Apr

30

Suits and Arrows

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Friends,

Like him or not, agree with him or not, imagine what President Bush must feel at the juncture of two utterly awful choices: stay with the guarantee of more deaths and no guarantee of stability, or leave with the virtual guarantee of heightened chaos. Neither is a good choice; only the choice of lesser evils. And he stands at that crossroads.

I appreciate this in a most personal way, as my wife the governor — along with the legislature — also stands at a crossroads of unhappy choices: raise some taxes or devastate services. Now, everyone agrees that government can be reformed and made more efficient, but all those with an ounce of intellectual honesty know that this will not avoid the hard short-term choice: raise some revenue from us citizens who benefit, or slash the services we expect.

Although I am no voting actor in this drama, I feel this vortex of forces personally. I am not being metaphorical when I say that it is physical (usually a knot in my stomach — a wonderful image for a problem that’s as tight as a knot, no?). You may be facing similar dilemmas, where you cannot please all of your constituents; e.g., two of your kids who are dug in and divided, or a staff is irrevocably split and you are going to lose one of your key leaders, or limited resources mean some programs must go. In such situations, where people care very deeply, they will cast upon you all their innately conflicted hopes and desires.

In my book Everyday Leadership, I spend a good deal of time discussing the pressures on those with authority-in-leadership, but I’ll offer just one thought here. It’s an idea I first heard from Ronald Heifetz at Harvard, that was made vivid in an image that Governor Mario Cuomo shared with me. Heifetz writes profoundly about “authority,” and Cuomo described it as “wearing a suit.” The attacks which feel venomous, are not aimed at the person in the suit but at the authority. For instance, they’re aimed at President Bush, not at George H.W.’s and Barbara’s son and the twins’ dad, George W. They are attacks upon the suit of authority, and how that suit is being worn and used.

Now, it’s not easy to make this distinction when the arrows are being shot at you. But whether you’re the President, on down to a front-line supervisor or mentor, it helps to distinguish between that suit and the person you are. When you wear the suit, you inevitably ask people to make difficult choices. This distinction between “suit” and “self” allows you to deflect some of the shots, especially in this impatient and uncivil world where citizens and the media alike throw some vicious barbs, where, words like “idiot” or even worse will come your way.

Using this distinction doesn’t only have the benefit of giving you some breathing room. It also allows you to see a little more clearly what it is that people want from their authorities. When they’re hurling attacks, you can ask clinical questions like, “Why was that punishment so troublesome to my daughter?” Or, “Exactly which departments are raising the biggest ruckus about what’s been done?” When you see that it’s about the suit and not the self, that analysis is a lot easier to perform, because you don’t feel the need to be defensive.

Leading from authority in tough times sometimes requires a good strong suit for you to

Lead with your best self,

Dan Mulhern

Apr

23

Empower the Team with Values

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Friends,

Last week I got a great shot-in-the-arm. Yes, that’s a good thing. On Tuesday my wife launched a new effort in Michigan to work with the CEOs of Michigan’s, Fortune magazine “100 Best Companies” to find innovative ways to support the attraction and growth of great employee-focused companies in Michigan. We know that all of the “best companies” make it a core business strategy to create an empowering culture, and they all say that this culture is essential to their proven business success. Expect some great things from this effort.

Then I went (not at taxpayer expense J) to the annual conference of the Great Place to Work Institute. The Institute administers the research, assessment of “great place” applicant companies, and does consulting on the Fortune list. Let me tell you one of many inspiring stories I heard there. The W.L. Gore corporation (best known for Gore-tex) has been on the list since the first book was written about great companies in 1984, and has made Fortune’s list every year. Gore is a breakthrough, scientific research-driven and global company. Their CEO Terri Kelly was saying that their culture works, because it is not just her talk that drives it. Instead nearly every one of Gore’s associates (not employees) takes responsibility for building this culture. She gave the following example.

Because they depend on cutting edge, high-tech breakthroughs, they are extremely protective of their scientific research. Terri was visiting one of their facilities in Asia. Because she began as a textiles engineer, she was scientifically curious about a product under development. She asked the team, “how does it work?” After a little silence one of their young, Asian associates said, “Terri, do you have a true need to know?” Wo! Look out! Right? What kind of insubordination was this?! But a core cultural value at Gore is to protect the confidentiality of research, and the test for sharing information is: Is there a genuine-need-to-know? So this young researcher was owning the company values. Terri Kelly’s response? “You know. You’re right. I don’t need to know.” She then celebrated the team’s internalization of a core company value.

The other major lesson I took from her story was this: here is a safe culture, where the values, not positions of authority prevail. Call the CEO by her first name. Tell her no. Remind her of the company values. Imagine if we all owned our organization’s values like that!

So, you Michiganians out there: own a greater Michigan, a reinvented, revitalized Michigan, where management and labor are no longer a division but a unified force competing together in a tough economy. I say, wherever you are in the ranks: Own your corporate culture. Lead . . . to help information flow, to generate learning, to seek continuous improvement. And in that way . . .

Lead with your best self,

Dan Mulhern

Apr

16

Do You Recognize Them?

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Friends,
 

In the State of Michigan, as many of you know, we are in the throes of a profound budget crisis.  Belts are being tightened so far that we’re punching new holes.  On my radio show last week, I talked with Chester Elton, author of the best selling book, The Carrot Principle about how you do employee recognition when you’re absolutely flat-out broke.  I told him: we don’t have the money and even if we found it, it would look bad to spend it on recognition.  His answer bears repeating.

He said never underestimate the value of a hand-written note.  In our virtual, high-tech, e-this and e-that world, the personal note has only gained in value.  He also argued persuasively that great recognition happens all the time, at the scene and at the moment of good work.  Close in time matters.  Sometimes the praise is not spoken, but has to do with actions that confer status on someone you want to recognize.  So for instance, Chester recommended bringing a good performer to a high-level meeting, allowing them to network with and contribute to “the higher ups.” 

That simple suggestion reminded me of ways that I had seen bosses multiply their staffs loyalty by quite literally recognizing them, i.e., by seeing them:
 

·         Congressman Levin always introduced me and my colleagues on his staff who were traveling with him – to the audiences to whom he was speaking.  He literally recognized us in the crowd, and by doing so others literally recognized us.

·         Years ago County Executive Ed McNamara surprised me when he invited me to present a report I had worked on for him, rather than doing it himself.  When I was done he called me in his office and offered a tried and true form of recognition: he told me I did a good job.  Better than that he recognized something I could do better, and he gave me advice I have never forgotten, “don’t say ‘we should do X and Y,’ Mr. McNamara told me, but say ‘We will be doing X and Y,’ and then make it happen. 
 

Sometimes great recognition – which spurs loyalty and generates energy – flows with total simplicity from just paying close attention.  Paying attention is a great way to
 

Lead with your best self,

Dan

Apr

9

Lessons on Leadership and Global Warming

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Friends,

Global warming.  Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it’s real and that we need to significantly change policies on greenhouse gas emissions.  The group, commissioned by over 100 governments including the United States and China, offered a summary of its (1400+ page) report and issued clear warnings in consensus language.  After hour upon hour of debate the heads of the scientists and government officials delivered four critical findings: temperatures are rising, greenhouse gases are almost certainly a central cause, such gases must be reduced, and even with aggressive greenhouse gas reductions we still need to plan for likely unstoppable effects that will devastate many people and regions of the world.*

In a time when we love to attack our leaders, I think it’s worth celebrating some.  Chief among them:  Al Gore.  Yes, he’s one of my kind, a Democrat, but that’s not the point.  The man sure deserves points for courage, creativity, and commitment to his beliefs.  It takes a visionary to quit the only business you’ve ever known, use innovative tools to move a largely inattentive popular culture, and manage to amass and use a huge pile of what Ron Heifetz and Jim Kouzes have both called the “currency of leadership:” he got people’s attention.

Second, we should thank our popular media – yes, thank our media — for putting the issue in front of us.  Last month, Time magazine ran its 8th cover dedicated to the issue.  Where would we be without the media, urging us to look at the science, and trying to help us non-scientists to weigh scientific data?  Fortune this month also dedicated an entire issue to the growth of green business in light of global threats. 

Third, as Fortune pointed out, there are some great environmental leaders in business.  For instance, DuPont — which was the arch-enemy in the days when its Freon product was blowing a hole in the ozone layer – is now deeply committed to going green.  They saved $3 billion in energy costs between 1990 and 2005, even while increasing industrial production by 40%.  Ten years ago would anyone have believed DuPont CEO Chad Holliday would be testifying on Capitol Hill that “prompt action by congress is needed” on climate change?  Fortune received 100 nominations for companies that were seriously committed to green technology; they highlight ten of them in their April 2 issue.**

What is interesting is the interplay among seeming opposites.  The Democrats — and even harder left-leaning thinkers in Europe — and some moderate Republicans have played a major role.  They have forced new rules and are driving for prudent stewardship of the only planet we’ve got.  AND business and scientific innovation are taking over from there, doing what only they can do.  Either without the other – government without business, or business without government — would be like one hand clapping.  Hopefully, together they can get it right.

Perhaps those who seem to oppose you, have something valuable to add, as you

Lead with your best self,

Dan

Apr

2

Email on Email II

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Friends,

Last week’s email on email overload evoked a flood of responses.  One thing you reminded me of is that breaking bad habits requires awareness and repetition, so today’s short email repeats the same theme, offering you just three simple thoughts on email:

1.  Check out my blogsite: http://www.danmulhern.com/wordpress/.   In response to last week’s email on leadership, there were some GREAT ideas and practical suggestions, too numerous to mention here.  But here’s a sample pair:

2.  Fight the email madness in your role as a sender:  take responsibility for what you send.  Do you really need to “cc” the world?  Remember how busy you are with all this e-mail, and cut others some slack!

3.  Set aside a certain number of times a day and only read your email then.  Time management expert Frank Sanitate on my blog suggested reading email three times a day (and he understands the pressure of his clients, primarily lawyers and CPAs who have to stay in touch with their clients).

You can also tune into my show this Tuesday at 6 PM, EST.  I will have Dr. Meyer from U of M on to discuss his research on multi-tasking and Frank Sanitate to give some practical thoughts on email management in particular and time management in general.  You can hear a live stream from your computer at www.danmulhern.com.

Hope this short message helps you to

Lead with your best self,

Dan
 

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