Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone.  Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking.  ~ Tim McMahon

Early in my career, I was the manager of organization development for a large defense contractor. One year, the General Manager summoned me to his office to enquire about the training menu we would be offering the following year.

“What’s this?” he asked, upon learning we would be offering a program on stress management. “Why are you offering this?”

“We’ve seen three employees taken out of the plant on a stretcher this year alone,” I replied. The stress levels are too high.”

“You will NOT teach stress management,” he bellowed. “Stress is a good thing. It increases productivity. It keeps people on their toes.”

This was a General Manager who ruled with an iron fist. It was widely known that it was his way or the highway. Very few people ever contradicted him in person. It was known as career suicide.

That being said, I knew I couldn’t walk away from this need in the organization. With regard to this subject, I was the expert here, not him, and I had an obligation to my “clients” to provide services they could use to be more effective.

My beliefs about stress were the complete opposite of the General Manager. A certain amount of stress is good – but not knowing how to manage overwhelming stress was not.

I left his office in a quandary. I had an obligation to follow the leader – to be a good and loyal soldier – which conflicted with my values about service.

When I returned to my desk, I pulled my staff together, which included the very wise Eric Klein, who like me has since gone on to become a leadership coach, writer and speaker.

We carefully considered the edict and soon rejected it out of hand. The case for stress management workshops was too strong. One way or another, we would offer these programs.

I was willing to bet my job on the matter.

After some lively brainstorming, we decided to take a guerilla approach – we’d change the name (but not the content) of the course. We began calling it “Wellness at Work.” Same learning objectives, same design, same everything – except it wasn’t called “Stress Management.”

With some anxiety, we published and distributed the menu of upcoming workshops to all 4,000 employees. I waited for “the phone call” from the General Manager, who, I fully believed, would fire me for insubordination.

The phone call never came.

The classes “sold out.”

I never learned whether the General Manager “approved” of the new class offering. I didn’t ask, and he didn’t follow-up. I suspect he thought the matter was closed the minute I left his office.

About a year later, he was fired. His leadership style – that of a classic bully who micromanages and insists that he is always right, led to his downfall.

Am I writing this to pat myself on the back? No. I’m telling my tale to illustrate the idea that leaders at every level have a responsibility to do the right thing, not do things right, as Warren Bennis likes to say.

Sometimes they turn out well, sometimes they don’t. I could easily have been fired for my insubordination. Had that happened, I would have left with my head held high.

A ship in harbor is safe – but that is not what ships are for.  ~ John A. Shedd

What “right things” are you avoiding by “doing things right?”

What is more mortifying than to feel you’ve missed the Plum for want of courage to shake the Tree?  ~ Logan Pearsall Smith

Some of the worst leaders I know are the nicest people.

They are cheerful, polite and friendly. They are “politically correct.” They are quite loyal to the people in their lives.

They tend to avoid conflict. They don’t ruffle too many feathers, and they rarely stick their nose out.

They are often thoughtful, the first with a kind word when someone needs one.

They are fun to be around. They don’t push too hard. For them, “good enough” is good enough.

They rarely stand out from the rest of us. In fact, they seem to want to be one of us more than anything else.

When I think of them, I’m often struck by how few quirks they have. No rough edges. Almost nothing irritating about them at all.

Indeed, they aren’t terribly memorable, except that they are nice.

As people, it is hard to find fault with some of the worst leaders I’ve know, except that they simply don’t lead.

I’m not disparaging nice people. We probably don’t have enough of them.

But the best leaders I know are impatient, or self-absorbed, or nit-pickers, or have some other personality “flaw.” They are demanding, or aggressive, or hard to please. They are obsessed, or impolite, or aloof.

No doubt they would cringe if someone described them as a “nice” person.

As a leadership coach, I work with leaders to improve their effectiveness. But I don’t attempt to make them “nice.”

I happen to believe that there aren’t any nice leaders.

After all, nice guys finish last, right?

From: One of Your Followers

As one of the many people who “follow” you, I thought you might be interested in knowing why.

Let’s start with the reasons that don’t apply.

I don’t follow you because I have to. Oh, I might tag along for a while if I thought it was in my best interest to follow you but trust me – that’s not about you, that’s about me.

I might follow you – temporarily – if I was afraid of you or what you could do to me for not towing the line.

But let me be perfectly honest. If I followed you because I feared you, I’d soon be looking for ways to sabotage you. I’m very clever and I’d find a way.

• Maybe I’d “forget” to pass along some key information.
• Maybe I’d pull an “Eddie Haskell” from Leave It to Beaver and act one way when I know you’re looking, and another when I know you’re not.
• I might even engage in malicious compliance by strictly follow your orders knowing that by doing so, there will be damage to your reputation or the business of the organization.

So I don’t follow you because I have to. I follow you because I want to.

You’re a terrific leader. You have many fine qualities that I admire. I will admit that there are times when I want to be you – you’re that good. But there are four important things that you bring to the table that makes me want to jump off the bridge for you, if you were to ask:

1. You have this way of imagining the possible future we could create, if we worked together. It’s compelling – this “promised land” you talk about. It differs so sharply from what we have today. I can’t wait to get there.
2. You put things in simple language I can not just understand, but recall instantly. It’s a complicated world out there, but when you talk about where we’re going, you boil it down to one or two things – and they’re compelling.
3. You have integrity. I know that you stand behind your word. I know you’ll be honest with me – even when it’s awkward or uncomfortable. You’re authentic and transparent. You don’t act one way in front of me and another when I’m not around.
4. Last, but not least, you’re contagious. You’re enthusiastic, passionate and engaged. You’re trying to make the world a better place, and you want to make a difference. It’s impossible to be around you without catching your positive energy.

That’s why I follow you.

That’s why I’ll follow you even though you make mistakes, you stumble now and then, you make a rash decision, or you have a bad day. You’re human, and because over time you prove to be a genuine leader, I will remain one of your followers.

I just thought you might like to know why.

He says, “I’m Mark. I’m an accountant.” Ah, fascinating, you think. Your stereotype of “bean counters” kicks in and alarm bells start ringing in your head. Maybe you’ll pass. Wisely, you keep this sarcasm to yourself.

So you turn to the woman on your right, asking, “Hi, I’m Bill, what do you do?”

She says, “Hi, I’m Judy. I show people how, using three simple steps, they can retire in less than ten years, starting wherever they’re at, and then live anywhere they want in the world.”

Say what?

Who are you going to talk to the rest of the flight?

Yep – you’re going to talk to Judy. In fact, your next question is likely to be, “How do you do that?” Oh, and by the way, Judy’s also an accountant.

This is about elevator speeches – what they are, why you need them, and how to create them. Takes a bit of work but it’s well worth the effort. I’ll show you how to craft your own.

An elevator speech is a short description of who you are and what you do which could be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator several floors – perhaps 30 seconds. In fact, it’s sometimes called the 30-second speech. It contains several key elements.

1. It identifies who you are.
2. It describes what you do.
3. It identifies who benefits from what you do – your unique “value proposition.”

It does all of this in a way that makes it nearly impossible for the listener not to say, “Oh? How do you do that?” or “Oh? Tell me more!”

The obvious uses for an elevator speech are at conferences, conventions, professional meetings or introductions to potential clients or customers. When someone approaches Bill and says, “What do you do?” he can respond with his elevator speech, rather than trotting out the far more typical (and forgettable) response that usually goes like this: “I’m Bill, and I’m the manager of Parks and Recreation for a mid-sized city.” Yawn.

All Bill has done is give the other person a name they will soon forget, and a job title that carries with it tired stereotypes I’m sure he’d soon avoid.

But there’s an even more important reason to develop your own elevator speech. It reminds you of who you really are – what makes you unique and why you do the things you do.

Let’s go back to Judy and hear the rest of her elevator speech. Remember how it begins?

“Hi, I’m Judy. I show people how, using three simple steps, they can retire in less than ten years, starting wherever they’re at, and then live anywhere
they want in the world.”

That’s called the hook.

It has but one purpose – to capture your interest – to get you to “bite.” When it works, you’ll say “Tell me more!” When it doesn’t, you’ll say “Gee, that’s interesting.” And then you’ll crack the book you brought along on the plane and start reading.

Once Judy gets her listener to ask for more, she fleshes out her elevator speech. Take a listen:

“I work with professionals who may not be financially savvy or lack the time or interest to design a nearly fail-safe retirement plan.

“Often, this begins with a two hour meeting during which we determine where they are right now, where they’d like to be when they retire, and what they’re doing to make that happen.

“Next, I teach them three simple tools which will get their finances in order and help them make some adjustments in their savings, spending and investment habits.

“Afterwards, we meet for an hour or so every six months to keep on track.

“My specialty is working with professionals who are deeply in debt and worried they may never be able to retire comfortably.”

Wow. When can I make an appointment?

Judy’s elevator speech is compelling because while it might seem to be about her, it’s really about her listener. She’s responding with what we all want to know: what’s in it for me?

Having heard Judy’s speech, Bill wants one of his own. How does he develop it?

1. First, Bill should write down the services he (and his department) provide.
2. Next, he should translate those services into benefits his clients or customers enjoy.
3. After that, he should work on his hook – what will get someone to say “tell me more!”?

After a bit of word-smithing and some false starts, he might come up with a hook that sounds like this:

“Hi, my name is Bill. I’m the Manager of Joy for a mid-sized city.”

Say what? The manager of joy? What’s that? Tell me more!

Bill can then go on to say:

“I’m in charge of the Parks and Recreation Department for (Bill’s city). My team of outstanding park and recreation specialists create joyful community experiences for people throughout our city who enjoy our parks and the programs we offer.

“We know we create joy because people tell us that all the time – from parents of pre-schoolers to senior citizens. In fact, we’ve just been awarded a national ‘Playful City’ award.

“We’re always looking for ways to create more joy, so if you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.”

Wouldn’t you want to spend some time with Bill?

The Best Reason for an Elevator Speech

Earlier I said that elevator speeches are useful at conferences, conventions, professional meetings or introductions to potential clients or customers. But there’s an even more important reason to develop your own elevator speech. It reminds you of who you really are – what makes you unique and why you do the things you do.

Once Bill has committed his elevator speech to memory, and has used it so often it’s become a a natural response, it becomes a compass for him throughout his busy days. When he’s buried in a report he’s writing and feeling weary, when he’s headed for another meeting he wishes he could avoid, when he comes home tired and worn out and wondering why he does what he does, he will recall the hook in his elevator speech: “I’m the manager of joy.”

That’s why he does what he does, and why it’s so important. People are counting on him – from his staff to the public. Everyone wants more joy.

It becomes a mantra that he uses to manage his staff. He can use it’s central premise – bringing joy to people – to inspire his staff. He can use it to make decisions – which choice will bring the most joy to our customers? He can use it to modify systems and adjust procedures.

Spend the time to develop an elevator speech. When you or your staff begins to lose sight of the forest as you stare at the tree in front of you, it can shift your focus. You can approach that next boring meeting with renewed energy, as Bill does – after all, he’s the Manager of Joy.

Ben Franklin put it this way: “It’s a small leak that can sink a great ship.”

“Inches make champions,” said Vince Lombardi.

Legendary UCLA basketball coach is famous for his attention to the little things. He began the first practice every year with a Very Little Thing: how to tie your shoes. (For the complete story, read this.)

Effective leaders do the little things that add up to big results. Here’s five little things you can be doing every day:

1. Make contact with every member of your staff. In person, if you can. By phone, if you can’t. Email at a minimum if they’re somewhere out on the road and can’t be reached. It doesn’t always have to be about business. Just start the conversation with, “Just checking in. How’s things?”
2. Keep a running list of the stuff that’s small stuff you tend to put off because, well, it’s small stuff. Two or three times a day, pull up the list and do one or two of the tasks. Cross them off the list (it feels good!) and move on.
3. Look for an opportunity to catch someone doing something right. Maybe it’s someone on your staff, but it could easily be a client, a colleague, or just a friend. Acknowledge what they’ve done and show some appreciation. I read somewhere that the typical person gets 16 pieces of negative feedback for every positive. Change that ratio.
4. Read something that inspires you, challenges you, or deepens  your understanding of your world. It’s been calculated that a person who spends 15 minutes a day could read 2,400 pages in a year year. Don’t want to carry around books? Get an ereader or upload an app to your smart phone. You can read 15 minutes a day just standing in lines!
5. Clean up a mess. There’s always a mess that needs attention. Your desk, your computer, your project, whatever! One of the most important – your relationships with others. Messed something up with someone? Do something about it today.

Take care of the little things, and the big things will take care of themselves, or so it’s been said. Consider what Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel thought about little things:

What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution.

He went to your school. He knows what you had to overcome growing up. He’s quite familiar with your family, your colleagues, and your social circle. He remembers all the songs you do.

He knows more about you than anyone else on the planet.

He can be in your face, but he’ll stay by your side. His enthusiasm for your success is limitless. You are his favorite client – in fact, you are his only client. He’ll meet you for lunch; he’ll be there as you face a difficult challenge.

He is available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. His fee is highly competitive, because his services are free.

The best leadership coach you’ll ever have asks of you just one thing: trust him. He knows what he’s doing.

Working with your coach can be unsettling. You’ll need to be willing to be quiet. You’ll need to be willing to listen. You’ll need to be honest.

And if you’re not sure how to do those things, he can start with that. It’s almost mind-boggling what the best leadership coach you’ll ever have can do for you.

He might ask you to meditate. Or keep a journal. Or be inspired by nature. Or do a reality check with others. He might ask you to speak up – or shut up. He might urge you to go forward – or take a step back.

Trust him. He knows what he’s doing.

We’ve all had to find our way in the midst of:

• The worst recession in modern times
• The collapse of the housing markets
• The titanic struggles of huge organizations to stay survive and the debate over whether we should save them (too big to fail?)
• The worst unemployment (and under-employment) figures in memory
• Massive increases in reported instances of fraud
• The impact of terrorism on our way of life, our laws, our politics, and our traditions
• The eruption of the worst environmental disaster ever in the Gulf
• Far too many political (and other) leaders exposed as hypocrites and cheats
• The rise and increasing popularity of fringe politics and paranoia

Indeed, it’s difficult to find much good news over the past two or three years, and I believe that “ordinary” people are really struggling to find leaders and organizations to believe in and trust.

Think about it. How much do you really trust…

• Your elected officials?
• Your bank?
• Your oil company?
• Your food suppliers?
• Your broker?
• Your realtor?
• The people you’ve admired in the public eye – sports figures, entertainers, and the like?

Honest, dedicated, everyday leaders are struggling in every organization I visit. From CEOs and city managers, to directors, managers, front-line supervisors and team leaders, they face a crisis of confidence and a crisis of trust. Fewer and fewer people are willing to rally behind whoever is “in charge” anymore.

We just don’t believe in our leaders and the psychological contract we make with organizations like we used to. It’s the dirty little secret – the elephant in the room – in most organizations.

We’ve been lied to, stolen from, ignored, manipulated, had our trust violated, and been used in so many ways it’s impossible to keep track of all of them.

It’s with great skepticism if not cynicism that employees listen to their leaders talk about their vision, mission and values. And who can blame them? Everywhere you look the cultural glue that holds us together is drying out and chipping off.

As a people, we’re wounded and suffering. That which has sustained us in the past – looking to and following leaders who could forge a path through the wilderness – doesn’t seem as viable anymore.

Every leader is doubted, viewed with suspicion, and taken with “a grain of salt” nowadays. The art of leadership has become much more complicated.

Whatever your position of authority and leadership, you simply can’t count on people to automatically believe you, trust you, or follow you, just because you’re “in charge.” Those days are over. People are increasingly, and consciously, acting in their own self-interest, finding their own way, and rejecting their allegiances to something bigger than themselves.

• They don’t believe it when they hear that “we’ll keep layoffs to a minimum.”
• They don’t believe it when they hear “we’ll never sell the organization.”
• They don’t believe it when they hear that their retirement program is “safe.”
• They don’t believe it when they hear “people are our most important resource.”

If ever there was a crisis not just of leadership, but for leadership, it’s now.

Leaders must recognize that their “followers” aren’t going to respond to slick mission statement “sound bites” anymore. They aren’t going to place their trust in their organizations like they used to. They aren’t going to assume that if they perform well, they will be well-rewarded for that performance.

What people will respond to is truth, honesty, transparency, and leaders who engage in straight talk, who are willing to lead from principle rather than policy, who are empathetic and encouraging. What we want from our leaders these days – more than ever – is the sense that they can be trusted.

Just as all great leaders recognize that they stand on the shoulders of people who have preceded them, they must also recognize that they inherit the terrible reputation that dishonest, self-serving miscreants who enjoyed positions of power have passed to them. Maybe it’s not fair, maybe it’s unfortunate, but it is, as they say, what it is.

Leadership: it’s a tough job, and someone has to do it. Those of us doing it have to do a better job than we’ve been doing.

I’ll close with this thought: you don’t have any “followers” anymore.

You have people – passionate, jaded, caring, wounded people to lead. What hasn’t changed – what will never change – is our search for meaning, for things to believe in, for connections to something larger than ourselves. That’s the real challenge for leaders. Can you help your people discover (or uncover) what matters to them most of all?

How well your employees perform has as much to do with your expectations of them as it has to do with their own abilities. If you think they will do well, they probably will do better than if you think they won’t do well.

In a famous experiment, teachers were given their new class rosters at the beginning of the school term. On these rosters, some students, chosen at random by the experimenters) were identified as having signs of better-than-average intellectual growth than others.

The teachers were not given any instruction to treat these students any differently with special assignments, more attention, and the like. They simply appeared on the roster with an asterisk by their name and a footnote at the bottom explaining that these students might have more potential than others.

At the end of the school year, the experimental group of students all showed gains growth in intellectual growth than the control group of students. For example, students in the control group of first graders showed a gain of 12 IQ points, while students in the experimental group showed a gain of over 27 points.

After the term ended, teachers steadfastly maintained that they did not favor the experimental students in any particular way. However, anecdotal evidence painted a different picture. Teachers routinely gave the experimental group of students more attention, calling on the more often, praising their work more often, giving them special privileges, and so on.

The conclusion is unmistakable: these kids did better because their teachers expected them to do better.

The lesson for managers is simple – if you want the best from your people, you have to expect the best. That doesn’t mean simply raising the bar and hoping for the best – it means truly believing in your people and their incredible capacity for outstanding performance.

Early in my career, I worked for a woman who absolutely refused to even hear any negative self-talk from her staff. She focused entirely on what we could do, not what we couldn’t do. If I went to Sally and said “I have a problem,” she would literally not even respond. I had to learn to rephrase it, saying, “I have an opportunity.” She taught me the meaning behind the adage “There are no problems, there are only opportunities.”

She knew that reframing problems into opportunities was a way of demonstrating her high expectation of me. By having these expectations, my performance improved dramatically. And, by having (authentic) high expectations of me, she helped me have high expectations for myself.

Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can do a thing or you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” The Law of Expectations means that whatever you think of your employees, you’re right – and their performance will rise or fall to your level of expectation to prove the point.

This little gem of a story offers what I believe is a little known, but very simple technique to jump-start your next change project.

At the car wash, customers were given a card to record stamps for each car wash. Once they got eight stamps, they had earned a free car wash. Here’s the wrinkle that makes this so interesting:

• One group of customers was given card with eight spaces for stamps. Once they collected eight stamps, the next car wash was free.
• Another group of customers was given a slightly different card, with spaces for ten stamps. But, the cards had two stamps already on them – they were given what appears to be a head start.

Both sets of customers needed to collect the same number of stamps (8) for the reward. But, as the authors point out, the second group was 20% of the way to their goal from the beginning – a huge psychological boost.

The results?

• In the first group, 19% had earned a free car wash several months later.
• In the second group, by the same time, 34% had reached the goal.

Why?

The authors write, “People find it more motivating to be partly finished with a longer journey than to be at the starting gate of a shorter one.” They go on to say,

One way to motivate action, then, is to make people feel as though they’re already closer to the finish than they might have thought. If you’re leading a change effort, you better start looking for those first two stamps to put on your team’s cards.

In other words, remind people of what’s already been accomplished. If the goal is to reduce spending by 5%, share examples of how the team has already trimmed spending. If the goal is to adapt to a new paperwork flow, talk about how the team has already succeeded in adapting to other changes in the system.

If your own goal is to lose twenty pounds, make a list of the small changes you’ve already incorporated (eliminating soda, or parking further away from store entrances, or switching to non-fat milk). You’ll avoid the psychological speed bump of feeling like you’re at square one. You’re not – you’re already on your way.

Think about the change effort you’re about to lead. How can you put two stamps on their cards right out of the gate?

You see it all the time. That draft of the report is good enough. The presentation to staff was good enough. The error rate on product defects was good enough. The budget for that new project was good enough. The response time to customer emails is good enough. But is it, really?

What sustains the tension between “good enough” and “excellence” is that there simply isn’t enough time, money, or resources to move everything from good enough to great, but we want to do our best work. Right? We know we could improve our deliverables,  whatever they are.

So how do you decide when good enough is good enough? When action is more important than improvement? Here’s three suggestions to keep in mind:

1. When a life is on the line.
   
   While having an actual life on the line is pretty rare (thank goodness!) the point is this: when the need to act clearly supersedes the need to perfect whatever you’re working on, act.

   Remember Apollo 13? In the race against time to save the astronauts, engineers jerry-rigged an air filter made with duct tape. No doubt as engineers they would have liked to keep testing and improving their design, but urgency had to trump elegance.

2. When incremental improvements are becoming a hobby.
   
   I recall studies down when desktop publishing became widely available that showed that productivity did not rise, as expected. It slowed down because people were endlessly tweaking their products – because they could. True, the bar of professionalism had been raised, and what was acceptable before (a typewritten newsletter, for example) was not acceptable now.
3. When you’ve crossed the 5 yard line.
   
   If you’ve invested a big chunk of time and effort to create a solid draft of the report, or a beta website, or a working prototype, you’ve probably no more than five yards from the goal line of perfection. The problem is that the next five yards will probably require as much time and effort as what you’ve already expended.

   Maybe it’s time to publish the report, launch the website, or start producing the product. Rarely is it true that it can’t be improved afterwards.

   I wrote my book several years ago. Even today, I see ways of improving it. But if I’d waited until I’d exhausted all the possible improvements, I’d still be an unpublished author.