Leadership Challenge

Failure: The Secret to Success

Barry and I have been advocating failure as a necessary part of a leader's journey ever since we published the first edition of The Leadership Challenge. That's because over and over again people in our studies tell us how important mistakes are to their success. This doesn't mean for a moment that failure is the objective of the endeavor. It's just that failure is a natural "byproduct of pushing the envelope," of attempting something extraordinary. So, I was excited to come across a cool 8-minute video from Honda that's posted on YouTube.  It's entitled "Failure: The Secret to Success," and in it you'll hear Takeo Fukui, President and CEO of Honda Motor Co,. Ltd., say that "All the demands from Soichiro Honda (Honda founder) were to take risks and fail.  The idea is that you can fail 100 times as long as you succeed once. 'Trial and Error' sums up Soichiro Honda's ideas. We can only make fantastic advances in technology through many failures." When you have 8 minutes, take a look and listen to what one of the leading companies in the world has to say about the subject.

Posted by Jim Kouzes     

Thought Grenade: Loyalty vs. Kool-Aid

I was nestling down in my overstuffed writing chair to finally start a Blog about an article I read in Esquire magazine. The article “Why We Hate” had been bugging me for quite a while.

And then POW! BAM! BOOM!, the Scott McClellan book bombshell hit like a bolt of lightening which made me glad I have a heavy duty surge protector attached to my computer.

Now there have been others like McClellan who departed a White House job and wrote a “Tell All” book, but it’s been awhile since something like this hit the press.  He doesn’t just share a few anecdotal items and blame the system. He names names, tells specifics and seems to have the credibility to back up his stories. I know I wouldn’t write a book like that unless I definitely had the facts on my side and wasn’t afraid to use them (i.e. a publisher with plenty of lawyers).

I’m sure McClellan’s publisher has been salivating over the fact that he will sell tons of books.  (I’m jealous of course.) Hopefully, his book deal is a good one, since I don’t think anyone on the Republican side of the fence will be offering him a job any time soon. He is definitely a “Man Without a Party” and if I were in his Dockers, I would be watching my backside as well. It will be interesting to see how he does on the speaking circuit.

His book and the subsequent backlash started my head spinning. We’ve seen this all before of course. It happens in politics, government, show business and major league sports. It also happens far too often in our corporate corridors. Places where you and I might congregate.

Like a prairie windstorm, perhaps just like at your workplace, those still in power started to bash him.  Stories quickly appeared with statements like: He’s disgruntled. He’s sad. He’s had an emotional breakdown. He’s lying. He wasn’t there. He should have said something.  The liberal media has hijacked him. He’s just cashing in to sell books. Bash. Bash. Belittle. Bash.

Without dealing with the content of McClellan’s book (which most of you who stay abreast of the news will not be shocked by but rather amused that someone formerly on the inside is using their outside voice), what’s really going on here? And does it have anything to do with leadership?

My first reaction was that this “loyal dog” was kicked way too many times by his colleagues. I’ll wager that many nights, when he went home, he would vent to his wife about what was happening at “the office.”  From what I have heard so far, it appears that the White House, from Scott’s perspective, was being run as if it was in Scranton with Michael Scott at the helm. Too bad millions of real lives were being reamed instead of just pretending to sell reams of paper. From early reports, I also get the impression that there were too many Dwight Schrutes and not enough Jim Halperts. And they are in charge of the freaking world! Gives a whole new meaning to Dunder-Head. (Okay, so to understand some of the above you have to watch  “Comedy Night Done Right”, so sue me.)

And then I thought about the Characteristics of Admired Leaders from The Leadership Challenge.  The usual top four words in workshops chosen by folks are: Honest, Competent, Inspiring and Forward Looking. Then I thought about the folks who are running the country. Nope. No match. (Sure, if you are in the 25% or so of the country who still thinks the administration is on the right track then you can disagree. Please send me a note; I would love to hear from you.)

Why did it take McClellan so long to share his views? Misplaced loyalty is my first thought. (His earliest statement was he needed to write the book because of “loyalty to the truth and the values I was raised on.”) Thanks Mom and Dad McClellan. You might have tried to teach him to not sit on his hands so long too.

McClellan, like many of our corporate cousins, is a victim of distorted groupthink. He served George Bush when he was in Texas and was a devoted follower. He drank the Kool-Aid until he puked. He knew right from wrong when he saw it. But he couldn’t find his voice. He allowed himself to be dragged along through the muck until he was so dirty that everyone figured he would never revolt.  They thought once again “mission accomplished!”

So, how does this relate to you in your organization? Are you the “loyal dog” that sits on its hands? Is your voice distorted by gurgling Kool-Aid? Or, do you just sigh and say, “I hate them all”.

Interesting, I guess I’m back to where I began. “Why We Hate.” Will need to give that more thought.

By the way, full disclosure. I was not wearing a flag pin when writing this.

Posted by Robert H. Thompson is the author of The Offsite: A Leadership Challenge Fable. You may read his more Thought Grenades at www.leaderinsideout.com.

Adversity Introduces Us to Ourselves

The economy is in a foul mood, and it's not being nice to anyone. You can be an eighty-year old banking icon or high-tech startup with ink still wet on the incorporation papers, and this market is going to mess with you. In my last three phone calls with clients, I have heard stories about layoffs of hundreds of middle managers, declining sales in retail stores, and no upward mobility in the firm "for the first time in our history." And on all these calls I have been asked if I might share some thoughts about what leaders can do to keep people engaged and inspired in times like these.

The calls bring to mind a comment made by John McDonnell, former CEO of McDonnell Douglas, when that company was going through its struggles before eventually merging with Boeing. "Adversity introduces you to yourself," he said, reflecting upon what that struggle had brought for him. And another thought from Randy Melville whom we interviewed when he was with Pepsi. Quoting his Princeton University basketball coach, Pete Carril, Randy said, "Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it." Challenges, difficulties, setbacks, adversities…they are all familiar sights on the leadership landscape. And one of the things that they cause us to do is to come face-to-face with ourselves. They are a rather harsh way of reminding us of what's important, what we value, and where we want to go.

Leaders are no strangers to challenges. In fact, exemplary leaders thrive on them. Here are a few tips on what you can do as a leader to enable others to learn to thrive as well. Many are drawn from our own research, but another important resource is Resilience at Work by Salvatore R. Maddi and Deborah M. Khoshaba.

1. Clarify what you value most. Randy Pausch, the professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University who is dying of pancreatic cancer and whose The Last Lecture video (and now #1 bestselling book) struck a chord with millions around the world, has perhaps the best mantra for times like these. "The brick walls are there for a reason," he says. "They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something." It's important for leaders to always be clear about values and visions, beliefs and aspirations, but challenging times require being especially clear. Take the time to reassess what's important, where you are headed, and "how badly you want something."

2. Fully commit to what's important. This change warrants your full attention, imagination and effort. There's no holding back when the situation is dire. Elaine Fortier, at the time vice president of HR at New Focus, when talking about the downturn in her industry, “We all have to ask ourselves, ‘How do I go to work today and do something that will move the enterprise forward
and at the same time move myself forward?'" What important shared values and beliefs can you emphasize to keep people engaged? Keep reminding folks of what makes this work meaningful and significant, of the exciting future you can all aspire to achieving together.

3. Embrace the challenge. Exemplary leaders view challenge as opportunity and not as threat. Change always opens up all kinds of new and exciting possibilities for the future. What are those exciting possibilities? What are some innovative solutions that you can explore? How can we go about searching for new and innovative solutions that might lead us out of this situation? How can we make this an engaging learning experience?

4. Paint the big picture. This adverse situation is taking place in a larger context. What's the bigger picture here? How can you help others to understand what's happening in the environment and how it is affecting your business? How can I educate others about the broader context?

5. Engage others. There are others who are being affected by this; it's not just you and your group. You're all in this together. Who else is being impacted? How can you and others engage with them? And also remember that even just having one supportive, stable relationship is a crucial condition for transcending adversity. Social connection and social intimacy are necessary for a joyful life at home and at work. How can you use this opportunity to strengthen relationships with others? Who can you turn to for caring support and wise counsel?

6. Control what you can. You obviously don't control all of what is happening in the broader environment, but you are still in charge of your own lives! What decisions and actions do you and others control? How can you, and others, positively influence the outcome? What factors are in your control, and how can you all stay focused on them?

7. Take charge. People who are proactive are healthier and more successful. Leaders with high hope are not Pollyannas. They acknowledge reality, but they also move quickly to mobilize personal and group resources to deal with the problems. To be sure leaders must analyze and strategize, but they must also make something happen. What actions can I/we do to create forward momentum? What little things can we do to get moving in the right direction? The late Norman Cousins, former editor of Saturday Review and author of 20 books, put it this way when talking about people with serious illnesses who beat the medical odds: "They responded with a fierce determination to overcome. They didn't deny the diagnosis. They denied the verdict that is usually associated with it."

8. Tell positive stories. Looking at the future through a positive lens is characteristic of people exemplary. Optimism is essential I tough times. Having a belief that the future will work out for the best is essential to being upbeat and positive about the outcome. They can always find reasons for hope. What positive steps have we already taken and how can I communicate those to others? What can I do daily to demonstrate a positive and hopeful outlook? What can I do to recognize those who are making a positive contribution? How do I keep myself, and others, enthused about the work that we're doing?

It all boils down to this: Keep hope alive!

"Keep hope alive" is much more than a slogan. Keeping hope alive is essential to energetically achieving the highest levels of performance. People with high hope, compared to people with low hope, have a greater number of goals across various arenas of life, select more difficult goals, see their goals in a more challenging and positive manner, and attain higher grades in school. Keeping hope alive is also essential to an active and healthy life.

Hope is an attitude in action. Hope enables people to mobilize their healing powers and their achieving powers. Hope enables them to transcend the difficulties of today and envision the potentialities of tomorrow. Hope enables people to bounce back even after being bent, stretched, and depressed. Hope enables people to find the will and the way to aspire to greatness. Hope is testimony to the power of the human spirit.

Poste by
Jim Kouzes

Challenge Is the Opportunity for Greatness

In two recent interviews journalists asked me a similar question. Each wanted to know why Barry Posner and I had selected The Leadership Challenge as the title for our book. “What do you mean to suggest by the title, and what is the challenge you are writing about?” These questions took me back to the very early days of our investigation on the practices of exemplary leadership.

The Leadership Challenge began as a research project in 1982. We wanted to know what leaders did when they operated at their “personal best” – when they set their own individual leadership standard of excellence. With thirty-eight open-ended questions, we asked about the situations, the emotions, the actions, the methods, the people, and numerous other aspects of these personal best experiences. In that initial study we collected and analyzed over 1,300 written cases and conducted 42 in-depth interviews. In the last twenty-five years we’ve gathered thousands more personal best cases.

When we first analyzed the initial set of personal-best cases, we discovered that the situations people chose to discuss were about major change that had a significant impact on their organizations. This remains true today. Regardless of function, field, sector, level, or country, the leaders in our study talked about times when they turned around losing operations, started up new plants, developed new products or services, passed a groundbreaking piece of legislation, campaigned to get adolescents to join an environmental program, revolutionized a bureaucratic military program, installed untested procedures, renewed operations threatened with closing, or released the creative spirit trapped inside stifling bureaucratic systems. The personal-best leadership cases were about radical departures from the past, about doing things that had never been done before, about going to places not yet discovered. In many cases, the magnitude of results was in the hundreds of percent.

What’s significant about the emphasis on change and innovation in our leadership cases is that we didn’t ask people to tell us about change. We asked them to tell us about personal-best leadership experiences. They could discuss any leadership experience—past or present, unofficial or official, in any functional area, in any type of organization, and in any situation. Our respondents chose to talk about times of change. They told us they performed at their best when they were changing something, trying something new, or stretching themselves. Not one single person claimed to have achieved a personal best by keeping things the same.

When people think about their personal bests they automatically think about a challenge. Why? The fact is that when times are stable and secure, we’re not severely tested. We may perform well, get promoted, even achieve fame and fortune, but the evidence suggests that we don’t reach our fullest potential during ordinary times. Certainty and routine breed complacency. In contrast, personal and business hardships have a way of making us come face to face with who we really are and what we’re capable of becoming.

The study of leadership, then, is the study of how men and women guide us through adversity, uncertainty, hardship, disruption, transformation, transition, recovery, new beginnings, and other significant challenges. It’s also the study of how men and women, in times of constancy and complacency, actively seek to disturb the status quo and awaken us to new possibilities. Leadership and challenge are simply inseparable.

As we make choices about the people we select for leadership roles—whether it's a new supervisor, a new CEO, a club officer, a local official, or the President of the United States—we must ask ourselves, "Who is the person who is most likely to challenge the way we do things around here? Who is the person who's going to bring about the most lasting change, change that moves us farther along the path toward our vision of greatness?"

Change is the work of leaders. And the primary leadership challenge is getting extraordinary things done, especially when that challenge tests us to the limits of our capabilities.

Posted by Jim Kouzes

The Naked Violin

One of the benefits of posting regularly on a blog is you are always thinking about potential topics of interest for consideration, topics that provide unique, hopefully interesting perspectives on leadership. You end up having your feelers out all the time. It's fun and kind of addictive. My latest find came from listening to NPR this past week. I heard a compelling piece about a  young woman who is demonstrating  remarkable leadership while staying true to her art. Her name is Tasmin Little and this piece revolves around her latest album titled The Naked Violin. Tasmin is a concert violinist who has a vision for getting more people to share her love of the violin. She decided to go against the powerful norms of the music industry, challenge the process, and make the album available as a free download. When asked why, she replied, "The simple answer is it's about removing barriers." In other words, enabling others to act. But making the music more available was just part of her overall plan. Her goal was to get those who listen to more mainstream music to stretch a bit. She encouraged them to experiment and take some risks. She included with each piece of music a descriptor and tutorial providing deeper insight into the subtleties and nuances of the music. She challenged them to seriously consider the music and enabled them to do so. Her next step is where her leadership jumped out for me. After getting to know the music she challenged them to buy a cd or attend a concert. If they weren't willing to do that, she asked that they write her and explain why. "If not, why not? What would it take to get you interested?" She actively sought out a partnership with her potential audience in order to extend the reach of the music she loves. Her commitment to the vision of making violin music more mainstream is underscored by her plans this coming year to take it to those who won't get an opportunity to hear it otherwise; for example, a women's prison. If you get a chance to download the cd, I would highly recommend it. You may well find yourself enlisted in her vision.
posted by,
Beth High

Embracing change in uncertain times.

I joined a terrific webinar yesterday sponsored by Sonoma Learning Systems in California. It featured Steve Coats discussing his book There is No Box. The meat of this book comes from Steve and his co-author Tom Heuer's research on growth. Steve made the point that the when one is challenged, faced with an obstacle, the only route to growth is through change. Therefore, leaders who can embrace change, help clear the way for growth. This way of looking at challenge in relation to growth seemed particularly relevant this week as we watched our economy falter. In hearing the economic pundits discuss the activity of the week you could sense the panic rising. What we all hope for is healthy economic growth, and we have hit some major obstacles. It's time for change to clear the path. But listening to an economist explains why the plunge occurred this week makes the head spin. It is tough for most to relate at that level. Is this all happening beyond our control? Is there anything to be done or do we all just brace for the fall? Another key phrase then comes to mind. Leadership is everyone's business. Moving from challenge to growth requires change. A leaders job is to challenge the process or embrace change and leadership is everyone's business. So, as leaders, we have individual responsibility to think about ways to influence and embrace change that would impact the economy and clear the path for growth. Individual actions may not change the S&P index, but they are part of the whole. So what are the things we can do as individual leaders to embrace economic change? Shopping, as we've been directed to do in the past, seems counterintuitive. Burning less fuel seems obvious. It's time to get creative and remember, there is no box.
Posted by,
Beth High

Looking with fresh eyes…

As leaders we try to encourage and inspire the use of “outsight”, looking outside ourselves for inspiration and perspective. If we can open ourselves to things that will stir the imagination then we increase the chance we will find new and imaginative approaches to addressing the challenges we face. But perhaps there’s something to looking deeper inside an issue as well as looking outside. Can we look with fresh eyes to recognize the assumptions we are making? What boundaries we are creating for ourselves. If we look carefully at the situation with fresh eyes, we may spot something new that will engage us and create a new understanding? Learning to be present and be curious is what it takes to be fully engaged and see these new things. Being fully present and curious is my favorite definition of mindfulness and the clearest path I know to having those fresh eyes available all the time. You never know what you might discover about something that is right in front of you. Here’s an example: it’s a kick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIJtKxdRQzY
Posted by
Beth High

Leadership lessons at an early age

I hesitate to compose a post referencing Oprah again so soon (see 10/23 “Keeping Hope Alive” post by Jim Kouzes) for fear that some may think we spend too much time watching daytime TV. However, Oprah’s presence in the news this week moved me to comment on the situation that confronts her and her choice of action.

Oprah started a Leadership School for Girls, a small academy focused on giving high potential young teenaged girls an education with a focus on leadership. Last week, it was revealed that there had been alleged sexual abuse from one of the house parents. Fifteen of the girls had bravely come forward to report the crime. Upon further investigation, the concerns appear validated. It is a sad situation.

However, the way Oprah has handled it is not sad, but commendable. The second commitment of the practice “Challenge the Process” is: Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience. Oprah experimented when she took on the project. Is there a small win in this bad situation? Certainly. The 15 girls who found the courage to come forward demonstrated their own maturation and strength. Is there learning that has taken place from the experience? Well, if Oprah’s press conference is any indication, yes. She and her team have learned the screening process for the house parent role was inadequate. They have put a plan in place to change that process.

Were mistakes made? Most definitely. But the mistakes have not stopped the program, and the vision that Oprah has for these girls appears stronger than ever in her heart. I commend her leadership and the “Challenge the Process” leadership spirit the brave young girls showed the world.

Posted by Beth High