The Mark of a Leader

Welcome to The Mark of a Leader blog

The Mark of a Leader Blog is where I share stories and ideas about leadership -about people and companies who have made an indelible mark on the world around them.

BUT OUT!

In the world of comic improvisation, few brands have had the impact of Chicago's world famous Second City. It has been a veritable learning lab for many of the world's greatest comics, including John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Mike Myers, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, and many many more.

Second City runs a variety of corporate programs, from leadership training to teamwork. And one of their most powerful practices is getting their students to eliminate the word and practice of saying "But".

"But" is a power word. It is inarguably one of the most potent, and most abused words that humans have yet created. Most commonly "But" is used when someone has said something and the listener has made a judgement that what was said is wrong, impossible to do, or impractical. Often, the original idea is barely uttered - the words are still forming on the speaker's lips - when the word "But" emerges.

It says:
"Stop"
"You're wrong"
"It will never happen"
"It can't be"
"Obviously you didn't think this through"
"I don't think so"
"here is what I think"
and on and on.

All this in one, 3 letter, monosyllabic word.

That's a power word.

Oh, to be fair it is often preceded with "Yes", just to temper the negative slam dunk that it is about to level. But even if the "yes" is coated with sugar and honey, the power of the "But" emerges.

I would put to you that one of the easiest and most powerful ways for any of us to improve our leadership skills is to eliminate "But".

But is about stopping. Leadership is about guiding.

But is about saying "Here's what's wrong with your idea". Leadership is about "Here's what's great with your idea".

"But" is about "why not?". Leadership is about "What if?"

"But" is about managing people and their ideas. Leadership is about encouraging people and their ideas.

"But" is about controlling. Leadership is about empowering.

"But" is about Impossibility. Leadership is about Possibility.

And with what word does the venerable Second City suggest we replace "But"?

"Yes, and..."

By saying "Yes" you acknowledge what you have heard and acknowledge the speaker, no matter how ill-informed, inaccurate or impractical it is.

By saying "And", you become supportive, and force yourself to make something positive of what you have just heard.

You force yourself into possibility. You "plus" rather than "minus".

Do you want to create an environment where people feel energized to do great things?

One powerful way to start is simply by "Butting out"

Can Wal-Mart save the world?

I am reading a tremendous book which I recommend to anyone who has even a passing interest in business and globalization. The book is The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman. Though I have not quite finished it, I have read enough to recommend it.

Fishman does a good job of presenting good and bad sides of the world's largest ever corporation. First the scale  - every week more than 100 million Americans shop at Wal-Mart - 1/3 the population EVERY DAY!!!!! Their sales are equal to over $2000 for every family in the US, and their profit is a miniscule $75 on that $2000.

And it is not just the U.S. that it dominates.This year 7.2 billion people will shop at Wal-Mart - more than the population of earth. It employs 1.6 million people. It is as big as Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Costco, Sears and Kmart combined!

To their credit, Wal-Mart is single mindedly clear on their vision - everyday low prices. Everything works back from that - cut prices low, lower, lower - 5% every year from the same suppliers. That was Sam Walton's original vision. And with their low prices they have made countless goods affordable for low income people.

The price has been significant. They have driven incredible efficiencies in every supplier that provides goods to them - and driven many out of business. They have been well criticized for their labor laws, exploitive in the name of "low prices". They have changed consumerism by making things so inexpensive that they are suddenly disposable. So we by many of something that is cheap and throw them out wen they break.

The environmental impact of this alone has been disastrous. The packaging alone from the goods Wal-Mart sells is large beyond comprehension, and how much really gets recycled? In industries like salmon farming, a business they literally created in Chile, the fish feces, antibiotics and waste in the ocean from the farms is destroying areas of ocean.

So here is the good news. Wal-Mart has committed to a policy of sustainability. Maybe Al Gore had a chat with them, but apparently Wal-Mart's environmental policy is about to get tough. Reduced energy consumption and reduced packaging is the new mantra, and they are forcing their suppliers - which is every notable consumer brand in the world - to either shape up or be off the supplier list.

Wal-Mart's motives are not important to me. You either love Wal-Mart or hate them, and that will probably pre-determine whether you think this is just a PR ploy.

What is important is the opportunity. While politicians around the world screw around with Kyoto and voluntary controls and politician posturing, with no impact, the world's most powerful company could make a HUGE impact on the environment by drawing up tough, across-the-board policies and forcing their suppliers to tow the line the same way they have on costs.

Will they be smart enough to allow the costs to be borne in their pricing?  Will they be committed enough to put their own money where their mouth is? And will their customers happily pay 10% or 20% more to save the planet?

Only time will tell. Wal-Mart is in a position to change the world for the better and create a new generation of grateful consumers. Will they be wise enough to be the leaders they ought to be?

Apparently we're all about to find out. 

Al Gore is now a pop star

Both Al Gore and Bill Clinton, who ran the White House for 8 years, have publicly declared they can do more to help the world as leaders outside the White House than they could in. A sad statement on the current state of government.

On Sunday night, Gore, received a hero's welcome presenting a Grammy Award. Yesterday he announced the largest and most ambitious global concert plan ever: Live Earth - the concerts to Save Our Selves.

July 7 will be Live Earth day, featuring concerts in Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, London and cities to be decided in Brazil, Japan and the US. There also will be a live performance in Antarctica.

You have to love something called Save Our Selves (SOS).

"We are moving from what Al has done for thousands and the movie for millions, we will put together 2 billion sets of eyeballs on a global basis" said executive producer Kevin Wall.

Gore took his share of oft-deserved criticism as his wooden style literally handed control of the world to the Bush family. But you have to give him his due. With An Inconvenient Truth he woke up millions of us in the western world to having some awareness for the planet's well being. Now, with the most ambitious concert plan ever, he will finally involve China.

Here's to you Al. Dealing with issues starts with awareness, and if this concert helps raise global awareness, then good on you.

In the long run, those hanging chads may have cost you an election, but they may save our collective butts.

links for 2007-02-13

• My Name is Kate
  This is Kate Trgovac's marketing and technology blog.
  (tags: Blog marketing Canada)
• Push or Pull Leadership Style
  From Tom Peters' blog ... analysis of "push" vs "pull" style of leadership for employees. Uses the Lions as a good football example.
  (tags: tom+peters, leadership+style, employee+performance)

WOW - The future of presentations

Want to see the future of presentations? Check this out... totally amazing.

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Sticking up for what you Believe In

Good on the Dixie Chicks! While any of us inclined to music may question whether they deserved to win so convincingly at last night's Grammy Awards, I was happy because it was their redemption night.

The Chicks had the courage to speak out against the Iraq war which they fervently oppose. They had the guts to tell the world they were embarassed by their President and his decision, and ashamed to share their Texas origins with him.

In exchange for doing so, in a country that supposedly embraces freedom of speech, the Chicks were blackballed from most of the country radio stations that they rely on to get their music to their listeners.

They refused to apologise, despite incredible financial, social and political pressure to do so, including death threats. They reinvented how they got to their fans - and in doing so created new fans.

They did it by doing what leaders should do and all-too-often do not have the courage to -  sticking to their (non) guns.

Good on em! Five Grammys go to Freedom of Speech and, in my book, the courage of 3 Texas LeaderChicks.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha Franklin forever burned the word respect into the brains of all of us over about 40 years old when she sang Respect or the first time back in the 60s.

Without respect you cannot have a great team - a leadership team. And without a great team you have nothing nothing nothing.

Now respect comes in many forms. Listening is one of the most important. If you listen to what I have to say, it shows that you respect my opinion, regardless of whether you agree with it or not. People who interrupt constantly; people who stare over your shoulder while you are talking to them looking to see whether there is someone more important than you in the room; and at the same time people who talk at you without taking a breath or letting you ever get a word in - all these are people who demonstrate abysmal lack of respect.

And all of these are, frankly, people who need to be politely told.

Common courtesy is supposedly taught to us as a sign of respect as well. Saying thank you. Recognizing someone's efforts, regardless of the outcome.  Sharing the credit around. All of these are small signs of respect that have a huge impact on a workplace - and  even on a circle of friends.

I spend a lot of time with my 5 year old son trying to teach him basic respect. I am pretty confident that by the time he is an adult he will get it and be both courteous and respectful. Because it is important to me and I will make it important to him.

But I wonder about the people that it is apparently too late for out there. I get that we are all overwhelmed by emails and voicemails. But the lack of common courtesy that is prevalent in most companies - particularly large companies - these days is disgraceful and worrying. I can't tell you how many people whom I know simply don't reply to simple requests by email that would take less than a minute to acknowledge or fulfill. I don't need to tell you about the lack of voice mail courtesy. I  worked recently with a large technology firm. I was on the agenda for a large conference - I was the speaker! I could not get the conference organizer to simply reply to my requests for information about the basic messaging and logistics of the event.

When I finally met her - and I didn't say anything at first about her lack of courtesy - she mentioned how frustrated she was that none of the speakers  from her company would reply to her requests about  their presentations. I had to hold back the laughter.

The lack of courtesy - which is basically a lack of respect - in the workplace today is becoming a pandemic. And brands are going to pay because it does not go unnoticed.

Conversely, see the work habits of Starbucks. Inside the walls of this, one of the best run and value- driven companies in the world, employees are given small cards in which they write thank yous to fellow employees for doing nice deeds or making a difference. They are small acknowledgement cards which say "THANK YOU" on them. They take 30 seconds to fill out, but whose impact is huge when given as a token to a fellow worker to say  "I recognize what you did. Thank you".

Every brand in the world, and most of the people who work for them, could learn something from the people who have differentiated coffee. It takes very little time to make a difference, and from that difference build a leadership team with a foundation of RESPECT.

Rocky Rocks at 60!

OK so I have to start by admitting that I lost track of the Rocky saga back at about Rocky 2. While I loved the story of the underdog boxer who won on guts and who lived the song "I get knocked down but I get up again", Rocky ran out of legs for me back in the 80s.

So it was with great curiosity that I forked out the requisite $10 or so to see Rocky Balboa over the holidays. There was nothing new or unpredictable about the movie. Once again, Rocky showed his character. And the message of the movie - that ultimately you must believe in yourself if you are going to succeed in life - is one that I heartily endorse.

But the real kicker for me was the commitment of Sylvester Stallone to just do the movie at age 60. He says he worked out for 2 years to get in shape, and I believe it. In the movie, since he can't beat his younger opponent on speed, he relies on strength, and seeing Stallone lifting hundreds of pounds in training and eliminating all the flab off his body is inspiring to anyone over 30. He is a wall of physical strength and stamina, and living proof that aging is to some degree what we make it.

Right now the press is debunking  the original Rocky myth about how Stallone refused to sell his original script unless he was the star - how he was down to his last $200 and refused bushels of money until he was finally allowed  to be Rocky. It is a great story that I wish was true. Who knows? However he got there, though, he turned a script inspired by an Ali fight into a multi-billion dollar franchise.

Myth or not, Stallone was just another mostly-unknown actor in 1977, with a half paralyzed face and credits that included The Lords of Flatbush and a few porn flicks. He turned that into Academy Awards, a great career, and one of America's greatest underdog icons. He did it with incredibly hard work and unflappable belief in himself.

He is one of the few big Hollywood stars who is not a pretty face, and that itself is an incredible feat.

And not only is Stallone himself an inspiration, but the character he has shaped over the last three decades has inspired millions.  One eloquent example from mschindler.com

It may sound corny, but the capture and realization of seemingly unattainable goals is exactly what the character of Rocky Balboa has always embodied for me–a potential to accomplish one’s dreams through nothing other than pure self-determination and hard work. That’s the formula that made Rocky successful the first time around. And that’s the formula that makes it successful for this, the sixth and final time.

I think Sylvester Stallone's belief in himself despite the odds and his amazing commitment to Rocky are a good role model for all of us. Go get em Rock!

Update: After reading this post over at Converstations, I wish Balboa *did* have a blog!

On writing a book

As this blog goes live I am also publishing the first of what I hope will be many books.

Writing a book is an incredible task. It is not like writing a blog, because blogs are somehow ephemeral. Writing a book is very permanent. Trees are felled. Money exchanges hands. People invest their time to read. They invest their opinions, good and bad. And at somepoint the book takes on a life of its own.

I play music, and love to play live but hate to record, because you second guess yourself and do it again every time you hear the recording afterwards. You wonder why you played certain things and every mistake hits you like a sledgehammer. It is hard for me to just "surrender" when recording music.

One of my musical heroes, Joni Mitchell, who is both a brilliant painter and musician, talked about the issue on her great old album Miles of Aisles talking about the difference between performing arts and painting, which in this case is akin to writing a book. In a break between songs you could hear the audience calling for her hits -"Play Carrie" "Both Sides Now" "Blue". She laughed and said "That's always been a major difference between the performing arts and being a painter. A painter does a painting and he does a painting that's it. He's had the joy of creating it and he hangs it on some wall and somebody buys it and then somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But nobody ever says to him - nobody ever said to Van Gogh "Paint A Starry Night again man"."

At some point, whether you are writing, painting, playing music or leading people to do something they have never done before, you have to let go and just trust whatever it is you trust - your gut, a higher power, experience, wisdom. Or maybe just that you're not as stupid as the voice inside your head might want you to believe.

We all have something to say. We all have something to contribute. To me, great leaders understand that, and know how to get their people to contribute, no matter how modest they themselves may believe the contribution is.

Photo: Ralph Nardell

On Accountibility

I love stories, great storytelling, and great storytellers. Whether they tell with words, with music, with visual arts, multimedia - whatever the style, great storytellers bind societies and cultures. And, sadly, all too often, the power of story has been lost in today's results-obsessed corporate climate.

I like the metaphor of "story" as a way to view life. Because in my mind, if you accept that your life, your career and everything that happens in them is your story, it forces accountability. By accepting the metaphor you accept that you are authoring your story, you are the central character in your story, and you are in control. You control or 'write' the plotline, the people who are part of your story and the roles they play, and so on. And, most important, you control the personality and style of you, the central character. In other words, you are accountible for yourself.

Accountability is the cornerstone of leadership. You are either accountible for what you do or you are not.

It has been fascinating to watch the CEOs of the great implosion companies of the last decade - Enron, Nortel, Worldcomm, Tyco, and so on - deny their accountibility in court. The act of denying their accountibility, in my mind, marks their leadership.

By denying accountibility, they deny the core of their leadership. And for their denial they deserve whatever the courts throw at them.

If you are going to take the mantle of leadership, and the perks that go with it, take the accountibility as well. If you are not prepared to do that, then you put yourself in the august company of the business leaders of the 90s who are currently in jail, pergatory - or a pine box.