Musings at Altitude

I spend lots of time studying other leaders and coaches.  Some I get to know through books and others I get to watch (a few I get to know) through direct interaction or dealing with folks in their companies or organizations.  The leaders I’ve been up close to include chief executive officers of large telecom companies, senior military officers, distinguished legislators, and even the President of our nation.

I’ve seen both very good and very bad leadership from these very distinguished and successful individuals.  I’ve seen actions and choices that resulted in wonderful things happening, and then I’ve seen actions and choices that make you wonder how some of them made it to the important positions that they have filled.

Each of the leaders I have studied or known were people of action.  They wanted to be the decision makers, and they expected quick action as a result of those decisions.  The path to those decisions were varied – some got limited information and then quickly decided.  Others wanted enormous amounts of staff work and background information, and then they decided.  But when the decisions were made, all expected a sense of urgency in executing against those decisions.

As I talk with business leaders today, I see a paralysis setting in as those very talented leaders try to collect and then assess all the different sensory inputs that they are receiving today.  They are getting conflicting data as they sense changes in the market that don’t then occur or they expect stability in other markets and those markets quickly crater.  The executive teams and staffs for these leaders are doing them no favors, because they are floundering in the waves of economic collapse and uncertain about what to recommend because their ideas and opinions from before aren’t playing out in this time of business crisis.  The data doesn’t make sense anymore…in fact, the data is wrong more often than right today.  Unfortunately, in times of unfettered growth, just about anyone can look like a genius, and business leaders today are suffering as those seemingly smart senior team members now provide no comfort and no credible solutions for the path forward.

In many ways, during times of great distress in a business, the team members directly touching customers within an organization become so much smarter than those in senior leadership positions.  Those team members are closer to the data.  Those team members are experiencing first hand the changes occurring in the market place.  Those team members are understanding what is and isn’t working in the style and substance of what is being delivered to the customers.

So maybe, just maybe, during these times of great business distress, business leaders should spend most of their time out in the field talking to those who have that real time understanding of what works and doesn’t work.  And maybe we should be humble enough to admit that we don’t have all the answers right now and even the answers we do have are suspect because those action plans were developed by those not in any way in tune with the reality of business operations today.

Since paralysis is the worst possible scenario for a business organization, it seems appropriate to flip any struggling organization upside down right now and let the mission leaders drive the action plans, not the staffs.  My action minded senses tell me that if business leaders did that today, there would be a narrower focus, there would be an intimate connection to the customers, there would be real time and accurate information flowing to the business leader, and there would be a priority of spending tied directly to the things that make money for the business.

Maybe we should do this all the time!

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As we head towards Super Bowl Sunday, we’re hearing now about “the spread” and the heavy bettors in this nation are tracking Pittsburgh as the 7 point favorite over Arizona.

Over the last few years, I’ve been tracking the spread too, but not to place bets in Vegas.  Instead, I’ve been tracking the difference in temperature as our board members travel from the Northwest corner of Alaska down to visit company operations all over (and even outside) the country.  It was in the mid 20’s yesterday here in Colorado, and our visitors from Alaska marveled at how beautiful and warm (relatively speaking) it was.  If they had been here last week, it was 73 here during the day and -20 back at their homes. 

That 93 degree spread is nothing compared to what happened several years ago.  Back then, we had a meeting in February in Camuy, Puerto Rico, and our board members left temperatures of -45 to come down to 85 degree weather.  That spread of 130 degrees is still the record!

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Today…the lady I have loved for almost 32 years has a birthday.

Today…the lady who has dedicated her life to being a phenomenal mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend and now grandmother has a birthday.

Today…the lady who has sacrificed her own personal desires and dreams to follow me from place to place as I pursued my career has a birthday.

Today…the lady who first caught my eye when she was 14 and I was 16 and has kept my eye ever since has a birthday.

Today…the lady who I’ve spent 2/3rds of my life now totally fascinated by and completely infatuated with has a birthday.

Today…on this very special birthday…I’m reminded once again of how beautiful life is when you share this incredible journey with someone you love.

I love you Denise.

Happy Birthday!

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My wife is a fan of tennis, primarily during the major championships.  This week is the championship week of the Australian Open, and during our prime time we get to see the afternoon matches live from Melbourne.

Last night, her favorite player was on the court, Andy Roddick.  When the match began, the temperature at court level was 123 degrees, and by the second set, it was up to 130 degrees.  In the first set, both Andy Roddick and his opponent, Novak Djokovic were fresh, having long volleys and both quickly jumping on drop shots and passing shots.  Appropriately, that first set went to a tie breaker with Djokovic the winner. 

At the start of the second set, Roddick was still racing to the ball and hammering away at his opponent.  But after the first game, Djokovic hit a wall.  While Roddick continued to play at a feverish pace with great quickness and sustained strength, Djokovic began a defensive strategy of seeking quick points, attempting winners on every stroke, and lingering in the little shade that was available on the back sides of the courts.

After another hour in the blazing sun, Djokovic called the medics and the trainers over, got iced down, popped some pills, ate some bananas, and drank lots of fluid.  As Djokovic attempted any treatment possible to ease the escalating affects of the heat, Roddick stared at Djokovik, obviously the fitter of the two.  For about 15 minutes, Djokovic sought to ease the affects of the temperature and the aggressive play of Roddick, and when Djokovik’s treatment was complete, Roddick sprinted by his opponent who was still in the chair, clearly indicating his willingness to take this match to the bitter end. 

By the fourth set, Djokovik retired from the match, worn out by the heat and by his opponent.

Both life and business are about endurance.  During the cool times of a match or the easy times in business, many folks can “stay on the court” and respond to the actions of their opponents without suffering severe body affects.  But when the temperatures rise, the intensity peaks, and the body and mind need to respond to adversity coming from every direction, only the fit survive.

Endurance is a big part of sport, but it may be an even bigger part of life and business.  I cherish the easy times for sure.  But I find out who I am and how good my team really is during the tough times.  With the economic conditions of today, many businesses are fighting for survival; they are testing their endurance in the oppressive assault of decreased customer billings and increased costs.  Those businesses that have focused on endurance and not just sprints are much better prepared for this current climate, but the increasing heat on the business is affecting us all.

Many businesses have already “retired” during the preliminary matches leading up to this “championship week”.  As we approach “bottom” in this economic decline, we will soon find out who is still on the court and who has the strength and endurance to overcome the heat (and their competitors) and win this brutal business match.

In the New Testament of the Bible, Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  Paul had the ultimate endurance, facing persecution and oppression and ultimately winning the greatest prize of all.

In business and in life, today, we too are facing great challenges and great challengers.  When I look back on this time in my life, I hope I too can say, “I fought the good fight; I finished the race; I kept the faith.”

That’s endurance.  That’s overcoming adversity.  That’s claiming the prize.

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I can’t remember a time when sports provided such compelling drama that mirrors life and so clearly shows the will to overcome of the human spirit.  We saw that clearly in the Olympics as the entire nation watched Michael Phelps AND HIS TEAMMATES win those gold medals.  We also saw it so wonderfully displayed when Tiger Woods won another major championship in golf and then went straight into surgery. 

We’re also seeing it now as a then struggling quarterback was stocking groceries and is now leading his second team to the Super Bowl and no one gives them a chance.  But we’re seeing it even more vividly in the Australian Open where a tennis pro on the women’s side of the draw has overcome abuse and leaving the game to fight her way back now and make it to the quarter finals.

For me, it’s not the god-like status that the public sometimes puts on our sports heroes that is so compelling.  Instead, it’s the commitment to achieve and the ability to succeed against incredible odds and in spite of debilitating adversity that inspires me.  It’s also the humility that is often times demonstrated by those that have been blessed with incredible talents as they credit everyone else for their success, realizing that talent alone didn’t get them to the level they are today, but a team of people pulling towards a common goal.

I enjoy the player profiles and the background articles as much if not more than the competition itself.  I enjoy learning about the players and seeing the journey they have taken to get to that moment on the big stage where they can use their talents and all that training to achieve heroic results.  And I enjoy being sucked in to the compelling drama of the moment because of that background information, not just because of the title match occurring between two very good competitors.

And then I root for the underdog.  It’s no fun rooting for the team or person that’s supposed to win.

In business just as in sports, I root for the underdog.  I look for those who may not be nearly as gifted as others and reach out to them to hear their story and to help them achieve success.  I peer behind the day to day transactions and seek to understand life beyond business.  Each individual has a story to share, and each story carries the hopes and dreams of that individual as they focus on success.

To me, that’s not only compelling drama but motivation for me in my day to day business life.

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I just saw on money.cnn.com that Wegmans Food Markets has 2,000 job postings as of January 2009.

Hmmm…

Could that be a sign?

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When I was a young officer in the military, I would tell people that when my career in the Air Force was over, I wanted to be the guy spraying tomatoes at the grocery store.  At the time, a good friend of ours was a store manager for Giant Foods, and we always smiled as he said he’d take me on in that role.

That was over 2 decades ago, and now they have automatic misters in the produce section so my dream of spraying the tomatoes has been overcome by technology.

Today at the store, I had the opportunity to practice for a different career – a bagger.  The store was busy enough that when we got in line, we had a cashier but no bagger and we had a cart full of groceries.  As the cashier rang up the groceries, I started to bag.  I made it to the third bag before a professional bagger threw me out and started unbagging the bags that I’d already done so that she could bag them right.  I guess there’s a code in bagging that says cold stuff can’t be bagged with stuff that isn’t cold, and I had made the grievous error of putting some mini cans of diet 7 up on the bottom of a bag with 2 packs of hamburger meat on top.  OH MY GOODNESS.  So, I was fired.

When I was younger, I was prone to load the dishwasher wrong so my wife would push me away and load it right.  I found that there were times where if I did things “wrong”, I wouldn’t have to do them again!  But this wasn’t one of those times.  I was very excited about jumping in and helping with the bagging, but my excitement quickly turned to humiliation when I got relieved of duties and my wife quickly announced to the world that I’d been fired.

So for now, I’ll stick to business as my career since spraying tomatoes and bagging have been denied to me.  I’ll keep searching though for that one career field that will bring contentment and peace to me long after the stress of business is gone.  Apparently, it won’t be at the grocery store.

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My 14 year old says that dictionary.com is my favorite web site.  That’s not really true.  ESPN.com and FoxNews.com get more attention from me, but I do like to see the definition of certain words and then think through what that definition means in the context of business today.  Today’s word is transparency.

A few months ago, I made a comment to my executive team that I wanted transparency in our organization, and one of them quickly popped back with “what’s your definition of transparency?”  What a great question, because I had never thought about that before.  In fact, I’ve used transparency a lot in my leadership roles, and this was the first time that someone asked for clarification so that the team could meet expectations if that was truly a goal.

So today I was looking for the definition of “transparency”.  I’ve always considered transparency to be full disclosure…letting people know exactly the situation you are in and providing open and honest answers to any questions that are asked…and then also letting the team be involved in seeking resolution to problems or developing roadmaps for future journeys.  But I can see how very good people would then ask, “so how do we achieve transparency in our organization?”  Do we really allow full disclosure?  Do we really tell people exactly what the situation is?  Do we really provide open and honest answers to questions that are asked?  And do we really encourage team involvement in resolutions or trip planning for the journey ahead for the business?

For most organizations, the answers to all of those questions seem to be “no” much more than “yes”.  Transparency gets lost in the spin that is made to make numbers look different than they are.  Transparency is lost when we give out just enough information to drive the behavior we want from the organization when the behavior may be very different if the full accounting of the numbers was known.  Transparency is lost when we drive actions and define journeys that fit our own egos or fulfill our own personal agendas within an organization.  And, transparency is lost when we use “values” to justify actions taken when those actions aren’t driven by values at all.

In times of great challenge, transparency is more critical than ever.  This past week, President Obama issued his new rules on ethics and transparency.  He said that “there’s been too much secrecy in this city”, and he promised to stand beside those who wanted to make information known to others.  He committed himself and his administration to an era of transparency.  I smiled when I read that, because I know the nirvana he’s chasing and I know how hard it is to achieve.

Even so, I wonder if its time for businesses and business leaders to do the same thing.  I wonder what would happen if team members across an organization had a level of understanding of critical business information that allowed each and every person to provide input, feedback, criticism, and support.  I wonder what would happen if those at the lowest levels or remotest outposts of a business felt fully integrated to the business and fully informed about the business.  What would happen if leaders were required to trust those team members 8 levels below them and those team members were not required to blindly trust those in leadership roles?  Transparency, it seems, would bring just that.

I’ve often said “I’m seeking nirvana” and I’ve often been accused of living in a dream world.  I’m guilty of both.

True transparency would be nirvana and I certainly hope its not just a dream.

PS. Dictionary.com defines transparency as this – “the full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information.”  I can live with that.

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I struggle big time with remembering things.  My wife says I just don’t pay attention and thus just don’t hear it to remember.  There’s some truth in that comment for sure, but I do believe I have memory issues.

For example, I have attempted time and time again throughout my life to memorize Bible verses – if I can get them in my heart, I can dwell on them every moment of every day.  But I’ve only been able to memorize two passages in spite of all that trying:

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge him,

And he will make your path straight.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

That whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Undoubtedly, those are two very good passages to remember, but it sure would be nice to have many, many more important and powerful passages memorized.

I remember when I entered the Air Force Academy they handed me a book called “Contrails” and the expectation was that we would memorize just about the whole book.  It was filled with quotes – very good quotes for sure – and under intense pressure (the freshman year brings back great memories of loud voices and severe scrutiny of my actions) I popped off those quotes of interest and made it through.  Here’s a picture of Contrails that I just found on Amazon:

 

But I don’t remember many, if any, of those quotes anymore.  My memory saved me, and then when the pressure eased, my memory purged itself allowing me to open up space for things that apparently may be more important going forward.

I filled that newly opened space with many things over the years – details of our wedding; specific information about day, hour, minute, weight, length, and shape of the head of each of our children at birth; birthdays; addresses; phone numbers – but all of them have been erased over time and only with lots of guessing and prodding can they be pulled back up.

But those two scripture passages remain.  I don’t understand why, but I’m very thankful that. 

And for my wife who will be celebrating her birthday next week, I do still remember your birthday!  So I can’t use my memory as an excuse for not getting you something special!

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If joy is the exhilaration of spirits and a happiness caused by something or someone good, then I offer up these examples of joy:

(1) the joy of a grandmother with her grandchild

(2) the joy of a mother with a child

(3) the joy of a 14 year old getting something special

(4) the joy of a family doing something they truly enjoy doing together

(5) the joy of the holidays together

(6) the joy of God’s magnificent creation

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

As I look at pictures like these and as I look at the majesty of God’s creation, I find joy.  In fact, I choose joy.  It is after all not just a command but also a choice.  And since it is a choice, I choose joy!

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