From My Heart

I sit at my computer tonight with a pensive heart. It isn't just Haiti, although that gives it a focus.
I will freely admit to being a romantic. I love great stories and heroes. I love happy endings and noble causes and stories about people who displayed more integrity and courage than I have.
I'm not seeking solace or absolution, just thinking out loud.

We have an interesting set of choices before us. In many cases we are angry and disillusioned. We feel let down . Our economic security is at stake. People we trusted let us down. Where do we go?

I believe in people. I have been castigated about my focus on engagement and the power or relationships, but honestly I have have yet to see a more powerful force than a group of committed people in support of a common cause.

I have been and aspire again to be a "leader". Leadership is a a trust between those who "lead" and those who "follow".

For many years our philosophy was "Think Global, act local". Perhaps it is time for us to both think and act locally. Washington and "world leaders" can offer insight, but perhaps we need to embrace more solutions one person, one family, one community at a time?

From my heart. What do you think?

A Different Perspective

I had an opportunity to visit with a friend today who shared with me he finds my blog most meaningful when I speak "from my heart". I don't disagree with him. I find it most meaningful too.

I spent a good part of my evening tonight watching Hope for Haiti. I found it tragic, beautiful, inspiring and a host of other things. I got to see some of the greatest musical and stage actors of our time perform. The music was nothing short of incredible. Some of the quotes were memorable. Some of the scenes were tragic.

Haiti is a tragedy of the highest order. It also appears to be a country of great beauty and spirit. I've not had an opportunity to visit although I have a client who is intensely invested in the country. It has an almost mystical presence. As my wife pointed out the poetry of the Creole that is spoken is in direct juxtaposition to the darkness of their reality. Poverty is rampant as is HIV, and a host of other conditions and that was pre earthquake.

The inspiring part for me was that while 2009 was a train wreck of the highest order, it happened on us gradually almost a numbing process. The earthquake happened suddenly and tragically. Sometimes incidents like this bring out something human in us.

I saw some of the greatest entertainers alive today perform amazing music. Music that in many cases they hadn't written or performed previously, but performed beautifully; maybe even inspirationally.

I'll admit it. I am a soft touch and a romantic. Seeing people come together in a spirit of humanity speaks to a place in me. I hope it speaks to a place in you too.

I left the show with impressions of great tragedy, incredible performances, and hope. Seeing these artists perform without introduction, without the accolades of an audience, and organized in a very short time said we still care and hope. The idea that the major networks provided it commercial free said we still care. The idea that Bill Clinton and George W Bush jointly traveled to Haiti and are sponsoring fundraising efforts says there is a dignity in ex- Presidents and our current administration in making the request that speaks to our place in the world.

If you didn't see the show I reccomend it to you. At the very least download the soundtack from Itunes, I found it moving. I hope you will too....

The Power Of Relationships

As you all know I agree with Margaret Wheatley that the most important influence in organizations is relationships; not systems, not technology, but relationships.

I had the occasion to join a friend last evening with a friend and colleague of his I hadn't previously met. I found his friend to be charming, personable and very articulate. As our discussion turned to the inevitable " so what business are you in", he said that he worked for an organization that distributes a pharmaceutical type of product that is manufactured in Europe. What was especially interesting was that he shared their "distribution" network was almost exclusively based on relationship selling; no large sales force , no "cold calling". It is based on trust and referral.

A week or so ago I mentioned an article by Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford. He opined that much of the issue with health care in the United States is in many ways relationship based; most Americans rely on their employer for health care and for economic security. Compared to other countries our "safety net" is pretty small. He talked about the effects of stress about their employment and the accompanying systems like health care tied to employment and the direct correlation to health care issues. I agree with him.

I read some articles and listened to a couple of "idea casts" on BNET this week that illustrated the same thing from a different angle- the relationship between employees and leaders and how in these times especially employees watch their leaders for any sign of positive or negative events or signs. They do that normally, but in these times it is exacerbated to the nth degree. Marcus Buckingham says the most important attribute of leadership is clarity- people want to believe their leaders have a vision.

My own personal research validates information published by Peppers and Rogers, BlessingWhite, Gallup, and others about the power of engagement. I am talking about true engagement which includes customer, employee, shareholder, and stakeholder. Organization's with high engagement outperform their competitors consistently and by an order of magnitude. Engagement is about relationships.

I have written and spoken a lot lately about social networks and their increasing importance in communications strategy. I believe that social networking is about relationships.

I have also written and spoken about the "social contract". In historical times the poor were tied to the wealthy. They literally "belonged" to the property or estate for hundreds of years. The American "experiment" was all about eliminating that. You could come here and reinvent yourself.
You could homestead a piece of property of start a business. Then we ran out of frontier. Consistent with the rest of the world the Industrial revolution occurred. We exchanged the value of personal competence for the promise of "security" in return for "obedience" The power of the great capitalist was tempered only by the labor movement. That was about relationships,
however dysfunctional.

The "world" economy changed that social contract. American industry was not always dominant, our quality suffered and correspondingly so did our market share. Interestingly much of the "new" management models like lean manufacturing and TQM have very strong relationship components to them. U.S. companies retreated from economic security in return for "loyalty". Traditional pension plans are almost obsolete. The parental relationship between employers and employed relative to health care is in crisis mode. Our health care model is parental. We don't address root causes of costs, we shift them around. People don't want to share responsibility for their health or the costs of treating them. That is a relationship, although another dysfunctional one.

I am not suggesting that a "parental" model is appropriate. Anybody that has ever heard me speak, worked with me, or read any of my writing knows better. I rather like the concept of "personal competence" and relationships founded on mutual respect and honesty between employer and employed, taxpayer and government, supplier and customer, and individuals. A relationship based on respect, information, and mutual responsibility and built on a foundation of trust. Maybe I am just nostalgic or misguided, but I think that is what the Founding Fathers meant so many years ago when they formed this country.

Tomorrow is Independence Day, maybe a good day to reflect on what they meant and the critical relationships in each of our lives. I think that is what I'll do, how about you?

Managing Whole Relationships

The last week has been interesting. The holidays always cause me to pause and reflect about the year that has passed and the year that lays ahead.
This week has been especially interesting because some things I have been working on for a while are approaching completion.

I have believed for sometime that we need to redefine our employment relationship in the U.S.
In many ways I think it resembles the ancient system of serfdom and royalty.
Organizations have replaced the royalty, but we expect "fealty" and "loyalty" in return for taking care of our employees. The concept of taking care of employees really bugs me. You don't take care of adults. You partner with them. You reach covenants and understandings about mutual expectations and mutual benefits. You exchange ideas and value. You hold each other accountable and you invest in relationships.
There may be leaders, but leadership comes from creating a meaningful vision and clarity and giving people a reason to follow you. It is not a hereditary right that comes with a title or position.

This week my first book went to the printer. People ask me how long I took to write it and I answer somewhat whimsically that it took my thirty years to write it, and about six months to write it down.

Over the last 30 years I have been a consultant, manager, executive, and I hope a leader.
My book is about those experiences and the things that I learned and the mistakes that I made. It is also about a new model that I believe in- a partnership model. We take care of each other.

I hope it is a good book. I have worked hard on it and I have been blessed with the patience and investment of a number of people who have helped me shape it and edit it and make it better. It is a reflection of our collective effort, not just mine.

We are faced with some challenging issues right now and for the foreseeable future. The world economy, health care delivery and costs, famine and terrorism, and a bunch of others.
I think we need to deal with these issues collaboratively.
We need to partner with our employees and communities and look for solutions that are different.
People are complicated and messy. Organizations take on all those issues and add their own. Societies just increase the scale.
2008 has been hard, but I have learned a lot and done things and met people that I probably wouldn't have without that catalyst.

I think I would like to spend 2009 working on knowing and appreciating "whole people" better and working with others to create new better models together.
I don't want to take care of people I want to share relationships and experiences with them. I don't want to complain about what is, I want to participate in what could be instead.
What do you want to do as you "wrap up 2008 and move into 2009?