How do I drive accountability?

A questions first, "How badly do you want to get your work done?" If you knew that if your co-workers did not do what they had agreed to do and that your business would fail tomorrow. You might decide that there are some additional ways to motivate your team to meet the requirement. Sometimes we just get tired, we don't feel like chasing employees around, following up on requests, and finding out that they simply are disappointing you once again.

It becomes a contest of wills. Who will win out. You know if you give in to low performance behavior it is not the end of the beginning but the beginning of the end. And if you stay in this unproductive contest you will also lose your way on the path.

What is leading to this behavior of your team and your lack of results in motivating them to lean into the issue to help move it positively forward? Is it that you may be demonstrating similar behaviors in areas of your work that you are responsible for. I am not one who believes in the notion that leader should demonstrate by doing the same work as the troops. That is not the role of the leader, most of the time, it is however your role to demonstrate and live up to the values and culture that you want to create.

I know a company that decided in their strategic planning process that the number one attribute the company would focus on for their clients was timeliness. I then asked the group if they currently show up to meetings on time. They unanimously said, "No."

You get the question. If you can't show up on time and hold yourself responsible for meeting your own schedule, how are you ever going to do it for your clients projects. Additionally, you should not try to implement new processes until you handle the fundamentals around the attribute your trying to personify.

What are you doing to contribute to your staff not getting things done? My clients hate when I ask this of them. And what they hate even more is when I don't except nothing as the answer. Your the leader, not them. That means it is your job getting them to want to do it. If they are not doing it, it may just be your fault.

Saying no sometimes get you further

When the former CEO of a Fortune 100 company calls, people do what he wants especially if your a new venture backed hi-tech firm, or maybe not. The President, Bob, of this hi-tech firm, knew this particular CEO/Venture Capitalist who was a long standing investor in his company. But this CEO now turned venture capitalist had not yet invested in the Company's last round of funding.

One day the CEO Venture Cap guy calls Bob to suggest that he meets with these guys at an Ivy-league university that are working on some really interesting related technology. Bob after speaking with his partner decided that they would have to pass on the meeting. They had determined that it was not in line with their vision and mission for the business. After Bob turned the CEO's offer down, he immediately said, "Right Answer." And decided to invest in the company. Not only because it is a great new technology but because he knew it was being lead with vision.

How many ideas have you turned down or not even explored because it falls outside of your vision? How many people are judging you because of your desire to run after all the bright shiny objects?

Being totally professional may not be what to stive for

Last night at the Marc Cohn concert (wrote "walking in Memphis") he had such a personable way of being on stage. He literally wrote two songs on the fly that had amusings to him and the audience based on the interactions that were taking place.

It got me thinking about what is happening in the advertising world. With the white markers over pictures. The informality of sharing ideas. A book a recently completed call, On the back of a napkin discusses how presentations on the back of a napkin can be even more powerful than those elaborate power point presentations. The reason for this seems to be that with the advent and ubiquitous availability of technology to edit and change photography and enhance presentation perfect can be done by so many. Having a great power point (perhaps I am overstating this for effect) is not too difficult. Know we must return to our art looking like a craft. It seems that you can only do this if you have the expertise within your domain and the respect of your field (those who can appreciate your competence). If the warm-up singer although good, attempted to be this playful it would have ended up likely on deaf ears, he may have had domain expertise, he did not have the credibility in the field yet. It is only that Marc has such a loyal fan base and thus credibility with fans within field is high. He also had to have the skills from learning his craft within his domain to be able to both deliver and create on the fly.

Have you built the credibility you need in your field? Have you reach the level of expertise in your field or business to create on the fly?

"I turned my head for a moment and it become my life"

These were the prophetic words of an AT&T executive when working with David Whyte in one of his Seminars. She was speaking to how these moments in life happen when you simply turn your head in a different direction and it seems something shifts and your life is instantly different. It struck me last night when at a Marc Cohn concert ( wrote song "walking in Memphis"). He spoke of early in his career 1986 when he was stuck and did not like the music he was creating. He followed James Taylor's wisdom, find new geography. With that he took off for a trip to Memphis where he met Muriel Davis Wilkin, a gospil singer, who sang ever Friday night at the Hollywood Cafe in Memphis. As the song goes "Now Muriel plays piano every Friday at the Hollywood". She is the one in the song.

She invited him to her church that Sunday only to find Al Green (at the time a little known Reverend preacher). He may not have been reborn but he did have a rebirth to his music. It was after this experience he winds up having his break through in creating great music not only for himself but for the rest of us.

Later that trip he meets his wife Cindy and winds up writing several hit songs about her and their child together. He turned his head for a moment and it became his life.

How often do you step away from your life to see what can happen? It is not luck that lead him to these events that unfolded. He was trying by looking for new geography looking for a way to change. A way to enter life differently. He did not wait for something to come to him, he took action. By putting himself in a new place he began to think differently.

"So much Human time is waisted waiting"

This line from the movie Indiana Jones (by the way don't waist your money to see it) got me thinking, along with loss one of my closest friends Scott Richards, this week about how much time I have spent waiting. And not only spent the time waiting but wasting a great deal of that time in the process.

Do you remember when you were younger how you wanted to be older. When you were in elementary school you wanted to be in junior high, and when you were in Jr high you wanted to be in high school. You could not wait to get your permit so you could drive. You ask someone out on a date for the weekend and it seemed to take forever for the weekend to come.

You finally got to college something that you were waiting for most of your high school years and then you were there. Now what? What do you want to be? How much time was spent mulling over what college would be like. Most of those imaginations not even closely approximating reality.

You take your first job and you wait to get promoted. You start your business and you wait to get that next big account that will make all the difference. How much time are you waisting waiting? What happens to you when you wait? Do you become less productive? Do you become hyper focused on the waiting at the detriment of other things? Do you close yourself and others down? How is waiting helping or hurting your leadership?

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The Three Jesse Test

When faced with a difficult situation in education, or politics Howard Gardner offered the following suggestion of the "Three Jesse Test". Take what ever the issue is and observe in your mind how Jesse Helms, Jesse Ventura, and Jesse Jackson would react to what ever the particular situation is. Because these three never seem to come to agreement on anything it will give you a great indication on how the different audiences may react to your positions or comments.

In the research I have done on exceptional leaders, most all of them have a great ability to observe their environment, culture, organization and situations from multiple perspective. The "Three Jesse Test" is a concrete way to look at different situations in very extreme perspectives.

William E. Mayer Chairman of Aspen Institute Asks Leaders to Find There Special Strength

William E. Mayer is the Senior Partner of Park Avenue Equity Partners, a private equity firm, formerly professor and Dean of the College of Business and Management at the University of Maryland. When Bill gave his closing address at the Aspen Idea Festival he said, 'It dawned on him several years ago that one needs to find that one thing that makes them special and do that every day all day. He found it difficult as most people do to discover this unique quality because he does it on automatic pilot without effort and gives it no attention to this strength. His attention like most of ours is spent on those things that we don't do well. For himself he found coaching others was his special gift. He had been doing it most his life everyday in all aspects of his life. It was someone else that needed to help him become aware of this skill he gave to those he connected with - because it was so common he didn't even know he did it.

What is your special skill, strength that is so easy for you and is a gift that is unique to you?

President Bill Clinton tells a little known story about Nelson Mandela

This week President Clinton met with a small group at the Aspen Ideas Festival. He shared with the group why he holds Nelson Mandela in such high esteem. Nelson Mandela when set free after spending a third of his life imprisoned, he took a walk one last walk around the grounds February 11th, 1990, before he road off. The walk for him was to let go of his hatred of those who had imprisoned him. He new he could not walk through those gates with this anger or he would still be a prisoner. If he had not he knew his hatred would imprison his him for the rest of his life.

Many people know that when he celebrated his freedom he invited the guards that watched over him to the celebration. What many don't know as he rose to power he put those that imprisoned him on his cabinet. He knew it was the only way to bring the country together. This reminded me of Lincolns decision to put together his team of rivals when he was elected to office.

Do you have the capacity to let go of those hateful feeling of those who have hurt you? Do you have the emotional strength to put people close to you who have strongly opposing views? How would you measure your courage to face such adversaries in such a positive light?

Howard Gardner Believes One Of His Best Skills Is Asking Questions

When I spoke to Howard Gardner (Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, he has also written on topics such as creativity, leadership, professional responsibility, interdisciplinary study and the arts. Recent books include Making Good: How Young People Cope with Moral Dilemmas at Work and Five Minds for the Future, and he is the author of the seminal Multiple Intelligences) about my upcoming book Just Ask: Greatness Happens When You Ask he shared with me one of the greatest quality he believes he has as a teacher is the questions he asks his students. His disappointment is that he finds very few of them pick up on this modeling of behavior. I asked if he does this as the Socratic method and he said no - he is not asking questions that he knows the answers to they are really true inquiry. I said I found they same response from the many leaders I interviewed for the book.

I don't believe that simply modeling the behavior of asking questions is enough. I think that one needs to become explicit about the questioning approach and let those you lead whether in the class room or in the work place know why your asking so many questions.

General Colin Powell Recommends Wikipedia and Google

Last week at the Ideas Festival Danah Boyd was presenting on the information age. Danah is a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of California at Berkley. She is also a fellow at the Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, where she co-directs the Internet Safety Technical Task Force and works with companies and nonprofits to identify technical solutions for keeping children safe online. After the presentation when Danah and I were discussing the advantages and disadvantages of Wikipedia. I had mentioned that when I met with the President of Britannica when we bought one of their businesses he had shared with us that the original writings in Britannica are written by the legends that were in the encyclopedia. Examples of this were that Einstein actually wrote about the theory of relativity, and the Wright Brothers wrote about one another in their efforts to fly. Danah commented that she had been asked to write some entries for them recently that she had no knowledge of the subject, certainly bringing down the credibility of their text. This is not the first time I had heard this from a professor. As oppose to Wikipedia, she explained which we both agreed was our favored way to find information on a topic. She informed me that if you want to see who wrote the narrative you can click on the history tab and you can see the different posts and edits people have left on the wiki. The true advantage she explains is where there are multiple perspectives on a topic say, the British version of America's independence and the American version. What happens is both sides battle it out all over again to get a much better explanation for the users of Wikipedia. In this way we the users are not taking any one persons perspective but a global community.

This discussion lead to the discussion that many schools do not yet except Wikipedia as a credible source for papers. They would prefer the corporate establish brand in which the research is farmed out to a professor or expert (who you don't know) as a credible source for the entry. One source being totally transparent and the other (World Book, Britannica, and the like) being totally closed (that didn't work so well for Apple Computer).

It is at this point General Powell brakes into our conversation and says while slamming his fist down on the table, 'The Secretary of State of the United States told his staff they they were to use Google and Wikipedia to find their information they did not need those old reference books. If they needed current information that happened that day all they needed was Google. It certainly should be good enough for our students.'

I think Danah and I were a bit at a loose for words after this declaration.

Live from Aspen Institutes Idea Festival Starting July 2nd!

"The 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival will engage its participants in a variety of programs, tutorials, seminars and discussion events which together are guaranteed to charge the atmosphere with vibrant intellectual exchange. Think of it as a week-long summer university for the mind – remarkable lectures and classes across a stimulating array of topics.

Imagine some of the most inspired and provocative writers, artists, scientists, business people, teachers and leaders – drawn from myriad fields, from across the country and from around the world – all gathered in a single place, ready to teach, speak, lead, question and answer – all interacting with an audience of thoughtful people, who have stepped back from their day-to-day routines to delve deeply into a world of ideas, thought and discussion. The week promises to be stimulating, meaningful and fun – true to Aspen tradition." - Aspen Institute Website

Do your customers know your name?

In the mountains in Steamboat Colorado is a world class restaurant called Cafe Diva (970-871-0508). Not only can one learn about delivering world class service with divine dishes. You can learn how effective using your name repeatedly can be. If you go to Cafe Diva you may be lucky enough to be waited on by Daryl. Or if you are like us you will ask for him by name.How you would know his name is that he will repeat it many times during your meal. After each time he helps you he ends the statement or question with, "and my name is Daryl." At first our family thought it was too much and then we realized he is one of a few waiters we know by name and he is so good you really are glad he reminds you unabashed. Are your people good at building their personal brand with your customers? Do your customers remember your teams names?