~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. August 2003 - Volume 6, Issue 15 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment - What's the Big Idea? * Leadership@Large - Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview - Getting Out Of the Box * Quick Quotes - Showing Appreciation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA? By Dr. John C. Maxwell To succeed in today's competitive environment, a leader must be able to develop and implement a winning strategy. It's one thing to toss out all kinds of ambitious dreams at a corporate planning retreat and naively believe that because your ideas look good on paper, you'll actually be able to accomplish some of them. It's another thing entirely to identify the one "big idea" that has real potential to take your company (or your department or team) to a new level of growth and then turn it into reality. Here are five steps to help you filter through all the lofty possibilities and hone in on the winning strategy that will spur you and your business to future success: 1. Identify your company's competitive advantages. What do you do better than anyone else? Do you make a better widget than all your competitors? Is your customer service second-to-none? Are you known for the quality of your work? The competence of your people? Do you set the standard when it comes to flexibility, innovation, speed or reliability? Pinpoint your competitive advantages and formulate your strategy around them. 2. Figure out the fundamental needs of your customers. Do they require customized services or products, or are they happy with the services and products you might offer to a variety of clients? Do they want on-site assistance or can they get the help they need through e-mail communication with members of your team? Do they value consistency and dependability, or are they more interested in creativity and cutting-edge technology? Don't base your big idea on what you think your customers need. Ask them what they need and figure out how you can meet those needs better than anyone else. 3. Keep a continuous eye on the competition. You don't operate in a vacuum. The other players in your industry want the business as much if not more than you do and they are constantly looking for ways to get it. Pay attention to what your existing and prospective clients are saying about what your competitors are doing. As you try to figure out ways to counteract your competitors' new strategies, you just might come up with a new big idea yourself. 4. Become a kaleidoscope thinker. Sometimes, the only way to solve a problem is to turn it over and over in your mind until a different approach or pattern emerges— one that often goes against the conventional way of doing things. Kaleidoscope thinking is challenging because we all get set in our ways after we've done something for a while. But it's a critical aspect of putting together a winning strategy. Big ideas often surface when you think outside the box and start looking at a familiar issue or situation in a different way. 5. Develop and utilize a creative team. The key to coming up with one great idea is to start with several good ideas. And the best way to create a pool of good ideas is to gather a team of innovative people around a table and practice what I call "shared thinking." The old adage "two heads are better than one" is absolutely true when it comes to putting together a winning strategy. As the leader, your job is to facilitate the process, but the generation of the big idea is often a group effort. It doesn't matter if your company is a start-up or an established enterprise with a long history of profitability. If you want to prosper in an era of ever-increasing competitive intensity, a winning strategy is a necessity. Past accomplishments will not guarantee future security. You must be able to generate a new big idea and then turn it into reality. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANOTHER REASON TO EXERCISE Although many senior-level leaders say they are too busy to exercise, data collected by the Center for Creative Leadership indicate that regular workouts and leadership effectiveness are closely linked. In comparing two sets of executives—a group whose members worked out regularly and a group whose members did not—CCL associates found that the exercisers rated "significantly higher" on leadership attributes such as global perspective, originality, risk-taking, adaptability and visionary thinking. "While it is difficult to imply cause and effect, these data do suggest that a regular exercise program need not be sacrificed in favor of the job," the CCL's Sharon McDowell-Larsen writes in a recent e-newsletter. The leaders who exercise regularly offered the following tips for making fitness a priority: * Set up a system to keep track of your workouts. "This serves as a reality check as to how much or how little exercise you are getting," says McDowell-Larsen. * When you're traveling, make it a point to choose hotels with fitness centers or health-club access. And get into the habit of using those facilities. * If you can't work out at the same time each day, practice a little flexibility. Fit exercise in when you can. * Multitask while you exercise. Read on the treadmill, listen to language tapes on the jogging trail or think through your workday in the weight room. For more information, see: http://www.ccl.org/connected/enews/articles/0703exercise.htm _________________________________________________________________ LEADERS ON LEADERSHIP Here are some pithy thoughts about leadership culled from recent editions of Fast Company magazine's daily First Impression e- newsletter. "The key to leadership is having people willing to follow you, if only out of curiosity to see what's going to happen." - Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape "Exercising leadership generates resistance—and pain." - Ronald Heifetz, director of the Leadership Education Project at Harvard's JFK School of Government "The first lesson I learned as a leader was that I must be willing to let people be mad at me." - Bobbi Silten, president, US Dockers and Slates, Levi Strauss & Co. "While leading, you need to let certain things go. Admittedly, you aren't really in control." - Roger Nierenberg, creator and conductor of the Music Paradigm "If people are afraid to help their leaders lead, their leaders will fail." - Michael Useem, professor, the Wharton School _________________________________________________________________ GUEST COMMENTS: THE MAXIMUS PRINCIPLE By Chris Widener If you have seen the movie "Gladiator," you will remember the scene at the beginning of the movie when Maximus and his army are preparing to go to battle. In this scene, we see Maximus out on his horse riding through the woods scouting the enemy. He is developing his strategy for leading his organization, so to speak. Being an extraordinary leader, Maximus knows that timing is everything and he comes to the conclusion that in order to execute (no pun intended) his strategy, his organization needs to move on their vision now. Maximus goes to his VP of Operations and informs him that now is the time to move. The second in command is a little worried. He isn't quite the big picture guy that Maximus is. All he can see is that not everybody is ready to move now. Next is the interaction where we learn the Maximus Principle. Maximus says that it is time to strike. His second in command begins to say, "We can't do it yet. The men aren't ready and the casualties will be too great." That is what he begins to say. You can tell from the context. But what he actually gets out before Maximus interrupts him is, "We can't do it yet. The men aren't ready and the casualties will be..." How does Maximus end the sentence? "Acceptable." The Maximus Principle: "Casualties are Acceptable." For every "Chainsaw Al" we hear about in the popular media, there are hundreds and thousands of leaders who do care about the welfare of the people who follow them. In fact, I would say that most leaders I know genuinely care about the people who follow them. This is good, but it can be bad when we begin to misunderstand a basic principle of life and allow the realities of life to keep us from boldly leading and taking our organizations to the next level. Here are the facts: Anytime you move your organization to the next level, there will be casualties. Many leaders try to take their organizations forward with no casualties. But this is the fact: It cannot be done. Why is this? Human nature. Some people will not buy into your vision. Someone will think they can do it better than you. People will get discouraged and mad at you. People who you thought would support you will betray you. You will have to fire people because they can't go to the next level with the skills they have. Somewhere along the line, somebody will break down and they won't be able to make it to the next level. This is exactly the point where our leadership breaks down. Most leaders, having some sense of compassion, will wait until they feel they can get EVERYBODY to make it to the next level. As a result, four things happen that shouldn't: One, you miss an opportunity to become a better leader. Two, the organization misses its chance to move ahead. Three, the people in the organization miss out on their own advancement. Four, the casualties miss out on their opportunity to leave the organization and find a better spot for themselves in another organization. Everybody loses when we don't accept that casualties are a part of an organization's advancement! The extraordinary leader accepts casualties. Don't get me wrong. I am not in any way, shape or form suggesting that we look for casualties or even take glee in the casualties. No, casualties are a sad fact of life, but a fact of life nonetheless. We wish they didn't have to happen, but accept that they do and act accordingly. So let me ask you this: What have you resisted moving on because you are afraid of casualties? Here is your choice: Would you rather have your organization and your leadership be the casualty or have a few people in your organization be the casualties? Those are the only options. So where do we go from here? As I see it, we are left with this: 1. Accept casualties as a fact of life. 2. Find and develop the vision of where we want to take our organizations. 3. Lead boldly. 4. Try to minimize casualties. 5. Let some people go. 6. Enjoy the next stage when your organization gets there. You know, this is not just theory for me. I learned this lesson the hard way. Early in my career I had a strategic employee that I knew I had to let go. I mean, I KNEW it! But he was well liked and I figured that it would cause problems with others if I let him go, so I put up with a lot of junk for 6 years. I just didn't want any casualties. Finally, he had to go. The problem was that now, because he had ingrained himself into our organization even further (even though he had a poor work ethic, he was a nice guy and people liked him), there would be more casualties than had if I let him go years before. About 8 people got very angry even though they knew objectively that it had to happen. But they struggled with the human part of it. In the end, we had about 8 casualties because of the situation. It was upsetting. These were people who were friends who had worked alongside of me for years. Now they had to go. Casualties. Jump forward a few years. Where are we now? Our organization is stronger than ever. The people who left are doing great things. The casualties for our organization were the seed of our success - a little pruning, if you will. The people who left learned some things as well. Even the gentleman who was the focal point of all of this is doing well. He went to work for a friend of mine and seems to have learned his lessons. It was in accepting and allowing casualties that everything got better for everyone. It seems contrary to reason, but that is the way life works. I want to challenge you to take a long, hard look at your mindset as it relates to casualties. No matter where you find yourself, you can improve, you can move forward, and you can take your organization to the next level. Oh, and in case you didn't see "Gladiator," Maximus lost some men but won that battle! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GETTING OUT OF THE BOX For years, members of The Arbinger Institute have been teaching corporations, families and individuals about a little-known problem called "self-deception"—an attitudinal condition they assert is at the root of most personal and organizational difficulties. A few years ago, Arbinger's partners teamed up to put their ideas about self-deception in book form. The result of their efforts-- "Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box"--has been translated into 14 languages and has sold nearly 200,000 copies since it was first released in 2000. Written in the popular story format, the book follows a fictional executive named Tom through a rather unconventional senior management orientation process that casts a glaring spotlight on many of his flaws--leadership and otherwise. We recently spoke with Arbinger's Duane Boyce about the book and what it means to be "in the box." Leadership Wired: What is self-deception? Duane Boyce: Self-deception is the problem of not knowing that I have a problem. Think of it this way: If you ask a group of people to think of the worst person they've ever had to work with, everyone can come with someone. Then you ask this follow- up question: "Did they think they were so bad to work with?" and the answer is generally no. That's a concrete example of self- deception. People who are a problem don't know they are a problem. And that's why self-deception is the problem really at the root of all other problems: Nobody changes because nobody thinks they need to change. LW: In the book, you say that when someone is self-deceived, they are "in the box." Describe how such a person acts and thinks. Boyce: The box is simply a metaphor for talking about self- deception. In the box, I blame other people. I exaggerate their faults. I exaggerate my virtues. In general, I'm focused on myself. This is why people who are in the box create problems, and it's why people in the box can't get good results. You can't do all those things and focus on results at the same time. LW: According to the book, when you're in the box, you see other people as objects, and when you're out of the box, you see them as people. Explain that a little bit more. Boyce: When I'm in the box toward you, you're not a person with feelings, wishes and contributions of your own. All you are to me is someone who's in my way, someone I can use or someone who doesn't matter. In that respect, you're a mere object. When I'm out of the box, I see you with needs, feelings, desires, wants and difficulties of your own, just like I have. So I have a natural sense of interest in you and your success. I see you to be just as real as I am. But in the box, I never do. Nobody's ever as real as I am when I'm in the box, so I don't ever really care about anyone else's success. All this happens because when I'm in the box, I am seeing the world in a way that justifies me. To me, the world is populated by objects who don't deserve help and who don't deserve my resources, so I'm able to go forward just thinking of myself. LW: How prevalent is this problem? Boyce: It's universal. Everybody is in the box to some degree or another part of the time. Which means everybody, part the time, is failing to focus on results. You can speak the language of results in the box, but it's never the truth. In the box, we are always more focused on ourselves than we are on achieving results. LW: If you don't know you're in the box, how can you get out of the box, and how do you stay out of the box? Boyce: The short answer to the question, "How do I get out of the box?" is simply this: To cease resisting other people; to stop justifying ourselves by seeing them as mere objects. LW: What are you doing when you're not resisting other people? Boyce: I stop inflating their faults. I stop inflating my virtue. I stop blaming. When I realize I'm in the box and what my box is doing to other people, that realization changes me. LW: Is there an antidote to self-deception? Boyce: First, let's be clear about the problem. The way I get into the box is to betray myself. I betray what I feel I should do for another person, and I begin to see them in a way that justifies that betrayal. And that's where inflation of their faults and so on comes from. When I betray myself, I begin to see them in a way that justifies my not helping them; that's how they become mere objects to me. Well, it just sounds too obvious, but the antidote then is to stop betraying myself--to do what I feel is right. And that's just another way of saying to stop resisting other people. LW: Can you give me an example of this type of betrayal? Boyce: Let's say a colleague of mine is making a presentation in a meeting and it's not going too well. Let's imagine that she's actually proposing an idea that I agree with. Let's suppose I have a thought that I ought to speak up and help her, but I don't. I will immediately begin justifying why I'm not helping her, and that will include blaming her. "Why can't she make a good presentation? She doesn't deserve to have me come to her rescue. She can't even be prepared enough to make a good presentation." Now notice what's happening--I'm simply in the box. I'm now seeing her in a way that justifies my not raising my hand and helping her. There's a simple example of self- betrayal. LW: What difference does this make in an organization and in the life of a leader? Boyce: Well, think about this case. While I'm sitting there blaming my colleague, am I focused on achieving results? Am I thinking about what's best for the company? No. I'm focused on myself. And this happens a thousand times a day in a thousand different ways in every organization. Nobody is ever really focused on the results of the organization when they're in the box. LW: They're focused on themselves. Boyce: Exactly. And as a leader, if I'm in the box, I'll be focused on myself as well. It doesn't matter if I've mastered the language of leadership, or even if I've mastered various skills. If I'm in the box, I'm just thinking of myself. You can have a whole organization of leaders and other employees who are just not focused on results. LW: And then what happens when they realize all of this and they take steps to not be in the box? Boyce: People for the first time are free and they really do focus on results. It's amazing how much better job I can do when I'm actually trying. LW: Why did you choose to put this message in the form of a story? Boyce: We wanted to create a reading experience that would allow the reader to identify with the ideas so they wouldn't just stay intellectual. The book sort of sneaks up on you, and that's the value of the story. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHOWING APPRECIATION "Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish." - Sam Walton "When people are made to feel secure and important and appreciated, it will no longer be necessary for them to whittle down others in order to seem bigger in comparison." - Virginia Arcastle "If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you." - Bear Bryant _________________________________________________________________ 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.