DON'T CONFUSE ACTIVITY WITH RESULTS...

The above is a "go-to" saying of a key client of mine who has responsibility over a very large global organization. A couple of key learnings here.

One, the people in that org are very familiar with that saying and it guides thought process at multiple layers in the org. It is extremely key to have a Teachable Point Of View such as this, and to monitor whether your teams are reflecting it back to you. (For more on TPOV, see the following... http://www.nsdc.org/PDK/LFRchapter11.pdf)

Two, as the economic and business climates have worsened results, is it possible that volume of activities are taking far too high an importance in your org? Make sure that your people keep their clear focus on the results, and that their activities are strategically aligned in service of those results...not in service of themselves to appear occupied and engaged.

Expecting results and having clear expectations will be competitive advantages...not busy work.

SURGERY VS. BRUTALITY

Ever wondered about how to be honest with someone...or how honest to be?

A conversation with a business associate a couple of years ago stands out in my mind. This guy is one of the smartest, most engaging, and quite frankly, caring, people I know in business.

So it struck me when as somewhat incongruous when he mentioned his desire to be brutally honest with people he works with and is attempting to help. Now, I believe strongly in Authentic Leadership (for more on this see http://www.truenorthleaders.com/), so am convinced everyone needs to stay true to their own unique style as a leader.

However, let me ask you this. If someone described your manner of working as exhibiting brutality, would that be something you aspire to? Well, in order to be brutally honest, by definition, you need to start by being a brute don't you?

Maybe there's a different way. Surgically honest perhaps?

IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME...

From CNN... (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/27/low.flying.plane/index.html)

"A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened workers and residents into evacuating buildings. Witnesses reported seeing the plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty. The huge aircraft, which functions as Air Force One when the president is aboard, was taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said."


I am a native New Yorker, and I have been to New York numerous times since 9/11, during which I lost two relatives bravely serving in the FDNY. Even today the sight from Midtown of jets at 4000 feet on approach to LaGuardia or Kennedy give a little bit of a shiver over 7 years after the fact. So, how scary must this have been?

Funny thing of course, is that everyone involved in this dimwit scenario followed all the exact right processes and procedures. Except the procedure for a sanity check against what would be an incredibly stupid move.

Do you have a process for that in your business once all the operational hurdles are cleared? Remember, common sense is not nearly so common as the term implies...

GONE? GOOD?

Just tried to post an entry and got an error message. When I hit the "BACK" button...it was gone.

Funny thing, I was wondering if that post was any good. Maybe blogspot decided it wasn't and saved me!

ROD WAS GREAT

One of the unique benefits senior executives with the Omnicom Group of companies have is the opportunity to attend Omnicom University. This is no slouch of an internal corporate training. In fact, it is the only corporate training program in the world which has an exclusive contract with Harvard Business School to provide all of the instructors. After an intense six days with the likes of world-class professors from HBS like Frances Frei, Nancy Koehn, Jim Heskett, and Tom DeLong, one really appreciates why HBS is such a renowned institution.

The administration from Omnicom Group of such an incredible program comes from Dean Tom Watson, former Vice Chair of Omnicom, and Associate Dean Rod Wright, the Chief Development Officer of TBWA Worldwide. (Rod is on the lower left in the picture above from our class photo last year, with Tom directly below me. Classmates Kevin Bell and Lucy Jameson are pictured with us as well.)

This isn't an advertisement for Omnicom or for HBS though, far from it. Craig Elston of TBWA in Denver (http://craigelston.blogspot.com/), another fellow classmate from last year, sent me a note on Wednesday that was the worst one I had seen in a while. Rod Wright had suffered a stroke and had passed away. I had only known Rod for less than a week, but his gentle nature, incredibly sharp wit, and especially the way he generally seemed to care about people made an impact on me.

TBWA Worldwide Chairman Jean-Marie Dru made some interesting comments in AdWeek after Rod's incredibly untimely passing at the young age of 51. "He taught us to be brave and smart and love the business...The best thing we can do to honor his memory is to try and do something great every day." I have a bit of a different perspective.

As I mentioned, in my prior post, this was a week filled with difficult moments and was stressful as could be. However, ever since I received this news, Rod's face popped up in my mind, and reminded me that I shouldn't be stressing so much over business.

I am no doctor, but by trying to "love...business" and do "great" things every day, how many of you are taking your health to a place it shouldn't be? Perhaps the focus should be on much smaller things every day...and that would be great for a whole different reason.

SPARK TRUMPS

I was meeting with a new team to my org this morning. After doing roundtables with the entire team of 20+ people, it never ceases to amaze me how when people are passionate about their business, they can overcome nearly anything.

When you hire people...find people with a spark.

TALK ABOUT YOUR NOSE...

Sitting on a Northwest flight today from Seattle to Detroit, the pilot used a term that in hundreds of thousands of miles of flying around the world I have never heard before. Interestingly, it was during the little beginning-of-flight pilot speech I’ve heard hundreds of times before. It was just a quick phrase on where we were headed.

“Right now, I’ve got the nose pointed at Billings, Montana.”

May not seem like a big deal, but almost exclusively, pilots give the shpiel on flight paths with “Our flight path today takes us…” “We’ll be headed over Bismark, ND.” Much more passive approaches those. However, today’s captain called out an undeniable fact: Where the Captain points the nose…that’s where you are headed.

Also, to get from Seattle to Detroit, there are plenty of places to point the nose as a intermediate point. Same with your business, there are lots of different ways to get wherever you are going. Once you have picked a “route”, as a leader, its important that your team actually knows where you have the nose headed. This is true whether you are a CEO or a front-line Team Lead. It’s OK to be assertive with the way you address it as well.

One of the biggest frustrations I see from individual contributors is that they feel like a passenger on a plane who is looking out a airplane window at some nondescript landscape somewhere. They feel the momentum, and they know they’re headed somewhere, but people like to know where they are headed along the way. They want a leader who knows where the nose is pointed at all times and doesn’t keep it to themselves!

TERRIBLE...FANTASTIC

As I mentioned a few posts ago, my mind is definitely on golf with this being Masters week. As much as I tried to not do another "golf wisdom" entry today, I can't help myself. This time, its a golfer I am sure you never heard of, on a course you most likely have never heard of either...

Sunol Valley has two nice little tracks in a pretty canyon area nestled between Pleasanton and San Jose, CA. When I lived in NoCal about 8 years ago, I actually turned into a decent golfer because the weather was so perfect all the time, I played once or twice a week. One day, playing there with my good friend Mat Caldwell (yes, one "t"), I saw the worst putt I have ever seen.

Mat was lying about 15 feet below the hole on the same tier of a two-tiered green where the hole was. It was a straight uphill putt...not easy, but eminently makeable for Mat, who regularly shot in the low 80's. (That's pretty good for those of you who don't golf!) For some reason that I could only attribute to a minor epileptic seizure, Matt hit it 30 feet past the hole, onto the top tier, and way off line to boot. It was the worst putt I had ever seen in my life, and my stomach still gets sore just thinking of how hard I was doubled over laughing at him.

But that's just part of the story. Mat stalked up to his ball, lined it up, followed his routine, let it roll, and about 7 seconds later, I saw maybe the best putt I have ever seen (that wasn't on TV). Making a 30 foot, left-to-right breaking, super speedy, downhill putt onto a lower tier hole is really something to behold.

But here's the thing. If he wouldn't have made the worst putt I've ever seen, he never would have been in position to make the best putt I've ever seen. The next time you blow it, and we all do, think about that putt that Mat made. You can do the same...no matter how hard people are laughing around you.

SICK ALL THE WAY AROUND?

Well, I hope you weren't expecting anything tantalizing based on my title above. It basically refers to the fact that I am physically sick at the moment, and it's telling to observe in myself how that affects mental capacity. (Unfortunately though, I really can't afford much diminishment there!) If you want a fascinating read, check out The Ultramind Solution by Mark Hyman, M.D. It is an amazing work on the interconnectivity between your brain and your body.

In the book, Dr. Hyman posthulates in great scientific detail how ineffective it is to attack mental disorders with medicines aimed at the brain alone, when often the diagnosis is related to something much larger out of balance in the body as a whole.

As you diagnose problems you have to face in your business, how wholistic are you? Do you focus in on a specific issue without regard for perhaps a much larger, hidden, systemic issue that could be stalking your business?

Be wholistic in business...even if you just take a pill for your body...

THERE'S A TRACTOR WAITING FOR YOU TOO...

With The Masters starting in Augusta in less than 36 hours, my thoughts are definitley on golf much of the day lately. That's not to say there aren't some great lessons you can take from that game and apply to business and life. You could write books (as some have) just on that subject.

One is standing out to me right now though. When Arnold Palmer left the family farm to pursue his career on the links, his father had some very simple advice..."When you go, do what you know how to do, and when you need me call me."

Pretty good leadership stuff from a farmer in Latrobe, PA. And then he added something brilliant... "If you listen to everyone's advice, I'll keep the tractor here in Latrobe for you." Arnold took that funny swing of his and his super-aggressive style and became a legend.

I don't know what your "tractor" is, or where your "Latrobe" is. But, if you don't heed the lesson of Arnold's dad, you'll be headed somewhere you don't want to go. Do what you know, call very few people when you need help. Don't listen to everyone.

YOU HAVE TWO BRAINS...SO USE THEM...

My wife runs our small real estate business. (Who would have thought a year ago we'd be happy to have more in real estate than in stocks!?!) We have a renter who texted us late tonight to make sure we received her rent check--which we haven't. She put it in her outgoing mail bin at work---despite a gut feeling saying she shouldn't.

It's not an uncommon problem. In their book Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls, Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis lay out a stark insight about leaders they have studied at the highest levels. Most of them make their worst decisions when they don't trust their gut.

There's a good reason for that. Your digestive system encompasses your enteric nervous system...which has actually been called your second brain. If you want see some of the science behind it, you can check out http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/health/23gut.html?pagewanted=all.

If you want to make good decisions without the science, just make sure you listen to what your brain(s) are telling you!

CAREFUL STOMPING THE BUMPER

As I was driving down the freeway recently, I observed a small 2-car fender-bender on the side of the road. There was a State Trooper there with the accident, which was so minor, the traffic on the busy freeway wasn't even slowed by it. The car that took the brunt of the damage had its rear 5-mph-impact bumper mostly hanging off the car. The Trooper was kicking at it to get it all of the way off, so the owner of the car could just drive away and not face a costly tow.

Great idea...except it almost caused a disaster...

When the Trooper stomped it all the way off, one edge hit the ground and somersaulted the whole detached bumper over....right into the freeway-speed traffic! A Honda Accord swerved hard left to avoid it, barely missing me. I had to jam my brakes...and thankfully nobody was close on my tail. So aside, from some seriously puckered adrenal glands, no harm no foul. But it was close!

It made me thing of how fixated we can get on a point problem, have good intentions, work hard to solve it...and in the process, blow up something much bigger.

Don't "Stomp the Bumper" unless you know where it is going to wind up!

IS IT ALL ABOUT "I"?

How many of the paragraphs in your emails start with "I"?

Of course, if you have that many paragraphs in an email, you might need to pick up the phone...

HERE IS ONE TO CHEW ON...

Everyone needs to stop being so sensitive...AND...Everyone needs to start being a lot more sensitive.

It's all about perspective!

CAROL BURNETT...THOUGHT LEADER

Well, maybe not. However, her character on a recent episode of Law and Order (yes that is definitely casting against type!) had something to really chew on....

"Nobody said life was going to be fair...just eventful."

How true!

SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND...OR NOT...

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

That’s some very famous advice given by an author who has some truly brilliant tenets in his book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People…Steven Covey. However, to what level do you need to understand your people?

Stick with me here….When I say level of understanding, I mean do you need to get to where you truly understand in great detail to the point of fully assimilating a reason for a person’s needs? For instance, referencing yesterday's "Cable Bill" post, what if I had not heard the undertone comment...yet the group still insisted that the $40 change was important. Would I have been flexible if I didn't understand the driver?

Sometimes, leaders have to understand that the driver is what their people want...period...even if they don't understand the why behind it, and it may even conflict with their own logic. That doesn't mean applying no analytics or senior-level judgment to a decision, or giving everyone everything all the time. It means making your "understanding" of something perhaps a bit more uncomfortable and nebulous to your own frame of reference!

CAN A CABLE BILL CHANGE THE UNIVERSE?

Well, it changed mine...perhaps not how you'd expect. One of my favorite activities is having round tables with the front line employees in my organization. I don't get to do it nearly as often as I'd like, but it is incredibly valuable.

In one such exercise, I was sitting with around 12 folks discussing compensation issues, and the possibility of changes to comp plans. This particular group was composed of salespeople, darn good ones too, by and large. If there is anything near and dear to the hearts of commissioned sellers...it's their comp.

Appreciating that fact, I had put a lot of thought (I thought!) into an approach that focused on the big picture. One change that had been considered (but discounted) was a change that would have raised base comp by a mere $40 a month. Being the enlightened big thinker I thought I was, I made an offhanded remark about how that kind of change isn't what these folks would be interested in. Well, so softly she thought I didn't hear, one of my folks said under her breath to nobody in particular...."That would pay my cable bill."

Thunder struck, universe changed.

A trap that is so easy to fall into as a leader is thinking that you know what your people need without asking them...even when you sincerely have their best interests at heart. Are you setting up structures that let you hear their voices...even when they are talking to themselves?

WE AREN'T CURING CANCER HERE (OR ARE WE?)

Since MarketStar is a sales outsourcing company, and not a medical or pharmaceutical organization, some of my fellow executives sometimes put the trials and travails of our business into perspective during tough times with the familiar missive: “We’re not curing cancer here…” That may be the case…directly. However, I just got some incredible news this weekend that a member of my organization got a clean bill of health after a battle with this insidious disease. This person had an incredible story of overcoming obstacles even before they were diagnosed with this latest challenge…but they are as private as they are tough, so I cannot share details.

That being said, moments like this and news like this make me reflect on the responsibility that we as leaders have to our organizations. My leadership team and I have built an organization here that supports people through their difficult times, showing flexibility for their needs while they do their jobs.

But more basically, if leaders in any organization do not manage business aggressively, ethically and professionally, they cannot provide the business opportunities that lead to the jobs that lead to the insurance coverage that lead to the treatment options….that lead to curing cancer.

So, maybe your job description doesn’t involve saving the world. But, what impact will the solid decisions you make today have on your people…and their families? Leadership can be a lonely and frustrating thing, particularly in challenging times when you feel you may not be in control of everything you used to be. But remember, the impact you have can be bigger than you sometimes stop to realize.

SEINFELD AND SYNCHRONICITY

Pick a TV show, any show. You've got a lot of choices. In the US, the closest I could come was 4,500 different series (http://epguides.com/) but there are likely many more than that. So what does that have to do with leadership?

I was returning from a lunch meeting with Paul Stout, the M* VP who reports to me and is the GM of our Cisco programs around the world. He told me..."I just finally watched that episode of...". But inexplicably for Paul, who is an incredibly gifted storyteller, he couldn't remember the show he was trying to tell me about. Perhaps it was his concern (well placed as it turned out) over his alma mater BYU being about to lose in the opening round of the Big Dance.

Regardless of the reason for his lapse, he could not remember the name of the show. So, not wanting to wait longer than I had to to hear one of Paul's stories, I guessed..."SEINFELD?" Wouldn't you know it...that was the show! Out of literally thousands of series to pick from (trust me, Paul has some eclectic tastes in all things entertainment) I can't really recall Paul ever talking about Seinfeld before, and Seinfeld, as popular as it was, is not really at the top of the American consciousness at the moment. But right there, was a microcosm of the relationship Paul and I have built over some very challenging and rewarding years working together. He didn't have to say it, and I knew it.

Now, I am not advocating that you as a leader should be guessing every single thing that your team members are going to say or do. Far from it. But, more often than not, you should be sensing where your team is heading, even perhaps before they do. How in sync are you with your team?

100 FASCINATING PEOPLE I (DIDN'T) MEET IN AIRPORTS

Traveling across America and Asia in the past decade, I’ve invariably met interesting people on planes. OJ’s lawyer Johnny Cochrane was incredibly short. Management guru Jim Collins was incredibly quiet. Actress Lisa Kudrow was incredibly nothing like Phoebe. However, some of the most fascinating people are actually the people who work in airports. Not the people at the ticket counters or running the security (if you can call it that) checkpoints. No, it’s the cashiers at the shops, the janitors in the bathrooms, the van drivers of the shuttles.

By and large, in the US in particular, these folks are immigrants. I determined one day a number of years ago that I would meet 100 of these people, talk to them for a while, and put together a compilation of their stories. (When you fly 150,000 miles a year trust me, it’s wouldn’t take that long to talk to that many people!) Part of it is realizing that many immigrants come here to the US who were doctors, engineers, etc in their homelands, yet cannot be professionals here without starting all over again with their education…a pricey proposition at best.

The spark that stands out in my mind is a woman in her sixties who was an immigrant from Africa according to her nametag that I saw in the Oakland airport manning one of the gift shop registers. Her manner with people, her professionalism, her sheer charisma made me want to know more about her story. That feeling repeated itself numerous times in numerous airports in numerous cities. Yet, I never pulled the trigger. There was always an email to answer, a call to make, a magazine to read.

Now, with the global economic meltdown, business travel for me, as with thousands of others, has slammed to a near halt. Even when it comes back, I am not in a place where I intend to log that many miles or see that many people in airports. While that means good things for my family and for my lower back, it also means that I can pretty much add that book, and the engagements that I could have had, to the list of things that I could have done.

Now as regrets in life go, it’s fairly lightweight, I know. Yet, a regret it is. What’s your book you might be missing the chance to write? Is it a class you aren’t taking? Is it a sport you aren’t taking up? Things may change before you know it that make it a book you’ll never get to write. Make sure you take the time to make sure which regrets you want to have.