The Sign in the Shoe Store

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten."

The sign hangs near the front door of a locally-owned shoe store near where I live. It caught my attention because of the use of language. What a great phrase "the bitterness of poor quality" is! That's exactly right. You feel betrayed by shoes, or a car, or new software, or anything you buy that doesn't live up to your expectations of good quality. It's so much more expressive than its more common cousin, "You get what you pay for."

The same is true about the work we do. We pay with our effort, and the goods we take away are the results of that effort. By the work we do, I mean not only the hours we spend in our offices, or driving a taxi, or stocking shelves, or teaching a class. I mean all the work we do—as volunteers, as friends—in short, as people. If we put in little effort, our results are usually not very good. If we put greater effort and more thought into any one of our activities, the results improve measurably. Imagine how our lives could be of we took great care about everything we do!

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen my little mantra: Do. Improve. Repeat. Take an action, improve your action; then repeat the improved action, and so on. And how do you gauge improvement? It's measured in quality of outcome. I know I'm swinging my golf clubs better now because the ball goes farther and straighter than it did. There is no real "perfect" in golf. All you can do is continually improve. There's no real perfect in life. But continual improvement is what we can aspire to.

Give it some thought.

Was Vince Lombardi Wrong?

Coach Lombardi, although great, was wrong when he said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." In fact, I've been thinking recently that this philosophy has caused us all some harm. Was it the singleminded drive to win at any cost that drove Enron, unscrupulous mortgage companies and banks? Bernie Madoff?

Now, I'm not laying the blame for our economic woes at Vince Lombardi's feet. My childhood pastor was Fr. Timothy Moore, one of Lombardi's lifelong friends. So, I grew up knowing about and respecting the Coach, and even sitting in terrific seats at baseball games courtesy of Father Tim's friend. But I think the famous quote leaves out a lot. I believe that the Coach was talking strictly about games, not about life, and not even about business. And I dread the thought that so many of our business leaders and political leaders have adopted this Lombardi quote as a mantra.

Earlier this evening, I read a blog entry by Miki Saxon over at Leadership Turn that reminded me how far off track some people have gotten in the quest to be first, best, top dog at the expense of courtesy, thoughtfulness, responsibility and decency.

Winning is (generally) good. Being the best, or fastest, or smartest, or biggest is not a bad thing. But putting the goal of being "Number One" above all else—or even denying the existence of all else, as this particular Lombardi quote does—can be easily recognized as the road to ruin.

When common decency, ethics, and even humanity are cast aside with reckless abandon in order to win in business or in life (i.e., be the most successful, or even eliminate your competition completely), I don't think Coach Lombardi would approve. I know Father Tim wouldn't.

Great leaders show compassion, respect, trustworthiness, honesty, decency, and other core values that were lost to Mr. Madoff, Jeff Skilling, Ken Lay, and so many others. I have no doubt that core values were something Vince Lombardi stressed at St. Cecilia's High School, at Fordham University, and at the Green Bay Packers. Otherwise, he would not have inspired his teams so well.

Give it some thought.

Stand Up and Be Counted: But Count

Some people find it natural to volunteer. We like to be included, we enjoy working hard, we like to learn new skills, and we enjoy helping to accomplish goals above and beyond our everyday jobs. You'll find us involved in nonprofits, recycling drives, associations, scout troops, and just about every other place where we can make a difference.

Some of us, unfortunately, like to volunteer because of the recognition or the title we'll receive, and then just don't pull the necessary weight of our involvement. We say we'll do the work and then, well, we just don't. And it is exceedingly difficult to "fire" a volunteer.

Huge amounts of work happen in this country—and around the world—because of volunteers. But the work has to happen, and that means people have to do it. So, if you aren't doing what's expected, and what you've agreed to do, please step out of the way.

It's great to have the courage to put your hand up when people around you are trying to blend into the walls, but that courage is only valuable if it's backed up by commitment to the organization or cause.

Next time you feel the urge to raise your hand, make sure you're committed to the work.

Give it some thought.

Speedership

Some things do take time to happen. Fruit ripens, concrete cures, the earth goes around the sun. Change, however, happens in no time at all, and problems happen when those who are in charge of strategic thinking for organizations are disengaged from the change.

What we need more of is what I will call speedership: Leadership that understands its need to act quickly, and to be looking farther down the road than ever before. If you have ever driven a car at speeds in excess of 100 miles and hour (don't worry, I won't tell, but let's hope you were on a track, or in Germany), you know exactly what this means. Objects and turns appear and are past you before you know it. You have to train yourself to react within very short spans of time, and to focus at the extremes of your ability.

Here are 3 basic tenets of speedership that every leader should understand:

1. You are in touch with the speed of change in your industry and within your organization—and you understand the gap between the two
2. You have surrounded yourself with people who can either research and understand rapid change, or who can accomplish rapid change
3. You do everything in your power to remove barriers to change

Practice speedership every day. If you do not anticipate coming changes and learn how to respond with lightning reflexes, you will certainly wind up watching your competitors, and very possibly your own organization, speeding toward the checkered flag while you are left behind.

Give it some thought.

Being a Hub

A few days ago, I received an announcement email for a terrific conference called Voice of the Customer. I attended last year and enjoyed the program immensely. The surroundings are gorgeous, the topics are timely, the speakers are knowledgeable, and the networking opportunities are abundant.

At the end of last year's conference, the producers asked for topics to present this year. One of the ideas that seemed to have some traction was about creating "user groups" as a component of better support. Now, it so happens that I used to be a regional liaison for a large user group program, and had 47 user groups from Maine to Delaware in my region. I offered privately to one of the producers to see if I could get my successor in that position to address the topic. After a few tries, I managed to get the two talking to each other, and there was the session on this year's program. It wasn't a big deal. I just got two people talking to each other about a specific thing.

People often ask me questions like, "Do you know anybody who...?" or "Do you know where I can find..?." As many times as not, I have an answer, and many of those times it's, "Let me ask my friend (insert name). They might know." And, many times, I'm able to provide either the information, or a connection to the information.

In the branch of network theory called social network analysis, there are people who are particularly busy hubs, people with large groups of 'loose ties.' These people can often shortcut searches for information and help.

I'm one of these people. I don't have large family or a small group of active friends, but I have friends from about every walk of life you can imagine, and I can reach out to just about any one of them for an answer or for some expertise at just about any time. And I love to be able to help. It makes me feel like a valuable human being, and that is something all of us can stand to feel more often.

If you're "somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody," you are a "useful" person according to social network analysis, and if you aren't making these kinds of connections, maybe you can learn to do so.

Give it some thought.

In Search of a Better Day

As anyone who watched the US Open knows, it has been very rainy here on the east coast. Up here in Maine, the wet weather refuses to leave, with the storm sitting close enough to the coast to keep it gray, misty and foggy—even more foggy than usual. I feel bad for the people who have planned their Acadia National Park visits for these wet weeks, but the bad weather does tend to drive people to the local stores, so there is an upside.

Maybe the weather has contributed to some less-than-perfect days in my work life, too. I'm unearthing evidence of tasks undone and loose ends untied everywhere I look. For some of the time, I've found that my mood has been as gray as the weather outside.

But every challenge presents an opportunity, and there are many opportunities for me to work with my team to improve. "Continual improvement is an unending journey," say Lloyd Dobens and Clare Crawford Mason.

At times like these, a leader must dig down to a new level of commitment to the goals of the team, and move forward. Take a step in the right direction, and then—as I have said elsewhere—take a second step in the same direction as the first.

Tomorrow I will meet with my team and hear from them something new they each have learned this week. Maybe it will be something they are excited about. Maybe we'll see the sun, at least for a while, and maybe, by day's end, the opportunities will begin to outweigh the challenges.

Give it some thought.

What My GPS Taught Me About Change

I was driving home from the other end of the state last night, cruising up I-295. There is a currently a major repaving project in progress on the road (the Maine saying goes "We have two seasons: winter and road construction") and my GPS was extremely unhappy. I didn't need the GPS to find my way home up the interstate, of course, but it had been a very long day and evening, and wanted the periodic vocal reminders to help keep me focused and alert.

The most efficient way to repave this particular stretch of interstate, someone decided, was to close the northbound lanes completely, detour all the southbound traffic, and swing northbound traffic over to the southbound lanes. So, I was heading north on the southbound side of the road when my GPS started speaking: "Recalibrating. Recalibrating. Recalibrating." A few seconds of silence, then, "Recalibrating. Recalibrating. Recalibrating." I glanced at the little screen, and there was the car icon, dutifully heading up the wrong side of the road. The two sets of lanes are far enough apart to make the GPS take note, and the little unit did not know what to make of it.

The silly little thing doesn't know what to make of the change, I thought. And how often has that happened to me, or to people I know? People wandering around in a daze after a spouse leaves them a note saying, "Color me gone." People who have worked for a company for 30 years suddenly finding themselves to be personae non gratae, and facing the search for another job, another career. People who have always done something the same way, day in and day out, now being told that "It doesn't work that way anymore. Now, you have to do it this way." People who have been used to living in a nice house, suddenly finding themselves without credit and without a home.

Then I thought about how we recalibrate, and how our friends understand—somehow—while we get through it.

Change is inevitable. It is not always good, or productive, or even needed in the great scheme of things. Change just is, and we need to wrap ourselves around it as well as we can.

"Recalibrating."

Give it some thought.