A thought leader whose work I follow closely is my friend Joshua Wolf Shenk. Josh wrote a remarkable book entitled Lincoln’s Melancholy and he has written many thoughtful articles. Check our Josh’s new series on creative pairs for Slate. The first article in this series is entitled “Two is the Magic Number: A New Science of Creativity.” I would also encourage you to check out a brilliant essay Josh wrote for Belifenet entitled “Comes Wisdom to Us.”
For those
How do you impart values to the people you are responsible for leading, including your children? Recently I had the opportunity to watch a leader who does this well. I’d like to share three critical actions that I believe are necessary to impart your values and I think you will be inspired by and learn from his example.
1. Communicate Your Values, Upfront and Often
Leaders need to lead courageously by telling people what they believe. Ted (not his real name) has developed a small, pocket-sized, laminated card that describes his values and has given the card to all of the employees of his company. The contents on the card define what behavior Ted expects of himself and of the people he is responsible for leading. Each morning a one-page sheet entitled “Connect” is circulated throughout Ted’s company that includes a story about employees living out one of the values. Work groups meet briefly each morning to review the Connect sheet.
One morning I attended a session that Ted holds each week with his leadership team and a select number of potential leaders. There were about 30 people in attendance. Ted stood upfront where he spoke and facilitated the session. During the time the group discussed one chapter in a leadership book they were reading together. About one-third of the 60-90 minutes session is set aside for small group deliberations. The material they covered the day of my visit was on the value that is most important to Ted: caring about people. Studying great books is an ideal way to learn and grow, and to bring the team together. This shared practice also helps maintain awareness of and reinforce the importance of Ted’s values.
2. Live Your Values Daily
It is said that values are caught not taught. I don’t agree. Values are taught and caught. Both are critical.
When individuals feel like valued members of a group, it boosts a host of positive outcomes including superior decision-making, employee engagement, employee motivation, strategic alignment, organizational learning, cooperation, productivity, innovation and overall performance. This applies to groups of all sizes including classrooms and schools, families, business and government organizations, hospitals, sports teams and the social sector. Strong relationships are key for any group to achieve the benefits enumerated above.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the University of Chicago research on relational trust that I learned about from my friend Parker Palmer. For those of you who are interested in relational trust and the wisdom of crowds, I encourage you to check out this fascinating interview my friend Robert Morris, the freelance writer, did with Alan Briskin, co-author of The Power of Collective Wisdom. In the interview, Briskin and Morris discuss relationship centered networks that tap into collective wisdom.
For those of you who read Robert Morris’ book review and interview, you will see why I believe he is among the very best at what he does. In addition to being a well-organized, clear writer, Morris is a Renaissance man who always sprinkles his writings and interviews with thoughtful insights drawn from remarkably diverse fields of knowledge. Check out his book reviews and interviews at this link and you’ll see what what I mean.
Two stories in The New York Times this weekend reminded me that good often blooms from gloom. In “Detroit Goes from Gloom to Economic Bright Spot,” Bill Vlasic writes that the American automobile manufacturers are emerging from a near-death experience as leaner, more grounded, humbler, and more long-term oriented organizations. In a different field altogether, that of men’s professional basketball, Scottie Pippen was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday. Read about it in “Stepping Out of Jordan’s Shadow, Pippen to Enter Hall.” I was inspired to learn about Pippen’s remarkable climb from humble origins and how he came back from an embarrassing episode that occurred years ago when he refused to play in a crucial game. Pippen learned from his mistake then moved on to become an even better player, leader and human being.
There is real wisdom in these stories. As human beings, we are imperfect. Good times often puff us up and develop hubris in our character (i.e., over-confidence, arrogance and the negative aspects of pride). This applies to organizations as well as to individuals. Tough times, on the other hand, as hard as they may be, are opportunities to develop the humility we need to thrive over the long-term.
How does humility help us thrive? When we are humble, we are more likely to seek, listen to and consider the opinions and ideas of others. Facing difficulties, we are more likely to reach out to God and to our family and friends for help rather than see ourselves as self-sufficient. In a state of humility, we are more likely to develop a number of other character strengths such as kindness, graciousness, gratitude, patience and perseverance or fortitude.
Are you going through tough times? If so, I suggest the following:
1. Devote time each day to prayer. When I pray, I like to focus on thanking God for the many blessings in my life and I pray for the needs of others as well as for wisdom in the important decisions I must make.
2. Make a list of things for which you are grateful. My wife’s list might include M&Ms, the color red, video chatting with our daughters, reading the newspaper in her pajamas, and having survived both breast and advanced ovarian cancer. Counting our blessings gives us perspective. The negativism of today can influence us so that, without our even being aware, we get caught up in it (a condition that sociologists describe as “emotional contagion”).
3. Spend time each day conversing and connecting with family members, friends and colleagues at work. Find out what’s going on in their lives. If you face important decisions, talk them over with others to gain a balanced perspective. This is a huge energizer for me (and I’m somewhat introverted).
4. Regularly reach out to help or encourage someone in need. Serving someone else is one of the best ways to lift your own spirit and the spirit of the people around you. Just try it and you’ll see!
I know from experience that these four simple practices can make a difference in your attitude and behavior. They will help you persevere through tough times, after which you will most likely emerge even better than you were before. While these practices may or may not make you economically wealthier, they will most certainly bring you a wealth of even greater value.
The New York Times recently had an article on rising burnout among clergy entitled “Taking a Break from the Lord’s Work.” The article was followed by a thoughtful op-ed entitled “Congregations Gone Wild.”
Effective leadership, employee engagement and employee motivation are closely linked to the alignment of behavior with personal values. In the case of clergy, putting a muzzle on pastors so they are unable to preach in a way that is consistent with their values is a sure path to burnout.
This is a very important issue that everyone should spend time thinking about. Set aside time this month to list your values. Ask yourself, “what do I believe in and what’s important to me in the way I live my life?” Then compare what you wrote down with how you presently live. During the Depression, a young financial analyst working in London did this exercise. Years later reflecting on it he wrote that “people, I realized, is what I value and I had no desire to be the richest man in the cemetery.” That young man, Peter Drucker, left his well-paying job and went on to become the father of management consulting. In “How Peter Drucker Changed My Life” I wrote about how Drucker’s writings affected my own career decisions.
What if you discover there are differences in your values and how you are presently living? My advice is to invite 2-3 people you trust and respect to meet with you, discuss your analysis and thoughts about how you might take action to close the values gaps. You may find all that is necessary is to speak with your supervisor about making changes to your present job or something more may be required such as moving to a different job or business unit in your organization, or, in the the most extreme instances, changing careers altogether. Whatever the case, ignoring the present stressful state is never wise because if affects your mental and physical heath, your relationships and your job performance. Having conversations with people you trust will help reduce the stress you feel and also help clarify your thinking so that you can develop a clear plan to move forward to a better state of work and a better life.
Chris Dorobek, the well-respected talk show host of Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C, recently interviewed Jason Pankau and yours truly about employee engagement and strategic alignment based on an article Jason and I wrote for the award-winning Leader to Leader Journal entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.” You can listen to the unedited radio interview at this link.
Everyone experiences difficult seasons in life. Although storms come to our lives in many different forms including health problems, death of a loved one, divorce or job loss, one thing is certain: it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get through the stormy seasons in life alone. We need family and friends who “have our backs.” Unfortunately, as this thoughtful article that recently appeared in USA Today suggests, true friendship may be dying.
In a video interview I filmed for the Leader to Leader Institute’s Leadership Dialogues website, I speak with leadership experts Mark Thompson and Bonita Buell-Thompson about what I learned from my wife Katie’s successful battles with breast and advanced ovarian cancer. You can read about it and watch the video at this link.
The lesson I learned is about the importance of connection and relationships. It applies to organizations as much as it does to individuals and families. When difficult seasons arrive, an organization’s culture often makes a difference to whether the organization survives or doesn’t. Dog-eat-dog or cultures that are indifferent to people and relationships often spiral down into relational isolation, anxiety, distrust, blame and finger pointing. On the other hand, Connection Cultures that value human beings and relationships tend to pull together and work through the challenges.
My question for you is, who has your back in life and at work? Are you intentional about taking the time to build strong relationships with individuals who you trust and who trust you? If you lead an organization, do you invest time to develop relationship excellence in your organization?
A trusted friend and former colleague of mine at Morgan Stanley recently praised Andy Chan’s work at Wake Forest University to help students understand and develop character, then discover their passion and a career path to match it. Here’s a great article about Chan’s work from the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Finished College. Now What?”
Chan’s work fits well with our mission to develop strength of character and connection in organizations (you can learn why we believe character strengths are so important for individual, organizational and societal health in the Connection Culture Manifesto that was published by changethis.com). I’ll be learning more and writing future blog posts about Andy Chan and Wake Forest’s work so stay tuned.
We learn best when we think, feel and do. That’s the message of Dr. Adele Diamond, a cognitive developmental neuroscientist who currently teaches at the University of British Columbia in Canada. We might refer to this as “whole body learning.” According to Dr. Diamond, the executive function of the brain — the prefrontal cortex — works best when we go beyond the rational mind by also involving emotions and physical behaviors. That makes sense since the more we involve other parts of the brain, the more neural connections we make that reinforce learning.
The implications are wide-ranging. It reminds me of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Robert Sternberg’s identification of different thinking styles. The more we incorporate different approaches to learning that speak to diverse individuals who are wired to learn differently, the greater the probability they will in fact learn.
Are you using more than analytic, rational methods of learning? Do you use stories to move people emotionally? Do you employ exercises that require people to behave in ways that will help them learn?
For those who want to go deeper, there a fascinating hour-long interview of Dr. Adele Diamond by Krista Tippett of American Public Radio’s “Speaking of Faith” program that you can hear at this link.
Some of you know that in addition to speaking and teaching leadership at organizations such at Google, NASA, Johnson & Johnson and the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, Jason Pankau and I frequently speak in churches about how Judaeo-Christian values lived out create what we refer to as a “Connection Culture.” To learn more, watch the following video series of Jason Pankau teaching a workshop on Connection Cultures for Churches.
Session 1 – The Case for Connection
Session 2 – Creating a Connection Culture
Session 3 – Inspiring Identity
Session 4 – Knowledge Flow
Session 5 – Committed Members and Servant Leaders