One's Origins

I believe we broaden our view of the world by educating ourselves and keeping an ever open mind to the notion that what we believe to be true is only true for us and only in that moment. Education for me (and I certainly do not mean the system known as education but rather the activity known as learning) is analogous to the improvements in technology in digital cameras. We go from telephoto to wide angle to take in more of the landscape of life, and we also increase our resolution or pixel count so we have much greater clarity. Now, to return to the lexicon of pre-digital photography, our pictures our developed by the crucial art of putting language around the we we see the world so that we may effectively communicate with other people.
To return to my opening sentence, no two photographs, even taken with the same camera, are ever completely identical.

The idea of Employee Capitalism came to me upon reading two articles recently.  First, the January-February 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review titled, “The Age of Consumer Capitalism”.  The author, Roger Martin argues that the two prevailing models of capitalism, managerial capitalism and shareholder capitalism are flawed and he discusses the notion of consumer capitalism.

As a synopses, managerial capitalism entered the scene during the height of the depression in 1932.  This form of capitalism posited the belief in management’s role in driving the desired business results.  Some four decades later, we saw shareholder value capitalism take root.  The underlying belief was that if shareholder wealth was optimized, society on the whole would benefit.  What we have learned says Mr. martin is that shareholder value is driven by expectations and due to the cyclical environment in which the markets exist, are not indefinitely sustainable.

The second article (much more recent) came to me by way of a Facebook posting from Harvard Business Review with a link to a blog post from the Wall Street Journal. (Gotta love the inter-twining nature of all these social networks.)  The article was titled HCL: Extreme Management Makeover and was posted on Facebook the day after my blog post Leaders who Serve was published.  This article asserted the concept of “Employees First, Customers Second”.  By trusting the creativity, skills and intentions of employees, your customers will be the beneficiaries of added value.  Value, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  If employees are in the limelight, I believe they will amaze you.   Click here for the WSJ blog article.

With these two articles along with my own belief in Leaders who Serve, Employee Capitalism seems like a logical and promising next step.  I certainly see a formidable theme developing.  Our best assurances for satisfied customers is by focusing on the needs of our employees.  And satisfied customers is the only way I know to beat the competition.

On July 8, I posted a blog article espousing my affinity and belief in the concept of Leaders who Serve.  This was an idea first placed into my ear many years ago at a former employer.  The inspiration to write some thoughts about this concept only recently came from a twitter update by a fellow Business School Alumnus, Jose Palomino. In his post Jose cited an article by Glenn Magas titled, “Servant leadership is a new management concept”.  I was remiss in not acknowledging these two gentlemen and I wish to thank them for their insight and inspiration.  Mr. Magas’ article can be accessed by clicking here.

The title of this blog post is one of the core tenets from the credo for managers and above at a employer where I enjoyed 11+ years as a business management consultant.  At first glance an oxymoron might appear to exist as if the leader and servant are polar opposite roles.  I could not disagree more.  I believe they are indeed one in the same and I embrace the concept of the servant leader with boundless enthusiasm.

According the Marcus Buckingham in “The One Thing You Need to Know” leaders are very distinct from managers in that the latter expends more energy focusing in on the individual and identifies ways to motivate him or her in the way that proves most effective for that individual.  The role of the former by contrast is all about inspiring the collective group and generating enthusiasm to drive to a better future.

I purport that for either to be effective they must serve the needs of those they lead and/or manage.  I recognize that such needs might include calling out where people are miscast and exploring possibilities for change.  (As a tangential note, it is surely uncomfortable – yet sometimes appropriate – to suggest that a fit is not right and in the end the just response is to explore alternative options outside of the organization.)

In the absence of any changes in personnel it is obligatory for the those towards the top to serve the needs of those who support their initiatives and objectives.  The only foundational element I know to facilitate this is humility.  Leaders are no less limited by their own humanness and we cannot ever forgot that.

I am in no way positing that leaders should lower their expectations or allow their strategies be guided by the attitudes of their people. In fact, I am saying the exact opposite.  A leader must be steadfast in their pursuits. The manner in which they communicate and execute says everything about their view of the people who support them.  And that will determine sustainability.

We will never observe sustained dedication by demanding. The only way to realize sustained commitment is by treating people with dignity which fosters trust.  How people are treated is the indispensable ingredient to servant leadership. To me, the leader who serves will be most successful in optimizing sustained output from the people in their team or organization.

From at least Philadelphia to Northern New Jersey this past weekend, there were some ferocious wind and rain storms.  Power service was disrupted for many and no doubt flights were canceled.  I perhaps should have anticipated this when I left the house this morning at 5 AM for 7:15 AM flight.  (My commute to Philadelphia airport is about one hour.)  This Raleigh, NC flight is rather routine for me and I believe I have the ‘system’ down cold.

Well, not this morning.  At 6:15 AM, the security lines where – no exaggeration – about 10 times as long as they usually are at that time of day.  (Anyone familiar, I am at the terminal D/E checkpoint).  The line snaked around several times beyond the roped area and continued past the moving walkways that moved passengers back towards baggage claim and the parking garage.  I then realized that the storms had indeed impacted weekend flight schedules and this was the aftermath. That was it. I arrived an hour before take-off and was going to miss my flight.

Well, actually, no.  I was amazed how well TSA kept things moving and I don’t think I stood still for more than one solid minute at any one time.  And when the line did move, it moved a considerable distance. By the time I was though security and gathering my carry-on belongings it was 7:02 and the monitors displayed my flight as ‘Boarding’.  I walked briskly to the gate and boarded with many others who only one hour earlier wondered if they too would be making alternate plans due to a missed flight.

I don’t know if a one-time good experience is enough for some people to broadcast accolades for someone or a group, but I will certainly tip my hat off to the TSA staff at PHL terminals D and E this morning. I was certainly impressed by how fast that line moved. (Of course, we must hope that doesn’t suppose that they rushed through their screening procedures).

Now if we can only get the baggage handling system redesigned into something resembling functional we might have an airport not worthy of the scorn beset by many inbound travelers.

As an aside, the Philadelphia to Raleigh trip, I believe, is usually just a back and forth.  Well, today the plane was continuing on to Tampa Florida and was half full with people donned in Phillies gear – likely those Florida bound the day before.  How much I wanted to stay on board and continue on to see a little Spring training in Clearwater. Good luck Phils in 2010!

It is widely held that first impressions are usually correct.  Why is this?  Once we form an initial opinion about someone, we naturally process future observations of that person in ways that support the first or initial impression. And, we unconsciously discard any observation that is in conflict with our initial observation.
I am suggesting that our subsequent experiences of people are simply biased by our first.  If so, then of course our first impressions are always correct.  Later impressions are fueled by the first.
I believe that first impressions are in deed not always accurate.  We are well served to keep an open mind in subsequent early experiences of others.  Rely more on a collection of experiences rather than a single experience.

We often hear that eye contact is an essential part of effective communication.  I had always thought the importance of this was limited to demonstrating confidence as a speaker.  I am not referring to public speaking, but simply one-on-one dialogue.  Most of us might agree that eye contact when speaking can add credibility to what you are saying.  By maintaining eye contact with your listener, you are sending a visual message that you fully believe what you are saying and that you stand by it.  This does not mean that lack of eye contact implies doubt, but there is significantly less power in words sans eye contact.

On Sunday (10/25) I posted an article on twitter that was in the Philadelphia Inquirer that gave praise to the management style of Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel.  In making comparisons, one sports journalist referred to the late Bill Walsh (former SF 49ers coach who took the team to three Super bowl wins). Bill Walsh was once asked why he choose Joe Montana who at the time was not highly regarded coming from Notre Dame.  Bill Walsh reportedly said, “Too many people looked at his arm, I looked into his eyes.”

I share this because for me it points to a benefit of eye contact that might often be overlooked.  As a listener, if are able to maintain eye contact, we might be surprised to learn what the speaker is really trying to say if their words on their own merit are coming up short.

The bottom line I think, is that eye contact helps communicate authenticity on both sides of the conversation. And that is critical in establishing a key foundational element in all relationships – trust.

I recently completed a short yet very intense (many long nights) engagement for a client with whom our team had constructed a portfolio optimization platform several months earlier. This initial project was a great deal of fun for me in that not only did I learn many new things, I also had the opportunity to interact with people in the highest offices of this company – including the CEO.

Fast forward a few months and we are called back to help modify our model inputs for the new fiscal year’s planning. The initial project took about 5 months, which included construction of the model framework from scratch.  Our task now was simply to assess and modify the inputs through a series of interviews – obviously muss less time would be required.

We were called in to commence this exercise about two weeks before a final presentation was to be delivered by our client to their executive committee. Only one of my colleagues was on-site for the first few days and I was asked to join him for the next four. Upon completion of my contribution, my colleague remained fully engaged for the remaining 5 days or so. (By fully engaged, I mean 12, 14 or more hours per day.)

Here begins my life’s lesson from this experience. It took me no time to express my opinion that we were not managing client expectations well. I got the impression that when the client said jump we were merely asking how high and that we were not giving any attention to the art of expectation management. It quickly became apparent that not only would herculean efforts would be required to deliver on time but there was no room for anything to go wrong.  (And we did contend with a very significant technical problem which brought our efforts to a halt for several hours.)

I shared my sentiments with my colleague and realize now that I had become a complaint in the matter.  I do believe in the risks inherent in over-promising.  Hindsight I believe provides a picture of how this could have been managed more effectively from the beginning.

What I lost sight of was the power of what we were accomplishing – nurturing and strengthening a relationship.  I still contend that coming in sooner than two weeks before presentation delivery would have been much more appropriate. That aside, our commitment to help our client construct a meticulously detailed presentation has undoubtedly helped solidify our position as the “go-to” team for their needs in the areas in which we specialize.

I claim no credit for myself in our success here beyond my own effort in compiling new information. I have learned (again) that showing up as a complaint in the matter (even though in private and not hostile) was not responsible action. We demonstrated to the client that their interests where at the forefront. And we operated consistent with that. There is a fine balance between nurturing and strengthening a relationship by getting the job done and making promises and sacrifices that risk comprising one’s own needs.

I have much to learn about maintaining balance in this area and I am grateful that I had this opportunity to help me grow.

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