Admired…

I was chatting with a friend of mine who has risen to the level of Vice President at our company.  I’ve known him since we were both sales reps.  Now he’s moving up the leadership path – who knows, maybe someday he will be atop my company’s sales organization.  I have admired his ascension. 

Our conversation narrowed to the current state of our company’s leadership.  He mentioned he doesn’t see our leaders as admired as our leaders from a few years ago.  Like many companies, we have gone through an ownership change and a subsequent handful of leadership changes as our parent company “assimilates” us into their culture. 

That brings our current leaders and their messaging to the forefront.  Our company has maintained a year-in and year-out level of sustained success over the past 2 decades; rare in today’s competitive world.  We have even continued our revenue growth during the pandemic. 

Now, my friend and I are concerned.  Of all the things our leaders are doing well, they don’t seem to be admired.  We’re worried if it’s just a couple of “old-timers” pining over the ways things used to be or something more widespread: 

It requires a strong constitution to withstand repeated attacks of prosperity. 

Joe Newton 

Continued success in any field is never guaranteed.  Here’s the title of a favorite book of mine: 

            Only the Paranoid Survive © 

                        by Andy Grove 

According to Wikipedia the famous CEO of Intel went on to say: 

Business success contains the seeds of its own destruction, … explaining that Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive…  Grove's office was an 8 by 9 ft (2.4 by 2.7 m) cubicle like the other employees, as he disliked separate "mahogany-paneled corner offices." He states, "I've been living in cubicles since 1978 — and it hasn't hurt a whole lot. 

I like the paranoid theme.  Andy Grove was an admired leader during a time his company (aligned with Microsoft) was completely transforming our world.  I wonder; is Intel still admired to the same degree?  I don’t even know who leads Intel now, do you?

I remember to this day Josh Weston, legendary CEO of ADP, met 1-to-1with every frontline manager in every ADP data center every year to ensure alignment with his leadership messaging.  And that was when ADP was an $8 Billion company!  Ray Marlinga, VP and General Manager of the Chicago data center, added a hand-written note of encouragement to every sales rep’s monthly commission statement.  Admirable. 

The Harvard Business Review © published this piece a while back: 

Leverage point #5:  Does your leadership messaging support skills development and revenue growth? 

·         The challenge

o   70% of change efforts fail due to inconsistent messaging or lack of visible support (John Kotter, Harvard Business school)

·         How do you ensure yours squeezes into the 30%?

o   Address:

§  Logic + emotion

§  Gains

§  Success stories

§  Baby steps

o   Alignment

o   Repetition 

Let me repeat… 70% of change efforts fail from inconsistent leadership messaging or lack of visible support.  

I repeat again… 70% fail.  (Repetition is one of my favorite behaviors.  Drives my family nuts LOL!) 

I believe repetition is not a “check the box” leadership technique.  That’s the 70%’ers’ approach.  The 30%’ers employ a leadership belief and consistent behavior that’s aligned to win the hearts and minds of each and every follower.  

Leadership admiration – earned one day at a time; one employee at a time; repeated frequently over time. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.