Southern Gentleman ‘Gifts’ Engineering Graduates

“Be on chapter two when everyone else is on chapter one.” That was the career advice Russ (an assumed name) got in his late-twenties as an up-and-coming engineer. By all accounts the advice served him well. Russ went on serve in several executive leadership positions in a prominent U.S. based manufacturing entity.

Today Russ is enjoying a well-deserved retirement.  Yet he’s committed to giving back.  He has established a number of engineering scholarships at his alma mater—a prestigious public university in the South. Russ provides each graduate with what we’ll call an ‘educational care package’.  The package contains an impressive leadership pamphlet—assembled wisdom from a lifetime of Russ’s collection of favorite business articles along with some of his own writings.  He also includes a number of classic business books.  This package goes to graduates of the very same engineering program Russ graduated from nearly fifty years earlier.  It’s a classy gesture from a classy guy.

He wants the newly-minted graduate to succeed and seeks to instill a love of learning within them.  He knows how easy it is for a young graduate to think they’ve ‘got it all figured out’ upon receiving their degree—especially when that degree comes from such a prestigious school.  Yet Russ is also convinced that many of the potential pitfalls faced by many graduates can be mitigated by them ‘showing up’ as a professional would.

So imagine how pleased I was when Russ contacted me about adding The Power of Professionalism to the elite list of business books he provides to graduates.  I was so honored.  Turns out, the graduates will receive their ‘educational care package’ tonight at a university-sponsored banquet.

The Power of Professionalism is a book that many have become passionate about.  Russ is one of those.  And whether you ‘gift’ the book to two people (a common occurrence) or nearly a hundred (an uncommon occurrence)…you do it because you believe it’s a ‘difference-maker’.   And you do it because you ‘aspire to reveal value in others’ (mind-set #7).  It’s just one of the ways this fine southern gentleman gives back.

 

 

Mind-Sets Trump Skill-Sets–Exhibit ‘A’–Gabby The Bartender

As people get a deeper understanding (and appreciation) of the mind-sets, they inevitably start to see things differently.  Robert Cloutier of San Diego is one such person.  Here’s a note Robert sent to me last week and encouraged me to share:

“I ran into a busy brewery last night (Valentine’s Day) at 9:45 PM and sat at the bar for roughly thirty minutes.  I had one cocktail while I waited for a to-go order.  Luckily, the Lakers versus Clippers game was on the television in front of me, so I got to watch the continued changing of the guard in Los Angeles regarding which basketball team is relevant (look no further than Dwight Howard’s lack of professionalism when searching for reasons for the Lakers broken culture).”

“Once I sat down, the bartender immediately greeted me.  She asked my name and introduced herself as Gabby.  Then, she pointed to the other two bartenders at the other end of the bar and told me their names as well.”

“As I was looking over the menu Gabby offered suggestions and was especially helpful.  I told her I was ready to order, but I actually wasn’t.  As I sat there and stalled, she smiled and told me that she was there all night and that there was no rush.  After I finally decided, she advised me on how to take advantage of the happy hour prices and save a little money.”

“I finally ordered and set my sights back on the basketball game.  However, I couldn’t help but notice that Gabby treated everyone in the same polite manner.  I noticed that Gabby used other patron names in addressing them and treated her coworkers warmly.  In the busy bar atmosphere, there were a few times when she reluctantly had to shout to the other end of the bar for communication.  Even then, she started every sentence with ‘please’ and ended every sentence with a ‘thank you’.”

“She checked on me a few times and each time addressed me by my name.    Once my food came, Gabby came out from behind the bar and put my items in the to-go bag, rather than just handing them to me.  Before she put my food in the bag, she opened up each of the boxes to show me what I had ordered.”

“To say it was busy that night would be a large understatement.  It is one of the few open places on Valentine’s Day in a city of close to 200,000 people—it was a mob scene.  As I watched Gabby move with efficiency and grace, I thought, “there is a total professional.”  As far as mindsets, I saw all of them and was reminded again of what continues to build momentum in my brain—when the mindsets are present, ANY technical competence can be learned.  In other words, I will take Gabby with her professional mindsets and train her from scratch in regards to technical competence over some other person with high technical competence without the professional mindsets.  I was truly inspired watching Gabby behind the bar.  She’s one of the few that really ‘get it’.”

Gabby was obviously amazing…to the degree that Robert (a super busy guy) felt compelled to write about it. The story is especially rich.  What do you take from it?

Every Hand Went Up! —Part Two–From Grandpa’s Well Intended Faux Pas

NOTE: This post is Part Two (and a continuation) from ‘Grandpa’s Well Intended Faux Pas’ post on Jan 3rd.

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The Director asked the students, “how many of you would recommend the approach taken by Rob in the way he instructed your imaging course?” Every hand went up!

At the Southern California vocational school where Rob taught there was a gap in how prepared the students were to enter the working world.  Rob knew it, employers did too. Technically, the students  knew their stuff.  In other words, their skill-sets were fine.  The school had done a good job in training their students to be masters of an ever-increasing complicated technical universe.

Yet, increasingly employers realized the technical alone was insufficient. Purpose and values were  important. So was taking responsibility.  Like the employers, Rob believed that pouring in buckets of knowledge into student’s brain (as important as that was) was proving incomplete—after all, the school wasn’t preparing robots to enter the workforce.  The school, in effect, was preparing technicians to enter the workforce.  And traditionally that had been fine.

But today more was needed. Professionals were needed. Employers didn’t explicitly say so, but when you listened to their needs, professionals (the adjective, not the noun) is precisely what they were looking for.

Rob made the commitment to graduate professionals—not merely technicians. He did this on his own. He is to be commended. The implication? For students to meet the ‘professional’ standard they need both skill-sets and mind-sets.  Thus, he married the mind-sets from The Power of Professionalism with the well-established technical curriculum.  He upped the ante in a big way.

What did the students think?  They whole-heartedly recommended it.  Remember, every hand went up when the Director posed her question.

And if you’re wondering why the Director was asking that question, it was because the school’s owner was so impressed by the change in the students she asked the Director to look into expanding the approach to the rest of the school’s population of 1,000 students.  It’s an exciting prospect.

We promise to keep you updated as the story unfolds….

Are You Comfortable In Your Own Skin?

One of the important characteristics that is almost always found in a ‘true professional’ is the degree to which they are ‘comfortable in their own skin’.

In other words, they know who they are and aren’t inappropriately fearful of a new market entrant or feel threatened by the success of others….things like that.

Seth Godin recently published a blog post entitled True Professionals Don’t Fear Amateurs. That post nicely captures a number of important points that are consistent with the premise of being comfortable in one’s own skin. Enjoy.

Not Now

I recently suggested to a colleague that we begin work on a new initiative we had considered undertaking.   His two word response—‘not now’—-was emphatic.

He wasn’t initiating a power struggle.

He wasn’t dismissing the suggestion out-of-hand.

He wasn’t being belligerent.

He was exercising great judgment.  Turns out, he was right.  The timing for the new initiative wasn’t right—we already had plenty on our plate.

It is great working with people you trust.  Judgment is one leg of trust’s three-legged stool (character and competence being the other two).   See page 80 in The Power of Professionalism for an extensive discussion on this subject.

With heaping ‘to-do’ lists, with demands brought on by the incessant speed-of-change,  with ambiguity being the norm—judgement has never been so critical.  It’s great to work with people who have it.

Professionalism To The Rescue–Right Out Of The Box

Two short days after participating in a teleconference on The Power of Professionalism, Amber Peebles— President of the Athena Construction Group— experienced first-hand its impact in handling a thorny issue that had generated a lot of negative energy in her organization.

The issue wasn’t their company’s most important but was typical in the way it sapped valuable time and energy.  The question was: should hourly employee David (or at least let’s call him that)  be allowed to use a company-issued lap-top while on an out-of-state family bereavement visit?  The circumstances involving the visit were nuanced, but—bottom-line—David was offering to keep up with his work while away.

Amber’s colleagues (business partners in an affiliate company whom David was supporting) said no. It was their computer (loaded with everything David would need) that was in question.

The frustrating decision prompted a number of semi-contentious meetings and a stream of frustrating phone calls before the issue finally got to Amber.  Relying on the principles in The Power of Professionalism, Amber cut to the quick.  She made it clear to her affiliate colleagues that David was a professional and should be treated as such.  Her expectations were clear.

With that, the issue had been resolved without additional drama.  What made the difference?  Amber’s re-framing! She not only helped facilitate a solution but educated at the same time.

The big idea upon which The Power of Professionalism is based is that is that the central role of professionalism has not been fully appreciated, let alone understood well, in the quest to perfect organizations.  Amber got it…big time!

Amber had raised everyone’s sights (mind-set #7) and also held to her high standards (mind-set #4). But most critically, she reinforced the importance of putting professional values as the centerpiece of her organization’s culture. Amber’s approach quickly shifted the energy from negative to positive.

Sure, this was arguably a small issue.  But the principle behind it can just as easily be applied to ‘the big stuff’ too…as we’ll see in subsequent posts.

Congratulations Amber!

Questions, Questions, Questions

Recently I was privileged to attend a celebratory event for Jim Kouzes—a colleague friend of mine.  Actually the event was for both Jim and Barry Posner—Jim’s business partner. In my world, Jim is a rock-star.  His and Barry’s book—The Leadership Challenge—has sold over two million copies in over 20 countries since its initial publication.  In the world of business publishing, that’s unheard of.

Jossey-Bass, their publisher, put on a fantastic event for Jim and Barry at an upscale venue in San Francisco to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the book.  Incidentally, the fifth edition of The Leadership Challenge comes out around August 1st.  It’s been updated, and, as always, it’s a terrific read.

Jim tells the story of how the book came to pass.  Turns out, it all started with a question.  The question was, “What did you do when you were at your personal best as a leader?”  Through diligence and hard-work Jim and Barry went about answering that question across the globe—with people young and old, leaders of all stripes representing every industry and function imaginable.  They’ve been working on that question for 25 years. Turns out, they’ve gone a long way in answering it.  Check out the book for their conclusions and insights.

My own book—The Power of Professionalism—was also spawned by a question.  The question was, “what does is really mean to be a professional ?”  Based on the terrific response we’ve received from the book, it’s entirely possible I’ll spend the next 25 years (God willing) elaborating on that question just as Jim and Barry did theirs.

Questions are powerful—more than we know.  They change perspectives, they change lives.  They’ve changed history.  Humans are the only species on the face of the earth capable of asking questions.  You’d think we’d ask more of them!

Following The Example Of Howard Schultz’s Mother–A Lesson For Leaders

Howard Schultz, the well-known head of Starbucks, grew up in public housing in Brooklyn in humble circumstances.   His is a rags-to-riches success story.

A prime reason for Schultz’s success was his mother.  Always encouraging, always upbeat…she told Schultz…“you’re going to be the first person to go to college, you’re going to be a professional, you’re going to make us all proud.”  He did!

In The Power of Professionalism we advocate how important it is for leaders to reinforce their staff’s identity of themselves as professionals.  That’s precisely what Schultz’s mother did for him—at a very young age.  She instilled in Schultz a desire to be a professional.

In Schultz’s case, his desire was born at a young age. Schultz’s mother was explicit in her exhortation. Leaders must do likewise!

Note: the quote in paragraph two comes from Charles Duhigg’s terrific new book The Power of Habit (page 148).

 

An Agonizing Situation Made Almost Pleasurable

Many years ago, while still in the corporate world, I was hiring for a key position within my department from a pool of internal candidates.  Two finalists emerged.   One was an up-and-comer; the other was seasoned.  Both had unique strengths.

I hired the up-and-comer. …but it wasn’t without a lot of consternation.

Turns out, the seasoned candidate (let’s call him Rory) had lost his former position as a result of a downsizing. Rory could post for any internal position he wished, but was given a time limit to make his transition.  If, after a pre-determined number of months, Rory failed to land a job—he’d be let go.

It was the 11th hour when Rory interviewed with me.  Rory wanted to be hired on merit, although we both knew that if I didn’t hire him his stellar career with that company would be over.

Naturally, I was torn.  It wasn’t a decision I took lightly.  In the end, I didn’t hire Rory–as the other candidate was a better fit for our department’s needs at the time.  Even though I felt good about doing what I thought was the right thing for the organization, I agonized over making that phone call to Rory.

Despite being disappointed about not being chosen, Rory was gracious beyond words.  A normally tension-filled call was made almost pleasurable by how he conducted himself.  To say I was impressed is an understatement.  A year after leaving the company, Rory called me to re-connect. He had made a successful transition to another organization—one he was flourishing in. We have subsequently stayed in touch.

How many times have you heard about these types of situations going ‘south’?  I know I’ve heard of far too many!  Given the stakes involved, it’s no wonder why.

It was Rory’s professionalism that helped turn a potentially contentious situation into a really positive one.  He really stood out.  In that situation, Rory demonstrated mastery of his emotions. Plus, he didn’t let his ego undermine him in a highly stressful situation.  Of course, all of this is consistent with mind-set #6—a mind-set that most people struggle with.

Think about the people you consider to be a consummate professional.   I’ll bet they rate high on mind-set #6. They’re likely to take a measured approach to stressful situations; and not be prone to uncontrolled emotional outbursts.  The types of professionals remain in control, never letting their ‘lizard brain’ take charge.  When they do express deep emotion, it’s a conscious choice—not a shrill, often automatic response, that they might regret later.

In many ways, mind-set #six is a hallmark of the consummate professional. It’s precisely why I admire Rory so much.

 

This Is The Way We Do It…Part Three

This is the third (and final) installment on “This is the way we do it.”

Two mind-sets, #1 (having a bias for results) and #2 (being a part of something bigger), have the biggest impact on people or organizations in terms of managing change (think:improving things).

Organizations whose cultures have managed to create a strong commitment to results naturally embrace improvements—whether they be central to the enterprise’s core strategy or merely a tactical process change.  The client I mentioned in the last post—the one whose management practices are bench-marked across the world—is a good example.  In that organization, people are maniacal about delivering results.  They know constant improvement is integral to sustaining the superior level of results the organization has become accustomed to.

When there’s a track record of successfully managing change well—which includes committed sponsorship—future change has a much greater degree of taking hold. Unfortunately, most organizations aren’t that good at managing change. Thus, the status-quo lives on to fight another day.

Take the senior executive who is nearing the end of their career.  Many are reluctant to take on major change initiatives. Why? There can be many reasons, but mainly they just don’t want to be bothered.  They may even believe (intellectually at least) in the change effort!  But still, it doesn’t always translate into action.

Before any of us get too self-righteous in judging the senior executive, it’s been my experience that most change efforts are stymied (in whatever aspect) for all-to-human reasons—not for the lack of rational business justifications.  Said another way, sometimes it’s us that doesn’t want to be bothered!  Seeing oneself as a professional can help get us out of that funk.

There’s nothing quite so personal as a job change.  Years ago I interviewed a gentleman for a position in an organization I had stewardship for.  At the time I happened to know this gentleman was 2 years away from retirement.   He was old enough to be my father.  I had seen too many people merely coast to retirement’s finish line.  Often, the outcome wasn’t pretty.  ‘Retired in place’ would aptly describe it.

“Howard, I asked, how do you want to feel about your last 2 years here? You know, as a professional, how do you want to go out?”  Howard didn’t hesitate, “Bill, I want to go out with a bang.  Six months into my retirement I want to look back and feel proud about my contributions here.”

To many people’s surprise, I hired him. Howard indeed went out with a bang.  I couldn’t have been more pleased.  Howard was responsible for the development and execution of two brand new programs—the outcome of which enabled our department to post results that ranked within the top 5% of the company.  Howard probably could have coasted to retirement’s finish-line from his former position.  But that wasn’t Howard.  He wanted ‘in’ on some the promising action we were in the process of cooking up.

Howard was a professional. He held the mind-sets I would later memorialize in The Power of Professionalism. It was never about him.  Rather, it was about what he could contribute.  He wanted to improve things—leaving them better than when he found them.           

Let’s not be pollyannish. Change is tough.  And there are a lot of mandatory ‘head-level’ aspects of the change process that must be accomplished to make the change both compelling and appealing.  Yet successful change is far more about one’s identity as a professional (along with the accompanying mind-sets) that any list of costs and benefits.