1. They get that leadership is the most important factor in determining long-term success and so they spend time cultivating leadership. They hire well and they work hard at being both strong leaders individually, but also collectively.
2. They are committed to creating an engaged workforce.  No kidding, it really made a difference having such a workforce, since their workers remain not only dedicated to the success of the company, but also they are resourceful and flexible—two of the most important ingredients to success.
3. Their strategy is focused and clear and everyone in the company understands it and buys in.  They all know the three most important things and can connect their own work with the company’s success.
4. Straight talk, coupled with open minded and openhearted communication is the key.
5. These companies have multiple touch points for meaningful dialogue—they figure out what problems to tackle, they figure out the solutions, and they do it together.  They adopt a blend of healthy direction setting leadership and inclusivity.
6. Everyone in the company takes responsibility—there is no room for laying blame.
7. They execute really fast—faster than their competition. (You know the story of the two friends in the woods who meet a grizzly.  One starts putting on his sneakers and the other says, “That’s not going to help.  Don’t you know you can’t outrun a grizzly?”  The other replies, “I know, I just need to outrun you.”)

So there you have it in a nutshell—the keys to success in a down economy.  Actually it’s the keys to success in any economy but is particular true in periods of financial difficulty.  Here’s the rub, however.  These principles have been developed over time.  You can’t just bolt them on to a company. It takes time, effort, and care to operate a company consistent with these principles.  Ones that do, and that did their homework a long time ago have poised themselves for at the very least survival, and at best growth in spite of what appear to be insurmountable hurdles.

Hillel, (born c.110BCE-10CE in Jerusalem) was a famous religious leader, and one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah, the idea that all peoples can study the bible and learn actively from its tenants, and the Talmud, one of the central texts of mainstream Judaism—a growing body of knowledge that is filled with teaching stories and guidance for right living.   Renowned within Judaism as a sage and scholar, he is popularly known for the saying: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

I love this saying because in simple language, it teaches us both right living and right leadership. Let’s break it down into its component parts.

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

If I do not stand up for myself that who am I? If I cannot believe in myself, then what kind of leader can I be?  Who will follow me if I will not follow myself?  This is one of the primary principles of extraordinary leadership. Great leadership starts (does not end) with self belief.  This is not egotistical belief, which is usually twinned with  insecurity and self-absorption. It is the notion I matter, I am capable, I am worthy.  All great leaders feel that.  They don’t demand our attention, they command it. Leadership comes from the depths of their soul from which certainty arises, certainty born from self-solidity.

If I am only for myself, what am I?

This is the notion that although I am inner guided, I am outer focused.  Great leaders care far more for their purpose—which by definition is always about being of service to something outside oneself—than for themselves and their personal ambitions.  Great leaders are servants to a cause.

If not now, when?

If it is meant to be it is up to me is a wonderful phrase that captures the spirit of this.  It is a saying born out of the sense that I matter, I can take a stand and in so doing, move the world.  What are we waiting for?  Our waiting does nothing but perpetuate the status quo.  We all live a short time on this earth, and now, not tomorrow, is the time to make a difference.

If we all follow Hillel’s guidance, we would all be the better for it.

A funny thing happened today.  I was facilitating a meeting of an executive team.  They were together in the east coast while I was on the west coast.  We were using video and teleconference to see and hear one another.  During the meeting I pressed my mute button to prevent them from hearing me cough.  I forgot to press the unmute button, however I did not realize this.  About three minutes had passed when I intervened to guide the group in a particular direction and no one responded.  I repeated myself (again, unaware that I was still muted) and again no one responded.  I chalked it up to the fact (or so I thought) that they were so engrossed in the conversation that my intervention was not heard. I decided to honor this and keep my counsel for a while longer.  The group appeared to not only self-correct, but its conversation seemed quite effective.  A few minutes later I had something to say, but again they did not hear me, so again I kept my counsel.  It was only when they did not hear me a few more minutes later than I realized my gaffe.  I was on mute the whole time.

What is disturbing about this is that perhaps my efforts are, and were not necessary.  I like to think of myself as someone who adds value to a meeting and I feel that I am often essential to the cause, but this experience offered the possibility that perhaps I’m not as essential or valuable as I’d like to believe.

I wonder how essential our leadership is.  As leaders, our goal should not be to make ourselves indispensible, but instead to create conditions where the team can operate without us as leaders.
I like to think that I’ve added so much value to the team that they can now self-correct better than if I were present all along, and that perhaps I’ve helped them be less reliant on me.  This frees me up to think about where else I can add value and perhaps elevate my contribution.  Isn’t that part of what the goal of all leaders needs to be?

In a world where it is common to root for the underdog, I am going to take a risk and share quite openly that:  I LOVE DYNASTIES!

Yes, I admit it. I root for the top dog—the one who figured it out and got there by picking themselves up by the bootstraps, and who dared to defy the odds. I root for the person who has shown us what greatness is, and then works their butt off to stay on top.  I root for the teammate who puts in the extra hours, keeps thinking about how to stay ahead of the pack, and who is never complacent.  I root for the New England Patriots, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, The Boston Celtics, Roger Federer, Muhammad Ali, and Annika Sorenstam…..and Apple Computer.

It is not that they show us who we are, but who we can become.  My interest in greatness and mastery is not elitism. I believe everyone has greatness in them.  I root for dynasties because they teach us so much about what aspiration means and what achievement means at the highest level. I especially root for the teams and organizations that were not fed from a silver spoon, and who rose up against all odds.   I believe that you can take people who are ordinary and create an extraordinary process or culture where the sum is a powerful, winning combination. Sorry NY Yankees and George Steinbrenner; I don’t root for you.  You paid your way to stardom and that teaches us little.

Some of my friends root for the downtrodden, the underdog, and the masses, and I do too.  Just because I love dynasties, it doesn’t mean I care less about everyone else.  Quite the opposite. What I really love is when someone rises up from out of nowhere, finds their own way, and then shows us that anyone can be a top dog.  It is the heroic journey that I love and it is those that took the road less travelled and came out ahead that show us so much about who we all are and what we are all are capable of.

So you go, Patriots.  Come on, Roger, beat ‘em again. Yeah for the San Antonio Spurs.  Let’s hope once again the Boston Celtics rise to teach us what teamwork and sacrifice can do.

W.L. Gore, the award-winning company that invented Gore-Tex, has figured out how to reconcile the tension between individuality and collective effort.  They believe that people cannot be at their best when swallowed up by an organization and its bureaucracy; they need to feel like a genuine part of the team with opportunities to bring their best selves to their work. One of the practices that Gore has developed is to reduce the size of any business unit that reaches 125 people. In so doing, such units in the company remain small enough that everyone can feel they have an impact and also experience a personal connection with those they work with. In being challenged to “own” the company, employees maintain a sense of entrepreneurial spirit and self-value.

Guided by this philosophy, the company has spawned an impressive number of product lines based on Gore-Tex technology, from sneakers and jackets to surgical products, filtration systems, and window screens, and a whole lot more. The opportunities are endless, and you can feel people’s spirit thrive there. Patagonia has the same kind of organization, led by its charismatic though down-to-earth founder, Yves Chouinard.

Karl Fisch, an Arapahoe (Colorado) High School Technology teacher, and a successful consultant, has done just that; and to great effect. This year, in addition to leading the technology area, he’s begun teaching algebra to 9th and 10th graders. And he’s flipped the typical sequence of teaching. Instead of lecturing during class time and assigning problems as homework, he now offers his students the chance to have further look at the syllabus through pre-recorded lectures; putting them on YouTube, for them to watch at home. He then spends class time working out problems with his pupils. I love the idea. I remember well the days when I listened to boring lectures from a teacher, and then being told to do assignments at home.  So often I felt I could have easily read from a book during class and gotten what I needed, while at home, I often felt I wished the teacher was there to help.  Fisch’s approach would have been a breath of fresh air. He’s not the only teacher flipping the sequence. Thankfully many more are. Fisch, by the way, is noted among other things, as having created the legendary Shift Happens videos, which have enjoyed enormous popularity.

To learn more about Fisch and other ideas for flipping the sequence, see the following article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/7996379/Daniel-Pinks-Think-Tank-Flip-thinking-the-new-buzz-word-sweeping-the-US.html.

Here’s a flip it idea. Instead of implementing strategy top down, consider a bottom up approach; where you consult with your employees, asking them what changes in strategy they’d want upper management to consider. Most frequently, strategies cascade downward, and staff are asked to think creatively in their own realms. However, by inviting strategy to bubble up, one engages all employees in organization wide thinking. This has notably positive effect. Upper management are still with the power to make decisions, but are better of having made them as a result of having engaged with others in order to get a new vision, and a fresh perspective. It essentially creates a sense that we are all in this together.

Alternatively, we could consider the possibility of having the employee do his or her own performance review first.  Many companies are doing this, and are creating a strong sense of self-responsibility and self-initiative. 

Or, what if we were to consider asking our manufacturers to get involved in product design?

Or, or, or.  I love the idea of flipping it.  Maybe I should ask readers to suggest blogs for me to write, which would in effect mean that I was engaging my readership, creating a sense of community.  Now that the idea has popped into my head, let’s go with it.  Any ideas?

In the movie, Helen Keller, aged 8, could not hear, speak, read, write or communicate except in a rudimentary way.  She was a wild child, frustrated in her inability to understand life.  Her parents accommodated her best they could, which in many ways was also part of the problem. Young Helen was not required, or expected to do even the most simplest of tasks, and so she was arguably given too much personal freedom. This meant that she was given gratis to behave rudely, and without boundaries. Annie Sullivan arrives on the scene, with Helen’s life, and the life of her family in shambles (the organization in a failure pattern).  Showing authentic leadership skills, Annie immediately recognizes that Helen should no longer be accommodated.  The love of Helen’s parents translated into extreme permissiveness, and without boundaries, Helen became unruly and unhappy.  So Annie began to act as a makeshift leadership guidance consultant for Helen’s parents, beginning by offering proper boundaries.  Eventually Helen succumbed to the limitations enough so that Annie could begin teaching.  Throughout the movie, Annie taught Helen sign language, but only to the point that she was able to mimic the movements of her hands.  The powerful dilemma was that Helen could not understand that the movement of the fingers was a symbol of the word the fingers were signing.  While she could move her fingers signing “tree” for example, she could not associate it with a “tree.”  Annie kept saying to herself, “if Helen can only understand one word, just one word, then I’ll get through to her.”  What Annie instinctively knew was that the understanding of the attachment of a symbol to a thing was the key to unlocking communication.  Annie’s goal was not all of communication; it was to learn one thing.  

In other words, Annie was in the midst of a huge failure pattern and want to create a success pattern. It would not come from too many goals. It comes from reducing goals and learning to succeed, and to feel the pleasure of that success, causing one to want to come back for more.  First goal—dress oneself.  Second goal—sit at the dinner table and eat properly with a spoon.  Third goal—learn the meaning of one word.  In this way, Annie was an extraordinary leader and teacher, creating a success pattern where none existed. 

This is what leaders need to do in difficult times.  It is the opposite of what they often instinctually want to do—to promise the world.  In stead it is to reduce expectations, simplify, get clear what is most important and to create a success pattern.

At the end of the movie, I cried, for Helen learned the meaning of the word “water,” and with that, all the other words she was just mimicking all of the sudden had meaning—the symbols had meaning; they referred to a thing and now she could communicate through symbols.  We all take it for granted that this is how to communicate.  To Helen, it was manna from heaven, and with it the world opened up to her.

I believe one of the signatures of a conscious leader is to know when to apply boundaries and when to relax them in the service of something bigger.  When values become rules, leaders act like “Big Brother”.  When values are principles, they teach us and guide us.  If they are too rigid, we lose something—our capacity to apply discretion. When they are too lax, they have no meaning.  When decisions become rigid, we run the risk of being unable to change in the face of changing circumstances.  When they are too loose, we are confused. 

I believe that one of the key things a leader needs to hold is one of being decisive and yet open.  This means that the leaders says: “I’m betting my money that this is the way to go, so let’s go.” At the same time, the leader knows that it may not be the right decision.  A good leader remains open to learning, and discovering new information that calls for an alternative decision.  This is a good boundary for a decision—held firmly but not too tightly.

He calls this ratio: Net Promoter Score. It is a profound book and a profound concept; one that has been written with the very best business leadership coaching in mind. In the book, he makes a distinction between good sales growth and bad sales growth. Good sales growth is hard one, born out of deliver a product or service that has the customer wanting to come back for more. Bad sales growth is bought by the seller through pushy sales people, clever advertising, or perhaps relying on past brand success. Bad sales growth erodes the brand. I am told that Toyota has cut corners of late in their manufacturing, and that, above all else may be the indirect cause of their problems. They have built a business based on hard won good sales growth and have recently caused a disturbance in their hard one pattern. They would be well served to return to emphasis on value. So could we all.

Well, meetings are often like that, especially the poorly conducted ones. Since there is limited clarity or focus from the start, the meeting meanders and the primary aims are ill achieved. Meetings need framing. They need to be focused. They need to have a clear aim, purpose, a set of objectives and strategy for arriving at a concrete conclusion as well as ground rules. And most importantly, they need a facilitator to keep the group on track, for the happening described above is well entrenched in our collective patterns.

Okay, good point Keith, but we knew that!

Yes you did, but here’s the rub. Creativity and innovation are snuffed out by the very same processes that define good business meetings. It is in those wonderful diversions that the stuff of breakthrough is made. Great leaders don’t make their meetings so military like that the life force is snuffed out of them. Instead, they design in and often welcome temporary diversions, identifying them for the creativity and spark that they can potentially ignite by encouraging a personal freedom to express innovative ideas. You can’t tell where a good idea comes from, or when, and sometimes you cannot tell how either. It comes in the shower, while watching a movie, reading a blog or playing with your kid. It can come to you in the most unexpected moments and this needs to be welcomed. See the video below for a wonderful expression of this idea of movement from one place to another until the end was never predicted. Such movement spices up our life and offers an insight we could not have had while collectively pursuing a singular goal or painting within the lines.

Click here to see the video or paste in your browser: