Goopy or Not? Readers Write Back

Dear Friends,

It has been a while since I shared some of the replies that you send to RFL. But last week’s column evoked many, varied and interesting replies. You’ll recall I started with a reader’s feedback that RFL was too “goopy, rah-rah righteous,” and I then wrote about Jim Collins’ idea of asking questions and facing brutal facts. Today I share with you excerpted comments. Let me only say two things about them: length prevented me from sharing them all; I invite you to notice how differently people hear and respond. This rich diversity is why I so often say that a leader has to check their own assumptions, style, and habits; because different folks need different things. Here’s some of the interesting replies I received:

1. “As to asking questions…I tell folks that I want to be known as a wiseman….why’s man. I tell them that I will ask lots of “why’s” and hopefully through that get us all in a better position to understand and improve our processes.”
2. “I think of your RFLs as helpful tools - ways to approach problems, people or life in general. But they are hard for me at times because they are a bit superficial - again, I don’t mean goopy, but they are about visible response options: ask questions, don’t ignore the brutal facts, you don’t have to pretend to be a know-it-all…etc. I want to know more about emotional/invisible/internal response processing. How do you get yourself to the point where the appropriate and visible response options become automatic - to the point where you are not hurt by the slam, but laugh at it and then learn from it?”
3. “I read with amusement someone’s comments that you were “too goopy, …righteous.” In a world filled with corruption, it is a breath of fresh air to read your words each week. If you have struck a nerve, or caused some to be offended, it is because you have shared the righteousness of Christ, in your clear but subtle way, with others. I share your challenge to be discreet but firm with your faith. . . I am encouraged to read your weekly email, especially encouraged when I read between the lines, because I must present the gospel the same way in many of my meetings with people. Please keep doing what you are doing.”
4. “Your last line [”learn with your best self”] is absolutely right on . . . it is about learning! As I draw this part of life to a close and move to anther phase (which I hope will continue to include learning and contributing!) it becomes more and more clear that work is about learning and applying, and then learning more and applying more, and trying it again and again. I know so much more now than in 1974 when my public service career began . . . but, wow, I certainly do not know enough! Leadership, like other behaviors, are based on what we’ve learned, understand in our gut, and have the courage to apply. Being open to brutal reality means one has learned that we don’t know it all and that we need to learn more from those who have the information, insight, experience. Openness to brutal reality through questioning requires emotional intelligence . . . which usually means one has learned about the emotional side of leadership and human interactions, as well as the value and need for facts and perceptions from all sources. It is often easier to focus on known facts, and breaking issues into tangible pieces and parts, than it is to address the chaos or confusion that comes from being open and learning more and more. I deeply believe that success tomorrow depends on learning more and more today.”
5. “Creating a climate where all parties feel safe to participate in processing the latest doings as to what worked, what did not and what can be done differently in the future is the hallmark of a healthy family, group, or club. After all, despite the complexities and magnitude of an organization, one really is dealing with human nature, until such time emotionless robots begin to rule and make the rules.”
6. “Too often, men tend to be either-or thinkers, rather than both-and. To paraphrase Jesus: Render to Goopy what is Goopy’s and to Brutal what is Brutal’s.
7. “In my work with leaders we are constantly wrestling with how to really pursue the truth and the facts…..(which aren’t necessary the same thing), in order to be a community of learners about how the world is really working. One notion that helps: “data are my friend”. Both the notion and the syntax seem odd, but both are right. I remember writing a brief poem with the line, “The brutal facts aren’t brutal they are just the facts.” In a sense facts are neutral. It is the story we tell about them because of what we WANT to be the facts, or the negative impact of the facts on our view of the world and our role in it, that makes them brutal facts, rather than beautiful facts. But they are simply facts.”
8. “I happen to be reading a biography of Alexander the Great . . . Alexander clearly was a Level 5 leader: Unbelievable resolve (leading 30,000 men on a march across 3,000 miles of desert and mountains) . . . largely on foot, within a single year . . [with] great humility before the army. They loved him for it and followed him literally anywhere. But he also was, well … kind of goopy. An essential component of his leadership was an unembarrassed belief in and commitment to the great Greek myths. One of his burning ambitions in the Hindu Kush was to find the cave in which Prometheus was chained. So … the grizzled Macedonian veterans were led 11,000 feet up into the mountains by the 26-yr old kid who wants to find the mythic hero’s cave? Goopy? Rah-rah? Plus he believed in and practiced the “diversity” of his day. Definitely goopy.
Methinks goopy keeps not bad company.”

I hope you enjoyed these thoughts as much as I did. They are a reminder to be open to the rich diversity of those around you, so you can . . .

Lead with your best self,
Dan

The Goopy vs. The Brutal Facts

Friends,

When people sign up for RFL, I ask them to tell me a little about what their leadership challenges are. And when someone unsubscribes from Reading for Leading, I also invite them to tell me why. Last week I got a pithy reply. The reader said I was, “too goopy, rah-rah, righteous.” I loved his candor and laughed at the poetic sound of his language. And does he have a point? In some respects: YES!

Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great, is often quoted for his “goopy” stuff, like his homage to the “level 5 leader,” who combines great resolve with personal humility. But one of the aspects of Collins’ book that gets quoted the least is Chapter 4’s admonition “Confront the Brutal Facts.” Collins argues that organizations that treat themselves to wishful thinking are in trouble. Instead, he says that facing hard facts is especially important in this age, where customer demands and outside competition change faster than ever before. (The same need to face “brutal facts” is vital in other domains; for instance, when responding to symptoms of cancer in an individual, or indications of the spread of disease among people or animals.) Great visions, positive attitudes, and goopy, rah-rah righteousness, won’t will away such real challenges.

So, when we lead in these fast-changing worlds, we have to face the brutal facts. Collins offers dependable practices to get to those facts. First, lead with questions, instead of answers. Why? What do questions do? Why ask questions, if you know the answers? Were this a classroom, I would stop and listen to your replies to these! Questions open up to data. Questions lead to the realities that people closer to the customer, the shop floor, the competition, or the symptoms will see. Questions generate a culture where it’s okay to ask, to be ignorant, and where you model a desire to learn. It’s not so easy. Sometimes, as a parent we feel like we’re supposed to know it all, or as a supervisor we think they need us to be always in control and in the know. So, we tell, more than we ask. And that tells people that we may not really want to hear “the” truth - just our truth. And we miss out.

Collins parallels this point about question-asking by arguing for post mortems. When a project is over - especially if it didn’t turn out as you had hoped - ask, “Why?” Not to assign blame, but to move to constructive solutions. Such inquiries lead to a deeper understanding of some of those brutal facts and heighten the chances you’ll get it (more) right the next time. You might consider doing such a post mortem. You’ll have to fight the urge to get to the next project. We know the result of that haste, right? We tend to repeat our mistakes, continuing to rely on assumptions which have been undermined by changing realities.

So, as the week begins, you might ask yourself, “Do I create a culture that is fearless about the facts?” Or, if that’s too goopy, you might ask, “How can I create an organization that looks at the brutal facts all the time? What can I do to invite greater awareness of the changes and challenges that affect our work?” If you can get folks to look at what Collins calls the brutal facts, you’ll improve your organization’s ability to learn, to evolve, and to thrive.

Lead, or as a reader suggested to me last week: Learn, with your best self,
Dan

Monday Morning: Blues or Jazz?

Friends,

Monday morning has a beat to it - like a funeral dirge, some would say. Many of us were taught by parents, radio stations, and popular culture to dread the hour. The relative few who are blessed by having a vocation, and not just a job, welcome Monday morn. Those who “own” their work - literally or at least metaphorically - don’t mind Monday morning. For most people I have known, Monday comes like a long-awaited bill in the mail; somehow they hoped it wouldn’t arrive, but here it is and the bill must be paid. And Mondays bring customs, habits, rituals. As individuals and groups we often repeat our steps, our approach, dressing ourselves in yesterday’s attitudes and expectations.

Meanwhile the world about us changes, is never the same. Our little girls “suddenly” have boyfriends. People quit buying Big Macs, cassette tapes, or Blue Light Specials. The Chinese have launched their own internet, Iran is developing nuclear technology, and the insurgency in Iraq keeps evolving. What worked yesterday may not work today.

Leaders - whether titled or not - lead change. Here in Michigan, for instance, my wife as Governor is constantly trying to get people to see that our old way of life - in which low skilled factory jobs were readily available - is over and gone. So she’s declared the goal of doubling college graduates by 2010, and is urging the legislature to mandate a serious statewide core curriculum in place of the current one which only requires that students take civics to graduate high school. Such changes are vital, both in themselves and as a Monday morning call: “Wake up! It’s a new day. There’s a different (and challenging!) world out there!”

In times of change, leaders bring new eyes to Monday morning. They see the new day. They really want to see this day, these circumstances; they welcome reality, unphased that it will require change. They exude an openness to today’s new stuff, and that openness spreads to others. How open are your people to bringing you this reality? Do your big kids trust you with their big kid problems? (It doesn’t happen automatically. You must prepare the way.) Is your staff awake to the changes in your industry or field? Are they terrified of change (and perhaps mirroring your fear that you thought you were hiding)? Great leaders want to know what’s happening, encourage their people to share the news, and are consistently ready to change their behavior and the behavior of the group to meet new challenges. Is that you?

It’s Monday. Tell them your door is open, your eyes are open, and your mind is working - ready for whatever the day may bring you, and ready to bring your best to the day. In some measure, you can decide whether or not it will be an upbeat day, whether you’ll be singing the blues or getting them jazzed for the week, if you . . .

Lead with your best self,
Dan

Fab 5 of Michigan

Friends,Today is the 6th and final RfL on the Fab 5 of Michigan companies selected by Fortune magazine as the “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Take a look at Rock Financial/Quicken Loans, the highest ranking financial institution and fastest growing company on the list. Quicken is young, anti-bureaucratic, and people-focused. They celebrated their 20th anniversary last year by bringing 5300 people - employees and guests - to a celebration in Cleveland, with entertainment that included the Black Eyed Peas and Kid Rock. They have their own band, “The Loaners,” which plays at company meetings. Slushies and cappuccinos are available free, every day in their onsite “Soft Rock Cafe.” They make work fun. Bill Emerson, CEO, says that their employee-friendly environment is both an end and a means. His voice is full of excitement when he describes the thrill of watching employees grow and develop personally. Making loans is great, he says; and growing is great, but “the fun part is seeing people grow as people” and advance at Quicken. This focus on growth and development shows up in a statistic that is off the charts - even among the Fortune “best companies to work for” - as they provide over 200 hours of employee training per year. Some of that is life-training, premised on the fact that people who are alive and growing will also be happier and more productive employees. Emerson says this commitment to growth is at the core of their business success: “We’re retail and deal with clients every day, and the way employees feel will affect the way they treat our clients.”

Quicken is intently focused on those clients. CEO Emerson talks about how one of their slogans (they call them “Isms”) is “every client, every time; no exceptions, no excuses.” All their efforts at empowerment are designed to give employees both the skills and the confidence to do whatever needs to be done to satisfy the client. And, part of their success flows from their constant fight to not get bureaucratic. They have grown to 3200 employees, but remain focused on encouraging each employee to innovate in the best interest of his client - no matter where The ranks in the company. Emerson says, “imagine how great you could be if you have 6400 eyeballs” looking at everything in the business - acting like owners. That’s their goal. So people have the authority to go out of their area to fix something if it’s not working. “Supervisors” (my word, as Emerson disdains the top-down connotations of it) have authority to give on-the-spot bonuses for great work. What’s at the heart of it all at Quicken? “Our belief in empowering people to grow as individuals inside and outside the company,” says Emerson. And, so when asked, “OK and what if you’re not working at a 100 best company, but at an average, fair or good company, what would you recommend?” Emerson says, “It all comes down to the people you work with every day. You have to create a connection with them.” If there is trust, then you can share the good news and the bad news; you can encourage risk; and you can learn when things don’t go right. Indeed, if you were to go over the prior weeks’ columns, starting with Plante & Moran’s culture of “care,” to Valassis, Bronson Health, or Republic, you will find in all of them a passionate commitment to employees, and this commitment to the other is the baseline for TRUST. Each culture does what great leaders can do - at work, in their families, churches, non-profits: earn their trust, by seeing people as people, committing to their growth, helping them set high goals, and working like crazy to help them achieve them. Then - and all these cultures do it - CELEBRATE the achievements! In that spirit of belief, trust, care, challenge and celebration, go out there this week and

Lead with your best self!
Dan

Quicken Loans: Young, Fun, and Committed to Personal Growth

Friends,

Today is the 6th and final RfL on the Fab 5 of Michigan companies selected by Fortune magazine as the “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Take a look at Rock Financial/Quicken Loans, the highest ranking financial institution and fastest growing company on the list. Quicken is young, anti-bureaucratic, and people-focused. They celebrated their 20th anniversary last year by bringing 5300 people - employees and guests - to a celebration in Cleveland, with entertainment that included the Black Eyed Peas and Kid Rock. They have their own band, “The Loaners,” which plays at company meetings. Slushies and cappuccinos are available free, every day in their onsite “Soft Rock Cafe.” They make work fun.

Bill Emerson, CEO, says that their employee-friendly environment is both an end and a means. His voice is full of excitement when he describes the thrill of watching employees grow and develop personally. Making loans is great, he says; and growing is great, but “the fun part is seeing people grow as people” and advance at Quicken. This focus on growth and development shows up in a statistic that is off the charts - even among the Fortune “best companies to work for” - as they provide over 200 hours of employee training per year. Some of that is life-training, premised on the fact that people who are alive and growing will also be happier and more productive employees. Emerson says this commitment to growth is at the core of their business success: “We’re retail and deal with clients every day, and the way employees feel will affect the way they treat our clients.”

Quicken is intently focused on those clients. CEO Emerson talks about how one of their slogans (they call them “Isms”) is “every client, every time; no exceptions, no excuses.” All their efforts at empowerment are designed to give employees both the skills and the confidence to do whatever needs to be done to satisfy the client. And, part of their success flows from their constant fight to not get bureaucratic. They have grown to 3200 employees, but remain focused on encouraging each employee to innovate in the best interest of his client - no matter where he ranks in the company. Emerson says, “imagine how great you could be if you have 6400 eyeballs” looking at everything in the business - acting like owners. That’s their goal. So people have the authority to go out of their area to fix something if it’s not working. “Supervisors” (my word, as Emerson disdains the top-down connotations of it) have authority to give on-the-spot bonuses for great work.

What’s at the heart of it all at Quicken? “Our belief in empowering people to grow as individuals inside and outside the company,” says Emerson. And, so when asked, “OK and what if you’re not working at a 100 best company, but at an average, fair or good company, what would you recommend?” Emerson says, “It all comes down to the people you work with every day. You have to create a connection with them.” If there is trust, then you can share the good news and the bad news; you can encourage risk; and you can learn when things don’t go right. Indeed, if you were to go over the prior weeks’ columns, starting with Plante & Moran’s culture of “care,” to Valassis, Bronson Health, or Republic, you will find in all of them a passionate commitment to employees, and this commitment to the other is the baseline for TRUST. Each culture does what great leaders can do - at work, in their families, churches, non-profits: earn their trust, by seeing people as people, committing to their growth, helping them set high goals, and working like crazy to help them achieve them. Then - and all these cultures do it - CELEBRATE the achievements!

In that spirit of belief, trust, care, challenge and celebration, go out there this week and

Lead with your best self!
Dan