John TV: Episode #59 Margin

Success may come in that moment of emptiness … when there is a reserve to tap into!

John TV: Episode #58 What YOU NEED To DO!

Maybe what you need to do is stop listening to what other people tell you to do … and take the time to really think about what YOU NEED to do.  But then, again, don’t let me tell you what you need to do!

Building Culture

Theo Epstein is on a mission to build something special in the organization of the Chicago Cubs … he has come to build a culture.  It was refreshing, this past week, to attend a luncheon to hear the Cubs’ new President of Baseball Operations share his vision of what he wants to engineer in the Cubs’ organization.  It is clear that his ultimate goal is to win a World Series … it may be the only real challenge left for him after taking the Boston Red Sox to a World Series Championship after 87 years of not taking the crown.  Only doing the same for the Cubs can top that.  But he is realistic and knows it will take time.  He used a familiar and appropriate analogy of it being like turning an ocean liner.  If you’re like Theo, and in your 30’s, you’ve got some time!  Theo espouses a philosophy in which many business leaders should take note … decisions in the short term should never be at the expense of sacrificing the long term.  He believes that when you are intentional about building a solid culture great things will be delivered in the long term … and they can be sustained.  Living your values and building a culture will often cost you in the short term.  Cutting Carlos Zambrano is exhibit number one.  Sometimes your short term costs help others know you are serious.  A good friend of mine once shared the wisdom of her grandfather who told her that nothing great happens quickly.  Stay-tuned.  Sometimes miracles take a while.  Every real Cubs fan knows … when that day comes, it will be nothing short of a miracle!

John TV: Episode #57 Do You Believe?

Sometimes the most basic question can give us more than a new beginning … it can give us a renewed perspective!

A State of Mind

Today’s post is the featured article from the November 2011 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

The best I can remember, I have never discussed an actual current event in a feature article of The Front Porch. And maybe I shouldn’t. But sometimes there are lessons upon lessons. There are times when the alarms in our lives are silent … and other times they are screaming for our attention.

Penn State is a screaming alarm.

It is the perfect lesson when it comes to core values. And not only a lesson for those at Penn State … although most would prefer to see it only as a lesson for those involved. It is much less demanding to see it that way. After all, it is their problem. But it may very well be our alarm.

When it comes to the “problems” of others, I have come to realize the truth is rarely what it appears to be on the surface. And it certainly is never as easy or clear as it would appear to be either. I don’t know what the truth is at Penn State. I must admit that my first (and second and third) reaction was to question how so many good people could have missed this … or ignored it. It is easy to rush to judgment because 20/20 hindsight is always … well 20/20.

It is also easy to see, so clearly, if you couldn’t care less about Penn State football … or anything else about Penn State. Everything is so much clearer when you are 100% objective … independent. Where you have nothing at stake. Where you have no cost to pay for seeing things exactly as they are.

Passion is truly a gift but can sometimes be a curse.

Rather than spending our time and conversations rushing to judgment about the story of Penn State, I believe we would be better served to ponder the lessons it provides and how it might be triggering silent alarms in our own experience.

First, I am reminded that passion can blind us to the alarms ringing in our life. Rather than judge, I would suggest we would better be served to question our own blind spots. If you don’t think you have any … you have, by definition, just discovered your first. We all have them and some are more dangerous than others.

Second, I’m more convinced than ever that organizational core values are important … but they will never substitute nor replace the essential need for well-defined personal core values. Organizational core values give us a framework for thinking. Personal core values give us courage in the moment. Regardless of the cost. The more clearly we understand the specifics of our personal values, the deeper our courage is likely to run. Penn State’s “success with honor” was a well known organizational value. But it, like any other organizational value, is only as valuable as the connection to our individual personal core.

Third, personal values are anything but personal. They are systemic … and so is the shrapnel damage when something goes wrong. We depend on each other to have them, to know them and to live them. Personal and organizational core values are a must … and executives who are not clear about this are simply playing an organizational version of Russian roulette.

New York Times writer, David Brooks, recently asked an important question on Meet the Press:

Have we lost our sense of right from wrong?

It is a powerful question to ponder. It eventually becomes a stark reality when you are just “winging” your personal or organizational values. The hard part about having core values is they will cost you. The ultimate truth of not knowing your core values is that it will destroy you. It is just a matter of time.

This past year I had the opportunity to meet-up with Jerry Porras, co-author of Built to Last. We were talking about values and he made an excellent point: We truly understand our core values when they are put to the test. I believe he is right on-target. I also believe “the moment of the test” is a really bad time to start figuring them out.

There are always numerous lessons we can learn from the tragedy of others if we choose to reflect rather than judge. No matter the details of the truth, it appears many things went terribly wrong at Penn State. They need to take a really hard look deep inside.

As do all the rest of us.

The Drifters

Today’s post is the featured article from the October 2011 issue of The Front Porch Newsletter. If you would like to automatically receive The Front Porch e-newsletter on the last Thursday of each month just click here to sign-up for your complimentary subscription.

They were up on the roof and under the boardwalk always creating this magic moment. The songs of The Drifters bring back a rush of memories. If only I could sing … it sure would have been fun to be a Drifter. Well, at least that kind of drifter!

But we are far more likely to become a different kind of “drifter.” One of the great joys of writing GOOD to the CORE has been the opportunity to speak with many organizations who have become dead serious about building value with values. Consistently, presentation after presentation, participants will inevitably come-up to me afterwards to discuss one specific quote from my book:

“We don’t go running away from our values, we go drifting away. And one day we wake-up in a place we never meant to be … drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.”

They generally will say … “it’s really about the drift, isn’t it?” It is the one thing that seems to resonate with so many people when they begin to focus on core values … both personal and organizational values. We are all vulnerable to the drift whether we have intentionally chosen our core values or whether we have let our behaviors unintentionally choose them for us.

Last week I had the opportunity to present the opening keynote for the University of Alabama’s Annual Human Resource Management Conference. After my presentation, a participant approached me and had her own version of focusing on the drift. I found what she said to be both simple and profound:

If you don’t know your core values, how would you know you ever left?

That is precisely the value of intentionally knowing your core values. Knowing your core values doesn’t guarantee you from drifting. In fact, you can pretty much be sure you will drift with daily demands, demanding relationships and the reality you are human. But when you drift, intentionally knowing your core values will let you know you have left … your core.

This is true for personal and organizational core values. And for business professionals, knowing one without the other is not enough. Personal and organizational values work systemically to let you know when you have left.

You might think of your core values as the “drift busters.”

But even that is not enough. Sometimes you need others to tell you that you have “left.” Typically, we want friends who “get our drift” … but what we really need are friends who “catch our drift” and bring us back! I touched on this in the “DRIFT“ episode of JOHN-TV. I think The Drifters knew all about this in their singing Stand By Me!

I think of these friends as your “life guards” but could just as easily be considered “drift guards.” These are people who love you enough to tell you the truth and you love them enough to accept the truth when they tell you what you don’t want to hear.

Having core values and drift guards may be the best defense you have against the inevitable tide that is destined to send you drifting.

It really is about the drift, isn’t it?

The path to bad choices and behaviors is typically not a short one. It is an incremental, likely non-detectable, road. It serves us well to know the very moment we “leave.” That is the magic moment!

John TV: Episode #53 ANCHOR

There are times where you need to move … and times you just need “to be held.”

John TV: Episode #49 GENUINE

In being a leader of substance, the only spin that works … is being genuine!

John TV: Episode #48 KINDNESS

So … what “kind” of person are you?

John TV: Episode #47 REALLY NEED

The seeds of your needs are planted in your core values.  If you don’t know your core … your needs and wants get intertwined.  You end-up needing what you WANT rather than wanting what you NEED.  Discover your core … and your needs will be revealed.