Leading Questions

Quick Takes: Seth Godin's The Dip Revisited

A year ago with Seth Godin's little masterpiece The Dip came out, I picked it up and read it quickly. I appreciated the thought, but wasn't quite sure how to apply it. 

Then a few days ago, Seth posted the following at his blog.

Just about a year ago, I published The Dip.
It turned out to be one of my most successful books. Perhaps you have a copy--which I appreciate more than you can guess. Now, here's the favor:
A year later, would you mind sharing your copy? Take it off the shelf and loan it to someone. Someone at work or in your family, perhaps. If I could double the number of people who read the book, it would be pretty cool.
Thanks.

So, I decided to read it again. Here's the lesson for us all. Context matters. A book read at one point in time may not have the effect that it does at another point. This is where I find myself. I'm in a Dip, and have becoming increasingly aware over the past few weeks, it was time to quit. Quit in order to push through the Dip.

Here's what I've realized through reading Seth's book. He makes the point that we should look at what we do from the perspective of being the best in the world at a certain thing. What I have begun to see over the past year is this very thing. It will take time and focus to realize its potential. This means I must quit certain responsibilities that I've acquired.

If you have ambition or desire to be the best in the world at something, you will find that for a period of time, you'll be in dark with your feelings of ambition. You may not see what it is that you can excel at. So, you do a wide variety of things because each may teach you something or it gives you the opportunity to contribute in some meaningful way. It is like Jim Collins writes about in Good To Great, that the enemy of the great is the good. In this case, the enemy of our successfully achieving world's best status are all the things that we do well, but not well enough to become the primary focus of our lives.

This is the message of The Dip. If what you are doing isn't leading some where, then quit so you can find it. It takes courage and persistence, but that's nothing new. Needless to say, read the book.

"All I'm doing is making the best of a situation." - John Challis' story

Listening to Scott Van Pelt's ESPN radio show this afternoon, I heard the story of John Challis. It is a touching story of a Pennsylvania high school kid dying from cancer who was put in to bat during his high school team's game. He got a hit.

Nothing unusual about cancer and kids, we've all known families where cancer has struck the young. The difference here is John's attitude.

Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote the story about John and spoke with Scott on the radio this afternoon.

Read the whole story.

Watch these three videos produced by the paper. It's worth the time.

• John's greater purpose

• I felt like Superman

• Courage + believe = life

Listen when Johnny says,

"I used to be afraid, but I'm not afraid of dying now, if that's what you want to know. ... Because life ain't about how many breaths you take. It's what you do with those breaths."

A year doesn't pass without someone who has touched my life dying. Most recently, it was Galba Bright.  A few months ago, childhood friend Phil Chapman and earlier, friend and mentor Dick Wallace. What I've learned from the loss of these friends is that they are only lost if they had nothing to leave. But each left a legacy of contribution to people, their families, their professions and their communities.

For those of us who remain, we need to hear Johnny's words as an admonition to make the most of what have in the situations we are in, and then to leave a legacy that will remain in the lives of people. With each of these people there is one thing that I will treasure and try to emulate in remembrance of them. In so doing, they live on in me and by extension in those whose lives I hope to touch.

It is not enough to be emotionally touched by Johnny's story. I cried when I heard Scott and Mike White the Pittsburgh reporter talk about Johnny this afternoon. Take John Challis' example as a challenge to be a better person tomorrow. That is what Johnny wants. He wants his story to help each of us be better people. What a legacy for a skinny little 18 year old from the hills of western Pennsylvania to leave.

Thanks Johnny. You the man. In every respect.

Values 2.0: A Culture of Trust

In my last post I wrote,

Values unify when shared, divide when not. Values create culture. Values guide culture, build trust in relationships, and strengthen a group of people to do the impossible.

In a Values 1.0 world, values are treated as Icons, as symbolic emblems that have meaning but little relevance. In fact, the iconic values are in competition with the actual values of a company.

There is no choice about whether to have values or not. They are fundamental to who we are as human beings. You cannot escape their impact upon the functioning of any social environment. They are basic expressions of human nature. When ignored, they become competitive, divisive and a constraint on the business' ability to create impact.  When they are developed, they build unity and a culture of trust.

In a Values 2.0 world, leaders understand that to build their corporate culture around a clearly identified and embraced set of values provides the conditions for creating a culture of trust. This diagram illustrates this connection.

Values are ideas that unify relationships and guide an organizational structure to create a culture of trust.

Is trust really that important? Ask the former employees and shareholders of Enron.  Ask the spouses of politicians caught in prostitution rings. Ask your children if trust is important.  In fact, ask them about their friends, or supposed friends, and you'll find that much of what passes for human relationships in a business setting is at the same level as a 15 year high school sophomore. It can be mean, nasty, petty and emotionally destructive. Ask your kids. They understand trust in a more immediate, fundamental way than we adults who play our word games with the idea.

Trust is at the heart of the respect that a company seeks to earn by its integrity and impact. Violate that trust, and the culture of the company is ripped in two.

The culture of an organization is representative of all the people, not just senior leadership. It is an exchange of attitudes towards one another. We could say that senior leaders express respect down through the organization chart, while employees express trust up through it. In each case, at the heart of this exchange is a set of values that are shared, mutually believed in, and that create the unity that enable the company to do more.

How do they do more? That's for another posting. But let's just assume that creating a culture of trust has the effect of increasing ROEI, return-on-employee-investment, by more than cost cutting can increase the bottomline.

Values 2.0: The difference between Values and Value added

Is there a difference between values and value added?  Let's define them.

Value: a measurement of impact or benefit. For example, I hear often the phrase "value added" which means that the client is receiving more than what they expected. There is a higher level of impact or benefit.  The value can be a Return-On-Investment (ROI) figure. Or it can be something less quantitative, more qualitative.  In those instances, the measure is based on an idea of value. Most likely that idea is what we would call a value.

Values: An idea that defines meaning. Typically we'd see values as those ideas that point to a purpose or a standard.  Values unify when shared, divide when not. Values create culture. Values guide culture, build trust in relationships, and strengthen a group of people to do the impossible.

For example, you are sitting in a meeting and a cell phone rings. The person across the table answers it, speaks for a minute, laughs out loud, and hangs up. No comment. No apology. Just acts as if nothing happened. This typical experience may be widely accepted, but it is also rude. The judgment that he was rude is based on values that govern the social relationships of people. Typically we call it etiquette.  Those values are ideas about what is appropriate behavior in a meeting. The values of respect and courtesy demand some sort of accommodation to the ever present cell phone. What is more important the cell phone call or the meeting? That judgment is based on what you value, and what you value is based on ideas of meaning.

(*Note: Why can't cell phone manufacturers include a out of office button like email programs do?)

Values are the ideological foundation of human interaction. They are the fundamental beliefs that create a culture, and as we all know every organization is run by a prescribed culture. Ask a GE person or a Proctor&Gamble person about their culture, and they can describe values that govern how they work together.  Read Jim Collins and Jerry Porras' book Built To Last and you'll get a clear idea of the relation of values to a corporate culture.

If you want to provide value-added products and services, ask yourself, "What values am I utilizing to increase my value-added impact?"

HT: TVM for the cell phone story

Quick Takes: Attitude Matters

Bill Taylor of Mavericks at Work fame has a great posting about overcoming barriers. In the context of the hard times that many businesses are facing in today's economy, he tells of the story of Roger Bannister breaking the four minute mile.

Bannister was, at the time, a 25-year-old, full-time medical student who devised his own approach to training. He was something of a maverick—both in terms of what made him tick and in his approach to competition.

The quest to break four minutes had been in full force at least since 1886—almost 70 years before Bannister did it—and it involved the most brilliant coaches and the most gifted athletes in North America, Europe, and Australia. It was truly the Holy Grail of athletic achievement. It’s amazing to learn about the pressure, the crowds, the media attention in various races as runners tried to break the mark.

And for 70 years it didn’t happen—and when it did happen, it defied all the experts.

Bill goes on to make the point that the barrier that held back people from breaking the four minute barrier was mostly attitude. And it is attitude that is going to make the difference in making through difficult economic times.

Attitude gets translated into persistence and that into action. Passivity is an attitude, so is pessimism. Neither of them will build strength in a business while everyone is suffering.

So, how do you translate an attitude of persistence into an attitude of optimism?

It begins with being able to divide the things you can control from those you cannot. Take these words of Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius to heart.

Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.

Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

I found this to be true. We are conditioned to think that we are at the mercy of large, complex, powerful forces. Yes, those forces do exist, but they do not control our attitude.

The other key to fostering an attitude of persistence and action is to establish relationship with others of a similar mind. Not only is the power in numbers, but we find clarity and encouragement with others who share a desire to persist through hard times. A word from Marcus.

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.

Lastly, the reality is that what bothers us about hard times is the loss of control over change. Yet it is change which is our ally if we will only see it that way. Again from Marcus Aurelius.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

You can control only that which is within your power to control. It begins with our attitude toward the situations we are in. Change will happen. Good times and hard times will come. The master of one's attitude will persist through each period acting to be the best one can be each and every day.

Daniel Pink's The Adventures of Johnny Bunko - A Review

When I was in college, I had a hard time deciding on a major. I liked too many things. As a result, two things happened. One, I spent a lot of time hanging out with a wide variety of friends. Two, I became an American Studies major.

I know, really opens up the career opportunities. Over the next 30+ years, I've followed a similar trajectory. I've followed my curiosity, and as it happened, my interests are in two areas: relationships and leadership. So, when I graduated from college in 1975, I had no ideas how I'd end up career-wise. A lot of this is immediately relevant as I'm engaged in helping my oldest son prepare for his post-college life.

With this background in mind, it was a great joy when I came across Dan Pink's new book - The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Need. Pink is the author of two other acclaimed books that are extremely insightful - Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind. I wrote about A Whole New Mind here .

Pink presents six life/career lessons, illustrated in the Japanese manga style, by a narrative centered around a young corporate accountant named Johnny Bunko. Read chapter one and be introduced to Johnny and his career counselor, Diana. She's a bit different. She has a unique way of making her point.

Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen has produced a fantastic slide show on the book. The two demonstrate  how to be creative in presenting a set of ideas.  Here it is.

| View | Upload your own

I have told people over the years not to follow my career path. It has been hard, still is hard, because it has been created the hard way. One step at a time. I'm not following some formula or plan. I'm following the logic of my interests and abilities.  It feels like I'm following a narrow string that extends into the future with no idea where it is going. Think you could handle the ambiguity?

I'm following a sense of call that doesn't fit into any one career category.  Johnny Bunko's story is not my story. But his experience is similar. And I know a lot of Johnny Bunko's who find that late in life that they make choices just like Johnny.

Is it ever too late to change your life? No, I don't think so. There are certain limitations that are imposed upon us by age. But those are marginal, in my estimation. I'm better as a 54 years old than I ever was at 46, 30 or 23.  So, Johnny Bunko is not just for 22 year old college graduates. It is for anyone who feels that they have not reached their potential in life. Your potential has parameters, but no limits, at least no limits that you'll ever reach in this lifetime.

Here are some my thoughts about life and career after having read Johnny Bunko.

1. Be curious, and follow the opportunities that result.
2. Career sustainability is related to what you love and what you can do well.
3. Serving is more fulfilling than being served.
4. Quiting is failure. Change isn't failure; it's learning.
5. Ask questions, constantly.
6. Try new things.
7. Converse, listen, connect.
8. Integrate interests, skills, values, and fun with relationships and organizational structure.
9. Make a difference. Create impact.  Not once. Daily.
10. Say, "Thanks" everyday.

Read the book. Visit the website and Dan Pink's Facebook site. Share it will family, friends, and colleagues. Talk about it.

Real Life Leadership: In times of cost-cutting, businesses need delicate handling of the human side

This week's Real Life Leadership column is In times of cost-cutting, businesses need delicate handling of the human side.

The situation is arising in many places where the conditions under which people work are becoming increasingly stressful. It  is an understandable situation. It is because for many businesses people are simply interchangeable parts in a business process. Wear them out and replace them.  It isn't a wise approach, but it is a typical one. 

Think there isn't a cost to this sort of approach to people management? Think again. A friend showed me a report by the Human Capital Institute called Talent Metrics that Matter.  Here are a few of the points that the report makes.

Value of Top Performers - Two to four times the performance of average employees

Cost of Poor Hire - $300k impact

Impact of "bad fit" hires - 40% fail within the first 18 months

Cost per Day - $7000 a day for operating without a key player

Engagement Levels - Only approximately 25% to 55% of employees are engaged. Employees who are most committed perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organization

Manager Focus - 20% of a manager's time is spent on poor performers

Deployment - Only about 30 to 40% of employees do what they do best at work

Performance Expectations - Less than 50% of employees know what is expected of them at work

Telling statistics. 

Talent. People skills. Team work. Collaboration. Values.

Managers are trapped. Trapped between cost cutting and performance improvement. Ultimately, it comes down to making the most from the talent that you have.

Consider this - If you want more productive workplace, then you can't treat people like they don't matter. You can't treat them as a mechanical part with built-in obsolesence.  You have to elevate the human dimension of your business if you are going to increase performance. You can only cut so far.

If you want to compete in the game for talent, then you have to create a work environment that attracts the best to your business. If you don't, then the cycle of cost-cutting and employee turn over will repeat itself over and over again. Just how much loss in productivity and revenue are you willing to accept under than scenario?

By work environment, I mean more than what you do for the individual employee or manager. I'm also referring to the climate of collaboration and team work that exists. I'm talking about the role of values in creating that environment. At the heart of every business is a culture.  That culture will either make you more competitive or create problems like the one outlined in my column this week.

The world of business is changing. Talent, people, values, culture and work environment are the keys to future productivity gains.

Galba Bright - Blogger Extraordinaire - Emotional Intelligence Master Remembered

Galba Bright, a great blogging friend, died of natural causes at his office in Montego Bay, Jamaica on March 31.  His passing is a great loss to the blogging world and to a community of people who were touched by this kind, gracious, enthusiastic man.

Here's Galba's bio from his Facebook page.

I am a self-employed Emotional Intelligence writer, broadcaster,coach and facilitator. My company, Galba Bright & Associates operates Tune up your EQ,one of the top 5 Emotional Intelligence websites/blogs in the world. We deliver Learning Programmes throughout the English-speaking Caribbean and we sell knowledge products throughout the world.

I came to know Galba because he took a little diagram I produced that asked four simple questions, and mastered it like no one else has.  I wrote about his use of the Four Questions here and here.  I also posted on a series of articles that Galba wrote for Steve Roesler's All Things Workplace.

I've spoken with Galba's wife, Sandra about those from the blogging world who knew Galba could help.  She would like ideas for how to take the great work that Galba produced and keep it available to people. In particular, ideas for Galba's blog. You leave a comment here, and she'll get your comments.

When I heard about Galba's death, I was shocked, then saddened, and the grateful to God for the gift of this man to our world. If you life has been touched by Galba, know that, as Galba would say it, "I am blessed."  Try to take a tiny part of what Galba gave and make it yours to give to others. Emulated his humility and his generosity, and Galba will live on the thoughts and actions that we dedicate to him. Peace.

Here are other friends of Galba and their remembrances:
Steve Roesler
Linda Zdanowicz
Ellen Weber
Benjamin Ellis
Tori Deaux

Values - Museum Artifact or Living History?

In my previous post, I write about a distinction in understanding the nature and use of values in an organizational context.  I characterize the older, more traditional approach Values 1.0, and the newer, more social approach, Values 2.0.  Here's a way to understand the difference.

Values are ideas about what is important to us.  In an organizational context, these ideas are intended to project a certain image about the company. Whether the value is being "dependable" or "fun" the effect is to make a statement that describes what the company believes in or stands for. This is the traditional approach to values. They are statements. 

What if we treated values as an historical artifact. You go to a museum, and there next to room with the life-size model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is the Hall of Values. You walk in see a frame with a magazine ad for "ACME Dynamite Company - Dependable Explosions since 1904."  Then there is a statue of a man in a business suit and a sign that simply says "Trust."  In rear of the hall, there is a display of an auto assembly line from the 1950's with a sign that says, "Innovation."

We see concepts applied to business as a way of distinguishing them from their competitors. We call this branding or marketing, of course. But we treat values in much the same way. They are like museum artifacts. There is an ancient, historical character to words like "trust", "dependable", or "integrity." They are words that signify a specific meaning.  These words are recollections of a past time. They are fixed images of the company that remain the values impression of the company into the future, regardless of whether they are accurate or not. These are values in a Value 1.0 world.

We know when there is a breakdown between the espoused values of the company, and reality. When a company sells itself as trustworthy, dependable and operating with the highest integrity, and in the morning newspaper we read of the embezzlement of millions of dollars by a top official, we know that the values no longer command attention like they did in the past. This disconnect leads people to believe that the value words are hollow. Have enough of this occurrences, and people believe that this isn't one company but a whole culture of corruption. 

It may well be true that 99% of the company's employees are trustworthy, dependable and have integrity.  The moral failures of a few are thrust upon the many who remain behind to pick up the pieces of a tattered reputation. Values reduced to ad copy or a relic in the company museum set up the conditions for failure.

Values 1.0 treats values as museum pieces. Leaders are curators of those values. We parade the values out for celebrations, then return them to their rightful place in a closet in the marketing department. I'm not blaming marketers for this situation. In fact, they may be the only ones in touch with the values of the company as they try to sell the company's products and services to the public.

Values 2.0 is very different. Instead of values being museum artifacts, they are like living history experiences that take on a life of their own. Here are two examples.

In Staunton, Virginia, there is a fascinating museum of frontier culture - The Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia. What is interesting about this museum is that it consists different working farms. There are English, German, Irish, and American farms, and an African village. Here's living history, not static displays of pictures in frames or exhibits in glass-enclosed cases. If you are traveling through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia on I-81, I recommend a visit.

Several years ago, a local college professor opened his Civil War history class to non-students. A part of his class was the recreation of a civil war battle. There were Union and Confederate regiments, townspeople and even a preacher for both sides. My great, great grand father, William Newton Morrison, was the pastor of the Presbyterian church in the Swannanoa Valley of Western North Carolina, during the Civil War. In fact, the church he served stood on a hill over looking the field where our Civil War enactment was held. My part in this living history experience was to play my ancestor. I put on appropriate dress, found a suitable sermon preached by a Presbyterian pastor in Fayetteville, N.C. during the war, and prepared a five minute service for the troops before they went into battle. It was quite an experience to recreate that moment of a preacher sending troops off to battle.  I was surprised by the emotion of the moment, especially with the fire-brand sermon I had selected to present.

Values 2.0 isn't about static museum displays, but about living the values. If they are historic values of the company, recreating the experiences that led to a particular values becoming the company's values may be needed. For example, often I hear from people that their company used to be like a family. We care for each other like family. They knew their spouses and kids because their were softball teams in the spring and company picnics in the summer. If being a family is a value that is a part of the company's DNA, then create opportunities to be a family. Set up committees to raise money to help "family" members in need. Just don't talk about the glory days of the past when you were like a family. Be a family now.

Values 2.0 is about living values. If the values mean something, then they will mean more lived out in the relationships and the processes of the company. The ideal is simple. The application not so simple.  It requires work to integrate values into the work of a company. Yet that is what Values 2.0 is about.   

Values 2.0

The Value of Values
For the past year I have been involved with a project where values are at the center of the development of leadership teams and organizational development. In this project, a cross-section of the company developed a values statement that they believe, and I concur, is representative of the values of the company's people. Their values statement has been warmly and enthusiastically received by the company. I'm very pleased by this and the efforts that their leadership has made to inform and deploy the values throughout the company.

My conclusion having gone through this experience is that values are a social mechanism that unites people around a set of shared ideas or beliefs. Whether the idea is integrity or creativity, the idea provides meaning and purpose for people. When that idea is shared with others who also value it, a social context for their relationships makes a difference in ways not possible otherwise.

I also see that the values culture of a business is integral to the healthy functioning of human relationships within an organizational context.  Too many organizations ignore this facet of leadership. They treat values as an ancillary exercise that is elective and marginal in impact. I'm convinced that a shift in understanding is taking place that is changing not only the conception of values, but the application of them within organizations.

Social Objects
I've been a regular reader of Hugh MacLeod's GapingVoid blog for a long time. I find him one of the most insightful and practical thinkers around. What caught my eye was an idea that he has written and spoken about called "social objects." Here's how Hugh defines a social object.

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if (we) think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

What Hugh sees as a social object is what I see as the operationalized values that function to united people together. By "operational values" I mean those values that are actually utilized in the operations of an organization. Values function to strengthen, support, guide and protect relationships within a social context.

What functions of the organizational structure are strengthened or empowered by values? There are three human interaction functions that are enriched by values. Those functions are communication in all its forms, decision-making and its implementation, and evaluation of both people and company performance.  When values are utilized in an operational sense, they shift from being abstract, not very practical ideas to practical beliefs that open up avenues of learning and discovery for meeting company goals.

A social object, according to Hugh, could be anything. These objects are points of affinity that people share. It could be the Red Sox, or Scottish Nationalism. The stronger the affinity, the deeper the values are.  For example, it is one thing to say you follow the Red Sox, and another to say that you are a citizen of Red Sox Nation.  It is one thing to say that you are of Scottish heritage and another to be a vocal advocate for Scottish Independence. Social objects function to identify a shared affinity between people.  They can be shallow or deeply personal. They serve the same purpose of connecting people to one another. The stronger the affinity, the greater potential for the values to impact the relationship.

Social objects are a connecting point. The values deepen and give purpose to the relationship beyond the occasion.  What this leads to is the importance for organizations to hire people who connect with the values of the company.  The relationship starts with the social object - an introduction to one another- and deepens as values are identified.  The relationship finds vitality and sustainability as purpose and vision develop. From this development, smart leaders will adapt their organizational structures to support the strengthening of the company's social environment.  This is partly what I mean by operationalizing values.  Therefore, it is important that businesses understand what their values are. Not the abstract, boilerplate ideas of P.R. materials, but rather the beliefs and attitudes that people have about the company that they share and give them strength and hope.

Values 2.0
We are entering a new era regarding organizational values. It is an analog to the shift that Neville Hobson describes in this video. He says that the web has shifted. It used to be that websites were "read only ... (and now, we're) seeing a shift to read - write. You can read and write." The same shift is taking place on the values front.

Values 1.O are values as boilerplate ideas that serve some abstract function. They represent some detached idea that does not empower or strengthen. Values 2.0 are the ideas that give people reason to unite around a share purpose of who they are and what their company stands for.  They can be distinguished in this way.

Values 1.0 - Ideas - Icon - Irrelevance

Values 2.0 - Ideas - Interaction - Integration - Impact

Placed in the context of the three dimensions of leadership, values serve an important role, just as do a clear