Hold On

Fasten your seat belt and put on your crash helmet. Someone sent me a very provocative email about a Fortune 500 Leadership conference they just attended and I answer it (personally) but wanted to share some of what I said with you as this person hit some very important hot buttons.

Leadership

I have written extensively on the topic of leadership for my industry, yet the principles I write about are not industry specific nor are they new, but obvious and practical -- by any other words: common sense.

In several of the workshops I facilitate, we consider a quote from Dostoevsky's, Brothers Karamazov, that roughly says: "All human beings are drawn to and can be manipulated by three great desires: a miracle, a mystery and for authority."

For all the fads of bottom up, upside down, circular whirling, team, etc., management -- people do still want structure (not necessarily a dictator, although if you read "The Six Styles of Leadership" in my weekly industry column, you will find that even dictatorial leadership is indeed needed sometimes).

Spock or Freud Started It – You Pick!

Remember Dr. Benjamin Spock (a follower of Freud, for a while it would seem)? He became controversial, then popular when he proposed the theory that children should not be disciplined (because it repressed creatively for their lifetimes). And of course who of us likes to be disciplined? Everyone can relate to this idea.

Yet children, teens, young adults and adults (and household pets) all long for some "reference points" in all their lives. Chaos and anarchy appeal to few and are feared by most all; yet out of each of these states (chaos and anarchy), structure begins to form spontaneously reardless of the "amount" of freedom anyway! Someone always struggles to the front of the line and decks (knocks out) the guy in their way.

Since Spock first proposed these ideas (later withdrawing the theory himself), these same concepts have invaded our schools, our business institutions and our government. Where responsibility is shifted or completely ameliorated into what is known as the "soft" approach to dealing with people. This "soft" approach should, according to the experts, result in good behaviour rather than undesired behaviour (Yet the principles of progress demonstrate that things do not build to better but deteriorate over time where there is no structure and appropriate leadership).

Example

If someone wants me to travel to London or Chicago or Atlanta or Amsterdam to speak to a group of their colleagues about leadership, I ask for parameters and clarification of the engagement, including:

· Who is making the booking? Are they actually able to assemble the level of executives and leaders the message is appropriate for; and are they able to pay the fee?
· Where will the event take place -- on some one's back veranda or in the City Civic Centre and what is the exact address?
· Where will I stay -- in a nice hotel or in the Travel Lodge? Do I have a per diem?
· What topics should be covered in particular? What are the hot spots for the attendees?
. What should not be mentioned? (There are always pitfalls that must be avoided.)
· What day and time is the speech or workshop scheduled for? How long do I have to deliver the message and how early will someone be there for me to rehearse?

All these questions give structure and a way to make the decision to come or not --the word is guidelines. But the guidelines do not dictate how to fulfil the desire. No one else will write or deliver my speech for me. The leader however demonstrates leadership by giving me clear parameters of how to satisfy the requirement. And to do this without threat.

The group of Fortune 500 leaders in the aforementioned workshop came up with a perfect definition of leadership. It is: "to have your employees do what you want them to do, even if you are not there."

Ted Turner's Quote

Ted Turner (who I almost went to work for years ago at one of those key junctures of my life) once said, "If you want to know if you are a leader, turn around and see if others are following you!"

In the many teams I have led, I can proudly say people would follow me out the window of a ten-story building – but I would demonstrate the technique first; they would follow BECAUSE they trust me and believe in my vision (and know I must have a reason for such idiotic behaviour!).

It does not mean I am always right. There is wisdom in many counsellors (you must select counsellors with the utmost care of course), but at the end of the day, a leader is the one that is responsible. So why the struggle today surrounding leadership (and the accompany vision painting)? Could it be Spock-related? Perhaps. I think so.

Heart Disease

It is the intention of the heart that counts in leaders and followers. What I find in businesses today is that employees have become THE identified enemy (and in a similar fashion in educational institutions, government and families).

Employees, for instance, do take up to 60% or more of our operating budget, so let's kill them all and get machines to do the work. The customer be damned! Who needs customers anyway when we have everything automated nowadays?

Wait did I just say that?

Yes I did.

Is America Lost?

Funnily enough I was born in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. THE leading country in our world today. Yet, (in my opinion) internal deterioration and fraying of the edges of OUR vision is beginning to show around the world at a time when LEADERSHIP is needed (And I am not a politician nor do I believe in what I am seeing with the blatant commercialisation of politics in America).

When I come home for a visit, having lived overseas for about 18 years, I am saddened to experience what (my friends tell me) is wrong with America, first hand. Where did the "heart" of America go?!!! And how long can/will/should the United States of America maintain its world leadership position at this rate? Who will take the responsibility to make it all better or all go away?

Well the sad news is that it is up to you and me and to those who notice what is going wrong to begin to take stock and take action to make it all better because it will NOT go away! (Wow. I think I should be a speechwriter for some politician.)

The person who wrote me talked about weakness coming through “homogony” and this is a great word (similarity of origin or common descent) as to what is happening. When what we really need is to bring what is DIFFERENT (not the same, not to aim for conformity) together around ONE vision in a way that actually works (shades of The Day the Earth Stood Still).

Blame the Church

Funny, my friend brought up the church (small "c") as part of the problem and he is right (IMHO). The rigidity found in most churches today is brought about to repress questions and creativity and (most of all) personal responsibility (When I was three, Mommy didn't give me a chocolate bar when I wanted it, so I have a perfect excuse for misbehaving today. (Do they teach Freud in the church?)).

FYI: The Bible does NOT support this! The sad fact is that in my experience I have met few people who have actually READ the entire Bible (unless they were forced to (and therefore resisted it as drudgery) and many grew to hate the church and all it represented because of this forced march).

There are even fewer who (if they use the Bible as their template for behaviour) seek to use the principles for their own edification rather than trying to make others conform to their personal interpretation of what is actually there. (Matthew 7:1-5, if you don't have access to a Bible, this is about first take the log out of your own eye before you talk with another about the speck in theirs) and for other purposes than the stated one in Scripture (Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 – to share the Good News). And no, I am not a pastor or "religious", but a student of what the Bible says).

Dying for What is Right

Recently, I quoted Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death," in a discussion about being discriminated against in a new realm, and I still mean it (RL - real life and VL - virtual life or any life!). I am, after all, recognised as the troublesome “drama queen” there (responsible for -- of all things -- passion and role play - a powerful, drama- and incendiary-rich combination, isn’t it?)

Think of me (and I say this with humility and respect for what these two characters stood for) as sort of a Joan of Arc or Braveheart. Foolishly, it seems to most, I must fight for what I see is right for the freedom of those around me who are hurting.

My morning writer said, “rigidity crushes creativity. In dying realms there is safety in knowing that homogeny (conformity to one way of thinking or acting) exists. The result of homogeny is sameness and loss of individuality. Ultimately, Inquisitions and Witch burnings occur from such rigidity."

I have (and perhaps continue to) personally experienced the inquisition (and have many scars and burns to prove it). I have certainly been pilloried and keel hauled a few times so far; even burned at the stake twice (by being banned from a beloved land). Yet, I still stand and hold up the banner of sensitivity and common sense for as long as I have breath. Someone must -- and I have enough ego to think what I do counts for something (anything)!

How’s that for DRAAAAAMA?

If you are my friend, just help hold me or at least hold my hand as I go up the scaffold – please. And do not think I am mad or foolish. I would hope instead to be as wise as a dove and as clever as a fox or for that matter, as clever as Br'er Rabbit in Uncle Remus tales of “Br’er Rabbit”.