My family recently held a reunion for the Toths. 32 people representing 4 generations met to boat, hike, eat, sing, and talk together. This particluar reunion included a new component: sharing family stories. At the conclusion of the first day's meal my "silent generation" parents shared stories from their heritages that capture long held family values. I remember vividly the story of my grandfather who went bankrupt in the Great Depression, yet once recovered financially, returned to all his creditors to pay every penny back. Integrity! Or, on the other side, a grandfather who bought groceries and shoveled the driveway for an elderly neighbor. Compassion! The next night the "Boomer" generation shared our stories of heritage, and the third night the "Busters"/"Millenials" their stories. Stories laden with our enduring values, our roots, our identity as a family. As you can imagine this turned out to be a powerful exercise for the Toths in galvanizing and energizing our sense of pride and commitment to our past, present, and future.

Leader, what is your organization's story? How clear and compelling is it? How often do you speak it to inject focus, meaning, and commitment with in your people?

Steven Sample ("The Contrarian's Guide To Leadership") states: "An important asset for any leader to have as he works to inspire and motivate his followers is a credible creation story for the organization or movement he's leading." Sample goes on to state his "creation story" for USC, the university he led and developed as President. We remember stories and find inspiration for our work.  Stories such as Hewlett and Packard working in a garage (work with what you have, small beginnings can have great outcomes), Washington humbly enduring the elements with his troops at Valley Forge (servant leadership, identify closely with your front-line people), Rosa Parks challenging status quo discriminatory practices on the bus in Alabama (stand for what is right, no matter the cost), Larry Page and Sergey Brin meeting on the Stanford campus to later form a company we know as Google (think creatively, act on your dreams).

Organizational Stories provide roots (where we have come from), give present meaning (why do we exist), and give inspiration for the future (we are a force for change in society). Great leaders tell, and tell again, and retell their organization's story utlizing various mediums, symbols, and testimonials to focus and inspire their workforce.

If your story is unclear I encourage the following:

1. Revisit the past: collect stories from the creators of your business (defining moments, significant breakthrough events, challenges that required incredible perseverance)

2. Draft a first version "creation story" for your organization

3. Ask key senior leaders as well as emerging leaders to provide feedback to the story: (is it compelling, does it inspire, is it relevant, is it transcendent, and does it foster pride?)

4. Commit yourself to intentionally share the story creatively and frequently

If your story is clear but obscure to your people:

1. Recognize that creation stories that reside in brochures are relatively powerless when compared to running the story through a passion-driven human messenger: YOU

2. Take steps 3 and 4 above

Your partner to inspire the world, one leader at a time,

Chip

http://leadersinspire.net

http://feedbackedge.com

I was a y oung and energetic college graduate prematurely promoted to run a large sales office in the New York City area.  Our product was copiers, our competition Xerox and Kodak (yeah, I know, sorry Rochester!), and we were on a roll.  Our copiers were less expensive to operate than our competitors, at least so we believed, (or so we "helped" others to believe), with lower toner and drums costs.  One of our top selling copiers had manufacturer specifications stating each drum would provide 30,000 copies.  After reaching 30,000 copies the owner should expect to replace that drum at no small cost.  Fact: 30,000 copies to a drum with high replacement costs!  In the New York City market I soon found we had competitors with the same machines we were selling, operating as unauthorized dealers, giving the copiers away at cost while misrepresenting the drum life as providing 40,000 copies!  Apparently they had a competitive edge!  

This is the part of the story when you review the first ten (10) words of the beginning of this story.  I did not have a well defined moral compass, my ethical edge was dull, and my head full of craze to build my office to gain personal fame within the company.  I and my team quickly made the marketing adjustment to represent our copier drums as having 40,000 copy life spans.  Easy to justify, right?  I reasoned in my mind that we would get run out of business if we accurately represented the manufacturer's drum specifications.  I reasoned in my mind that by staying competitive we were providing jobs to our people and income to their families.  Yet in all my reasoning I struggled at night during pillow time with a conscience that was screaming: "liar!"  My star was rising while at the same time my soul was sinking!  Fortunately, by the grace of God and feedback from leaders who loved me, I was able to take a hard look at my moral compromises, the damage I was doing to my company as well as to my soul, and make a hard turn to right my way.

"The creed of our democracy is that liberty is acquired and kept by men and women who are strong and self-reliant, and possessed of such wisdom as God gives mankind--men and women who are just, and understanding, and generous to others--men and women who are capable of disciplining themselves.  For they are the rulers and must rule themselves."  --Franklin D Roosevelt

Leader to Leader Questions:

1. How would your #1 customer rate your commitment to total honesty?  Poor, Fair, Good, Exemplerary?

2. Are there any areas of your business conduct in which you are compromising on the truth?  Expense reports, product performance, service commitments, other?

3. Who are the trusted and loving leaders who are committed to your commitment to total integrity?  When was the last time one of them challenged you in a character or moral area?

http://leadersinspire.net

http://feedbackedge.com

I recently squared off with a friend on a tennis court to play a match.  I have a strange disease that you may identify with that manifests itself only in athletic events.  The clinician experts have labeled it, "mustwinitus".  Well, I won the first set 6-3 which fed and satisfied my disease. 

After the set my friend offered me some advise to improve my game.  My pride deep within my chest was shouting internally, "what?!?, I won, you are offering ME advise?!?"  Yet, I went along with him.  He demonstrated a very different method for my serve that required me to change my stance and my addressing of the ball.  It was awkward to say the least as I practiced a few serves with him as my coach.  Yikes, 90% of my serves using the new method were now resting in the net!

Well, it was now time to compete again with the second set upon us.  Decisions needed to be made.  Do I continue using the old method that secured my first win or do I learn, gamble with short term results, with hopes of elevating my game to a higher place?  My disease arrested for a moment and I decided, maybe illogically, to use the new serve method.  I chose to learn, maybe even to grow.  You will not be surprised to hear that I lost the set, 6-3.  My serve was pretty bad.  Even worse than the actual loss was when my friend reported the victory to our wives later that day.  Ouch!  However the negative emotion from the loss was more than offset by the positive emotions that came with learning and now playing with a new skill.  In fact, the next day I went out and practiced the new skill and realized a dramatic improvement to my serve with an even higher percentage of first serves "in" than from my old methodology!  Keep this quiet: I am now looking for my friend to get him out on the court for a sound beating, a "friendly" beating, of course.

Leader, can you think of an old skill or practice that you are leaning on, trusting in, that is likely core to your MO that may need to be updated, improved, or flat out changed?  The practice may have been good in the past, gave you real wins, and provided the foundation to your career advancement and sense of professional identity.  Yet, changes have come your way, changes that demand new thinking with new behaviors and new skills. Changes include a new and heightened level of market competition, new and constantly evolving technology, a new generation in our businesses, new and elevated customer demands, and new workplace expectations that require leadership of the kind most of us have never experienced.

And, after identifying an old "service" methodology, are you willing to take a loss, likely a temporary loss, to improve your game, elevate your leadership, boost your overall effectiveness? 

I have observed that the most effective and alive leaders are the ones who are more focused on continual learning than winning.  Further, these same life long learning leaders do acquire more wins than losses, more wins than those who are focused on winning.

Quick Wins:

1. Reflect: "what methods or behaviors no longer serve me well and must be abandoned?"

2. Plan: "what new thinking and skills must I acquire to become more effective?"

3. Resource: "what course, coaching, training can I secure to accomplish my plan?"

4. Commit: "by what date will I take action to learn and who will I make myself accountable to?"

http://leadersinspire.net

http://feedbackedge.com

OK, I confess, the blog title I have chosen is somewhat confusing and I am still wrestling with the practical workplace applications of the big idea.  We know that by nature leaders are independent; they do not seek validation of themselves or their ideas from others, nor are they waiting around for others to initiate the next course of action and to make decisions.  You may have heard of the leader's general MO: "it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission."  Leaders are doers, leaders take charge, leaders make things happen, leaders have an independent point of view, leaders are courageous, and leaders are willing to walk alone if necessary to fulfill their purposes.

While all of this is quite true about leaders, at least the classical definition of a "leader", we also know that leaders can get in a world of trouble in no time due to the sheer magnitude and power of their gifting.  When excessive ego is added to both talent and capacity, trouble will soon follow.  Therefore, the wise leader knows s(he) needs others to observe them and reflect back the real picture of their leadership and its impact on others.  Without these human mirrors, others who love us the most and fear us the least, we are prone to blind spots with resulting damage to our relationships and organizations.

"Two are better than one for they have a good return for their work...Woe to the one who falls when there is not another around to lift him up."   --Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 select

I wished I had understood this principle and practice earlier in my career.  I thought I needed to have within myself the entire vision, plan, skills, and decisions for my entire organization.  I therefore was less than honoring with the many gifted and bright leaders around me and their potential contributions to make us better.  I also was less than safe and credible as a leader for fear, pride, and arrogance were very much a part of my pathology and practice.  This pride led to the loss of a number of gifted leaders and, decision making that lacked the wisdom and benefits of a fully collaborative process. 

Six years ago I left the independent leader game, turned in my Superman uniform, to learn what it means to be independently interdependent.  I needed to continue to think and initiate as leaders are wired to do, but to also build a team of advisers to make me wiser and better.  In the past two years I recruited a band of older men and women to serve as my Personal Board of Advisers (PBOA).  Quarterly we meet over a conference call to review my life purpose, discuss the decisions in front of me, and make recommendations to my professional and personal life.  The wisdom that has come from these wise and able mentors to my very specific and sometimes complex life and career situations has been of tremendous benefit to me.  Specifically, just last Fall I was contemplating a heavy capital investment in a start up business when my advisers unanimously challenged the idea offering alternative business models.  When the call ended, I felt discouraged, for my energies were already moving forward with the investment and start up.  However, with six months behind me, I can see the wisdom and reason from my advisers as well as the real upside of the alternate model we are focused on.  It is good that I am learning to be independently Interdependent!  It is a very good thing!

So, leader, who leads you?  Who are your mentors, your wise sage-like advisers, your Yodas?  Can you recall decisions in your past that were not well informed, lacked the wisdom that comes from others with more experience, more life miles logged?  Have you experienced the wisdom and peace that comes with leading within the context of a mentoring community?

"A mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight." 

Your friend,

Chip

Earlier today legendary golf icon Tiger Woods stood before his mother, friends, and a national audience to take ownership of his moral failures and the difficult work ahead to rebuild his marriage and reputation.  Only time and deeds will prove the authenticity of his confession and commitments. 
 
Since his adulterous affairs became public news and tabloid fodder last Thanksgiving I have heard comments such as, "he is done", "Elin should never
take him back", and "he can never show his face in public again!"  I suspect these same people who now disparage Tiger's name and reputation are the same
ones who mere months ago spoke of him and his game with utter reverance.

We Americans can be very tough on our leaders, heroes, and celebrities!  This should not shock any of us for most of us are also very tough on ourselves. 
We breathe out the same stuff we have breathed in!  We condemn the failures of others, sentencing them to a life of hardship and penance to redeem
themselves.  They must "sleep in the bed they made", we reason.  "They deserve this punishment, they have earned it."  We have all sowed into and nurtured a graceless society!  Recently, the News Observer reported: “Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection…”  The Pope, Tiger, and the rest of us limp along with soul fatigue.  We endlessy pursue our quest for perfection on the performance treadmill.  Deep within, we are tired, discouraged, and insecure people, yet we mask our limp well.

Recently I asked a client in my coaching practice how often did he drive home from work feeling satisfied with his performance that day.  He responded with plain honesty, "Chip, I have NEVER experienced this feeling!"  He went on to say that his career is a never ending quest to reach perfection, to be more productive, to get everything right in his company.  The fruit of this never ending drive for perfection included self hatred, criticising others, and a serious lack of joy.  Gracelessness steals our joy, depletes our passion, and ultimately destroys our relationships.
 
I asked the client what he knew about a short five letter word..."Grace!?!"  He responded, "What is grace?"  What is Grace!?!  Let's take a shot at the question.  Grace means your external performance does not determine your internal identity; that failure does not determine your future; that you are loved apart from what you do or don't do.  Grace means you are quick to forgive and help others who have fallen for you yourself are ever mindful that you too need forgiveness and are just a step away from falling yourself.  Grace does not count or keep track of the faults of others; grace does not keep score; grace gives and receives "free lunches".  And grace allows for and even helps others to succeed, to move beyond our own place or position. 

It has been encouraging to see this client both embrace and extend grace to others.  He is fast becoming an inspired, inspiring, and freed up leader.  The energy and confidence gained through grace in both his personal and professional worlds is remarkable.  The Englishman John Newton got it right, "Amazing Grace, how Sweet the Sound!" 

Leadership Qs to Ponder:

How do you define "grace"?  How has Grace defined you?  How would others assess your grace-ability? 

How do you as a leader create a high performance culture that at the same time values grace?  Do your employees believe that they have worth apart from their works, that they are first persons, then performers?  

Finally, do you rest in and lean on grace for your own career and calling?  Do you know that you are loved apart from what you do, loved despite your past, present, and future failures? 

We all need grace.  We are all "Tigers" in hiding, waiting, hoping for a grace place within a grace community! 

"The good man falls seven times, but keeps getting back up."  --Proberbs 24:16

I had just finished a three day leadership seminar with about 40 clients in Chicago that included a section on values and the critical need to consistently practice our values with real integrity. Now 4 clients and I spilled out the door to the curbside to await our transportation to Chicago's O Hare (O Hairy!) airport. Another man soon came out the door, standing nearby, and immediately began berating the taxi dispatcher for not having "his" taxi there waiting for him as soon as he came outside. His tone, volume, and words were very damaging to say the least. I felt compassion for the dispatcher. Within a few minutes the limo pulled up, and all six of us climbed in, the four clients, the angry stuffed shirt, and myself.

Once in I asked the man what his business was and what company he worked for. He responded with pride that he was a consultant and worked for (name), a top five US firm. I then asked if his firm had defined a set of values for the organization. "Oh yes", he said, "we have five values!" I pressed, "do any of the values suggest that people matter?" I did notice at this point that the four clients had these strange smiles on their faces; they could smell the kill that was about to happen. "Yes, indeed", the man said, "in fact, our top value is people matter." I questioned, "do all people matter?" "Yes", he retorted. "Everyone!" I asked, "even limo dispatchers?" The man turned red and responded, "not limo dispatchers!" The rest of the drive to O Hare was pretty quiet. Yet I know that my clients and I were fortunate to get a real life lesson on the priority of actually putting real legs on our values.

Jim Collins, author of "Built to Last", states that true values are "the organization's essential and enduring tenets--a small set of timeless guiding principles that require no exernal justification; they have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization." Ralph Larson, CEO of Johnson and Johnson, states "the core values embodied in our Credo might become a competive advantage, but that is not why we have them. We have them because they define for us what we stand for, and we would hold them even if they became a competitive disadvantage in certain situations."

Questions: what are your company's values? When was the last time a significant decision was made based on a value? When was the last time senior leadership stepped up to an employee to challenge a value violation? Are the values embedded in the culture, the real practice of your company? Do you have any team members harrassing limo dispatchers at hotel curbsides or trashing a cherished value in the presence of key stakeholders?  Finally, and most important, how well are you living out and embodying your core values?

Happy New Year!

Resolution: a written motion adopted by a deliberative body.  New Year's Resolutions: a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous.

Success rate:  Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, a system where small measurable goals are used (lose a pound a week, instead of saying "lose weight"), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

Personally, I have not trafficked with the masses that make annual New Year's resolutions for a few reasons.  Primarily, I believe that commitments ought to serve and align with a clearly defined set of personal values and life purpose, not be the byproduct of an emotional spurt of longing for change that accompanies the clock's strike of midnight on December 31. In fact, it is the defining of one's purpose and values that energizes and sustains these critical commitments.

Secondly, true commitments that follow and serve our values and purpose are in focus and acted upon throughout the year.  They become common routine, part of our everyday lives. 

OK, so here are the difficult but necessary questions: what is your life purpose, that ONE thing your life is all about?  What are your core values, those deeply held uncompromising beliefs and practices?

I suggest today is a good day to get alone, go for a walk, pray and reflect, journal, and further define your purpose and values.  New Year's resolutions without the solid support and energizing power of a purpose and values will soon realize failure.  Here are some questions to help you with the process:

My Purpose:
1. Why do I exist?  What is my ONE thing I must accomplish?
2. How am I made?  What are my core strengths and competencies?
3. What am I passionate about?  What gets my blood flowing, brings me excitement and joy?
4. What do I want to be remembered for?  When the family and friends gather around my picture, what legacy will they speak of for my life?

My Values:
1. What are my top five (5) belief practices?
2. How have I demonstrated true commitment and sacrifice for my five belief practices?
3. What belief practices will I hold to even if it may mean losing friends and career?

You will be amazed at the energy that flows out of a clearly defined purpose and values set and into your commitments and resolutions.

May 2010 be for us all a purposeful and values driven year!

"For I know the plans that I have for you", declares the Lord, "Plans for your well being and not for disaster, to give to you a future and a hope." 
--Jeremiah (Israel's prophet)

Note: "Activating Your Ambition" (author Mike Hawkins), a great supportive read for defining goals that support one's purpose