Michael Lee Stallard

Have you ever witnessed an employee whose personal identity is closely connected to the identity of his or her organization?  I’ve written about Nick the doorman at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City and how fired up he is greeting cancer patients and their families.  Nick actually begins making eye contact  with patients when they are within eyesight walking toward MSKCC’s entrance (in Midtown Manhattan where no one makes eye contact).  One reason why Nick is so fired up is that he is a cancer survivor who attributes his survival to the care he received at MSKCC.

One of the leading thinkers on identity is Larry Ackerman, founder of The Identity Circle.  He wrote an excllent book entitled Identity is Destiny that effected the way I think about corporate identity and its impact on performance. Larry has come out with a new report entitled The Identity Effect.  The report is based on a survey of 2,000 individuals across five industries.  I wrote in the Connection Culture Manifesto and Fired Up or Burned Out, an organization’s identity has an impact on employee engagement and organizational performance if it inspires employees.  Larry’s research supports that view and sheds some additional insights on the power of identity. I encourage you to read it.

In Fired Up or Burned Out I wrote about how Knowledge Traps have sabotaged the American intelligence community’s performance.  A former intelligence professional sent me a link to recent discoveries by the press that makes it clear this continues to be a problem.  Consider the following:

• According to CBS News, as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed “The Nigerian,” suspected of meeting with “terrorist elements” in Yemen.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, the father of Mr. Abdulmutallab warned the CIA of his son’s likely radicalization at the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. That led to a broader gathering of agencies the next day, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Department, in which the information was shared.
• According to CNN, information on Abdulmutallab, including his passport number and possible connection to extremists, had been sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, but it sat there for five weeks and was not disseminated.
• Also according to the Wall Street Journal, the National Security Agency who had been monitoring former Guantanamo detainees in Yemen had communications intercepts suggesting a Nigerian was being prepped for a terror strike by al Qaeda operatives in that country.
• And the Washington Post reports that not only did the British government reject an Abdulmutallab visa application this May, but that British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said that U.S. officials should have been told about the rejection and that he believes they were.

Unless the Director of National Intelligence (DCI) Admiral Dennis Blair  is intentional about establishing a culture in the overall intelligence community that understands what Knowledge Traps are and how to create the Knowledge Flow necessary to remove them, it is likely that we will continue to experience less than optimal performance in intelligence.  Several high-ranking individuals in the intelligence and defense communities have been advocates of our work in this area and we hope to spend more time helping them this coming year.

A recent New York Times article entitled “For American Workers in China, a Culture Clash” described how American and Chinese cultural differences impact the workplace.  Cultural misunderstandings can be one form of Knowledge Trap that impedes the flow of knowledge in an organization.  Other Knowledge Traps include leaders/decision-makers who don’t seek diverse points of view, personal rivalries, departmental silos and isolationist organizations.  When decision-makers don’t have access to the best knowledge, there is an increased probability that they will make suboptimal decisions.  In addition, Knowledge Traps have a negative impact on the marketplace of ideas that fuels innovation.

To improve decision-making and innovation, leaders need to be intentional about removing Knowledge Traps. One of the best ways to do this is to educate people so they can be on guard against Knowledge Traps and understand how to avoid them.   Rewarding people who contribute to Knowledge Flow and the marketplace of ideas with compensation and promotions also sends the right message.

I’ve written about the need for organizations to have inspiring identities as one means to unite, engage and align members. Identity is the narrative that describes mission, values and reputation. An identity become inspiring when it connects with the personal identities of the organization’s members.  Nick, the door man at the 53rd Street location of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in NYC is fired up, in part, because of MSKCC’s inspiring identity. Nick believes in MSKCC’s mission to provide “The Best Cancer Care, Anywhere,” he embraces MSKCC’s values of caring about people and being the best in providing cancer treatment (i.e. the value of excellence), and he is proud of MSKCC’s reputation as one of the leading cancer centers in the world.

Nations need inspiring identities too. America has benefitted from its identity as the “land of the free and home of the brave,” with values of liberty, equality of opportunity and justice for all. According to historian Gordon Wood, by the early 1800’s, America’s reputation had been transformed from being viewed as on the fringe of the civilized world to being at the vanguard. An inspiring identity contributed to America’s success.

One region in today’s world that needs to find an inspiring identity is Central Asia.   Read more »

The New York Times columnist David Brooks just came out with his Sidney Awards for the best magazine essays in 2009.  I always read them because Brooks is among the very best writers/thinkers in journalism today.  One of the award winners is “The Cost Conundrum” by Atul Gwande, the surgeon, author and MacArthur genius award recipient.  Brooks describes Gwande’s essay as the most influential essay written this year.  I highly recommend that you take the time to read it.

What I found especially interesting in Gwande’s essay is that he concludes that culture — or more specifically, the values of doctors — is at the heart of America’s heathcare cost crisis rather than who pays the costs.  Gwande takes us to McAllen, Texas where in 2006, Medicare spent nearly $15,000 per enrollee, twice the national average, but achieved no better than average quality of care.  Like a good investigative reporter he roots out the truth by conducting qualitative interviews and looking into quantitative data.  He discovers that the average doctor in McAllen orders more procedures than the average doctor in America.  Upon further investigation he learns that in towns like McAllen it’s a handful of doctors who drive up the cost per patient by ordering unnecessary procedures. He explains how these doctors benefit financially from ordering unnecessary procedures. The financial benefits come in the form kickbacks to admit patients to hospitals and revenue to partnerships of physicians who own diagnostic equipment such as MRI and CT-scans.  He sums it up this way:

“When you look across the spectrum from Grand Junction to McAllen–and the almost threefold difference in the cost of care–you come to realize that we are witnessing a battle for the soul of American medicine.  Somewhere in the United States at this moment, a patient with chest pain, or a tumor, or a cough is seeing a doctor.  And the damning question we have to ask is whether the doctor is set up to meet the needs of the patient, first and foremost, or to maximize revenue.”

In some ways, this is a matter of identity. Read more »

The 1951 movie “A Christmas Carol” based on Charles Dickens’ classic novel starring Alistair Sim as Scrooge,  is about a man who idolizes wealth and status which isolates him from family and friends and makes him miserable. Scrooge gets a wakeup call in the form of a nightmarish visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

“A Christmas Carol” is all about how certain character vices lead to relational isolation that result in dysfunction and death.  This is in contrast to virtuous character that leads to human connection, thriving and life. Charles Dickens understood just how powerful human connection is and that it comes from the character strengths of compassion, empathy, generosity, kindness and magnanimity. These are character strengths and virtues we celebrate during the holiday season.

The same themes of connection and character are explored in the holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”   Read more »

The New York Times reported that a recent research study rated the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) dead last of the 50 states when it came to the self-reported happiness of state residents.  The survey points out there is a high correlation between self-reported happiness and objective measures of happiness such as congestion, time spent commuting, housing prices, air quality, etc.  No doubt there is some truth to this.  I have another theory, however.

The tri-state area is the achieve-aholic capital of America.  Remember Frank Sinatra’s ode to New York: “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.” New York attracts the ambitious and often, ambition is about status.  People with a burning desire for status come to New York to prove themselves as media stars, bankers and traders on Wall Street, performers on Broadway, etc., etc., etc.  The problem is that chasing status is a never ending game.  There’s always someone above you and the achieve-aholic can’t get enough.  Personal wealth is the primary measure of status on Wall Street.  Many Wall Streeters have a number — referred to as the “F— You number” — they want to reach so they can tell their firms “I’m outta here.”  Research has shown that the FU number is always going up because they need more houses, more art in their collection, more money for philanthropy to build their legacy.  Of course they don’t really need these things but a sense of continuous status anxiety makes them feel the never ending need to boost their status relative to others.  Once again it comes back to status and having more than the next guy.

Psychology research has shown that extrinsic motivators — doing something to impress someone else such as status-chasing — fail to provide happiness.  Only intrinsic motivators such as meaningful work that contributes to society and meaningful relationships (i.e. connection) produce happiness. With so many people in the tri-state area working such long hours and commuting to and from work, it’s no wonder that they’re not so happy. The wise perspective is one of balance. The good life includes meaningful work and meaningful relationships. At times there will be imbalance among the two needs. If imbalance becomes chronic, however, it’s a recipe for disaster. This applies to individuals and organizations.

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Michael Lee Stallard speaks, teaches and writes about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at leading organizations including Google, GE, NASA, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Most recently, Michael and his colleague Jason Pankau filmed a 90-minute program for Linkage’s Thought Leaders Series that will be released in January of 2010. Michael wrote the guest editorial for Talent Management magazine’s January 2010 edition and last month his article on how the force of connection boosts productivity and innovation was featured as the lead article in the UK’s Developing HR Strategy Journal. Click on these links to learn more about Michael and Jason in the media and their speaking engagements.

The issue of human connection at work and in life takes center stage in the hit movie “Up In the Air.” The plot follows a business executive played by George Clooney who is continuously traveling to fire people. He views meaningful relationships as excess baggage and his primary aspiration is to become a 10 million mile traveler on American Airlines. A new, hot shot, young, female co-worker proposes virtual firing rather than in-person. Ironically, this same woman confronts Clooney’s character for his vacuous life style that lacks meaningful relationships. It’s a must see movie that is hilarious and tragic. It criticizes the values of today that idolize task excellence but give short shrift to the human need for relationships (or to achieve “relationship excellence” in organizations as I written in the past).

Artists always have their finger on the pulse of culture change. The favorable response to this movie is yet another sign to me that people feel the pain from diminished human connection in the workplace and in life. The evidence is overwhelming that connection = thriving and life, disconnection = dysfunction and death, for individuals, families, organizations and nations. It’s why I believe Connection Cultures are the next step in the evolution of organizations and civil societies. Do you agree? If so, why? If not, why? Do you have meaningful relationships in your life? If not, reach out to others this holiday season and begin the new year by developing more and deeper relationships in your life.
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Michael Lee Stallard speaks, teaches and writes about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at leading organizations including Google, GE, NASA, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. Most recently, Michael and his colleague Jason Pankau filmed a 90-minute program for Linkage’s Thought Leaders Series that will be released in January of 2010. Michael wrote the guest editorial for Talent Management magazine’s January 2010 edition and last month his article on how the force of connection boosts productivity and innovation was featured as the lead article in the UK’s Developing HR Strategy Journal. Click on these links to learn more about Michael and Jason in the media and their speaking engagements.

The first in a series of blog posts I wrote entitled, “Creating a Culture That Attracts (and Retains) Talent” was posted yesterday on the Human Capital Institute’s new blog at this link.

What do many scientists at NASA and engineers at Google have in common with a doorman at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC)?  The answer: they are fired up about the importance of their work and have a passion and energy that drives them to be a force for the cause.  Employees at NASA are fired up that they are exploring space.  Google employees are fired up because they are organizing information and making it accessible to the world.  I learned  this when I met employees at NASA and Google.   I spoke at both organizations earlier this year.

The doorman I refer to at MSKCC is named Nick.  When my wife Katie and I were walking down 53rd street in NYC in 2004 and we got within eyesight of the MSKCC  entrance, Nick locked his eyes on her and greeted her like a returning friend.  This in in Mid-town Manhattan where no one makes eye contact! Nick knows cancer patients when he sees them, probably from the wigs they wear.   It felt like the healing began within eyesight of MSKCC.

Katie was at MSKCC for high dosage chemo treatments she needed to treat advanced ovarian cancer.  Late last year her oncologist told her it that given favorable test results and five years in remission it was unlikely she would have a recurrence.  Words can’t express how overjoyed we were to hear that news. When we told Nick, he gave Katie a big hug and said how proud he was that she persevered.  We learned that Nick was a cancer survivor too and he attributed his survival to the treatments he received at MSKCC.  Is it any wonder then that this man is so passionate about his work at MSKCC.  You have to see Nick to believe it and you can if you stop by MSKCC’s entrance on 53rd Street across the street from the Citigroup building.  He’s a big guy with a dar complexion and blue eyes. Tell Nick you read about him.  Don’t worry that it may seem strange.  Former cancer patients and their family members regularly stop by to say hello to Nick. That’s how beloved he is.

Nick’s example shows that people are fired up if their work reflects the eternal values of the transcendent: truth, beauty and goodness.  MSKCC’s work reflects goodness and is expressed in it’s tagline “The Best Cancer Care, Anywhere.”  Apple’s passion for the aesthetic design and ease of use of its products reflects beauty. Work in the fields of journalism, research, theology and the academy reflect truth-seeking.

Truth, beauty and goodness are eternal values that reflect transcendence.  Human beings need the truth, beauty and goodness of transcendence to meet our need for meaning in life.  If you can find time over the holidays, reflect on the need for the transcendent values of truth, beauty and goodness in your own life. Below are links to some of my favorite essays, speeches and articles that touch on transcendence. Let me encourage you to print them out, read them and consider their relevance to your life and the lives of those you love.   Read more »