George Burns, the popular cigar smoking comedian of the WWII and Baby Boomer generations (yeah, I know, I’m dating myself), had this to say about advice:
Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.
He’s right. Sit in any barbershop on a busy Saturday morning and you’ll learn how to fix the government, which coach ought to be fired and which quarterback ought to be starting. You will also learn which is better, Chevrolets or Fords, and where to go for the best fried chicken (The Chicken House, New Albany, IN). Preachers can learn how to improve their sermons (shorter is better) and you’ll hear spirited debate about the virtues of John Deere (for real farmers) versus those “foreign” brands like Kubota (hobby farmers). Generally speaking, the barbershop mantra is “If I want your advice, I’ll give it to you.”
Eugene Peterson, paraphrasing Proverbs 15:22, says, “Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed.” The problem? It’s easy to get advice; not so easy to get good advice.
There are times, lots of times, when we all need advice. We are facing a hurdle, or an opportunity, and we aren’t quite sure what to do. We may have an idea and need confirmation, or we may have no idea at all. In either case, someone asks us, “Have you talked to…?”
An overall principle for seeking counsel is the old adage, consider the source. Here are some questions about the source that I ask:
Are they speaking from first-hand experience, not just theoretical or academic knowledge? I want to talk to people who have been on the front lines of leadership.
Do they have a personal agenda? Be careful if they have something significant to gain or lose.
Have they experienced some failure? The road to humility always has a failure marker or two. The best counsel will come from someone who is genuinely trying to help, not impress.
Do I know them personally? If I don’t, I seek input about them from people I do know and trust.
Are their values consistent with mine? Do they live and lead their organization in a way I am comfortable with?
A few concluding thoughts:
Getting a second—and third—opinion is always a good idea.
“Don’t do this” advice is often a lot more valuable than “do this” advice.
Don’t act on any advice that gives you a queasy feeling in your stomach.
In the end, you are responsible for the outcome. Gather as much input as you can; make the best decision you can; then man-up and accept responsibility for the results.
Not much has changed since Beowulf had to slay the dragons that were wreaking havoc in Denmark. First he struck down the dragon Grendal. Later he took out Grendal’s mother—half-human and half-dragon (trust me, she did not look like Angelina Jolie of the 2007 movie). However, one dragon remained to threaten Beowulf’s reign as king, and in end, it brought him down, proving that…
It never does to leave a live dragon out of the equation.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Today, 1600 years later, leaders are still being brought down by unslain dragons. Almost every organization has one…or more. The dragon is the unspoken truth—the issue that most everyone knows about and fears. The dragon can stop change initiatives and sink morale. No one can do anything about the dragon except the leader. If the dragon has been around a long time, most people are resigned to the fact that the leader probably won’t do anything. So the best and brightest leave for greener pastures, and everyone else hunkers down, trying to be invisible to both the leader and the dragon.
Dragons are often people: turf shepherds, abusive managers, or relatives and close friends of the leader. The most dangerous situation is when the leader is the dragon. Dragons can also be incompetence in key positions, obsolete technology, products that are endangered species, or software that doesn’t work (probably sold to the organization by the leader’s nephew).
If your organization has a dragon—and it probably does—it will eventually bring you down if you don’t slay it. (Generally, dragons can’t be reformed; they have to be removed.) It is your job as the leader to get the unspoken truth on the table:
Leadership is equally about creating a climate where the truth is heard and the brutal facts confronted.
Jim Collins
What kind of climate does your organization have? Are the truth and brutal facts confronted, honestly confronted—even when they are about you? Are you the dragon? If you aren’t sure, get help. If you don’t, you may end up like Beowulf.
© Copyright 2011 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
[if this post was interesting and helpful to you, please forward it to other leaders you know.]
“The key to positive action is knowing the difference between a problem and a fact of life.
A problem is something that can be solved.
A fact of life is something that must be accepted.”
Fred SmithCEO of FedEx
One fact of life is Bob Dylan was right: The Times They Are A-Changin’.
Cars have replaced horse-drawn buggies (except with the Amish community). A growth strategy focused on buggy whips is certain to fail.
iPods have replaced CDs which replaced cassette tapes which replaced 8-track tapes which replaced vinyl records which replaced… (before my time). Something is going to replace iPods. Count on it.
Wireless-only telephone service was up to 23% last year and growing fast. AT&T is doing great, but not because of landlines.
B&W TV’s were replaced by color which are now in HD—LCD, plasma or LED—and 3D is moving up fast. I have a “tube TV” in my garage that is on its way to the recycle bin.
One out of five millennials claim no religious affiliation or belief whatever. That is 4 times as many as a couple of generations ago.
Millennials still involved in church are leaving the rock-band mega churches of their parents for candles, incense, stained glass, rituals and symbolism. Look around next Sunday. Where have the 20-somethings gone?
Whatever happened to snail mail, Blockbuster and Plymouth?
A fact of life is that significant change is inevitable. If not technology driven, it will be culture driven. Anne Mulcahy, who led the turn-around at Xerox, summed it up this way:
“Do not defend yourself against the inevitable.”
America’s Best Leaders, US News 2008
Organizations with leaders who resist, ignore or fear change will become irrelevant at some point in the future. When? I can’t say for sure. But why wait until it happens? Take action now so your organization doesn’t sink in the rising waters of change.
Come gather ’round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the boneIf your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Bob Dylan (verse 1 of The Times They Are A-Changin’)
©2011 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
Last week, my wife and I traveled by car to visit her sister in the North Carolina mountains. We left from Indiana, meandered across Kentucky, clipped the northeast corner of Tennessee, then climbed our way to their cabin on a 2400 foot high peak near Sunshine, N.C. The view was spectacular. The food and fellowship was even better. It was a five-day whirlwind trip, but well worth it.
Three times going and three times returning, our progress was marked by crossing a state line. If we were getting drowsy, or a little bored, the state line signs gave us a lift because they meant we were getting closer to our destination. That’s why a trip across Texas seems never-ending; no matter how long you’ve driven, it’s still a long way to the state line.
One way to shorten a trip is by using Walmarts instead of state lines to mark progress. There are almost 6000 Walmarts in the US, so Walmart spottings would be much more frequent than state line spottings. But it hasn’t always been that way. Sam Walton opened his first department store (Walton’s 5 & 10) in 1950 in Bentonville, Arkansas. It wasn’t until 1968 that he ventured across the state line to open stores (now called Walmart) in Oklahoma and Missouri—an 18 year journey. Walton must have felt like he was driving across Texas in those early years.
Are there any leadership lessons from this? Yes.
#1—Marking progress is an important part of any organization’s journey and the more markers the better. Markers are crucial to maintaining the motivation needed to keep going.
#2—Building an enduring and great organization is a long journey, not a whirlwind trip. It is tempting to speed on a trip, but it takes more gas, increases the chances for crashing, and may get you pulled over—stopped—in which case you will lose more time than you gained.
#3—Benjamin Franklin once said, “Make haste slowly.” It took Walmart 18 years to cross the state line and 31 years to cross the border into Mexico. Take Ben’s advice and follow Walmart’s example: don’t get in a hurry and don’t become discouraged or tired just because the journey is long.
See you at the state line—or Walmart—whichever comes up first.
In September of last year, my daughter, Cathy, accepted the position of Preschool Director at Graceland Baptist Church in New Albany, IN. Fearing we would set up roadblocks, she kidnapped our three grandsons and fled for Indiana in the middle of the night. Eventually, to keep from being disinherited, she called and confessed, we forgave her, and thus began a seven month saga of new jobs for her and Sam (the husband and co-conspirator), a new school for the boys, selling a Tennessee house, buying an Indiana house, loading trucks, trailers, a POD, etc., then unloading them all. The unloading was finished last Saturday, and that brings me to Scott, the subject of this post.
Scott is Pastor Scott Miller, the lead pastor at Graceland and Cathy’s boss, except he’s not a boss, he’s a servant leader. There is lot about Scott’s leadership I don’t know, but there are three things—very important things—I have observed and he gets bright red bold check marks for all three.
√#1 It is never about him. In 2003, Jim Collins identified his list of the TOP TEN CEOS OF ALL TIME (in Fortune magazine). They were very different except in this one regard:
“Much depended on them, but it was never about them.”
Scott Miller is the pastor of a large church; much depends on him, but it is never about him.
√#2 He supports his staff. Whatever is going on, even a preschool sock hop, Pastor Scott shows up. Not to interfere, take charge or grab the spotlight, but to let his staff know that he cares about their stuff as much as he does his own. (Sunday morning is his prime time.)
√#3 Back to unloading trucks and trailers, when a group of men showed up on a rainy Saturday morning to help Cathy and Sam move in, Pastor Scott was there too. He always does what he asks other people to do. There are no jobs “beneath” him.
If you are a leader of any type or size of organization, follow Pastor Scott’s example:
You’ll be a much better leader because:
“…people buy into the leader before they buy into a mission statement.”
James Hunter
The Servant
Monday is Seth day. Dottie and I spend the day being entertained by our 4 year old grandson, Seth, or “Luke Buddy” as he likes to be called (Luke Skywalker is his current hero). For me, it is a day of hunting the bad guys with battery powered laser guns, followed by an hour or so of wrestling. My 67 year-old-body is worn out but happy when the day ends.
The bad guys hide in every closet, behind and under the bed, in the bathrooms, refrigerator, oven, etc. Seth takes the lead and I’m his back-up as we clean them out one at a time. Usually we have to do it more than once—they have a way of coming back to life. They remind me of the challenges and problems that leaders face on a regular basis. They hide everywhere and are hard to kill. The leader has to revisit the closet on a regular basis or bad guy thinking, culture, habits, values and personal agendas will sneak back in. By the way, it helps to have a back-up. Hunting the bad guys by yourself is a lonely and exhausting job.
When Seth says, “Let’s wrestle,” it’s game on. He comes from every direction—fearlessly, relentlessly. He has me in a headlock one minute, is riding me the next, then tackling me and counting: One…two…three…out! None of my holds are effective. “You can’t get me,” he hollers. And of course, I can’t (or don’t). If you are in the business world, your competitors are like Seth, coming at you from every direction—fearlessly, relentlessly—trying to count you out. If you turn your back on your competition or customers, it’s over before you know what happened. That’s why leadership is a 24/7/365 job. It’s tiring, but it’s worth it, because when you win, you’re happy when the day ends!
The Bottom Line: (1) inside the doors, visit the bad guy hiding places on a regular basis and make sure you have a back-up, and (2) outside the doors, stay alert to what is going on with your competitors (don’t let them sneak up on you) and your customers (don’t let them sneak away from you).
How many balls can you keep in the air? All of us have a juggling limit and we can’t exceed it because dropped balls always have consequences.
The last 30 days or so have been juggling days for my family. My daughter, Cathy, is busy with her job and being a mom while selling one house (TN), buying another house (IN), getting ready to move, and celebrating a 4-year-old boy’s birthday—very high priority! Dottie (my wife) and I have spent a lot of time helping her with the Tennessee end of things. My schedule has overloaded with two speaking engagements, preparation time for a Hard Lessons workshop next week, an important project at church, a major writing project, plus the normal number of meetings, etc. Feeling a bit overwhelmed a couple of weeks ago, I experienced an early morning panic attack, fearing that I would prove to be mortal and drop a ball.
So, here is what worked for me, and what will work for you, when the balls you are juggling become a blur and you know one is going to hit the ground if you don’t do something.
First, identify a ball or two you can put down for a while. You may not want to, but nothing calamitous will happen if you do. For me, it was writing. I put my major writing project on hold until mid-April.
Second, identify which ball(s) only you can juggle. If you don’t keep them in the air, they will hit the ground. For me, it was preparation for my Hard Lessons workshop in Wichita next week. No one can do that for me.
Third, identify some things you can delegate, even if only for a short time. Loading a POD with Cathy’s furniture was it for me. I found someone I trusted to take charge so I could forget it. I wasn’t even there when the POD was loaded.
Finally, for all the balls still in the air, identify the minimum effort required to keep them there for a time. Something as simple as a phone call can keep a ball in the air for a day or two. A phone call to the city was all I needed to arrange hauling a worn-out sofa to the landfill. They picked it up! I didn’t have to do anything except move it to the street. Easy; quick; another ball didn’t hit the ground.
If you are approaching your juggling limit, you have to do something because dropped balls aren’t an option. If you don’t like my four suggestions, create your own four, but don’t wait until after a ball hits the ground. It could be the one that hurts the most.
I have a friend, Elizabeth Widmer, who took time to straighten out my thinking about elephants. In an earlier post, I described three elephants at the Nashville zoo as sloshing in the mud, throwing dirt on their backs, and bumping into each other as they jockeyed for position.According to Elizabeth (who with a degree in zoology actually knows something about elephants), elephants, unlike people, do not jockey for position:
Elephants live in a matriarchal structured social order. The herd’s well being depends on the guidance of the matriarch. She serves the others by determining when they eat, rest, bathe or drink. Later in life, as the matriarch begins to be limited by advancing age, without question the next oldest replaces her. With this structure there will always be a leader, without struggle.
There are at least two things about the elephant matriarch’s leadership that people-leaders would do well to mimic:
1) the matriarch serves the others
2) the matriarch steps down when limited by….
The very best people-leaders serve their organizations instead of being served by the organization. I once heard a leader tell his entire staff that “you are here at my pleasure.” Not surprisingly, over the next several years, the best and brightest on that staff left at their own pleasure. Jim Collins, in describing the TEN BEST CEOs OF ALL TIME (Fortune, 2003), said this about them:
“…if one thing defines these ten giants, it was their deep sense of connectedness to the organizations they ran. Unlike CEOs who see themselves principally as members of an executive elite—an increasingly mobile club whose members measure their pay and privileges against other CEOs….Much depended on them, but it was never about them.”
It was never about them is another way of saying serves the others. Make it your motto and you’ll be a better leader—much better.
Stepping down from leadership is never easy and too often leaders don’t get the timing right. The elephant matriarch steps aside when limited by advancing age. People-leaders can be limited by a lot of things, not just age: paralysis (fear of change), near-sightedness, being hard of hearing, etc. Unfortunately, most of us don’t recognize our limitations, so unlike the elephants, a change in leadership doesn’t come without struggle. That is why it is so important for all of us to have someone who will tell us the truth about ourselves. Do you?
[Thanks to Elizabeth Widmer for her contributions to this post.]
Lesson #4 from the Johnstown flood of 1889
One of the most famous of Aesop’s Fables is The Boy Who Cried Wolf. A young shepherd boy—bored with watching the sheep—falsely and repeatedly cried “Wolf! Wolf!” to alert the villagers that a wolf was attacking the flock. When the inevitable happened and a wolf actually did attack the flocks, the villagers ignored his warnings and the flock was destroyed.
The people of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, had lived in the danger zone below the South Fork dam for years. They knew the dam could fail, even believed it would some day, but:
“The townspeople…grew calloused to the possibility of danger…
`that dam will give way, but it won’t ever happen to us.’ ”
(From The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough)
When the inevitable actually did happen, the warning that arrived at the telegraph office was ignored:
“…it created no alarm in his mind. He had heard such warnings before.”
(From The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough)
The town was destroyed and more than 2000 people were swept away in just ten minutes when the wall of water—up to 60 feet high—hit Johnstown. Most of those people had time to get to higher ground if the warning had gone out and been heeded.
In every part of life, we ignore the Danger Zone warnings at our own peril.
Every business is unique, but one Danger Zone warning common to all is if your best and brightest employees are leaving. Ignore that warning at your own peril.
In churches, if long time supporters and friends are drifting away to other ministries, that is a Danger Zone warning. Ignore it at your own peril.
In life, if you are borrowing money to pay for normal living expenses, you are in the Danger Zone. Bankruptcy is just around the corner if you ignore the warning.
You cannot avoid living in the danger zone, but you can pay attention to the warning signs.
“…it won’t ever happen to us” is a perilous way to live.
Lesson #3 From The Johnstown Flood (1889)
When the South Fork dam collapsed in 1889, sending 5 billion gallons of water hurtling down the Little Conemaugh River toward Johnstown, Pennsylvania, (sweeping more than 2000 people to their deaths), the courts blamed God since He is in charge of rainfall. That’s convenient, but it’s not as simple as that.
In Lesson #1 we learned that brush, hemlock boughs, hay and horse manure were used to repair the cracks and leaks in the dam. Horse manure? Yes! No wonder the dam collapsed. But it’s not as simple as that.
In Lesson #2 we learned that the discharge pipes were removed and the spillways clogged so there was no way to release the water as it rose. No wonder the dam was breached when the heavy rains came. But it’s not as simple as that.
At some point, a few feet were graded off of the top of the dam so it would be wide enough for carriages to pass each other as they enjoyed an afternoon of sight seeing—going back and forth across the dam. After all, the top of the dam is the very best place to view the lake and one way carriage traffic is very inconvenient. The lowered dam meant it would be breached sooner as the rains came. But it’s not as simple as that.
Somehow, no one knows for sure how, when the grading was finished there was a low spot in the middle of the dam. Therefore, when the water began to first breach the dam, it was at the low spot in the middle where the water pressure is the highest. (The pressure is highest where the water is deepest.) So the highest pressure was at the lowest and weakest part of the dam. Surely that explains why it failed. But it’s not as simple as that.
There is no simple explanation as to why the dam failed. A combination of record rainfall, horse manure, clogged spillways, a widened carriage path and shoddy grading job were all in the mix. But it’s not as simple as that because except for the rainfall, all of these things happened because of decisions made by the South Fork Dam leaders. The dam failed because it was weak, but it was weak because the leadership was weak.
Organization failures often follow the same pattern as the South Fork dam: cut a little here, a poor decision there, some compromise for convenience, ignore some known weaknesses, add in some extra pressure from the outside, then boom, the whole thing (business, church, family, etc.) suddenly and rapidly collapses and a lot of people are swept away. Call it whatever you want, but the truth is: it’s a leadership failure.
Leadership is not easy and it’s not simple because complexity is a fact of life. Businesses are complex. Ministries are complex. Government is complex. Even families are complex. There are a lot of things that can go wrong and it’s the leader’s job to make sure they don’t. So the next time you hear yourself saying “it’s a no brainer” or “that’s simple,” be careful, because not much in today’s world is really as simple as that.
[Read the full story of the flood in The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough, my favorite author in the genre of American history.]
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