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Hard Choices

by Ron Potter

I read Jeffrey Katsenberg’s book, “Hard Things About Hard Things.”

I just listened to Ruth Chan’s TED talk, “Hard Choices.”

So here’s the Hard Thing about Hard Choices:

Ruth explains that any choice that can be quantified is an easy choice because all numeric values can be related to each other based on their comparative amounts but hard choices are based on values.
Values can’t be quantified and compared to each other. Values are based on who we are and who we want to be. Ruth goes on to look at the dilemma from a person’s point of view and concludes that taking the quantitative approach is the safest way out. Making a value based decision forces us to choose who we want to be. I agree. This is a great personal growth philosophy.

But here’s the hard part: I work with corporate leadership teams where I help individuals make their own personal value and growth decisions through my personal coaching. The problem is we also have to make hard team decisions.
I believe most corporate teams fool themselves into believing they only make logical, fact based decisions or believe all decisions can be reduced to a number exercise so that the >=< analysis can be made. But as Ruth explains, hard choices are not quantitative in nature; they’re value based.

So how do you get a bunch of MBA trained financial experts, engineers, marketers, and scientists to make the hard choices based on value?

You need to build team.
Not just a team with defined roles and responsibilities, not just a team with clearly defined interfaces and decision gates. Not just a team of various functions that get together to discuss and coordinate the business. Not a team, but TEAM!
Teams are built on respect and trust. Teams honor and appreciate the diversity of thinking, attitudes, and beliefs that we bring to the table. Teams know who we are and what shapes us and what values we hold dear and what values we won’t violate.

These teams are fully capable of making the hard decisions and are fully capable of making them work.
If you want to build a great company, build a great TEAM.

Have you been fortunate enough to be part of a great team? Share with us how that happened. What made it work? What’s keeping your current team from being a great team?

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BlogTrust Me

Four Qualities of a Humble Leader

by Ron Potter

In the last post, we talked about rigid, proud leadership and how that affects a company. But what about a humble leader? How do they meet their responsibilities and yet be open to the guidance of their direct reports?

They take a much different approach.

Humble leaders are not so self-absorbed as to think that they don’t need to listen and be open. Their spirits are not critical because they are always open and scanning their employees, customers, and systems for new and better ideas. Following are some qualities of humble leaders.

A humble leader:

  1. is teachable
  2. never shuts the door on educating themselves
  3. remains open themselves to the ideas and concepts of others—including their followers
  4. enriches an organization and helps it stay ahead of the competition.
Image Source: Rob Bashar, Creative Commons

Image Source: Rob Bashar, Creative Commons

A teachable leader is open to personal and organizational change. This kind of leader is quick to understand that old routes are not always the best or the fastest. Conditions change.

Research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) shows that people can optimize their personal abilities as well as turbocharge their organization’s adaptability and response to competitive challenges when they are committed to learning. According to researcher Ellen Van Velsor:

If things are going to continue to change, the one thing companies need above all else is people who have the ability to learn.

(See also “Learn or Die” by Edward Hess in my Reading List.)

To be teachable, one must devote a significant amount of time to learning.

A humble leader is flexible. An old proverb reminds us that “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” Many of us have spent our time trying to be in control, but a humble leader learns how to be effective without being in control. Humble leaders know that they cannot control people or circumstances. The irony is that the more they loosen their grip, the more they gain. The more flexibility—rather than control—that they can build into themselves, the more they succeed.

A humble leader welcomes change. Change often equals growth. But not change for the sake of change. A humble leader needs to discern the right change, a skill that is developed by being open and teachable.

Humility leads to personal openness, teachability, and flexibility. Humility casts fears aside and frees leaders to energize and build their organizations toward common goals and vision. Humility is the fertile ground where the seeds of trust sprout.

Being humble and teachable means learning to trust others and their opinions and instincts. It means listening with the intent of learning instead of simply responding. It means seeking personal development from every situation, experience (both good and bad), and transaction.

What in your life do you need to let go of so you can become more humble?

Have you shared your vision with your colleagues? Have you asked them to participate? If not, why haven’t you?

Whom in your organization can you mentor—develop to his or her full potential?

What can you do to improve your listening skills?           

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BlogLeadership

Pay Attention

by Ron Potter

What are you willing to pay for?

Maybe it’s that nicer car or maybe just the nicer option package on the car you’ve already decided to buy.

Maybe it’s shopping at Whole Foods versus another grocery store.

Maybe it’s those concert tickets in the center stage seats.

There are certain things beyond our necessities that we’re willing to pay for. But why? That less expensive car still gets you from point A to point B. Sitting farther back at the concert may even provide better sound. So why do we pay for these items? Perceived value!

Image Source: 401(k), Creative Commons

Image Source: 401(k), Creative Commons

We’re willing part with our hard earned resources because our perception is that it will provide us with value that we appreciate.

Have you noticed that from our elementary school days, we’ve been told to pay attention! Why do we have to pay to give someone our attention? Because it takes focus, concentration, discipline, and, most importantly, there will be a value received for the price paid.

Therein lies the problem. If we don’t actually believe that we’ll learn something by paying attention or that the other person has nothing of value to offer, we’re not willing to pay. This relates closely to another blog I wrote about listening with the intent to understand. If we’re not willing to discipline ourselves to truly understand the other person or pay to give someone our attention then we’re exposing our own ego and arrogance.

When our ego and arrogance is the driving force behind our inability to understand another person or we’re not willing to pay the price of granting another person our attention, we’ve violated the first principle of great leadership: humility.

When great leaders are willing to work from a foundation of humility by offering to pay to give others their attention in order to truly understand the other person, they begin to create a culture that develops great teams that are able to grow together to generate a synergy that surpasses their own expectations.

Be willing to pay attention, you’ll be blown away by the value you’ll receive.

I think of doctors in clinical environments. I consider my cardiologist one of the best doctors I’ve ever had because while he is with me it seems that I’m the only thing that matters to him. Although I know he is paying a great price by giving me his attention and not being distracted by all of the commotion going on outside the room. I appreciate the price he pays.

Share with us about the time when someone paid the price to give you their attention.

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BlogLeadership

Consensus: The Split at the Top

by Ron Potter

I just love Scrat, the saber-tooth squirrel from the Ice Age movies. He always creates some minor little crack that looks harmless, but as the crack propagates, it begins to create all kinds of havoc in his world with major consequences. Such ‘cracks’ can be destructive and debilitating in corporations.

Image Source: Lars Hammer, Creative Commons

Image Source: Lars Hammer, Creative Commons

I was working with a couple major functional divisions within one corporation, trying to do some team building. These functions needed to cooperate with each other in order for the company to be healthy and thrive, they just couldn’t seem to get along. After a few of the normal approaches to overcome differences didn’t seem to produce any progress, I began to dig deeper.

The story that began to emerge was that the people in the functions had no problem working with each other and, in fact, preferred it. The problem was that their top leaders wouldn’t allow or, more impact-fully, didn’t want the cooperation to happen.

When I sat down with the first of the two senior VP’s that were responsible for one of the functions and asked about the oppositional position he had with the other senior VP, his response was, “Oh, there’s no opposition between us. We worked that out long ago.” I thought great, an answer exists, we just need to get the message down to the functions. So I asked, “Tell me about the solution the two of you worked out.” His response? “We simply agreed to disagree!” Well, that was very gentlemanly (and lady like in this case) of him but very destructive.

The difference between them didn’t go away, but like Scrat’s minor crack, propagated deeply into the organization. As I would talk to members down in either organization, they knew that their ultimate bosses disagreed and many of them took it on as their job to make sure the other function failed in a belief that their particular boss would be vindicated or somehow pleased.

Senior leaders cannot agree to disagree. They must build consensus. (More about how to build consensus later.) They’re part of a leadership team. If members of a team agree to disagree, there is no team.

Have you experienced a peer who just didn’t agree with you but was also unwilling to even work on the issue, preferring to agree to disagree?

How has disagreement of leaders above you on the org. chart impacted how you work with your peers?

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BlogTrust Me

No Soup for You! & Rigid Leadership

by Ron Potter

One of the more popular episodes of the Seinfeld television series was the Soup Nazi. The story line centered on an aggressive man who owned a small restaurant where the locals stood outside in long lines to enjoy takeout orders of his delicious soup concoctions. However, these same customers were forced to tolerate this man’s rigid rules:
“Only one customer in the restaurant at a time.”
“Place your order immediately.”
“Do not point.”
“Do not ask questions.”
“Pay and leave immediately.”

Customers were forced to do what this man said, or they were told, “No soup for you! Come back in three months!”

Image Credit: Seinfeld, Season 7, Episode 6, Shapiro/West Productions, Castle Rock Entertainment

Image Credit: Seinfeld, Season 7, Episode 6, Shapiro/West Productions, Castle Rock Entertainment

Leaders with a Soup-Nazi style have one way of doing things—their way. Their focus is totally on themselves. They do not want (nor do they take) any suggestions. They “know” what is best for the organization and everyone in it. They “allow” people to “help,” but only under their carefully prepared set of rigid rules. They are a proud leader.

An “unhumble” leader is notoriously self-focused. Writer and scholar Henri Nouwen once said,

“It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people.”

Isn’t that the perception most people have? It is far easier (and seemingly satisfying) to be focused entirely on ourselves and not on the needs of others or the opportunities presented by others.

A proud leader seems to “know” the truth and are usually its source. They take every measure to protect their point of view; they deny any effort to clarify the thought process; they do not encourage debate; they resist building a community of advisers.

A proud leader is critical. Such leaders develop self-centered standards and then tend to criticize anyone who does not follow their rules or who shows creativity and independence.

Yet, in today’s fast changing environment we need creativity and independent thinking and ideas more than ever.

Why are so many leaders resistant to change and innovation?

  1. They only want self-initiated change. Leaders who lack humility seek to develop only their own ideas. They have no interest in others’ opinions.
  2. They fear failure. We have seen so many potential leaders paralyzed by fear of failure. They fail to reach out for new territory because they are so afraid of losing. They do not understand the positive or learning side of failure.
    Baseball stars strike out more often than they hit home runs. However, they keep swinging for the fences. The best golfers in the world hit the green in regulation (two strokes under par) only about 75 percent of the time. One-fourth of the time they miss the mark. These golfers accept their failures, however, and give it their best to get back on track.
  3. They are too comfortable. Many times present realities give us hope that we do not need to change. We sit in our current situations, do the same thing every day, and hold on for dear life to past achievements.

A leader willing to change brings about change in the organization. Embracing change fosters an attitude of success and can deliver us from the quagmire of sameness.

Have you demonstrated willingness to:
Change?
Be open and seek new, maybe novel ideas?
Help your teams understand and experience experimentation?

Check your need for control or your fear of failure. It’s a great barometer of future success.

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BlogLeadership

Perspective Changes

by Ron Potter

In my executive coaching work, both with individuals and teams, one of the most useful techniques is bringing alternate or multiple perspectives. We so easily get entrenched in our own perspective, it can be difficult to see solutions or other possibilities.

I recently experienced heart bypass surgery. During one session in the post op process, I was lying in the hospital bed with the doctor on my right, his physician’s assistant on my left with my two nurses at the foot of the bed, and my wife over my shoulder.

At one point when the pain was severe, even the nurses had to look away. I thought, “I’m not sure how much the human body and psyche could stand more pain than this.”

But my mind immediately shifted to my father, lying in a muddy field hospital, (I’ve seen some of the hospital photos.) 4,500 miles away from home with no family around, with doctors and nurses who I’m sure cared very much, but had no time to spend comforting a patient, having his leg amputated.

Image Source: Ulf Klose, Creative Commons

Image Source: Ulf Klose, Creative Commons

My conditions, while seeming extreme, were nothing compared to what my father had experienced during WWII. My change in attitude and experience at that moment were such that even the doctor noticed and later asked me about what happened.

Nothing really, just a change in perspective. Perspective is very powerful. It can even change the level of pain we’re experiencing.

The next time you’re in that extremely “painful” corporate situation, see if you can help yourself and your team gain a different perspective. It often takes a jarring experience or question. “What would this look like to a chimpanzee? How would this be viewed from a four person jazz band? How about a 100 person symphony orchestra?” None of these questions make sense or they certainly are all out of context. But that’s the point! Get out of your context. Look at this from a new perspective, not just a different point of view from the same context; “How would our competitor view this issue?” Shake it up! Gain a new perspective.

Tell us about the last time that four year old child asked you a question that shook your perspective? Share with us a story or two.

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BlogTrust Me

Is the Hero-Leader Hurting You?

by Ron Potter

Why is humility such a key quality on a leader’s personal resume?

For starters, being humble prevents most of the mistakes that cripple a person who is proud. Consider Henry Ford, for example.

He was an icon of American industry. His revolutionary ideas about manufacturing and design put him near the top of anyone’s list of great American businessmen. Ford carried out his vision with the Model T. The car literally changed the face of America and the priorities of American citizens. By 1914, Henry Ford’s factories built nearly 50 percent of all the cars sold in the United States. Now that’s market share!

There was, however, a chink in Henry’s armor.

He was so proud of his Model T that he never wanted it to be changed or improved. One day, as the story goes, a group of his best engineers presented him with a new automobile design prototype. Ford became so angry that he pulled the doors right off the prototype and destroyed it with his bare hands.

Not until 1927 was Henry Ford willing to change. Grudgingly, he allowed the Ford Motor Company to introduce the Model A. By that time, the company was well behind its competitors in design and technical advances. Ford’s market share had plummeted to 28 percent by 1931.

Image Source: Zeetz Jones, Creative Commons

Image Source: Zeetz Jones, Creative Commons

Henry Ford just could not let go. He had created something, and he was unable to imagine that his “baby” could be improved. Nobody could help him, and he was unwilling to stretch himself to learn how he could make his product better or different.

Consequently, he lost his executives, created havoc in his family, and damaged the company’s market share beyond repair.

Henry Ford’s leadership approach probably resembled what some now refer to as the hero-leader. Many organizations look to a hero-leader to deliver the power, charisma, ideas, and direction necessary to ensure a company’s success. In many cases, the hero-leader does create blips in performance. For a time the dynamic chief is seen as a savior of the organization.

For a time.

In an interview with Fast Company magazine, Peter Senge said,

Deep change comes only through real personal growth—through learning and unlearning. This is the kind of generative work that most executives are precluded from doing by the mechanical mind-set and by the cult of the hero-leader.

Senge points out that the hero-leader approach is a pattern that makes it easier for companies to not change or move forward. The hero-leader weakens the organization and in many ways keeps it at an infant stage, very dependent upon the hero-leader’s creativity and ideas. The people around the leader do not seek or promote change because the hero-leader is not open to new ideas (or ideas that he or she did not originate).

Under the hero-leader, people tend to acquiesce rather than work together as a team with a free exchange of ideas. The hero-leader may take the company in a new direction, but the troops within the organization only go along because it is a mandated change. This type of change is superficial at best.

Despite all of Henry Ford’s incredible qualities, it sounds as if he was a proud rather than a humble leader. In his case, the Bible proverb certainly was true: “Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

Is your pride getting in the way of doing something you’ll really be proud of? Or, often easier to answer, do you see someone else who could do great things if they would just let go of their pride? Share some stories with us.

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BlogLeadership

Lessons from a Professional Organizer

by Ron Potter

My wife is a very organized person in most of her life. But like all of us, there are a few areas that just get out of control over time and you usually need help to get it back under control. She hired a personal organizer.

For the most part, I tried to simply stay out of the way, but I admit I was curious. I thought the organizer did a good job of seeing what the issue was, stepping back and looking at the overall picture; noting what was working overall and what portion of my wife’s life felt like it was under control and what portion was not, gaining the bigger picture.

Then she began to dive into the issue and started to ask the very direct, tough questions:
• How long have you had this?
• When was the last time you used it?
• What do you want it for?

After several pointed and pertinent questions, she calls for the decision:
• Trash it?
• Recycle it?
• Donate it?
• Keep it?

If she gets the “keep it” answer, she immediately recycles through some of the previous questions and then comes back to trash, recycle, donate, or keep.

Now here’s what I found interesting, she had provided bins for the three “non-keep” answers and the item would immediately go into one of those bins. At the end of the day, she put all of those bins in her vehicle and she made sure they were trashed, recycled, or donated.

Image Source: Katie Chao & Ben Muessig, Creative Commons

Image Source: Katie Chao & Ben Muessig, Creative Commons

At first I thought this was a nice service she provided, but then she began to explain why she did it. This way the decision was final. No turning back, no rethinking the decision, no second guessing.
This is exactly the issue I was getting at in an earlier blog, “Decide: we’ve got it all backwards.” In that post, we explored the word decide and learned that it didn’t mean figuring out what to do, it means figuring out what to kill.

My wife had made the decision to “kill” certain items into the trash, recycle, or donation bins. The organizer wasn’t going to let those items be an issue any longer—they were gone!

All too often in our corporate decision making, we let things linger, be second guessed, never really put them in the trash or recycle bin. Because of this lack of decisiveness uncertainty thrives. It consumes the resources you need for top priorities. If you will actually “decide” and make sure the paths you’ve decided not to follow are actually killed off, publicly executed, thrown in the trash, you and your organization will become much more productive, nimble and responsive to current needs. We waste a lot of resources because we don’t finally decide.

I remember one CEO saying to me “I’ve tried to kill that initiative three times and it keeps coming back.” His frustration was caused by the continued wasted resources and people’s attention that were being dedicated to a project he thought they were over and done with. But he had never “Publicly” killed the program. He had never made the global announcement that “We are no longer pursuing this initiative!” He simply turned his focus and his team’s focus to the things they had decided to pursue.

I can’t tell you how important this concept is. My clients are constantly looking for resources to pursue much needed projects, changes or new initiatives. But they never really put the needed energy or public face behind killing off the old, outdated, or lower priority issues. Figure out how to decide. It will pay huge dividends.

Take a look at your personal life, home or work; would you share with us some areas that would save you a lot of grief and energy if you simply publicly ended the pursuit? Maybe you do have a very clear corporate situation that emphasizes this very issue. Share with us what caused it and what helped alleviate it (or what should be done to alleviate the issue).

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BlogCulture

Dirty Bathrooms and Annual Reviews

by Ron Potter

Have you ever noticed that the dirtiest public bathrooms are the ones with the log pasted to the wall with the signature of the person who cleaned it and when? In fact, the log itself looks so nasty that I usually give it a wide berth for fear that something contagious might jump off the page and infect me.

Image Source: Anjana Samant, Creative Commons

Image Source: Anjana Samant, Creative Commons

Why is this so? This culture obviously has rules and regulations and a check list system for accountability and yet the place is filthy! But that’s exactly the point. Is your culture built on rules, regulations, guidelines, and check lists for accountability to make sure people are doing what they’re told? Or is your culture built on ingrained values like, “We want our customers to experience a cleaner bathroom than they would at home!”?

Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many annual review processes work like that bathroom log. The annual review starts with the check list of goals that was created the previous year. Then we check to make sure the employee signed off on each item of the list and the date of accomplishment. There, goals accomplished, bathroom clean!

No discussions about innovative approaches they tried to take to make sure the bathroom stayed cleaner longer. No discussion about lessons learned from failed attempts at trying something new. No discussion about new approaches they are proud of that did work. No discussion about where they would like to apply some of their ideas elsewhere.

Are you really inspiring your employees with values and visions or are you expecting them to do their job and check off their list? How clean are your bathrooms?

Tell us some stories from both perspectives – leaders evaluating people with annual review processes or being the victim (sorry) recipient of an annual review process. What made it great? What made it suck?

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