LEAD2020 has moved to http://mitchen.net/blog/

2013-01-17T11:57:00.004-08:00

My blog has moved to better connect both my work and my blogging. Please continue the LEAD2020 journey at the Mitchen Leadership and Organization Development Blog.

Are you reacting... or strategic?

2012-08-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

My new word is FOCUS! Yes, it is common and not especially exciting, but FOCUS says it all for me. Focus = Prosperity! Look at any great leader.. or great company and you will find they are focused! Their focus is narrow and their actions are strategic. All the great stories of success have at some point in the journey a desire to focus on doing a small number of things well. From an organization point of view, this is difficult and there are two common struggles I see often:

Some organizations demonstrate great commitment to focus on strategic opportunities. They do environmental scans, talk to experts, engage their work force, but ultimately they lack the courage to make a choice between competing products, programs and services. They often end up looking much like they always did before their discussions and have no focus for growing their future. This happens most often when one is scared to be authentic about the challenges an organization faces or seeks to protect their own vested interest. It is an interesting dynamic, but one that can be broken with external facilitation help.
The second challenge to being a focused is common. It is where you simply live in a tactical world and never have strategic discussions. Avoidance of the greatest kind. Often, it is due to a failure of the 1st kind above.. where an organization has had poor strategic discussions in the past and now struggles to even start the discussions. Give me any organization and you will find back pressure against being strategic.. and often, it comes from those you would have expected to be most strategic. An example might serve us here...

Henry Ford was quite the innovator. You would have to call him a strategic leader given the innovation of the Model T and optimization of the assembly line in manufacturing. But when Ford Jr. want to enhance the Model T with new features, to maintain market share against new "feature enriched" automobiles, it was the old man that said no. Nearly destroyed Jr. and set back Ford at a time when they should have controlled the market for years. What causes this move to tactical behavior? Consider the following:

Ego & Uncertainty - The more accomplished we are at a task, the easier it becomes to be tactical. Through these tactical actions, we maintain our status and psychological need to feel purpose. We remove uncertainty, but we also blind ourselves to reality over time. That's what happen at Circuit City.. that's why Borders missed the online market shift... Ego.. and a need for certainty.

Jumping without a parachute - Most of us, but not all of us, are wired to think of safety first. It is what makes our hairs stand up when we are in a dark alley and we hear a noise. We are naturally wired to survive, but behaviors that allow us to survival now... may lead to death in the strategic future. New markets emerge.. new ways of doing business take hold... Just look at the video rental market.. box store to video machines to Online deliver.. Blockbuster survived for years as their market eroded, when they could have evolved and changed.. They could have been strategic.

There are those that will say it is all chaos.. and that no one can strategically define their future. This is simply not true when you review the research. Focus.. built off of intelligent and strategic discussions leads to a far better future. Just ask Cirque Du Soleil.. or would you rather invest in Barnum and Bailey?

Group Link and Politics

2012-07-16T13:22:00.001-07:00

This is a great description of the effects of group think (although a bit long). At about the 7 minute mark he goes into the impact of hearing a message over and over. Seems if we hear something enough times, we have a tendacy to believe it to be true.. It explains why how political campaigns and even news interviews can distort reality. More importantly, it is a warning to leaders to ensure dissent (one of four (4)conversations of the elusive high performing team) when ideas are being discussed. Watch it and reflect. Post comments on your own thoughts on group think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrso8I

PSU - Not just about football

2012-07-13T06:21:00.002-07:00

Reading this news this morning, I came away with tremendous dissapointment in the press and their coverage of the Freeh report on the Sandusky matter at PSU. Yes.. I am dissapointed in Joe Pa.. and the entire administrative team, but I am saddened by how poorly this is being reported. Yes.. he was a football coach..and yes it happened within the football complex, but this is not an issue of football leadership. Again, this is not about football. This is about the academic model of leadership.. this about authority and culture, a culture that may need to consider how it should evolve.

Most large universities have a signficantly distributed leadership model. Professors are entitled to freedom.. the ability to explore and discover in areas that they (because they are considerd the expert) deem most important to the field of study they work in. Full professors maintain signficant influence and power over the operations of their departments. Department Heads are more facilitative leaders, even servants to the needs of the majority of professors (some heads only serve a short term, or are only called Chairs). Deans lead, but only through budget allocations and position approvals, but much of the day to day operations is delegated. (Do you see where this is going). Senior administrators have power, but it is culturally used only in signficant matters. They shape the university over time, but they rarely involve themselves in personnel matters. There is a culture of empowerment that goes well past anything corporate america has even imaged. Of course, this culture extends to all areas.. Presidents, Chancellors, Provosts, etc, operate at a level where they delegate most of the issues to Deans, Directors, and yes Coaches. This is the culture at most significant universities..not just PSU.

Now, we know this culture has been one of great innovation. It is not surprising that american universities are some of the greatest research engines in the world. This culture of autonomy and freedom has allowed researchers to defy the norms of their field and explore areas outside the traditions of the past and create new products that we all enjoy. Many of these products have some piece of their evolution in a lab somewhere on an University campus. Just ask University of Penn how the world would have been different if not for the ENIAC. So we could argue that this culture should be preserved, but we could also argue that it is a cutlure that breeds the kind of innovation that Sandusky practices. Someway we need to control the Sanduskys' of the world.

In my practice, I have already seen an increase in hierachial decision making at land grant universities. New colleges have been created. Departments merged. this is a trend brought on by budget issues in some cases, but it is evolving the university culture. A culture change that is not always viewed as positive. The trend raises questions for today's university presidents, chancellors, provosts and deans. Here are just a few that come to mind this morning.

How do we ensure effective personal conduct of faculty, coaches, and all others and still maintain an empowering culture?

Do I have an obligation to discover the ethical lapses (hopefully less criminal) occuring on my watch?

What organizational systems need to be in place to ensure the safety of all our faculty, staff, students and visitors?

If faced with an incident, what mechanisms need to be put into place to ensure the rights of the vicitms.. and the accused?

That's enough for this post.. I will end with a message to my PSU friends. You are not alone.. this is not a PSU problem.. it is a higher ed problem. Continue to discover the new PSU you are developing.. continue to be the academic leader you have always been.

2012-06-11T14:53:00.002-07:00

Constant CuriosityTM.. linkage between the art and science of truth!

"I believe that the distinction between an [artist], we generally use the word artist to be visual arts of some sort, but there is very little distinction between an artist of that type and a scientist or engineer of the highest caliber.

And I have never had a distinction in my mind between those two types of people. They, just to me, have been people who pursued different paths, but basically kinda headed to the same goal which is to express something of what they perceive to be the truth around them, so that others can see it, so that others can benefit by it.

The artistry is in having an insight in what ones sees around them, generally putting things together in ways that no one has and finding a way to express that to other people who don't have the same insight so that they can get some of the advantages of that insight, that makes them feel a certain way or allows people to do a certain thing."

- Steve Jobs, April, 1995 [40 years old]

Jobs... His most signficant influencer

2012-05-30T10:43:00.002-07:00

I purposely have avoided starting Isaacson's book on Steve Jobs until this month. Intuitively, I think I might have been biased by the hype after his death. I primarily read biographies to understand both the strengths and weaknesses of leaders and I have found that they are best read when I can be distant from the actual subject.

From my early reading on the first 100 pages of the book, I find Isaacson's book an excellent read due to the transparent way he describes Jobs. I have already had one profound thought emerge from the pages of Job's life. I have noticed that most of the reviews I have read over look the real impact of his father on Job's success. Oh, they acknowledge his influence on craftsmanship and the need to make a product look good both on the inside and outside. What I have not noticed until reading the book is a much more signficant impact I believe his father had on Jobs.

Job's father was a pretty good handy man. Seems there were few things he couldn't fix or build. Whether it be a fence, or car, a chair or whatever, a theme emerges of a dad who pretty much took care of things himself and rarely had to rely on help from others. He also seemed to always make ends meet. Even the idea of paying for Reed College.. Dad figured it out. He also was not a career employee at a time when most were. Through a series of jobs and his own "fix it up" jobs, his father managed to do quite well despite his lack of an education. One might say, his father may have been the most resilient person Job's would ever know.

Reflect on that word.. resilient. Not the first word we hear in discussions of Job's successes. No, we hear words like innovator or creative. Words like smart or visionary. What sometimes we forget is that Job's had as many failures as he did successes. Now it would be unfair to say that others have not metioned this. I remember thinking how great he was to have left and then returned to lead Apple. In the past, I maybe attributed too much to his intellegence and vision... but after just 100 pages, I am willing to reshift my view.

Steve Jobs was alot of things, but maybe the most important thing was he was an explorer who sought to try things. Good things, bad things, he kept exploring. Just like his father, he was a fix it man, looking for the next opportunity. We know the successes like Pixar and the iphone.. but he tried for years to create an apple tv... how many iteration.. who knows. But he kept pushing through walls. Trying new ways and new projects. What I do know is he has a resilience learned from his father to keep trying things. Where there are creative people and visionary people, what Jobs brought was the reality of the fix it man.. just keeping trying and eventually, you will find you way... So maybe there is a good reason for father's day instead of just to sell socks and ties. Thanks to all the fathers, mine included who teach us when we are not looking... Now..back to the book...

2012-05-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

"As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way.

Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serous in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs.

Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it’s essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to continue to grow."

- William McKnight, 3M Chairman, 1948

- As shared by Scott Berkun, The Myths of Innovation

A Leadership failure of accountability...

2011-11-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

I have waited several weeks for the news cycle to slow down on the Penn State tradegy with the former assistant coach. You see other incidents emerging at other places now where other individuals have not been called out for behaviours that can only be described as the worst crimes possible. The behaviours of these individuals is grave and more horrible than anything I can imagine. A couple of thoughts first about the issues raised by these incidents:

This is not a sport's issue...

This is not even an higher education issues...

This is also not just about the abuse of youth...

No, this is an issue of failure to hold leaders accountable at all levels or all sorts of stuff. A culture of as long as someone else up the food chain can be held more responsible.. then I need not act like a leader... I can just pass the buck. Whether it is something as bad as abusing children or as light as looking the other way when an employee cheats the company, have we allowed a leadership culture that looks the other way to become dominate in our organizations? Some questions about your organization to ponder...

Would leaders step in to fix a wronged individual if it wasn't their turf?

Would leaders call out an individual who verbally abuses others?

Would leaders risk losing a customer if that customer violated professional standards?

That's just a few.. but ask yourself.. where do leaders at my organization stand when the culture needs to be shifted back to a more ethical and professional way of doing business?

Lessons in Greatness

2011-06-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Life imitates success in the business world often through how we deal with personal challenges. Rory McILroy demonstrated the grace of humility this weekend while still balancing what will also be known as one of the greatest performances in US Open Golf history. Despite breaking records in the double digits, when asked to reflect on lessons that prepared him, he spoke distinctly of what will no doubt be one of the greatest collapses in modern golf history.

Think back.. May of this year, 2011. You're 22, and in a country not of your birth. Your leading what can only be called the most signficant tournament in your short career by four strokes. The Masters, Augusta Georgia, every golfer's dream to win. As you make the turn at 10, you are still in the lead by one stroke and then it happens. A collapse so devastating, you end up in a tie for 15th. You end up shooting an 80... a score so high it is unexplainable except that you Choked. Ouch. The tournament was your's to lose.. and you lost it big. How would you handle it:

Not only did Rory talk to reporters for 10 minutes.. he was respectful, honest and pragmantic.. My favorite quote.. came later the next day or so... and was somewhat telling...

"I think it's a Sunday at a major, what it can do. This is my first experience at it, and hopefully the next time I'm in this position, I'll be able to handle it a little better. I didn't handle it particularly well today, obviously, but it was a character-building day. Put it that way. I'll come out stronger for it." - Rory McIlory - May 2011

Now.. it is several months later. You're faced with the same task. You're up 9 strokes coming into the last day of the next major tournament. Think of the pressure you would face. You choke now, and your labeled for life. Think of Greg Norman in the history of the Masters. Every golfer knows this and the presure that comes with this moment. But this time is different.. this time, not only do you handle it, but you thrive. Winning at a record margin. You have mastered the field. How would you respond when ask what made the difference this June. Would you point to the hard work you put in, to how you have honed your putting in ways you hadn't before, or maybe point out that the collapse in May was fluke. Not Rory.. no.. just honest and direct...

"Augusta was a very valuable experience for me. I knew what I needed to do today to win and at Augusta I learn a few things about myself and my game. I put a few different things into practice and it paid off." - Roy McIlory - June 2011 - US Open Champion

It is rare, to have failure and success happen so soon, so similiar and yet so visible to the world. It is even more rare to find a leader who can face his failure in a public and humble way. This Sunday we were blessed to see an example of this that reminds us that our best growth comes through failures. Our best learning and much of our success is due to a honed skill of facing our less than graceful moments. Reflection is an action!

Here's toasting a pint to Rory's great example of leadership!

ISI

2011-05-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

I am developing a new tool for a workshop I teach.. could use some input from you. Answer the following questions choosing one answer for each of the seven questions and then send me an e-mail with your answers.. just list the question number and your letter answer for each of the seven questions. Email to zozstate2@gmail.com.

Thanks...

Mitch

----------

1. I get my best ideas by

a) Watching people to see what they prefer and want from my work

b) Just trying things out until I find an approach that works

c) Investigating the problem that needs to be addressed very carefully

d) Finding others who may have good ideas on how to do things

2. To overcome problems, I usually like to:

a) First focus on having the right environment where I can think best

b) Seek out solutions by studying approaches not normally related to the issue

c) Like to bring together a group and facilitate team solutions

d) Examine how the problem affects humans to find solutions

3. I am most creative when:

a) Tackle the situation and just start trying things

b) Identify barriers to success and attack them with all my knowledge

c) I find someone who has lots of great ideas that I can learn from

d) I have the right setting to think and work in

4. For me, innovation most often comes from

a) Bringing together sciences that are different to find new solutions

b) Getting groups together who can be creative

c) Studying human nature to explore better ways of serving people

d) Implementing several ideas until one works

5. When faced with a difficult task, I am most likely to:

a) Get motivated by the difficulty and do it on my own for satisfaction

b) Find some experts who may have dealt with this task before

c) Find an environment that allows me to think best

d) Study unrelated sciences to get new ideas on how to address the task

6. I am most productive by

a) Bringing together a group and facilitating discussion and consensus

b) Focusing on people and their needs when developing solutions

c) Trying solution after solution until one works best

d) Identifying impossible tasks and then working toward achieving them

7. The best ideas are gained by

a) Finding experts in the area your working in and learning from them

b) Having the right working environment so you can do your best thinking

c) Seeking out and studying unrelated sciences to learn new ways of doing things

d) Bringing together your team and brainstorming to get the best ideas of the team

Is Duncan Watt's just another Gladwell...

2011-05-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

So I am halfway through Watts' book "Everything is Obvious: Once you know the the answer" and pretty much thinking.. Maybe Watts' should take his own advice...

Watts' rightly points out that Gladwell takes things a bit far with his ideas on nodes and social change, but Watts' commits the same errors himself. While I can agree that online social networking is real... there is clear evidence that online social networking is different from face-to-face social networking.. And pretty much the bulk of Watt's conclusions are based only on his research using online research (so far). While his points are valid when he is describing how humans operate in online communities (itunes purchasing), it really doesn't translate to face-to-face organizational cultures. Watt's assumptions that these environments are the same, and because his sample size is so large.. ignores fundamentals of research design and practice, but it also ignores research done by real OD scientists. It appears he commits the same sins he claims Gladwell does.. and over emphasize his points.. It is obvious to Watt's that Gladwell is wrong... cause he knows the answer.. I would argue they are both partially right and wrong.

That said, I am going to keep reading Watts.. he makes several good points.. and online networking is reshaping our traditional networks.. so it is still good read.. just not as accurate as I would have hoped.

Toward More Curiosity

2011-04-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Da Vinci is one of the most interesting characters in the life of the world. Both artist and scientist, he created some of the most loved objects for all mankind. In addition to some of the most revered art, he designed objects like cars, tanks, and planes while just wondering about how things worked. Much of his work is seen as ahead of his time. But more about Da Vinci in a sec.

Over the past two years, I have found myself exploring the art of curiosity more and more. Often overlooked, it may be one of the best tools leadership can harness. We know that curiosity enhances learning, but did you know that it has been found that curiosity has a direct causal influence on job performance. Having taught leadership for 20+ years now, it is clear to me that curiosity is a force we must harnest to be competitive as individuals, teams, and organizations.

There are two main types of curiosity. One, Extrinsic is common and readily available. Just lock your keys in your car or run out of gas.. you will be extrinsically curious as to where the nearest gas station is. When I talk to groups about leadership and curiousity.. I am concerned with intrinsic curiousity. The art of just being curious for no particular reason. Which brings me back to Da Vinci. Of all the amazing things he was able to do in his life, I found his art work of birds and the shape of their wings in motion amazing. With no modern aids, no slow-mo video, just hours of silent observation, Da Vinci captured the mechanics of flight... Man he was curious. Intrinsically! He just wanted to know.

What is the implication for leaders. The next time you have a conflict with one of your peers or direct reports, try to be a little more curious. A little less sure....

"My Anti-Creativity Checklist" by Youngme Moon

2011-04-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Leading Change

2011-03-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

I was honored this week to give the inaugural presentation to the National Association of Extension Program and Staff Development Professionals (NAEPSDP) across the Internet. The topic was leading through the sea of change. It is available online if you would like to listen in to what I shared.

https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p32206844/

J.J. Abrams' mystery box | Video on TED.com

2011-02-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

J.J. Abrams' mystery box Video on TED.com

If you can do one thing in leading others.. create a context where they can think about mystery boxes!

How vulnerable are you?

2011-01-31T15:24:00.000-08:00

Brene Brown does a remarkable job of explaining the importance of being vulnerable from the perspective of a social worker, but you can tell by her conversation that it is also about leading others. Watch the video and then join me for discussion below:

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

This video raises so many good questions for executives trying to lead others. It also complements the work of Willaim Schutz who introduced a theory of interpersonal relations he called Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO). FIRO sought to explain most human interactiona as being our need for Inclusion, Control and Affection. Affection in his later years became also know as openness and could be another way of talking about one's capacity to be vulnerable. Are you open? What do you pretend at work?

The most profound statement in Brene's talk is the concept that one has to love and accept oneself... Love our vulnerabilties so that we can have joy and satifisfaction in our lives. The very act of diminishing our vulnerabilities leads us to ignore our joys as well. Translated to work world, environments where we fear being vulnerable and transparent teach us work behaviors that ultimately diminish our engagement with work. Work is most meaningful when we can be authentic in our role... show our warts and gifts at the same time. Think about it.. if you have to pretend at work.. your more likely to be disengaged. We also know you're more likely to distrust as well...

We know environments of fear and distrust are 1/3 as productive as trusting cultures. Job one for all executives... "how can you create a culture where your direct reports feel safe to be vulnerable?" Want a hint.. it starts with your own vulnerability...

Retention Model

2010-12-28T06:58:00.000-08:00

A collegue and I have developed a pretty good model for retention through research over the past few years. Over the holidays, I refined the model and came away with a slightly more concise model by combining two of the factors. See if this this gives you a sense of what makes you want to stay in your job:

Owen-Safrit Five Factor Rentention Model

Recruit authentically - Communicating accurately to prospective employees the job's professional responsibilities as well as critical aspects of the total organization's and specific workplace's cultures critical to success in the position

Align - Hiring employees who have substantial overlap between their personal needs, interests and goals and those of the total organization and immediate workplace Ensuring that both the employee's career grows and evolves together as the organization's mission/vision and employee's needs/goals evolve

Develop - Providing support and material resources for the continuous professional education (CPE) of the employee so s/he may meet and exceed professional competencies (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations) needed to ensure professional success

Connect - Building strategic linkages between people and people, ideas and ideas, and people and ideas so as to strengthen each employee's internal and external workplace relationships.

Appreciate - Using appropriate intrinsic and/or extrinsic resources to effectively communicate appreciation to each employee for workplace excellence

Courage and the long view...

2010-12-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

Imagine you have started a company and while the work is exciting, you are not really making money. How many years would you stick it out. You believe in your product, but all the buyers are non believers.. In fact, your biggest customer is trying to hire away your best employee. What advice would you give this company. If you knew they had lost one million dollars a year for the past three years, would you tell them to shut down... How bout five years...

The company: Pixar.
The leader.. Steve Jobs.

Really great work takes time and a commitment to quality... So rare in our world today.

Succession Planning needs a new conversation

2010-11-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

In the October HR magazine.. Theresa Minton-Eversole reports that most companies are unprepared for succession at the top. Not to diminish her contribution, but this has been a common theme now for a good 15 years. Just pick through any of the management, human resource, or organizational development mags and you will find articles saying the same thing.

When we coach managers on correcting employee behavior, we tell them that when a pattern emerges of repeat behavior, the conversation needs to change. When an employee is continuously late, it is a different matter than when they have only been late once or twice. Well, the pattern around succession planning has been there 15 years... leaders worry about it and then ignore it. And although HR and OD experts have continuously spoken to the need for better succession planning, I am familiar with few organizations that are even doing a good job with just workforce planning. Just having a staffing plan seems to be a challenge to today's organizations and few if any, once they identify gaps are spending the resources to fully develop their next leaders.

So the question is, what needs to change in the conversation to get leaders to invest in leadership development. What will help today's executive and leaders come to understand that investing a little now in development will save lots later... you tell me.. I have an answer, but would love to hear your thoughts first?

Lessons in Death

2010-05-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

I have been honored to serve on my church council now for almost four years. Along with the role of giving leadership to decisions our church has to make, the council gets the honor of also serving the church. What that means is ushering during services, collecting money, even vacuuming after services when the cleaning crew is not available. In a sense, you lead by serving and there is a profound lesson in vacuuming at 11pm on Holy Friday so that the church will look good on Easter Saturday that gives you a great sense of humility. But of all the lessons I have learned serving my church, the best of these lessons have come to me when I have served on duty for funerals. It is a honored experience to help someone who has just lost a treasured loved one even when you don't know them. Over the years, I would say I have attended a number of funerals in which I knew very few of the family. Despite my distance from the family, each was always a moving experience for me. Each taught me the lesson of serving others I don't know. Most recently I watched a small funeral take place at the same time as people were voting in another part of the church.

Now.. I am all for ensuring everyone rights to vote, but I found it quite interesting how individuals who were campaigning were somewhat surprised when I asked them politely to avoid approaching anyone who looked like they were attending the funeral. Inside, the director of the voting process also kept worrying me about making sure the funeral didn't interfere with people trying to vote (I purposely closed doors as the beginning and end when there is a procession with the deceased.. he was nice..but still worried too much about voters and not the family). Now I am old enough to remember when we use to pull over to the side of the road, stop and say a prayer when a funeral procession drove by.. but times have changed. Recently I even saw individuals passing a funeral procession. The lesson in this post is a simple one..

We need to be there for people, even strangers if we hope to be authentic leaders. Leadership is more than decisions and being in charge... it is about serving others even in death. Some three years ago I was asked to be a pall bearer. The gentleman who died had lots of family, but through the years while I was on duty, I had helped him overcome the challenges of his age and his widow wanted me to carrying him his last walk. I was very honored. But above all, I realized that it is at those moments of sadness that people need service most.. To this day she is a special person in my life even though we have never had lunch, never took a walk, or even spent more than a minute or two speaking after church. She remembers my gift.. or really her gift to me. As for her husband, I trust he is somewhere and knows what a great honor I was given, but more important he probably knows I am a better servant today thanks to our last walk...

Does Passion Alignment Affect Trust?

2010-04-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

I have become convinced that there is a correlation between employee passion alignment and trust. Even in teams where there is strong ethical values, competence with task, and a high degree of openness, trust can still be lacking due to passion dis-alignment.

Last week I was having a discussion with an executive I know. We were discussing employee passions and how one of her direct report's greatest passion was to be an artist. The employee, I will call him Jim, was quite talented and had actually shown his art work at several events. However, his talent did not translate into a good income stream and so Jim had decided that he would have dual careers. Painting at night and working for the company during the day. He is a good performer at the company, slightly above average. When asked during his performance review what his passion was and where he saw his future going at the company, Jim gave a standard statement.. "I am committed to becoming the best salesperson you have.." but the executive could tell.. it wasn't a passion... just a purpose to getting paid. She knew about his art and had even considered buying a piece from him. Jim had simply told her what he thought his passion should be! Jim has a passion dis-alignment. Most of his job is not really connected in any way to his passion in life. And although he won't be punished for his passion statement, my friend the executive has little trust in the idea of Jim becoming her best salesperson. This dis-alignment is a trust killer.

Now, what is really interesting, is this passion disconnection affects trust over time. The more we trust each other, the easier it is to trust at even higher levels. Likewise, even minor reductions in trust can lead to increasingly levels of distrust. Jim will sense the decline and respond in kind. Over time, trust levels will continue to decline, especially when Jim is forced to choose between his true passion (art) and his necessary passion (sales). One other concern: The trust decline also affects the team. Such a minor disconnect, but everyone will sense the shifts.

What is the implication for my friend the executive. Here was my response to her:

Have you asked him why he wants to be the best salesperson? Maybe that will help him and you to have an authentic discussion on passion. For example, maybe he believes that being the best salesperson will translate into more money to support his passion for art. That might work in the short term. but eventually passionless work is a grind. I would seek to explore why Jim has a passion about art and see if there are roles he can be more passionate about. Ultimately, you need to have a candid discussion about how Jim can build his true passion into his work. Jim might be more suited to designing sales materials, or experimental sales approaches.

Great Destroyers of Trust

2010-03-02T06:01:00.001-08:00

I have spent the past five years putting together a model of trust that incorporates the contemporary theories of our time. Today, I will touch on one of the more profound surprises I discovered. While most leaders know that saying what you mean, doing what your saying, and demonstrating integrity is critical to building a trusting culture. These are not enough.. and sadly most leaders think they are... in fact the greatest destroyer of trust is to do nothing when a wrong has been committed.

First a little background... Harvard Business Review had an article in 2003 that reported that even the most ethical leaders are sometimes perceived as distrustful. One of the main points of the author was that despite their integrity leaders are often perceived as treating people in an unequal manner. It is only common sense that sometimes leaders must maintain confidentially and employees may have significant differences in needs. It would be easy to say that even though the leader is acting ethically, others will see it different. That is the easy answer.. the truth maybe rooted in a more significant lost of faith in the leader.

Gottman's work on marriage and divorce has shown that how we treat each other is critical. To treat someone with contempt is to destroy the relationship. These same principles translate to work.. the more we show contempt for an employee the less they will trust us. However, Gottman also showed that the more we show respect and treat each other ethically, the more they trust. It can be complex, because the minute minute a leader begins to treat anyone with contempt, it impacts how everyone else sees them as well. We judge others not just how they treat us, but also others.. which took me to the more profound and important lesson. It is not just how they treat us.. or how they treat others.. it is how they treat everything.. especially the environment we work in... Yes, We hold leaders accountable for the environment we work in. If the environment is not ethical, employees expect leaders to fix it the environment. To Right the Wrong so speak. "I'm sorry.. you know I didn't have anything to do with it.. we may just have to live with it..." OUCH.. Can't you just feel the trust being drained out of that relationship.

So what is the lesson? For me, it is that being ethical is not enough. Leaders must have the courage to face down the errors of others, even their supervisors and create environments of trust. If your a leader and you want to build trust.. take ownership of the environment and go right the wrongs. Your expected to do this by all that follow you... and if you don't have the courage or you don't have the skill to fix the environment.. then maybe it is time to move on to a some place where you can...

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

2009-04-16T14:44:00.001-07:00

By now you most likely have heard of her.. Susan Boyle, helps all of us learn several leadership lessons while also bringing most of us to tear eyes... You can watch her performance here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Lesson 1 - Follow your passion. Nothing is stronger than passion.. it gives you strength and courage.. It helps you face down even a Simon...

Lesson 2 - Be transparent.. be yourself! Amazingly, after just 7 minutes of watching her, we know her.. and most of us would trust that what she says she means..

Lesson 3 - You are never too old... Start now! Even a 47 year old Susan Boyle can find her dream, a dream she started at when she was only 12.

Lesson 4 -Through living your dream.. you inspire others...

2009-04-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Harvard has an excellent "Working Knowledge" article on Mile Davis and innovation. It is an interview with HBS professor Robert D. Austin and Carl Størmer, founding principal of JazzCode, a consulting and entertainment firm specializing in improvisational collaboration and communication in high-performance teams. They do a great job of showing Davis as a master of innovation. It is full of leadership nuggets.. here is just one..

I think the experience in Paris where he composed and recorded a film score for director Louis Malle (for Elevator to the Gallows, 1958) in a single night was important. There he might have realized that simplicity was one way to create great music in a very short time. Maybe he realized that this recipe could be improved further: get good songs, simplify them as much as possible, get the best players in the world, and force them to listen to the music by not telling them what to do.

I am sure you will enjoy this regardless of whether you even know whoDavis was... and you might even learn a bit about music that will make you want to download some itunes.... Check it out

What Makes Unethical Behavior Contagious?

2009-04-07T08:15:00.001-07:00

More evidence of the impact we have on our "circle of friends" or our team... Ethics has never been more important than today!