~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. May 2003 - Volume 6, Issue 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment - A Matter of Trust * Leadership@Large - Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview - Credibility Counts, Part 1 * Quick Quotes - The Value of Humility ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A MATTER OF TRUST By Dr. John C. Maxwell In the fall of 1982, seven people in Chicago's West Side died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide. When the deaths were linked to Tylenol, executives at Johnson & Johnson were faced with a monumental choice: shirk responsibility and assert that the tampering had occurred after the product had reached store shelves, or hold themselves accountable for the entire disaster and take drastic steps to restore trust in their brand and their company. They chose the latter. They immediately told customers across the country not to consume any Tylenol products until they could determine the extent of the tampering. They halted all advertising and production of the brand. And they recalled all Tylenol capsules from the market-- about 31 million bottles with a retail value of more than $100 million. These actions, along with other steps Johnson & Johnson took when it reintroduced Tylenol later, helped restore the public's faith in the company. The fact that corporate leaders valued character more than their own success is a key reason why Johnson & Johnson was able to emerge from this crisis with its good reputation--and its most profitable brand--still intact. You may not be guiding a large corporation through a national public relations nightmare, but maintaining the trust of the people you lead is as important to you as restoring the trust of the American public was to Johnson & Johnson in the early '80s. That's because leadership functions on the basis of trust; it is the foundation upon which every relationship--at work, at home, in the community or anywhere else--is built. As the makers of Tylenol realized, trust isn't automatic; it must be earned. You can't demand it from others; you receive it. But you receive it only when you have three key attributes: character, competence and consistency. These three must mesh together for you to build trust and receive trust from the people you are leading. Of course, once you have the trust of your people, you have to maintain it. If you slack off and start thinking only of yourself, you'll betray that trust and your ability to lead will be severely compromised. Fortunately, there are certain steps you can take to keep that from happening. Here are a few: 1. Focus on shared goals more than personal agendas. Never forget the fact that you are leading your company, office, team or department for the benefit of the people. When it comes to trust, it's not all about you. 2. Stay away from politics. Let it be known that you can't be bought. Don't even think about going down that road. 3. Do the right thing regardless of personal risk. If doing what's right causes you to get hurt, then grit your teeth and take the pain. That's what it means to be a leader. 4. Be accountable to others. Don't rely solely on your own judgment to keep you on track. Ask a few trusted colleagues or mentors to keep tabs on how you're doing in all these areas. 5. Follow the Golden Rule. Treat people the way you want to be treated. It's that simple. 6. Make sure what you say matches what you do. This is, by far, the best way to earn and maintain the trust of the people you're leading. On the flip side, the quickest way to betray their trust is to say one thing and do another. If you want a concrete example of this, I have one word for you: Enron. Next time you visit your local pharmacy, swing by the over-the- counter painkillers aisle and survey the number of products that bear the Tylenol brand. Burn that image in your mind and call it up occasionally, just to remind yourself about the importance of trust in your role as a leader. As Warren Bennis says, "Without [trust], the leader cannot function." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MODERN MASTERS You might not be able to draw a horse or paint a garden scene to save your life, but if a University of Chicago economist is right, you may have more in common with Picasso or Cezanne than you think. While investigating the relationship between age and earning power for 125 renowned artists, David W. Galenson came up with two archetypes that explain the way people innovate. Picassos, reports Business 2.0's Thomas Mucha, are "bold, conceptual thinkers who peak early and innovate in dramatic leaps," while Cezannes are "patient experimentalists who gradually improve with age." Since conducting his original study on artists, Galenson has found similar divisions with poets, economists and corporate executives. Modern business leaders who fit the Picasso mold include Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft when he was 20, and Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, who developed the Mosaic browser when he was in college. Notable Cezannes include Intel CEO Craig Barrett who "brings an engineer's rationality to the job," and General Motors CEO G. Richard Wagoner, who has "climbed GM's corporate ladder since 1977." Organizations that want to grow and prosper must find the right balance between these two types of leaders. "A youthful flash of innovation can make your company hot," writes Mucha, "while steady, mature management can help build lasting greatness." _________________________________________________________________ MANAGING CONFLICT The ability to manage conflict successfully is a mark of an effective leader, but according to the Center for Creative Leadership, it also is one of the most difficult skills for leaders to develop. Over a two-year period, 1,144 managers completed a CCL feedback tool that measures a number of job-related skills necessary for management success. More than 50 percent of these individuals were rated by an immediate supervisor as "ineffective at managing conflict," the CCL reported in a recent newsletter. On top of that, the ability to "confront others skillfully" was listed as a developmental need by more than 40 percent of the 7,000-plus peers and employees who provided input. Continual conflict can damage productivity, cooperation and communication, the CCL states, while effective conflict management can lead to better decision making and a workplace that fosters creativity and innovation. "To manage conflict, leaders must learn to recognize it and then address it," says the CCL's Al Calarco. "Many people ignore it and hope it will go away, often resulting in more conflict." For more information, see: http://www.ccl.org/news/update/april03/conflict.htm _________________________________________________________________ GUEST COMMENTS: THE MARKS OF DISTINCTION By Mark Sanborn How do you as a leader grow your organization? There are only two ways. In my work with more than 1,500 clients over nearly 20 years, the only two ways I've ever seen used to grow any business in any industry are these: Grow yourself and grow your people. All increases in productivity, innovation, profitability, strategic direction, superior service and operational excellence flow from the ability of leaders and their teammates. The big question, then, is this: Towards what end are you growing yourself, your people and, ultimately, your business? A common response from many managers is usually something about "being excellent" or "pursuing excellence." But in these competitive times, that's not enough. To prosper in business today, you must go beyond the pursuit of excellence. Excellence in business is a good thing, but it isn't the best thing. Here's why: 1. Excellence is relatively easy to accomplish. A good copycat watches what the industry leader is doing and then does the same things. If you're only excellent, you're vulnerable. 2. Excellence is a moving target. Today's "excellent" can be next month's "mediocre." In a competitive market, the trend is always towards better, so excellence can never be something you attain with finality. 3. The more excellent you become, the more demanding your customers become. A customer's expectations increase over time based on previous experience. Getting better drives up customer expectations. The biggest problem with excellence is that it isn't distinctive. The killer marketplace strategy is to be distinctive--to go beyond excellent to offer something distinct and unique to your company. That way if customers ever go somewhere else, they'll miss the distinction you represent and return. Three marks are common to all organizations that achieve distinction: engaged people, perpetual innovation and strategic execution. 1. Engaged people. It isn't enough to be passionate. Passion without appropriate focus is fanaticism. Engaged people are involved with their work and compelled to do what they do with panache. The challenge is to get people as engaged about their work as they are about their outside interests and hobbies. Engaged people work smarter, serve better and come up with new ideas. 2. Perpetual innovation. This includes both incremental and revolutionary improvements. The status quo is a myth. You're either getting better or you're getting worse. I first heard Woody Hayes, late coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, say those words more than 20 years ago and they are as true now as they were then. Innovation must be applied to everything: operations, products and even how we think and lead. 3. Strategic execution. You can write a million lines of computer code, but until you add the four characters ".exe", the code is worthless. Business dominance isn't about how much you know, but how well you apply and execute what you know. It's a matter of IQ. That doesn't stand for "intelligence quotient" but rather "implementation quotient", and that is the difference between common knowledge and consistent application. The future will be anything but boring. I hope you share my enthusiasm for challenge because as a leader, you have plenty of them. Aim higher than excellence in your leadership endeavors-- go for distinction. Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE, is president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea studio for leadership development (www.marksanborn.com). He has written several books, including "Upgrade! Proven Strategies for Dramatically Increasing Personal and Professional Success" and "The Fred Factor: Every Person's Guide to Making the Ordinary Extraordinary." He has shared his expertise on leadership, change, teamwork and service strategy in more than 1,700 speeches and seminars in every state and 10 foreign countries. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CREDIBILITY COUNTS, PART 1 It only takes a quick glance at Joyce Godwin's resume to discover that she knows a thing or two about leadership. In addition to a long list of increasingly responsible corporate positions (she was serving as chief administrative officer for a large healthcare system in New Mexico when she retired in 1993), this 60-year-old former executive also has a vast amount of corporate governance experience. Over the last 22 years, she has served on--and, in many cases, chaired--31 boards of directors for a variety of corporations and not-for-profit organizations, including a multi-billion-dollar energy services firm (Public Service Company of New Mexico) and an internationally known relief agency (World Vision). Not surprisingly, she has become quite adept at making sure these boards--including the eight she currently sits on--are using best practices and demonstrating excellence in all areas of their operation. We spoke with Godwin recently about her work and how it relates to leaders serving in any capacity. Here is the first half of our two-part interview. Leadership Wired: What are the most pressing leadership issues facing the leaders you're working with right now? Joyce Godwin: Because of all the corporate scandals in the last few years, a lot more attention is being placed on governance. I think this is typical; when there's a crisis, even when it's not a crisis that involves a particular company or organization, people start paying attention, and many of the things they're paying attention to are basic issues that perhaps have just been slighted over the years. With not-for-profits, people will look at things that are happening with companies such as Enron and Tyco, and say, "Well, those things don't happen here." But when you look at what caused those problems, there were boards that weren't paying attention, and the same thing that caused their downfall has happened in any number of not-for-profits. So people get a lot more serious about governance, and that's great because previously they took it for granted. Even if the board is not functioning at its best potential, the CEO often will think, "If it's not broke, let's not fix it. It could be better, but we don't have time to do this." But a good board can really help the entire organization. The better the board is, the better management is, and the more that management facilitates the board in becoming better, the more the board rises to that occasion. LW: What about issues not related to governance? Godwin: Looking at general day-to-day things, I think we're going to get into more of a panic of how things are doing in the economy. With downsizing and all the things happening in that realm, leaders tend to start scrambling about what they can do, and they spend time more on the "doing" part than on the "being" part with their people. Often the solutions are with the people, but the leaders disappear into themselves thinking, "I've got to save the company" or, "I've got to save my division" or, "I've got to save the jobs of my employees." They become more isolated rather than spending time with the people, seeking recommendations and providing encouragement. LW: How does this affect communication between leaders and the employees they are leading? Godwin: Communication starts dwindling when things get difficult. When people need more communication, it seems as if it's less, and when there's a communication void, people make up their own things to fill that void. They think things are worse than they are. LW: How can a leader avoid the tendency to become isolated and withdrawn during tough times? Godwin: It is really important for leaders to be transparent. It's important, if they're in a situation where they're not yet clear what to do, to share that, but to say how they're figuring out what to do. In times of difficulty, leaders think they have to be stronger and know it all rather than being able to tell their people, "This is a difficult time, and at this point, I'm not sure how to proceed, and so I'm going to be depending on you to give me some ideas." If leaders are people of faith, it's important to talk about how they rely on their faith—to talk about prayer or, if they are in some kind of accountability group, of how they're depending on their accountability partners. LW: President Bush is an example of someone who does this, isn't he? Godwin: Yes, I understand that he is a man of strong faith and he willingly shares with those who surround him, his dependence on prayer. People respond to that. Just so the leadership is not wallowing in, "I don't know what to do" but is very positive in saying, "I don't know what to do yet, but I've got experienced, intellectually honest people around me and I've got my faith to sustain me." This helps people rally and realize they're all in something together. People see through pretending. It's not credible when the leader is saying, "Oh, everything is going to come out fine, we've done this before," and then the next week there are layoffs and then the next week a division closes. That really is a problem! The same thing happens with the board when the CEO is not being honest or is thinking the board only wants to hear good news. They haven't developed a culture where the board wants to hear things as they are. So the CEO is saying everything is good, even faking information for it to be good, and any other person who is presenting something to the board is told to make it a good news report, when the board really needs to hear that's not the way things are. In that situation, people are living in this pretend world, and then when it collapses, you think, who didn't ask the questions, who didn't get the information they needed? -- Interview by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor. (Editor's note: In the next edition of "Leadership Wired," Joyce will talk about how to change the "good-news-only" type culture she discussed in her last answer.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE VALUE OF HUMILITY "I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men." - Lao-Tzu "The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient." - St. Augustine "After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser." - Benjamin Franklin _________________________________________________________________ Leadership Wired is written by Dr. John C. Maxwell and is available via e-mail on a free subscription basis. You can subscribe at: http://www.INJOY.com/Newsletters. Questions about document transmission or editorial comments? Contact mailto:feedback@INJOY.com. Visitors may use the information contained in this e-newsletter by placing the following credit line: "This article is used by permission from Dr. John C. Maxwell's free monthly e-newsletter 'Leadership Wired' available at www.INJOY.com." This information cannot be used for resale in any manner. Copyright (c) 2003, INJOY, Inc.