Apple is now the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization and U2’s recent tour just became the highest grossing of all time, crushing the previous record held by the Rolling Stones.  Learn about Apple’s remarkable rise in market cap in this New York Times article and learn about U2’s claim as the greatest band of all time in this article from the Atlantic magazine’s website.

Apple and U2’s continued success begs the question, “what’s their secret?” One reason is the people who work at Apple feel connected to Steve Jobs and the members of U2 feel connected to Bono. The members of both groups also feel connected to one another as part of a “Connection Culture” that we wrote about in Fired Up or Burned Out. Learn more about how Steve Jobs connects by reading this interview I did with The Wall Street Journal’s Live Mint entitled “‘Think Different’ Makes Apple Stand Out”. To learn more about  how Bono connects with his band mates read  “To Boost Productivity, Connect with the Core.” Jason Pankau and I wrote it for the Leader to Leader  Journal.

Update: Next week, Jason and I will be speaking about Connection Cultures, leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.  Next month I’ll speak with CNO Admiral Vern Clark, the former Chief of the U.S. Navy, at Wharton and Harvard Business School events in D.C.. In the coming months we will be speaking and teaching workshops at the NASA Johnson Space Center, TCU, the Connected Church Conference,  Greenwich (Connecticut) High School, Scotiabank and the Young Presidents Organization.  In addition, we will be teaching webinars for Scotiabank and McKesson Corporation.  The word about Connection Cultures is spreading.  Already we’ve committed to teaching nine workshops in 2012, five in the U.S. and four in Europe, for the Institute for Management Studies.  Many thanks to those of you who have told others about our work and emailed the Connection Culture Manifesto to family members, friends, and colleagues at work. We estimate that it has been downloaded by more than 20,000 people worldwide and praised by thought leaders such as the tech guru and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki and William J. Holstein who writes for The New York Times and Business Week.

Here’s a link to an audio interview Jason Pankau and I did with Jeremie Kubicek, CEO of GiANT (GiANT Impact, Catalyst and Chick-fil-A Leadercast).  Jeremie is the author of a great book entitled Leadership is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It.  During the interview we discussed how leadership affects employee engagement, strategic alignment, productivity, innovation and organizational performance.  Check it out at this link.

During our speeches and workshops we conclude the section where we present research from a diverse fields of knowledge that makes the case for connection to thrive at work and in life by stating:

“connection = life” whereas “disconnection = death” (we point out that this applies to both individuals and organizations)

Now we have additional research about the effect of connection on individuals in the workplace to prove it.  A 20-year study by researchers at Tel Aviv University found that workers who reported working in cultures where they experienced positive social interactions and felt emotionally supported to the people they worked with were 2.4 times less likely to die over the next 20 years than those who reported they didn’t feel emotionally supported at work.   The New York Times recently included an article about it entitled “Friendly Workplace Linked to Longer Life.”  (You can purchase the published research findings on Psychnet at “Work-Based Predictors of Mortality: A 20-Year Follow-up of Healthy Employees.”)

This provides additional evidence that the “Connection Cultures” we described in Fired Up or Burned Out are essential for people and organizations to thrive for sustained periods of time.  Connection boosts hormones and neurotransmitters that make us feel more alive, more energetic, more confident, more creative and better problem solvers.  Furthermore, during periods of stress, connection reduces stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine.  This helps us cope with stress and anxiety so that we are more likely to make rational decisions rather than rash decisions when our emotions overwhelm us.

Should leaders care about employee happiness or is employee engagement a passing fad?  Let me frame this debate in a slightly different way that I believe provides the best answer.

As part of creating value, leaders need to be intentional about achieving both task excellence and relationship excellence because our research found that both are necessary to achieve sustainable superior performance i.e. Task Excellence + Relationship Excellence = Sustainable Superior Performance.  Both are also necessary if most employees are to experience a sense of satisfaction for the many hours they spend working.  If employees feel unsatisfied, they will not perform tasks at a level that reflects excellence for a sustained period of time.  They will likely be able to perform with excellence for a short period of time but eventually their lack of emotional energy will drag them down.

We are human beings, not machines.  Emotion matters, even in business.

We should also recognize that employee engagement affects strategic alignment i.e. disengaged employees show up for the paycheck but they don’t tend to put extra effort in aligning their behavior with organizational goals.

Here are two data points to consider.  Today in America, 75 percent of employees are not engaged in their work and of the 25 percent who are engaged, 60 percent of them are not aligned with organizational goals (this according to 2009 research from the Corporate Executive Board).   The bottom line is that only 10 percent of America’s workforce are mobilized (i.e. both engaged and aligned).  The opportunity to boost performance by improving employee engagement and strategic alignment is HUGE!!!

To learn more, I encourage you to check out this article Jason Pankau and I wrote for the Leader to Leader Journal entitled “To Boost Productivity, Connect with the Core.”  To go even deeper, read the book that introduced the “Connection Cultures” that are necessary to achieve relationship excellence and sustainable superior performance.  It is entitled  Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity.  (Read what doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the world’s leading cancer research and treatment centers, are saying about Fired Up or Burned Out at this link.)

One of the relief organizations my wife and I support is World Vision. These people are AMAZING and they do remarkable work that Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times raved about in a recent column he wrote.

What I love about World Vision is that they are a force for connection.  They connect their employees, volunteers and donors with people in desperate need around the world. The result is a fired up organization that is making a difference.

The last two evenings I served as a volunteer to help out with the World Vision AIDS Experience that is presently in Greenwich, Connecticut through next Sunday. The experience takes you on a journey to see the lives of four African children affected by aids. The stories are both heartbreaking and heartwarming.  Everyone attending said they were moved and inspired.  Many become child sponsors or purchase a kit or bycycle to help one of the 77,000 World Vision Caregivers in 20 countries. (You can learn more about attending at no cost, which I very highly recommend, by clicking here.)

While volunteering, I met Kristin, an enthusiastic, motivated, bright young World Vision employee.   Speaking with Kristen made me see how well World Vision connects its workers and donors with those who are in need, not only financially to meet their needs for clean water, health care and education, but also relationally. Here’s an example.  At the end of the World Vision AIDS Experience, donors can sit down in an area where materials are available to write a letter (or, for very young donors, to color a picture) that is sent to the donor’s newly sponsored child.  Notice in the picture at top, above the young girl writing a letter to her sponsored child is a sign that says “Connect with Your Child.” How great is that!  Our family has connected with our child in Rwanda by periodically writing and sending gifts to her, and we’ve received letters in return.

As you may know, my blog is primarily about the power of connection in organizations and in life as part of what I refer to as a “Connection Culture” that I wrote about in Fired Up or Burned Out. World Vision’s ways are relevant to all organizations, including for-profit corporations. World Vision is more effective because they are intentional about connecting people to a cause greater than self and in doing so the people who are part of World Vision want to give their best efforts and align their behavior with the organization’s goals. Just to mention it, another benefit from connection that accrues to philanthropic organizations was identified in recent research conducted by Indiana University.  The research identified the #1 reason people stop giving to a philanthropic organization is they no longer felt connected.

How is your organization doing connecting your employees and customers to a cause greater than self?  If you don’t know, get some of your most fired up employees together and ask them “when have you felt proud about your organization” and after they tell you ask them to explain “why they felt proud?”. You will hear stories that will help you identify ways you can fire up people by connecting them to a cause greater than self.

Congratulations to SAS Institute for being recognized the second year in a row as #1 on Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Places to Work list. Last year I met with Jim Goodnight, SAS Institute’s founder and CEO, to learn more about his leadership and SAS Institute’s culture.  You can read the article I wrote at  The Economic Times‘ website or below.

Most of the leaders I meet believe the people they lead are aligned with strategy and engaged in their work. The data suggest otherwise. The Conference Board released research in January that concluded employee satisfaction and engagement in America were at the lowest point since it began surveying more than 20 years ago.  The report also concluded that the downward trend began long before the Great Recession. Another well-respected organization, the Corporate Executive Board, released research last year that concluded 75 percent of the employees were not engaged and giving their best efforts and of the 25 percent who were engaged, 60 percent were not aligned with organizational goals. The bottom line is that 90 percent of American employees are either not engaged or aligned with strategy.

The potential productivity boost from improving employee engagement and strategic alignment is staggering.  Unfortunately, most leaders have a blind spot when it comes to these areas. Jim Goodnight, co-founder and CEO of SAS Institute, is not one of them. Recently, SAS was named number 1 on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for 2010. SAS has made the list every year, five times ranking in the top five.

Goodnight, a 6-foot 4-inch tall North Carolinian with a Ph.D. in statistics, founded SAS more than 30 years ago with colleagues from North Carolina State University. Today, SAS is on a roll with annual revenues of approximately $2.3 Billion, a truly global business, a worldwide workforce in excess of 11,000 and an enviable long-term record of revenue and profit growth. Harvard Business School named Goodnight as one of the “20^th Century’s Great American Business Leaders” and he was named one of “America’s 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs” in Inc. magazine’s 25^th anniversary issue.

Earlier this month, I met with Dr. Jim Goodnight to talk about his views on corporate culture and how it affects strategic alignment, employee engagement, employee retention and overall performance. What stood out to me as I observed Goodnight is that he loves to think about how to crack the code of difficult problems.  During our conversation it was evident that he is proud that SAS is developing software to solve problems in a broad range of fields.  He spoke of using parallel processing, a form of artificial intelligence, to create new solutions that address thorny risk management issues faced by financial services institutions such as banks and insurance companies. Education is another field he mentioned. Already 30,000 teachers are using the educational software developed by SAS that the company makes available to teachers online at no cost. Topping Fortune’s “Best Companies to Work For” list, it would appear that SAS and Goodnight are cracking the code of corporate culture too. When Goodnight founded SAS, he already knew that work environments affect employee productivity and retention.  He has also stated that he believes the work culture is key to the creativity inherent in knowledge work.  Earlier in his career when he worked for a NASA subcontractor on the Apollo program, he observed the dismal environment of employees working in cubicle farms and how it contributed to annual employee turnover of around 50 percent.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the negative effect that work environment had on organizational performance.

From the start, he treated SAS employees as he had always wanted to be treated. This common sense approach is all too uncommon in practice. In return, he expected they would be more likely to stay as well as to align their behavior with organizational goals and give their best efforts. Few companies can boast of a performance record like SAS’s and Goodnight believes the firm’s culture is key. Its annual employee turnover rate of approximately four percent — versus the typical 20 percent experienced by companies in the software industry – provides additional data that support Goodnight’s approach.

At a time when most companies are laying off workers, expecting their employees to work longer hours, and cutting back on benefits, SAS is a different story. A relative degree of job security distinguishes SAS from other organizations. During the difficult business environment in 2009, Goodnight reassured employees that there would be no layoffs at the privately-held company.  His rationale was that he was in a better position financially to weather the storm than employees were.  He did, however, explain to them that SAS was not in a position to pay raises last year and he asked everyone to help reduce costs.  Employees responded by indentifying and implementing cost cuts that reduced SAS’s expenses by 6 to 7 percent.  SAS employees work 35 hours in the average week out of offices on a bucolic campus with 6,000 pieces of corporate artwork.  Perks on the property include a health club, health center, subsidized cafeterias and a child care facility on site. To help employees learn and grow, SAS encourages participation in industry conferences.

Employees also benefit from an unusual degree of autonomy. SAS has no dress code, no set work hours nor any limitation on annual sick days. Employees appreciate SAS’s culture of informality and openness where Goodnight holds “Java with Jim” sessions for employees to sit down with him for coffee and ask him any question they like.  The culture also has an egalitarian feel to it.   Everyone there knows that Goodnight, in addition to his CEO duties, spends time writing code like many of them.

The culture Goodnight has fostered at SAS works because it meets human needs that are necessary to thrive at work: respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth and meaning.  When these needs are met, people thrive, individually and collectively.  When they are not met, people seek means to meet them on their own, oftentimes in ways that work against the organization.

Goodnight clearly knows that he has identified a competitive edge and he’s not about to be pressured into following the crowd that he views as irrational when it comes to corporate culture.  When most entrepreneurs would have gone public long ago, Goodnight decided it didn’t make sense.  He didn’t want analysts on Wall Street telling him how to run his business and forcing him to cut out the elements of SAS’s culture that give it an edge.

As we concluded our conversation, Goodnight was looking forward to getting back home to Cary, North Carolina where he and his wife live in a home on SAS’s campus.  Who can blame him?  In an oftentimes less than rational and volatile world, SAS Institute is an island of sanity and stability.  Just what Dr. Goodnight ordered.

__________

Michael Lee Stallard is president of E Pluribus Partners, a leadership training and coaching firm.  He is the primary author of Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity. Additional information at www.michaelleestallard.com.

Jason Pankau and I were guests on a podcast for clients of The Alter Group, one of America’s leading real estate development firms.  The podcast host was Tom Silva, Vice President of the Alter Group. Our topic was happiness at work, leadership, employee engagement and employee motivation. You can check it out at this link or download it on iTunes.

Michael Lee Stallard and Jason Pankau

In a recent post, I (Michael) wrote about a leader who imparted his values to the people he was responsible for leading at work and to his children.  In this post, we’ll address the “pride paradox” that relates to values.

Imparting one’s values to others and judging them based on their values has the potential to create a culture of self-righteousness and legalism. Mark Twain alluded to this when he described some people as “good in the worst sense of the word.”

Don’t get us wrong, great leaders impart their values to others and judge others by their values.  Herein lies the paradox.  Some leaders who do this fail to develop what is arguably the most important character value: humility. Humility is not easily developed when you have wealth, power and/or status.  It’s especially difficult to develop humility without the help of others. Values such as work ethic, excellence and open-mindedness can be cultivated with practice.  Not so with humility.

Humility develops in several ways. We absorb humility from being around family and friends who are humble. Humility also tends to come to those who experience adversity and suffering at some point in their lives. The Bible says suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. It is full of stories about individuals whose suffering made them humbler, wiser, more patient and determined.

Some of our favorite books deal with this topic. In Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes about his struggles with depression and how it helped him find his calling as a writer and thought leader.  In Lincoln’s Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Shenk, we see how Abraham Lincoln’s suffering from depression throughout his adult life developed humility and determination. In The Upside of Adversity, Os Hillman writes about how suffering from divorce and financial struggles shaped him in positive ways.  Jim Collins described the humility of Level 5 leaders in Good to Great and how it often came as the result of a life threatening event or religious experience.  I (Michael) wrote about how my wife’s battles with breast and advanced ovarian cancer changed me in Alone No Longer.

Suffering reduces pride and develops humility when we hit a point in our lives that we are unable to make it on our own and as a result turn to God, and to our family and friends to help us persevere.  It’s no coincidence that admitting one’s weakness, seeking a higher power and the support of others are key elements in successful 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

Adversity and suffering force us to connect.  As a result of experiencing suffering and having to persevere, we become humbler, kinder, more merciful and forgiving. These character values make us better at remaining connected with God and with the people in our lives.

Notice too that individuals who experience suffering and adversity often develop a groundedness that you sense when you’re around them.  They typically have the moral confidence that influences others and they do so in a loving, patient way rather than forcing their values upon others.

In summary, imparting one’s values is wise so long as it comes from a spirit of humility.  Staying connected with God, family and friends who help us grow in character keeps us humble so that we have greater influence on the values of those around us.

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.

Living your values each and every day enables the “caught” part. When a leader behaves in ways that are consistent with his or her values, it consciously and subconsciously reinforces those values.

Recent findings from neuroscience suggest that people subconsciously absorb the values of the social environment they live in. When our oldest daughter was in elementary school we came up with an innocent sounding phrase she could use on the phone with us that would signal that all was not well where she was.  If she asked, “How is Piper doing?” that was code for “come get me, I don’t feel safe here.”  The few times she used that phrase about our dog we learned there was aggressive and disrespectful behavior in those homes that bothered her. In our family we believe disagreement is healthy but only when it is expressed with respect.  Neuroscience tells us that the social environment of our home formed a web of neural connections in her brain so that stimulus of a different social environment at odds with what she typically experienced made her feel uncomfortable.

This occurs in work environments too. Workplace behavior that brings about a positive, cooperative, productive environment becomes habitual so that toxic and unproductive behavior feels uncomfortable and invites corrective action to eliminate the source of discomfort.  The opposite is also true.   When an unproductive, toxic environment becomes the norm, people who behave with civility are viewed as naïve and weak and oftentimes treated as threats to be eliminated.

The “taught” part of imparting values cannot be left out of the equation. Like Ted and the card he gives to his employees, I encourage you to regularly find ways to communicate to your children and even to other children in your circle of influence about character and virtue. Write expressions that reflect your values on a white board in your kitchen for everyone to see.  What expressions might you write?  Here are a few to consider: “a life not lived for others is a life not lived,” “failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” and “there is wisdom in many advisors.” Read books and watch movies together that reinforce what you believe and point out behavior that is at odds with your values.

Ted told me about a practice he has adopted that I find worth emulating.  When he reads a book that influences his values, he purchases three more copies, one for each of his young sons.  In each, he writes a note to his son describing what the book meant to him.  When the boys are old enough to read these books he plans to pay them to read each one and write about what the book meant to them.  Great idea. I’m already making a list of books to buy for my daughters.

3.  Get Help from Your Friends

This is where the majority of leaders fall short.  They fail to live the values they espouse (i.e. they fail to “walk the talk”).

We all have blind spots, i.e. our words and deeds are inconsistent with our espoused values.  It’s the human condition.  Recently it’s been referred to as the “knowing-doing gap.” Failing to recognize and address blind spots is to sabotage one’s career and success in life.  We need people in our lives who know our values and who will call us out when we are not living them.  I’m convinced that the remarkable reign of Queen Elizabeth I during England’s Golden Age is in no small measure due to the advice she received from her trusted, faithful and wise advisor Cecil.  Likewise, the disappointment of Frederick the Great’s reign was in part because he had no such trusted advisor.

Do you have “trusted friends” in your life?  If not, identify three people whom you trust and respect and who care for you, call them up and set up a time to meet with each of them.  Share this blog post with them and ask if they would help you live out your values.

Ted, like all great leaders, has what I refer to as moral courage.  In other words, through the influence of his parents, seeking wisdom, reflecting on his life and reading about the experiences of others, Ted has developed the courage of his convictions.  In Ted’s case, his convictions are values that he imparts with confidence to his family, company and community.   And because the values he imparts are time-tested values that help people thrive individually and collectively, the people Ted influences over the course of his life are all the better for it.

Jason Pankau and I recently spoke at Vistakon, Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care group. J&J has an inspiring identity that is expressed in its Credo. Our definition of an inspiring identity is that it exists when everyone in the organization is motivated by the mission, united by the values and proud of the reputation.

Take a look at the J&J Credo by clicking here. As you study the J&J Credo ask yourself if its mission and values are inspiring. After you study the J&J Credo, turn your attention to your organization’s mission and values and ask the following questions:

• Are your mission and values clearly expressed and widely communicated?
• Do you have a portfolio of stories that help people understand your organization’s mission and values?
• Do people in your organization periodically take time to consider their decisions and practices in light of consistency with your organization’s values?
• Does your organization’s reputation reflect it’s values?
• Does your organization’s employer brand benefit from its inspiring identity?

J&J does a marvelous job on the Credo section of its website.  Take a look at it by clicking here.  In preparation for a book I’m writing, I’ll be interviewing Kathleen Fitzpatrick, J&J’s Director of Credo and Workplace Engagement, and posting portions of the interview on this blog.

Have you seen expressions of corporate identities (mission, values, supporting stories or practices) that have inspired you?   If so, please post them here or email me at mstallard [at] epluribuspartners [dot] com.