and rules around this, but it still wasn't working. And it wasn't until we got real clear about this notion of being on the court versus being in the stands, about not waiting for somebody else to do their part so that we can do our part. It wasn't until then that we got real clear

  That was the solution. Instead of trying to structure everything to make sure I don't do any more than I have to, what we're going to do is I'm simply going to do what needs to be done. And guess what? If everybody does that, then there is no problem. Then there is no inequity. And if one person doesn't do it in an environment like that, then they stand out and we can deal with that. But you know what the problem is, though? You say, okay, in theory, that sounds good. If everybody just always did more than they could, Nobody actually is going to end up doing more than they should. However, the problem is, how do I know that if I go first, that you're going to follow? I'm going to wait to make sure you do your part before I do more than my fair share. Well, guess what? They're waiting for you to do the same thing. So somebody has to break the cycle.

  Therein lies the problem because I think what happens is many times we are in that position of saying, okay, you know what? Technically, I've done my part, right? And we have justification saying, hey, you know what? I've done enough to where if this thing doesn't go well, I have plenty of evidence to say I've done my part. But does that actually do the job? And this is the difference between 100% commitment and 50-50 commitment. 50-50 commitment is partial and conditional. It says, I'll do my part. But 100% says, I am concerned about making sure the job is done. Now, I have to tell you, this problem is pervasive. It goes throughout the entire organization. I've had coaching clients who were at the president, CEO, COO level who weren't getting along, and I was coaching them. And literally,

  Their concern was, wait a minute, this seems a bit one-sided because it seems like I'm doing everything to make this work. And you know what? My response to them was, yeah, I know it feels one-sided to you. But guess what? It also feels one-sided to the other person because you both are expecting the other person to take the step. And I don't care how it looks to you. I want this to be one-sided as far as you're concerned. You take the steps and don't worry about the other guy. Because many times what happens is when you take an extra step, then other people will as well. So in your situation, whether you are the leader within the organization or you're working with your peers, and if this shows up, one of the best ways to break that cycle, to change that cycle, is to literally role model what you wanna see in other people. I know you're gonna be tempted to say, well, what if they don't follow?

  You're going to be tempted to ask whether they're going to take advantage of you. But all of those things are cop-outs. Those are ways in which we talk ourselves out of taking a step forward. And then when things don't go right, when things don't work out, we blame everybody else. So my encouragement to you would be, as our friend the cobbler shows us in that story, to go ahead and do that fourth and fifth stitch, even though you didn't get paid for it. And you'll see that sort of mentality will permeate through the organization and people will notice. And whether you get extrinsically rewarded for it or not, it will be rewarding to you intrinsically. And you will come to know yourself as a person who is willing to go above the call of duty, even when it doesn't seem like it is in your personal best interest. Role model that kind of behavior

  and witness the kind of magic that it creates in your organization. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Have you experienced it one way or another? What are you willing to try? Let's engage with this dialogue and see what's going on within our community relative to this topic and what people are thinking. What's been your experience? If you want to push back on it and say, you know what, in this kind of situation, it doesn't work. Okay, let's get into a dialogue. So I wish you a wonderful week. and I will leave it with you right here.

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In my experience, one of the biggest misconceptions in leadership is believing that people owe us their commitment. They don't.

While people do owe us compliance because we pay them, commitment, trust, and discretionary effort must be earned. When people don't trust their leader, they may do what they're required to do, but they are unlikely to consistently bring their very best to work. That's why I believe trust is the foundation of extraordinary leadership.

Over the years, I've identified 10 simple habits that help leaders earn trust rather than demand compliance. These include genuinely listening to people, generously sharing information, communicating with clarity, keeping promises, giving meaningful positive feedback, admitting mistakes, speaking well of people when they're not present, empowering others with real authority, showing authentic interest in people as whole human beings, and learning what uniquely motivates each individual. None of these habits is complicated, but together they create an environment where people willingly choose to give their best.

I've also learned that trust grows when leaders consistently demonstrate that they have people's best interests at heart. Whether it's investing in employees' personal development, acknowledging their contributions, or trusting them with meaningful responsibility, people pay close attention to our actions. They don't just listen to what we say. They watch what we do, and that's what ultimately determines whether they trust us.

So the next time you're tempted to complain that your people have an entitlement mentality, I encourage you to first look in the mirror. Ask yourself: Have you unintentionally developed an entitlement mentality of your own by expecting commitment instead of earning it? Pick one or two trust-building habits, practice them consistently, and you'll be amazed at the difference they make in building commitment, trust, and having people go above and beyond without even needing to ask.

Key Points

1. People owe leaders compliance, not commitment. Commitment must be earned through trust.

2. Trust is the foundation of discretionary effort and long-term engagement.

3. Leaders must actively seek out and listen to a wide variety of perspectives.

4. Sharing information generously helps people understand the bigger picture. Clear communication eliminates confusion about expectations and direction.

5. Keeping promises builds credibility and demonstrates respect.

6. Genuine, specific positive feedback strengthens relationships and makes constructive feedback easier to receive.

7. Admitting mistakes creates opportunities to build trust rather than damaging it.

8. Empowering people with real decision-making authority demonstrates confidence in them.

9. Showing authentic concern for employees as whole people builds deep loyalty.

10. Leadership is not one-size-fits-all. Different people are empowered by different things, and leaders must adapt accordingly.

Quotes

• "People don't owe you commitment. They owe you compliance. Commitment is something you have to earn."

• "Don't just share information on a need-to-know basis. Give people perspective on the bigger picture."

• "When things go wrong, you have a perfect opportunity to build trust."

• "People don't care what you know until they know that you have their best interest at heart."

• "The next time you find yourself complaining about entitlement, look in the mirror and ask whether you have an entitlement mentality yourself."

• Transcript

  In this video, I'm going to share with you 10 simple habits that will make you so much more effective as a leader because they will help you genuinely earn people's trust and their commitment. Do the people on your team have an entitlement mentality? You know what I'm talking about. You share information, you get them involved in decisions, you do all kinds of things to get them involved, but you can just never do enough. I want to share with you that their entitlement mentality is not the problem. Yours is. You may think that you're entitled to their commitment, to their discretionary effort, but you're actually not. You're entitled to compliance. You give them a paycheck, you give them benefits, and they owe you compliance. But that only gets them to the point where they give you what they owe you.

  It doesn't earn you their commitment. What earns commitment is something entirely different. One thing I can tell you is trust is at the foundation of earning commitment. I mean, if you think about your own experiences, have you ever been truly motivated and committed to support a boss who you didn't trust? If you didn't think they had your best interest at heart, Did you really go out of your way to support them and to give them your best? Well, the same is true for everyone. You know, some people have a tendency to be more generous with their discretionary effort. But at the end of the day, if people don't trust their leader, then they're not going to sustainably bring their best to work. In this video, I'm going to share with you 10 simple habits that will make you so much more effective as a leader because they will help you genuinely earn people's trust and their commitment. These actions and behaviors are not a one size fits all formula. They are merely suggestions for you to consider. Out of this list of 10, you may be doing very well at one or two of them.

  or not doing so great at some of the other ones. So you get to choose which ones you want to focus on and really take to the next level. So let's get into these 10 trust-building habits. Number one, take time to listen. And I'm not just talking about being a good listener when you are in a conversation. You may be an active listener. You may even be better than that. You may be what Stephen Covey calls an empathic listener, where you listen with not just your ears, but with your eyes and with your heart, where you really put yourself in the other person's world. And that is amazing. But you need to go beyond that. You need to make sure that you're not just exposing yourself to the few people that you need to talk to every day, that you actually take the time to

  hear everybody else's perspective. Give yourself exposure to as many people as you possibly can. Now, sometimes that's possible if you have a smaller team to do it in person. Sometimes you have to put mechanisms in place to do it virtually. But at the end of the day, what people want to know is, are you interested in my perspective? And if you don't genuinely listen, you don't take the time to listen, or you don't really do a good job of listening while you're in the conversation, that's not going to work out well. Number two, generously share information. Don't just share information on a need-to-know basis. Actively demonstrate to people that you're willing to take some chances by sharing some sensitive information with them. Don't just give them information about

  the little piece of the work that they are handling, but give them perspective on the bigger picture. Number three, deliver a clear message every time you communicate. Speak their language. Don't water down bad news. Make clear requests. Be clear about your expectations. Share your commitments and ask for theirs. Don't leave people wondering what you were trying to say. You know, my favorite is when you share some ideas, be clear as to whether that's input, recommendation, or direction. The difference is input is something for the person to decide whether they're going to use or not. Recommendation is a little stronger than that. that says you still get to decide whether you're going to use it or not, but if you decide not to use it, I'd like to know why. But direction is something that is much stronger than that. Now, the person may still decide that they want to push back on it, but they don't get to make that choice on their own, you see. So what often happens when communication is not clear is that you walk out of your boss's office

  or you come out of a conversation and you're wondering, did they just tell me to go do that or were they just making a suggestion? So be clear about your suggestions and your direction. Number four, keep your promises. If you make a commitment and you're not able to meet that commitment, get back to them and communicate with them as if they are your boss. Make sure that people understand that they are as important to you as your boss or someone else in the organization that has more authority than you. Condition them to know that when you give them your word, that they can take it to the bank, that you will keep your commitment, and if you're not able to, that you will at least communicate with them. This will also help you set

  an example and be a role model for them to do the same thing. Number five, regularly share genuine positive feedback. Make sure that you do it in a way that causes the person to truly feel acknowledged. Don't be distracted, don't be general. Look the person in the eye, make sure that you are very, very clear about what you're acknowledging them for. If you're writing a message on email, make sure that you bring up some specifics and do this regularly and do it abundantly. Because what you wanna do is you wanna put chips in the bank. You wanna constantly make deposits into that emotional bank account so that you don't hesitate when the time comes for you to give them some constructive feedback, something that they need to do differently. You see, so the value of positive feedback

  goes a long, long way in that it builds people up and it also makes it a whole lot easier for you to share constructive feedback with them. Number six, admit your mistakes and take responsibility for your shortcomings. When you make a mistake or when you miss a commitment or when you do something that falls short of who you want to be, admit it. You don't have to be a victim and feel bad about it and all of that. You just need to be honest about it, admit what happened, take responsibility for it, and let them know what they can expect from you in the future. In fact, when things go wrong, you have a perfect opportunity to build trust because that is when people are looking to see if you are a person who just deflects that responsibility and blame somebody else,

  or you're willing to stand up and say, that was me, I messed up, and here's what you can expect in the future. Number seven, speak up for those who are not present. When you engage in gossip and talking negatively about others who are not present, the people in that conversation will eventually recognize that you're also going to talk about them when they're not present. So this is a very important habit to develop is to not engage in gossip. It's perfectly fine to talk about facts and do it in the spirit of action planning. If someone is not doing well, okay, what do we need to do to have that conversation? But if you engage in gossip and talking negatively about somebody, then trust is eroded in that relationship, even if the other person is engaged in the same negative conversation with you. Number eight, give others the authority to make decisions, the results of which you are accountable for. In other words, I'm giving you the accountability, I'm giving you the authority to make decisions in this area

  knowing that if you don't do the right things, I would have to answer for that. In another video, I shared how I gave someone the authority to sign for $5,000 worth of parts when in fact on the books, they were only allowed to sign for 250. Well, I was still accountable, but I trusted them to go ahead and make those decisions knowing full well that if they made bad decisions, I could not blame them, I would actually have to answer to my boss. That kind of thing has massive trust-building power. Number nine, demonstrate your authentic interest in people as whole persons, not just someone who is a piece of machine that you're using to get the results that you want to get, but show interest in them.

  Now, everybody may not be interested in talking about all the private details of their lives, and that's totally fine, but show interest in making sure that they know that you are interested in them as a whole person. You may have heard me tell stories about a plant that I was leading at one point, and we essentially went to work. I say we, it was because it was me and my wife. She was the only consultant I could afford. because I had no budget and she was free. But she and I set out to help people improve their lives relative to their health, their relationships, their personal finances, and all of those kinds of things. And years later, as we had lots of success in helping people transform their lives,

  somebody told me, they said, you know, Amir, all those times when you were coming in at 7.30 in the morning to hold those classes about personal finance and all of that, we were thinking, what does this guy have up his sleeve? Why is he doing all of this? And at some point somebody said, well, maybe the guy just wants to help us out, right? Maybe he has our best interest at heart. And that had a lot to do with people trusting me and making up for my shortcomings so that as a team, we became very, very successful. And number 10, learn what empowers people professionally and deliver it to them. Don't use a one size fits all approach with everybody. Learn what makes people tick. If they have a desire to have more information, give it to them.

  If they have a need to get better at something, get into their world and figure out what that is and make the resources available. Let them know with your actions, not just your words, that you are willing to invest in them to make sure that their needs are met. If you take these 10 trust building actions and habits into account, evaluate them and pick one or two that you want to get better at and go to work at it, I assure you that it will make a huge difference in you earning people's trust and their commitment and the discretionary effort that you would like to have. So next time you find yourself complaining about people having an entitlement mentality, Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you have an entitlement mentality and if you feel that people owe it to you to bring their best to work. Then go to work on some of these habits and earn their commitment.

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If you feel stuck in your transformation, the good news is you’re already doing most of the right things. What you need isn’t a complete overhaul, it’s just one small, powerful tweak.

In my experience, when a transformation stalls, it usually isn't because everything is wrong. More often, it's because one outdated mindset or one missing ingredient is holding everything else back. I learned this lesson years ago while facilitating a client session in downtown Atlanta. Trying to save ten dollars on parking, I parked several blocks away, arrived soaked from the rain, and realized I was still operating with a scarcity mindset that no longer served me. That experience became the lesson that I now call "Pay the Parking Fee."

I've come to realize that transformation requires letting go of ways of thinking that helped us succeed in the past but now limit our progress to the future; what was once a propeller always eventually becomes an anchor. Just as a tuxedo doesn't look complete with dirty tennis shoes, leadership and organizational transformation can be undermined by one habit, belief, or practice that no longer fits. The goal isn't to throw everything away. It's to identify the one thing that is preventing everything else from coming together.

I've seen this repeatedly in organizations. A company may be doing dozens of things right to build trust, yet one contradictory signal can undermine all of it. Leaders may invest heavily in training and development, but if they never give people the opportunity to apply what they've learned, the training never translates into lasting growth. (That's why our Transformative Leadership Accelerator program focuses not only on tools and coaching, but on giving participants meaningful challenges where they immediately put new ideas into practice.)

So before you abandon your transformation efforts, take a closer look. Chances are you're already doing most of the right things. Instead of asking, "What am I doing wrong?" ask, "What is getting in the way?" Like a pot of soup that's missing just a little salt, sometimes one small adjustment is all it takes for everything else to come together.

Key Points

1. Most stalled transformations are caused by one missing ingredient, not a fundamentally flawed strategy.

2. Old mindsets that once served us eventually become barriers to future success.

3. Small mindset shifts often produce disproportionately large improvements.

4. Organizational culture is strengthened when leaders eliminate contradictory signals.

5. A single inconsistent practice can undermine many positive leadership behaviors.

6. Leadership development requires opportunities to apply new knowledge, not just learn it.

7. Stretch assignments and real-world challenges accelerate leadership growth.

8. Before changing everything, identify what single factor is preventing progress.

9. Continuous transformation depends on regularly examining and updating our assumptions.

Quotes

• "Sometimes you've got to pay the parking fee."

• "Transformation often stalls because of one outdated mindset, not because everything else is wrong."

• "Don't second-guess all the things you're doing right. Ask what's getting in the way."

• "We don't transform by working harder. We transform by thinking differently."

• "Training changes very little unless people have the opportunity to apply what they've learned."

• "A single missing ingredient can be the difference between frustration and breakthrough."

• Transcript

  In this video, I want to share some good news with you. If your transformation is stalling, if you're not making as much progress as you want, it may not be because you're doing everything wrong. In many cases, all it takes is a little tweak. In fact, if you're watching this video and if you're interested in my content, I can almost guarantee you that you're doing most of what needs to be done right. It's just a matter of figuring out what is messing things up. I want to share with you a real life story that has been a lesson that has kept on giving for years and years. This story is featured in my book, The Transformative Leader, in a chapter called Pay the Parking Fee. Many years ago, I had a facilitation gig. I was working full time. But at the same time, I had just gotten certified as a facilitator and I was moonlighting. I would take a vacation day and I would work with a client. And in many cases, I would take the client to the mountains for a day or two, and we would come back with a five-year plan. And on this particular day, I was facilitating a session at a client's office near downtown Atlanta. as I pulled into their garage underneath their building, I saw a sign that said parking was $15 for the day. And I was like, no way, I'm not paying $15. So I pulled back out and I'd seen a sign for parking for five bucks, one of these outdoor lots. So went down there about two or three blocks down, parked my car. And by the time I started walking over to the office, it was drizzling a little bit. As I got a little bit closer to the office, it was raining. So I'm going faster, I'm getting wet. So by the time I got to the client's office, I was drenched and I was out of breath. I still had a few minutes to prepare and the session went well, but that was cutting it too close. I remember that afternoon when I was leaving the client's building, I was thinking to myself, why did I do that? 15 bucks for parking was not a lot of money compared to the thousands of dollars that they were paying me for the day. But my mindset was still the one that I had from years before. See, I came to the US when I was 16 years old, I didn't have a whole lot of money. I didn't know anybody. I didn't speak the language. I didn't have any resources at all. In fact, while I was in high school, I ended up getting the job as a dishwasher, only making $2 an hour. And over time I had developed this mindset of being frugal and not spending any more money than I have to. But that had been many years prior. And at that point, while I was making the kind of money that would make it real easy for me to afford the $15, I still had that mindset. So that day I learned a lesson that sometimes you've got to pay the parking fee. Sometimes you have to let go of some of the mindsets and thought processes that you've had in the past so that you can move forward. The way I describe it in the book is like going to a formal ball and you have your tuxedo on and everything is looking great, except you have dirty tennis shoes on. Everything else is okay, but that piece does not fit. The same thing is true with our mindset in life or as a leader in the workplace. It's not so much that we're not doing the right things. Sometimes it's because we're holding on to a way of thinking that is no longer conducive to our progress and our success. So since then, my kids who are working with me now on our team oftentimes say to me, okay, you know what? We just need to pay the parking fee. And we all know what that means. That means that we are trying to be too frugal when we don't really have to be, or that we don't want to put in a certain kind of effort because we don't think it's going to work. But if we pay the parking fee, that means we're taking on a different mindset that is really aimed at making great things happen as opposed to being held back by our previous mindset. So coming back to the transformation that you're aiming for, whether it's changing the culture of your workplace, transforming the level of leadership capability that you have, causing people to want to take more initiative and be involved, or work better together as a cohesive team as opposed to going into their silos. Whatever transformation you're out to cause, if it's stalling, if it's not happening, it's discouraging. Sometimes it causes you to question everything you're doing. Oh, I'm not doing this right. I shouldn't be doing this. Maybe that's not right. Maybe. And many times that's not really the case. Many times all it is that you got to tweak something. There's something that is holding you back. Like I mentioned in one of our previous videos, in one case we were doing as a plant, everything that we could to make sure that everyone felt valued. But there was one thing that we weren't doing right. And that was that we had two separate entrances for the haves and have nots. And we eliminated that issue. And it sends a very strong signal to the entire organization because to them, it was clear. Yes, you're doing this right. You're doing that right. You're involving us in decisions and so on and so forth. But that right there doesn't fit, right? And the moment we fix that, then everything came together and we increased the level of trust. If you are developing leaders, for instance, it could be that you're sending them to the right classes, you're giving them the right resources, but you're not necessarily trusting them to make certain decisions or take their new learnings for a test drive. Oftentimes that's the case. We give people all kinds of information. We put them in training sessions and give them tools and in some cases skills, but we don't necessarily give them the opportunity to use it. This is the main reason that our transformative leadership accelerator program really works very well. Because during this three-month program, not only do we give people tools and skills, but everybody takes on a big, hairy, audacious goal, if you will. Everybody takes on a project that they're working on that really stretches them to be their best and to seek out better ways to do things as opposed to just working harder and trying to do better. And in the course of delivering those results, as we give them more tools and more coaching, then they take it and apply it right away. And in many cases, that is exactly what's missing. Are people getting the opportunity to apply what they're learning? So I would encourage you if you are working on a transformation, if you are committed to making the transformation happen, think about all the various components that you have in place. And I would encourage you not to second guess all the great things that you're doing, but ask the question, what is getting in the way of all of these things working? If you're cooking a delicious soup, you may have all the right ingredients, but if you forget to put salt in there, then it is a bit bland and you don't taste anything. The moment that you put a little bit of salt in, that is what transforms the taste of that soup and everything comes together. So what kind of soup are you making and what is the one ingredient that is missing, the presence of which would make a tremendous difference?

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I have learned that getting people to buy into a vision takes far more than creating a vision statement or talking about it in town halls. The visible work of writing a vision is the easy part. The real challenge is consistently sending signals that convince people the vision is real. I've found that four specific actions dramatically increase people's commitment to a shared future.

First, I make the vision tangible by defining what success actually looks like in practical, everyday terms. Abstract slogans don't inspire action, but clear descriptions of the future do. Second, I help people see themselves in that future through meaningful one-on-one conversations. When people personally identify with the vision, it stops being my vision and becomes their own.

Third, I believe leaders must put their money where their mouth is by backing up their words with trust, authority, and meaningful action. If we expect people to take ownership, we must be willing to give them the authority to make decisions and demonstrate our confidence in them. Finally, I look for highly visible actions that reinforce the culture we want to create. The smallest symbolic changes often send the strongest messages about what we truly value.

In my experience, people don't buy into a vision because they hear it repeatedly. They buy into it because they can clearly picture it, see themselves contributing to it, experience leaders making sacrifices for it, and observe visible evidence that the organization is serious about creating that future.

Key Points

1. Creating and communicating a vision statement is necessary but not sufficient.

2. Make the vision concrete by describing what success actually looks and feels like.

3. Help people see themselves personally succeeding in the envisioned future.

4. One-on-one conversations are often more powerful than large town halls for creating buy-in.

5. Leaders build credibility by backing up their words with meaningful actions.

6. Trust grows when leaders give people the authority to make decisions instead of simply talking about empowerment.

7. Symbolic actions can reinforce cultural values more effectively than speeches.

8. Organizational signals speak louder than posters, slogans, or mission statements.

9. Visions become real when employees take personal ownership of making them happen.

Quotes

• "The hard stuff is easy. The soft stuff is hard."

• "People don't buy into an abstract vision. They buy into a future they can see themselves creating."

• "Put your ‘money’ where your mouth is."

• "Take visible steps that send a message to the organization about the future you're committed to creating."

• "A vision becomes real when people stop seeing it as the leader's idea and start making it their own."

• Transcript

  Are you struggling to get people to buy into the vision that you have for your organization? If that's you, stay tuned because I'm going to share with you four very specific steps that you can take that will give you an immediate boost in getting everybody aligned behind the same vision and moving forward. The mistake that most leaders make is that once they create a vision statement and they put it on the wall and they put it on the website and they have a town hall and they talk about it from time to time, they think that about 80% of the work is done. But while that stuff is necessary, it is not sufficient. It is of course important to declare a vision and paint a picture of that future. But when it comes to leadership and cultural transformation,

  The hard stuff is easy. The soft stuff is hard. Some of those things that are tangible, you know, make a vision, make posters, put them on the wall and all that, that stuff is easy. What makes or breaks your progress is the signals that you send to the organization. I once led an organization that was not doing so well. And I came up with this idea that we are going to be the showcase of excellence. And what that meant to me was that we were going to be the best of the best and we're going to deliver the best results. For weeks and possibly, I hate to admit, for months, I was excited about this vision. I was going around and telling people, yeah, we're going to be showcase of excellence.

  The look in their eyes was not very convincing, right? So they were looking at me like I had two heads. And of course, for some time I was thinking, well, these people must not have had a visionary leader. But that was not the problem. The problem was that this vision only existed in my head and nobody else knew what it meant. It was only when we sat down with a small group of people leaders within the plant and we dissected this idea and we began to define what that really looks like. What does it look like to be the showcase of excellence? That we're delivering these kinds of results, that people are coming to our plant because we're the benchmark, they're learning from us, that our people become the sort of the go-to experts that other people seek out for coaching and support. That is when

  it started to take shape as something real for people. So I remember very clearly the day that vision went from being an idea in my head to something that a few other people got excited about. We listed about 13 different descriptors of what the Showcase of Excellence actually meant. And then we began to go through a similar exercise with other people to help them understand what this idea was all about and wrap their mind around it. So what I would say is if you want your vision to come to life, make sure that it is expressed in terms that people can relate to, not some abstract idea, but explained in a way that people can relate to and connect to their everyday lives.

  Another way you can influence people to buy into the vision of the future is to have them see themselves in that future. It's not only enough to tell people or try to push them in that direction, but have them see themselves in that future so that they internally are driven to make it a reality. This generally does not happen in town hall meetings. but in one-on-one conversations or in small group conversations where the realization sets in and the light bulb goes off for somebody. I remember such a moment that I had with Shane. He was working in the plant. He was running the wrapper. And one day I was walking around and as usual, I saw a whole bunch of tools and materials and other things on the wrapper. So

  As always, I went up to Shane and brought that to his attention. And of course, he started cleaning up and I was helping him. And then I stopped and I asked Shane, I said, Shane, I want you to think about this showcase of excellence that we're talking about here. Imagine, I want you to imagine that it's a year from now and we've been identified as the plant of the year in Atlanta. And the mayor is going to give us an award. So there's this banquet, this award ceremony, and they've asked us to nominate one person to accept this award on our behalf. Shane's like, okay, well, sounds good. I said, well, Shane, imagine that you are the person that I nominate. Now, imagine this. You're in your tuxedo, you're up on stage, and you're

  You look out there, you see all of us, employees and our families, we're so proud and you're going to accept this award. By now, Shane had a smile on his face and he was like, yeah, that sounds really good. I said, imagine that the mayor has asked us to bring a picture that he's going to put up on the screen while you accept this award. Shane, what do you think if we just took a picture of your wrapper right now? and put it up there. And as you can imagine, Shane's like, oh, come on Amir, now that wouldn't look good. No, why not? Well, you know, it's not supposed to have all of this stuff on it. I said, yeah, that's right. That's not a good representation of who we are as the Showcase of Excellence, is it? For some reason in that moment, it clicked for Shane. That was unacceptable. Now, even though Shane only worked on one of our three shifts,

  He took it upon himself to get together with the other two people on the other shifts. And I never saw another piece of material or tool or any kind of debris on that wrapper. That was the defining moment when he owned it, not only for himself, but he made it his business to get everybody else to buy into it. and he got us a little bit closer to our vision. So get people to see themselves in that future and be hooked on it. Another way to influence people to buy into the vision of the future is to put your money where your mouth is. It's easy to describe a certain vision and tell people that they should do this or they should do that. But if they don't see you making any sacrifices or any big moves that show that you are really committed, then most likely they're not going to be bought in. One aspect of our vision when we wanted to become the Showcase of Excellence was that we were going to distribute the authority to make decisions across the plant.

  And this meant that some people who in the past had to go to the plant manager to get permission for certain things would now make their own decisions. The problem was that we had a certain structure in place that did not necessarily give people the authority, for instance, to purchase more than a certain dollar amount worth of material for even the most basic things in their area. So I remember very clearly Jackie, who had been working in the plant for over 30 years and he was an absolute expert on our utilities, but he could only sign for $200 worth of materials. Most of the things that Jackie did took a lot more money than that. So every time he wanted to buy something, he would come to me

  And he would explain to me why he needed the part and I would have to sign it. And then he'd go off and do what he needed to do. I told Jackie that I was going to give him the authority to sign for up to $5,000. I couldn't make that change as far as the corporate was concerned. I was going to accept responsibility for that. But I said to Jackie, if it's less than $5,000 worth of materials, all you have to do is tell me to sign it and I'll sign it because I trust your judgment. It took us several weeks to get to that point. Jackie would come to me and he'd be like, yeah, Amir, we need this part. I said, stop, Jackie, would you buy this part? And he'd say, yes. I said, okay, you don't need to tell me anything else. And I would sign it and give it to him. And occasionally I would say, well, okay, if there's something else you wanna tell me, that's okay.

  But as far as the signature is concerned, all you have to do is tell me to sign it. After a few weeks, Jackie would walk around the plant with his head up high, really proud, knowing that he was trusted with the resources that we expected him to work with. I will never forget the day that I left that assignment. Jackie came up to me. with tears in his eyes, and he told me that nobody had ever trusted him with so much and gave him so much authority to do what he needed to do. So give people authority to do what they are responsible for. Put your money where your mouth is. Take some risk, calculated risk, but take some risk with their development and their ability to do what they need to do. Another thing I suggest that you do is take some big steps that show people you are really serious about creating the vision that you keep talking about. Take some visible steps that will get people's attention. I remember telling everybody that we want to make sure that everyone

  regardless of whether you are hourly or salary or a manager or technician or whatnot, that we want to treat everyone as an employee who is truly valuable. I realized a few months into our journey that there was something that I had missed. The plant had two entrances. One was a very nice, beautiful entrance that was recently remodeled, nice carpet, plants, security guard that would smile and greet you. And that one was only for visitors and the managers, the salaried people. Everyone else, contractors, people who worked on the floor, came in through this dark, dingy little entrance that we had in the back. And it all of a sudden dawned on me that we are treating people like second-class citizens while we're saying we're all valued. So the step that I took there was I said, okay, I understand that we need to have that other entrance for contractors if they're bringing in their tools or material and things like that.

  but as far as the employees are concerned, we are all going to come through this front entrance. I had quite a bit of resistance to that because some people were like, oh, you know, these people work on the floor, you know, their shoes might be dirty and all of that. This thought process was appalling to me because we were already assuming that these people perhaps live in a pigsty. When they get home, you know, they drag all their greasy, shoes all over the floor and all this kind of stuff, which I knew was not the case. We were already making an assumption about people that perhaps permeated everything else we were doing. So I resisted that and I fought and pushed back on that thought process. And it turned out to be a huge step in the right direction for us because the moment we made that change, it got everybody's attention for years and years.

  The people who worked on the floor were coming in through the dark and dingy little entrance, and now we were all coming through the main entrance. So take some steps that are visible that send a message to the organization about that future that you're committed to creating. I have written about this topic extensively, and we hold workshops that go into a lot of detail about every step of the process from start to finish, how you actually create a vision and how you share it and all of this. But if you take these four steps that I've talked about in this video, I believe that you're going to see an immediate impact in your ability to get everybody aligned behind the vision that you have for your organization.

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When I facilitate a workshop or deliver a keynote, my goal is never to simply motivate people for a few hours. Inspiration is valuable, but by itself it fades quickly. What I'm really after is a sequence of outcomes that begins with a transformative realization, leads to immediate action, produces lasting behavior change, and ultimately delivers measurable business and personal results. That's how I define a truly successful leadership development experience.

I believe participants play just as important a role as the facilitator. The people who get the greatest value from a workshop arrive with a clear purpose, remain coachable, and listen for wisdom rather than simply collecting information. Once they experience a meaningful insight, they need to act on it immediately. Transformative realizations have an expiration date, and unless they are put into practice, they become just another good idea that never changes anything.

Sustaining change requires more than motivation. I encourage participants to embrace setbacks as part of the learning process, build systems of accountability instead of relying solely on willpower, and celebrate the behavior changes they see along the way. Progress becomes sustainable when new habits are reinforced through commitment, reflection, and consistent action.

Leaders and event organizers also have a critical responsibility after the workshop ends. They should keep the conversations alive by reinforcing key concepts, checking in with participants, encouraging continued learning, and connecting workshop insights to real workplace challenges. The true measure of a successful workshop is not how people feel when they leave the room. It is how differently they think, behave, and perform weeks and months later.

Key Points

1. A successful workshop produces lasting transformation, not just temporary motivation.

2. The four desired outcomes of any successful workshop or development program are:

   • New personal realizations

   • Immediate action

   • Sustainable behavior change

   • Improved long-term results

3. Participants should enter every workshop with a clear personal purpose.

4. Being coachable means being willing to try new ideas, not necessarily agreeing with everything.

5. Listen for wisdom that applies personally rather than simply collecting information.

6. Transformative realizations have an expiration date unless acted upon immediately.

7. Renewing commitment to a purpose greater than yourself increases motivation and follow-through.

8. Publicly declaring intentions and creating accountability accelerate lasting change.

9. Sustainable behavior change requires systems, accountability, and embracing failure as part of learning.

10. Leaders should reinforce workshop concepts through follow-up conversations, continued learning, and practical application in everyday work.

Quotes

• "Transformative realizations have an expiration date."

• "A successful workshop isn't measured by motivation. It's measured by lasting behavior change and results."

• "Knowing something doesn't change your life. Acting on it does."

• "Don't wait for motivation. Take action first, and motivation will often follow."

• "The true value of a workshop is determined long after the event is over."

• Transcript

  Have you ever been to a company event that knocked your socks off, a workshop, a leadership development event, or something like that? Now, have you ever been to one that was a complete waste of time? Believe me, as a participant, I have gone through both experiences. That is why I am so committed that when I hold a workshop or when I give a talk, that people get a lot more than they expected to get. In this video, I'm going to share with you some things that the participants and event organizers can do to get the most out of those types of events. It takes a lot of investment of time and money to pull something like that together, to bring everybody together, hire a speaker or have a facilitator. What you wanna do is you don't wanna just have a motivational experience. You wanna go way beyond that. And I'm gonna share with you the outcomes that I am after when I do one of those sessions and some of the things that you can do as a participant or an organizer to make sure

  way beyond the event itself, you maximize outcomes that you get. I recently came back from an event with a client that I really enjoyed working with. So we had a one day workshop and it was a great experience. I knew it was really good when we took our first break about two hours into our one day session. And the leader was talking to me. went up to him to say, okay, so how's this going for you? And he told me that one of the participants told him that if we just stopped right now and did nothing else, that they felt that they got enough value out of the workshop to make it worthwhile. So I was really happy to see the testimonials that I got after the workshop. And most people quite honestly would declare victory. They say, okay, that's a successful workshop.

  And yes, it's really great news when you actually hear that the conversation moved people and it gave them something to work with and they were really happy. But that's only the first step in the series of outcomes that I personally look for. When I give a talk, what I am really looking for is four things. One, I want the participants to see something in the workshop for themselves that they couldn't see before that would make it visible to them what is possible, who they are, what they're capable of, something that would energize them. The second thing I'm looking for is that immediately after the workshop, the participants are energized to get in action. Transformative realizations have an expiration date. when you have a realization, you ought to get in action. Even if it's just a couple of baby steps, because if you don't, then you put that realization and that knowledge in the pile of things that you have known, but have not done you any good, right? And if somebody suggests that you take a particular action, according to that knowledge later on, you say, oh yeah, I know. But knowing things doesn't really help you. Once you get in action,

  then you begin to see the benefits. The third thing that I'm looking for is that in a couple of weeks that they are able to see the behavior changes that have taken place in themselves. And I want them to be able to point to some behaviors that have shifted from before the workshop to after the workshop. In this situation, I used to act this way, and now I see myself behaving this way. And the final thing I'm after is that in a couple of months, they ought to be able to point to some results that have actually shifted. So realizations that have resulted into actions that have actually culminated in some different behaviors, which produce different results. Now, let's face it, no matter how amazing a facilitator or a trainer or speaker is, and no matter how transformative their content is, the final ingredient that really creates something extraordinary is the participant and the attitude that they bring in. So this is why I always ask ahead of time what people are actually experiencing.

  committed to getting out of the session. I have my objectives based on the extensive pre-work that I do with clients. I know what I would like to accomplish, but what's most important is what are you, the participant, who want to get out of the session that would make this an extraordinary experience? That process in itself does wonders for people because rather than sitting in the session and just saying like, happened to me, if you go into the session clear that, look, I am here to learn this, or I am here to experience that, then you will look for the insights to actually make sure you walk out of there with that outcome. Whether you volunteered to be there or you were voluntold, you're going to spend a few hours of your life in that session. So have a purpose.

  The second thing is be coachable. Coachable doesn't mean that you agree with everything. Coachable means that you're willing to try it on. And the third part of this is to listen with the intent to gain wisdom, as opposed to just picking up information, but not connecting it to yourself. Listen with the intent to attain wisdom about yourself and your situation. To develop motivation and energy to get in action, there are again three suggestions that I have for you. Number one, get in action on your new insight immediately. As I mentioned earlier, I mentioned this again because oftentimes we wait for motivation to do something, but many times it works the other way around. You got to get in action, take a few baby steps, and then

  generate motivation. So don't wait for motivation. Begin to act on what you picked up in the workshop. Number two, renew your commitment to a cause greater than you. Look, when you are committed to something bigger than yourself, you are more likely to get in action. It's a natural thing. When the only thing at stake is something that has to do with you, you're less likely to find the motivation to act. For instance, if you're going to go work out early in the morning, isn't it true that if you're doing that by yourself, you're more likely to skip a day here and there versus if you had a partner and you didn't want to let them down. So renew your commitment to something bigger than yourself.

  And finally, to develop the motivation to get in action, declare your intentions to other people. Don't keep it a secret. If you got something out of the conversation and you're committing to changing your behavior, let other people know. Let them know what your intentions are and ask them to keep you in check. Let me know, please, if I behave differently because my intention is to act on the things that I learned in this workshop. That keeps you in action and it gives you the motivation to keep going. Now, to turn those actions into sustainable behavior shifts over time, there are also three suggestions that I have for you. Number one, embrace failure. Just know that if you have behaved a certain way for a long time and now all of a sudden you have a different point of view and different perspective and you intend to behave a different way, sometimes you might fall into your automatic patterns and that's okay as long as you recognize it and you change course. Because if you use your first failure as an excuse

  to get off track and say something like, yeah, that stuff sounded good in the workshop, but it doesn't work, then essentially you have given up on those actions turning into sustainable behavior shifts. Number two, don't rely on discipline alone to keep you on track. Put a system in place, put a process in place, renew your commitment to a worthy cause. If you lose sight of your commitment and try to still maintain your discipline to do something that you don't see any point in, that's not going to work and it's not going to be sustainable. Finally, take the time to acknowledge your behavior shifts. Talk to some of those people who are your accountability partners, the ones who you ask to keep you on track. Check with them to see if they're noticing something. If you are noticing something in yourself in terms of those behavior changes, take the time to celebrate and acknowledge those. I also have some suggestions for leaders and organizers of leadership development events.

  Because it's important when an event goes well that you strike while the iron is hot, if you will. Because it's one thing to be motivated coming out of a session, but if that motivation is not connected to reality, then it dissipates in the face of everyday challenges. And this is why we've got to integrate what we got out of the workshop into our daily lives. So here are some of the things that you can do as event organizers or leaders, or even if you are one of the participants, you could take these actions to perpetuate the message and the value that you got out of the workshop. Number one, listen for the distinctions that are presented in the workshop. There are a large number of

  distinctions that I present. I talk about being on the court and playing the game as opposed to being in the stands and talking about the game. This usually sticks with people. We talk about being 100% committed as opposed to having a conditional and partial commitment. I have a saying that says, I am the one and it's not about me. And all of those things, when we come out of a workshop, I hear people talking about it. And what's important is that you, continue to listen for those particular distinctions that have stuck for people and bring those into conversations and make sure that you continue to perpetuate that kind of language. The next thing I suggest is that you have as many one-on-one conversations as you possibly can with the participants. These don't have to be 45 minute one-on-ones, but just a five minute check-in. Hey, what did you get out of the workshop? This is what I got. This is what resonated with me. What do you think about ways in which you can apply some of the things that you got? The other thing you can do is dig into the material

  that is in line with the work that was done in the workshop. In my case, most of our clients end up conducting a book study with the transformative leader. And so there is a great deal of overlap between what's in the book and what I present in my workshop. So that keeps the conversation alive. You also may looking to blog posts or articles that are written by your speaker. In my case, the ganotgroup.com slash blog has like 500 articles that could also be used to generate conversations in small groups that will keep that conversation alive. Another way that you can make sure that you connect people's reality to what was presented in the workshop is to talk about what challenges they are dealing with. In addition to starting with some of the concepts that were presented, you actually start talking to them about what they've got going on and work back from there and connect some of the challenges that they're dealing with to some of the concepts that were presented. There are a number of things that you can do within your organization to make sure

  that you continue to get the most out of sessions. And as we have our events with our clients, what I do is I have a debrief with them where I share some of these standard items, but also based on my observations and based on the conversations that I've had, I formulate a number of actions that they can take to make sure that they maximize their benefits from the workshop. I hope that you've gotten something out of this video that you can act on immediately. And I would encourage you, if that's the case, to begin taking action on it as soon as possible. And if you want to get in touch with me to get clarity on any of the points that have been made or learn more about the services that we offer, please feel free to schedule a discovery call and we'll have a chat.

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Most organizations struggle not because they lack leaders. They struggle because too many people in leadership roles were never prepared to lead. Often, this is the number one reason organizations ask for my guidance. The common practice is for high-performing technical experts to be promoted into leadership positions without being equipped with the mindset, skills, and habits required to actually be leaders. The result is predictable. They become bottlenecks, micromanage their teams, and spend most of their time doing instead of leading.

In my experience, solving this problem requires much more than just some leadership training after someone is promoted. Leadership development should begin early and continue throughout a person's career. Every employee should learn to lead themselves first, then progressively develop the capabilities needed to lead others. While tools and techniques are important, they are never enough on their own. The mindset of a Transformative Leader is what determines whether those tools create growth or simply reinforce counterproductive behaviors.

One of the biggest mindset shifts is recognizing that a leader's job is not simply to deliver results. A leader's primary responsibility is to grow leaders while also achieving results. That means assuming positive intent, earning commitment rather than demanding it, and creating an environment where people willingly contribute their best rather than merely complying with instructions. Organizations must also reward people for performance but promote them based on their leadership potential, helping prevent the Peter Principle from limiting organizational growth.

Ultimately, leadership development must become part of everyday work, not an occasional training event. Organizations need promotion practices, reward systems, and experienced leaders that intentionally focus on developing leadership capability at all levels. When leadership development becomes part of the culture, organizations create leaders who not only deliver outstanding results but also multiply leadership capacity throughout the business.

Key Points

1. The biggest reason organizations seek leadership consulting is that too many leaders have never been taught how to lead.

2. High-performing technical experts are often promoted into leadership roles without adequate preparation.

3. Leadership is a skill unto itself, one that can be learned, practiced, and improved upon independently of other capabilities.

4. New leaders frequently become bottlenecks by micromanaging and trying to do everything themselves.

5. Leadership development should begin long before someone receives a leadership title.

6. Tools and skills are necessary, but mindset is what determines leadership effectiveness.

7. Transformative Leaders focus on developing people, not simply completing tasks.

8. Leaders earn commitment through trust, purpose, and intrinsic motivation, not through authority or compensation alone.

9. Organizations should reward performance but promote based on leadership potential.

10. Leadership development should be embedded into everyday work, not limited to classroom training.

Quotes

• "Your job as a leader is not just to get the job done. It's to grow leaders while getting the job done."

• "Reward people for their performance, but promote them based on their potential."

• "Tools and skills matter, but without the right mindset, they will never produce Transformative Leadership."

• "People owe leaders compliance. Commitment has to be earned."

• "Leadership development isn't an event. It has to become part of the everyday work of the organization."

• Transcript

  Of the top three reasons that our clients bring us in to support them, the top one, the biggest one, the main reason is that they have people in leadership roles that are just not equipped to lead. This happens in businesses that have not done a good job of developing leaders. Technical experts get rewarded with additional responsibility And that additional responsibility sometimes includes leading others. And they just don't have the expertise to do that. What ends up happening is that these leaders who are in these roles end up becoming super doers because they feel like doing more of what has gotten them to that point is probably what is needed. And as a result, they become a bottleneck to the rest of the organization.

  They want to have their finger in every pie. They want to micromanage. They want to be involved in everything. They want to prove their worth by doing more of what has gotten them to that point. So what ends up happening in most organizations to some degree is that people end up getting promoted to the first level at which they're incompetent. So this is known as the Peter Principle. So somebody is doing a good job. We promote them to the next level. They're doing a good job. We promote them to the next level. They eventually get to a point where they are no longer competent relative to the requirements of that role. Now, as we engage with our clients, we go through a comprehensive assessment to understand what the situation is and how they've gotten there and what we need to do to remedy the situation. There's just so many different things that we work with them on.

  too many to list in this video right here. But suffice it to say that some of the remedies include the following. Number one, it's important to do leadership development early and throughout the person's career, regardless of whether they're on a technical track or leadership track. It is important for any contributor, any person, even though they're an individual contributor right now, to be prepared to at least be able to lead themselves. There are certain habits that they need to take on even though nobody else reports to them. And eventually, as they get close to leading others, there are other skills and tools and mindsets that we need to equip them with. One of the mistakes that businesses make is that even when they take on leadership development, they equip people with tools. And sometimes they might even go beyond that and give them the opportunity to practice with some of those tools and develop the skills. But tool sets and skill sets, while very important and necessary, are not sufficient for a person to be what I call a transformative leader.

  What is necessary is the mindset of a transformative leader. So you may know exactly what tool to use, what form to use to provide feedback. You may have gone through the process to do it a certain way, but if you don't have the mindset that says, look, providing this feedback is intended to help the person grow. It's not intended to punish them, for example, for something they didn't do right, you know, six months ago and things like that. You have to have the certain mindset to be able to apply the tools and the skills that you have picked up properly and effectively. So again, there are a number of distinctions that we work with leaders on relative to their mindset. Here are some examples of the mindset of leadership.

  Leaders need to understand that their job is not to just get the job done, but to grow leaders in the process. They need to subscribe to McGregor's Theory Y that essentially assumes positive intent and recognizes that people want to do well. They need to recognize that people do not owe them commitment. They owe them compliance. Essentially, as a leader, I need to recognize that You know, I pay people and they need to do their job. And yes, they owe me that. But if I really want their commitment, if I want their discretionary effort, I need to earn that. And usually that is done through intrinsic rewards, not extrinsic rewards like salary and benefits. So these are just a few of the things that are important to recognize. And again, there's a whole host of distinctions that we work through with leaders to make sure that they

  not only understand and know about these mindset shifts, but they get to practice them in the real world and develop themselves into the kind of leader who is not only just competent relative to the technical understanding of what's going on, but they also demonstrate a certain character that causes people to trust them and It helps them influence people and essentially develop more credibility throughout the organization as a leader. Now, one of the remedies that help organizations avoid the Peter principle, if you will, is something that I learned when I was working for Procter and Gamble. I learned that we should reward people based on their performance, but promote them based on their potential. Now, obviously there's a certain amount of performance that is needed in order to get promoted, but just because you're performing well, doesn't mean you have the potential to go to that next level. In fact, one of the things that we used to do was we asked the question, if we were promoting a person to the next level, or we were considering that promotion, we would ask the question, is this person capable of

  being successful at the next level above that one. One of the other causes of leaders not being developed that I have seen and the remedy for that really has to do with founders or first generation leaders or some of the experienced leaders who are in leadership roles, but they got there because of their technical skills, for example, and they're not equipped. They don't have the right skills. tools or skills or mindset to develop other leaders. In those situations, it's important for that person to recognize that they are being the bottleneck in developing additional leaders in the organization and get themselves out of the way. This doesn't necessarily mean that they cannot be involved, but they've got to give the reins to someone else within the organization who's got

  the mindset and the attitude or the expertise to lead the leadership development. Now, in some cases, it might be appropriate also to involve an external resource for a period of time to accelerate progress. But the reason that does not happen oftentimes is that the person in charge, the person at the top, does not recognize that they are indeed slowing things down. So I would encourage you to think about your organization. Are the leaders in your organization, are people in leadership roles equipped to lead? Do they have the right tools, skills, and most importantly, the mindset to lead? How have they gotten there? What are some of the policies? What are some of the procedures in your organization that has actually resulted in this situation being the case where leaders are not equipped perhaps. And what are some things you can do with your reward systems, with your promotion process, with most importantly, instilling this mindset in leaders that once they are in a leadership role, their job is not just to get the job done, but to grow as leaders and grow others. What are you doing when it comes to

  putting in some leadership development programs and not just programs in the form of training sessions and things like that. What are you doing to build leadership development into the everyday practices? I'd love to hear your answers. If you want to comment on this video or you want to send me a DM, I'd love to know what's going on. And if you have some ideas and you would like some guidance, reach out to me. This is something that I do for a living, but I also enjoy doing it. I enjoy engaging with people who have passion for developing other leaders. So I wish you the very best in growing leaders in your organization, and I look forward to hearing from you.

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Silo mentality is one of the most common and costly challenges organizations face. Departments frequently become focused on their own priorities, metrics, and success measures, often at the expense of collaboration and organizational performance. While team-building activities can help temporarily, lasting change requires addressing the underlying causes that create and reinforce silos in the first place.

Based on my decades of leadership experience and consulting work, I’ve come to understand that silo mentality never just disappears on its own. People naturally focus on what they are rewarded for, and when a scarcity mindset takes hold, departments begin competing rather than collaborating. The solution has to go beyond simply asking people to work together more effectively. Leaders must intentionally create the conditions that make collaboration the natural choice.

The first requirement is a clear, compelling, and unifying vision that everyone understands and can connect to their work. The second is a reward system that aligns departments around shared organizational success, rather than encouraging competing priorities. I illustrate this with an example from Thailand, where conflicting departmental metrics discouraged cooperation until leadership introduced gross margin as a shared measure of success. The third requirement is encouraging peer-to-peer collaboration across departments, rather than forcing all decisions and problem-solving up the chain of command.

When leaders establish a unifying vision, align incentives, and create an environment where peers can work directly together, organizations begin replacing scarcity thinking with partnership. The result is stronger collaboration, better decision-making, and significantly improved business outcomes, every single time.

Key Points

1. Silo mentality is one of the top challenges organizations seek help addressing.

2. Organizations do not naturally collaborate. Collaboration requires intentional leadership and ongoing effort.

3. Team-building alone is not enough to eliminate silos because it does not address the root causes.

4. A lack of a unifying vision causes departments to focus on their own priorities rather than organizational success.

5. Many organizations have vision statements but not truly shared visions that people can clearly articulate and align with.

6. Misaligned reward systems often encourage departmental competition rather than collaboration.

7. Shared performance measures can help departments work together toward common outcomes.

8. Leaders sometimes unintentionally discourage collaboration by requiring issues to be escalated rather than resolved among peers.

9. Most cross-functional conflicts are executional, not strategic, and can often be solved through direct communication between peers.

10. Common objectives align individual success with organizational success, reducing internal competition and increasing cooperation.

Quotes

• "I never saw an organization that just naturally collaborated. It takes effort and intentionality to bring people together."

• "If the top leadership team cannot clearly articulate the vision, the rest of the organization certainly isn't clear about it."

• "Collaboration among peers between departments is absolutely key to breaking down silos."

• "When doing what's right for me is also right for the company, collaboration stops being a struggle and starts becoming the natural choice."

• Transcript

  One of the top three problems that our clients engage us in helping them with is silo mentality. The organization is divided into departments and they are doing their own thing and not working together. They're not collaborating. I can relate to this from my 31 years in manufacturing and supply chain leadership. I never saw an organization that just naturally collaborated. It takes effort and intentionality to bring people together. Otherwise, what happens is people just basically do what their department is rewarded for and scarcity mentality sets in and people get divided into silos. So I've seen this in my own operations and I certainly have been exposed to it in the last 10 years or so as we have consulted with many organizations. Sometimes people feel like, okay, if we bring people together, do some team building exercises and sort of teach people or appeal to them to play nice and work together, this is gonna take care of things. Yes, it is part of the process to do team building and have people share different perspectives and so on and so forth. But in my experience, the effect is temporary unless you take a deeper look at what is actually causing the silo mentality and the scarcity mentality that causes people to not collaborate with one another. In order to systematically uproot silo mentality and have people collaborate, I believe you've got to be intentional in at least three areas and take the time and effort to address these three issues. The first is lack of a unifying vision. Now, if you don't have a vision if the team does not know where they're going and how they're getting there. Naturally, they're going to do what they need to do that makes them look good or at least not look bad. They're not bad people. They're doing their job, but they're not doing it in the context of a bigger vision, something that brings all the different departments together or all the different people together, if you will. And so what happens is that everybody is doing something that they think will contribute to the greater good, but whether it does or not is left to chance. Now, in my experience, when I go to an organization and they complain about silo mentality and people not collaborating, I know in the back of my mind that lack of a unifying vision could be contributing to it. So I always ask, If they have a vision, if they have actually defined the vision, shared the vision, are people clear about what it is and how they fit into it? And almost every time the answer is yes. Oh yeah, sure, we have one. I remember a few years ago, I was working with this organization and the top level leadership. answer was immediately, oh, yes, we have one. So I asked them, so what is that vision? And so they started kind of looking in their papers and on their phones and all that. It's right here somewhere, which immediately made it clear to me that they really don't have a vision. They may have developed a statement at some point. It may have been posted somewhere. But if the top leadership team could not say, in very basic and simple terms, what that vision looked like, then the rest of the organization was not clear. And so we went to work on creating a vision that was clear and it was unifying and we spent some time to communicate that to the rest of the organization and showed them how they fit into it and how they could work together to make it happen. So that step made a difference. And that is step number one. The second key factor in breaking down silos and having people work together is take a closer look at the reward system. What are we rewarding people for? In many cases, different departments are rewarded for different things. And that is natural. Of course, if you are in sales, you're going to be rewarded for the revenue that you're bringing in. If you are in supply chain or product supply, as it is called at Procter & Gamble, you are rewarded for keeping the cost of goods down, right? And that is the way it should be, perhaps, in terms of the in-process measures. You know, what am I responsible for in my function? And I want to make sure that I deliver that. However, sometimes these measures are at odds. And while one department is pushing for one thing, the other department is pushing for something else. And a clear example of that to me that stands out is when I worked in Thailand, the business was reinventing itself in terms of the products that we were putting out and the sales department of course, wanted the more expensive products and R&D and marketing people were also for that. But the people who were making the products, myself included, were rewarded based on the cost of goods sold. So we were resisting naturally to say, look, you know what? Yeah, everybody is going to be happy, but you guys are going to still beat us up because our cost of goods went up because we were looking for products that were going to cost more, but they were going to bring in more revenue. Then a smart person said, hey, why don't we establish as part of our reward system for everyone, gross margin. Like if we are bringing in a significant amount of profits, even if we're making a more expensive product, we're not going to penalize the product supply people for that. And that paved the way for us working together to increase revenue and profits. The third reason why silos are formed and they persist is that the leaders at the top of those different departments discourage communication and collaboration between peers and That's not always done in a toxic way. Yes, there are some leaders who forbid their people from talking to those other people and so on and so forth. But a lot of times it's done with the best of intentions to say, look, we are responsible for making sure that we're doing our work and so on and so forth. But in the end, the result is the same. People are hesitant to speak to their peers in this other department and work through things. And that I found is the most effective way to encourage collaboration, not necessarily to send everything up the chain for it to be worked out at the top, but working through it among peers. Now, I'm not suggesting that we leave all the strategic decisions out there for somebody who may not have all the perspective to work through with their peer at a junior level in another department. But my experience says that most of those issues that are created are executional issues that could really go away by people talking to each other, giving each other some perspective and some information. Now, if there are some strategic decisions that really do need to go to the top levels of the organization, I believe that those are worked out a whole lot more effectively if they've already been discussed among peers where all the information is out there and some analysis has been done and a joint recommendation has been made to the leaders. So collaboration among peers between departments is absolutely key. in breaking down those silos. When I worked at Procter & Gamble, we talked a lot about this concept of common objectives, making sure that the needs of the employee and the company are aligned so people are not pulled in different directions and that doing what's right for me is also right for the company. Therefore, we have common objectives. Now, I have developed a model around common objectives that involves three different dimensions of common objectives, but that's another topic for another day. I will also make a video about that to dig into the three different aspects of creating common objectives

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In this video, I explore a leadership principle that has the power to transform team performance: treating people as if they are extraordinary human beings. I explain how many employees become trapped by "old tapes" or "Polaroids," labels and stories created from past mistakes or perceptions that limit how others see them and, ultimately, how they see themselves. When leaders allow these narratives to define people, they unintentionally reinforce mediocre performance and prevent individuals from realizing their potential.

Drawing from my own personal experience, I share the story of an employee who was widely viewed as a poor performer until a company bowling event revealed her exceptional talent. Seeing her excel in a different setting changed how others perceived her and how she perceived herself. That shift in confidence and respect eventually helped her grow into a leadership role. The lesson is that people often rise or fall to the expectations placed upon them, and leaders have a responsibility to create an environment where people can transcend limiting labels.

I also challenge leaders who blame poor performance entirely on their workforce. Using an example from a consulting engagement, I question the logic of labeling the majority of employees as "slackers." If organizations are hiring capable people from the community, then leaders must examine how their culture, systems, and leadership practices may be contributing to disengagement and underperformance. Leaders must take ownership for creating conditions that encourage initiative, enthusiasm, and personal growth.

Treating people as extraordinary does not mean ignoring performance issues or avoiding accountability. Leaders should distinguish facts from stories, provide honest feedback, offer coaching and support, and ensure employees understand expectations. When every reasonable effort has been made and performance still does not improve, it may be appropriate to part ways. Respecting people as extraordinary human beings ultimately means holding them accountable while preserving their dignity and worth.

Key Points

1. People are often limited by "old tapes" and "Polaroids" that define them by past mistakes or outdated perceptions.

2. Leaders can unlock higher performance by treating people as extraordinary human beings, regardless of their past performance.

3. People tend to rise to the expectations placed upon them, especially when they are seen and treated differently.

4. According to McGregor's Theory Y, most people want to do well and contribute, so leaders should examine what is preventing that desire from showing up at work.

5. Organizational culture can turn extraordinary people into ordinary performers if leaders fail to create the right environment.

6. Leaders must take responsibility for how people show up at work, rather than simply blaming employees for poor performance.

7. Treating people as extraordinary does not mean ignoring performance problems. Facts should inform coaching, development, role fit, and accountability.

8. Respect is not conditional on performance. Every person deserves dignity and honest feedback.

9. Withholding corrective feedback is actually disrespectful, because it prevents people from improving and succeeding.

10. After providing support, resources, coaching, and clear expectations, leaders may need to part ways with an employee who still does not perform.

Quotes

• "If we manage to help people shake off those Polaroids and old tapes and stories and snapshots and treat them as if they are extraordinary human beings, they begin to rise to the occasion."

• "Nobody starts a career, nobody starts a job with this aspiration of going to work every day and doing the minimum."

• "When we withhold corrective action or some feedback that the person really needs to hear, we're actually not respecting them."

• "We have to, as leaders, take responsibility for how people show up."

• "Don't hold people to those limitations that they may have created or others may have projected onto them."

• "People want to do well. But what happens is something gets in the way."

• "If you treat someone as an adult, if you treat someone as an extraordinary human being, you do what you need to do to ensure that they know what the expectations are."

• Transcript

  What if you had the superpower to turn every one of your team members into an extraordinary contributor, someone who is being engaged, doing their best, and making significant contributions? I wanna share with you one thing you can do that will help you tap into the superpower that you already have…That one thing is to begin to treat people as if they are extraordinary…Let me tell you, when I first started my career many, many years ago, there was this phrase that I kept hearing. People kept referring to old tapes. What does that old tape mean? The old tapes refer to…the behavior that that person was known for. Maybe they made a mistake at some point, or maybe they had certain habits at some point, but they couldn't shake it off. They had been labeled. A company that I recently worked with as a consultant…had a similar kind of concept, except they called it Polaroids. Oh, this person is just never gonna succeed. Why? Because there are too many Polaroids in the system about this person. Snapshots that at some point somebody got of that person, they just couldn't shake it off. See, the the truth is that this is not a silver bullet. Of course, there there are other factors that come into play when it comes to really causing everybody to bring their best and be excited and do well at work. But I guarantee you that if we manage to help people shake off those Polaroids and old tapes and stories and snapshots and treat them as if they are extraordinary human beings, they begin to rise to the occasion. I'll give you a very specific example of this from many years ago. I used to work in a plant, and we used to have this one person who just couldn't do anything right. In the eyes of everyone, they were just a slacker. Whatever they touched…

  just didn't work out. Except this one time, we went bowling. We had a team building activity, and it was bowling. Well, the person showed up with their own shoes and their own ball, and they started rolling, strike after strike. They almost bowled a perfect game…And everybody was astonished because in our eyes, I have to admit, in my own eyes, she just was kind of mediocre at whatever she tried, but she was totally excellent…at bowling. Well, we go back the next day, and people begin to see her differently. She begins to feel different. She begins to feel that she is competent and show a certain level of confidence. Make a long story just a little longer, this lady went on to become a team leader, which was…

  not in the cards as far as any of us were concerned. And that one situation that caused everybody to see her differently and caused her to feel differently and show up differently made all the difference in the world. We have to, as leaders, take responsibility for how people show up. I mean, if you subscribe to McGregor's theory y, that essentially says people want to do well, they want to take initiative as opposed to theory x that says people are just lazy and they wanna do the minimum. Then you have to take some responsibility for the person showing up at work and checking their enthusiasm and initiative and energy at the door and just coming in and doing the minimum. Nobody starts a career. Nobody starts a job…with this aspiration of going to work every day and doing the minimum. We all want to do well. But what happens is something gets in the way, and…that something leads to something else and something else. And before we know it, we just basically turn into button pushers. Right? We go to work and we wanna do our aid. We wanna hit the gate. We just wanna stay out of trouble, so on and so forth. And then other people begin to see us that way, and the old tapes begin to accumulate. And next thing you know, the person becomes a mediocre performer. So we've gotta figure out a way…

  to break that cycle…Now…this starts with the leaders taking responsibility for creating the kind of culture…that is conducive to everyone bringing their best and treating people such that they're not feeling like they're limited by their past mistakes and and perceptions. Let me give you one more example of where I've seen this. I was working with a company as a consultant, and all I heard from the leadership team was that their people were slackers. So the leadership team, when we started working together, was really unwilling to take responsibility…for shifting the culture. And they just felt like they're victims to the people because they're all slackers. So one day I asked them, what percentage of the people working on the floor are slackers? And they gave me a number like eighty percent. The average was about eighty percent of the people on the floor were slackers. So then I asked them a question. I said, you guys hire from the community here, right? Because as far as I know, you're not, like, flying anybody in, and most of the people working on the floor are not relocating for this particular job. They say, oh, yeah. Yeah. All of our people from this community. I said, so is it true that about eighty percent of the people who live in this region of the country…

  are slackers? Is that true? No. No. Of course, many of them grew up in that area. No. No. That's not the case. I said, oh, okay. So is it true that your…

  recruiting process targets specifically…those few people who are slackers, and therefore, you end up with eighty percent slackers in your workplace? They're like, well, no. No. That's not the case. I said, so the only other possibility could be that you hire extraordinary people, but you end up…turning them into ordinary or less than ordinary people. And that is something that you as a leadership team…have to take responsibility for…

  So my request of you…is to take one action coming out of this. And that is to make an inventory of the people that you work with, just the immediate circle around you. And be honest with yourself around what are some of these Polaroids…that you're holding on to about them? What are some of these old tapes that you keep running…over and over in your mind about them…Be intentional about letting that go. Letting those Polaroids go. Letting those old tapes go. And don't hold those people to those limitations that they may have…created or others may have projected onto them. And just see what kind of a difference that makes…

  I didn't wanna go off on too many tangents, but I thought about a couple of questions that I'd like to expound on. The first one was, well, okay, Amir, you say treat people as if they're extraordinary. But are we supposed to forget about the old tapes? Maybe they were true. What if the person really has poor performance? Do we ignore that? So that's question number one. The second question is, well, what if we…treat people as if they're extraordinary and they continue to have poor performance? What do we do then? So let me address the first question. When I talk about old tapes, I'm talking about the stories that people have made up. Some of these old tapes may have been rooted in some actual events. Something happened, and then people continue to talk about it and make up stories about it. It's important to distinguish between facts and fiction, which may have been born out of the stories that that have been made up. So I'm not suggesting that we ignore performance problems. I'm not suggesting that we ignore history that could actually inform us on how we can best set the person up for success. If someone has demonstrated repeatedly that they are not really good at certain things, we have to either give them the skill or we have to make sure that they're in a role that really is a good fit for them. Or we have to make sure that we coach them and support them in…

  shifting their their approach and their mindset, whatever the root cause may be. So real events, uh, inform our actions, and we should take them into account. For me, uh, treating people as extraordinary human beings is about respect. Respecting a person is not conditional based on their performance. In other words, a person's worth…is not dependent on their performance. They are a human being and these they deserve a certain amount of respect. Right? And when you respect someone, you are honest with them. So if they need to get some feedback that may not feel right at the time, assuming that it is delivered, uh, correctly with some level of compassion, it needs to be delivered. When we withhold corrective action or some feedback that the person really needs to hear, we're actually not respecting them. We're not treating them as extraordinary. I joke about this sometimes in my workshops. I say, you know, sometimes people say, oh, bless his heart. He's not gonna do any better. And and in that case, bless his heart, is not a compliment. It's essentially insulting the person. And in fact, what we're doing is we're letting ourselves off the hook and giving that feedback…

  Now the second question is, okay. So if we do that, let's just say someone has had a kind of a rough, uh, past and they, they have had some old tapes about them in the system, Polaroids, whatever you want to call them. And, um, we give them the benefit of the doubt. We work with them, do whatever we can to help them correct their behavior or their performance, and they still don't do that. So what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to…perpetually just sort of giving them more…uh, you know, opportunities and chances? And the answer is no. If you treat someone as an adult, if you treat someone as an extraordinary human being, you do what you need to do to ensure that know what the expectations are, that they know where their performance is relative to those expectations, they have the right resources, that they know you got their back, and you got their support. And at the same time, they also know that it is their responsibility to change their behavior or do better. So…

  at times, when you've done everything you could, you may get to a point where it is time to part ways. Once you get to that point where all options have been exhausted, it's totally fair to acknowledge that we have done everything we could and, uh, we are still not where we need to be and at times we need to part ways. I'd love to engage with you. If you have questions, send them to me or put them in the comments, uh, on LinkedIn…or a comment on the blog post. Whichever way, I'd love to get your thoughts on it and and share mine

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A little over a month ago, I renewed my commitment to my health and wellness and decided to not let good be the enemy of great, as Jim Collins puts in in his book, Good to Great! I set some goals in terms of my exercise program and the tweaks I needed to make in my diet and I set out to make it happen. I am happy to report that I have been consistently following my program and I feel great about resisting the temptation to go back to my old ways—as I have done many times in the past—but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had my share of challenges! One such challenge and defining moment is what gave me the inspiration for this week’s post.

It was about two weeks after starting my new regimen that I decided to get on the scale to see just how much progress I had made. I had resisted the urge to do so for a couple of weeks, but that day, I figured I might as well because I could use a little encouragement that I was indeed making good progress and everything that I was doing was worth the trouble. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be a great idea as my bathroom scale seemed to be having a bad day! We have one of those solar-powered digital scales, so you have to turn the light on in the walk-in closet where we keep the scale and wait a few minutes for it to charge. I did that with anticipation and couldn’t wait to get on it, only to find out that the thing was malfunctioning! It was showing that I had actually gained two pounds instead of losing a few as I thought I had. At first, I couldn’t believe it. I got off the scale, repositioned it because I thought maybe it wasn’t getting enough light or the floor was uneven, then carefully stepped on again, this time making sure that I didn’t make any sudden moves that would confuse the scale, only to see the exact same dreaded number pop up again!

To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement! I mean here I was, so proud of myself for having followed my plan. All those hours on the treadmill and all the desserts I skipped and the late night snacks I went without and this is what I get? It had been two whole weeks! Surely, I should have seen some results by now!? In an instant, I went from being totally enthusiastic about following through with my commitment to health and fitness to wondering if I would have even gained any more than the two pounds, had I been indulging in a few Twinkies every day and trading the treadmill for the couch this whole time! The moments after having the sudden realization that my efforts had not yielded the desired results were not fun. I felt the powerful urge to give up so strongly because I figured all was lost and there was no hope. I would never get in shape and no matter what I did it wasn’t going to work!

It was a strange feeling because, on the one hand, it felt like the agony of defeat and on the other hand, there was the sweet taste of victory in finding some justification that I no longer needed to work so hard because I had evidence that it was pointless to do so anyhow. Two whole week’s worth of evidence! So I did what I always do when I’m in my head. I reluctantly shared what I was thinking with my wife, knowing well that she was going to talk some sense into me, and that she did. She reminded me of all the things that I preach and teach and nudged me back on track.

Has anything similar ever happened to you? You set out to achieve a goal and pursued it with enthusiasm only to be disappointed by your expectations having not been met at some point along the way? Isn’t it interesting that when we get going in a positive direction, we want instant gratification and immediate positive results, and when we have had some bad habits for years, we are surprised at how quickly they produced negative results? I can go on eating junk food for years and be shocked at how quickly I gained weight and be on a diet for two weeks and wonder what is taking so long for the weight to come off!

How we react and what we do in those defining moments when the results are not as promising as we expected them to be is what sets Transformative Leaders apart from others.

Transformative Leaders act according to their commitments, not their attachments. In my case, my commitment is to lead a healthy lifestyle. My attachment is the number I see on the scale or just how far or how fast I can run or how I look. Acting according to my attachments is conditional based on my expectations being met, but if I continue to focus on my commitment regardless of what the scoreboard says, I will stay in action and eventually get the results. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not minimizing the value of keeping an eye on the results to determine where you stand and whether or not you need to adjust your strategy. That is absolutely necessary in every transformative journey. What I’m talking about is the obsession with the scoreboard that diminishes your energy and enthusiasm and unnecessarily diverts your attention to worry and fear, rather than the focused effort concomitant with any transformative vision to which you have committed yourself.

I run into this challenge often and have to constantly catch myself to make sure I’m focusing on my commitment. One example of something I have to watch out for is when I hold leadership development sessions. It is not unusual for the participants to come into the session a bit skeptical and sit with their arms crossed as if to say, “This had better be good!” I’m used to that and I usually don’t let it bother me, because my commitment to them experiencing a transformation is so much bigger than my attachment to the fear of evidence of that not happening. It does help to have seen hundreds of people walk out of my sessions completely energized and ready to get in action.

Having said that, I have to say I had an experience recently that almost messed with my head and threw me off. I say “almost” because I hung in there and boy am I glad I did. In a four-hour class that I conducted recently, I had one gentleman who maintained a very disgruntled look on his face the entire time, and absolutely refused to even crack a polite smile at my jokes and rebuffed my attempts to get him to loosen up a bit. I could clearly imagine what was going on in his head—according to the voice in my head, that is—and it wasn’t good. I took it as a challenge to get through to him and have him experience a transformation and I absolutely refused to give up. By the end of the session, however, I was convinced that while everybody else was completely energized, I had failed to reach this particular participant. As I was packing my computer and gathering my notes, he came around to the front with the same serious look on his face and I was very ready to hear him tell me how he thought the entire session had been a waste of his time. To my surprise, however, he held his hand out to shake mine, and he went on to tell me in a very genuine and authentic manner how much he enjoyed the session and how he picked up so many insights that are going to be extremely helpful to him, personally and professionally. I was taken aback because in my mind, and according to all the evidence on the “scoreboard,” I had made no contribution to him and wasn’t making any progress in getting through to him. But, luckily, I was proven wrong and I was so glad that I didn’t get discouraged and write him off along the way.

Commitment and Progress

This story and the story of my health plan illustrates some instructive truths about progress when it comes to transformative journeys. More often than not, the progress that is being made will not be visible to you, but that doesn’t mean no progress is being made. Sometimes this is because a transformation requires an initial time investment to pick up steam and gain traction. Consider the example of the Chinese bamboo tree, which shows virtually no sign of any growth in the first four years when it is planted and then in the fifth year, it grows by 80 feet in just six weeks. When it comes to something like health, unless we have some specific ailment that can be dramatically improved by a specific therapy, we will have to invest considerable time and effort on the front-end before we start seeing benefits. This is something we tacitly understand in some areas, since we don’t, for instance, buy bigger clothes every week we go to the gym in anticipation of our muscles growing dramatically with each weight lifting session. It would be ridiculous to expect such dramatic improvement in such a short time, and the bigger your transformative vision is, the less realistic it is to expect immediate and obvious results.

In other cases, it may simply be a fact that even after we have put in the time and effort on the front-end, our progress never seems to ever dramatically improve at all. This is because the truth is that we rarely ever feel this more uniform type of progress being made in real-time, whether physically or mentally, simply because it is so gradual and we are so close to it. To give an example, think of how many times you have ever felt your body growing or noticed yourself becoming wiser. I don’t mean times that you noticed that those things had happened, but times that you noticed them happening in the moment. Heck, think of how many times you have actually seen grass grow or paint dry. You can’t, can you? But you certainly don’t deny that those things have happened and are happening, right? Of course not!

The fact is, the only way we ever notice this subtler kind of progress happening is when we take the time to look for it in the past while standing in the present, and acknowledge the progress that happened to get us from where we once were to where we are now. You don’t ever notice yourself growing until one day you stop and look back and say to yourself, “Look how much I changed since then. I used to be so small/inexperienced/weak, but I never gave up and that’s why I’m where I am today.”

This being the case, what can we do to maintain our resolve to keep going even in the face of what seems to be little or no progress?

The first thing that I would suggest, and which I mention in One Point Lesson #20 of my book, is taking the process of looking back to the past to see how much progress we have made so far and extending it into the future. What I mean by this is, instead of looking back on the past from the present, imagine that you are living in the desired future you have set out to create and looking back from there to what is now the present. Fully immerse yourself in the feeling of accomplishment and peace that your future self must be enjoying, having already achieved whatever goal it is that you are currently out to achieve. Can you imagine it and feel it? Now, imagine that you have become your accomplished future self in the present, imagine that you have achieved your health or fitness goals, or that you have a wonderful relationship with your significant other, or that your performance and fulfillment at your workplace is right where you want it to be. If that were the case, wouldn’t you want to keep things that way? If you were already fit and healthy, wouldn’t you do things to keep yourself being fit and healthy? If you already had a wonderful relationship with your partner, wouldn’t you take actions to keep it that way? Of course! Then all you have to do is envision yourself as already having what you want and act in a manner consistent with maintaining it. By acting as if you were already where you wanted to be, you allow your designed future to transform your present in a virtuous self-fulfilling prophecy.

The second suggestion that I would offer is simply to trust the process. What I mean by that is that we live in a world governed by cause and effect, and there are certain actions we know that will always produce certain results. The truth is, if you let go of a glass vase, it will fall and shatter when it hits the ground, whether you believe that will happen or not. If you touch a hot flame, you will get burned whether you understand why or not. When it comes to making progress and creating transformation, the exact same rules apply, albeit in ways that we may not be able to perceive as easily. The very fact that we may not be privy to the inner workings of these processes is not a reason to distrust them, but rather a reason to trust in the process despite their obscurity. The truth is, whatever practice and hard work you do will pay off eventually, whether you know it or not and whether you recognize it or not. In fact, it is more precisely true to say that whatever work you are doing right now is already paying off, because, when you choose the action, you have already chosen the consequence. Or, as the Zen master Dōgen put it, “Cause is not before and effect is not after.” Have faith in the process, commit yourself to it fully, and the results will work themselves out. As long as you are moving in the right direction, you will eventually get to where you want to be.

The Bottom Line

In every transformative journey, there are plenty of those moments that can derail us or strengthen our resolve to keep going. The choice is yours. No matter what challenges you are dealing with right now, you can choose to shift your focus to your commitments and let go of your attachments. You may not be able to quiet the noise in your head that keeps reminding you that your efforts are futile. If you suspect that there is a need to revisit your strategies, by all means, be intentional about looking at your options and engage a coach to help you see things clearly. But whatever you do, don’t give in to the notion that just because you have not yet seen the results you thought you should have, you should stop and forget about it. It is true that we cannot feel progress subtly being made—indeed, it is not clear that progress feels like anything at all—but we must always take care not to confuse how we feel with the way things actually are. In fact, when it comes to your transformative journey, you can measure your progress by just how infrequently you preoccupy yourself with doing so. Most stories with a happy ending don’t feel like that along the way. So hang in there and enjoy the ride, envisioning yourself in the designed future you are out to create.

(Since this post was inspired by my own fitness efforts, I wanted to link an article on Olympian athletes explaining how the best ones embody this commitment mentality vs. the attachment mentality. I did post this on social media previously, but I would like to offer it here again for anyone who missed it: What Separates Champions from Almost Champions)

Have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary! As always, I would love to hear about your victories and/or challenges. Please leave your comments below or send me an email at amir@theghannadgroup.com.

Copyright © 2016 The Ghannad Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

Leadership development has grown into a $360+ billion industry globally. Yet, according to a study quoted in the Harvard Business Review, the majority of efforts fail to yield anywhere near the results implied by such huge revenues and investments.

The HBR article offers a tentative explanation for this strange phenomenon, namely that “corporations [have been] victims of the great training robbery.” The article elaborates on this point by stating that “American companies spend enormous amounts of money on employee training and education […] but they are not getting a good return on their investment. For the most part, the learning doesn’t lead to better organizational performance, because people soon revert to their old ways of doing things.”

Based on decades of leadership experience, I can only say: I’m not at all surprised! During my career—both as a leader and as one being led—I have seen far too many false starts and ill-fated attempts at training and development as a result of organizations merely going through the motions to check a box. I have also seen well-intentioned leaders do everything they know to do, with the best of intentions to develop leadership capability in their people, only to see little to no sustainable behavior changes or shifts in their results.

Based on current trends, it seems almost as if training and development are doomed to forever be a futile waste of time and money. Even worse, the lack of return on investment will go on to perpetuate a self-fulfilling prophecy and vicious cycle where training and development don’t deliver results, resulting in less investment in such efforts, leading to further lackluster results, and so on. Let me assure you, however, that things don’t have to be this way!

The good news is that the solution, in many cases, does not require a major overhaul of existing programs. Traditional leadership development can be useful in many ways as long as it is delivered and received in the right context. Based on my experience leading countless successful leadership development and culture transformation efforts, that proper context has the 3 key characteristics that I am going briefly explain in this article.

1.     Leadership Development must be done in the context of accomplishing something extraordinary.

"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things."

- Edmund Hillary

The metaphor I’d like to use to explain what I mean is the distinction between general fitness and training to win the gold medal in a particular sport. While there are fundamental fitness strategies that everyone would benefit from, when an Olympic athlete sets out to win a gold medal, they don’t just aimlessly work out. They focus on developing specific skills and gaining strength in very specific ways that serve them in achieving their specific goal. Leadership development works the same way. While everyone would benefit from developing a set of fundamental skills, breakthroughs can only be achieved when the person sets their sights on achieving something extraordinary. It is only then that they will be most effective at developing themselves into the kind of person who can achieve those goals.

This is the framework in which I conduct all of my leadership development and culture transformation work, both for organizations and individuals, and it has been phenomenally successful in every industry and locality in which it has been implemented, all over the world. If you’re curious about this approach and interested in taking it for a test drive yourself, I encourage you to check out our newly released e-course “Unlocking Your Transformative Potential.”

2.     Tools and skills are necessary, but the secret to making them work for you is in understanding what’s in the way of putting them to use…and then getting it out of the way!

Informative training – that is mastery of relevant tools and skills – is a necessary step in becoming an effective leader, but it is not sufficient. Transformative training – discovering what is in the way of progress and learning how to move it out of the way – is what’s needed if one aims to get the most out of those tools and skills and become a truly transformative leader. In the video below, I introduce a simple metaphor of driving on the highway to demonstrate how the “Hidden Saboteurs of Success and Fulfillment” work against us as long as we remain unaware of them, and how awareness alone is often all it takes for us to dramatically improve our performance.

If this resonates with you and you believe you, or your organization, could benefit from adopting this approach to training and development, I would urge you to check out our soon-to-be-released e-course “Discovering the Transformative Leader Within.” This e-course represents the first time the content of one of my most popular workshops for private clients has been made available to the public, and we are very excited about individuals and teams being able to complete the powerful experience at their own pace.

3.     Leadership development must start with the individual adopting the mindset that they are fully committed to a purpose greater than themselves.

“I am the one and It’s not about me!” – Amir Ghannad

When a leader takes full responsibility for the results they are committed to delivering, AND they get that their efforts or their results are not about them, only then are they able to discover the Transformative Leader within. It is through mastery of this paradox and constantly practicing the right balance of what Jim Collins refers to as “professional tenacity and personal humility” that leaders become the best version of themselves.

The leadership development programs that we conduct at The Ghannad Group are designed to create holistic experiences for our participants, but as I mentioned earlier, your existing programs can also be transformed if you evaluate them against the characteristics described above and make the necessary adjustments. If that sounds like something you would be interested in pursuing, I have some guidance below.

Ask yourself the following questions and act on the answers:

• Do we do leadership training and coaching in hopes that it will pay off someday, or are we intentional about persuading the participants to practice what they learn in the course of delivering extraordinary results?

• Do we only arm people with tools and skills, or do we also engage them in the practice of developing self-awareness so they can see what is holding them back from being the best versions of themselves as leaders?

• What are we doing to cultivate the right mindset in leaders such that they are willing and able to accept the personal accountability of being a leader and yet not make everything mean something about themselves?

If you’d like to take on the challenge of overhauling your existing leadership development programs or just starting fresh from the ground up, or if you simply just don’t know where to start, feel free to reach out to me and I’d be more than happy to offer my perspective based on over 3 decades of experience. Simply comment on this post, send me a direct message or email me at amir@theghannadgroup.com.

The lessons I learned about integrity didn't come from reading books or hearing about other people's experiences. I learned them through my own costly mistakes.

I had a long career in the restaurant business while I was going to school. I was a dishwasher and busboy before I started waiting tables at breakfast and lunch. Then I got my break working at a small, but fancy Swiss restaurant, whose owner decided to give me a shot that ultimately set me up to work at an upscale restaurant, where I routinely served celebrities.

The Swiss restaurant didn't have a lot of business and the owner was often frustrated. At times, he even took his frustration out on customers, scolding them for not coming back more frequently! Yes, this is true, and no, it didn’t work! Despite his frequent meltdowns, he generally treated me well. But one thing that always set him off was the slightest hint of disagreement with his opinions.

Waiters would get hired and stay for a while, but would either leave or get fired. Many of them were really good at what they did but they just couldn't get along with the guy. I can still see many of their faces moving in and out of the revolving door of working at that restaurant.

I stayed for a couple of years longer than most, because I chose not to question him. Even when I knew he was wrong for picking on the other waiters, I would stay silent or even join in on the gossip. I was 19 years old and he had given me a chance that I wasn't going to blow it. I had learned table-side cooking and I was picking up on the techniques of working in a fancy restaurant, so I felt that I had too much to lose by speaking up!

I did eventually leave, however. I was offered a job at a fancy restaurant where I was going to make at least 3 times as much money in tips. When I was interviewing, I told him it was time for me to leave and find something closer to my field because I was about to graduate from Engineering school. He wasn’t happy, but respected my choice and even invited me and my wife to come have dinner on him one night. After I got the job, I was too scared to tell him I was leaving to be a waiter somewhere else. We parted ways amicably, which was unheard of.

A couple of months later, I decided it would probably be a nice experience to go back and have the dinner that he had offered me. Don’t ask me why! Was it the free meal or was it the desire to let him know the truth? I will never know, but we went and found ourselves being greeted warmly by the owner. But things didn’t stay that way.

Sometime during the evening, he came by to chat and I couldn’t help it. I broke the news to him. And you guessed it. He blew his top! He threw one of his tantrums that I had witnessed and been subject to too many times. He proceeded to point out to me that while I went to work at that fancy restaurant, he could just go out and buy that restaurant. He stopped short of calling me names and throwing us out before he stormed off to the kitchen. We finished our meal and ended up picking up the tab before we left because, unsurprisingly, he had changed his mind about dinner being his treat. I had officially joined the countless people that he considered to be worthless.

After all I had done for him to appease him and support him, even when he acted like an immature child toward the staff and even customers, he treated me like dirt. In retrospect, it wasn’t surprising. That was the way he had treated literally every person who left the place. He talked about them like they were the scum of the earth. Why wouldn’t he do it to me? I had illusions of being special. I figured I had earned enough points not to be treated that way. Sadly, I learned that wasn’t the case.

What has haunted me about that experience over the years is the look in some of the other waiters’ eyes as they were forced to suffer through his tantrums and tirades. They were looking at me as if to say, “Do something. You know he’s wrong! You have credibility with this guy and we don’t! Why don’t you stand up for what’s right?!” I literally remember many of their faces and that image that is a constant reminder of the lessons I learned through that experience.

• I learned that the greatest thing I have to lose is my integrity. The value of everything else that I thought I was trying to protect – money, position, opportunity, etc. – paled in comparison to being able to look myself in the eye and know that, at the end of the day, I did the right thing.

• I learned that no leader worth following ever expects my unconditional loyalty or adjusts the value they place on me solely based on whether I agree with them or not.

• I learned that while I should strive to always treat others with respect, NO ONE deserves my unconditional support when their words and actions violate the values and principles that I don’t wish to compromise.

• I learned that it is much easier to see people for who they are if I ask myself, “Would I still support this person if there were nothing in it for me?”

• I learned that while people may forgive me for my mistakes and lack of competence, it is nearly impossible for me to earn their respect again when they know that I have knowingly compromised my values for personal gain.

• I learned that the cost of my lack of integrity and hurting my reputation with those who didn’t have the power to do anything to me was far too great a price to pay.

That was over 38 years ago. Since then, I have fallen short of my own standards on several occasions as I have justified my silence and inaction in favor of “trade-offs,” or failed to speak truth to power in order to protect my own interests, but I’m happy to say I have come a long way. I can say that because I can recall countless times when I gave up what was incredibly important to me in the moment because I chose the right path even if I had to lose out personally. I refused to add to the burden that I and others would have to carry if I were to sell out and let myself down and let down those who counted on me for leadership.

I’m sure each of us can think of many people who have compromised their integrity right before our eyes. You probably know of people who should read and heed the message of this post, but that doesn’t make you special. What makes you special is taking the time to be honest with yourself about whether you are compromising the values that you claim to aspire to by blindly following and supporting someone whose words and actions you would otherwise find appalling. You are even more special if you own up to it, declare it, and intentionally change your ways. And if being true to your values and maintaining your integrity means you lose the “respect” of those you look up to and follow, then that is just proof that they were never worthy of your respect to begin with.

You can now listen to the new 5-part audio series, “Transforming Your Workplace Experience!" This audio series serves as both a great standalone introduction to culture transformation, as well as a companion to our previously available free culture transformation guide. In the series, I walk you through some applications and examples of the concepts presented in the guide, so that you can more effectively put them into practice and get motivated by the progress you will start making. I know that after learning and applying the concepts and distinctions that I present in the guide and audio series, you will be more qualified than ever to create extraordinary cultures that consistently deliver breakthrough results!

The Transformative Leader Audiobook is available now! I'm so excited to announce that "The Transformative Leader" on audiobook is currently on sale now exclusively on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes! The wait is over for those of you who (like me) prefer to listen to books during their commute or while exercising or simply doing things around the house! If you aren't yet a member of Audible, you can use this link (https://adbl.co/2MZWmaF) and sign up for a free 30-day trial and receive "The Transformative Leader" audiobook for free (plus one credit per month thereafter)!

About the Author: Amir Ghannad is an international keynote speaker, author of The Transformative Leader, leadership consultant, culture transformation champion, and founder of The Ghannad Group. He has made it his life's work to guide leaders and equip them with the tools, skills, and the mindset necessary to create extraordinary workplace cultures that deliver breakthrough results. Download his free e-book, titled 5 Practical Steps to Make Your Culture Transformation Stick by clicking here.

Want to learn more about The Ghannad Group? Click here
Want to get in touch with Amir? Email amir@theghannadgroup.com

As always, have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary!

Copyright © 2020 The Ghannad Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

He is one of the hardest working people I know, and his work ethic is off the charts. The story I’d like to share today is about his perseverance. It is about one of the many instances when he personally taught me what it’s like to be 100% committed to achieving something, not through his words but by his willingness to do what it takes to get the job done.

Just for context, my dad dropped out of school when he was in high school to help his dad run their confectionery business and years later went back and pursued his education and had a successful career as an educator. He even went back to school to get his Master’s degree much later in life, at age 56, and retired as a college professor.

During his school years, the second language taught in schools in Iran was French and it wasn’t until my generation that English became the foreign language of choice. So, his English language skills have always been limited to say the least.

Now to the story. A few years ago, when he and my mom, by then in their early 80’s, were visiting, he decided that he wanted to get an American driver’s license. I tried to talk him out of it because I thought it would be impossible, given his language skills or lack thereof, but he just wouldn’t have it any other way. I had seen him in this mode before when he decided he was going to get something done no matter what, so I relented and got him the material he needed to study.

For weeks, and I mean 7-8 weeks, he studied. He would study all day long while I was at work, using a dictionary and looking up practically every word and making notes. Then he would ask me questions about the phrases he could not make out when I got home from work.

Imagine, what it would be like if you were to take the same exam in a language you don’t know. That is what it was like for him, but he was going to do it.

After weeks of studying, he let me know that he was ready. I had my doubts but again, followed his direction because there was no other way. I took him to the DMV and got him set up to take the exam on the computer. He asked for permission to use his dictionary and they agreed. Then he told me to leave him there so he could take his time.

About four hours later, he called me and handed the phone to the lady who was administering the test. She informed me that he had missed one too many questions already and had failed the exam.

Imagining his disappointment and what might be going through his mind to accept this defeat, I went to pick him up. He was shaking his head as I approached, telling me that he was so close to making it but he missed a simple question. Minutes later, he informed me that he wanted to sign up and try it again. I wasn’t sure what to say. There was nothing to say. He had to make it happen and that was that.

So, we signed up and went back a few days later. This time, I fixed his lunch and put some juice in a little cooler for him because I knew the exam that usually takes most of us 15 minutes was going to take him hours. I asked the ladies to look after him and call me if he needed anything, and I left.

About 4 hours later, I received the same dreaded phone call. He had missed too many questions! Feeling so bad for him and trying to figure out a way to talk him out of trying this again, I drove over there to pick him up and he was even more disappointed in himself for not being able to pass the exam, but you guessed it. He wanted to go for it again!

The next time we showed up the attendants knew him and were smiling and greeting him. I could see in their eyes that they were rooting for him and wanted him to succeed. I left him and his lunch and went about my business.

I think it was about 5 hours later than my phone rang and this time, much to my surprise, he proudly informed me that he had passed the test. I couldn’t believe it. In the back of my mind I knew he was going to hang in there until he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish but I was still in awe of the amount of effort he had to put in to make it happen. I knew he wasn’t going to have any issues passing the road test now that the written test was behind him. He had done it!

I will never forget the look on the faces of the attendants when I arrived to pick him up. They all seemed so happy. We talked for a while and I couldn’t help but notice the tears in the lady’s eyes when she handed my dad his paperwork and congratulated him.

I believe the people who witnessed this relentless display of perseverance were touched by my dad’s determination and hard work as I have been all my life. I strive to live my life with the work ethic that my dad has instilled in me by who he is and how he has conducted himself as long as I have known him. I fall short often but I’m blessed to have a role model that I can relate to on a personal level.

Happy Father’s Day to my dad and all fathers who have touched not only the lives of their own children but those of others and made them better people.

You can now listen to the new 5-part audio series, “Transforming Your Workplace Experience!" This audio series serves as both a great standalone introduction to culture transformation, as well as a companion to our previously available free culture transformation guide. In the series, I walk you through some applications and examples of the concepts presented in the guide, so that you can more effectively put them into practice and get motivated by the progress you will start making. I know that after learning and applying the concepts and distinctions that I present in the guide and audio series, you will be more qualified than ever to create extraordinary cultures that consistently deliver breakthrough results!

The Transformative Leader Audiobook is available now! I'm so excited to announce that "The Transformative Leader" on audiobook is currently on sale now exclusively on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes! The wait is over for those of you who (like me) prefer to listen to books during their commute or while exercising or simply doing things around the house! If you aren't yet a member of Audible, you can use this link (https://adbl.co/2MZWmaF) and sign up for a free 30-day trial and receive "The Transformative Leader" audiobook for free (plus one credit per month thereafter)!

About the Author: Amir Ghannad is an international keynote speaker, author of The Transformative Leader, leadership consultant, culture transformation champion, and founder of The Ghannad Group. He has made it his life's work to guide leaders and equip them with the tools, skills, and the mindset necessary to create extraordinary workplace cultures that deliver breakthrough results. Download his free e-book, titled 5 Practical Steps to Make Your Culture Transformation Stick by clicking here.

Want to learn more about The Ghannad Group? Click here
Want to get in touch with Amir? Email amir@theghannadgroup.com

As always, have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary!

Copyright © 2020 The Ghannad Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

Si prefieres saltar directo a la última sección “En Resumidas Cuentas”, sírvete desplazarte hacia abajo. De lo contrario, te deseo que disfrutes este escrito en su totalidad.

En el curso de mi continuo trabajo con desarrollo en liderazgo y transformación cultural, he tenido amplia oportunidad de divertirme con los participantes de mis talleres/presentaciones y en esos intercambios aprendemos unos de otros. Uno de mis ejercicios favoritos se basa en la Teoría de Douglas McGregor la cual propone que los líderes eligen entre dos tipos de supuestos: La Teoría X y la Teoría Y donde X supone que el trabajador tiene una aversión innata al trabajo evitándolo de ser posible; mientras que la Teoría Y, por el contrario, considera al trabajador libre, maduro y responsable; alguien que disfruta resolviendo cualquier tipo de problema que se dé, de una manera creativa, ejerce autodirección y autocontrol y es confiable. De modo que proyecto en la pantalla, lado a lado, dos grupos de características bajo X/Y, le pido al público participante que me diga si conocen a ciertas personas que claramente pertenecen a la categoría X, a lo que, absolutamente todos levantan su mano. Luego les pido que vuelvan a levantar la mano si honestamente se consideran uno de esos del grupo X, y, obviamente, aquí casi nunca veo una sóla mano levantada. Esta dinámica ocurre idéntico cada que efectúo el ejercicio, lo cual, aparentemente significa que, esos “chicos malos” que realmente se beneficiarían de esta enseñanza y Coaching y a quienes realmente necesito dirigirme los que eluden y evitan mis cursos magistralmente. Parecería que, sin excepción, ¡les estamos sermoneando a los conversos!

La pregunta a continuación, afortunadamente, revela lo que en verdad está ocurriendo aquí. Les pregunto si alguien, ocasionalmente exhibe comportamientos del tipo Teoría X. Nuevamente, muchas manos levantadas. El grupo reunido generalmente aquí se carcajea y admiten estar completamente de acuerdo cuando les hago ver que la razón por la que no levantaron la mano la primera vez se debe a que consideran que su mal comportamiento está justificado, incluso si están conscientes que dicho comportamiento noes correcto, por lo que no se incluyen dentro del grupo perteneciente a Teoría X. Procedo a explicar que esto se debe a que nos juzgamos a nosotros mismos respecto de nuestras intenciones mientras que juzgamos a los demás por su comportamiento, un fenómeno estudiado por psicólogos sociales bajo el rubro sesgo de correspondencia.

Esta misma tendencia de, asumir lo peor acerca de los demás y absolvernos a nosotros mismos de toda responsabilidad, tiende a dominar nuestros pensamientos forzandonos a operar en modo piloto automático. Al menos que nos propongamos con una fuerte intención deliberada a asumir una intención positiva, tenderemos a cuestionar a los demás, y a sus intenciones, con lo cual nos desviaremos hacia un lugar enteramente aparte, donde nuestras actitudes y acciones resultantes no son las que se requieren para crear y avanzar formando relaciones plenas a través de la entrega de resultados extraordinarios. 

Lo anterior hace necesario que se configuren y monten sistemas de controles y equilibrio complejos con elevados costos que ascienden a millones de dólares en tiempo y dinero desperdiciado con el fin de monitorear a ese 5% que son las personas que abusan del sistema, en lugar del 95% que sí cumple.  Me atrevería a afirmar que para estas alturas te resulta más fácil imaginar a todas esas personas que asumieron una intención negativa de tu parte, en lugar de esas instancias donde haz sido tú quien lo haz hecho así con los demás.  Si este es el caso, queda demostrado que el sesgo de correspondencia le ocurre incluso al mejor y nadie es inmune a él.

EXISTEN UN SINNUMERO DE FORMAS EN QUE AL ASUMIR UNA INTENCIÓN NEGATIVA DE ENTRADA NOS SABOTEA TANTO NUESTRA PRODUCTIVIDAD COMO NUESTRA ENTREGA DE RESULTADOS:

1. Desvía nuestra atención alejándonos de la misión
   Mientras nos enfocamos en intentar descifrar porqué las demás personas se comportan de tal o cual forma y/o nos defendemos ante lo que los demás asuman de nosotros, la verdadera cuestión a resolver, para lograr cumplir nuestra misión, permanece sin resolver, lo cual nos propicia a reincidir.

   
   

2. Frena la resolución de problemas
   Cuando sospechamos la existencia de intención negativa, tendemos a enlistar aliados y nos aseguramos de contar con una posición fortalecida para atrincherarnos en ella, en vez de abordar directamente a la persona en cuestión e intentar remediar las cosas. 

   
   

3. Inhibe acciones audaces
   Al atacar el carácter de otra persona y cuestinarle acerca de sus intenciones aleja a las personas y las orilla a desempeñarse timidamente y a no intentar iniciativas audaces con tal de evitar ser juzgados como sospechosos.

   
   

4. Disminuye la colaboración
   Tendemos a perpetuar la división mediante “silos” y a fortalecer clichés al buscar refugio y comprensión de los demás a quienes pensamos que están de nuestro lado.  

   
   

5. Merma la rendición de cuentas
   El drama asociado con el asumir que los demás exhiben una intención negativa evita el que veamos y nos sintamos responsables por la parte que nosotros mismos le contribuimos al problema.

   
   

6. Daña las relaciones
   El resolver las diferencias de opinión cuando todos confiamos en la intención de los demás puede darse mediante productivos debates y discusiones apasionadas e incluso álgidas, sin que estas dañen las relaciones entre personas. El drama asociado con asumir la existencia de una intención negativa puede causar un daño importante a las relaciones, lo cual tomará mucho tiempo en poder ser reparado.

Si crees en el enorme poder que surge al asumir una intención positiva y buscas desarrollar y aprovechar dicho poder, será importante que comprendas las razones y los mitos que evitan que esta sea una práctica más prevalente:

ASUMIR UNA INTENCIÓN NEGATIVA...

1. Requiere de un menor esfuerzo – Es más conveniente y resulta más sencillo culpar a otro, en lugar de el enorme esfuerzo de búsqueda e identificación de la verdadera causa raíz del problema en cuestión.

2. Nos exime de toda responsabilidad de problemas que pudieran llegar a presentarse como resultado de las contribuciones que hemos realizado al problema en cuestión – Culpar la mala intención en los demás transfiere la atención lejos de nosotros mismos lo que nos permite evadir responsabilidad por todo aquello que hayamos hecho para perpetuar y tolerar el problema en discusión.

ASUMIR UNA INTENCIÓN POSITIVA SERÁ PERCIBIDO...

1. Como algo ingenuo, débil, e idealista – Por el contrario, se requiere de una gran cantidad de valentía y coraje para poder asumir una intención positiva y desde esa postura sostener diálogos difíciles con tal de identificar los verdaderos problemas.

2. No es como si estuviéramos sugiriendo que absolutamente todas las personas tienen una intención positiva – ¡En lo absoluto!  Sólo significa que el hecho que una minoría, que constituye el 5% del equipo, albergue intenciones negativas, no justifica que tratemos al 95%restante como si ellos también.

En Resumidas Cuentas:

El asumir intención positiva requiere de (valga la redundancia) una intencionalidad que va más allá de ese modo piloto automático de juzgarnos a nosotros mismos según nuestras intenciones y a los demás conforme a sus acciones. Mantiene el curso de toda la organización enfocado a la misión, acelera la resolución de conflictos, motiva a la acción audaz, inculca una cultura de rendición de cuentas y colaboración, y mejora las relaciones.

El poder masivo que surge al asumir una Intención Positiva

• Mantiene a la organización enfocada en la Misión.

• Acelera la resolución de conflictos.

• Anima a que la gente efectúe Acciones audaces.

• Infunde una cultura de asumir responsabilidades.

• Incrementa la colaboración.

• Fortalece las relaciones.

¡Que tengas una magnífica semana! Te deseo de corazón que Declares Audazmente, Persigas Valientemente y Logres lo Extraordinario, en Abundancia. Como siempre, me gustaría escuchar acerca de tus victorias personales y/o desafíos. Por favor envíanos tus comentarios en el espacio incluido aquí debajo o envíame un correo a  amir@theghannadgroup.com

Si le gustó este artículo y desea leer más, puede hacer clic aquí para descargar 3 libros electrónicos que contienen más publicaciones de blog traducidas al español.

This article was translated from the original English by the excellent Rafael Pliego Samaniego of Traduccion Perfecta En La Que Puede Confiar, a company that specializes in translating live for demanding speakers, during summit events, guided tours around manufacturing plants, and webcasts. They have provided exceptional service to us here at The Ghannad Group and come highly recommended for all your Spanish/English business translation needs. You can learn more at speedytranslation.com.mx.

Sobre el Autor
Amir Ghannad es un orador principal internacional, autor de El Líder Transformador, consultor de liderazgo, catalizador de transformación de cultura y fundador de The Ghannad Group. Ha hecho el trabajo de su vida guiar a los líderes y equiparlos con las herramientas, habilidades y la mentalidad necesarias para crear culturas extraordinarias en el lugar de trabajo que brinden resultados innovadores. (Esta parte es una traducción automática, así que perdone los errores encontrados aquí).

As always, have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary!

Copyright © 2020 The Ghannad Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

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Todos hemos escuchado sobre el poder de crear una Visión y lanzarte tras ella, tal como lo expresa Zig Ziglar de manera simple y sencilla: “Si no le apuntas a nada en absoluto, le darás al blanco cada vez”. Hace algunos años, cuando se estrenó la película “El Secreto,” mi familia y yo estabamos muy intrigados con la idea de la ley de la atracción y cómo esta refuerza la noción de que con tan solo pensar en un desenlace y ponderar en el pensamiento como si ya hubiese ocurrido en realidad, incrementa las probabilidades de atraer ese resultado hacia nosotros.

Existen diversas empresas cuyos líderes, o bien, no creen en el poder de una Visión, o no tienen idea de cómo en realidad aplicar esta metodología para ventaja suya.

Obviamente lo anterior abre de par en par la puerta más obvia de oportunidad para todos aquellos que sí creemos firmemente a esta idea y la hemos aplicado con éxito este principio para generar resultados extraordinarios.  Sin embargo, es igualmente importante señalar que incluso líderes que sí creen en el poder de una Visión o personas que creen en la ley de la atracción fracasan a la hora de producir esa clase de resultados que sueñan obtener. No sugiero con esto que contar y seguir una Visión sea un esfuerzo en vano, lo que afirmo es que existen diversas razones por las cuales muchas fracasan. Aquí debajo menciono las 10 causas más comunes:

1. Cimentamos nuestra Visión sobre barreras y creencias limitantes.
   Es importante que identifiquemos y resolvamos primero la cuestión de pensamientos y creencias que evitan que persigas y logres tu Visión. De lo contrario, intentarás ignorarlos barriéndolos debajo del tapete pero continuarán activos, saboteandote a lo largo del camino. Colocar tu Visión sobre incredulidad enraizada es como colocar una capa de hielo encima de un charco de lodo.

2. Desearíamos contar con un mejor punto de partida.
   Incluso cuando tenemos claro hacia donde nos dirigimos, a menudo nos desanimamos y sentimos atascados debido a que desearíamos contar con condiciones más favorables antes de lanzarnos detrás de nuestra Visión.  La clave no radica en tener una perfecta salida sino en partir desde ese punto en el que ahora estás ubicado.

3. No nos entusiasmamos con ese sentimiento de satisfacción de haber llegado a la meta fijada por nuestra Visión.
   Cuando la Visión únicamente trata de resultados numéricos y no nos damos el tiempo de hacerla nuestra, de personalizarla, lo que ocurre es que padeceremos de una fijación por hacer cosas con tal de, algún día, poseer alguna cosa. Aquí lo que falta es que tanto el resultado final así como el proceso nos motiven e inspiren en función de todo lo que nos brindarán en términos de sentimientos y actitudes.

4. No compartimos con todos los demás nuestra Visión.
   El poder de una visión se multiplica exponencialmente cuando se comparte. Esa declaración de nuestra visión es la llave para detonar diálogos y conversaciones que perpetúan el entusiasmo y la rendición de cuentas.

5. No regresamos suficientemente a menudo a visitar nuestra Visión.
   Prolongar tus visitas y hacerlas frecuentes o incluso colocar frente a ti esa declaración de Visión ayuda a renovar nuestra mentalidad así como a contrarrestar cualquier objeción producto de nuestro diálogo interno sobre obstáculos, nuestros temores y preocupaciones.

6. Elaboramos nuestra Visión con base en lo que no deseamos en lugar de aquello que sí deseamos.
   Una Visión enraizada en cambiar o arreglar algo es insípida y no motiva ni remotamente como otra elaborada a partir de un resultado final que todos anhelamos y que consideramos posible si partimos de cero y redactamos una nueva declaración de Visión exacta y justo a la altura.

7. Nos aferramos a patrones de pensamiento o comportamientos obsoletos toda vez que no encajan con nuestra nueva Visión y Senda.
   A menudo, nuestra respuesta automática y proceso de pensamiento continuará activo a menos que intervengamos y elijamos conscientemente modificarlo. Cuando declaramos una nueva Visión, corresponde al líder y otros a cargo el examinar y ajustar paradigmas y metodologías que resulten obsoletos o que no contribuyan a que la Visión se vuelva realidad.  

8. No declaramos una razón o justificación suficientemente motivadora como para vencer nuestra tendencia a mantener lo establecido y a esa resistencia a actuar con audacia.
   Si la Visión no brinda una promesa de un futuro que nos motive a participar, involucrarnos y a emprender la acción, careceremos de esa crítica inclinación necesaria para realizar la inversión emocional requerida, o bien, a asumir ciertos riesgos sociales con tal de producir el resultado buscado.

9. Intentamos graficar la Senda a detalle en vez de actuar con base en lo que tenemos y observar como es que nuestro Plan va cobrando vida.
   Una fuerza común que dificulta el convocar a todos los miembros del equipo alrededor de una Visión común es que ignoramos cómo es que llegaremos ahí. En nuestro intento por satisfacer las inquietudes de todos en cuanto a cómo, nos olvidamos de actuar con base en lo que desde ya sabemos.

10. Intentamos inventar un modo de conseguir nuevos comportamientos en lugar de comenzar por comportarnos nosotros mismos de manera ejemplar hasta que, como consecuencia, amanezca en nuestra mente esa imágen de cómo luce un lugar así donde todos nos comportemos de una manera mejor, nueva.
    Resulta sencillo excusarnos a no participar, a no intentar, a que nuestra Visión no sea demasiado ambiciosa. La mayor parte del tiempo eso es justo lo que nuestro diálogo interno intenta conseguir. Cuando emprendes la acción en busca del resultado deseado aún mientras tu diálogo interno te sugiera lo contrario, descubrirás un poder que permite alterar y mejorar la calidad del diálogo interno.

Te exhorto a que examines tus esfuerzos de Visión y que los compares contra estas características antes descritas de modo que puedas realizar cambios de ruta que consideres necesarios para maximizar ese inherente poder de elaborar y declarar una Visión que sirva de guía para ti y para todos los demás en tu organización.

Si le gustó este artículo y desea leer más, puede hacer clic aquí para descargar 3 libros electrónicos que contienen más publicaciones de blog traducidas al español.

This article was translated from the original English by the excellent Rafael Pliego Samaniego of Traduccion Perfecta En La Que Puede Confiar, a company that specializes in translating live for demanding speakers, during summit events, guided tours around manufacturing plants, and webcasts. They have provided exceptional service to us here at The Ghannad Group and come highly recommended for all your Spanish/English business translation needs. You can learn more at speedytranslation.com.mx.

Sobre el Autor
Amir Ghannad es un orador principal internacional, autor de El Líder Transformador, consultor de liderazgo, catalizador de transformación de cultura y fundador de The Ghannad Group. Ha hecho el trabajo de su vida guiar a los líderes y equiparlos con las herramientas, habilidades y la mentalidad necesarias para crear culturas extraordinarias en el lugar de trabajo que brinden resultados innovadores. (Esta parte es una traducción automática, así que perdone los errores encontrados aquí).

As always, have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary!

Copyright © 2020 The Ghannad Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

I recently conducted a 4-hour Transformative Leadership Workshop for a client in North Carolina. There were 41 participants in the session from multiple states and a few team members from other countries. After I went over the stated objectives of the workshop, I asked each of the participants to write down one personal objective on a post-it note that, if met, would make this an extraordinary leadership development experience for them. They then took a few minutes to share those objectives at their tables of 5-6 and off we went.

At the end of the workshop, I asked them to put their sticky notes on the wall, only if their objectives had been met. What was the final tally? 39 out of 41 put their sticky note on the wall! Phenomenal, right!? And yet, if training and development sessions are being properly set up for success and conducted the right way, this kind of result should be the norm, not the exception. I have personally found that to indeed be the case. Every single time we do one of these sessions, aside from meeting the workshop objectives, the vast majority of participants have their personal objectives met as well. And you can bet that has an immediate transformative effect on their results at work, not to mention their fulfillment in life in general.

The way I see it, there are three key contributing factors to creating this kind of consistent success in any development session:

1. Plenty of pre-work with every client – I do this to make sure I understand a client’s unique challenges and opportunities and can customize my examples and instructive anecdotes in a way that makes it real for them.

2. Have each participant take ownership – I have each participate declare their personal objectives, which focuses them on what they want to get out of the experience so that they are on the lookout for the takeaways that are most useful for them and their situation. This is opposed to the regular approach of just giving participants information, which is like aimlessly drinking from a firehose and having to sift through all their notes to hopefully find something useful. This also encourages participants to take ownership of their objectives being met, and speak up if they have questions or concerns that they feel need to be addressed.

3. Invite participation – I invite participants to do exactly what they are supposed to be doing: participate! This keeps the conversation real, in order to avoid theoretical conversations that make sense to all of us on paper, but are not actionable on our actual situations. Having observers rather than participants discourages people from taking transformative insights and making them their own, which is the only way they will ever make a difference to anyone.

These are three elements you want to look for next time someone is conducting a training session, to see if participants are being set up for success from the start. Next time you attend a session, take a few minutes up-front to set your intentions on what you personally want to get out of the session. Don’t worry about missing out. Get clear on 1-2 specific problems you would like to find a solution for, or transformative insights you would like to pick up, and listen and participate with the intention to have those objectives met. Next time you conduct a training session, give the participants an opportunity to set their intentions, ask them to be the guardians of making sure they get what they came to get, and be clear that participation is the only way they will be able to make those things happen. You can use the sticky notes method that I mentioned above, a whiteboard, or get creative with your own ideas.

 Here are some (verbatim) examples of the objectives that participants set (and met) in the North Carolina Transformative Leader Workshop:

• Be a better leader via role model behavior

• More open to change, open-minded

• To transform how I view leadership in an important way

• Impact individuals in a positive way to grow in strength

• Personal goal to be more courageous

• Understand what holds me back

• Become a better leader overall in all aspects that I do

• Strategies that will help me not only be a good leader professionally but will help me transform my personal life

• Understand what is keeping me from being a better leader

• Techniques to avoid saboteurs to personal/professional development

• How to better coach and empower my team

• Improved discipline/accountability in everything I do

• Develop better active listening skills. Be a charismatic/confident leader

• Becoming the best I can be

• Be more willing to be courageous, assertive, take risks, go outside my comfort zone

• I want to lead this organization to greatness -> Be the beacon

• Cross-functional leadership tools

• Find my David, Take away something useful from today

• To develop a better sense of what my leadership skills are and how to use them

• Strategy for action with on-going inspiration

• Learn what skills I need to instill an improved culture in the facility

• Be a better manager and person

• How listening will help me lead; How to communicate clearer

• Entire group engagement

• Be less independent and work as a team member

• Tools to help get to the next level of performance and fulfillment – 100% - 0

• Enthusiasm

• A better understanding of what I do well and what I can do better

• Energize myself to act to the goal

• Personal connection to leading cultural development within the organization

• Better ability to ask for what I need and grow

• Be able to go back on Monday and do something great for my employees that day

• Discipline to maintain routine habits

• Better at making leaders, not followers

• Path towards personal transformation of habits and behaviors to improve performance and fulfillment of those around me

• A better understanding of which things are most holding me back from being a great leader so that I can focus on them

• Explosive drive and commitment to get $&!# done (communication, vision, empowerment); Don’t want to feel overwhelmed

• How to get out of my own way

• A true connection to embrace the change and apply it daily

Could your organization benefit from your team members getting this kind of head start on their leadership development journey and shifting their mindset in these ways? At The Ghannad Group, this is our specialty, and we are passionate about delivering these kinds of results for clients all over the world. So, if you’re interested, or even just curious, let’s talk about how your team members can experience the same transformation that thousands of others around the world have after attending our speaking engagements and Transformative Leader Workshops.

You can now listen to the new 5-part audio series, “Transforming Your Workplace Experience!" This audio series serves as both a great standalone introduction to culture transformation, as well as a companion to our previously available free culture transformation guide. In the series, I walk you through some applications and examples of the concepts presented in the guide, so that you can more effectively put them into practice and get motivated by the progress you will start making. I know that after learning and applying the concepts and distinctions that I present in the guide and audio series, you will be more qualified than ever to create extraordinary cultures that consistently deliver breakthrough results!

The Transformative Leader Audiobook is available now! I'm so excited to announce that "The Transformative Leader" on audiobook is currently on sale now exclusively on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes! The wait is over for those of you who (like me) prefer to listen to books during their commute or while exercising or simply doing things around the house! If you aren't yet a member of Audible, you can use this link (https://adbl.co/2MZWmaF) and sign up for a free 30-day trial and receive "The Transformative Leader" audiobook for free (plus one credit per month thereafter)!

About the Author: Amir Ghannad is an international keynote speaker, author of The Transformative Leader, leadership consultant, culture transformation champion, and founder of The Ghannad Group. He has made it his life's work to guide leaders and equip them with the tools, skills, and the mindset necessary to create extraordinary workplace cultures that deliver breakthrough results. Download his free e-book, titled 5 Practical Steps to Make Your Culture Transformation Stick by clicking here.

Want to learn more about how The Ghannad Group serve and guide you in your leadership development and culture transformation efforts? Click here
Want to get in touch with Amir? Email amir@theghannadgroup.com

As always, have a great week! May you Boldly Declare, Courageously Pursue, and Abundantly Achieve the Extraordinary!

Copyright © 2019 The Ghannad Group, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

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Dear readers and followers,

I am writing to let you know that, going forward, I will no longer be posting my weekly blog posts every Thursday. After almost 4 years of posting every single week, we have come to the end of an era!

We here at The Ghannad Group are shifting gears, and that means some changes are coming to how we interact with you. Instead of weekly posts on social media, where we are at the mercy of ever-changing algorithms, we will slowly begin moving to sharing weekly content and updates with our email list in a new newsletter (make sure you’re subscribed here so we can stay in touch!).

Until then however, weekly posts will continue as usual. Going forward, my weekly blog posts are going to be replaced with vlog posts, which you can keep up with on our new Vlog page. Podcasts episodes will continue to be posted as usual as well, and you can find them at our new Podcast page, where you can subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher. (If you’re not already subscribed to my podcast, I highly recommend it, because we have some great interviews with some great guests coming up in the next few months.)

We also have a new Blog page to house around 30 of my most impactful and foundational posts from the past 4 years. Soon, you may notice other changes to the website as well, but rest assured, every change we’re making is so that we can better serve our followers and supporters in the near future. In accordance with our new direction, my remaining blog posts will eventually be archived for use in an upcoming project, so the new blog page is where those curated posts will live indefinitely.

On top of all that, we are super excited to be gearing up for a really big launch sometime around the beginning of 2020 that we’ve been working on behind the scenes for months. After receiving feedback from readers and followers, we’re working on a product that we know leaders will love. If you’re on our mailing list (sign up here), or if you follow me on Linkedin, you’ll be the first to know about this secret we’ve been keeping, plus you’ll get “first dibs“ and a discount when we roll it out soon!

I’m so grateful for you joining me on this journey over the past four years, for your commentary and your feedback. If you’ve been with us from the very beginning, you’ll know that we’ve grown immensely, and a lot of that is due to your support. I look forward to sharing with you what’s next and hope you’ll join me and my team on that journey too.

As always, may you boldly declare, courageously pursue, and abundantly achieve the extraordinary!

With gratitude,
Amir