Drucker “looked through the window”. This was his way of describing how he analysed issues and saw what events that had already occurred meant for the future. Consequently, he left Germany for England right away when Hitler came to power in 1933. However, Drucker’s Austrian accent was heavy and his English speech was probably not perfect. He got nowhere close to a professorship in England. He was able to get work with an insurance company, and then a bank, the latter job attained through the good offices of a fellow ethnic Jewish Austrian. He didn’t waste time and was soon hard at work at improving his English, and in the evenings he worked on his first book in the language that eventually made him and his ideas famous. He may have thought that it would help him attain his goal of a professorship at a major university in England. However, after struggling in England for four years, he decided that he would have a better opportunity for a professorship in America. The best he could manage at first was a part-time teaching position at Sarah Lawrence College, which in those days was intended to provide instruction in the arts and humanities for women. It was located in Bronxville, New York. Then, in 1942, he finally attained the goal to which he had been committed since before he left Germany. He became a full-time professor at Bennington, a small college in Vermont for women. This was not the University of Cologne, but given his extraordinary situation as an expatriate Austrian, this opportunity was a progress towards his vision and goals.
Napoleon Bonaparte in his Maxims declared: “An extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary resolution … How many things have appeared impossible which, nevertheless, have been done by resolute men”2 Drucker was indeed a resolute man.
Drucker continued with extraordinary commitment, and as we know eventually attained his goal after writing his book, Concept of the Corporation.3 He became a management professor at New York University and later a world-famous professor at Claremont Graduate School in California, the school part of Claremont Graduate University is now named after him. To reach the top, immigrant or not, you have difficulties to overcome.
NICOLE DIONNE AND PRIMALSCREAM
Today, Nicole Dionne is famous in her field. She is CEO and Creative Director of one of the most renowned music production companies in the USA. She produces award-winning music for film, TV, advertising, branded content, movie trailers, all sorts of promos, and more. She has won Clios (the Oscar of the advertising industry) and many other top awards and developed multimillion dollar campaigns for some of the largest corporations in the US.4
I first met Dionne when I interviewed her more than 20 years ago. Dionne had only a few years’ experience in the sound design industry then. She was in her mid-twenties and had recently been happily employed working for a local sound design company. What was to happen showed her uncommon commitment and tested her severely but, like Drucker’s setbacks, eventually led to her success.
Sound design people are the folks that create sounds to fit the moods of commercial advertisements on TV and of movie trailers. Dionne had some ideas for improving the business, and so she put together a 30-page marketing plan and gave it to her boss at the sound company she worked for then.
Some months later she was distressed to discover that her boss hadn’t even looked at her ideas, much less approved or even considered them. Dionne talked to another employee, her sound designer, about the possibility of starting their own business to implement the plan. Apparently, they talked a little too loudly. They were still in the talking stage when her boss heard about it, and she and her would-be partner were both fired.
But taking advantage of being out of work, the two started their own sound design company. Or rather, they took the first step. They picked a name designed to attract attention: ‘PrimalScream. Now all they needed was money. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Dionne said, “I took the business plan that had started it all, but had been ignored, expanded it and started contacting investors based on the creative sound design talent of my partner, Reinhard Denke.”5
Dionne met with dozens of venture capitalists. There was interest, but the investors wanted 60% of the profits and total control. That may have been normal in the industry, but as she saw it, it would be just as if she were back working for someone else. However, she didn’t stop trying, even after numerous disappointments. She showed uncommon commitment.
Dionne next tried seeking a small business loan. She approached almost 60 banks all over the US with no success. Most told her that she had to have been in business for two years and have collateral. She and her partner cashed in their retirement plans, emptied their savings accounts, and came up with about $30,000. It wasn’t enough. Some potential lenders told her she should first drop the name of the company. “PrimalScream is a terrible name,” they said, “it violates all the rules.” She ignored them and pressed on with her uncommon commitment.
One day, someone recommended a loan officer at a certain bank. She made a presentation stressing her business plan and her partner’s creativity as an artist. She asked for $70,000. It was still a significant risk from the bank’s perspective, but based on her uncommon commitment, the bank took it. Or, at least part of that risk. The bank loaned her $30,000. It was barely enough to get started, but it was enough.
Now, they had to find a location. After many false starts, the two found a house located in a commercial zone. The rent was barely within their budget. Then, they had to somehow get the expensive sound equipment they needed. It could have swallowed up their entire loan. Fortunately, the manufacturer was familiar with their work, and combined with Dionne’s uncommon commitment, they were able to lease the equipment at an amount they could handle.
PrimalScream work was great and it was almost an immediate success. Within three months, they paid off the loan. Eight months later, they were able to expand their business into a full-blown music company with a 4,000-square foot studio in a suitable location. Then they won two Clio awards. Their annual sales when I spoke with Dionne at that time about 1997 exceeded $1 million, and after only two years, they were considered among the top firms in their field.
Dionne told me, “Whenever I start to worry, I press on harder. I always think of a herd of zebras being pursued by a predator. It’s not the one that keeps focused and has extraordinary commitment that gets caught and eaten. It’s the zebra that starts looking right and left to see whether other zebras are getting ahead, or worse, looking back to see how the lion is doing. The people I approached saw that. Whenever I heard ‘no’, I immediately started figuring how to turn it into a ‘how’. Others take note of your commitment and behaviour accordingly. I have the same attitude in dealing with my people, and they know it. I am totally committed to whatever project we’re working on. But I am not tied to a way of accomplishing the goal. In fact, I have what I call my ‘no’ rule. That is, if anyone disagrees, about an approach, we find another way. But we stay committed to the outcome. There is always an alternative when you are committed.”6 Drucker would have agreed: his attitude and Dionne’s were similar.
WHAT WILL SHOWING UNCOMMON COMMITMENT DO?
What will demonstrating uncommon commitment, or extraordinary commitment, ‘whatever it takes commitment’ do for you? Why can just the fact of showing uncommon commitment affect your own performance and why are others readier to follow someone who demonstrates this quality? Psychologists who have studied commitment have identified two main reasons why showing uncommon commitment frequently yields dramatic results in getting not only others on board to help solve problems and attain goals, but also in getting yourself more likely to continue to achieve them:
• It proves to others and to yourself that the goal is worthwhile and important
• It proves to others and to yourself that you are in it for the long term and aren’t going to quit.
FOUR WAYS OF DEMONSTRATING UNCOMMON COMMITMENT TO OTHERS
Anyone can show uncommon commitment to others and himself as well. Here are four ways you can do this – they aren’t complicated, but they
aren’t necessarily easy either. Successful people like Dionne do all of them. They worked for Drucker and they can work for you too:
• Make a public commitment to your objectives and meet face-to-face if you can
• Keep going despite setbacks
• When the situation looks impossible, do it anyway
• Accept the risks, they are normal with any worthwhile goals.
MY FRIEND GEORGE PATTERSON GOT PEOPLE COMMITTED
As a young Air Force captain, George Patterson was one of my professors at West Point. Much later he became a general and years later he helped to publicize one of my books on leadership. He told me this story. After he retired from the Air Force, he became president of Ohio Precision Castings in Ohio. The company contracted to supply a new type of fuel pump for the then ultra-advanced B-1 bomber. Several million dollars and many jobs were on the line.
As Patterson explained, “Moulding these new pumps was no easy task. It had never been done before. No matter how carefully the moulders worked, many of the pumps did not meet the specifications. There were so many rejects that we got behind schedule and were losing money. I was pretty worried.”
Patterson could have renegotiated the contract. He could have asked for a delay. He could have scaled back the number of units he was required to supply. These alternatives were possible and would have been a viable solution. However, he felt it would have hurt the company’s reputation and could have delayed production of the B-1. It would also have meant laying off some of his workers.
So, instead Patterson put everyone to work as they had never worked before. “I met repeatedly with the production crews and engineers. Everyone got into the spirit of solving the problem without asking for favours. I knew there had to be a solution and we tried all sorts of crazy things.”
Patterson’s employees saw his commitment. They saw he wasn’t going to quit. So, they didn’t quit either, they stuck with him. In general, when dealing with a single moulding material, normally the formula and moulding temperature for each part was the same for all. Only the shape of the part varied. But, Patterson’s experts found something interesting: on this occasion this wasn’t working. So what if they changed the formula and temperature to optimize it for each separate part?
Through experimentation, they found they could meet the specification by varying the temperature and formula for each individual part in this way. But there was still a problem. Since each part required a different temperature and a different formula, it was not clear that developing and using so many different casting formulas simultaneously was possible. It too had never been done before. Some of Patterson’s people thought that this meant they could not succeed. One said, “Well, boss, I guess this means we’ve got to renegotiate the contract?”
Patterson thought otherwise. Because of his uncommon commitment, they kept at it. Everyone was obsessed with finding a solution that would work. They not only worked overtime, they worked night and day. Eventually, they discovered the correct formula for each separate casting. “We posted it near the moulding production machine for each part,” Patterson said. “We moulded each part differently.” The number of rejects began to decline dramatically.
Unfortunately, they no sooner solved this than they ran into yet another problem. Patterson’s engineers found that air contacting the exterior of the aluminium moulds caused the moulding temperature to vary. Varying temperature caused minor differences in the parts. Minor, but out of tolerance again. Consultants said that nothing could be done. They said that air always leaked around the exterior of the mould to some degree. “The specifications required,” they maintained, “are just too tough.”
But Patterson didn’t give up. Because he wouldn’t give up, his workers wouldn’t give up. Because he was totally committed, so were his employees. “Finally, somebody came up with the idea of using ordinary plastic Saran wrap, to stop the air from escaping,” Patterson says. “We tried it and believe it or not it worked.”
Patterson’s company got back on schedule and delivered the pumps on time. The company not only made a good profit and kept its reputation, but Pat’s employees kept their jobs.7
OTHERS FOLLOW BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE GOAL IS IMPORTANT
People don’t exert themselves for little, unimportant goals. They work hard, take great risks, and let nothing stop them only for big, important goals. That’s why those who try to play down the difficulty of a task make a big mistake. It is far better to tell people exactly what is expected of them, no matter how challenging the situation or how much effort would be required. Of course, you’ve got to hold everyone, including yourself, responsible for their own actions in their part of reaching the goal, and accept nothing less than their best effort. That’s the essence of showing uncommon commitment.
I’ve said that Winston Churchill is one of my heroes. During the darkest days of World War II, when the United Kingdom stood alone against the power of Nazi Germany and its allies, Churchill wisely told his countrymen, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”8 Churchill was 100% committed, and the British people knew it.
Then, Prime Minister Churchill addressed the UK Parliament. Churchill said, “we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”9
Churchill’s public declaration allowed no room for retreat or negotiation. It dramatized his intention to continue regardless of the outcome. Because of Churchill’s uncommon commitment, the British came together and faced the future and their hardships with confidence. Hitler thought twice. His confidence was shaken, and he postponed the invasion of the United Kingdom when the Royal Air Force stood up to the Luftwaffe’s air attacks and eventually he abandoned his plans to invade Britain altogether. Churchill’s bulldog commitment of extreme trial and danger and his public announcement which demonstrated this uncommon commitment was one of the crucial junctures of the war. That was the central message of the movie Darkest Hour.
Making a public commitment from which there is no retreat, and which dramatizes your intention to continue regardless of the outcome works! It works for countries and it works for companies. In fact, it works for any organization and it works for yourself, too. Showing uncommon commitment is how one proves that the goal is important enough to sacrifice mightily to attain it.
OTHERS FOLLOW BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU WON’T QUIT
People won’t follow you if they think that your commitment is temporary, or that you may quit the goal short of attainment. Why should they? Why should they invest their time, money, lives, or fortune in something if the leader isn’t going to lead them there anyway? Others will only follow when they are convinced that you won’t quit no matter how difficult the task looks, and no matter what obstacles you encounter along the way.
There will always be obstacles. Someone said, “There are no dreams without dragons.” When you show uncommon commitment, followers know that their investment of time and effort won’t be wasted. They know that you won’t walk away but that you will see the task through to the end. Yes, there may be dragons. But your uncommon commitment gives everyone confidence that with you, they can, and will, slay them.
If your followers are convinced that the goal is important and that you are not going to quit until you reach that goal, then watch out! There is nothing they won’t do to show you that their commitment is equal to yours, and nothing will stop them until they reach that goal or accomplish that task with you.
NOT THE GRINCH, STILL, SHE GOT HER EMPLOYEES TO GIVE UP CHRISTMAS
Thirty years ago, the New York Times ran a story in which they reported that a woman by the name of Grace Pastiak got her organization to give up Christmas.10
As Director of Manufacturing, Grace Pastiak, worked for Tellabs in Lisle, Illinois. Tellabs designed, manufactured, and marketed expensive telecommunications products. Her department won a major contract. The only problem was that it was the Christmas season, and the job had to be completed by the end of the year. It looked impossible, but she decided to accept the contract anyway. It was probably one reason that Pastiak’s organization was offered the contract.
Pastiak always took pride in her group’s ability to take on any job and complete it successfully. As did her group. But now, she faced a particularly tough challenge. Accepting this job would mean time away from families during the holidays. Yet the contract was very important. She did not want to turn it down. Pastiak knew that she needed the full support of her employees. But how could she get it and get them to give up their Christmas holiday?
Pastiak did something she had never done before. She called her employees together and explained all the facts face-to-face. She told them that the job had to be completed by the end of the year. She told them that the job was so important that they were going to take the contract. To this, she was committed. However, she also told them that it would involve time away from home at Christmas and New Year. They would be able to attend religious services, but that was about it. She was willing and committed to the project. However, because of the extent of the sacrifice necessary, they would help make the decision. And there were alternatives. She offered several. They could contract to do only half of the order before the deadline. They could bring in part-time labour. Or they could subcontract some of the production to other companies. She told them again that she wanted to take the whole contract and accept the deadline as they had always done. But it was their choice.
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