Providing benefits for all stakeholders often produces other unforeseen benefits—as Ken McKenzie’s UK story shows: He wanted his customers, shareholders, and employees to share the benefits of tangible bottom-line results.
He aimed to instill values such as an empowered workforce, customer service, “right first time” quality, pride in work, and employee advancement. He wanted his suppliers and clients to be excited about the fact they worked with his company. He wanted the market to view his company, services, and products as providing great value.
Premdor offers lessons for everyone. Their management made sure the daily work felt like a partnership rather than the usual transactional arrangement: “I’ll give you eight hours, and you’ll give me a paycheck.” Everyone experienced something more meaningful.
Workers were given the space and coaching support to manage their own business area, such as the door press or the joining workshop. Premdor invited suppliers and clients to work on solutions and risk management together.
These previously excluded members helped create value for everyone in the supply chain. To support the overall health of the business, they agreed to do things they hadn’t done before. The entire supply chain tackled previous taboos, such as discussing profit margins and opening up the financial books without giving away trade secrets. Such common-ground management opened doors (pun intended) for the benefit of all.
Ken changed the way he did business when he said, “If you want to be a supplier, employee, or a client, this is how we will work. And if you work this way, you will benefit because everyone’s business will increase.”
32.
Sustainability
Keeping the Mojo Going
Sustainability is a part of our ‘rise’ philosophy. You cannot rise if you take more from the community than you put back.
—Anand Mahindra, entrepreneur
Money” isn’t a bad word. Profits are good. That’s what companies are created for: to generate profits. I believe that if you lead with heart, you will make more profits, increase sustainability, and benefit both your employees and community in innumerable ways.
A single company might achieve total market domination yet have little in terms of sustainable value. Companies that achieve both tend to improve profits as well as community relations. A commitment to sustainability and to minimizing any disruptive long-term impact on the local community generates goodwill and promotes innovation and growth.
“Value” means more than the financial bottom line—if you aim for value in everything you do, the bottom line will take care of itself. How you generate profits makes a big difference. Good leaders not only take care of profits, but also cultivate synergy to unite their teams and align values. I have worked with executives and leaders who have increased my sustainable awareness, and I always aim to pay it forward by sharing what I’ve learned about sustainable practices.
Recent studies and analyses show that brands that display sustainability values—for example, in packaging and marketing materials—increase sales.
“Consumers around the world are saying loud and clear that a brand’s social purpose is among the factors that influence purchase decisions,” according to Amy Fenton, global leader of public development and sustainability. “This behavior is on the rise, and it provides opportunities for meaningful impact in our communities, in addition to helping to grow share for brands.”
More than ever, we are asked to focus on our eco-footprint and our social responsibility in the marketplace. Values-based companies, such as Atlassian, that give back to the community inspire other like-minded enterprises to monitor their social and environmental impact.
You can be profitable and have a heart. Many CEOs believe you can run a thriving business based on value principles, where profitability must fit into a broader set of values. Businesses now commonly speak of “ecosystems”—often to refer to their own suite of services or products, as well as to how these fit into a wider network of influences. Less socially responsible companies adopt a more shortsighted view and focus on quick returns that boost their bottom line and only take care of shareholders.
In Costa Rica, the government pays for women in bordering Nicaragua to come to their country for prenatal care. Clearly, an act of altruism, but also a form of self-protection: A local community member explained to me, “If our neighbors are healthy, we are too.” They understand that if things are okay in the “local” neighborhood, the larger society will benefit as well.
Heart-based leadership does work—and works well—but the values must come from the top and be crystalized in action throughout the organization. Otherwise, we are left with yet another fancy mission and vision statement, but little else. People know if you really care, or if your big-check donations only serve to give you a PR photo op. As a leader, you can do both: serve and support your community and make a good profit.
Sustainability brings to mind the environment. Population growth, climate change, and access to education and essentials such as clean water will challenge everyone on the planet. This already affects your present and future clients.
More and more consumers are making choices based not on what product or services to buy, but on who sells them. Concern for societal and planetary well-being goes beyond charitable donations or 10K-run sponsorships.
Decide who you want to be, and then work with your shareholders about cultivating a collective “heart.” You have to know and follow your own moral compass and observe the impact you have on the community and your employees. That focus should rightfully permeate your work, just as much as, if not more than, monitoring profit and loss.
Sandja Brügmann of the Passion Institute calls it “conscious leadership.” I can’t think of a better term for it, as it combines the heart, the mind, and the pocketbook. And where does conscious leadership have the most impact? On your people.
Recap
Part 7: Leading from the Heart
Use play to stimulate creativity, release stress, and build collaboration.
Develop a shared story to align your team.
Refer to your shared story often to stay on the chosen path.
Avoid demotivating responses that create anger and frustration.
Achieve success in your business and community by adopting a sustainability mindset.
Improve your bottom line by partnering with stakeholders. You are all on the same team, playing in the same game.
PART 8
ENGAGING THE FRONT LINE
An exceptional company is the one that gets all the little details right. And the people out on the front line, they know when things are not going right, and they know when things need to be improved. And if you listen to them, you can soon improve all those niggly things which turns an average company into an exceptional company.
—Richard Branson, entrepreneur
33.
En Garde
Winning the Battle and the War
To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everyone else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
—E. E. Cummings, author
Now that we have all our tools ready to go, let’s take a look at a good battle plan—one that leads to long-term performance, a motivated team, success, and a positive impact on both your workforce and the community at large. You don’t have to sacrifice one or the other.
SHORT-CIRCUITING THE ORG CHART
If “business as usual” is failing to help you reach your business objectives, you can break the stranglehold by turning off a single circuit breaker. You don’t need to go overboard and shut down the whole grid.
You need only enroll an “influential power field” (employee or team member) and do something very simple: talk face-to-face. You could bring in two or three others—the num
ber doesn’t matter. Just having a simple, interpersonal conversation can blow up an energy field and release pent-up creativity and productivity. In this role, you become the disruptor.
Our power comes not from gigabytes of data but from our shared humanity. At the end of the day, decisions must be made by us, not by data or apps or graphs. I can’t think of a more powerful tool than getting out of the office and actually speaking with someone.
Shakespeare has always been a source of wisdom for me—the story of Henry V in particular. (You may not have heard of him, because he has zero followers on Instagram and Twitter).
At Agincourt, France, the English king’s troops are preparing for battle the next morning. His troops are outnumbered by the French at least five to one. They have given up hope, expecting nothing short of a slaughter.
Henry has two options: choose a self-fulfilling prophesy or attempt to do something different.
That night, the king goes out disguised as a soldier and walks among his troops. He finds them demoralized, thinking they are all doomed.
Come morning, he rallies the troops and boosts morale with a rousing appeal to heroism and the greatness of England. Together, they hatch a cunning plan, and against the odds, Henry’s troops succeed in routing the French that day. Both in the play and in history. No app, no data, and no tool could have done that. Instead, Henry created a vision, a sense of something greater in his troops.
PLAN THE PLAN
The English also won the battle because the king asked his troops to come up with a plan based on the reality they saw. Most plans fail because organizations spend less time on the planning and more time on executing. This harkens back to the need to take action we discussed earlier in the book. Any action is going to be more robust if everyone involved is part of the process and there is space to get ready for its execution. Anything worth doing should be given the time and focus well before you do it.
My oil client had an issue with the decay of pipeline and the risk of incidents and emissions. He brought all stakeholders together, even contractors, and, they went step-by-step through the entire plan for the inspection process. Anyone who touched the project had a voice.
These often-excluded voices (such as contractors) brought their ideas and expertise to the table, and assumptions made about every step were challenged and vetted. The result? A significant reduction in cost and risk—as well as the discovery of a potential alternative testing method that would save the company millions.
34.
Become the Bandleader
The Magic of Rhythm
Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we area a rhythm machine, that’s what we are.
—Mickey Hart, musician
The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.
—Carl Rogers, author
Our days ebb and flow. When things get out of whack with our daily rhythm, we begin to affect others around us. Organizations or departments within an organization need to balance inputs and outputs to maintain optimum health.
When leaders run their organization with a consistent approach, it adds order and serenity to the workplace. It also provides a continuum of relationship as well as space from which to make decisions, take action, learn lessons, and respond to the outside world’s challenges.
While having a defined structure and schedule, you also need to allow for flexibility, which might seem counterintuitive. Above all, be sure to avoid rigidity to the point of paralysis.
Your structure needs to allow new ideas and processes to enter the system and remain open enough to respond to unexpected inputs. Growth occurs only when an organization “metabolizes” incoming energy and information. Certain interactions, transactions, and exchanges must take place every day for your organization to thrive and remain healthy. It has to have the right “beat.”
If you execute decisions and communicate and operate in a consistent manner, you will remain on the right path.
Some call this “the battle,” while others call it “cadence”—the familiar hum of the daily cycle as your people take care of business. Success does not depend on a series of meetings or the schedules for the day.
Remember one of the rogue leadership principles we looked at earlier: what happens at meetings, interactions, or conversations—how you show up—matters much more than the framework you set up. You need to be more than active—you must also pay attention to the quality of action.
Let’s look at a typical structured part of our business— the daily meetings we choose to schedule. While the schedule provides structure, it may not be the best way to ensure you are hitting the right notes.
Guidelines for Every Meeting
Decide who should be there and who shouldn’t.
Look for opportunities to “cross-pollinate” ideas and people to create more synergy.
Decide how best to conduct the meeting.
Rotate roles at meetings, rather than always having the same people doing the same thing.
Clarify how you share the accountability.
Identify KPIs and decide on your format.
Focus on solutions instead of on problems.
Orchestrate meetings to leverage the collective brain trust.
Remain flexible—be prepared to change the format to drive a different outcome.
Clarify the purpose for each meeting.
Step back and ask these core questions:What will I get out of this action, meeting, or scheduled event?
How does this action serve me?
Why are we here?
What outcome do we want or expect?
What’s important to us? How will we discuss important issues and in what form?
How does the action serve my team? Can we do it differently to change the outcome?
What return on investment of time do my team and I get or expect?
Can I get the same outcome by doing something else or using another method?
Do I need to be present for this meeting or can I show up every now and then and still guide the group?
Repeat the messages you want to convey at each interaction—whether in a formal meeting or a chat in the hallway. Think of it like a long-term inoculation to ensure consistency.
Eventually, hand over the reins for the meeting to others. Your team should be able to run the meetings effectively without you when, for whatever reasons, you can’t join them.
Stand-up meetings are great because they ensure less time sitting (and are therefore good for your health), but they don’t guarantee important encouragement and support.
Here’s how one of my clients, a major airline in Florida uncovered the key to effective use of meeting time.
The company had instituted a business review meeting, whereby managers and supervisors would get together on all three shifts to look at performance, plan the month ahead, solve problems together, and take actions.
The meetings created a wonderful forum for aligning the teams, developing a common messaging from leadership, and working on tasks together, not separately.
Too often, the shift teams did their own thing without connecting to the other shifts, and as a result, they often unintentionally affected overall team performance.
At the airline, weekly business review meetings became very successful, but then they began to take on a life of their own. Over time, they became two-hour sessions that didn’t accomplish much.
New leaders swooped in and got rid of these ineffective meetings entirely. They failed to determine the original purpose for the meetings or if the workforce got any value out of them. As it turned out, the mid-level managers and supervisors missed having face time with their leaders to discuss business together.
The new leadership listened to the feedback and formulated a new agenda for the meetings, limiting them to onl
y an hour, with a strict focus on performance reviews and recognition of accomplishments and right actions. The new business review meetings succeeded in driving performance improvements and team integration.
Rogue leaders envision impact. They cultivate awareness beyond the usual day-to-day perspective and make sure they add value and not just take action for its own sake.
One of the best strategic thinkers I have worked with was previously mentioned: John Kurz. He could see the connection between his daily responsibilities and the future of his company, constantly asking himself, “Do my actions work for the benefit of the organization?” Always acting with purpose, he actively sought feedback and patiently moved his organization forward.
35.
The Gold Mine in Your Backyard
Frontline and Middle Managers
It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.
—Nelson Mandela, world leader
To measure the quality of your leadership. you only need one yardstick. What did you and your team accomplish? Of course, no leader “is an island”—no leader operates alone. All his or her achievements involve dedicated teamwork. Leaders succeed by giving their people the space to succeed—to excel, grow, create, innovate, and overcome obstacles. That’s your main purpose. So, let’s tackle the platitudes right now . . .
1. Results measure success. Perhaps . . . but what did you leave on the table? What potential went unrealized? Did you create intrinsic value—quality and not just quantity?
2. Leaders are born, not made. Yep and yep. Leaders who surround themselves with people with great minds who challenge the status quo will grow and do better.
Rogue Leadership Page 11