Leadership Mojo

What Can You Do to Build a Fully Sighted Organization?

    A fully sighted company anticipates and "sees" the obvious and the not-so-obvious events, dynamics, and influences that are critical to success versus ignoring it. According to author Margaret Heffernan who wrote Willfull Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril says such blindness happens when there are things we should know, could know, but somehow manage not to know.

    Heffernan, who was born in Texas, but grew up in the Netherlands spoke at a Vancouver conference recently. I was deeply impressed with her work, which reminds me a great deal of the themes I also find relevant - such as how to avoid drinking the  Kool-Aid of group thinking.

    One of Heffernan's pet peeves is multi-tasking. Getting to the point, the brain doesn't do it, as I

This Lemon's a $4.9 Billion Lulu

    Lululemon founder Chip Wilson says that the famous Lululemon name had nothing to do with either lemons or any gal named Lulu.

    The truth is, he  sold an earlier company to a group of Asians at a premium in large part because the name of that company had a lot of l's in it....For the venture that turned out to be Lululemon, he didn't want to buck the trend of previous successes. L's were a top priority, and Lululemon.... Branding experts may weep, but that's what the man said.  I wouldn't lie to you.

    Wilson leveraged his knowledge of high-tech athletic fabrics into a multi-billion dollar publically traded company. Annual revenue runs around $450MM. His market timing - different forms of yoga appeal to both aging baby boomers as well as the six-pack ab crowd, was impecable. As one woman told me, "Even guys love Lululemon on women. You know, you don't jiggle so much in Lululemon."

    Apparently, I've been living under a tortise shell,

Happiness? Whose Job Is It?

    I haven't been posting much lately not because there was nothing to say. To the contrary, I've been up to my ears in thoughts and activities. For example, I was in Morocco during the Egyptian crises. It was an extraordinary trip. If I can get a foto or two downloaded here, I shall do so.....I leave for Spain soon....Lots of travel going on. As well as some excellent reading, perhaps a topic for another post.

    Meanwhile, I've missed collecting and sharing my thoughts, so before I check out on this gorgeous day for some snooze time and a little meditaiton, I 'm inspired to weigh in on an issue I sometimes see messed up in people's minds. It's the issue of happiniess and whose responsibility it is.

Revisiting Ike

Until yesterday, when I heard  David Eisenhower discuss his grandfather's iconic 1961 farewell speech, I never fully grasped the full wisdom of President Dwight Eisenhower's words.  
     David, in his new book Going Home to Glory, a memoir about life with his illustrious grandfather, puts the famous Military-Industrial Complex speech into a broader context, explaining why it is among the Top 10 Presidential Speeches. You may remember this quote from the speech:

       In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

         Ironically, a former military leader cautions citizens of a Democracy to take personal responsibility for that Democracy versus becoming lazy by abdicating power to authority. As a result, Ike finds an enduring place in history not only for being the general of World War II or President of the US, but also for speaking a powerful truth - in a speech. Like most Americans, I look forward to the day when we stop bickering along party lines and start adapting solutions that are staring us in the face. All the answers we need are right around us, if we'd simply get over resistance.

         Eisenhower's thinking is the essence of Leadership-no matter what your politics. Visionary, insightful, meaningful, and enduring. I'd not given Eisenhower much thought and now I want to revisit my remembrance of this man-and how he lived his life. The book is on its way.

Secretariat + Social Network: Wondering What's Real

Last week, I watched two films based on "true" stories about two extraordinary historical events (where opportunities for leadership abound). One is about a horse and a woman. One is about a young male and his brain. One story is finished. The other is just beginning. Of course, I'm talking about Secretariat and Social Network.

Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy

This August, my LodeStar Universal monthly newsletter was all about the importance of leadership being more attuned to customer service. We tend to give it more lip service than genuine attention.

As luck would have it, SMU invited me this week to the Executive Center to hear Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy. I was swamped Wednesday, just returned from a week-long conference in Vegas, still having dreams processing the sensory overload of the Bellagio's ballrooms and Vegas life. I barely got out the door in time to hear him, and I am so glad I did.  Cathy is a terrific speaker, funny, insightful, and inspiring.

And guess what? His comments were all about customer service. Of course, I loved the fact that what he had to say dovetailed precisely with my philosophies.

In a nutshell or should I say eggshell, Cathy built his talk around a Biblical quote, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles."

According to Cathy, "Jesus wasn't talking to Sunday school. He was talking to the Chamber of Commerce, too. This is for Monday morning, not just Sunday morning." He feels so strongly about the wisdom of this concept that the company made a brief video, which he showed us, to illustrate how it is so important.  During orientations, all new employees view it.

Basically, what Cathy advocates, that he feels the quote teaches,  is a generosity of spirit, a lack of ego, a willingness to serve, and the idea of being willing to "go the extra mile."

I don't care what religion you follow, or even if you follow no religion, if more CEO's and leaders embraced this idea, what an entirely different world we'd live in. I loved his willingness to stand up for a principle. By the way, Cathy 's blog is no rooster strut. Check it out, since it's filled with good ideas and humor. You might learn a thing or two about a sharp leader and a great business model.

 

6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68

These are the magical numbers every fan of tennis now recognizes.

It was a game for the ages when, at last, American John Isner defeated France's Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon today - after three days and more than 11 hours of play. Yesterday, people in my office were constantly interrupted with friends and family calling to exclaim, " Have you heard what's going on with this amazing tennis match!"

Today,  as I listened to the early-morning news interviews with American Isner before the final showdown, I was impressed with his easy-going attitude.  Although I didn't know who would win, I suspected the match wouldn't last too long today, since, as many in the stadium commented, yesterday was as if both players were in some surreal trance and was delighted when I heard the American won.

Tonight, a comment Isner made to the news media after the game, struck me and brought a smile to my face:

Dishwater Eyes: A Dead Give-Away

    Eyes speak louder than words, if anyone's looking.

    In my weekly newsletter, Packets and Pauses, about communication and presentations, I've been talking a lot about eye contact. How important it is, how to use it, how we screw it up.

    Recently, I had lunch with Some One who has an even bigger eye problem than the typical presenter. Neither a kid nor old foggy, Mr. One has a classic mid-career problem: Mr. One has nipped at the heels of finding professional success to match his heart's desires. He's not there where he thinks he should be. At the very least, he's frustrated, a point he clearly communicated to me. My stronger guess is that he's mad as hell about it. Disappointed with life, his eyes reek of sadness. They are as dull as dishwater.

    In spite of many laudable accomplishments, Mr. One sets himself up for more disappointment and even failure by not understanding the importance of re-connecting with his heart.  What Mr. One doesn't realize is that the eyes radiate energy-or the lack of it. People we encounter on a daily bases unconsciously interpret us as jazzed or struggling. In the professional world, potential clients and colleagues are attracted to jazzed and repelled by perceived pessimism. 

  Since my meeting with Mr. One was about a subject unrelated to executive advice, I had to bite my tongue. It is hard when you see someone talented, attractive, and intelligent in a rut that could ruin the rest of his life, knowing that a little insight in the right direction and a few skills Mr. One is completely unaware of could make a world of difference..... I understand, since once I almost was in Mr. One's shoes. My eyes were losing their blue sparkle. I was "saved" by my incessant curiosity and learned how to get out of the rut, tools that changed everything and that I now share with my executive coaching clients and in the speeches I give.  But I wasn't asked for my advice, and this bleeding bitten tongue of mine will heal.

  

Plumb Lines to Punch Lines: UT Dallas President Speaks Out on Education

            You'd expect Dr. David Daniels, with academic degrees in engineering, to know all about plumb lines and other engineering concepts. What's refreshing is that the President of the University of Texas at Dallas  also knows how to deliver a punchline.  He "gets" the importance not only of subject-matter expertise, but also of having the ability to reach out to an audience and hold its attention.

        For example, hearing someone lament his dislike of  math in college, Dr. Daniels was reminded of the math teacher who groused in the opposite direction over the lack of mathematics in education.

"There ought to be a tax on people who don't understand math," the teacher said.

"There is," Dr. Daniels said, heading toward that punch line.....

Leadership as Theatre: General Petraeus

    If you don't define yourself, others will.

    This often-quoted concept is not one I thought particularly applicable to military officers until I read the May 2010 Vanity Fair article on General David Petraeus, a man I'd never thought too much about.

     Sitting on an airplane headed to a conference to Ft. Lauderdale, I  learned a great deal about a legend in the making. The Petraeus article was embedded between more gossipy stories about Tiger Woods's sexual addictions and Princess Grace's agonies and ecstasies,  a clever strategy on the part of Vanity Fair; since the Petraeus article was, in my opinion one of the more important and finest that the magazine has ever printed.

   Besides his military victories, extraordinary examples of heroism, I learned