Jan 14
Love1

Courageous Leadership:  A Delicate Balance

By Inspirations, Managing Change, NonProfits, Strategic Thinking No Comments

I’m going to start with the moral of the story:

“Warriors” are what you get when you treat action-minded “worriers” with respect and don’t just try to work around them.

Visionaries are what you get when you treat dreamers with respect and don’t just try point out the potential pitfalls in their ideas.

It is nearly impossible to be both a warrior and a visionary at the same time.

Navigating any worthy initiative needs both types of courage, and they both frustrate the other.

Yesterday, I posted this observation (and the header image here) on Facebook:  “Our clients come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing they have in common is courage. Remarkable passion fuels these small business, higher ed and nonprofit organization leaders as they fling themselves into the gap between where they are and where they want to be: it’s an honor to support them as they blaze new paths, create better practices, make difficult decisions, have the tough conversations, and generally find ways to defy fear, embrace change, and inspire their teams to do better tomorrow than yesterday.”

As a response to that post, a long-time friend, client and one of my favorite provocateurs reached out to me by email to continue the conversation. For the sake of this discussion, we’ll call him “TJ”.  He was the one who crafted the “moral of the story” (above) and I have asked for his permission to post his thoughts here (orange italics) for the sake of furthering an important discussion:

“Courage is an appropriate word for those leading organizations or teams or families or just themselves.  Not everyone is courageous, but not everyone who is brave is the same.  I would suggest there are two types of courage.  The bold innovators, the true game changers have what I call the Bobby Kennedy style of courage, “I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”  This group is blessed with the ability to see beyond the apparent hurdles to the magnificent horizon.

I would argue many more of us muster a different brand of courage, the courage born from the fear of messing up, the fear of embarrassment, the fear of failure.  Despite all the obstacles they can see and imagine, this group gets out of bed each day and takes the responsibility to keep the ship in the channel, heading to the destination.

My experiences tell me that both types of courage are needed for an entity to succeed, but that very few people have both types.  In fact, I’m not sure it is possible for one person to be both visionary while at the same time sweating the details.  That seems intuitive to me.  But what happens when someone is perceived as fearful because his/her courage is different?

In the best organizations, this difference is recognized, embraced and respected.  In many more organizations, this difference leads to resentment.  I would argue that dreamers need to be challenged to better appreciate those in their organizations that give them the time, space and freedom to dream.  Worriers (for lack of a better term at this point) should be challenged to better recognize the value of those who create the vision and destinations that give organizations meaning, purpose and a future.”

My response:

I would call the latter category — the brave ship steerers you refer to — Warriors instead of Worriers. They muster a different brand of courage, waking up every day, conquering their fears to head back to the project/company/work battlefield despite all the minefields that they know exist (and a whole lot more that are just imagined.)

What too few people understand, and you rightly point out, is that organizations desperately need both the visionary’s courage and the warrior’s courage to successfully find the open blue waters to navigate.

It’s a delicate balance – one represented by a different photo.

Too much or too little of either side’s courage, and the whole operation collapses.

As leadership teams, we must understand that each side doesn’t just benefit from, but RELIES ON the other side to bring their best strengths to the table.

Believing that either brand of courage alone could lead the ship safely is a false confidence that will surely run the ship aground on one path or another: into waters too rocky or shallow to survive or so deep and stormy that the ship will be submerged.

Just acknowledging that there ARE two types of courage (and probably more!) is a huge step towards embracing the balance, and the momentum that can come when that balance is in harmony.

If you are a visionary leader, resist the urge to view the warriors on your team as “worriers.”

If you are a warrior leader, resist the urge to dismiss the “dreamer” side of your visionary colleagues.

We can all navigate more wisely, when we can see how to use all the talents available on the team to their best use.

 

Dec 01
Love0

Make it Better

By Associations, Brands, Inspirations, Strategic Thinking, Uncategorized No Comments

Here at MonkeyBar Management, we have (precious few) guiding principles.

One of them essentially is, “When we don’t do it right, we make it right.”
(Another is that we don’t work with bullies or jerks, but that’s the subject for another post.)

In case you missed it, in advertising news this week, Arby’s somehow had missed honoring a detail of their advertising deal with PepsiCo:  feature Pepsi alongside Arby’s food in two commercials. (That specification was likely in “the fine print,” and clearly it had fallen off of someone’s radar screen and it got missed. It happens.)

And someone at PepsiCo (rightly) called them on it.

Arby’s did three things:
1) they acknowledged the mistake
2) they collaborated with their agency to fix it in a way that didn’t jeopardize all their other creative efforts
3) they took a risk to be human

Their agency (Fallon) went out on a limb and suggested a new ad (if I had to guess, crafted by a probably exhausted and possibly frustrated creative team). An ad that could have been rejected by “the suits,” but one which the savvy humans on the team Arby’s (and then Pepsi) both agreed to run:

And it’s kind of brilliant*.

(*Brilliant, if you know the backstory.  But even if you don’t, it surely accomplishes MORE THAN the letter and the spirit of their agreement with PepsiCo, which surely was the primary audience for this “fix it” job.)

How you behave when you’ve screwed something up is a measure of who you are.

Do you reluctantly fix it, or do you go above and beyond?

Do you “blamestorm,” bluster, make excuses and generally become a pain to work with?

Do you awkwardly try to cover up the goof, or do you own it, ask for forgiveness, and make it right?

When you have the opportunity to make it right, make it memorable.

Don’t just make it right — make it better.

Sep 10
Love0

Who are you?

By Brands, Ethics, Real Life, Uncategorized No Comments

How do you behave when you don’t think anyone is watching?

That’s who you really are. You can dress up, behave well in a press conference, say what you think people want to hear when the boss (or the customer) asks, but how you behave in the moments when you believe no one is watching is what defines you.

In case you’ve missed the scandalous video of the week, Ray Rice (of US Football, NFL / Baltimore Ravens fame) basically knocked out his then-fiancee in an elevator as they were leaving a casino. They apparently were having a “spat” prior to this moment, and body language tells me it is plausible that she wasn’t saying loving things to him just prior to this action. In this moment on silent film, he was the one with the left hook. He hit her, her head hit the wall, and she hit the floor. And lay there, motionless, as the elevator doors opened. It’s difficult to watch.

I gasped when I saw it for the first time. I suspect many did.

But he didn’t appear to gasp. He seemed unfazed by what he had just done. His actions didn’t shock him into awareness, he didn’t bend down over her, apologizing, and scooping her up affectionately, cooing, “I didn’t mean it, sweetie…”
(To be fair, none of those reactions would have made the initial blow remotely acceptable … but they would surely have said something about his character. Anyone can “lose it” in a given moment, but his lack of reaction after that moment indicates a disturbing underlying callousness, raising suspicion of a pattern of behavior.)

Rather, he crudely shoved her lifeless body out of the elevator, stopping to pick up her shoe in what could be interpreted as a bit of disgust before stepping ahead and dragging her out. (That “outside the elevator” video is what originally went public.) But at least one – and likely both – of them knew what had really happened inside the elevator. Their “united front” press conference (post video #1) could have gone differently (and, I suspect, preserved his career and family): “we realize now that our once-loving relationship has developed into an abusive one, and we know that isn’t acceptable. We are using this moment to hold up domestic violence as an important issue in our society, and to say that we want to be better. We are going to hold ourselves to a higher standard, and we are actively seeking help to become better people and better partners to each other. We ask that you give us time and privacy to do that.”

But they (he) didn’t do any of that. (To be fair, she is the victim here, he is the celebrity, and I don’t know that she would have had much influence over his actions at that moment). Ray Rice lied by omission to the public, upon whom his family’s livelihood relies. And when they thought no one was watching, his employer (the NFL) tried to sweep this issue under the carpet, to hope that it wouldn’t detract from the pomp and circumstance (and massive revenues) of opening week. They surely hoped that it would go away, and that they wouldn’t have to address the fact that in some years, up to 20%* of their players on the field have been arrested or indicted of crimes ranging from fraud to domestic violence to homicide. But the carpet sweeping didn’t work. The release of the second video from inside the elevator showed us the ugly truth that the Rices (and surely others) already knew. And now, the hammer of public opinion has come down on the Rices and the NFL, as it should.

I don’t claim to understand the Rice’s relationship (relationships are complicated).
I don’t claim to understand the massively complicated issues attached to running a business like the NFL.
But I do understand what it means to do the right thing, especially when someone is watching. And the fact that everyone thought “none of us were watching” as this situation unfolded is as much an indictment on us as a society as anything. Hopefully the silver lining on this (if there is any good that can come from being hit in the face by your soon-to-be-husband) is that this public scrutiny provides the Rices with the opportunity to get help, and provides our society with an opportunity for an important conversation about domestic violence. Janay and Ray Rice could be any of us (abusive relationships can go both ways), and I fear for them. Humans are all animals, at our most dangerous when placed in corners and starved of resources. Ray Rice can still turn this around – for himself, for her, for their family. The NFL can use this opportunity to do great good, starting with cleaning their own house. But the clock is ticking, and it will take all the players here admitting who they really are.

How do you behave when no one is watching?
Do you do the right thing even when it’s the hard thing?
Who is your business when no one is “mystery shopping”?
What do you want cameras to catch you and your team doing?
Start doing it. Keep doing it. Even when it’s hard. Even when it costs you.
When it’s all gone wrong, step up to make it right.
Be a better person. Be a better company.
Someone is always watching.

 

*statistic from Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL by Jeff Benedict/Don Yaeger

photo credit: Pippalou from Morguefile

Jul 25
Love0

Ode to the Internet Machine

By Meetings Management, Real Life, Stuff We Adore One Comment

Quite literally, it’s all out there.
And it’s accessible.
Resources to make your point. Inspiration to push through.
Research to make things less scary. Support and empathy. Shared milestone moments.
A much-needed laugh, a moment with a far-away friend, a way to learn a new skill.
You can give someone a boost, help them along, make a stranger’s life easier.
Someone has the answers you seek, and you have someone else’s.

It’s not about the number of followers or clicks, it’s about the quality of connections.

Yes, the noise is getting louder and finding your way through the chaos isn’t easy.
Yes, the internet is full of trolls and cat videos. But it’s also full of awesome:

Show up and participate.

I was honored to be able to bring Sean in to work with one of our Executive Academy for Growth & Leadership (EAGL) events… through the magic of the internet. Which sounds a little hokey, but true. At MonkeyBar Management, we are proud of the diverse networks of connections that we nurture to support our client’s needs. How can we be helpful to you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

header photo credit: FantasyDesigns1 via MorgueFile
Dec 30
Love0

Play to the Whistle

By Associations, Inspirations, Retail No Comments

It’s one of the earliest concepts taught in youth sports:  you give it your all – 100% of your effort – until the referee blows the whistle.

It’s not enough (and in fact it’s not smart) to simply follow the cues of those around you: if you haven’t heard the whistle, the play isn’t over. There’s still a shot at the score.

Depending on which side of the Chicago Bears / Green Bay Packers (American NFL Football) rivalry you fall on, you either love or hate this simple lesson this morning. A game is more than a single play, of course, but the Packers prevailed by only 5 points in the NFC north championship game in part due to a moment of awareness of one of the game’s most basic rules:  it’s the whistle that signifies the end of a play.

Marginally-applicable sports analogies abound in business management philosophy, so why not this one: when in doubt, assume the ball is live. As the wound-licking Bears (and their fans, some of whom I am related to) know all too well this morning, it can be the difference between a berth in the playoffs and the end of the season.

I had a powerful real-life lesson in this during our busiest season this month: a multi-year client contract was scheduled to sunset. It might have been easy to give in to the temptation to “phone it in” on the last few weeks of the agreement: I’m a human and life is busy. I could have put my (limited) energy into upcoming (new) business rather than the final phase of a contract that was coming to an end.

But we’re “finish strong” people, even when it pushes our limits. The last days of the contract get superior service, too – equivalent to the first days. Because leaving with a strong impression is at least as important to coming in with one. Our opportunity for return engagements and for word-of-mouth referrals depend on it.

The whistle hadn’t blown. And in the final days of the project … much to all of our surprise, the client’s situation shifted dramatically. And our contract was not only renewed but expanded for the coming year(s).

Which it surely wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) have been if we had played lackadaisically in those last weeks.

Similarly, I have been to one too many retail stores this week where staff were barely “going through the motions” after an (understandably) exhausting Christmas season.

But the whistle hasn’t blown:  shoppers are in the store, spending hard-earned money. These are sales needed to clean out the shelves and provide cashflow. From that perspective, they are critical (not to mention potentially the opportunity to convert shoppers for future visits or sell tie-in merchandise at full price.)

When the whistle blows signaling the end of 2013, will you be proud of your team’s efforts?  Or will you be kicking yourself for a momentary lapse in judgement and dedication?

Until the play is completely dead, there’s always a chance:  to retain the customer, to make a great impression,  to renew the membership, to get the score.

But you’ve gotta play like you mean it. Play like the ball is alive. Like the game is on the line. Because in business, it almost always is.