Michael Lee Stallard

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.

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?

The US Navy and U2 in the same article! Huh?

That’s right.  It’s true. Check it out for yourself.

The Leader to Leader Institute just posted an article on its website that Jason Pankau and I wrote for the Summer edition of the Leader to Leader Journal. The article features the stories of the US Navy’s former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Vern Clark, and Bono, the lead singer of the rock band U2.  The article is about the topic of connecting with “core employees” to boost strategic alignment, employee engagement, productivity and innovation.  Here is a link to the article entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.” Read more »

Now for something completely different! InDesign magazine asked me to write an article about what I might do if I owned a jewelry store. I would be following a similar article written by Ivanka Trump (who actually owns a jewelry store).

It should come as no surprise that I immediately saw this as an opportunity to talk about the importance of the force of connection and how it contributes to the success of retail businesses. Here’s a link to the article entitled “If I Owned a Jewelry Store.”

Here is an outstanding session from the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival where Dov Seidman and Tom Friedman discuss the importance of individual and corporate character in a connected world. I was fortunate to attend the first Aspen Institute Ideas Festival some years back where it seemed all the speakers touched on the issue of connection. In a future blog post, I plan to share some of my thoughts related to connection that I recorded in my personal journal following that event.

Online MBA Rankings







Forgive me for this self indulgent, celebratory post. Recently, I learned that MichaelLeeStallard.com was recognized as one of the top ten blogs on leadership by an organization that ranks blogs. Earlier this year, our blog received a similar honor from Jurgen Noop.  It was my good fortune to also recently be recognized by HR Examiner as a “Top 25 Online Influencer on Leadership.” (You can learn more about it at this link as well as in a podcast about the online influencer list with Peter Clayton of Total Picture Radio.)  To top it off, MichaelLeeStallard.com was just added  to Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop.com Leadership Blogs List.   (I would do a dance over all this good news but my teenage daughters would laugh up-roariously at the ridiculous sight of their father dancing.)

This month’s Leadership Carnival is hosted by Chris Young at MaximizingPossibility.com.  It includes favorite blog posts from leadership bloggers.  It’s a terrific group of leadership thinkers and I encourage you to check it out.  Below is Chris’ post on the June Leadership Carnival.

Read more »

Delivering Happiness is the rare book that gives us an inside look at one individual’s journey to find happiness and as a leader in business. Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, has written a thoughtful account of what he has learned from experiences in life, in business and from his studies of the fast growing field of positive psychology.

I highly recommend this book to leaders and others who want to see what an engaging work environment — or “Connection Culture” as I’ve described it in my writings — looks like. Not only will you learn about Hsieh’s thinking, you’ll see how he puts ideas into action. Read more »

This month Jason Pankau and I will be speaking to leaders at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Johnson & Johnson, the Internal Revenue Service and to church leaders at LifeSpring Network’s Conference on Connection Culture & Discipleship.

In recent presentations, we’ve emphasized the importance of research from The Conference Board that concluded after studying 30 definitions of employee engagement used by consulting firms, the best definition is as follows:

“Employee engagement is a heightened emotional and intellectual connection that an employee has for his/her job, organization, manager, or coworkers that, in turn, influences him/her to apply additional discretionary effort to his/her work.”

This definition is consistent with our research at E Pluribus Partners where we frequently heard respondents use the terms “connect” or “feel connected”  to describe the emotions they experience in relation to their organization’s identity, the people they work with and their day-to-day work.

In our book Fired Up or Burned Out and in The Connection Culture Manifesto, we identify and describe the “force of connection” as

“a bond based on shared identity, empathy and understanding that moves self-centered individuals toward group-centered membership.”

After defining connection, we identify the “Connection Culture” as an environment producing emotional and rational connections that, as The Conference Board’s definition says, “influences [people] to apply discretionary effort to [their] work.”

The Connection Culture meets universal human needs for respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth and meaning. When these needs are met, people thrive individually and collectively. The Connection Culture is ultimately grounded in character strengths and virtues.  Learn more by reading the manifesto or go even deeper by reading our book.  For the latest developments and examples about how to boost connection, stay tuned to blog posts here and consider following my tweets on www.twitter.com/michaelstallard.