~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. June 2004 - Volume 7, Issue 11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment - What Is Success? * Leadership@Large - Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview - Getting Past Resistance * Quick Quotes - Secrets of Success ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT IS SUCCESS? By Dr. John C. Maxwell Ray Kroc, the former milkshake machine distributor who founded McDonald's when he was in his early 50s, once made an insightful statement about the relationship between luck and achievement. "Luck is a dividend of sweat," he said. "The more you sweat, the luckier you get." Compare Kroc's rather tongue-in-cheek comment to the lottery mindset that some people actually have about success. "Some day my number will come up," they think. "I'll be at the right place at the right time and voila! I'll find my four-leaf clover and achieve all my dreams. All I need to be successful is a little bit of luck." With that kind of attitude, success is the last thing those folks will ever experience. Unfortunately, the idea that successful individuals are "just lucky" is not the only erroneous notion many people have about success or what it takes to be successful. Here are several other incorrect thoughts that can hamper a person's ability to succeed. 1. Success is mystical. People who have this view aren't exactly sure what it is that makes someone successful. But they believe that, once they discover that elusive "secret to success" themselves, they'll be well on their way to reaching their desired level of achievement. 2. Success is viewed with suspicion. Individuals who fall prey to this myth are constantly looking at successful people and asking questions such as, "Who did they take advantage of? Who did they make money off? Who did they run over to get where they are?" They simply can't believe that anyone could become truly successful without taking shortcuts or using other people. 3. Success equals hard work. This is the theory that says, "The early bird gets the worm, and if you want to be successful, all you have to do is work your tail off from sunup to sundown." This idea looks good on paper, but it doesn't always pan out in real life. I firmly believe in the virtue of hard work, but I also know lots of very hard workers who haven't been very successful. 4. Success is an event. If you have this mindset, you are constantly looking for that milestone event—a powerful conference, a key decision, an important meeting, the attainment of a specific title—that is going to be the turning point in your quest for success. Unfortunately, success doesn't hinge on any one event or place; it's a growth process—a journey. 5. Success triggers envy. This can take many different forms. There's blatant envy—"Why does she get all the accolades and all the responsibility and not me? It's not fair." Other times, the jealousy comes across as passive resignation: "Success comes naturally to him, but it's never going to come to me. It's simply beyond my reach." 6. Success is in the future. It's one thing to be optimistic about the future. But it's another thing entirely to think that, if you're patient, you're just going to happen upon success someday. You're more likely to find a pot of gold on your driveway tomorrow morning than you are to find success "somewhere over the rainbow." 7. Opportunity equals success. People who hold this common misconception think, "If I could just get one big break, then I'd be on my road to success." They're waiting for the right opportunity to fall into their laps—the big break that will change their lives forever. 8. Success hinges on a relationship. In other words, it's not your fault that you're not successful. You were simply born into the wrong family. Or you didn't make the right friends in college. Or you haven't made the right connections in your industry yet. But as soon as you meet the right person, you'll be on your way. Do any of these ideas sound familiar? Perhaps you know people who hold these views. Or maybe, if you're honest, you have thought them yourself. If so, I'm here to tell you that success is within your reach right now. It's not some pie-in-the-sky concept that only comes true for a select, privileged few. It's attainable for you—today. The secret to success can't be found in some mystical self-help book. It is determined by your willingness to improve yourself and your commitment to starting that process now—not tomorrow, not next week—but today. In the next few issues of "Leadership Wired," I'm going to give you some insights about improvement that will help you either to lay the groundwork for success or to build upon the success you've already achieved. In the meantime, don't put off until tomorrow what you can achieve today. If you want to succeed, start growing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DELVING INTO THE PAST There's a new trend in executive coaching: leaders are being encouraged to study their family backgrounds in an effort to address relational problems at work. According to "Business Week" writer Michelle Conlin, the general idea is that "people tend to recreate their family dynamics at the office." For example, a CEO who never got approval from his parents might, in turn, subconsciously treat his employees as if nothing they ever do is quite good enough. Other signs that a person's family background might be affecting his workplace relationships include "highly emotional, intense reactions," as well as "an inability to maintain a reflective distance, repeated outbursts of anger, and having the same battles with the same people over and over," Conlin says. By shining a spotlight on their clients' family roots, coaches help executives understand why they act the way they do in certain situations—particularly when they are under stress. The leaders "learn to recognize the shadowy emotional subtext that drives many encounters, deconstructing how they may be subconsciously sabotaging themselves, shying from authority figures, or engaging in hypercritical judgments of subordinates," Conlin writes. Not everyone is in favor of "therapy invading the office," of course. Nevertheless, this type of coaching is growing more popular as "corporations become ever more cognizant that talented employees quit bosses, not companies, and that CEOs often get hired for their skills—and fired for their personalities," Conlin writes. For more information, see: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_19/b3882077.htm _________________________________________________________________ LESSONS FROM THE FRONT LINES Recently, Inc. writer Nicole Gull sat down with former Marine Jason Santamaria to discuss how certain lessons the military has learned from the war in Iraq might apply in business settings. Here are two of the points she gleaned from Santamaria, a co-author of "The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization." 1. "Moving fast confuses the competition." In March 2003, Iraqi troops were caught off guard when the United States quickly switched from air to ground attacks. This may have been why Saddam Hussein's troops didn't set oil wells ablaze as they did in the previous Gulf War. In a business setting, leaders can imitate the technique the Marines call "tempo" by "focusing on innovation and new product development," Gull writes. 2. "Decentralized decision making works." Yes, it's risky. But if power is not shifted down through the ranks (as it has been in the Marines during the invasion and occupation of Iraq), "decision making in moments of intense pressure can be inefficient," Gull writes. The application for businesses is that the people with "interaction in the market" should be empowered to make decisions, Santamaria says. For more information, see: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20040501/update.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GETTING PAST RESISTANCE Why do organizational change efforts often fail? Studies have shown that faulty ideas and incorrect technology are not to blame. Rather, the biggest culprit is the human aspect of resistance, says Rick Maurer, a change management expert who has written several books, including "Beyond the Wall of Resistance." According to Maurer, resistance is a big problem in business today because leaders either ignore it or view it as a bad thing. Neither is the correct approach, Maurer says. We recently spoke with him about how to spot resistance and then manage it effectively. Leadership Wired: How do you define resistance to change? Rick Maurer: I use the definition out of one of Webster's dictionaries which is "anything that slows or stops movement." But the big thing about that is I don't put a value judgment on resistance the way many people do. In other words, I don't see it as a bad thing. As a matter of fact, I think quite often it can be a good thing. The first time I ever did a presentation on resistance was here in the Washington, D.C., area where I live. There was black ice on the roads—it's icy and you can't see it. I was giving my speech, and I said, "I think resistance is a good thing." A woman in the audience said, "Well, of course it is. We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for resistance. It's called traction." I think that's what resistance is. It's traction. When you say, "I hate your idea," I can say either, "There she goes again," or, "Huh, I wonder if she might be seeing something I'm not seeing." If I'm willing to look at it that way, then suddenly the resistance takes on a different meaning for me. Resistance is simply another way of looking at the situation. LW: If resistance to change is a big issue in business today, and if one of the roles of a leader is to be a change agent, this could pose quite a challenge. Maurer: Yes, it could. But it's not a huge problem for those leaders who understand what resistance is because those people anticipate it, so they're able to do things to ward off problems. For instance, I'm working with an organization right now that has to cut costs by 20 percent. This is huge. They absolutely know that people are going to resist it. By the leaders putting themselves in the shoes of the rest of the people in the company, they're thinking, "Wow, people are going to be afraid about their jobs, they're going to be afraid about all kinds of things." And by anticipating that, they're able to plan for the change more effectively. They're getting people involved in the change. They're doing a much better job of communicating why a change is critical right now. They are trying to address why before how. People need to understand why something is needed before they're interested in how to do it. A typical way of trying to influence people in organizations is through PowerPoint. Often, the first three slides deal with why change is needed and then the next 150 mind-numbing slides deal with how we're going to do it. The problem is, your audience isn't with you. They're not interested in what department it's going to start in or any of that until they say, "Oh, I see why we need to do something." Then they can shift gears and say, "OK, so is this idea one that could help us out of this mess or help us respond to this opportunity to what's sitting in front of us right now?" LW: I can see how people might resist downsizing and restructuring efforts. Can you give me some examples of other types of changes that might trigger unexpected resistance? Maurer: It can be really tiny things. The leader says, "I think we need to start selling this new product." Or, "I think we need to move away from that sector and move over here." Or, "I think we need to relocate our office from the third floor to the fifth floor." Or, "I've got a new project and I think it's critical that this become a top priority for the rest of the year." Now, the leader may have great reasons for all of those things, and if you sat down and talked to that man or woman, you'd think, "Wow, that makes good sense." But every time you come up with an idea, it's interrupting somebody else's idea. People aren't sitting under logs waiting for you to bring light to their world. So every time you say, "Hey, let's go there, let's do that," no matter how small it is, it's an interruption. LW: What do people do at that point? How does the resistance manifest itself? Maurer: It can manifest in many different ways. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you get in-your-face criticism. Now, I know, it doesn't sound like you're lucky, but the good thing about that is you hear what's going on right away. Somebody says, "Wait a minute, where did you come up with that bonehead idea?" You get it right then. That's actually the best kind of resistance to have because you know where you stand. Another kind of resistance is silence. You're excited about this idea and you say, "Folks, I think we need to do something," and ...nothing. Now sometimes silence is just that people came back from lunch and they have no energy. But sometimes, if you're excited about something and you're getting no reaction, it may mean people have something to say and they're afraid to say it. And that's resistance. As one of my clients said, people can use "malicious compliance," which means they'll do just enough on your pet project to keep you off their back, but they won't do enough to really give you the kind of commitment you need. There are many other ways of spotting resistance. But the key thing is in your organization, there are going to be patterns. There are ways that resistance shows itself over and over and over again. So you just need to pay attention to that. LW: How do most leaders typically respond when their people resist to changes they're trying to implement? Maurer: They get defensive. When somebody has the courage to say, "Your idea isn't so great," a common reaction is to quit listening. If the leader has a lot of power, he or she can punish you. But what I see more often is that leaders will say, "That's just Joe's department again," and start blaming the people resisting. They'll say, "We've got to go ahead anyhow. It would be nice to get them on board, but we don't have time." LW: So how should leaders respond when people resist changes? Maurer: They need to be able to identify what kind of resistance it is. I've identified three levels. In simplest terms, they are: "I don't get it," "I don't like it," and "I don't like you." If I'm getting resistance, is it because people don't understand — they don't get it? If that's the case, PowerPoint or e-mail work fine. If it's "I don't like it," this is an emotional reaction against the change, and it's based in fear. I'm afraid that your idea is going to hurt me in some way. I'll lose my job. I'll lose face. I'm an old dog; I can't learn new tricks. If it's "I don't like you," the resistance will have to do with your lack of confidence in me and have nothing to do with the change itself. If I'm getting resistance as a leader, I need to identify the level of resistance I'm getting, because then I can pick out my strategy. For instance, what I call level three, having to do with trust and confidence, is the hardest one to deal with. I was working with a company last week and we started talking about the fact that people don't trust management. It doesn't have a lot to do with the individuals in the room; it's basically, they don't trust management in that company. So you could replace all the managers with a whole new set of characters and people still wouldn't trust them because it's historical. So what can you begin to do to regain trust? People have to get to know you. If you're the kind of leader who comes in and you do your presentation and you walk out of the room, don't do that anymore. Come early. Stay late. Ask questions. Sit down. Ask for comments. Ask for criticisms. Say, "I love my idea—what am I missing?" Ask for the resistance, because then it doesn't feel like resistance and not only that, you still control the environment. You can say, "What could go wrong? What are the blind spots? What might I miss?" And people start to go, "Oh, something's different here." If trust is low, the change won't happen overnight, but you need to begin to work on those trust issues. LW: What if the resistance falls into the "I don't like it" category? Maurer: You need to find out what are they afraid of. This is going to sound odd, but if people are afraid they're going to lose their jobs, be absolutely honest and tell them. People can handle the truth better than they can handle ambiguity, because the ambiguity gets turned into these incredible rumors and suspicions. Often, it can be the kind of thing that you can say, "I think we can do this in a way that will actually secure our employment. Here's why I think that. Would you be willing to work with me to try to come up with strategies so that we can go ahead with this project in a way that helps guarantee full employment?" Basically, you're taking the resistance and turning it around. There is no magic bullet, but I've seen leaders achieve great success by monitoring the three levels and adapting their strategies based on what they see and hear. - Interview by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SECRETS OF SUCCESS "The secret of success in life is for a person to be ready for opportunity when it comes." - Benjamin Disraeli "If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success." - John D. Rockefeller Jr. "To know how to wait is one of the great secrets of success." - James DeMaistre _________________________________________________________________ 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. 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