Everyone has a Story

I woke up in the middle of the night with these thoughts swirling around in my head:

• Everyone has their own story
• Every story matters, to the individual and to those within their circle of influence
• Every story is unique, based off
• Characters in the story and their interaction with the main character
• Choices made by the main character.
• Choices are motivated by:
• Money, or desire for what money can purchase
• Sex, or the desire for physical intimacy
• Power
• Love, or the desire to be loved/cared for/valued 
• Hate
• Choices can have a profound impact upon the story sometimes far beyond the seeming significance of the choice itself
• With discipline it is possible to intentionally make better choices with better outcomes
• Every story is ultimately about relationship
• We exist within a framework/spiderweb of relationships with all of the characters in our story touching and changing us, and being changed by us.
• We can, but often do not, choose the nature of our impact upon others.
• We cannot chose the nature of the impact of others upon us, BUT we can choose, but often do not, our reaction to the impact of others in our life.
• Everyone is part of other people's stories, 
• for some it is a significant overlap as with a spouse wherein they "become one flesh" 
• and with others is is the merest brush like that of a butterfly 
• every touch, no matter how small leaves a mark
• Every relationship is a reflection of our relationship with God

Focus on the choices you make each day - think about them in relationship to others and your own life story.

I just finished Taking People With you: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen by David Novak.  David Novak is the chairman and CEO of YOU! Brands, Inc., The company's three restaurant chains, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell operate in 117 countries and employees 1.4 million people.

Taking People With You is written in a personable and easy to read style with a lot of insert comments from leaders in the subject area being discussed.  Additionally, Novak has included with each chapter a wide variety of exercises and questions to make practical application of the principles he presents easy for individual or groups to assimilate.

The book is 222 pages long with three parts:

• Part One:  Get Your Mind-set Right
• Be Your Best Self:  Be Yourself, Know Yourself, Grow Yourself
• Be an Avid Learner:  Seek and Buiild Know-how
• Unleash the Power of People
• You Have to Believe It Can be Done
• Part Two:  Have a Plan: Strategy, Structure, Culture
• Strategy:  Tell It Like It Is . . . and How It Could Be
• Strategy:  Create a Vision and Personalize It
• Strategy:  Gain Alignment Every Step of the Way at Every Level
• Structure:  Resources, Organization, and Process Enable Execution
• Culture:  Make "Winning Together" a Big Idea
• Part Three:  Follow Through to Get Results
• Market the Change:  Be a Bold Ad for Your Big Goal
• Understand and Overcome the Barriers to Success
• Use Recognition to Drive Performance
• The Change is Never Over.

Novak's premise is stated in the first line of the introduction is:  "We all need people to help us along the way.  You can only go so far by going it alone. . . . You'll never accomplish anything big if you try to do it alone." p. 1  I thought this book would actually be about that, i.e. how to effectively work with people to mutually succeed.  Instead I found this to be a somewhat disjointed book on leadership principles with a heavy emphasis on marketing.  That's not to say that the principles aren't true and that the material isn't of value - it is, it just wasn't what I was expecting.  I can easily see where the design and presentation of this material would be better suited for some people but I found it to be somewhat disorganized and I constantly labored with the disconnect from the title to what I perceived in the content.  

Here are some of the quotes which I found particularly interesting, although I don't agree with all of them:

• "Remember that it's easier to make powerful ideas practical than it is to make pedestrian ideas powerful." p17
•  "Setting the right goal is the key to achieving success, and leaders often fall short in this area by not aiming high enough." p. 15
• "The bottom line is this:  If you can accurately identify the people you need to make something happen and then get inside their heads, then you will have the best chance of convincing them to help you accomplish big things." p. 22
•  "Leaders need to model the kind of good values they want their organization to live by, including the idea that each and every person in the company matters." p. 76
• "People don't really change until there is enough pain to force them to change, but you better believe that if they're standing on a platform that's on fire, they will be seriously motivated to jump." p. 99
• "You should present evidence that the strides you've made are working, and keep doing this as you make more along the way."p. 105
• "People don't want to go to work to just do their job.  They are most motivated when they know that what they're doing counts and they are helping the team drive toward a powerful vision of the future." p. 114
• "You have to make sure people understand three things:
• What do you want them to do
• What's in it for them
• Are you going to do it too." p. 133
• "Your ability as a leader to attract, develop, and retain people is fundamental to your success." p. 138
• "Sometimes the worst thing you can do as a leader is try to solve all the problems yourself." p. 170
• "You need to market your goal or your initiative in the same dynamic way you would a new product.  You need to keep that goal front and center in the minds of your target audience.  That means you need to get their attention, convince them of its importance, and keep convincing them."  p. 172
• "People are motivated by what is truly measured.  What you choose to measure is a signal to your people as to what you care about and what they need to do to get ahead in your organization." p. 195
• "As the leader, its up to you to determine what success looks like, and you have to make sure you've got the bar in the right place." p. 198
• "Who you choose to recognize has a real effect; it differentiates people, motivates them, and shows those who don't get recognized what it takes to get ahead." p. 201
• "The three best ways to keep the focus are through persistence, constant communication, and by playing like you're behind, even when you're not." p 207
• "You should be going to work every day believing that you'll succeed, but playing as though you're behind in the score.  That's the attitude that will give you the best chance at success."  p. 209

Overall I found a lot to commend in this book for those have the responsibility, and challenge, to lead people and would recommend it especially as a book to use in a group study with teams.

Colin Powell's 13 Rules - I think you'll enjoy this!

Colin Powell's 13 Rules

Do you know your "job?"

I attended a different church yesterday morning.  I had been there a couple of times before; filled out the information card on at least two different occasions.   Did not receive any response from those cards.  The response of the people at this visit, like the previous ones, was lukewarm,  neither inviting, except for a VERY few, nor hostile; apathetic to my presence as a visitor seemed about right.  As I was leaving the service yesterday I intentionally waited until the pastor was by himself at the door and went up to greet him.  He responded with a handshake and then the conversation turned flat.  I mentioned the weather being nice, he agreed and that was that.  No question of who I was, where did I live, etc.  No mention of seeing me in the past or ANY effort to engage me at all.

So I wonder, does that pastor know what his "job" is? 

I'm sure this is a question which MUST be addressed by each of us.  I saw a sign coming into the office building at NAU last week.  It said:  "We are in the people improvement business."  I like that, but how does that play out in what I do, and how likely am I to get lost in my "work" and miss the focus of being in the people improvement business.  I heard a great story from a student graduating last Friday in Minneapolis about how NAU and the education she received has helped changed her life.  A living example of being in the people improvement business!!

Figure out what business you are in . . . and then act like it.

Execution - Book Study, session 3

In this session we discussed chapters 4 and 5 of Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. 

Chapter 4 dealt with creating the framework for cultural change.  Honestly this particular topic was a little hard to get a firm grip on.  Susan Winton made a connection with Culture Club at NAU which helped for those participating in the discussion.  Essentially the role of Culture Club at the local campus, as she described it, lends itself to building a sense of community around a shared set of values.  In correlation with this book, one of those values would be a focus on execution.  According to the authors, "cultural change gets real when your aim is execution." (p. 86)  They identify three behaviors which produce results in this area: 

1. Tell people clearly what results you're looking for
2. Discuss how to get those results (coaching)
3. Reward people for producing results

Each of these form a part of the culture of execution.  Clear identification of results seems self-explanatory but as some of those present shared, this is not always the case.  Leaders have to be able to discipline and distill their thought processes to make sure they are clearly communicating the results they are looking for - and then be willing to give and take in a conversation to make sure they are clear and what behaviors/actions will produce those results.  This is where the conversation focused on the topic of "robust dialogue."  Robust dialogue is the kind of open discussion where individuals can clearly express themselves and probe for greater understanding as well as offering new or different ideas without threat.  Mark Winkleman suggested using a format found in The Six Thinking Hats to foster this kind of discussion.   For anyone not familiar with this material - this would be an excellent training piece to use with your team, especially if you are having trouble with getting robust dialogue.

Finally, the focus on rewarding people as part of this culture was discussed.  As we all know there are many ways to reward people that have nothing to do with monetary compensation.   Gordon Brooks mentioned The Five Love Languages which basically says that everyone has a preferred way of being appreciated and of expressing appreciation.  Learning that information about those who work for us makes us better at offering the kind of appreciation which will be most effective at communicating the feeling.

 QUESTION:  As you have read the chapter, identify a "social operating mechanism" for your team and how you use that (or could use it) to promote a culture of execution.

Chapter 5 had to do with the job no leader should delegate:  having the right people in the right place.  I loved the list of "Why the right people aren't in the right jobs." 

1. Lack of Knowledge - do you know the nonnegotiable criteria you must be able to do in order to succeed at your job?
2. Lack of Courage (on the part of the supervisor) who doesn't have the emotional fortitude to confront poor performance and take decisive action.
3. Psychological Comfort Factor (on the part of the supervisor) because the supervisor has promoted and is comfortable with the employee, regardless of performance.
4. Lack of Personal Commitment (on the part of the supervisor) who is not invested in the organization enough to even care about performance issues.

The authors go on to discuss that hiring the right kind of individual who will contribute to a culture of execution means finding people who have a focus on performance.  They discuss various interview techniques and things to look for in hiring this type of individual.  This section finished up with performance appraisals and how to have the kind of conversations which contribute to a culture of execution.

QUESTION: Describe a time from your life experience which fits one or more of the list above about why people aren't in the right jobs; this can be either about yourself, a co-worker, or about how a supervisor behaved.  After describing the situation, comment on your perception of the leader and the organization and how it affected your own, or others' performance.