ExcellenceL E A D E R S H I P

THE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

Be CourageousBe Courageous

CourageGoes to Work

CourageGoes to WorkBill Treasurer

Giant LeapConsulting

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“Leadership Excellence is an exceptionalway to learn and then apply the best and latest ideas in the field of leadership.”

—WARREN BENNIS, AUTHOR ANDUSC PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT

ExcellenceL E A D E R S H I P

THE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

BILL TREASURER

Be CourageousAlso, be smart andobserve five cautions . . . . 3

CHIP R. BELL ANDJOHN R. PATTERSON

Traumatic ResidueNothing improves untilsomeone executes . . . . . . .4

ROGER CONNORSAND TOM SMITH

Your CultureStart making it agame changer. . . . . . . . . . . 5

HOWARD SCHULTZ

Healthy GrowthWe need to grow in adisciplined way. . . . . . . . .6

ROBERT BARNERAccelerate DevelopmentMove leaders throughthe pipeline faster. . . . . . . .7

LOUIS CARTERAND BRIAN FISHEL

Talent DevelopmentObserve five Dosand five Don’ts. . . . . . . . .8

RICHARD AXELROD

Dealing with ChangeDesign work withbuilt-in engagement. . . . . 9

WARD ASHMANAND TERESA ROCHE

Pattern RecognitionUse self-awareness as adevelopment strategy. . . 10

DAVE ULRICH ANDNORM SMALLWOOD

Leadership SustainabilityEnsure that the principlesbecome practices. . . .11

PETER H. BAILEY

Cultural CompetenceObserve the top 10Dos and Don’ts. . . . . . . . .12

BILL TREASURER

Courage Goes to WorkYou can practice three types of courage . . . . . . .13

MARK HANNUM

Connect with PeopleWhy are some leadersunable to connect?. . . . . 14

PATRICIA HEYMAN

CollaborationCreate a team culture. . . .15

HARRY M. JANSENKRAEMER, JR.Leading with ValuesDo it in times of change,controversy and crisis. . .16

CRAIG NEALAND PATRICIA NEAL

Art of ConveningIt’s the way to achieveauthentic engagement. . . .17

HOWARD M. GUTTMAN

Go from Now to WowYou need to recreate yourleadership story. . . . . . . .17

MARK FAUST

Strike at the RootAnswer Peter Drucker’sfive questions. . . . . . . . . .18

OLIVER DEMILLE

Wisdom as LeadershipIt’s the one indispensibleleadership trait. . . . . . . . .19

MARGOT MORRELL

Bumpy Path to SuccessLearn from Pres. Reagan. . 20

VOL. 28 THE GLOBAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE

Birds of a Feather As leaders of afeather roost and

flock together, theyinevitably exclude

some who just don'tfit in (the oddballs,the ugly ducklings)not realizing that

ugly ducklingseventually becomebeautiful swans.

IWAS SPEAKING WITH JennyHoefliger of Grupo BPMO

in Barcelona, Spain recently,reminding her that we have more Hispanicsliving in the U.S. (50 Million) than live inArgentina (40 million)—and about the samenumber as live in Spain (50 million). Hispanicpop star Ricky Martin sings, “Upside, insideout, we’re livin’ la vida loca.”

And we’re Livin’ La Leadership Loca—asevident in a debate sparked by the article inApril LE by Dave Ulrich, coauthor of Leader-ship Brand, and Laura Lopez, author of TheConnected and Committed Leader.

Laura: I don’t agree with the out-side/in approach to leadership branding.

Dave: We think that leadershipfrom the outside/in has the potential toadd more sustainable value thanleadership from the inside/out.

Laura: I believe both approachesare valid and essential. The questionis which one is the starting point? Brandsare often defined in the minds of others,and part of the branding process is to con-nect the brand to the needs and expectationsof the target. Like product or service brands,personal brands must also go through thisprocess. However, traditional brands startfrom the outside/in, with competitive marketanalysis; but personal brands need to startwith the product, the person. When it comesto developing a personal brand as a leader, weneed to first understand our unique strengthsand values since this helps us identify our besttarget market. I help leaders to see what mar-kets will be most receptive to their uniquebrand offering, as opposed to force-fitting aleadership approach to meet the needs of acertain target. I find that some leaders areineffective because their strengths and val-ues don’t reflect the needs of the group theylead. So, I start with the inside, then move tothe outside. I find that it helps build moreauthentic leaders looking for the right target.

Dave: The dominant view of most leadersis inside! Leaders should have IQ, EQ, val-ues, judgment, authenticity, ethics, etc. Ourpoint of view is that we need to connect theinside to the outside. Brands are not usefulunless the create value for the customers.Value has to be defined by the receiver, notthe giver. We see a host of LD products andservices and leadership theories, but until

and unless they add value to someone out-side (customer, investor, or someone else)there is no value created. We might haveleaders who are kind, nice, thoughtful, andinsightful, but until they do something thatcreates value for customers, they won’t beeffective. The “strengths” movement is basedon work by Martin Seligman, father of posi-tive psychology. He finds that lasting happi-ness comes through the service to others.Focusing on strengths limits growth, stopscareer progress, and does not create sustain-able value. So we want to challenge, prod,and push those who practice leadership tothink a little less about who they are and a lit-tle more about how they create value for others.

Laura: I agree that you can’t have a branduntil you connect the inside to theoutside. After all, this is what brand-ing and leadership are all about—connecting to users, followers,consumers, and customers. Withoutthis step, we’re not creating a brand.I thought that you went straight tothe outside with little regard or focusto the inside work. However, as yousuggest, much leadership work is

focused on the inside, with branding incorpo-rating more of the external view. I think we arein violent agreement. I use strengths as a wayto look at the unique differentiators of a per-sonal brand. Strengths are some of the brandbenefits, and how you connect them to yourtarget audience is the key to branding your-self as a leader. Although a brand identity iscreated in the mind of others, brands mustproactively shape that perspective. In mar-keting, it’s position, or be positioned. Feed-back from others, combined with the inter-nal view, shapes the final brand. Havingsaid that, I agree that leader must be veryfocused on the impact they have on oth-ers—a key in creating leadership brand.

Dave: I hear some (not you) say they con-nect the leader’s work to those who receiveit, but their work is 99 percent internally focus-ed, either inside the leader (personal strengthsor skills) or inside the organization (what dowe need to be effective). We believe value isdefined by the receiver more than the giver,so leaders need first to understand thedesired outcomes of their leadership, thenensure that they can deliver on these out-comes. We get to the inside from the outside.

The upside of this inside/outside debateis Leadership Sana. LE

W e ’ r e l i v i n ’ L a L e a d e r s h i p L o c a .

by Ken Shelton

Volume 28

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Inside Out, Outside InE . D . I . T . O . R ’ S N . O . T . E

2 WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

Editor since 1984

Laura Lopez

as a byproduct for engaging with fear.Most often you’ve fallen into yourcourage as a reluctant participant.

I invite you to shift your couragefrom incidental to intentional. Beingintentionally courageous requires mak-ing a deep commitment to acting con-sistently courageous. Instead of waitingto respond to situations with courage,you seek opportunities to be coura-geous. You ask yourself, In what areas ofmy life do I need to be more courageous?What is the next courageous thing I needto do? and Who needs my courage most?

When you shift from incidental tointentional courage, you search forchallenging opportunities in which toapply your courage. Intentional courageis deliberate, willful, and even trans-gressive. By seeking stormy situationsthat warrant the application of yourcourage, you are intentionally pursu-ing situations that others avoid.

3. Expect naysayers—and seek thesupport of a few powerful yea-sayers.Just because you’re courageous doesn’tmean that you’ll win people’s favor.You may in fact provoke anger andoutrage. Though courage may bringout the best in you, it may also bringout the worst in others.

Even when courage doesn’t insti-gate outright violence, it provokesopposition. Naysayers tend to sur-round people who act with couragelike zombies in a graveyard. I coached,for example, the medical director of ahospital who oversaw a large staff, buthated his job of 20 years. His secretdesire was to become a high schoolteacher. What stood in his way—hisnaysaying wife. She’d harp on him,moaning, “You want to give up yoursix-figure salary to become a poorlypaid teacher? Over my dead body!”

Naysayers often position their oppo-sition as being in your best interest. “If

Be Courageous

THESE ARE FEARFULtimes. Reading about

economic instability,terrorism, and other threats is enoughto make you want to lock your doorsand stay safely home. But with fearcomes opportunity to demonstratecourage. Just observe five realities.

1. Shift from stupid courage to smartcourage. When I was a kid, a ferociousdog named King lived down the street.At six years old, I was deathly afraidof King, a jet-black Doberman Pincher.Every time I walked past the house,King would bark viciously. I knew thatI would have to confront King to over-come my fear. In my first act ofcourage, I donned a Superman capeand headed down the street. When Iarrived at my neighbor’s house, Kingwas sleeping in his doghouse. Thiswas my superhero moment! I tiptoedup to his Spartan sanctuary, peeredinside, and was chewed up!

Courage without brains is like ethicswithout a soul. There’s smart courage andthere’s stupid courage. Just because youare courageous doesn’t mean you’reapplying your courage toward the rightaims or in the right way. My moment ofstupid courage with King had a linger-ing impact: for years afterwards even ayelping Chihuahua frightened me.

If you aspire to be an effectiveleader or stellar performer, you’ll needcourage, but you’ll also need intelligence,discipline, focus and persistence.

2. Shift from incidental to intention-al courage. I know that you’ve donecourageous things in your life already.You were courageous the day yourparents dropped you off at summercamp. You were courageous as a bud-ding thespian in your high school play.You were courageous in college whenyou contested the lousy grade yourEnglish professor gave you. It tookcourage for you to say “I do.” And ittook courage when, after spendingyears caring for her, you made the gut-wrenching decision to put your ailingmother in a nursing home. You arecourageous, but perhaps through hap-penstance. Yours has been an incidentalcourage. Your courage manifested itself

you do that, you’ll get hurt. I’m justtrying to protect you!” they say. Thereality is, however, most often they aretrying to protect themselves. Their realworry is that your courage will causethem harm. When you act with courage,naysayers will try to block your way.The more substantial your courageousact, the more visceral the naysayingresponse will be. Recognize that forevery 10 naysayers, there will be atleast one powerful yea-sayer cheeringyou on—and their cheering will likelyhave a counter-balancing, possiblyneutralizing, effect on those naysayers.Thus, when you’re facing a challengingsituation, it helps to have the supportsystem of a few powerful yea-sayers.

4. Move from the Closet Zone to theCourage Zone. I once asked an execu-tive about the most courageous thinghe had ever done. He replied, “When Icame out of the closet.” It was no secretthat Frank was gay. It also wasn’t anissue. He was an effective leader of 200people. They had become so comfort-able with Frank that he often broughthis longtime partner to company-spon-sored social events. People were com-fortable with Frank because Frank wascomfortable with himself. So I was sur-prised to hear him identify his outing ashis most courageous thing. “It was adifferent world 20 years ago,” he said.“Plus, this company is full of machoengineers. I wasn’t about to wave myrainbow flag in front of them. So, foryears I betrayed myself. Eventually Irealized that no job is important enoughfor me to have to come to work as a fraud.”

Had Frank not exercised courage, hewould have moved from self-betrayal toself-contempt. To live a fulfilling life, youmust be able to live within your own skin.The temporary anguish that Frankexperienced was eclipsed by an endur-ing sense of satisfaction that comes fromknowing that he stood up for himself.

One courageous moment can change thetrajectory of your life. When you decideto enlist in the army, or start your ownbusiness, or go to HR and accuse yourboss of sexual harassment, or quit yoursix-figure job to become a teacher,you’ll be a different person in the longrun. So, consider the consequencesbefore you put your courage to work—and the consequences that you’ll likelyreap if you don’t act with courage. Theregrets that weigh heaviest on you overtime are usually things you don’t do.

5. Courage is the chief virtue associ-ated with excellence and leadership.Virtues form the basis for living an eth-ical life. They involve the quality ofdoing what is right and avoiding what

by Bill Treasurer

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM 3

COMPETENCY COURAGE

B u t o b s e r v e f i v e c a u t i o n s .

is wrong. They represent the best of thehuman qualities, and include honor,harmony, gratitude, beauty, compassion,faith, and yes, courage. In the pursuit ofour virtues, we become better andmore powerful people.

Courage is chief among the virtues.Aristotle called courage the first virtuebecause it makes all the other virtues pos-sible. Winston Churchill said courage isthe first of the human qualities because “itguarantees all others.” Clare Luce Boothcalled courage “the ladder on which allother virtues mount.” The CatholicChurch identifies courage as one of theFour Cardinal Virtues, because it sus-tains the other three (prudence, temper-ance and justice) in times of challenge.

And yet little attention is paid toapplying courage at work. When wasthe last time you went to a workshopdealing strictly with courage? Never.Yet courage is the operating systemupon which other business conceptsrun. Courage brings vitality to othercore business concepts like ethics, lead-ership, innovation, motivation, andrelationship-building.

Courage presents a proposition thatis too dangerous for some companies toembrace. If employees are more coura-geous, they’ll do more than sit in theircubical taking orders like well-trainedcircus animals. Courageous employeeswill press to take on more challengingroles; voice their opinions and objec-tions more freely; hold themselves andtheir companies to higher standards,elevating the expectations of their lead-ers in the process; challenge, andaspire, and risk, and think, and lead.While that may look inviting, belowthe surface, where more competitiveand subterranean impulses dwell, it’s adangerous proposition. Courage raisesthe stakes. If employees start to actwith more courage, will their leadershave to be more courageous too?

Courage, the virtue most associatedwith the pursuit of excellence, is per-fectly suited for leadership. Courage isnot a zero-sum game requiring thediminishment of leaders’ power as theexchange for more courageous employ-ees. To the contrary, the more courageousall employees become, the more passionate,driven and productive the company becomes.Courage raises the stakes, and our stan-dards. Given all the benefits that actingwith courage can have on people andorganizations, be courageous! LE

Bill Treasurer is author of Courageous Leadership and CourageGoes to Work and is Chief Encouragement Officer of Giant LeapConsulting. Call 404-664-1842, email btreasurer@giantleapcon-sulting.com, or visit www.couragebuilding.com.

ACTION: Show courage in your leadership.

There is much alligator-killing but noswamp drainage. Requests are made forreports followed by meetings to dis-cuss the report (meeting-mania).People brag about being double-booked,but it’s all make work. This game comeswith the illusion of being harried (Texansrefer to this as three feet and a cloud ofdust—lots of bravado, little progress).Game players often fiddle with formsand then complain in diatribes aboutnever getting caught up. Little is achieved,but much time and energy is expended.

Get off the log. Three frogs sat on alog at the edge of a swamp. One decid-ed to jump in. How many frogs are nowon the log? Still three! Deciding and doingare not the same thing. People judgeyour position by the one you take, notby the one you propose. Until you exe-cute, all decisions are intentions. All plan-ning and preparing is just getting ready.Execution—putting skin in the game—is the test of commitment. “I believe, Isupport, I approve” are just weasel wordsunless coupled with visible action.

Great leaders know that nothingchanges, improves, grows, or progressesuntil someone executes (or, as Seth Godinsays, ships). They insist that meetings

have an agenda with clearobjectives and a preciselength—say, one hour—andend with actions assignedto people who commit toexecute something by adeadline. And they requiretangible evidence thatpromised results areachieved. They hold expec-tations-setting conversa-tions to gain buy-in on the

achievability of performance outcomes.They insist on regular touch points andcheck-in conversations to examine thepath traveled to date (versus plan) andsettle on course corrections to ensurearrival at the future state. They consis-tently and fairly apply consequences forgreat or poor performance. When conse-quences are not delivered, trust betweenemployees and leaders is weakened.

Help your people break out of pro-tective game playing and focus on pro-ductivity, achievement, and growth.Either change the people or change thepeople. Today, customers expect aroundthe clock, turn-on-a-dime responsive-ness. A culture of hesitancy and timiditycreates sluggishness. With the high-speedviral nature of word of mouse, leaderscan’t afford to sit on their hands whiletheir customers vote with their feet. LE

Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson are loyalty consultants andauthors of Wired and Dangerous. www.wiredanddangerous.com

ACTION: Focus on productivity and growth.

ORGANIZATIONS ARE EXPERIENCINGpost-recession traumatic residue.

During the recession, employees weresubjected to major layoffs, deep budgetcuts, and Scrooge-like frugality. Theresidue side of survival makes sense,but the traumatic side kills growth.

We see two types of employees atthe top of the cut list—screw-ups andslackers. Screw-ups are folks who makemistakes (many should not have beenhired in the first place). But they mightalso include brave souls who take risksthat yield poor results. Slackers are thesleepwalkers who do just enough to getby. They keep one eye onthe clock and complain ifasked to do any extra duty.

Slackers and screw-upsdrain your capacity for suc-cess. And, as the economysqueezes razor-thin mar-gins, you can’t afford toretain deadheads and dead-woods. Now we’re seeing amore insidious byproductof traumatic residue that ele-vates risk averse and looking busy behav-ior to a performing art.

Practicing shake and fake. Risk-aver-sive behavior, emanating from a reluc-tance to make mistakes, gives rise to agame of shake and fake—a folksy labelfor plan and execute—characterized asenthusiastic and passionate verbiagearound a bold idea but with no intentionof implementation. The goal is to soundbold without being bold. Project teamsare organized; meetings are long onplans, but short on to do’s; consultantsdo studies and reports; thought leadersballyhoo the big-deal effort; best prac-tice field trips are taken. In the end, theeffort dies as another big deal begins,and the shake and fake ritual starts allover. No one initiates anything thatcould result in an accountable outcome.

Perfecting the hardworking image.The look busy is the activity trap. Theobjective is to convince everyone thatyou are up to your eyeballs in work.

Traumatic ResidueRemove it from your firm’s DNA.

PERFORMANCE ACTION

4 WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

by Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson

experiences they have. Experiences fos-ter beliefs, beliefs influence actions, andactions produce results. The experi-ences, beliefs, and actions of the peopleconstitute your culture, and your cul-ture produces your results.

Most leaders work with just the topof the pyramid and focus on actionsthey need people to take. This tends tocreate a tell-me-what-to-do, command-control style of accountability that peo-ple resist and, ultimately, resent. Howoften have you been involved in arestructure (an actions-based solution)that did not work? You can changewhere people sit, but that does not nec-essarily change the way they think.Learning to work with the bottom ofthe pyramid—the beliefs and experi-ences people have—helps leadersspeed up culture change and createlasting change in a way that has a posi-tive impact on morale. You can eithertell people what to do or help peopleunderstand how to think about gettingresults. The latter approach engagespeople at every level in the process ofasking, “What else can I do?” to over-come obstacles and achieve results.

IItt SSttaarrttss wwiitthh RReessuullttssYou build your culture around the

results you need to achieve. If a key resultis growth, then you need people to holdcertain beliefs about what is important,how they get work done, and how toresolve conflicting priorities. Those cul-tural beliefs should be well defined.When things aren’t working well, cul-ture is the first place managers andleaders should look and go to work.

Leaders know their culture workseither for them or against them; andwhen it is not working for them, theywant to fix it. Intuitively they believethat they can fix it with the rightapproach. They are dead-on correct.

Surprisingly 9 out of 10 leadershipteams are not aligned around the topthree key results they need to achieve.They generally know what they’re try-ing to accomplish, but can’t preciselydefine those results. Accountabilitybegins by clearly defining results. Youbuild a Culture of Accountability around

Your Culture

YOU EITHER MANAGE YOUR CULTURE, ORit will manage you. Culture works

full time, never takes a vacation; nevercalls in sick—whether you know it ornot or like it or not—always sendingcues to people on how to think and act.

Does your culture supercharge yourefforts to achieve the results you areaccountable to achieve? Is your culturehelping or hindering? Is it sending theright cues to people on what to payattention to and how to get work donein a way that will yield desired results?Is your culture a game changer?

The results you currently get are pro-duced by your current culture—yourculture produces your results. If you areachieving desired results, you have astrong culture that produces what youwant. If you’re not achieving the resultsyou want—or if those results may bein jeopardy—your culture needs tochange. Your culture is responsible forthe results you achieve, and leadersare accountable for that culture.

The Results Pyramid shows howthe three essential components of culture—experiences, beliefs, and actions—workin harmony to achieve desired results.The pyramid not only tells you why theculture is the way it is, but also how youcan accelerate a shift in culture to cre-ate competitive advantage and game-changing results that can redefine theindustry and reshape a business model.The right culture creates just the rightbalance of all the interconnected com-plex pieces that go into making upsuccess; layering all the rules, bound-aries, systems, thought-processes, bestpractices and other quirky aspects oforganizational life into one completefabric that makes great organizationswhat they are and causes them to pro-duce the results they get.

At the top of the Results Pyramid sitsthe results that come from the actionspeople take that stem from the beliefspeople hold about what they shoulddo. Those beliefs are born from the

the results you need to achieve.A clear definition of results, one that

everyone can understand and repeat, isessential to aligning your culture. Oncein a workshop, we asked the Europeanmanagement team of a large pharma-ceutical company, What’s the top resultthat you need to achieve? They told us itwas Business Unit Contribution. Weasked the team, “What’s the number?”Everyone went silent. No one wantedto say. We asked them to write downthe number and pass it to the CFO inthe back of the room. There was a $300million variance between the high andthe low number!

Creating a clear understanding ofthe results you want enables people toalign their experiences, beliefs andactions in a way that yields a strongculture that produces desired results.

CCaassee IInn PPooiinnttA large retail client was hit hard by

the economic downturn. Their initia-tives to improve results (manage theActions) had failed to deliver. Realizingthat they had not yet tried workingwith the culture and the beliefs peopleheld about how to think and act to pro-duce their desired results, the leadersdecided to implement a 50-store pilotto test the premise that culture producesresults. The team determined that lessthan a 2 percent improvement in samestore sales would trigger a no-go deci-sion; 2 to 5-point improvement wouldindicate a need for further validation;and improvement of 5 percent or morewould support a “go” decision.

Working with the Results Pyramidand focusing on the beliefs they neededtheir associates to hold, store managerssaw an eight-point gain in same-storesales and customer count in five weeks!The CEO flew in from Europe to dis-cuss the pilot, resulting in a 1,000-storelaunch of the culture change effort.After 30 days, the company turned intheir best performance in 12 months;after 60 days, it was the best perfor-mance in two years: 65 percent of thestores delivered on their plan (only 9percent did the year before).

The evidence was clear: Culture pro-duces results. And the right culture pro-duces the right results—game-changingresults that create competitive advantage.

Align your culture to produce theresults you seek. Either you will manageyour culture, or it will manage you. LE

Roger Connors and Tom Smith are NYT best-selling co-authorsof Change the Culture, Change the Game and The Oz Principle.The Results Pyramid and Culture of Accountability are trade-marks of Partners In Leadership. Visit www.partnersinleader-ship.com, email rogerc@ozprinciple.com.ACTION: Create a game-changing culture.

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM 5

PERFORMANCE CULTURE

I s i t a g a m e c h a n g e r ?

by Roger Connors and Tom Smith

comps, but it made no sense to me. So,I set a seven-point transformation agenda.We didn’t abandon growth; in fact, onepoint is to create innovative growth plat-forms worthy of our coffee. You can’t at-tract and retain great people when thecompany isn’t growing. It’s vital to givepeople hope, to provide aspirations and avision for the future. My return wasn’tabout restoring the company to its orig-inal form: we had to instill commitmentto grow the company—the right way.

We’ve identified a big opportunity:no company has ever built comple-mentary channels of distribution byintegrating the retail footprint and theubiquitous channels of distribution—such as grocery stores and drug stores.Starbucks can seed and introduce newproducts and new brands inside ourstores. We introduced VIA instant cof-fee—a $24 billion global market that

hasn’t seen any growth in 50 years. Ifwe took VIA and put it into grocerystores and it sat on a shelf, it wouldhave died. But we can integrate VIAinto the emotional connection we havewith our customers in our stores. Wedid that for six months and succeededwell beyond expectations. We can draftoff of our stores into ubiquitous chan-nels of distribution and then integratethat into the capability and disciplinewe have around social and digitalmedia. This is now happening. Oneout of every five transactions in ourstores happens off the Starbucks card.Soon, not only will you be rewardedfor buying something at a Starbucksstore, but buying Starbucks-brandedproducts in a grocery store will alsogive you a reward off your Starbuckscard. We’ll integrate the reward system, ina way that hasn’t been done before.

We see great potential in emergingmarkets. In India, we’ll soon open

Healthy Growth

STARBUCKS ONCE GREWfast. Now I want to

grow with discipline—in emerging and developed markets.Emerging markets have a big role toplay in powering future growth. Sodoes our transition into a companythat excels as a retailer and a purveyor—in supermarkets and other channels—of consumer packaged goods.

When I returned to Starbucks as CEOin 2008, after eight years, I saw thatgrowth had become a carcinogen. We need-ed to transform our culture to createhealthier growth. In 1987, Starbuckshad 11 stores and 100 employees, anda dream to create a national brand aroundcoffee and a unique experience in ourstores. That dream become a reality,and had a life of its own. For 15 years,almost everything we did worked.

Growth becomes seductive andaddictive. But growth is not a strategy—it’s a tactic. I’ve learned that growthand success can cover up a lot of mistakes.So now, we seek disciplined, profitablegrowth for the right reasons.

In 2008, when I reviewed underper-forming stores, I was horrified to learnthat the stores that we had to close had beenopen less than 18 months. Decisions weremade without discipline. At times, wemade decisions that were complicitwith the stock price. There’s a fine linebetween trying to manage the companyin the best fiduciary way—and provid-ing analysts with 100 percent transpar-ency. You don’t want to start makingdecisions based on a P/E or stock price.

Most retailers and restaurants reportcomp-store sales monthly, which pro-duces fluctuation in stock prices mon-thly. I felt that we had started makingdecisions that drove incremental rev-enue but were inconsistent with the equi-ty of the brand. Wanting to remove thatalbatross, I announced that we wouldstop reporting monthly comps. I wasaccused of not being transparent, but Iensured that our people were manag-ing the business for the customer.

I once walked into a Starbucks, andsaw a table of teddy bears in the store.The manager said that it added to her

stores. In Brazil, we’ve got 50 stores—and a very big upside. We’ll likely be inVietnam next year. But clearly our num-ber-one growth opportunity is China. In 12years, we opened 800 stores in greaterChina, 400 in the mainland. We’ll havethousands. We’re highly profitable there.We started in Shanghai and Beijing, butin the last two years, we’ve opened incities with five to ten million people. InFuzhou, people lined up in a rainstorm,waiting for the Starbucks door to open.There are 140 cities in China with overone million people. We don’t have arollout plan for all of those cities, butwe have the discipline and process toexecute a big growth plan in China.

Every consumer brand imaginable isrushing to China—it’s like the goldrush. We want to be thoughtful and dis-ciplined—not go to too many cities toofast. For us, success in China is firstgoing deep in these markets before wespread to so many cities. It can beseductive; we’ve got to be disciplined.A Chinese real-estate team is workingwith our people in Seattle. We’verefined our model for deciding whereour stores should be located. And withour recent success in China, we cannow map those statistics and metrics ina way that gives us a very good under-standing, with greater predictability.

All of the learning is now being lay-ered onto every international market interms of how we operate the stores andenhance the customer experience. We’reproviding the China team with greatresources—our management team andmyself go to China to ensure that theyhave the benefit of all the things thatwe’ve learned, as well as the benefit ofthe mistakes that we’ve made.

We want to put our feet in the shoesof our customers. Not everything fromStarbucks in China should be inventedin Starbucks in Seattle. The Chinesecustomer does not want a watered-downStarbucks, but we want to be respectfulof the cultural differences and appealto the Chinese customer. So, the foodfor the Chinese stores is predominantlydesigned for the Chinese palate.

We did not do these things in the past.We were fighting a war here betweenthe people in Seattle who want a blue-berry muffin and the people in Chinawho say, “We’d rather have a sesamemuffin.” In the past, we thought, “We’llchange behavior.” Now we think, “We’llappeal with great respect to local tastes.” Sowe have a list of core products thatappeals to local consumers. We’re try-ing to create a Starbucks store with deepsensitivity to local relevancy. That’shard to do when you’re in 55 countries.

by Howard Schultz

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CHANGE GROWTH

I want Starbucks to grow with more discipline.

stantiate organizational returns forinvesting in LD and coaching.

Action 3: Identify developmental testpoints. For most leaders, 90 percent ofdevelopment occurs on the job. Jobassignments represent rich opportuni-ties for development, and yet leadersare rarely advised how they can lever-age job assignments into developmen-tal opportunities. One tip is to ask aleader to map all project steps involvedin the assignment. Next, ask the leaderto flag the single project step that willprovide the most valid test point forassessing his progress in bridging oneof his top two development gaps.

Consider a leader who is asked totake part in a cross-functional processimprovement team, and whose big needis to develop stronger executive presence.The leader might volunteer to take thelead in directing her team when theypresent the case for change. Identifyingsuch test points helps leaders to accel-erate their development—and helpsmanagers to see where, within a projector assignment, their people will likelybenefit from developmental coaching.

Action 4: Encourage managers tothink aloud. As leaders progress, their

success has less to do withacquiring behavioral skillsthat can be easily demon-strated and copied. Instead,it requires complex thinkingskills that include the abilityto work with unstructuredproblems, to deal with ambigu-ity, and to make decisions thatrequire high discernment andjudgment. It’s not enough tohave a leader shadow a

manager, or to observe the result ofthat manager’s efforts. To gain cognitivementoring, a leader needs to interactwith the manager as she is thinkingaloud on an issue or challenge. Suppose,for example, that an executive invites amanager to observe her in a meeting,in which she’ll try to convince her teamto commit resources for a new project.Before the meeting, the executive asksthe manager: Who carries the greatestweight on this decision? Who is likely toraise objections? Why? Who are our sup-porters? What concerns should we prepareto address? The executive might talkaloud about how she intends to pro-ceed. The manager gains insight intoher thought processes and decisions.

Take these three actions to acceleratethe development of leaders. LE

Robert Barner is CEO of Plano Executive Advisory Servicesand author of Accelerating Your Development as a Leader(Pfeiffer/Wiley). Email robert.barner@planoadvisory.com.

ACTION: Accelerate the development of leaders.

ONE CONSTRAINT TOvitality and growth

is an anemic leadershiptalent pipeline. This problem is evidentwhen organizations struggle to identifyexceptional internal candidates for high-potential leader pools and executivesuccession plans. You can accelerateleader development by taking four actions:

Action 1: Identify development gaps.Much managerial coaching today is re-stricted to cursory discussions squeezedinto annual performance reviews. Suchcoaching provides limited develop-ment, as managers tend to help leadersmake incremental improvements to pastperformance. True developmental coach-ing helps leaders identify the key develop-ment gaps they need to close if they hopeto assume next-level assignments.

To help leaders deconstruct next-level gaps, I use the cruciblemodel. In metallurgy, a cru-cible is where molten metalis collected and fusedtogether. As coaches, the jobcrucible we employ consistsof three components: 1) com-petencies that a person needsto master to succeed as aleader; 2) performance expecta-tions, or how leadership suc-cess is defined in the newjob; and 3) unique adaptive challenges,such as when a leader is first learningto mange a virtual team, or to manageacross cultural or national boundaries.Help leaders to identify the challengesthat fit within these three components, andthen determine which one or two factors arelikely to pose the most difficult challengesfor the leader—and hence require thegreatest focus.

Action 2: Use outcome-based plan-ning (OBP). Development plans arequickly discarded if they are not clear-ly tied to organizational results. OBPfirst seeks to spell out one key perfor-mance outcome that a leader wants toachieve over the next 12 months. Withthis goal, leaders then determine theknowledge, competencies, and exper-tise they need to gain to achieve thegoal. OBP accelerates learning byencouraging leaders to construct leandevelopment plans that include onlywhat is essential. Also, OBP helps sub-

Accelerate DevelopmentMove leaders through the pipeline.

by Robert Barner

PEOPLE DEVELOPMENTThe reason it’s working is that we’redecentralizing and trusting that thepeople in the local marketplace knowbetter than the people in Seattle.

Our biggest growth constraint isattracting world-class people who have val-ues that are aligned with our culture.

My leadership team hasn’t celebrat-ed much in the last two years, eventhough we’ve had a lot to celebrate:We’ve more than quadrupled the mar-ket value. We had record revenue,record profit. But we look at things thatwe don’t get right and ensure that theculture is preserved as we grow thecompany. It’s a discipline of being self-critical, having metrics to study theROI in stores, in advertising, in new-product introductions—looking at theentry cost of new markets in a differentlight; looking at the supply chain in adifferent way. We took $700 million ofcosts out of operations in the last twoyears—and we’re still looking for more.

I take pride in the fact that Starbuckschases the unexpected. Part of my role asCEO is to instill excitement and couragefor developing new products. I pushpeople further than they think they cango, yet not further than they can go.

As I try to reorient our people tothink boldly, I also reorient myself toinnovate the right way. Big, bold, origi-nal ideas can’t be fueled by instinctalone. They need to be relevant to ourbusiness, scalable, tested, integratedacross channels, and embraced by ourpartners in Seattle and in our stores.

The execution of a new idea has to beas good as the idea itself. Taking amore cautious, calculated approach toinnovation goes against my just-do-itentrepreneurial nature, which plays offmy gut and pushes for speed. But Irecognize that the company and I needto shift the way we bring products tomarket, bringing the same degree ofmastery that we apply to roasting cof-fee. As we explore options for disci-plined growth, we ask many questions:How can we improve the store experience?How might we expand our value proposi-tion—emotional and human connection?How can we strengthen our voice to bettertell our story? And how can we extend ourcoffee authority beyond the stores?

I do not like or want to fail, but I’mwilling to take risks. As we grow, Iwant our stores to feel small, balancingefficiency with romance. At the heart ofbeing a merchant is a desire to tell a storyby making sensory, emotional connections.LE

Howard Schultz is CEO of Starbucks (about 17,000 stores) andco-author with Joanne Gordon of Onward: How StarbucksFought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul (Rodale).

ACTION: Seek healthy, sustainable growth.

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Managers working within their elementare likely to achieve greater productivity.This is not to say, however, that high-potentials should stay within comfortzones. Place them in stretch situations atthe edge of their abilities, to challengethem to refine their skill-sets and toacquire new skills without overwhelm-ing them with duties that exceed theircapabilities. This enables them to uti-lize their professional strengths, whiledeveloping new capabilities “on themargins”. Stretch assignments shouldbe supported with internal or externalcoaches, mentors, and a skilled teamdedicated to follow-up on support anddevelopment of high potential leaders.

3. Let people own their processes.Leadership requires self-directed indi-viduals who can act decisively withintheir role, and who own the functionfor which they are responsible. While

central talent development may includeplacement and promotion of managers,give managers of functional areas bothauthority and accountability for thoseareas. For high-potentials, processownership encourages closer engage-ment with company goals, and moreeffective and collaborative connections.Don’t hold the reigns too tight, but alsodon’t allow a “free for all” either.

4. Connect people to the message. Theability to form strong and sustainablerelationships is a vital skill for leaders.Connecting people to the message meansinspiring co-workers, conveying sharedgoals on an emotional level, developingsustainable relationships built on mutualtrust, that hold together, even whensacrifices are required. Developingleaders requires setting standards ofcommunication, engagement, and focusto enable them to act as connectors.

5. Balance new perspectives withexperienced veterans according to busi-

Talent Development

FINDING EFFECTIVE MANAGERS ANDleaders to fill challenging roles is

always a priority because it enablesyou to overcome uncertainty and tocapitalize on hidden opportunities.

According to our Talent ManagementSurvey, 82 percent of companies utilizea formal or informal talent managementprogram, indicating that human capitalconsiderations are among the foremostgoals of strategic planning. Less com-mon is consensus on what strategiesand methods yield the best results.

TToopp FFiivvee DDoo’’ss ooff TTDDFrom our experience, we distilled

five ways to effectively recruit anddevelop high-potential talent.

1. Develop a common language fortalking about talent. It can be difficultto promote a unified talent developmentstrategy in organizations with special-ized divisions like Accounting, Sales, ITand Finance. A shared set of standardsfor identifying individuals with lead-ership potential is crucial. This startswith having one performance rating scale.Talent managers must identify andassess people against the requirementsthat help people succeed or derail.Such a standard, based on metrics forleadership best practices identified foreach level of management, enables youto determine the high-potentials, pro-vide rising stars with internal promo-tion options, and retain top talent.

2. Put people in positions that playto their strengths. Effective develop-ment of leadership talent depends ontheir careful placement into positionsthat suit their functional expertise andleadership strengths. Not every high-potential is suited to every task. Placeindividuals in situations that promotegradual and sustainable improvement,allowing them to develop and expandtheir areas of specialization withoutbeing spread too thin across the spec-trum of management competencies.

ness needs. Should you promote from with-in, or hire from outside? Do fresh ideastrump organizational knowledge? Is it betterto advance people of known character andperformance than introduce unknown fac-tors? If your industry is in a state offlux, you may benefit from bringing infresh perspectives and novel influences.If the business is making consistentheadway against known challenges, abalance in favor of internal promotionswill give you new leaders who alreadyseek the same goals. Filling leadershiproles with current employees with theright skill sets can shorten ramp-uptime and reinforce the incentive ofpotential advancement for other risingstars. On the other hand, recruitingcompetencies outside the current skillinventory enables you to introducenew people and approaches. Focusingon business needs can help you toarrive at the optimum balance.

TToopp FFiivvee DDoonn’’ttss::Here are five tendencies to avoid:1. Don’t ignore enterprise goals. The

culture plays a key role in encouragingcollaboration, cooperation, and engage-ment. A common culture can help tounify the goals across functional divi-sions, regions, and continents. Don’tindulge in “lone wolf” behaviors thatwork toward short-term wins and per-sonal agendas. Keep focused on organi-zational goals and strategies. High-potentials and new-hires tend to behighly motivated to prove themselves,and to generate quick results. Talentmanagers must emphasize respect for theculture, partnering with others, and col-laborating for better results. Managersinvolved with leadership developmentshould not lose focus on enterprise goals.

2. Don’t lose focus on business needs.Don’t over-focus on theoretical approachesat the expense of practical businessneeds. With so many well-developedstrategies of leadership development tochoose from, it is tempting to ignorefacts that might call your methods intoquestion. To avoid this trap, engagewith individuals at all levels, and com-pare performance metrics with the intend-ed outcomes of your decisions. Areleaders who are promoted from withinmeeting production and efficiencygoals? Are you hitting your target num-bers for retention of promising talent?Asking such questions will help you tofocus on measurable benefits to the company.

3. Don’t be afraid to develop or hirepeople who challenge you. As a leader,you take pride in your expertise and inthe respect of your co-workers. Beingchallenged can be a threatening and

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PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

O b s e r v e f i v e D o ’ s a n d D o n ’ t s .

by Louis Carter and Brian Fishel

people who have both the will and thewillingness to work together to accom-plish a goal that has meaning for them.

4. Promote fairness. Fairness pro-vides an ethical foundation for change.It produces trust and confidence inboth the change process and thoseleading it. Fairness speaks to thehuman spirit, the desire to have a say,and the desire to shape one’s destiny.

These principles and three key lead-ership practices—honesty, transparency,and trust—form a new basis for a sys-tem that governs how work is done.

Using this system often means mak-ing a change to how things are done,committing to a process that puts anend to the few deciding for the many.

The old change management worksagainst creative problem solving. Thereare two human responses: we move awayfrom threats, and toward rewards. Whenthe threat response in the brain kicks in,creativity and innovation decrease.When the reward response kicks in, cre-ativity and innovation increase. Engage-ment sets the path for the future. So,involve more people and give them avoice in what’s going on.

You can increase engagement in sev-eral ways: hold in-personmeetings; hold group confer-ences with workshop ses-sions; and deploy Internetand social media systemsthat engage people in realtime. Include people from alllevels and functions and others(customers and suppliers)who are vital to the business.

Pay attention to what peo-ple are saying and be responsive to theideas that come out of the dialogue andthe feedback the company is receiving.

In an engaged organization: Peoplegrasp the big picture, seeing dangers andopportunities. There’s urgency and energyas people align around a common pur-pose and create new direction. Account-ability spreads as people come to see thewhole system. Collaboration across bound-aries increases as people connect to theissues and to each other. Participationquickly identifies performance gaps andtheir solutions, improving productivityand customer satisfaction. Creativity issparked when people contribute theirbest ideas. Capacity for future changesincreases as people develop the skills tomeet current and future challenges.

In dealing with change, you have toengage your people or die trying. LE

Richard H. Axelrod is cofounder of the Axelrod Group andauthor of Terms of Engagement (Berrett-Koehler) Visitwww.axelrodgroup.com or www.everydayengagement.com.

ACTION: Experience the benefits of engagement.

FOR DECADES, I HAVEchampioned the use

of employee engagementto effect change. Today achieving changerequires maximizing employee engagement.

In times past we’ve seen or heardabout a government official, war hero,John Wayne, Moses, or bold CEO wholeads a turnaround. The story is alwaysthe same. The heroic figure, because ofinsight, charisma, and leadership skills,persuades a reluctant group of peopleto do something they might otherwisenot want to do. However, to surviveand thrive today, all energies must beapplied to getting the maximum qualityand productivity out of the people. Allemployees can make enormous contri-butions; and without the support andcommitment of all employees, majorchange is impossible.

My change managementparadigm calls for using fourkey activities in designingwork with built-in engagement:

1. Widen the circle of in-volvement. Include all internaland external stakeholders. Merebuy-in is not acceptable. Youmust deeply engage people inthe change process from thebeginning, creating a critical mass ofenergetic participants who design andsupport the necessary changes. Whenyou widen the circle of involvement,you go beyond the dozens who aretypically involved in current changepractices and instead involve hun-dreds, even thousands, of employees.

2. Connect people to each other. Usevarious dialogue methods. When peo-ple connect with each other and topowerful ideas, they generate creativityand action. Barriers to the flow of infor-mation and new ideas crumble as peo-ple forge links. Work also flows smoothlybecause people learn how what theydo fits into the larger whole and howthey can access needed resources.

3. Create communities for action.Create new forums for people to have avoice in change that impacts them.When we create community, we movebeyond a group of people who mayhave personal connections with eachother. We create a group of connected

Dealing with ChangeEngage your people or die trying.

by Richard Axelrod

CHANGE ENGAGEMENTuncomfortable experience. This cancause you to surround yourself withpeople who agree with you no matterwhat, creating a culture that is safe,reinforcing, and stagnant. Developingthe maturity to encourage respectfuldissent and contrary opinions is essen-tial for leaders. It will prevent a cultureof fear in which employees allow busi-ness goals to suffer out of concern fortheir own reputations and positions.Fostering open dialogue sets an exam-ple for rising stars, contributing to aculture of constructive collaborationthat will drive greater performance.

4. Don’t over-orchestrate. You needto set targets for recruitment and devel-opment of effective leaders, and createstrategies for achieving these goals,and you need to get involved at theoperational level to understand theday-to-day details, issues, and concernsthat managers need to address. Attimes, you need to roll up your sleevesand get involved with the actual work.Direct engagement with both recruitedand promoted leaders will yield moreeffective results, and set an examplethat will lead to better communication.Creating a culture of cooperation and asense that “We’re all in this together”can break down barriers between linepersonnel and managers, resulting in amore effective and coherent organization.

5. Don’t undervalue experience andhistory. When conditions are uncertainor sub-optimal, when there is littleagreement as to what is likely to hap-pen, companies are more likely to hireleaders from outside to bring in novelapproaches and fresh ideas, but it maycause talent managers to underrate thevalue of the experience, context, andknowledge that current employees canbring into a new position while pre-serving continuity and serving as avote of confidence in the current team,boosting morale and settling fears.While a balance must be maintainedbetween bringing in new people with freshideas and promoting proven talent within,don’t let fear of tough times blind youto the benefits of investing in employeeswho are dedicated to meeting goals.

Today, you need effective and capableleaders to remain resilient, adaptable,and productive. From great trials comegreat opportunities, and a proactive talentstrategy will help you to meet currentchallenges and prepare for future ones. LE

Louis L. Carter is CEO of Best Practice Institute and Studio4Leadership, and author of Best Practices in Talent Management(Pfeiffer). Visit www.bpiworld.com, lou@bestpracticeinstitute.org,call 800-718-4274. Brian Fishel is SVP, Enterprise TalentManagement and Executive Development Bank of America.

ACTION: Observe these five Dos and five Don’ts.

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our communication skills to respondeffectively. As we show greater maturi-ty in our relationships, we inspire oth-ers. And when we understand person-ality patterns, we can coach others.

To develop your personality patternrecognition skills, use this action plan:

1. Use the power of insight to ana-lyze all your personality patterns andsolutions to them. Insight providesboth information and inspiration. Togain insight, start by asking others youtrust to give you feedback.

2. Be objective. Your patterns are life-long mechanical habits. The patternsdon’t change, but you can change howyou respond to them, particularly whenthere is an expensive downside cost. Thispattern analysis may be uncomfortablesince you have to identify and acknowl-edge your patterns, but it will help yoube more effective at everything you do.

3. Create a cost/benefit analysis.Determine your key personality pattern.Here are some common patterns basedon the three primary orientations thatpeople use to process information.• Logic oriented: highly analytic; get

rattled when things don’t make sense;judge others for being irrational; highcommitment to get the right answer.• Emotion oriented: focus on the feeling

aspects of relationships and situations;feel at best when in positive situations;strong need to assess how others feel;can get caught up in over-working toavoid one’s own emotion state.• Intuition oriented. Have a sense of

knowing; can be impulsive, trustingthe intuition, but can err by not trust-ing intuition and find out later it wasright; and still require logic and emo-tion to confirm accuracy of perception.

Now think about the cost and bene-fit of your personality pattern to definethe value proposition of your observ-able patterns. You may be surprised.

Pattern Recognition

WE OFTEN HEAR LEADERS DISCLOSEhow they quickly and accurately

identify trends via pattern recognition.They have a highly attuned instinct foranticipating trends and adjusting tothem proactively. By observing thepatterns of a situation, they requireless analysis of facts—and less reactiontime—thus accelerating decision making.

Another powerful area of patternrecognition is to observe your personal-ity patterns to better anticipate how torespond to life situations. This enablesyou to adjust your default personalitystyle and apply an improved response,especially in relationships. For example,if you recognize that you tend to reactwith irritation when you hear surpris-ing or threatening news, you canchoose a simple alternative—ask formore information by using a phraselike “tell me more,” or “how so?” Thisprobing gives you time to observe andmanage your personality pattern,observe the internal state that drives it,and apply a better response. You oftenlearn that your initial interpretation wasinaccurate, and that added informa-tion helps you make a better decision.

Recognizing personality patterns toanticipate your responses drives animproved approach to all situations.How we live our life is what inspiresothers to follow us. Hence, we need tokeep improving in observable ways inorder to keep inspiring those who fol-low us to keep developing themselves.Ironically, as we move beyond therealm of technical competency to high-er leadership, our ability to inspirebecomes even more important in orderto develop deep trust and resilience-based relationships. These relation-ships help us manage the challengesinherent to top leadership, via the plat-form of strong and creative teams.

Self-awareness via pattern recogni-tion helps us inspire others by being atour best, not overreacting, and using

4. Determine your tool. Learn fromyour cost-benefit analysis and designyour tool for handling your patterns.• If you are high assertive, you can run

over people impulsively and miss hear-ing important information. The benefitis that you get to the point quickly. Thetool is to think about your impactbefore acting to get better informationand waste less time.• If you are high analytical, you can

take too long to get to the facts. Thebenefit is an accurate assessment of keydetail. The tool is to determine howmuch information is actually needed toaccelerated decision making.• If you are high emotion, you can be

distracted with people issues that derailpractical results. The benefit is that youcan build a stronger foundation of com-munity and resilience. The tool is tobalance connecting with others and get-ting results.

You may know your effective tools,but you need to remember to use them.

5. See your blind spots. We all havethem, and they are the key opportunityfor improvement. Ironically, the peoplewho know you best have been givingyou feedback about these blind spotsall along. However, we often don’t lis-ten to them. This is especially the casewith those closest to us! Be diligent tolearn about your blind spots and learnto see those patterns accurately.Reducing blind spot patterns is the fastway to self-improvement.

6. Observe traction. After applyingyour personality pattern recognitionand tools, observe the positive resultsof your actions and use these as posi-tive reinforcement. Observing tractionreinforces your higher performance.When possible, let others know whatdevelopment area you are working onand solicit feedback on how you aredoing. As you become more consciousof your improvement, you’ll see moreopportunities. You can self-correct inthe moment. Document the results ofyour improvements and use them todrive a higher focus on further results.

7. Apply action. Keep upgradingyour tool kit and action plan. Driveyour plan forward to keep improvingand focus on constant improvement.

Self-awareness is the key to patternrecognition. Since how we live our lifeis what inspires others to follow andtrust us, we have to keep improving inobservable ways in order to inspirethose who follow us to keep growing. LE

Ward Ashman is Founder and Partner of Trimergence. Visit www.trimergence.com. Teresa Roche is VP and CLO of Agilent Technologies. Visit www.agilent.com.

ACTION: Use pattern recognition to develop.

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Sel f -awareness as a development strategy.

by Ward Ashman and Teresa Roche

ment to changing the world in whichwe live and work. LS is a lasting,durable commitment to personal change.

Leadership sustainability matters.We have articulated why leadershipmatters and what good leadership lookslike. In our work on Leadership Code andLeadership Brand, we articulated boththe basic rules of leadership (shape thefuture, make things happen, engagetoday’s talent, build the next genera-tion, invest in yourself) and the differ-entiators that will distinguish leadersby turning customer expectations intoleadership actions. We spent most ofour effort on the why and what of lead-ership. But, we still struggle with thehow of leadership: How will well-inten-tioned leaders actually do what theyintend? How will leaders turn their per-sonal learning into desired actions andresults? How will leaders change their

own and others minds, hands, feet,and hearts to get things done? How willorganizations make investments in LDthat have the desired long-term results?In brief, how do we build LS?

If leaders lack a strong sense of whythey should change or what they shouldchange to, LS does not matter. But, onceleaders accept why they should changeand understand what they shouldchange to, we must deal with how tomake leadership change happen.

SSeevveenn LLeeaaddeerrsshhiipp PPrraaccttiicceessTo learn how to build LS, we culled

insights from the literature on leader-ship and several other disciplines:

1. Simplicity. Leaders focus on a fewkey behaviors that have high impact onkey issues. Leaders have to cope withcomplexity in the world and in theirpersonal leadership style. Most leaderscreate to-do lists of things they shouldchange, but they get overwhelmed whenthey try to change them all at once. LS

Leadership Sustainability

MOST OF US WHO WORK IN THE FIELDof leadership development (LD)

have taught a course on the principlesof effective leadership; coached an aspir-ing leader how to interpret and use360 feedback; or reviewed LD planswith the board or executive committee.

Implicit in such conversations arethe noble desire that principles becomepractices, that data turns into action, andthat plans become realities.

One of our favorite cartoons showsturkeys attending a two-day trainingprogram to learn how to fly. They learnprinciples of aerodynamics and prac-tice flying in the morning, afternoonand evening. They learn to fly withthe wind and against it, over moun-tains and plains, and together and solo.After the two days, they all walk home.

Often our desires to develop leader-ship are dashed against the headwindsof making change last. We can orches-trate training and coaching whereindividuals learn why they should leadand what they should do to be betterleaders. We often find that the greaterchallenge is how to turn these eventsinto an on-going pattern of desired behav-ior. We call this shift from hope toresults leadership sustainability (LS).

LS is not just what the leader does,but how others are impacted by theleader’s actions. We judge ourselves byour intentions, but others judge us byour behaviors. LS has to show up both inpersonal intentions and in observablebehaviors. Environmental sustainabilityis about caring for earth’s resources byreducing our carbon footprint. LS isabout caring for organizational resour-ces by adapting and changing leader-ship patterns to align with shiftingrequirements. Social sustainability isgiving back to the community throughsocial responsibility initiatives. LSoccurs when leaders take personalresponsibility to ensure that they dowhat they say they will do. Corporatesustainability is a long-term commit-

requires that we find simplicity in theface of complexity and replace conceptclutter with simple resolve. It entailsprioritizing the behaviors that mattermost, shifting from analytics with data toaction with determination, framingcomplex phenomenon into simple pat-terns, and sequencing change.

2. Time. We often ask leaders to tellus their priorities, which most can do.Then we ask them to review their cal-endar for the last 30 days and show ushow much time they spent on thesepriorities. Leaders put their desiredbehaviors into their calendar and thisshows up in how they spend their time.Employees see what leaders do morethan listen to what they say. LS showsup in who we spend time with, whatissues we spend time on, where wespend our time, and how we spendour time. When leaders invest theirtime as carefully as their money, theyare more likely to make change happen.

3. Accountable. A cycle of cynicismoccurs when leaders announce won-derful aspiration statements (vision,mission, strategy), but fail to deliver.Over time, this cycle of failure breaksdown trust and erodes commitment.LS requires accountability where lead-ers take personal responsibility fordoing what they say. Accountabilityincreases when leaders assign personalcommitments from others and follow upon them. Over time, the leader’s agendabecomes the personal agenda of others.

4. Resources. Leaders dedicate re-sources in order to support their desiredchanges with coaching and infrastruc-ture. Resourcing implies institutionaliz-ing. Steve Kerr, former CLO at GE andGoldman Sachs, cleverly observes thata training challenge is to make an unnat-ural act (listening to others) in an unnatur-al place (a training program) a natural actin a natural place. Coaching and HRpractices create part of the infrastructureof sustainability. Marshall Goldsmithfinds that when leaders have on-goingcoaching, they’re much more likely toenact desired behavioral change. Wefind that a mix of self-coaching, expertcoaching, peer coaching, and bosscoaching can resource sustained change.HR practices can create the culture.Selection, promotion, career develop-ment, succession planning, performancereviews, communication, policies, andorganization design may be alsoaligned to support leadership change.

5. Tracking. The maxims are true: weget what we inspect not what we expect;people do what they are rewarded for; anddon’t reward one thing while hoping for adifferent outcome. Leaders must measure

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM 1 1

LEADERSHIP SUSTAINABILITY

E n s u r e t h a t t h e p r i n c i p l e s b e c o m e p r a c t i c e s .

by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

their behavior and results in specificways. Unless desired leadership behav-iors and changes are operationalized,quantified and tracked, they are nice todo, but not likely to be done. Effectivemetrics for leadership behavior need tobe transparent, easy to measure, timely,and tied to consequences. LS may bewoven into scorecards or become itsown scorecard to ensure that leadersmonitor how they are doing.

6. Meliorate. Leaders improve bylearning from mistakes and failures and bydemonstrating resilience. Change is notlinear. We don’t start at point A and endup in a logical and smooth progressionto point Z. Usually we try, fail (or suc-ceed), try again, fail again. When welearn from each attempt, the outcomeswe intend eventually come to pass. LSrequires that leaders master the princi-ples of learning: to experiment frequent-ly, to reflect always, to become resilient,to face failure, to not be calloused tosuccess, and to improvise continually.

7. Emotion. Leaders who ensure sus-tainability have a personal passion andemotion for the changes they need tomake. Sustained change resides not justin the head with an intellectual agenda,but also in the heart with a strong emo-tional agenda. Action without passionwill not long endure, nor will passionwithout action. Leaders ensure emotionby drawing on their deeper values andfinding meaning in the work. LS occurswhen leaders not only know, but feelwhat they should do to improve. Thispassion increases when leaders seetheir desired changes as part of theirpersonal identity and purpose, whentheir changes shape their relationshipswith others, and when their changesshift the culture of their work setting.

The mnemonic for these principlesspell START ME. This is apt since sus-tainability starts with me. When we applythese principles, we turn hope into realityand become leaders who get things doneand know how to make them stick.

These seven principles inform bothpersonal efforts to be a better leader andorganization investments to build betterleadership. The impact of LD increaseswhen participants turn learning intoaction. When aspiring leaders receive360-feedback and rigorously apply theseseven principles, personal action plansbecome more sustainable, and execu-tives become more confident that theirinvestments in LD will have payback.Leaders matter. Leadership matters more.Leadership sustainability matters most. LE

Dave Ulrich (dou@umich.edu) Norm Smallwood (nsmallwood@rbl.net) are partners in RBL Group. Visit www.rbl.net.

ACTION: Apply these seven principles.

by Peter H. Bailey

Top Ten Global Don’ts. Ten things tostop doing: 1. Assume your way is theright way. 2. Don’t modify anythingabout your behavior, words, or actions.3. Ignore subtle cues. 4. Convince peo-ple of your perspective rather than lis-tening to possible alternatives. 5. Telljokes and tease people. 6. Expect every-thing to happen the way it does in thehome office. 7. If it didn’t work at first,do the same thing again, harder andlouder. 8. Single people out to findfault, place blame, or make an exam-ple. 9. Be ostentatious in all you do. 10. Assume you are global because youtravel or were born in another country.

Top Ten Global Do’s! Ten things tostart doing: 1. Always pause and ask,How might my behavior, words or actionsbe perceived? 2. Check Cross-CulturalDimensions Charts for gaps and align-ment. 3. Preparation is better thanreparation. 4. Check emails with othersbefore sending or responding. 5. Holdpeople in unconditional positive regard.6. Assume that other peoples’ actionsare done with positive intent. 7. Ask:What information helps me see the realmessage being communicated to me? 8.Ask: How might I get more informa-

tion to gain a clear pictureof what is going on? 9. Ask:How might I communicatemy message differently toget the results I intended?

10. Practice the GLOB-AL steps: Greet with a gen-erous spirit: How can Ishow my positive intentand best connect with thisperson? Listen to under-stand all points of view:

What parts of what they’re saying align(or conflict) with my values? How canI see their values from their viewpoint?How can I inform them of my valuesfrom my viewpoint? Open yourself topossibility: How can we gain mutualunderstanding? How can I be moreopen to possibility? Build a solutionfrom multiple perspectives and values:What steps can we take together tobring us closer to our mutual benefit?Have we considered multiple perspec-tives? What is the highest good we canachieve together? Acceptance is key:Have I accepted the process and resultsas being exactly as they are supposedto be? What aspects are difficult for meto accept and why? Leverage actions formutual benefit: What can we do so weboth win? How can I ensure that mycounterpart benefits by the results? LE

Peter H. Bailey is SVP of OD at The Prouty Project, a leader-ship consulting firm. Email Peter.bailey@proutyproject.com.

ACTION: Become a better GLOBAL leader.

THE MOST EFFECTIVEleaders fall into two

camps: UnconsciousCompetents and Conscious Competents.• Unconscious Competents learn to

adapt to ambiguous circumstances,read the invisible communication, andask for or deliver information in a waythat is non-threatening. Their styleseems to elicit critical information thatothers could not uncover. They appearto be uniquely suited for global man-agement. Their drawback? They oftendon’t know what they are doing that isworking, or how to pass it on to oth-ers. Their Unconscious Competence, ifnot managed well, can prove to be acurse, negatively impacting colleagues,customers, and other constituents.• Conscious Competents are also good

at maneuvering throughthe fog of cultural nuances,and as astute in culturalconflict, and they have asaving grace. Through theirexperience and education,they know what they aredoing. They’re keenlyaware of how to modifytheir behaviors so thatother people are more com-fortable. And, they can passon to others clues to their success to en-hance their performance across cultures.

WWhhiicchh DDoo YYoouu HHaavvee??If you have Unconscious Competents,

you need to increase their self-awarenessso that they can know what they aredoing that has made them so success-ful. Instinct is a gift but intuition can bedeveloped. Your Unconscious Competentmanagers need to turn their instinctivegifts into teachable approaches, atti-tudes, and behaviors so that other co-workers can adopt similar styles.

If you have Conscious Competent man-agers, you need to replicate them. Askthem to codify what they do and howthey think, and even how they begin tothink before they plan any cross-cultur-al interactions. To be Consciously Com-petent means to apply cross-culturaltools at all times, knowing how and whento use what, with whom, and how to re-pair situations when things go wrong.

Cultural CompetenceHow conscious is your global team?

CAPABILITY CROSS-CULTURE

1 2 WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

Sara Blakely is founder of SPANX, a200-million-dollar retailer of women’sunder-apparel. Sara makes behavingwith courage a top priority. She talksabout making forward-falling mistakes.Instead of being irate when workersmake honest mistakes, she gives theperson a high-five. Sara knows thatwhen people make mistakes and learnfrom them, it helps the business.

Sara learned the value of a goodmistake from her father.“At dinner, my dad wouldask my brother and me,‘What did you fail at thisweek?’ If we didn’t have agood answer, he’d bedisappointed. If we hadfailed—for example, ‘Dad,I tried out for this or that,and it was horrible’—hewould congratulate us andgive us a big high-five!”

Knowing her parents expected her tofail took the fear out of failing. Thislesson was valuable when she knockedon the doors of textile mills beggingthem to make her prototype for a foot-less pantyhose; when she traveled toDallas to persuade Neiman Marcus tosell her products; when she called onTarget to interest them in her newASSETs line; and when she appearedon The Oprah Winfrey Show. Sara car-ried on despite the fact that she mightfail. She knows that trying new thingsmeans being willing to make mistakes.

Try tip: Value mistakes. Identify waysin which you are playing it too safe.Think about the last mistake that youwere “proud” to make. What did youlearn? How can you apply that lessonto other risks you should take but haveavoided? Identify ways you can rein-force appropriate risk-taking or mis-take-making, including weaving bothconcepts into performance appraisals.

2. Trust courage—the courage of get-ting real, having confidence in others—letting go of the need to control situa-tions or outcomes, having faith in peo-ple, being open to direction and change.

Dan Walsh and Matt Walsh are pres-ident and CEO of Walsh Construction,a family-owned business founded inChicago by Matthew Miles Walsh, anIrish carpenter. From humble origins,the company has grown into one of

Courage Goes to Work

THE COLLAPSED ECON-omy—the greatest

economic crisis since theGreat Depression—tops the news. Ourhome values are in the tank, ourretirement savings are evaporating,and our jobs are being cut.

In normal times, people can bedivided into two equal camps—safetyseekers and opportunity seekers. Butwhen fear enters, the safety encamp-ment grows with refugees. And theflight to safety hampers the innova-tion and chutzpah needed to survivein economic instability. Bottom line:Safety is dangerous for business.

Aristotle called courage the first virtuebecause it makes all other virtues pos-sible. Courage helps leaders endurehardships, deal with economic insecu-rity, and confront challenges. Courageis activated when people are afraid.When times are tough—and the temp-tation to seek safety and comfort is high—leaders need to put people’s courageto work. The leader’s role is to breakfree from fear and activate courage.

Many leaders expect workers tobehave courageously while they them-selves radiate fear. But workers taketheir behavioral cues from leaders;and when fear is amplified, the busi-ness costs are steep. Fear creates dis-tractions, cuts quality and product-ivity, provokes gossip, makes peoplehide their mistakes, and erodes trustbetween leaders and followers.

Instead of stoking workers’ fears—while expecting them to be courageous—start behaving more courageously.Be a leadership role model. If youwant people to show more initiative,state their ideas more boldly, and em-brace changes more enthusiastically,you have to do it first!

TThhrreeee TTyyppeess ooff CCoouurraaggeeCourage is a skill—teachable and

learnable. Most everyone has capacityto be courageous. Most courageous actsrepresent one or more of three types:

1. Try courage—the courage to em-brace mistakes, to take initiative andaction—making first attempts, pursu-ing pioneering efforts, and stepping up.

the largest construction companies withannual revenues topping $3.6 billion.To satisfy their need for leaders, Walshlaunched the Walsh Group LeadershipInitiative, a 24-month leadership devel-opment program.

Behaving courageously is a key con-cept. Participants are expected to open-ly express their challenges, frustrations,and even failures with one another.Doing so strengthens the bonds of trustbetween them.

For managers, getting real with oneanother—essential to building trust—takes courage. Matt and Dan begin eachworkshop by sharing stories about slip-ups, including their own, to help man-agers to open up and to build trust.

Trust tip: Get real. Be aware of howyou show up at work. Areyou “wearing” a role andgiving a performance? Arethere differences betweenwho you portray yourselfto be at work and who youreally are? Are you show-ing up as an agent of thesystem or an agent of posi-tive change? List threeactions you could take toshow up as your authentic

self and model courageous behavior.3. Tell courage—the courage of

speaking up, of voice—raising difficultissues, providing tough feedback, andsharing unpopular opinions.

Laurie, a project leader, was stewingwith resentment after a coworker criti-cized her work in an email to her boss.She even asked to be reassigned.

Laurie explained, “I don’t take criti-cism lightly. I realized that I needed toelevate my behavior instead of burningwith resentment. So I met with my co-worker. “I started by asking questions.There was some validity to her concerns,which tempered my anger. I told herthat I was hurt because she had chosento go to my boss before talking with me.”

As Laurie related, the conversationwas uncomfortable, but worth it. Shewrote, “It was a courageous conversa-tion for both of us. We’ve developed arelationship as a result of it. Before wetalked, we worked near each other.Now we work with each other.”

Tell tip: Speak up. Stop biting yourtongue to keep the peace—start tellingthe truth. Admit a mistake. Make anapology. Share a different viewpoint oropinion. Identify one conversationyou’ve been avoiding—and have it. LE

Bill Treasurer is a leadership expert, author of Courage Goes toWork (Berrett-Koehler), and CEO of Giant Leap Consulting.Visit www.giantleapconsulting.com.

ACTION: Take these tips to build your courage.

by Bill Treasurer

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LEADERSHIP COURAGE

L e a d e r ’ s r o l e i n b u i l d i n g b a c k b o n e .

drive relentlessly to achieve the rightresults. But their strong sense of drivecomes from a feeling of unworthiness.They feel failure is imminent. Their self-talk revolves around declarations like,“I’m not smart enough” or “fast enough”or “good enough.” These leaders feel likethey’ll be discovered as a fraud anyminute. They are often the center ofmany people’s world. They overcom-pensate for a sense of unworthiness byknowing many people. But this is alsomisdirected. Driven, they work hard toturn uncertainty, variability, and ambi-guity into controlled perfection.Eventually, it doesn’t turn out well!

Some leaders are so goal-oriented andobsessed, they don’t see other people.

None of these leaders connect withpeople. Such leaders have a strong need

to know the right answer every time.They are dominant, assertive, indepen-dent experts. They like having the rightanswer, whether it is effective or not.

WWhhaatt IIss CCoonnnneeccttiioonn??We are all wired to connect. When

we interact with each other, our brainsactually change. We’re meant to under-stand each other and be there for eachother. Social work researcher BreneBrown defines connection as the energybetween people when they feel mutuallyseen, heard, and valued. When I say thatsomeone connects well to others, I’m say-ing that they are warm, inviting, open,empathetic, insightful, expressive,engaged, supportive, and values-ori-ented. Often people equate the abilityto connect with good leadership.

Leaders who do not connect well tendto forget about people and relationshipsand focus on tasks or knowledge. Theyare not very engaging or fun to bearound. Words like reserved, aloof, intim-idating and intense get used to describethem. It’s somehow an argument about

Connect with People

WE OFTEN HEAR OFleaders who don’t

connect. They’re finan-cially astute and think through abstractproblems with clarity and insight. Theirplans are detailed and precise. Butsomething about the execution neverworks: the plans never come together,and the thinking and the financials neveradd up. Their leadership presence adds tothe puzzle: they look the part and seemto have the answer. The people report-ing to the leader say they don’t get it.

When we hear they don’t get it fromcolleagues, we look at the leader’scapacity and capability to connect withpeople. The ability to connect is not aleft-brained, analytical activity. Itrequires a mastery of emotions: read-ing the emotions of others and fullyembracing one’s own emotions in away that others can see them.

Leaders don’t connect with peoplefor many reasons. Many leaders aresusceptible to the hero myths. The leaderis the smart one and objective one. Thepressure to be right and have all theanswers is intense. Some leaders don’tdare to delegate anything because theyare expected to know every detail.Other leaders just like being the expert.

There are also leaders who grow upin organizations alone. They come inwithout a peer group, work in a lonelyoutpost for years, miss out on net-working, and don’t find a mentor orfriends. They enjoy their office and aspreadsheet. Their ability to analyzeproblems grows exponentially, andthey are rewarded for their problem-solving and analysis skills. They maybe seen as personable and reasonable, butstick to themselves and seldom deliverfeedback—or deliver it poorly. Theyare prized for their experience. Theyhave the required one-on-one meet-ings, do the obligatory team meetings,and get their own team together formeetings. But small problems don’tget solved, the deadlines slip, theproblems multiply, and the financialsdon’t meet expectations. These indi-viduals tend to be reserved, indepen-dent, and tough-minded.

Other leaders often work hard and

the what and the how. The fact is, wedon’t have to focus on one or the other!We can focus on the task at hand in anengaging, warm, open, insightful andexpressive manner. We don’t have topretend to be something we are not atwork and a different person at home.

If we can all connect to some extent,why are some leaders unable to connect?Here are 10 reasons: 1) We care toomuch about what others think of us; 2) we fear making mistakes; 3) we feelwe need to do something huge to im-prove or change ourselves before wewill be ready for others; 4) we do notfeel good enough about ourselves, ourskills, or our experience; 5) we are hid-ing something about our backgroundwe feel does not measure up; 6) we aretold by people who either care about usor who we look up to that we are get-ting too full of ourselves; 7) we are toldwe do not belong; 8) we are unable togive ourselves a break; we are too hardon ourselves; 9) we lose ourselves tak-ing care of everyone else; 10) we try topackage ourselves as something we arenot to fit in, get a promotion, belong tosome organization; we lack courage.

Such behaviors and thoughts keepus from connecting to others. Most ofus associate courage with bravery andheroism. But it really means to show yourheart or tell all your heart. Courage there-fore means to show yourself. Puttingyour life on the line is brave and heroic.Being vulnerable enough to show yourheart to another person is courageous.

LLeeaaddeerrsshhiipp CCoouurraaggeeYou can connect with others by

choosing to act with leadership courage—showing others that you are human,capable of error, not always right, notalways brave. Connection is a given ifwe are human. We simply must chooseto act that way—to be vulnerable, tochoose worthiness, to do things that wehaven’t done before without beingafraid to make a mistake, to belong tothe people part of the organization, tobe ourselves in the workplace. We needto stop pretending to be something thatother people believe to be the “onlyright way to behave.” The payoff is big!We hear more of the right data. We seemore possibilities! We enjoy the workwe do with others more. And, our realtalents shine through. Do not act likethe leader you think you should be, justbe the leader you are by being you.Somebody might even say that you areone leader who “gets it.” LE

Mark Hannum is a Principal Consultant at Linkage, Inc.Email MHannum@linkageinc.com.

ACTION: Connect well with people you lead.

by Mark Hannum

1 4 WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

PEOPLE CONNECTION

B e t h e l e a d e r y o u r e a l l y a r e .

Scenario 2: A new product or serviceis introduced. New employees enter thesystem, and current employees are fear-ful and confused about the new focus.Clear communication is neglected, asthe focus is on the new product, service,or structure. It is clear that the focus isexpanding, and new skills and relation-ship connections will be necessary—sothere is a need for specific communica-tion, new accountability processes, newsolutions, and time for planning, com-municating, inclusion, and surfacingchallenges that might sabotage efforts.

Scenario 3: The technical design andimplementation teams are neither get-ting work out in a timely manner norcommunicating differences of opinionabout practicality of designs and con-struction. There is behind-the-scenescomplaining with no solution focus.Designs are altered duringconstruction, which upsetsthe design team. Time andmoney are lost in changes,and all team members feelangry and undervalued.Responsibility in the formof blaming is the major focus.

With collaboration, posi-tive results are achieved whenyou target: accountability,solution-focus and effectivecommunication. One or all of these tar-gets is missing in all three scenariosand is the reason for lack of achievement.

Without the elements of collaboration,change management fails. Lack of buy-in, sabotage, demotivation, and fearcreate a culture of stagnation.

By instilling a culture of collaboration,the elements of communication, account-ability, and solution create a template tomanage change. Lack of personal account-ability can exist in many ways whenleaders fail to value or implement aclear collaboration process. Clients mis-takingly think that assigning projects isall that is needed to move forward.Projects are often stymied by concerns—such as taking time away from theusual job, giving over power andauthority, no channels for discussion,no sense of ownership or motivation.In a culture of collaboration, such issuesare dealt with openly and honestly.Rather than blaming, the focus is howwe can work together to solve the problem.

Without effective team collaboration,there’s little collegial communication. Lea-ders know less about each other thanthey know about their direct reports.Candid communication rarely occursin meetings. Often meetings occur ir-regularly, and are seen as a waste of time.

When people fear taking risks, the

Collaboration

LEADERS CAN’T ACHIEVEgoals or desired

results without effectivecollaboration. Leaders are expected toexpress innovations and ideas, butoften they’re involved in micromanag-ing business units. They aren’t focus-ing on improving the leadership teamor on encouraging people in teammeetings to contribute creative ideasand share honest opinions in order tocreate an internal sense of team unity.

Hence, team members tend to com-pete with each other and engage infear-based, behind-the-scenes com-plaining that stymies growth. Often,ears that should hear ideas and expandthem into doable innovation never hearthem. Many solutions are lost—andstrategic plans are poorly implemented.

Collaboration is crucial for success.When motivation and productivity aredown, people wander in distractionrather than contribute to the solutions.Lack of teamwork contributes to lossof money, loss of direction, slow or nogrowth, and smaller market share.

Often, leaders assume that havingan innovative idea, benchmarking suc-cessful companies, and hiring or firingleaders will create the desired change.Strategy is often focused in one area,without considering that the core issuesare in the interaction, focus, account-ability and collaborative solutions forthe leadership team, and other teams.

You may be frustrated with the lackof progress of units or teams, especial-ly if you’re familiar with three scenarios:

Scenario 1: The leadership teammeets irregularly, and when they dothe communication goes from the CEOto the team members with little push-back or discussion. Often some peopledo not agree or have an idea, but don’texpress it. Also, there may be a chal-lenge in one business that peers mightassist with—but it is not expressed forfear of looking bad. After the meeting,people gather to whisper real feelings.Collaboration is not happening, andthe implementation of initiatives pro-ceeds irregularly and runs into diffi-culty with everyone knowing a part ofthe problem, but no overview withsolutions created to move forward.

culture is one of competition and watch-ing your back. No one is willing to openup or offer a creative idea for fear ofbeing wrong. Lack of communicationcreates a lack of understanding of per-formance expectations. Performancereviews are viewed with trepidation,and people walk out relieved or upsetwithout much information that canmove them forward. Low performanceresults often come from misunder-standing. Accountability can only besustained with clear expectations in acollaborative culture. The poor func-tioning of teams is the repercussion ofnot valuing collaboration by giving theprocess time and resources. Whenteam members give up—and whenleaders burn out—it’s not necessarilydue to hard times, stress, or chal-lenges, but instead to the lack of col-

laboration and a sense ofteam. What is missing iscommunication, accountabili-ty, and a focus on solutions.

Lack of creative think-ing is one big barrier togrowth. Without a formatfor creative thinking fol-lowed by analysis andinnovation, your businesswon’t move into new pro-gressive realms. With sus-

tainable team collaboration, creativethinking is supported and encouragedand takes place ahead of analysis sothat out-of-the-box ideas are expressed.Innovation follows, and new ideas aremoved into production and imple-mented successfully.

In a culture of collaboration, certainelements create success: communica-tion-connection, accountability, andsolution focus. These lead to effectiveteams and strategic results. These ele-ments create top-performing teams com-mitted to a common goal and focusedon implementation. The team align-ment process is used to develop theseelements of successful collaboration.

Creating this culture will require allmembers to make changes in mindsetand behavior, starting at the top andwith the teams who execute the work.Conduct interviews to discover howeach leader sees the organization inthe present and future. Ask questionsto create a mind-set of openness to change.Hold monthly follow-up meetings toaddress current actions and time lines;and check-in meetings for follow-upand appraisal. Creating a culture of col-laboration leads to better results. LE

Patricia Heyman is a speaker, leadership specialist, and executivecoach with Bridging Associates. www.bridgingassociates.com

ACTION: Create a culture of collaboration.

by Patricia Heyman

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PERFORMANCE TEAMS

C r e a t e a t e a m c u l t u r e .

understanding. Balance reminds youthat you don’t have all the answers;that as a leader, your job is to recognizethe right solution by listening to as manydifferent perspectives as possible.• True Self-Confidence: True self-confi-

dence enables you to accept yourself as youare, recognizing strengths and weaknesses,and focusing on continuous improvement.You rely on your strengths, while neverconsidering yourself to be super-humanor a miracle worker who can single-handedly slay the dragons you face.• Genuine Humility: The ability never to

forget who you are, to appreciate the valueof each person, and to treat everyonerespectfully. Genuine humility remindsyou who you are and where you’vecome from. You recall the colleaguesyou’ve worked with over the years onwhom you can count to provide ideas,

support, and different perspectives.With your values intact, you can

handle the three Cs. When people askme, “How do you deal with the stress,worry, and anxiety?” I responded: Aslong as I stay focused on the four prin-ciples of values-based leadership andremain committed to doing the rightthing and the best I can, then the stress,worry, and anxiety are minimized.

DDeeaalliinngg wwiitthh tthhee 33 CCssWhenever you face the three Cs,

you need not panic or become para-lyzed as long as you allow your valuesto guide how you should respond:

Change. Many people find changeupsetting and unsettling and try tominimize change. A values-based leaderknows that trying to avoid change isneither healthy nor productive. Aleader can become proactive—not justreacting to change, but actually creat-ing it. As changes are implemented,balance will remind you to gather input

Leading with Values

NO MATTER HOW WELLyou plan for con-

tingencies, you’ll likelyencounter challenges. Although mostleaders want to be known for guidingthe company through growth, youcan’t dictate what will happen on yourwatch. Change is a constant. If itweren’t, you’d have far fewer oppor-tunities on which to capitalize. Howyou respond to the three Cs of change,controversy, and crisis will be the defin-ing moments of your leadership.

For values-based leaders, the threeCs are where it all comes together. Youcan talk a good game about your com-mitment to values and doing the rightthing when times are good. It’s whenthe going gets tough, however, thatyou broadcast your values to your teammembers and to the outside world.

As a former CEO of a $10 billionglobal health care company, I faced myshare of change, controversy, and cri-sis. Through it all and to this day, I’verelied on my values to guide my deci-sions and actions. Relying on your valuesmeans that in all situations you face,you remain committed to doing theright thing and doing the best you can.

PPrriinncciipplleess ooff VVaalluueess--BBaasseedd LLeeaaddeerrssDoing the right thing in every situation

is the basis of values-based leadership. Youmay not always make the best decision,and sometimes you need to course-correct. However, your orientation willalways be to live and lead throughyour values. To me, values-based leader-ship encompasses four principles:• Self-Reflection: The ability to reflect

and identify what you stand for, what yourvalues are, and what matters most. Whena challenge arises, you rely on self-reflection to ground you in your val-ues, beliefs, and standards. In quietmoments, away from distractions, youask yourself what you might have donedifferently that could have changed orprevented the situation you face andwhat you can do about it now.• Balance: The ability to see situations

from multiple perspectives, includingdiffering viewpoints, to gain a holistic

from across the team and not rely sole-ly on your own perspective. Self-reflec-tion will elevate your awareness. Askyourself honestly: is the change trulywhat’s best for the organization, or isthis really about me and my desire tomake my mark? If it’s the latter, thechange you’re contemplating couldwell lead to negative, even disastrous,results. Self-reflection keeps you awareof what others are thinking and feeling.You consider how others are reacting tochange, particularly if it results in facili-ties being closed or moved. With thatawareness, you devise a communica-tion plan to share information and pro-vide updates, with a promise to let peo-ple know when you can tell them more.

Controversy. Controversy requiresswift and firm action and clear and fre-quent communication to keep the situa-tion from escalating. Controversy, suchas a product recall, is usually consid-ered news. Don’t let the media be thesource of information for team mem-bers. Genuine humility will remind youwhat it felt like when you were felt outof the loop. Rumors and speculations,most of them inaccurate, preoccupyeveryone and cause unnecessary stress.To stop the second-guessing, shareinformation, clearly and frequently.

Crises occur unexpectedly, perhapsan accident that results in injuries ordeaths, or an environmental disasterfor which the company is responsible.The dramatic impact makes for an emo-tionally charged situation. Fear, worry,and anxiety need to be minimized sothat leaders can move forward swiftly,with assuredness and in accord withthe values. The leader charts a courseforward that is predicated on doing theright thing, which may result in anadverse financial impact. To do other-wise, however, is to suffer a bigger cost:a loss of credibility among employees,vendors, suppliers, customers, share-holders, and the leader’s circle of friends,family, and supporters. When leadersdeviate from values in a crisis, the im-pact is far worse than the problem itself.

As a leader, you will face the threeCs, personally and professionally. Todeal with them effectively requiresanother C: courage. With courage, youcan adhere to your values and do theright thing. Your values will help younavigate the storms and find your waythrough uncharted waters to reach theother side safely and with integrity. LE

Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr., is author of From Values toAction (Jossey-Bass), former CEO of Baxter International, andnow an executive partner of Madison Dearborn Partners, a pri-vate equity firm, and a professor at Northwestern’s KelloggSchool of Management. Visit www.FromValuestoAction.com.ACTION: Lead with value in the three Cs.

by Harry Jansen Kraemer, Jr.

1 6 WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

CHANGE VALUES

I n c h a n g e , c o n t r o v e r s y , a n d c r i s i s .

room without comment, obviously dis-turbed. A flash of anxiety swept overme. Would the group hold together?Would we complete the day?

I knew that I had to refocus on myintention to bring authentic engagementand suspend my judgment of others inthe room and of myself. I was back ontrack to complete the day’s agenda.The comfort level of the group increas-ed, and “ahas” and nuggets of wisdomemerged. There seemed to be an under-standing and appreciation for beingtogether in authentic conversation. Weclosed the day as we had opened, hear-ing each voice. Although there werestill voices of discord and disbelief,most of us appreciated the experience.

Comments ranged from: “This wouldnever fly at my office.” “What does thishave to do with business?” to: “I have

the courage to think different-ly and act on it.” “Hearing allthe voices is a game-changerfor me.” “My intention is tocreate purposeful meetings withmindfulness and presence.”

Leadership is enhanced bythe capacity to slow down forauthentic engagement, to cre-ate authentic relationship,

which is at the core of why conveningwith intention matters.

TThhee CCoonnvveenniinngg WWhheeeellTo illustrate the art of convening, we

created the Convening Wheel. We start atthe center At the Heart of the Matter—Who I am in relationship with others.

We then progress through eightAspects of convening—steps that guideour way of being and doing:• Clarifying intent: Aligning our intent

with the purpose of our engagement.• Inviting: A sincere offering to engage

that integrates purpose and intent.• Setting context: Communicating the

form, function, and purpose.• Creating the container: Creating the

physical and energetic field.• Hearing all voices: Everybody speaks,

is heard and is present and accounted for.• Essential conversation: Meaningful

exchange within a culture of trust.• Creation: Something new emerges

from engagements of shared purpose.• Commitment to action: Agreement

to be responsible and accountable.The Wheel reveals intuitive progression

of actively engaged relationship. Mean-ingful connection and engagement are keyto sustainable, satisfying results. LE

Craig and Patricia Neal, with Cindy Wold, are co-authors ofThe Art of Convening. Visit heartlandcircle.com/home.htm.

ACTION: Convene to get at the heart of the matter.

Art of Convening

THE STORIES YOU TELLyourself, about your-

self, can make or breakyour future.

In a dark moment of the film,“Casablanca,” Humphrey Bogart’scharacter is drunk, alone in his bar,when Ilsa, his long-lost love (IngridBergman), walks in the door.

“Can I tell you a story?” she asks.“Has it got a ‘wow’ finish?” he slurs.“I don’t know the finish,” she says.“Well go on, tell it. Maybe one will

come to you as you go along.”Like Ilsa, when we are faced with

challenges in our lives and work, wetell ourselves and those around us sto-ries to explain the situation. But, unlikeIlsa, we know—or think we know—theending: “I don’t work well in a team,what’s the point of giving this projectmy best effort?” “My counterparts inAsia don’t like me, why should I both-er coordinating with them?”

These self-defeating narratives oftendefine our lives, acting as insurmount-able obstacles that prevent us frombecoming true leaders. These storiesmay even sound logical. If you hateworking in a team, why would yougive your all to a team project? And ifyou think your colleagues in Asia don’tlike you, why would you go out ofyour way to work with them?

Most stories exist only in your mind.The reason you “don’t work well in ateam” might be because you’re uncom-fortable being challenged or can’t man-age conflict. And how do you knowthat your colleagues in Asia don’t likeyou? Have you asked them?

The going-in stories that you tellyourself exercise a powerful, often-hid-den pull on how you perceive reality,make decisions, and act. They serve asa protective buffer from the mental,emotional, or physical discomfort thatyou experience when faced withchange, enabling you to remain in yourcomfort zone—safe and unchallenged.

When you change your inner narra-tive—your going-in story—from nega-tive to positive, limitless possibilitiesopen to you. As an executive coach, I’veseen radical transformations occur withpeople who change their going-in stories

Achieve authentic engagement.

CONVENING IS THE ART AND SCIENCEof gathering and holding people in

a safe and generative space, for the sakeof authentic engagement each time wecome together, virtually or in person.

Once, I, Patricia Neal, was the des-ignated Convener in a meetingof women executives, gath-ered to explore the notion ofconvening as a leadershipcompetency. It was clear thatthese women were used torunning their own show.Many grew into their leader-ship in results-dominatedenvironments driving defin-able goals and outcomes where listen-ing skills and vulnerability were notoften appreciated. As the Convener, I’ddone much preparation, but I was stillnervous. Most of the women hadnever experienced The Art ofConvening, and many were leaderswith defined ways of doing things.

Following introductions, we gath-ered in a circle. I reminded myself thatmy intention was to bring authenticengagement to the gathering, and toset aside any motives that could inter-fere with that intention. Then I askedeach woman to speak to an importantquestion they are dealing with as aleader. As each spoke, their responsesdeepening with each voice, I was re-minded of why I love to do this work.

A few common themes emerged:“How do I need to change to bringabout the change I want to see?”“How do I create authentic connec-tions with my people?” “I’m tired ofdoing things the same old way, butdon’t know what else there is.”

Once everyone had spoken, mostwelcomed the chance to take a deeperdive into their challenges. The roomhad become electric with energy. Andyet the discomfort of some was palpable.

Many competing agendas emerged,and by mid-afternoon, I’d lost myfocus, getting off-track from the agen-da. At this point, one leader left the

Go from Now to WowRecreate your leadership story.

by Howard M. Guttman

PERFORMANCE CONVENING LEADERSHIP STORY

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM 1 7

by Craig and Patricia Neal

and witnessed their amazing successes.Take Martin, a HR executive at a

Fortune 100 company. He’d just beenpromoted to head of HR for the Asia-Pacific division when his COO askedme to coach him. Martin’s going-instory was that he wasn’t a true leaderwhom others sought out for guidanceand direction. He thought of himself asa mere hiring-and-firing manager. Butnow, in every meeting and interaction,he would have to project leadershipqualities: strength, confidence, deci-siveness, and innovative thinking.

I told Martin that he already hadyears of leadership experience andalready made hundreds of leadershipdecisions that had affected the livesand productivity of his colleagues.

We created a balance sheet to showthe costs versus benefits of his going-instory. The benefits were appealing: Bynot thinking of himself as a true leader,he never had to spearhead innovativeinitiatives. As long as he did adequate—if never ground-breaking—work, hisplace in the company would be secure.

But what about the costs? Now thathis managers expected fresh ideas, andpeople reporting to him looked forleadership, his managers would soonnotice that Martin was playing it safe.

Martin realized that he needed torealign his thinking—fast. I call this theouch moment: you realize that the costsof your going-in story far outweigh thebenefits, and you feel a sense of urgencyto make a change for the better.

Ironically, your going-in stories arerarely shared by your peers. I onceworked with a female executive whohad been with the company for threeyears but still felt she wasn’t taken seri-ously. This going-in story kept her fromoffering suggestions or sharing opin-ions, even when she felt strongly.

I encouraged her to open up to hercolleagues, telling them why she usual-ly kept quiet in meetings. She learnedthat the rest of the group took her seri-ously, valued her perspective, and hadnever considered her too inexperienced.

Sharing your going-in story with oth-ers—in an objective, way—can revealjust how off base your perceptions are.

The stories you tell yourself aboutyour life, wants, and needs can limityour potential, or open up new vistas ofpossibility. When you test these storiesagainst reality, a new, more positiveworldview comes into being. You caneven give yourself a wow finish. LE

Howard M. Guttman is principal of Guttman DevelopmentStrategies and author of Coach Yourself to Win (McGraw-Hill).Visit www.coachyourselftowin.com.

ACTION: Recreate your leadership story.

by Mark Faust

Choose an objective method to conductthese surveys. Assure and enforce 100percent confidence and privacy ifrequested. Disseminate only an amal-gamated list of findings. Enlist objec-tive, independent outside assistance.

3. Disseminate the answers andrefine the questioning process. Afterconducting customer surveys, you’llfind areas that need more or less ques-tioning. You’ll also find the Sweet Spot—the area Drucker points to with ques-tions 3 and 4. Here is where you canidentify the value you uniquely impartto your customer. Identify and quantifythis, qualify and make credible withthird-party references (customers), andcreate questions that elicit a qualifica-tion in new prospects and you’ve iden-tified the Holy Grail of consultativeselling—Creating the Questioning Vocab-ulary. Organizations that believe in andbenefit from Partnering vs. Transactionalrelationships must evolve the selling toa Qualification Process using questionsthat quantify value to the point thatengagement becomes an obvious decision.

4. Use the findings to create, execute,and maintain your plan—communicatethe findings and act on feedback. Cus-

tomers’ and employees’enthusiasm and focus areengendered when they seethe findings. Reviewingfindings helps to securecustomer’s commitment tothe relationship when theysee that you are addressingissues and see the othergood reasons to stay engagedthat other customers bringup. Report on facets of all

three areas: 1) The Good: What are wedoing well? Why do you continue tobuy from us vs. the competition? 2) TheBad: What could we do better? Whatdo you like about the competition?And 3) The New: What would you liketo see us add or do differently? Whatare your top challenges as it relates toour serving you? If we could solve anyof your XYZ problems, what would youwant us to tackle first? Why haven’t youbought our X, Y, or Z service? Sincepeople want to know they’ve beenheard, be sure to communicate, “as theresult of your input we will be . . . .”

Don’t assume the perceptions of thecustomer. Conduct regular, systematic,qualitative surveys in the form of open-ended conversations that allow the cus-tomer to speak on any issue in a free,open, safe and objective forum. LE

Mark Faust is a consultant and speaker and author of Growthor Bust. Visit www.echelonmanagement.com.

ACTION: Address and answer these five questions.

FOR A HALF CENTURY,Peter Drucker boiled

down the basics of man-agement to Five Questions that are theroot of many problems and opportunitiesfor improvement. How accurately canyou and your team answer them?

1. What is our mission? Leadersfacilitate the creation and refinement ofthe mission, but customers (externaland internal) must influence its evolu-tion. How do you elicit input fromyour team regarding the mission? Doyou update your mission accordingly?

2. Who is our customer? You musthave a prioritized list of your BestCustomers and Best Targets for FutureGrowth. Do you have these lists, withaction items assigned and scheduled?Do you prioritize prospects and cus-tomers in need of attention?Do you measure progresstoward customer development?

3. What do customersvalue? This question canonly be answered by yourcustomer directly. How doyou regularly solicit cus-tomer input and gather per-ceptions that matter most?

4. What are our results?This question, too, can onlybe answered by your customer. Do youregularly solicit customer input, gatherperceptions, and measure results?

5. What is our plan? Most everyteam will claim to have a plan, but isyour plan based on the proper inputfrom the efforts in these five questions?

Knowing people tend to support thatwhich they help to create, elicit input fromyour team to ensure maximum emotionalownership of the plan—and then monitorprogress and measure implementation.

In few organizations are the rightanswers to these questions pervasivelyand accurately known and acted upon.

WWhhaatt CCaann YYoouu DDoo??To infuse the answers to these ques-

tions into the thoughts and actions ofyour team, take four steps:

1. Survey your customers—involveyour team. Enlist input from teammembers to create the initial questions.

2. Survey your team (internal customers).

Strike at the RootAnswer Drucker’s five questions.

PERFORMANCE QUESTIONS

1 8 WWW.LEADEREXCEL.COM L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

dom to all fields resulted in both success(the conservative goal) and progress (theliberal objective). We are the modernheirs of generations who sought wis-dom above all things. Socrates said thatno talents, strengths, abilities or virtues areof any real value absent wisdom. Wisdomstrengthens every other strength, andits lack nullifies or at least weakens anysupposed strength. Socrates also said,“Everything the soul attempts, underthe guidance of wisdom, ends in hap-piness.” Aristotle applied this sameidea to organizations and nations.

Some societies place duty as the high-est goal; others emphasize righteousness,and still others strength, progress, or suc-cess. All of these require wisdom. Toparaphrase Aristotle, if a society’s defi-nition of duty, righteousness, strength,progress or success is noble, then seek-

ing these things is laudable. But if thesociety’s definition of these things islacking, seeking them is mere cleverness.

In Democracy in America, Tocquevillenoted that while Americans were lessformally educated than the Europeanelite of his day, they were constantlylearning and prone to apply their knowl-edge in practical ways. Indeed, advancedformal education can be a roadblock toinnovative thinking. Wisdom is about morethan mere knowing—it requires doing. Wemust apply wisdom, or it isn’t real wisdom.

In our time, sadly, wisdom has beenlost as the preeminent social value.Other societies that once held wisdomas the highest value, only to lose it, in-clude Athens, Israel, Rome, and Britain,among others. When they lost the cen-tral priority of wisdom, they soon losttheir place as world leader. And thewisdom priority was part of whatbrought them to power in the firstplace. The results of genuine wisdom ina society are progress and success.

Yet for nearly a century our leadingminds and institutions have empha-

Wisdom as Leadership

FOR MILLENNIA THEgreatest aspiration

of leaders was to attainand apply wisdom, but in our modernworld this is largely a forgotten goal.Few leaders mention wisdom today,instead pointing to achievements ofpolicy, technique, science, technology,arts, business, and government. Recentbooks discussing wisdom are rare,though it is the central subject of thegreat classics. While modernismclaims progress on nearly every front,the wisest admit that wisdom is oftenlost with the passing decades.

Our management and leadershipliterature speaks of effectiveness, success,skills, personality, quality, progress, global-ism, competitive advantage, innovative dis-ruptors, sustainability, and other concepts,but seldom of wisdom.

Yet, in reality, wisdom is the indis-pensable element of success—person-al, national and societal. All disciplinesclaim wisdom, and all profess to seekwisdom. Yet few textbooks or teachersmake any claim to it. Modern scholarsare seldom expected to be wise. Instead,they’re asked to be expert, focused,precise, and prolific. Seeking wisdom,in fact, is often a dangerous tact inmodern academic settings. And ourculture does little to learn wisdomfrom its elderly, despite the fact thatthis was the major source of wisdomfor most people in history.

A unique feature of wisdom is thatit “cannot be misused,” as MortimerAdler put it—unlike art, science, tech-nology, leadership skills, knowledge,courage, loyalty, belief and power. Allof these have at times been used forcorrupt goals, but any misuse of wisdomis unwise, and therefore a counterfeit.Real wisdom is always used positively.

Plato considered wisdom the ruler ofall other virtues, and Socrates showedthat no men were entirely wise. TheGreeks and the Hebrews were passion-ate seekers of wisdom. Sophocles wrote,“wisdom is the supreme part of happi-ness.” Throughout history, a high pri-ority was placed on wisdom. The greatclassics are the world’s repository ofwisdom, and the application of wis-

sized the search for success, progress ortruth with little reference to wisdom.Only with wisdom can we understandtruth, increase progress, and expandsuccess when we find them.

We need a return to wisdom as a pri-ority and goal, and recognize it as avital element in leadership. Yet, acade-mia seldom emphasize teaching us tobe wise, and few government, mediaor other major institutions seem com-mitted to such a course.

A powerful tide is surging across much ofthe world, creating a new, often bizarre en-vironment in which to work, play, marry,raise children, or retire. In this bewilderingcontext, businessmen swim against highlyerratic economic currents; politicians seetheir ratings bob wildly up and down.Value systems splinter and crash, while thelifeboats of family, church, and state arehurled madly about.”—Alvin Toffler

It is in the realm of business leader-ship that wisdom is still most activelysought, promoted and encouraged. Ifwisdom is to make a return to itsessential place in our society, it willlikely come from our business leaders.

How can business executives leadthis necessary revival—after all, suchsocial leadership is neither their prima-ry purpose nor obvious calling. Yet thecall to social influence is emerging asthe next level of executive purpose—anatural development in a chain ofprogress from the small merchant tothe independent professional, frommanagement to leadership, and nowfrom the corporate executive to thesocial leader. Just as managers tran-scended “doing things right” to theleadership principle of “doing the rightthings,” corporations are increasinglyseen as major societal institutions onpar with governments—their role nowis to “do the truly important things.”

Once managers were to do things rightwithin the scope of the position. Leaderswere to do the right things within thescope of the organization. Today, lead-ers do the truly important things withinthe scope of society. Top executives arenow seen as community, national andinternational leaders. Business acumenis only part of corporate leadership.Societies turn to CEOs and other lead-ers as a new brand of statesmen. In allthis, nothing matters more than wisdom.Great leaders seek to make wise choic-es, knowing wisdom is leadership. LE

Oliver DeMille is founder and former president of GeorgeWythe University, co-founder of the Center for SocialLeadership, and author of A Thomas Jefferson Education, TheComing Aristocracy and Freedomshift: 3 Choices to ReclaimAmerica’s Destiny. Visit www.thesocialleader.com.

ACTION: Cultivate the wisdom of your leaders.

by Oliver DeMille

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COMPETENCY WISDOM

I t ’ s t h e i n d i s p e n s i b l e s u c c e s s e l e m e n t .

week with nothing to show for hisefforts. But he listened intently toadvice that a young woman at radiostation WMAQ gave him—that he hada better chance of finding an entry-level job “in the sticks.” So, he bor-rowed his father’s car and headed toDavenport, Iowa, prepared to knock onmore doors.

3. He saw that opportunity comes inwork-clothes. He was offered a job an-nouncing the University of Iowa’s homefootball games. The pay was $5 andbus-fare—about $100 today. At the endof the season, he received no job offerfor two months. Finally, he was offereda job as a sportscaster at $100 a month.He was in Davenport the next day. Afew weeks later, he was fired for being“plain awful” at reading a script. Whilethe station searched for a replacement,he demanded coaching sessions from

his boss. Suddenly his career was backon track. Two months later, he was arising star—and his salary had doubled.

4. He rose to new challenges. Whenoffered an opportunity, Reagan, alwayssaid, “Sure.” He never wasted timedoubting his abilities and never hesitat-ed to take on new challenges. Startingout in radio, he built his confidence bylearning everything he could. Hisexpertise was “shamelessly stolen fromsports columns in the Chicago papers.”

5. He set high goals. It would havebeen easy for Reagan to settle into a com-fortable career in radio, but he wantedto be a movie star. He set about work-ing his connections. From the radio sta-tion, he knew a band—Al Clauser andhis Oklahoma Outlaws—who were inHollywood making a movie. He tookthem up on an invitation to spend aday watching them film. He thenreached out to another radio stationalum who had once stood him up for adate. No matter. She was the person

Bumpy Path to Success

TODAY RONALDReagan is regarded

as a great Americansuccess story. We think of him stridingthrough halls of power, mingling withheads of state, standing against abackdrop of red, white and blue—theembodiment of power and success.

But that wasn’t always the case: hishard-won success was the result ofovercoming hardships and challenges.Four times he slammed into a brickwall: the 1948 divorce from his firstwife, actress Jane Wyman; the collapseof his movie career; the termination ofhis contract with General Electric; andthe hard-fought loss to PresidentGerald Ford in the 1976 primary cam-paign. Yet every time he picked him-self up, kept going, and went on togreater success. How did he do that?

LLeeaarrnn aanndd AAppppllyy EEiigghhtt LLeessssoonnssFrom Reagan’s example, you can

learn eight lessons:1. He was clear about his talents and

strengths. He graduated from college in1932 in the Depression. Unemploymentwas 24 percent. Like many youths, hewas vague about his career. He hadn’tthought much past his summer job asa lifeguard. That changed when a men-tor, Sid Altschuler, asked him, “Whatdo you think you’d like to do?” Reaganwas confronted by a decision. How didhe want to spend most of his wakinghours for the next 50 years? For twodays and “sleepless nights” he thoughtabout what he liked doing. He lovedsports and had won an “Oscar” forBest Actor in college theater competi-tion. He decided being a sportscasterwould be a way to tap into hisstrengths as an entertainer and enablehim to pursue his passion for sports.

2. Once focused on a course of action,he supported his goal with determina-tion and persistence. Reagan encoun-tered many obstacles, even when hisvision was clear. Strapped for funds,he hitchhiked to Chicago, slept on afriend’s couch, walked everywhere,and spent a week knocking on unwel-coming doors. He thumbed his wayhome in the rain at the end of the

who could introduce him to an agent.And she did. He was on his way.

6. He made tough transitions. At thepeak of his Hollywood career, duringWorld War II, Reagan was called up formilitary service. After the war, despitesome promising roles, his movie careernever got back on track. In 1951, heturned 40. His life was a shambles; hiscareer in free-fall. The movie industrywas under pressure. A two-year stringof union strikes had wreaked havoc onHollywood. A 1948 Supreme Court rul-ing forced the studios to divest them-selves of their movie theaters. Andpeople who had gone out to see movieswere now watching television.

7. He made and kept connections.Reagan continued pursuing his inter-ests. He got involved in associationsand stayed in touch with his agentsand contacts. The tougher things got,the more he worked his connections.He turned down unpromising jobs andwaited for the right opportunity. WhenGeneral Electric offered him a job ashost and narrator of General ElectricTheater and ambassador to GE’s work-force and communities, he snapped itup. Over the next eight years, he gavesome 9,000 speeches. He greeted work-ers, walked assembly-lines, spoke tocommunity groups, and gave after-din-ner speeches. He had a “good idea” ofwhat people were thinking. During hisyears with GE, Reagan talked to count-less Americans about their lives andstruggles, and created a vast network.

8. He created a new path. In 1962 hiscareer again came to a standstill. GE’sonce ground-breaking program hadreached the end of its run. When con-fronted with a transition point, Reaganpaused to take stock of his successesand determine how they could be usedto set goals for his future. He continuedgiving speeches and got involved inpolitics. He tried on a number of hats.

Today it’s easy to forget that RonaldReagan’s career path wasn’t easy andthat his success wasn’t assured from thestart. Like everyone, he hit bumps alongthe way, but his path to success startedwith setting his sights on his dream joband then coaching himself to the top offive professions—radio, acting, unionleader, public speaker and politics.

His life story reminds us that oursuccess will come from: developing ourstrengths, setting aggressive goals, tak-ing on challenges, and staying in touchwith friends, associates and mentors. LE

Margot Morrell is co-author of the New York Times businessbestseller Shackleton’s Way and author of Reagan’s Journey(Threshold Editions). Visit www.leadershiplives.com.

ACTION: Apply these lessons in your leadership.

by Margot Morrell

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