About seven or eight years ago, I worked with the CEO of a global manufacturing firm.  We were in his office for about 2.5 hours (in theory for a media training but he didn’t want to because he was tired) so we talked mostly about his career.  I gently raise the oh-so-popular topic of a succession plan.  Did he have one?  Not really.  Who would be in line for his job?  Four or five people could be ready someday.  Did he want to discuss some high level coaching?  Yea, let’s talk about it in a months; too much going on right now.    

That night, he dropped dead of a heart attack. 

I don’t think the place has ever been the same.  The guy was the picture of health one day.  The next day, gone.

What happened next was interesting.  Two people have since sat in the corner office but they never really fit into the big chair.  You can blame them, but that would be too simple.  The circumstances were tough. 

The first guy walked into a place so stunned by the loss they simply couldn’t get their minds around a new leader with his own ideas.  His style was a mismatch; like sticking a square peg into a round hole.  

The second guy was worse; he had come up through the ranks but had been away in Europe for several years. He came back to a place that was angry and disillusioned.  The company was losing its way.  They had no confidence the second guy understood.  They would walk out of their own SLT meetings, get on email and start bad-mouthing decisions that had just been made.  There was constant jockeying for power.  It was a soap opera.  Good people left or retired.  The water cooler was grand central station.  Two and three levels down people tried in vain to figure out their own career paths.  With all the internal strife, important things like customer relationships suffered.  

I know you probably think I’m now going to lower the boom and launch into a lecture on succession planning.  It’s not necessary.  Everybody knows their company “needs” it. The question is why the process stops there.  Don’t get me wrong - there are meetings.  The HR people come in to meet with the senior leaders toting sophisticated leadership competency models, succession planning tools, charts with high potential names; and yet everybody leaves the meeting saying “Nobody’s ready to lead.”

Bad stuff happens-people die.  Good stuff happens- people decide to retire, play a little golf, take a sabbatical, start a nonprofit, spend time with the grand kids, travel, or stay home. 

Either way, the outcome is the same.  New People Must Step Up.

There are companies that do this well.  They invest early and often in promising talent.  They do more than sit around and talk about who they like (and don’t like.) They look at this as part of their legacy.  They really want to leave the place better in better hands.     

Still, it’s difficult.  Who wants to think about the end?  Many of us want to die with our boots on; some of us just can’t imagine playing golf all day.  And even if we know we’ll be ready to leave someday, most of us are so healthy and energized by our work that we feel younger than we felt 20 years ago. 

We’ll worry about it tomorrow.  Right now, we have the second quarter to deal with.  

I’m no psychiatrist, but I am an executive coach, as well as the CEO of my own small company.  So with that in mind I offer these thoughts to CEOs, Senior Leaders, HR professionals, Talent Management Specialists, Succession Planning Teams.  

When I started writing my second book, Motivate like a CEO, I had a chance to talk with a number of leaders about how they viewed their own leadership teams.  A lot of them observed their folks needed to learn to think, act, speak, and inspire others.  Hence, the book.   

I’ve thought about it a lot in the ten years I’ve been in this business and I believe more than ever that you can help people become great leaders.  Even if you bootstrapped your way to the top, you probably did have some help along the way, and if you didn’t you have to admit you might have benefitted if you had. 

Investing in people is a really good thing.  You can help good people become great.  They can to motivate, influence and inspire.  If you invest it will accelerate this development and build a strong leadership pipeline.

In our practice we always say we can tell if somebody “has it.”  It’s usually clear in the first coaching session that someone is serious, has the right stuff, and is going to take advantage of the opportunity.  They will emerge as the leaders of tomorrow.

To me, the formula is simple.  Invest a little training and development in a lot of people and see what sticks.  Pick out enough good people from that group, and invest more in them.  Pick out the best and invest a ton.  keep going. That investment will pay off.  

And everybody will sleep better at night. 

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Last night on WGBH TV’s Greater Boston with Emily Rooney I was invited to be on a panel discussing a new survey that shows record numbers of people are unhappy with their jobs.  The Conference Board’s poll, widely reported yesterday in every major publication, concludes that “Americans of all ages and income brackets continue to grow increasingly unhappy at work.”

The survey is based on the responses of 2,900 American workers asked to rate how satisfied they are at work, on a scale of 1 to 5.  45% say they are satisfied with their jobs, and according to the Conference Board, that’s a trend -in 1987, 61% said they were satisfied. The decline spanned all age groups, although young people under 25 were the least satisfied.

Do you buy it?  Here’s something interesting - it turns out this data is in complete conflict with Gallup Polls taken every August from 1989 to 2009, in which 85 to 94 percent of people say they are completely or somewhat satisfied with their jobs.  As Mark Twain once said, “There are lies, there are damn lies, and then, there are statistics.” 

Certainly, a lot of people complain about their jobs.  But that’s always been the case.  Recently, other surveys have shown that people are more satisfied because they’re grateful to HAVE a job in this economy.   So I guess it all depends on how you ask the questions, doesn’t it?

The bigger question isn’t whether AMERICANS are satisfied, but whether YOU are satisfied.  You deserve to be engaged in work that you find rewarding, interesting and meaningful.  Work is the way most of us express our purpose and passion.  If you aren’t inspired, it’s time to figure out why.  Work is like marriage - you can fall in love again.  Or, you can move on.  But do you real want to stay stuck?  Or do you want to get up and look forward to your day?

I think this is a two-pronged issue.  It’s about both employees and employers.  Take responsibility for your own happiness.  And then, seek out an employer that creates an environment where everyone in the organization knows that what they are doing matters.  Employers do need to understand what motivates people.  They need to communicate the importance of even routine work to the overall goals.  And they  need to appreciate people for contributing their talent and energy. 

In the meantime, get in touch with what you love to do and tell your boss.  You can’t possibly expect him or her to read your mind.  Understand the overall goals and priorities so that you can seize opportunities to get involved in projects that will move the organization forward.  There’s no better way to get recognized and rewarded, and be satisfied in your work.  

The Conference Board survey, by the way, blames lower job satisfaction not so much on employees but employers.  They say it correlates with the fact that companies have dropped or cut pension benefits and asked employees to contribute more to health care. In addition, they point out that wage growth has been relatively stagnant.  Again, I believe that these are factors, but other surveys show that if people feel their needs are being met, the real determinants of satisfaction are other factors like flexibility to do the job your way.

Ironically, the two-decade decline in happiness has coincided with substantial increases in worker productivity. Gains in the tech sector have ensured that even as workers become more unhappy, they have become more productive.  This is another reason I think you need to take all this with a grain of salt.  How much of productivity is related to employee engagement, and how much to technological advances that make it simpler to get a job done in one hour instead of eight?  Who’s knows?

I’m interested in your thoughts - just click Leave a Reply.

Still it’s a fascinating topic.  Thanks to Emily for inviting me on the show.  Here’s a link to the segment on WGBH TV: http://www.wgbh.org/programs/programDetail.cfm?programid=11

Here’s a link to the Washington Post article that discusses the conflicting results of polls on job satisfaction. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503977.html

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Last night Jeff Taylor and I were invited to speak to the Harvard Business School Alumni Association.   When you share the stage with Jeff, get ready for a great ride because he’s cool and he’s got cool stories.  You  should have been there watching the audience as he described taking a dare to ski three miles towed by a blimp, at 30 MPH in a quest to break a record set by the flamboyant Richard Branson of Virgin. 

As founder of Monster.com Jeff has a lot of these stories.  In 1999 when Monster.com was just hitting its stride but certainly not yet “monstrous,” he spent a fortune to buy Super Bowl ads which flopped.  You might remember the ads depicted kids saying things like, “When I grow up, I want to claw my way into middle management.” What happened?  “We were being ironic.  It didn’t work with a bunch of guys drinking beer in front of a game.”  Ultimately the ads kept running, caught on like mad, and rest is history.  

There were more stories.  At the 2002 Winter Olympics Taylor spent four million bucks to build a snow labarynth and it was the warmest on record.  Just in time as the snow was melting the Today Show called and he got four minutes on live TV.  ”Matt ran through the thing in no time and thought no big deal.  Al was holding a flag just stuck in the middle,” says Taylor.  “Katie gets stuck, backs out, starts again, and says now she gets it.  Sometimes in your career you have to back up and start over.  It was incredible,” says Taylor. 

As often happenes when I go out to speak, I get more than I give.   Watching Jeff regale this crowd of Business School grads (though he himself took 23 years to graduate from college) was more fun than anything else I’ve done this week, or this month for that matter.  Here’s a CEO who gets it on so many levels. 

When I interviewed him for Motivate Like a CEO last year, he told me that he had noticed as his company grew, his role changed.  He went from founder to CEO to Chief Monster, his favorite role, where he went out and built the brand by going everywhere he was invited and speaking to just about anyone who would have him.  He got really good at speaking.  Not only is he a great storyteller, he openes up and shares everything - humor, emotion, personal insights, reflections - it’s no holds barred.  A lot of people in the audience might have assumed that he was a natural, but as he told me last year, and as he told the audience last night, he works at it, and keeps working at it.  He says he  really believes that Woody Allen line about 80% of success is about showing up.  “I just got back from Iceland where I was invited to judge an entrepreneurs contest.  They’re trying to save Iceland.  Why do I go?  I’m not sure.  But I’ve been showing up for a long time and it works.”

Jeff has two companies now - Eons - an online community for baby boomers, and a spinoff called Tributes.com for online obituaries.  If you’ve read Motivate Like a CEO you know that coming up with big ideas and inspiring others to get behind them is one of the characteristics of successful leaders.  One of the best questions last night were about where leaders get these “big ideas.”  “I have ideas all the time - I’m in the shower, I get an idea, and then I get out, and I forget.  I have to get back in the shower to find the idea,” he says.  “I wake up in the night, with a pad of paper next to the bed, and write them down.”  Of course everybody HAS ideas, says Jeff.  It’s those who ACT on them who make things happen and attract other people who are excited about them too.

You know the blimp ski story?  Jeff says the coolest thing was that as he was bumping along, he was hit by a huge wake left by a barge and wiped out.  All 500 of his employees were gathered in the cafeteria watching it live.  They went wild.  They loved it.  Working for Jeff was like that.  “We had the absolute best culture at Monster.  People loved working there.”  What you have to appreciate about Jeff is he gets that.  When he dons his skis, or builds snow forts, he’s out to have fun, and he also knows how his employees will feel about it.  He’s their leader.  

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Leadership guy Jon Gordon is writing about a timely topic. The author of  Playing to Win, What the Best do Better Than Everyone Else, and Training Camp, Ten Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and team with Positive Energy, writes this week that “There was a time in most of our lives when we had no fear-that feeling when we jumped from the jungle gym and slammed our little bodies to the ground.”  He says we “felt there was nothing we couldn’t do.”  Yet somewhere along the way Gordon notes that we start to understand what it means to be fearful, and “let fear into our lives.”  And this of course, changes the way we approach our careers and our lives.

This is a timely message.  Even the most intrepid, courageous leader has been battered by tough economic times.  No question that the downturn has helped us focus on the highest priorites, improve efficiency, and execute with fewer resources.  Yet now is not the time to operate in fear. It’s time to screw up our courage, dive in the pool, and encourage our teams to do the same.  We’ve need to break away from the negative energy that is feeing our fears and insecurities; stop listening to the inner voice that says we shouldn’t or can’t.  As Gordon says, “go after our dreams.”  What’s at stake is not just the opportunity in front of us.  Living in fear can become a habit that keeps us stuck for the rest of our lives.

If you “play to lose,” and communicate this to others, then everyone in your organization will do the same.  That’s why everytime you speak with your direct reports, your teams, and your organization you need to get focused and feel the courage. People aren’t just listening to the words, they are reading between the lines.  You can’t fool them.  Take charge of your emotional state before you speak.  Communicate wih confidence. Invite others to make courageous decisions.  Make them believe in themselves.  Encourage them to lose the fear. 

As I’ve discussed in Motivate Like a CEO, leaders are the keepers of the emotional life of their organizations.  In challenging times, they must take control of their emotions and lead the way.  If you are a leader, now is the time to take an emotional inventory, before you stand up to speak.  Get in touch with your own courage, and then, light a fire; make them believe. If you live and work with zeal and act with courage they will do the same. As Gordon puts it, “overcome fear and adopt a play to win mindset.”   

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This week I’ve been thinking about that saying, “lead by example.”  The origin of this well-worn standard is a Chinese proverb, yi shen zuo ze, which means ”to set a good example,” or “set yourself as the standard.”  For thousands of years people have known that a leader’s actions must match his or her words.  As I have discussed in the 8 principles of Motivate like a CEO, great leaders walk the talk. 

But is that enough?

Yes and no.

If you work in a high functioning organization, chances are your leaders walk the talk.  They live the values.  It comes from the top down.  Leaders who live the values inspire others.  

This brings me to posting your values statements on the wall.  This is a form of communication, but it isn’t the answer to creating a values based culture. People believe what they see and hear from their leaders, not what they read on a poster. If one leader in the organization is acting by a different set of rules, people will see that individual as an outlier.  However, if employees see that more than one leader living by different standards, that’s a trend.  They’ll scoff at the values and their cynicism will foster a negative, demoralized workplace.  

So of course, leaders have to live the values.  But is that enough?

Not really.  Why?

Because in a large organization, most people don’t get to meet you.  They certainly don’t see you every day, every week or every month.  In fact, they may go years without ever shaking your hand.

However, most people will be invited to a business meeting and hear you speak; they may receive emails from you; they may hear from their own bosses about how you’ve handled certain situations.    

This is why a leader has to not just lead by example, but also talk about examples of how the organization are living by its values.  If you can’t have lunch with every employee, you need to connect with them in a personal way through the stories of the organization.  You can do this through speeches, presentations, videos and even email and blogs.  

Tell stories that demonstrate how successful people in your organiztaion are walking the talk.  Collect these stories routinely and then share how teams and groups have been living the values.  Once you start to do this people will tell you more stories about living the values and you’ll soon have a collection of these stories to share. 

The ability to share compelling stories with points through speaking and writing is a critical leadershp skill.  if you’re not sure how to find stories - think of a time when your team has faced a difficult situation.  Perhaps you disappointed a customer and had to “do right by them.”  Perhaps someone working on a project had to go above and beyond.  What happened?  Why did the team or individual make that decision?  What was the outcome?  How did it illustrate the values? What did the team learn from that experience?  How can others apply the lesson?

These are the stories that you need to share with your organization.  For your next presentation, investigate three examples of how the organization has succeeded, and analyze how those successes are tied to your values.  It will be well worth it, because when people hear a story, they remember the story, and then they remember the point.

So living by example is only half of the battle. The rest is sharing the stories with others. 

以身作则
yǐ shēn zuò zé
To set a good example / Set yourself as the standard

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Tory Johnson interviewed me about the importance of “Motivating like a CEO” in today’s economy.  Watch our interview here: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8209974

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So I’m reading the Conference Board Review article entitled, “Why Americans Don’t Trust CEOs,” and I’m thinking I’ve read about 164 similar articles lately on the lagging popularity of the Chief Executive Officer.  And then I’m thinking, if you’re in the corner office, you probably ignore it, but once in a while it gets you down.  Especially if you suspect your own employees feel this way about you. 

There are a number of studies out there that document how CEOs are less popular than dentists or lawyers.  The Edelman Trust Barometer even before the financial meltdown apparently found only 20% of Americans trust CEOs to do the right things for their companies and their customers.  They didn’t site any recent studies.

Several times in this blog I’ve talked about all the GOOD CEOs who are out there making difficult but appropriate sacrifices for their companies.  Many have reduced their salaries and spent long hours working harder than ever, to keep people employed and keep the doors open.  The fact that this has been the longest recession of our lifetimes means we’re living in a prolonged state of crisis, and that isn’t good for anyone’s physical or mental health.  

I guess Americans have always had a love-hate relationship with the person at the top.  CEOs have been revered and reviled.   I don’t mean we should have a pity party for CEOs, but if you’re a CEO who is feeling isolated and you don’t have the support you need, then your emotional state will have a significant impact on your health and well being - and that isn’t good for your company.  You can’t fake mojo.  You gotta have it to be a really great leader.

If you’re a CEO and you feel like you need to get your mojo back I have a few ideas.  

1.  Read Motivate Like a CEO - I know, I know, self promotional, but I wrote it because I realized that there are a lot of leaders out there who are motivated by purpose and passion.  They get up in the morning and can’t wait to get to work, because they love what they do and they love their companies.  Every CEO should feel that way.  If you read the book, you’ll see how they discovered their purpose and passion.

2.  Have some fun.  Take time to restore, regenerate and renew body mind and spirit.  I’m one of the worst offenders here but I’ve learned that my brain fires at about -50% when I’m not taking care of myself, and at about 150% when I take a few hours or a day or two to relax and do things I enjoy.

3.  Walk around your company.  Even in challenging times, people are basically optimistic, and they want to share their stories with you.  When get out there and talk to your team about their projects, you get energized.  Connect, praise, recognize and reward and you’ll not only make THEM feel better; you’ll feel better, too.  

4.  Get out and see your customers.  In this economy, everybody needs a little love.  Let them know you care.  You can pick up the phone and email, but being there is best.  As I always tell our team, there aren’t any customers here in the office.

5.  Spend a little more time with your family and friends.  It’s too easy to get mired in work when times are challenging; there is always an emergency.  Take an inventory of your calendar and decide what you can eliminate, what you can postpone, and go home.

By the way if you want to have some fun click here on Wikipedia and look at the countless definitions and uses of the word mojo

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Here’s our latest press release - just  out this morning - on motivating employees.  Please read on, it may alter some of your assumptions about how to retain top talent and motivate people –through this economic recession and beyond.

The Top 5 Myths About Motivating Employees

Dangerous in a recession, deadly in a recovery

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sal Vittolino
Phone: (610) 359-8773
mailto:salvitt@comcast.net

In a typical workplace, only 29 percent of employees are actively motivated and engaged in their jobs, while 71 percent are unmotivated and disengaged - either not engaged at all (54 percent) or are actively disengaged (17 percent) - according to the Gallup Management Journal’s Employee Engagement Index.

“While there has been a slight uptick in employee motivation in recent surveys, this may be only temporary because it’s based on survival. As the pendulum swings back, employers should watch out - because employees will look at their jobs and their companies differently,” said Bates.

The Top 5 myths about motivating employees, according to Bates and “Motivate Like a CEO,“ are:

Myth #1: Money is the number one way to motivate employees. “Salaries and bonuses have been the staple of motivation. Most companies relied primarily, even completely, on monetary rewards,” said Bates. “Money is only one of many factors in motivation. Yet companies have become lazy about motivating people instead of giving them what they really crave, which is recognition, praise, and the opportunity to learn.”

Myth #2: If you want to motivate people, don’t let them in on the bad news. “This is a particularly damaging myth. Bad news always gets out to employees. They hate it when you hide bad news; they consider themselves partners in the company, and they long for a chance to contribute and make a difference, especially in tough times,” said Bates. “The surest way to motivate people is to empower them even with terrible news, so they can come to terms with reality, think their way through the crisis, and contribute to creative solutions going forward,” said Bates.


Myth #3: Most employees know what motivates them. “Many people are searching for a larger purpose, and they are not finding it in their work,” said Bates. “In challenging times, employers can become a powerful source of motivation and pride among talented people. In a downturn, leaders must talk to employees and help them discover who they are and what motivates them. Spend time with them; ask them why they enjoy the work, what they enjoy most, how they want to contribute, and where they see themselves in the future,” said Bates.

Myth #4: You simply cannot motivate everyone. “This was true in boom times, when organizations were bloated and some people you hired were marginal. Those days are over,” said Bates. “Now that companies have downsized and are arguably leaner and meaner with the best talent, this is a damaging assumption. It is a leader’s responsibility to motivate employees. It’s time to stop blaming employees, and start looking to leaders to ignite the spark,” said Bates.

Myth #5: People are just grateful to have a job, and this attitude will survive the downturn. “Top talent will always have a place to go, and while they may have had less mobility during the recession, your competitors are already looking around to see who is unhappy and ready to leave,” said Bates. “Employers who keep believing their people are just grateful to have a job will be blindsided when their top talent walks out the door because they don’t have leaders who are engaging them, praising them, recognizing them, and giving them opportunities to grow.”

If you are member of the media and would like to schedule an interview or set up a time to speak with Suzanne, please contact: Sal Vitollino - salvitt@comcast.net

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