~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. December 2004 - Volume 7, Issue 24 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment – Get Connected * Leadership@Large – Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview – Timeless Wisdom * Quick Quotes – Out with the Old ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GET CONNECTED By Dr. John C. Maxwell When I was growing up, I was pretty good at getting into trouble. I wasn't a bad kid. But I did have a high energy level and a creative mind, which, as you can imagine, often led me into all kinds of mischief. Once, when my fourth-grade teacher was playing the piano with her back to the class, I talked all my classmates into sneaking out of the room and into the hallway. Mrs. Tacy didn't even know we were gone until she finished her song and turned around. That kind of behavior might have caused some teachers to write me off as a troublemaker, but not Mrs. Tacy. Despite all the orneriness I displayed in her class, she saw my potential. And she loved me in spite of my conduct. Back then, Mrs. Tacy was my favorite teacher. Even now, her memory brings a smile to my face because she truly made a difference in my life. As a leader, I'm attracted to people who make a difference. I've found that these individuals - I call them "make-a-difference people" - are greater on the inside than they are on the outside. They think differently - their minds are like crock pots, not microwaves. When they talk, their words inspire, probe, challenge and move. Beyond all that, make-a-difference people encourage me. They expand me. They engage me. And they empower me to become better. As leaders, we should all strive to make a difference - at work, in our communities, with our families, and so on. Beyond that, if we want to be truly successful, we all need to have at least a few make-a-difference people on our teams. That's easier said than done, of course. You can't always tell by looking at someone if she has what it takes to contribute something significant. I've already given you some characteristics that set such people apart. Before I add to that list, however, let me share two traits that do not automatically place people in the make-a- difference category. First, it's not about giftedness. I have known some extremely talented people who never accomplished much because they were lazy, undisciplined and self-centered. And secondly, it's not about position or title. Just because someone has an impressive resume does not mean he will make a difference on your team. If I had to think of one word to describe what sets make-a- difference people apart from everyone else, it would be the word connected. I'm not talking about being connected in a name- dropping sense; it goes much deeper than that. Here are three key ways that difference-makers are connected. 1. Make-a-difference people are connected to the leader. They don't wait for this connection to happen by itself, either. They take the initiative, because they understand that everything rises and falls on leadership. If you want to be successful, find a leader who makes good things happen and get close to that person. It doesn't have to be your boss; in fact, it could be someone in a totally different profession. Just hook up with a leader who makes a difference, and soon you will be making a difference too. 2. Make-a-difference people are connected to the vision. As John Sculley said, "The future belongs to those who see the possibilities before they become obvious." Vision isn't just something you see; it's something you hear. What should you be listening for? Let's start with three voices. * The inner voice. This is the voice inside that pulls you above the mundane and says, "You were born for something better than this. You were created to do something great." * The unhappy voice. This is the voice of discontentment that says, "I don't like things just as they are." Great leaders create change because of the internal voice that proclaims, "Things could be better. Things should be better. And there's something I could do to make it better." * The successful voice. This is the inspirational voice of somebody who's already climbed the mountain and is saying, "I'm up here and there's room at the top. Come on up—you don't have to stay down there!" 3. Make-a-difference people are connected to others who want to make a difference. People who want to make a difference spend time with other people who want to make a difference. And people who don't care about making a difference hang around with other people who don't care about making a difference. Like attracts like. If you want to be a make-a-difference person, get connected to a good leader, a powerful vision, and other people who want to make a difference. And then get busy. As Mrs. Tacy's example proves, no matter who you are or what you do, you have plenty of opportunities to make a difference in your world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ READING 101 If you spend much time in the business/leadership section of your favorite bookstore, you've probably noticed that the genre is thriving - to say the least. Fast Company reports that 5,301 titles "claiming to be about business" were published last year, up 30 percent from three years ago. When it comes to subject rankings, business books are now the third most popular category, trailing only romance and religion. That's all well and good. But with so many books to choose from and so little time to read, it's often difficult - not to mention frustrating - to get the most out of any given title. Fortunately, help comes in the form of a handy little Fast Company article titled "How to Read a Business Book." Here are a few highlights: * Take what you read with a "big grain of salt." "Business books are necessarily about generalizations; your company is necessarily all about specifics," writes FC's Jennifer Reingold. "No one strategy or approach to marketing, no matter how brilliant, can be an exact fit. So don't just Xerox every page and try to perfectly replicate every single example." * Find the main idea. Consultant and author Ram Charan advises readers that to figure out a book's key idea, you need to "determine under which conditions it's a good idea and under which conditions it's a bad idea," then identify the next logical idea that springs from it. "That's how you get to creative solutions," writes Reingold. * The more you read - from a variety of authors - the more you learn. "The world is such a complicated place," Bain & Co. partner Darrell Rigby tells Fast Company. "Nobody has a monopoly on business truths or effective business principles." For more information, see: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/88/built-to-last-fasttake2.html. _________________________________________________________________ FINDING YOUR VOICE Leaders who have been longing to sharpen their saws with more life-management wisdom from bestselling author Stephen Covey got an early Christmas present in November when Simon & Schuster released the long-awaited print sequel to "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." Appropriately titled "The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness," the book instructs readers how to "find your voice and inspire others to find theirs." "Simply, Habit 8 asserts that everyone has an inner longing to seize the day and live a life of contribution," USA Today's Del Jones writes in a recent article about Covey. "It requires heavy lifting, and Covey challenges readers to get there." His challenge isn't necessarily a quick, easy read - "The 8th Habit is 50 pages longer than the original seven combined," Jones reports. Given Covey's international popularity, "The 8th Habit" is a shoo -in bestseller. But only time will tell if this much-longer discussion of one habit will be as popular with readers as "The 7 Habits," which has sold 15 million copies in the 15 years since it was first published. For more information about Covey's new book, as well as an intriguing look at some of the "unpublished habits" that he lives by, see: http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-11-08-covey-usat_x.htm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TIMELESS WISDOM It might seem like a strange leap to go from teaching philosophy at Notre Dame University to addressing large corporate audiences about how ancient wisdom can be used to enhance morale and productivity. Tom Morris, chairman of the Morris Institute for Human Values in Wilmington, N.C. (www.MorrisInstitute.com), certainly never expected to make such a transition. But although he had fun in the classroom, he says he's now having the time of his life working with adults in every sort of organization imaginable. Morris has written numerous books, including "True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence" and the provocatively titled "If Aristotle Ran General Motors: The New Soul of Business." We visited with him recently about corporate spirit in America and what modern-day business leaders can do to reinvent it. Leadership Wired: How did you make the switch from philosophy professor to corporate advisor? Tom Morris: I think life is supposed to be a series of adventures. I had a great time at Notre Dame, in some years teaching an eighth of the entire student body the wisdom of the ages, passing on to them the greatest ideas that have stood the test of time. In the midst of all this, the South Bend [Indiana] Chamber of Commerce asked me to speak to a group of business leaders on what ethics is really all about. I gave them an energetic hour on what the great thinkers had to say about ethics and how I believe their distinctive perspectives can change our lives and institutions in positive ways. The people there responded with great enthusiasm, and that sparked an avalanche of speaking invitations that continues to accelerate. Now, I'm able to work with every sort of group in the nation about truly sustainable success, ethics, partnership and change. I'm seeing people come alive to real wisdom and then go back to work with a heightened perspective on the good they can do in their jobs. LW: Is there a hunger for this type of thinking among business leaders today? If so, what's driving the hunger? Morris: There is a tremendous hunger today for real wisdom, for ideas that touch the core of human nature and for deeper guidelines about living and working well. I've watched this interest grow over the last 10 years and peak in just the past four or five. To explain why it's happening now, I love to quote Winston Churchill, who once said, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - once they've exhausted every other possibility." That's funny, and too often true. Having tried everything else, people are turning to ancient wisdom for more reliable guidance. More people than ever seem to sense that something is wrong in our national life, in many of our businesses, in our communities and in too many of our families. We're living and working without a robust philosophy of life to guide us in our daily decisions. The biblical Book of Proverbs has a statement that is often translated, "Without a vision, people perish." Too many people have been living and working without an overarching vision for their lives and communities. As a result, people perish. And this is a wake-up call to everyone that more is at stake in life than just what meets the eye. Some of the deeper human issues are the most important. If we don't get them right, we won't get anything else right. This is what people are starting to realize. LW: What are the four foundations of personal and business excellence? How did you come up with this list? Morris: After many academic books, my first book on business and life was called "True Success." In it, I explored what all the great philosophers had to say about sustainable and satisfying success. The more I wrote and spoke on this topic, the more I came to realize that goal setting and goal attainment is only half the picture for overall, long-term excellence in any endeavor. There is, in addition, a side of work life that most business and motivational speakers have neglected, and it involves the question of what makes people feel truly fulfilled and happy in their work, as well as how this can function as a foundation for enduring excellence. In a second book, "If Aristotle Ran General Motors," I laid out four foundations for personal happiness and business excellence: truth, beauty, goodness and unity. If we can understand these four things that every human being needs to experience, we can master the ultimate conditions for attaining and sustaining excellence in whatever we do. I arrived at these four foundations by examining what the greatest philosophers believed about human nature. Ultimately, there are four dimensions to our experience of the world, four sides of our nature that need to be respected and nurtured. We have an intellectual dimension that needs truth. Human beings can't flourish without truth, and organizations struggle without it. We also have an aesthetic dimension that requires an experience of beauty in our daily lives. Beauty brings out creativity and spurs us on to great things. We need to be able to create a beautiful solution to a client's problem or a beautiful new way of doing things. If people believe they're doing something beautiful, they feel great about their work, and that is a foundation for doing their very best. There is a moral dimension to human experience that needs goodness. We need to sense that we live and work in a context of fairness, kindness and integrity. Otherwise, we never feel free to take risks, and we are never fully motivated to put out that extra effort. The most ethical enterprises have the happiest people as team members, and happy, fulfilled people can dig deep, get really creative and make amazing things happen. Finally, there is a spiritual dimension to human life. I'm not talking about creedal belief or institutional affiliation here. I'm talking about a level of need that everyone has. It's that dimension of our experience that moves toward a sense of unity or connectedness. When people feel disconnected at work, alienated from their colleagues and from the overall goals of the enterprise, that's a real problem. When people feel connected, in harmony with their context, and feel like they're part of something noble, they're motivated to do their best even in difficult circumstances. If the inner spirit of people is healthy, then the overall corporate spirit of the organization grows strong. LW: What do you mean by corporate spirit? What is the state of corporate spirit today? Morris: I speak to so many different organizations, I've learned to sense the spirit of the people in the room pretty quickly. Some workplaces are very subdued, some are tense and stressful, and others are full of excitement and positive emotion. Where are people going to feel their best and do their best? I think the spirit of an organization is an effect of how the people in that organization treat each other. How do they interact? Is there an environment of fear or of expectant hope and energy? The issue of corporate spirit has been neglected for far too long, and we're seeing the consequences of that in many ways. The current state of corporate spirit in America runs the full range of the spectrum. In many companies, morale is low because of legal problems, investigations, fines, treacherous behavior on the part of executives and a foreboding sense that everyone is dispensable. But in other companies, corporate spirit is strong. People feel respected and honored for their work; they believe their work is good, and this energizes them for whatever they face. Corporate spirit doesn't just depend on how things are going for the company, in terms of the market or the stock price. Even in difficult times, organizations guided by the famous Golden Rule find a way to create conditions in which people gladly throw themselves into meeting whatever challenge they face together. LW: What can leaders at various levels do to reinvent corporate spirit within their own spheres of influence? Morris: Pay attention to the people around you. Show you care. I believe that each of us has a sphere of influence within which we can act as leaders, establishing positive conditions for the people around us, with respect, attention and kindness. We should always ask ourselves how we would want to be treated if we were on the other side of the table or on the other end of the phone line. Showing that extra degree of compassion and care can spark people to do incredible things. This isn't just the job of top management, although their behavior is crucial for establishing overall corporate spirit. But wherever we are in our organizations, we can make a positive difference for the spirit of the people around us. Every action is like a pebble dropped into a pond - it sets up ripples that can go far. In all our interactions with others, we can make a difference for good. LW: You mentioned the Golden Rule. What is its role in today's increasingly competitive business world? Morris: I think of the Golden Rule as the centerpiece of ethics and the basis for excellence, whether at work or at home. Treat other people the way you'd want to be treated if you were in their place. Notice that the Golden Rule doesn't say, "Treat others the way they treat you." That's how too many people live. But that makes you a moral puppet, letting other people pull your strings. The Golden Rule urges us to take the initiative and set the moral tone ourselves. I love one way the philosopher Goethe once put it when he said, "Treat others as if they were what they ought to be, and you'll help them to become what they're capable of being." People become like the people they're around. Others are changed, in however small a way, by our behavior. By acting in accordance with the Golden Rule, we create an environment where people will respond better, and great things can happen. LW: As one year draws to a close and another begins, what words of wisdom do you have for leaders who want to live a more useful life in 2005? Morris: Never forget that relationships rule the world. Always put people before projects. Keep your priorities right: impact first, then income. Never allow yourself to pursue as a focal goal what ought to be a wonderful side effect. Get wisdom. Don't allow what is very good to keep you from what is best. Stay healthy and spiritually strong - that's the source of everything good you can do. Remember the inner resilience that we all have deep inside us as a gift, and use that resilience to deal with every difficulty that comes your way. Struggles strengthen us. With the right values, and operating on a firm foundation of truth, beauty, goodness and unity, you can make the difference you are here in this world to make. - Interview by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OUT WITH THE OLD "Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past." - Henry Ward Beecher "The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!" - Edward Payson Powell "The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul." - G.K. Chesterton _________________________________________________________________ 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) 2004, INJOY, Inc.