Work AND Play

“When we are at work we ought to be at work. When we are at play we ought to be at play. There is no use trying to mix the two.”

- Henry Ford
American industrialist &
Pioneer of the assembly-line production method
(1863-1947)

Obviously there is much to praise about Henry, his creations and the organization that bears his name. (By the way, the stock is at $14 and the company is booming again...) Yet, with the wisdom of a hundred years of perspective, maybe we can build a bit more on the cornerstones of the industrial age.

Interchangeable parts and assembly lines were fundamental components of the great factories that built the manufacturing economy. With so much emphasis on automation and efficient workflow, little attention was paid to the people operating the machinery. Perhaps the leaders of the age can be forgiven for failing to recognize that people are not also interchangeable parts.

The proprietors of the Chinese factory where Apple assembles its products are discovering the same challenges Ford faced when creating a "machine for manufacturing machines.” While the output of the assembly process is without peer, the working conditions are such that employees are considering suicide rather than continue. People need more than the prospect of fifty years of paid labor (even in air conditioning with a clean dormitory...) to engage anything beyond a prisoner’s surly compliance. Imagine China when Labor Unions become part of the culture... Workers of the world unite! Hmmmm.

Labor finds the cheapest market. But today, even in the cheapest markets, the idea of "A lifetime of work in exchange for mere survival" is not a winning deal.

You're the executive running this thing. How do you maintain high quality while keeping labor costs to a minimum? Consider Google. The founders are still on campus and the principle here seems to be: "There's little difference between work and play.” As we've seen the advancement beyond pure industrialization, the old dichotomy of "Either/Or – Work or Play" is dissolving and becoming WorkPlay.

Historically, we managers expected that people would "Work when at work and Play on their own time!" using the money we paid them to make a full life somewhere other than the perfect and sterile workplace. Today however, people insist on having a full life, 24/7. It would appear that the distinction between work and play, workplace and lifeplace is no longer rational or relevant. (Ever check your Blackberry while on vacation to close that deal? Left a meeting when the school nurse called?) Yet the artificial distinction persists because we have not yet fully established or grown accustomed to a new model. We have to change our minds before we change the model.

While many of us – executive, manager and employee alike, have our minds and aspirations reaching into the future, our feet remain mired in the 19th Century. While we lust after a vibrant workplace with free pizza and massages, we each carry ghosts of Henry Ford in our mind constantly lecturing and disapproving of our “slacker” habits.

We think the solution can be found in the recognition that one can't really hire "a portion of a human being.” Instead, you get the whole package – body, mind and spirit. Whether you get a burden or a bargain depends on your perspective – and that of your employees who have their own barriers of perception to overcome. (“This is work. I have to wear the uniform and ’stick it to the man’ here, and have my ‘real’ life at home!") Who could feel good about such a twisted bargain? Exactly.

So, as we make our uncertain way into the future, here are some thoughts to consider:

1. Personally: Discover that you have one life with many components (individual, family, workplace, country). The more they integrate into one coherent whole, the more sane and happy you become. Allow and intend for the dots to connect!

2. In the family, break down the artificial walls between school and home; parents and children, work and play. View life as a team sport where all the teams are allies. The office needs happy, healthy, sane and safe employees – the enlightened boss can be expected to invest in and commit to that. In exchange, the business needs committed, uptone employees on the team who generate ideas and think about improving the overall game all the time. Hey, at the office or at home, the servers, the roof and the refrigerator often require service at odd hours.

Many of us are still trying to win at home, win at work or win at recreation individually when we need to be focused on winning the larger game of life – together.

3. At the office, maybe it's time to realize that a gray cubicle lacks something in aesthetic appeal. If we see work as just another part of life – maybe we should design our workspace (and the attitudes and assumptions that inspire it) so as to be pleasant and rewarding to the mind, the body and the spirit so people will enjoy being present and look forward to coming to work. Wouldn't it make sense to reengage the spirit of play and competition in the game of business?

No part of this complex life equation can work unless the other components are equally balanced. People, families, corporations and countries need one another – and all parts of all their players – to survive AND thrive.

We're leaving the days of Either/Or behind.

Welcome to the century of AND!

Keeping the Small Promises

"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude."

– Gen. Colin Powell
Former U.S. Secretary of State

The term, "worthy of trust" is at the heart of the relationship between leaders and their teams. Can they trust you? Are your promises good? Can your "word" be relied upon with confidence? Or does your team need to "parse your promises?"

"Well, she means well, but never shows up on time.”
“He has a lot on his mind.”
“She's under a lot of pressure, no wonder she's curt and cranky.”
“He never welshed on a major promise.”
“She had to break her promise on pay last year and of course the year before... but this year, we can count on her.”

Are your people saying these things about you? Do they indicate your basic intentions seem honorable, but that you can't deliver? Do they suggest that there's a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of leadership – that you don't get it?

The fundamental medium of exchange in a corporation is "the Promise.” And that promise stems from "the Word" of the senior officer. It's currency. Or it’s not... While much thought goes into branding and packaging, the real issues are as simple as whether the market, your customers, your employees or the people in your immediate reach can count on your assurances with confidence.

A multi-year, multi-purchase relationship between a customer and a car company turns on the small promise made by the service department about when a car will be ready for pickup. A dry cleaner can usurp a long-term relationship with a customer by delivering a few shirts without buttons. A consultant can undermine a relationship with a client by submitting an invoice with an inappropriate charge for personal expenses. A senior can ruin the relationship with the employees by showing up late and out of sorts for a meeting, explaining away the upset by saying, "it's a small thing. I get the big stuff right don't I?” On the contrary, in our experience all relationships turn on the "small promises."

Think about it. If the grocer cheated you on a five-dollar purchase, wouldn't you question all the bills? If the hotel added fifteen dollars in false phone charges, wouldn't you start combing through receipts? If the credit card company charged you twenty dollars worth of interest, wouldn't you question their ethics? If the CEO comes late to the meeting, don't you start showing up late yourself? If the leader cheats on their spouse, but claims to be trustworthy in the office, isn't their character and the resonance of any other promise they’ve made brought into question? “Undermining a promise” and “devaluing the currency” amount to the same thing.

In fact, there is no real difference between a promise of timeliness and the promise of accuracy in the pay package. "A promise is a promise.” We spend a lot of mental ammunition justifying our personal failures on "small" promises while asking the same people to respect our honesty on the big issues. The larger truth: Life is complicated enough without having to distinguish between small promises (which are presumably breakable), and LARGE promises (which we claim to be inviolate).

Our advice:

Personally:
Take inventory of any "deflation of confidence" in your personal sphere. Resolve to make fewer promises, and to keep them.

Professionally:
Get there. Turn off the phone. Leave your excuses at the door. Engage fully. And shave five pages off every contract you originate.

Corporately:
Turn off the "marketing magic" and get back to making simple promises. Then keep them. The promise is currency, or not.


Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.

Executive Counsel

“When the student is ready, the teacher
will appear.”

- Buddhist Proverb











Seeking a personal advisor…

You may think “you’re hiring yourself a coach” when in reality, something loftier needs to occur. It’s been our experience that students and counselors mysteriously find each other when they recognize they may have been connected all along.

It may be time to see your current circumstance from a different perspective. What’s your life journey about? Who can help you along the way? It’s an important decision. Here are some guidelines as you engage and surrender to the process:

COACH vs. COUNSEL

We believe the word "Counsel" connotes a loftier standard for the practice of listening objectively, advising the client – evaluating the range of available courses of action and perhaps role-playing one or more of the choices. "Coaching" is a popular choice with its roots in competition and athleticism; yet it rarely penetrates deeply into the intellect or the spirit of the "player." A Coach tells you what to do, how to play. A Counselor teaches you how to figure it out. We believe that is the point where Counsel exhibits the profound distinction between one who says, "OK, get in there and win!", and one who says, "Let's get a sense of how we tend to get in our own way, and see if you're imposing any barriers on your own progress. Then let’s discuss the options, decide among them and plan the steps."

We believe Counsel is "a Profession" in the classical sense, as in master, guru, tutor or mentor.

Do you RESPECT them?

CHOPS

Have they begun, operated or held a position of trust in business?

Can you come clean with them? Really! Will they demand that?

Do they work from/toward an objective standard? How do you know when you're done?

Are they trying to influence your decisions? Are they telling you what to think? Or, are they teaching you how to think?

Can they command your loyalty and concentration?

Are they a "big enough being?" Have they been around long enough to know?

Do you TRUST them?

CHEMISTRY

These relationships cross all kinds of lines and the process involves baring your soul.

Can you relate to each other? (Hey, chemistry counts! This is personal!)

Are they available to you at any time?

Do you have understandings about confidentiality?

What are the "Rules of Engagement?" Can this be fun, engaging, entertaining, demanding, fulfilling, meaningful?

Can you ask - and can they confront - the "Big Questions." Yes? Then this is “the one”!

Do you LIKE them?

This is a life journey, not a destination. The question is are you looking for a Counselor or Coach? A coach helps you read the map; the counselor helps you draw it. This is a big decision about a relationship that may last a lifetime. To get a grasp on what can’t be seen, on the principles behind the game of life, you need someone you respect, trust
and like.

If you’re ready, your teacher will appear. Bon Voyage!

Managing vs. Leading in Crisis / View from the Bridge

“Management works in the system; Leadership works on the system.”

– Stephen R. Covey
Author, Professor
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Despite the vast differences between leading and managing, especially during difficult times, business people have to wear both hats – we can't afford two slots on the org chart! This requires a holistic leader.

In times of crisis, one must manage the budget and control expenses. Yet, the damage in a crisis is not just to the balance sheet, but also to the well-being, confidence and soul of the firm.

Concentrating exclusively on the balance sheet means that one can lose track/touch with the formative intention and deep vision that actually drive and sustain a successful firm. Focusing only on function will ensure that you survive the crisis. Then what?

Is it over yet? Despite all the headlines and government pronouncements about the "end of the recession," many are not back to where they were with regard to personal income, confidence in their situation or certainty about their retirement. This may take longer than we thought. Perhaps the deeper crisis continues because there is such an obvious divide between the contrasting skills of Management and Leadership. (Perhaps this divide is less obvious than we thought…)

It's one thing to cut the budget, reduce salaries, change the comp plan, put off acquiring the new servers and fix the roof – oh and forget the big vacation! It's another thing entirely to communicate that all those actions were taken for good reason – because the economy is still in uproar and the systemic dishonesty and self dealing that gave rise to the problem (in spite of the dramatic rearrangement) haven’t been addressed. The eruption may be over, but we haven't healed yet! The time for crisis management though, is coming to an end. Now is the time for visionary leaders to emerge, tend to the healing and reconstitute the founding vision.

Yo! You with the two hats! Put – down – the – balance – sheet. Put aside the Manager hat. Now it’s time for some major league Leadership. Your people need you…and they’re hard to catch. People connect with more media input then ever, and your connection to them is only one channel in their daily mix of web, TV, radio and the "Starbucks Melange.” So while you’ve been consumed with scanning the numbers and apportioning the loss to keep things stable, you may have forgotten that the most insidious problem of all is – doubt. People have begun to doubt that they'll retire. They doubt the promises of far away famous politicians. They doubt their own ability to persevere. They doubt their managers, who don't appear to know the whole truth. Management doesn't handle or expunge doubt. But Leadership can do that – with a scoop of compassion.

The formula for multi-dimensional leadership:

1. Survive! It's a crisis! Handle the details, cut the budget and keep the game going. So much for the easy stuff.


2. Heal! As you emerge from the fog, take time for the healing. This is anything but business as usual. There may be a few (hundred) conversations involved.


3. Restore the vision! Reach for their hearts and minds. Help them regain their confidence and imagine a better future.


4. Carve out some time for yourself. Leaders must heal too. Talking helps. Do you have a confidante?


5. Now, ever so gently, go!
   

Maybe the real definition of "holistic leader" is one who manages the crisis while leading into the future.

Perils of the Visionary Leader

“The Sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to salvation is hard.”

The Razor’s Edge
W. Somerset Maugham
Excerpted from the Katha Upanishad

A leader’s responsibility comes in two parts: One – envisioning the future, the other – managing brilliantly in the present.  Teetering on this “razor’s edge” requires a human being with exceptional balance.  Whether it's thriving in a better future she imagines, or surviving in a worse one; the job is hers:  to see it, plan it, and manage the migration.

The perils:

1.    Married to the present.  Managing well requires a deep awareness of every aspect of the business and our myriad reasons for being just here!  With so much invested in the best possible present, it can become difficult to contemplate moving on – particularly for founders.  Leaving behind their first creation: the first building, team, humble mission statement, first dollar in its frame, and the traditions and cultural accumulations of the firm can bring on separation anxiety and become a powerful incentive for remaining (stuck!) in the present!

2.    Threatening the Present “To imagine the future is to threaten the present.”  Richard James

Merely imagining a different future can be very unsettling. Most of us prefer things to remain the way they are – even if they’re not great, at least they're familiar.  In a more perfect future, some of us might be found redundant, and therefore; dispensable... Thus, the future can be a “clear and present danger” to the present.  When the CEO starts thinking such things out loud, people start to worry -- and resist.

3.    Pulling away from the Team Creating the future (that’s what envisioning is, right?) requires the powerful exercise of dedication and imagination.  To build a successful future for an entire organization is no easy task.  In order to muster that much focus, one has to pull away from the present – with obvious corollary damage: tasks languish, communication becomes episodic and distracted, energy and sleep arrive in irregular fits and starts, and the trappings and polish of the office suffer from inattention.  (Ever encounter a disheveled CEO in the hallway, the morning after an all night planning session?)

4.    Apparency of Delirium Imagine a conversation with someone who constantly looks up, down and away, then darts into a fuzzy focus on faraway.  Not the best conversationalist obviously, but if they’re also extra animated with some odd gestures while failing to bring you into the process; you’d be within your rights to consider them dotty, delirious or downright daft.  But they’re committed to their vision – which nobody else can see.  They might resist any critical appraisal, or any counter creation… making them difficult in meetings.  The man shambling through the airport jetway muttering to himself about the ‘shining city on the hill,’ might just be St. Francis!  Then again…. Such people can evacuate a subway car, clear a park bench or level the nearby tables in a restaurant -- as people flee the radioactive grandeur of the vision.  Yet this is precisely how an imaginative CEO can appear in the throws of a visionary moment.

These are the perils of the visionary leader.  As they devote themselves to the vision, they can leave friends, colleagues and family behind; dominating discussions; not really connecting to us or waiting to gain support and understanding.  Next time you encounter such a person on a park bench, inquire if they’re a CEO on a “Creation Break” from the office – and guide them safely home.

Some guidelines for Visionary Leaders attempting to walk the razor’s edge:

1. You’re in a tough place, one foot in the present – managing it for everyone’s benefit, and one foot in the future – projecting your vision ahead to create the space we’re moving toward.  You have to get us there safely.  Forgive yourself if you lose balance from time to time.
2. Recognize that most mortals find the exercise of creativity weird, destabilizing and un-nerving.  Keep it out of public view and safely private until absolutely necessary to recruit allies and teammates.
3. Once you’ve got a handle on the future, it may become dear to you,  and every day apparently wasted in the present becomes an offense against the vision.  Perhaps without noticing it, you may become curt, short and critical of everyone else’s easy present life.  The compelling, demanding vision of the perfect corporation, building, nation or perfect cure can make "dwelling in the now” downright uncomfortable.  Spend a little time in the gym or the garden to come down from the height.
4. If everyone could lead, they might – but most can’t, so they don’t.  Let them off the hook if they can’t duplicate your view or flourish at your altitude.  Recognize that this is the meaning of the charge: Noblesse Oblige – the Obligation of the Noble One to Lead.  Suffer the burden gladly. 
5. The bridge to the future, after you’ve imagined it, will be your ability to describe it so other people can see it too – there, just over the next hill.  Your skills as a speaker will be sorely needed, to paint the picture, mark the path and motivate people to start moving.

So.  Here’s a “path to salvation”: Stabilize and thrive in the present while channeling the vision, and protecting the team from the white heat of your creativity and fevered commitment.  When the time is right; form and then tell the story of how your firm came to a sharp threatening turn and then discovered a new path up the mountain into the future.

Boldly walk the razor’s edge!

Management Rocks

Bancalero or Bricklayer?

Spanish Olive Groves on Majorcan terraced hillsides – held in place by stone walls of ancient design. No mortar in sight, these weathered walls (also seen on buildings and homes in the towns) serve to contain groves, lives and businesses behind uniquely patterned curtains of stone which quietly endure the centuries.

“Bancalero,” the men who “work the walls” employ nothing but a small hammer and a pile of rocks. They stare at the empty space and then the rocks – eventually selecting a particular stone, knocking off a small piece, smoothing a corner then rotating it to display the favored side; the imperfect is forever hidden in the wall. Layer by layer, new stones “settle in”, ballasted by “brothers” on either side, resting on the back of a solid “parent,” leaning on a “cousin” with tiny, nearly invisible stone shims to keep them steady. Each wall is a one of a kind work of art, designed to a vision, held in place with pure intention; it will remain for a lifetime – or many.

A different approach – Bricks. Each one the same, manufactured by the millions and assembled to meet preplanned specs, held neatly together with mortar. Truck in the supplies, the plans and the tools and put the bricklayers and the hod carriers to work. When complete, the edifice is plumb, square and built entirely with interchangeable parts! Each course of stone equally distributes the weight of additional stories. Struck with a hammer, a brick will shatter, yet all sides are the same. A “Bricklayer” may not posses the vision of a “Bancalero.”

Is there a lesson here about approaches to Management?

People and Rocks – each one unique. “Positioned” correctly by a thoughtful manager, the strong side is what the world sees, with the weaknesses and imperfections hidden inside the wall. The manager, skilled with rocks as he is, positions each of his people so as to complement the others, and present a strong facade. Sometimes you need a “weak player” to balance and “shim” a strong player who desperately needs a safe and non-threatening associate – someone to manage the pesky details and appointments as the “leader performs and woos” the client.

A Bancalero doesn’t criticize a rock – it’s a rock OK? He simply decides how to put it to best use. What role can it play just as it is? Then he finds a neighbor or two, and some shims – and lays a course of stone – or was that a department? In any department, on any team, in any wall; there are those who bear the weight, those who keep things balanced and those who look good. Together, they give the assemblage an appearance, a coherence and a strength that it would not have had without the sticky rough edges and the countless little shims that hold the creation together.

Such a wall/team is not only functional, but uniquely beautiful and satisfying to be around. Walls/Teams do not assemble themselves, they require the vision, the skill and the intention of a “Bancalero Manager” to see their possibilities and coax them into place. Bancalero Managers do not disapprove of their people – they are people OK? The question is how best they can serve.

I wonder if, in spite of our best efforts to machine off the rough edges and educate them into perfect rectangular shapes, we fail to discern that people may have more in common with stone than brick?

Perhaps this is not an “Either/Or” question. Maybe the point is to understand the differences and advantages of both approaches. Much of “Management” as we know it has been influenced by the industrial age and the mass production mentality – reducing people to pre-arranged skills, functions and roles – criticizing and grinding off the rough edges and putting them into their appointed cubicles. Efficient, but maybe not optimal. We’ve seen few happy people experiencing beautiful moments inside cubicles.

We think the future will unfold for those who can not only plan a big undertaking with an eye to efficiency and profit, but can also intuit how to turn people’s imperfections to the wall and put each to the best use in service of a lofty vision. We begin our move into management as bricklayers, but we must graduate to being Bancaleros.

Some questions and advice for old and new managers:

1. Does this post require the skills of a Bricklayer or a Bancalero? Or Both?
   
2. What/Who have I got here? Do these people resemble stones or bricks? Are they well-trained and awaiting orders? What can they tell me? Can these bricks evolve into polished cornerstones?
   
3. Wishful or critical thinking won’t change them. They’re people OK? You might shape them a little, but how will you make the best use of them?
   
4. A Bancalero knows that the stones at hand determine the ultimate shape and character of the wall. What can you build with the material at hand?
   
5. Bricks with their predictability and uniformity seem to suggest that everything can be ordered and perfect. In architecture perhaps, but not with people!

Bricks are "assembled per plan." Stones are "coaxed to a vision." Your choice: Bricklayer, Bancalero or both?

This July, think about dependence.

“Gentlemen, we’d best hang together.
Or we will most assuredly hang – separately!”


Benjamin Franklin
American Printer, Writer, Speaker
Founding Father
(January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)

Fusion is and requires a miracle.

Consider Fission and Fusion in the 1700’s… The colonies broke away from England in a demonstration of Fission – great forces splitting up component parts. Then Fusion, as the US came together under immense stress to form a new nation and release an explosion of creative talent, energy and united resolve. To become independent, they had to depend on one another. Washington could have become King, but he chose instead to serve in a limited role. Franklin could have remained an inventor and businessman, but he took on the role of elder statesman and Ambassador. Jefferson could have remained a gentleman farmer, architect, lawyer, philosopher and Founder of the University of Virginia, but… In each case, the founders sacrificed their own independent egos and identities on the altar of forming something together that would endure. “What have you given us Mr. Franklin? A Republic Madame, if you can keep it!”

Fusion in the corporate universe… perhaps some similarities.Sometimes it’s nothing more than a great training program for individuals – helping people and teams to find their voices and speak honestly from the heart about their work and their feelings about it. People learn to speak, sell, manage and plan by bringing together body, mind and spirit. Fusion.

Occasionally, something extraordinary occurs. The right combination of servant leadership, dedicated talent, and long term perspective show up at the same time and place. We introduce the concept of “Orchestration” to the team and something clicks. They get it, and begin “pulling together” the field, marketing and the sales desk. First we teach everyone how to read the music for and deliver stories that are crafted to be recallable and repeatable. The whole team contributes to building the stories through a representative system we call the “Story Senate.” Marketing takes the raw story over the jumps to execute for the Field, Phones, Literature, and the Web. Then we launch. When the story reaches the retail arena, it’s the same in person, in print, on the web, in the email and at the National Meeting. “One Story, Many Voices!®” When it happens, it’s miraculous!  It can change the face – and the fate – of a firm – for decades.

Making it happen requires a lot of small miracles. A leader who can see downstream and hold people together long enough to let the process work. A National Sales Manager who can motivate the team and marshal the Divisionals to coach and counsel each person to keep on telling the story and keep it fresh. Leadership is more than putting people through training and dumping them in a territory, expecting results. The Formula? “Meet new people, tell them the same story “in a new moment,” counsel and advise them; then do it again!” Four to five times daily… Again and Again. Then on the phone, then in the literature. It’s a titanic grind… and it can bring about genuinely incredible results.

It’s been done. When it’s great, it’s a combination of selfless, long term perspective and dogged, short term coaching – for years. The X factor is the recognition that we depend on each other to sacrifice our own ego on the altar of making a successful corporation – for everyone.

Some Advice:

When considering training, ask yourself, “Is this an Event, or an Investment?”  Rather than booking and running to the next meeting, consider how this training activity will be greeted by the attendees? Will they know what to do with it? Or do they need some coaching? And some more… Are you prepared to give it? Are you and your managers going to attend? Master it? Coach it? Or, walk away… Can you keep it up, long enough to form a culture; create a revolution?

Fusion often is a miracle, but it requires many.
You’d best hang together…

“The best way out is always through.”

– Robert Frost
  American Poet
  (1874 –1963)
 
We could resolve the deficit – if we had a dollar (and they say there’s no inflation…) for every time someone has said, “I just want to get to the meat; the good stuff – the sweet spot – the payoff! I want to get busy and write this presentation!”

So with unbridled enthusiasm, they rush to put ideas on paper. And then – the crash – all the details the mind can conceive rush into the vacuum created by thinking: “What shall I say?” Then the task of making sense out of this “Idea Soup.” Of course, without intellectual boundaries; any idea is reasonable. Editing however; requires some limitations – a desired outcome for example; and a sense of who is listening. This may be why composing is so difficult: it requires the writer to submit willingly to limitation.

“Ready, Set, Go!®” originated to help the speaker circumvent the “data avalanche” that accompanies composition. The first step: Establish an Objective. Why are you speaking? Certainly not to hear yourself talk – but to bring about a result in the form of a listener response! This is business – we’re looking for outcomes!

Second; Who is listening? What are their concerns, their reasons for taking action? You’ve got to Analyze the Audience, and arrive at the main idea that will move them to action.

Now, and only now, should you start Organizing Remarks.

It’s a process. Follow – and it will set you free. And you’ll get some sleep. The way out isn’t over, around, or under; but directly through!  “Ready, Set, Go!”

"What Constitutes 'Intelligence'?"

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. Instead, they must be felt with the heart.”
 
– Helen Keller
Author, Activist, Lecturer
(1880 –1968)  

AP Photo Courtesy of the Thaxter P. Spencer Collection
R. Stanton Avery Special Collections
New England Historic Genealogical Society-Boston



We live in a period in which the text oriented communicators dominate the cultural conversation about “What constitutes 'Intelligence'?” At the same time, technology is evolving so quickly that communicating exclusively in text seems remarkably limited.

Current discussions about “whole brain/Holistic” communication suggest that a deeper, more substantial intelligence relies on “the combination of text and context” to make a more complete, rational and ethical choice.

As a speaker, it’s wise to realize that your audience will always contain a mixture of thinking types. Those who prefer text, those who respond to images; and those who prefer to sense or intuit the intentions of the speaker. A well rounded presentation contains a clear, logical argument, augmented with carefully selected images which align with and underscore the key ideas, and sufficient pauses in the delivery to allow people to “connect with the intentions between the lines.”

Fusion's perspective: It’s not an “either/or” question, but a combination question. “How can I present my ideas in ways that appeal to all thinking styles?”

Baby Steps

Lost in Rugby, England, Dwight Morrow and his wife, the parents of Anne Lindbergh, wandered through the streets for hours. He stopped a little Rugby lad of about 12 years. "Could you tell us the way to the station?" he asked.

"Well," the boy answered, "You turn to the right there by the grocer's shop and then take the second street to the left. That will bring you to a place where four streets meet. And then, sir, you had better inquire again."


Being Stuck… Being Lost… Being Uncertain…

The life of a Chief Executive. People may say something different in public, but in private, we all know that much of the time we’re hoping our gambles pay off or wash out quickly so we can reverse course before all is lost. The real work of the leader is to push so far out over the bow that if there’s a collision with reality, the first contact will be with the end of your nose, at least then you can react quickly enough to spare most of the ship. And it continues to be the single largest issue in our Executive counsel work... “How do I decide? How do I resolve this impasse? What is the right thing to do?” Yet, Life is murky.

Our suggestion is to take the counsel of that little Rugby lad, and move ahead; anticipating the chance to take a sighting and set a new course in due time. Perhaps the best indication of a rational management approach is to avoid the nagging desire for a clear decision or a complete vindication on something and find a way to “move off the dime” and take a positive step. None of our work is done in an instant, and major improvements often take an entire career.

There’s no way to know immediately if it’s right, or wrong. But if you wait, “hung up on maybe;” it’s for sure the view won’t change.

Baby Steps. Decide. Move. Do a little; check your bearings. Do a little more. Keep on. Take a sounding. Look out for the bump – Change Course.

Come to the place where four roads meet … and inquire again.

Ancora Imparo

"And still I am learning!"
-- Michelangelo

“Learning on the job is essential to judging!”

-- John Paul Stevens
   Associate Justice
   United States Supreme Court
   (1920- )

“The New” is upon us!

We can cook prepackaged meals in moments, serve them on plates that double as garbage disposal units, diagnose and treat cancer with internal camera scans, download movies and watch them privately on personal electronic devices, make wireless phone calls while driving, and leave now and be in the Temple of Wudang Shan tomorrow night, with a guide and a wardrobe we ordered in flight. It’s a world which demands the ability and the willingness to learn. Now, Tomorrow and Forever!

It’s a relatively unforgiving place, this instant future. If you’re not on top of what’s happening, you can be left behind in a heartbeat. (Ask anyone over the age of fifteen…)

But it’s not just about what’s NEW, but about what’s New To You.

There’s all that information and all those areas of study that didn’t come from business school or twenty-five years of corporate practice.

As I talk to artists, professors, athletes, leaders and professionals; I am struck be how much I don’t know. Yet out of my “well informed ignorance,” I keep discovering that “what is true” in the arts, is also (surprisingly) “true in athletics.” And “what is true” in the performance and communication arts, is seemingly also true in science. The same "deep magic” feeds and nourishes art & science. The same sense of “endless willing discovery” makes the voyage successful & rewarding.

Here’s a key discovery, the more silos an individual has stormed, or mastered; the less likely they are to be a shit. Arrogance thrives in a closed system. As sunlight, air, questions and curiosity penetrate; humility and discovery travel along.

It’s fundamentally about an attitude: The interested anticipation of what’s next vs. the resigned or dark certainty of having seen it all – of knowing it all already. One mind leads and motivates people, the other slowly kills.

Choose the mind you would willingly serve, then become that person!

Consider that the Chief Executive Officer might also quite legitimately become the Chief Learning Officer.

“And still, You are learning!”

What is Culture?

What is culture, but the way we live -- together?

Culture is defined by the things we do together, and the ways in which we do them "in the commons." Some things are accepted, and acceptable.  Others aren't.  First we experiment, then we form personal habits which morph into shared customs, then - over time... "Culture."

At some point in our Greek history, there was a really good, well-accepted way to build a temple.  It "caught on."  Influences our railway stations to this day.  Of course, the available resources and tools contributed -- and they became part of the very culture which they defined and constructed.  "There's a tool for that!" has evolved: "There's an App for that!"

The most obvious ways we recognize previous cultures are the things that remain: fossils, coins, structures, language, stories -- myths.  Cultures change slowly, owing to the large populations involved, and the time required for tools, technologies, languages and construction (budgets and methods) to evolve and transform.

Greek culture is different from Italian culture. New York Culture is different from that of Los Angeles. There is regional culture and national culture.  There's family culture and corporate culture.  Distinctive customs, language, tools, styles, manners and values.

Your distinct corporate Culture may be your most valuable and overlooked asset.
Consider the following:

Are your products distinctly different from the competition?

Are your people dramatically different?

Are your returns impeccable?

Are your clients unusual?

So perhaps the most leveragable distinctions you possess are the clarity with which you communicate, the energy of your sales team, the dedication and caring of your managers, the commitment, intelligence and strategic insight of your leaders, the intensity of your fire, the loftiness of purpose -- in short the cultural cornerstones which set your firm apart from all others.  It's the culture!

In a world of "me too" products, companies and services; it's the culture which sets you apart. Careful.  It's an unseen, intangible asset -- and prone to being dismissed, diminished or confused by analytical, practical thinkers.  Yet this invisible intangible is the foundation upon which the tangibles rely for their origins, their stability and their integrity.  All sales begin with a belief and a story. All profit statements begin with a financial strategy.  All continuing relationships begin with trust -- based on a reputation.

You may be asking, "How do I turn this intangible into a tangible benefit?

It starts with stories and symbols.

Bring the group together and decide what you stand for; what you believe, how you'll work, who your clients are, what will distinguish you?  Build those ideas, concepts and principles into belief statements, positioning documents and stories.
Don't change the stories.  Keep telling them. Live with them.  Live by them.

When your employees start conducting day to day business in alignment with your stories, you will have achieved a short term corporate culture.

When your clients, your customers and the market start repeating your stories back to you; you will have achieved an authentic, organic brand.

When the stories are still told after you retire, you will have created a legacy.