Thoughts for Thanksgiving

For those of us in the U.S. today is Thanksgiving. Originally a day to recognize the first significant harvest of the "Pilgrims" landing in New England in many ways it has become lost as a commercial holiday- the day before "black Friday", the largest single retail day in U.S. marketing.
I would like to think of it more traditionally, as a day of reflection, of what we all have to be thankful for in our lives.
In our family every other year my wife's family gathers at our home. Although my parents have both passed away I get some vicarious pleasure from seeing the joy that comes from my Father in law as he gets to see his children and grandchildren assembled in one place.
My children will be joining us as well. At 18 and 22 they aren't children any more. Soon they will have their own families and their own traditions.
2008 has been an interesting year so far. I have returned to consulting after almost a seven year hiatus. I took the time to write the book I have always threatened to write. With the support of family and friends and the kind editing and gracious endorsement of my work I am preparing to formally publish it soon.
We saw a historic event in 2008. A woman and an African American competed for the nomination of a major party. The African American prevailed not only in winning the nomination of his party, but being elected as the President of the United States.
I like to think that pioneers like Abraham Lincoln, the Kennedy brothers, Dr. Martin Luther King and others who fought so hard for so long can look now and see that meaningful change is possible and that their sacrifices were not in vain.
We face on the deepest recessions that this country and perhaps the world has seen in generations, but there also seems to be a dawning recognition that we live in a world economy, not a local economy anymore. Perhaps we can use this as a catalyst moving forward to truly make meaningful changes on multiple levels.
This year has been challenging for me, but I see it as a new beginning and a platform for the future. We will each make a choice as to whether we move forward or backward.
I have much to be thankful for today. I hope you do too!

The Right Team

As President elect Obama goes through the next few weeks he will have both the opportunity and the responsibility to do something very few of us ever get a chance to do- individually select the members of his "executive team" or cabinet.

I have had the opportunity to serve as an executive with several different organizations. With the exception of my own business, I have never had the opportunity to assemble my own "team" with a blank slate to start with. That is not to say that I have not hired new team members or everyone that I "inherited" was not a good fit or a keeper, still the prospect of making each decision is an intriguing one.

My colleague, Joseph Skursky, specializes in helping his clients select the right people. He calls his model- "Hire hard- Manage easy". The intent is clear. Think about not only the "technical" aspects of what you want in your team mates, but their values, commitment, and other attributes.
Matt "Boom" Daniel talks about his experiences as a Marine Corp aviator, and the importance of having each others "six" or looking out for each other and how important that is especially in combat situations.

In my previous blogs, monologues, and presentations I have talked about some other things that I think are cogent to this discussion. Specifically I would include the role of a leader in providing clarity and eliminating ambiguity and the concept that leadership is a gift from those who freely elect to follow your direction and "join up" with you to achieve commonly understood and accepted goals. That is the essence of Compliance to Commitment.

Some of the most interesting dialogue around President Obama's selections is his past relationship with some of his key appointments. Whether they have personal animus or "like" each other or not. He seems to be approaching his selections in a very pragmatic way- the qualifications of the person to do the job, and their commitment to the vision.
Sounds like the way a good executive would make those key decisions.

Many people I have talked to indicated a key decision point for them in deciding who to vote for in the presidential election was Senator McCain's selection of Governor Palin as his running mate. Some felt her so unqualified as to bring his judgement into question, others felt the decision was a concession to political constituencies whose values and positions they found unacceptable.
Do I think Senator McCain lost the election because of Governor Palin, no, but she was definitely a polarizing choice.

At the end of the day I hold leaders accountable for their choices of their "team". They either selected them, or chose to retain them. Either way the leader who complains about their "team" isn't much of a leader to me. Who is on our team is our responsibility.

Leading In Times Of Change

It is always interesting to see what resonates with people. My last blog was loosely based on a comment from former President Bill Clinton about the power of example rather than the example of power. It wasn't about the election, it was about leadership.

Any of you that have read my various articles and information about the difference between compliance and commitment are familiar with my bias towards creating organizations that people embrace rather than organizations where they purely comply. I think creating those kinds of organizations is the key role of leadership.

Marcus Buckingham author of First Break All the Rules among other new age management "bibles" calls it creating clarity. Richard Rumelt, professor of management at UCLA's Anderson School of Management refers to it as removing the ambiguity, and cites it as the most important role in management. Roger Deprey, in his Human Resources Pyramid, describes the six questions every employee seeks to have answered.

This week I got to read something from another distinguished leader who I respect and admire- former Secretary of State and military commander General Colin Powell. He talked about us being in a place where people want to see leaders with passion, a clear direction, and a moral compass. He goes on with a great quote that I think bears repeating-"Every soldier or employee needs to know why their job is important, not why yours is. It's the leader's job to communicate this clearly; give them the tools to get the job done and to inspire them to want to do the things they must to accomplish the goals or the mission."

He goes on to share some other key insights," If a leader doesn't have the insight into the team to do something about the lesser performers, the team loses respect. It is always painful, but almost immediately after you have taken action a cloud lifts off the organization."

My friend and colleague, Joseph Skursky of Market Leader Solutions, captures this in his philosophy of Hire Hard, Manage Easy, and talks about the hidden costs of not removing non-performers from your organization because " recruiting a new person is so painful." To Powell's point, that is simply not true.
In these particularly turbulent times General Powell also leaves us with these key thoughts-
"...as a leader your job is to always believe things can get better. You are the leader, you set the example. You will know you are a good leader when your troops will follow you if only out of curiosity."
You have heard me describe this phenomena more than once- power is something you take or achieve with your office or position, leadership is something your earn.

And once again we see trust as the critical factor- as General Powell suggests" ... the leader's job is to keep the organization together with the Super Glue of trust."

Sound familiar? Not charisma, not systems, not technology, but trust.
Commitment is better than compliance. Engaged employees are a competitive advantage. Trust is the essential element in both.

Now more than ever our employees and our communities need us to step up and lead. We must set the example. We must make the hard decisions. We must look forward.

The Power of Our Example or....

At the Democratic National convention former President Bill Clinton made a very interesting comment, at least the concept was interesting to me. He said that the United States is always at its best when we utilize the power of our example rather than the example of our power. What an interesting differentiation.
A friend responded to an earlier blog post with the comment that in today's intertwined economies and intersecting business and political interests that conscious interference with another countries economic model could have the same or even greater negative effect than a nuclear weapon and that attempting to impose a culture incongruent with another nations value structure as potentially devastating as a biological weapon.
When I look at what has happened from the recent economic crisis and the way it has wound itself back and forth through the world economy I don't think his comments are overly dramatic.
There have been interesting comments all over the Internet suggesting that the impact of the United States on the world economy is so significant that the citizens of the world, not just the citizens of the U.S. should have a say in our presidential elections. While I don't agree with that I do think we need to recognize the responsibility and impact we have as a world player.
I see a similar role for those of us that are Boomers and members of the Greatest Generation in providing leadership and guidance to the Gen X'rs and Millenials that will assume responsibility for the world sooner then we would like to acknowledge.
I have done a tremendous amount of writing, blogging, and speaking about the concepts of organizations based on commitment versus compliance and the wisdom and value of engagement.
I like to think that is what draws me to the analogy of the lighthouse- the power of example rather than the example of power. So in the end if not us then who, if not now then when......?

An Interesting Time

What ever happens tomorrow this has been a very interesting time for us in American politics and history. We nominated a mixed race African American for the presidency on one ticket, and placed a woman on the ticket of the other party.
We have seen registrations and voter turnout at unprecedented levels. We have also seen some disappointing behavior and some parochialism. This is the first election my son will be able to participate in. It has been an interesting experience talking with him and his friends about what the issues are that resonate with them and why they support one candidate or the other.
The "passion" or vehemence I have seen in this election has been something to behold as well. I am not a big fan of personal attacks from either party. I am not a fan of labeling either. Labeling to me is when you ascribe pretty negative motives to someone for a view point that is different than your own- whether that is sexism or racism or whatever.

If we take a look at other dynamics going on in the world we know that whoever is elected they come in to the role with a lot of issues facing them. The volatility of the U.S economic picture and in reality the world economy, the fear and anxiety that people have about leadership in general, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a bunch of others.
I hope they recognize that neither candidate or party has a clear "mandate". The polarity of the election means a lot of bridge building and attempting to reach out to your soon to be former opponent.

I think that the style of the candidates from how they ran their campaigns, to how they made the selections of their running mate was also an interesting exercise in leadership and communications.

I don't know about you, but personally I am ready for the campaigns to be over and for us to begin to move forward. I hope that we have learned something over the past few years and we are willing to move forward with creating a new model for this time and age, regardless of the outcome tomorrow.