Category Archives: Connection Culture

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3 Practices CEOs Can Learn from the Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Cookie BoxesIn most communities, January through April is the time of year when the girls in green are out in full force selling Girl Scout cookies. Can you imagine a world without Thin Mints®, Tagalongs® and Do-si-dos®?  Sadly, they were once at risk.

There was a time in the mid-1970s when the Girl Scouts were struggling and their future looked uncertain. Fortunately, Frances Hesselbein came to the rescue. Although she had no daughters, Mrs. Hesselbein had begun her association with the Girl Scouts when she agreed to help with a troop of 30 girls in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that had lost its leader. It wasn’t long before Hesselbein’s experience with Troop 17 developed into a lifelong commitment to Girl Scouting. In 1976 she became CEO of the national organization, Girl Scouts of the USA.

With membership falling, and the organization in a state of serious decline, Mrs. Hesselbein put sound management practices in place. During her twenty-four-year tenure, Girl Scout membership quadrupled to nearly three and a half million, diversity more than tripled, and the organization was transformed into what Peter Drucker described as “the best-managed organization around.” Hesselbein accomplished the amazing turnaround with a paid staff of 6,000 and 730,000 volunteers.

Here are three practices that helped Frances Hesselbein put the Girls Scouts on a track for success.

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To Reinforce Connection, Replenish the Vision

Group of people raising arms in air in excitement

#18 Replenish the Vision

Vision leaks, so look for ways to keep your organization and team’s mission, values and reputation in front of your team. Take employees out to visit customers or bring customers in to talk with employees about how they use your products or services and how it benefits them. Keep up with articles and press releases on your organization then circulate those that reinforce the mission, values and reputation.

This is the eighteenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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When “Failure Is Not an Option”

Some years ago I ran into the director Ron Howard at our local Starbucks. I said hello and told him how much I enjoyed the movie “Apollo 13,” which, in case you didn’t know, he directed.

“Apollo 13” is a remarkable movie. It captures the story of one of NASA’s finest moments, when the NASA team’s extraordinary willpower, energy and creativity snatched the Apollo 13 crew from the jaws of death after an electrical malfunction impaired the spacecraft’s guidance and oxygen systems. Gene Kranz, flight director for the Apollo 13 mission, led the rescue effort. During one of the movie’s best moments, Kranz (played by actor Ed Harris) rallies the troops and declares with resolve that “failure is not an option.”

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7 Practices of Alan Mulally that Helped Ford Pass Competitors

As seen on The remarkable turnaround of Ford led by Alan Mulally — without U.S. government financial aid — provides an outstanding example of how to gain competitive advantage through organizational culture.

When Mulally arrived at Ford in 2006, the automaker’s culture could be described as silo rivalries with leaders embroiled in turf wars. This culture drove Ford to the verge of bankruptcy.

Following are seven practices that helped Mulally save Ford by transforming its dog-eat-dog culture into a sled dog team that pulls together. 

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3 Leadership Practices of Bono and U2 – Part II

U2 rose from a band with less than ideal musical skills when it began in 1976 to today having received a remarkable 22 Grammy awards, morethan any band in history. At the 71st Golden Globe Awards ceremony on January 12, the band added yet another accomplishment to its credit: the Golden Globe for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture for “Ordinary Love” from the movie “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”

U2 Ordinary Love Album Cover

U2 Ordinary Love Album Cover

In my last article, “3 Practices CEOs Should Adopt from this Rock Star,” I credited Bono’s leadership of U2 as a key factor behind the band’s success. His leadership approach can be described in one sentence: Bono communicates an inspiring vision and lives it, values people, and gives them a voice.  CEOs would be wise to follow Bono’s example. In the article I highlighted three aspects of Bono’s leadership. As a follow up, here are three practical ways CEOs can implement leadership practices like those of Bono. 

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Connect Through a Greater Vision

The Body Shop Logo#16 Develop a Vision That Serves a Cause Greater Than Self

Leaders who view themselves as serving a cause greater than self connect with people who share their desire to serve that particular cause. A shared cause connects people to one another by bringing greater beauty, goodness and/or truth to the world, and, by doing so, helps people.

Here is an example. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, started a company to help women-owned businesses in developing countries market their natural personal care products to consumers in wealthy nations. Roddick was passionate about it, employees and customers of The Body Shop loved it, and the company grew rapidly to become a global success story.

Research by Wharton’s Adam Grant has shown that connecting to a Vision of serving others (pro-social, as Grant calls it) boosts employee productivity. Research by UCLA’s Stephen W. Cole, et al., has shown that people who feel connected to their work because it has a higher purpose or service to others exhibited gene-expression profiles that were associated with a lower risk of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

This is the sixteenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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3 Practices CEOs Should Adopt from this Rock Star

U2's Bono

As seen on Fox Business

One of the great success stories of our time is the rock band U2.  When the band began in 1976, its musical skills left much to be desired. More than three decades later, U2 has received a remarkable 22 Grammy awards, more than any band in history.  In addition, the band surpassed the Rolling Stones’ record for the highest revenue grossing concert tour. How did this transformation happen?

Like all great groups, leadership makes the difference.  Bono is U2’s leader, lead singer and lyricist. His leadership approach can be described in one sentence: Bono communicates an inspiring vision and lives it, values people, and gives them a voice.  CEOs would be wise to follow Bono’s example. 

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Connect with the Core

Leader with employees testing new management theory

#11 Connect with the Organization’s Core

Remember to make an effort to connect with people who have less power, control and influence because they are the ones who do most of the work when it comes to executing the tasks of your organization. Research has shown that higher status employees pay less attention to those with lower status and they are unaware of it. The famous “Whitehall Studies” in the UK established that workers who are lower in an organization’s hierarchy have less sense of control and suffer from greater stress and this contributes to ill health and higher mortality. The antidote to help people cope with stress is to connect with them and to delegate greater control to them.

This is the eleventh post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Motivate with a Memorable “Vision Phrase” that Matters

Vision Road Sign

When you communicate a memorable vision phrase that matters, the people you lead will be more motivated to help achieve it.

Recently I was helping run workshops on leadership at Texas Christian University (TCU), a university of just under 10,000 students based in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU is one of the hottest schools in America. It receives around 20,000 applications a year for 1,800 freshman openings.

At TCU, people are motivated by a vision phrase TCU uses as a tagline: “Learning to Change the World.” Although they know the gist of TCU’s official and more formal sounding vision, mission and values, it’s the vision phrase that all can recite.

At TCU, the vision phrase is reinforced by the stories of graduates who are helping to change the world in ways that are consistent with TCU’s values.

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Reducing Effects of Stress Through Connection

Stress is harmful to your health, right?

Not always.

In this TED Talk, Psychologist Kelly McGonigal explains how viewing stress as a positive actually reduces the harmful effects of stress on your body. Reaching out and connecting with others during stressful times further reduces the harmful effects of stress, and can actually shield the body from potentially lethal damage. Connection truly plays a vital role in our health and wellbeing.

Kelly’s informative talk can be viewed below.