The work of 2130 Partners is featured in this article by Dana Borowka of Lighthouse Consulting.

Recently, we have had a number of conversations with CEOs and key executives regarding what they are planning for their businesses for 2011. We have found two categories of individuals. Those that have a vision through listening to others in the market place, reaching out for support, gathering industry data, looking for trends and opportunities. The other group is totally focused on overhead reduction, darting around and focusing on the bad news in the world, taxes, health bills, and any information that they can grab onto to help justify why they are so scared.

Here is the Question for the Day

Which category do you fit into? Your answer will determine how your company is doing today and will be doing in the future. Those that think they know everything are closing themselves off from amazing opportunities.

Certainly all companies need to be constantly looking at overhead and keeping up with the news. However, when the focus is fear driven then our thoughts begin to justify our fears. That wastes time as it creates the continual loop of fear, depression, anxiety, etc.

The group that is forward thinking has a completely different outlook on life. That’s not to say that they don’t have concerns but rather they are using this time to plan ahead, remain clear headed and open to ideas. That is the key – to be still enough in order to listen. Then act on what we are seeing as immediate and future potential for new products and services, improvement in retention of current business as well as ideas for gaining additional market share.

Your focus will tell you immediately where you stand! First, we will explore leadership and how to deal with the fear. Then we’ll share what a group of business owners did that has separated them from many other companies.

How to Become a Vision-Focused Leader

The answer is leadership. It is time to become a vision-focused leader around whom issues can be raised and resolved productively. That’s the view of Suzanne and Dwight Frindt, the founders of 2130 Partners, a leadership development and education firm that facilitates focused vision, inspired teams, and sustained commitment for its clients and co-authors of Accelerate: High Leverage Leadership for Today’s World.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are your conversations with your team generating the results you want?
• Does your team successfully raise and resolve issues relevant to business success?
• Can you identify and deal with emotional upsets, in both yourself and others?

Exactly what is this leadership that is vision-focused? “We love Warren Bennis’ definition: ‘Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it,’” says Suzanne Frindt. “Our approach is the same whether we are working with individuals or with entire leadership teams. We believe the greatest opportunities are created by the development of people and action in a coordinated direction. We assert that the only sustainable strategies engage the heart and soul and are simultaneously grounded in sound business practices.”

Power of Shared Vision

In a 1996 article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Building Your Company’s Vision,” Jim Collins and Jerry Porras said that companies that enjoy enduring success have a core purpose and core values that remain fixed while their strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. The rare ability to balance continuity and change—requiring a consciously practiced discipline—is closely linked to the ability to develop a vision.

“Without a vision, what is the point?” says Suzanne Frindt. “A Yonder Star unleashes the energy to galvanize yourself and your employees so you can achieve phenomenal things.”

When group members share a vision, it creates an opportunity for totally different conversations between a manager and members of their team. Focus on the shared vision creates alignment and provides a powerful context for creating mission, strategic initiatives, objectives, goals, roles, and finally all the way down through action plans.

Being a manager means making choices. At any moment in time you have a decision to make. Suzanne urges that when it comes time to make a decision being present in the moment, not on automatic pilot, is essential to the quality and relevance of the decision. You can then make the choice based on your Yonder Star, your shared vision of something to which you aspire, versus more of the same or your fear of some worst-case scenario.

“Worries are about envisioning a worst-case scenario, what you fear most,” says Suzanne Frindt. “Whatever we envision is affecting us right now. What we envision impacts us in this moment. There are consequences for managing based on fears that you may not want. Your Yonder Star is the shared vision you aspire to. The star is what you envision, and what you envision shapes both the present moment and the quality of your choices about your actions.”

Something else she recommends avoiding is being past-focused. This is when you make decisions based solely on what you have done in the past. Instead of having an inspiring vision for your team, all you are working for with a past based focus is attempting to minimize perceived risk and making incremental improvements.

“Many companies are past-focused when they do strategic planning,” says Suzanne Frindt. “What did the company do last year and then let’s add 10 percent or 20 percent. We are all tempted to try hard to make yesterday look like today. Or if we didn’t like yesterday, then we try to make it different or better.”

She adds that only by having a vision, a Yonder Star, can teams create breakthroughs to unprecedented results. Equally important is that it is a shared vision, one that is based on shared values and shared operating principles. This is how you create an environment for real collaboration.

Overcoming Emotional Barriers

 “The ability to identify and clear upsets, in myself and others, is the single most significant key to productivity gains in our economy today,” says Dwight Frindt. “We have asked our executive-leadership clients a simple question: ‘What time could you go home if everyone in the company simply came to work, did their jobs, and went home?’ The answer used to surprise us until it kept being repeated. On average, our clients say, ‘Between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.’”

That begs a second question. If so many executives claim they could go home before lunch if everyone just showed up and did their work, what’s taking so much of our leaders’ time? The Frindts’ clients tell them flat out: distress, commonly known as upsets. The most time-consuming part of their job is managing the distressed interactions within their teams so that those teams can actually get to the business at hand.

“Even if executives will never be able to consistently leave by noon, it is entirely reasonable for them to expect to save at least two hours of their time, every day. Alternatively they could increase their productivity 15–30%” says Dwight Frindt.

That’s nearly 500 extra hours a year leaders can devote to creative thinking, visioning, and strategizing rather than on repairing relationships and soothing bruised egos. At the opportunity cost of most executives’ time, that amounts to very substantial savings. Of course, the same can be said for everyone in the organization. An inordinate amount of productive time and payroll dollars and worse yet, opportunities, are lost daily, monthly and annually to the distraction caused by unresolved emotional distress.

Replacing that time, energy, and resource loss is of paramount importance. Doing so can create a culture that is both highly productive and emotionally resilient and rewarding. It requires a fundamental, transformative shift in two steps: 1) fewer emotionally driven issues in the workplace; and 2) leaders and their team members becoming self-sufficient in handling emotional distress issues when they occur.

“Let’s clarify what we mean by emotional distress,” says Dwight Frindt. “We’re using the term to summarize a wide range of reactions that temporarily disable people with regard to thoughtful and productive behavior. These reactions can vary from mild frustration to full-blown anger, and include embarrassment, sadness, impatience, agitation, worry, and fear. In each case the person is left in a condition where, whether realized or not, they are acting as if their very survival is threatened.”

The Causes of Emotional Distress

The Frindts’ studies and their clients’ experiences make it clear that the most common root causes of workplace emotional distress are 1) the perception that a promise has been broken (usually by leadership); 2) when positive intentions “fail”; and 3) when commitments seem thwarted. In addition to these three internal triggers, there are many times when personal distress is brought to the workplace from the rest of the person’s life. These other sources can be especially difficult to address, due to varying perspectives on what constitutes personal-professional boundaries.

The impact on the productivity and organizational effectiveness of people attempting to work while “stressed out” (or surrounded by others who are) is enormous. Yet it’s been the Frindts’ observation that most leaders overlook this as the place to start any efforts in business improvement. Most are far more comfortable with cost cutting, process development, process improvement, reorganizing, or some other business change that does not directly address the human dimension.

Long Term Vision & Working the Plan

Back in 2006/2007, a group of business owners saw the writing on the wall regarding the long term economic change. While some people thumbed their noses at the possibility and buried their heads in the sand… purely out of fear. The forward looking group sought feedback from others who had been through similar business cycles and discovered the following ideas:

• Create your vision: The goal is to have a long range vision for your company.
• Think outside your box: What else can you provide? What other opportunities can you look at? What are some other possibilities that will help others to fulfill their vision?
• What is needed: Listen to the market place and offer valuable services.
• Know your numbers: Where are you and where are you going?
• Work the plan: Develop measurable marketing, sales, financial, internal operations plans then execute and don’t wait. This avoids waste and preserves valuable resources. Through proper planning the dollars can be used to gain market share while other organizations could be financially drained and in a constant state of fear! The forward business group took a three year outlook and developed various action plans and worked the plan.
• Be on the lookout for top “A” and “B” players for hiring top people who have vision.
• Team vision: Have clear goals and objectives for all staff members.
• For new hires at all levels do the most thorough interviewing based on 30-60-90-180-12 month goals.
• Do in-depth work style and personality assessment testing to get a clear picture of who you are about to bring aboard to best manage the individuals so they can be successful.
• Maintain a collaborative team environment where everyone can provide input to create internal efficiencies, all are listening to customer and market needs, and respond in a timely way so your company is always engaged as the business environment has needs.

This is the time to be moving forward by offering fresh ideas, solutions, and support that will add value to all those you come in contact with and in return your business will thrive!

To find out more about these topics you can read our book, Cracking The Personality Code by visiting www.lighthouseconsulting.com. Or if you’d like to find out about the various workshops we provide to help your organization lead into the future visits www.crackingthepersonalitycode.com. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

We offer monthly Open Line web conferences on topics ranging from creating a collaborative environment, how to offer incentives to staff during challenging time, and how to turn fear into strength. We will be having a global futurist as a guest – so please join us. Visit www.lighthouseconsulting.com for a list of our programs.

Permission is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services to reproduce any portion provided in this article. © 2010

If you would like additional information on this topic or others, please contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica, CA  90403 & our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com

Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including in-depth work style assessments for new hires & staff development, team building, interpersonal & communication training, career guidance & transition, conflict management, workshops, and executive & employee coaching.  To order the book, “Cracking the Personality Code” please go to www.crackingthepersonalitycode.com

In our last post we examined several important conflicts between the traditional “command and control” management paradigm and the new, collaborative leadership thinking.  Demand for more creative freedom, self-expression, greater distribution of power, and a strong say in how things are done, (which is being driven by younger workers in particular), are just some of the changes that are taking place in business. Although a rebalancing of the business paradigm to include new ratios of these elements is in process, the importance of liberty, freedom, and individualism are forces that have long been fundamental to our overall culture, and have been evolving in Western Europe and later in America for centuries.

The Gadsden Flag

St. Augustine asserted around 400 that “…we do by our free will whatsoever we know and feel to be done by us only because we will it.”  St. Thomas Aquinas confirmed that idea and declared, “A man can direct and govern his own actions…” around 1250.

Those Europeans who left home, family, familiar surroundings and all the trappings of security to come to the “New World” were clearly the most passionate among their peers about seeking freedom. Early American flags and symbols included the Gadsden Flag and the first Navy Jacket which both bore the inscription “Don’t Tread On Me” along with the image of a rattlesnake. 

Clearly, a core element of what it is to be an American has been a fierce sense of independence and personal freedom.  In business a very high percentage of entrepreneurs found their companies to escape the perceived tyranny of having bosses and “confining” structures and processes.  This is where things get tricky. These same fiercely independent creative visionaries then often want to control those around them i their own organizations. Part of this is certainly to create and maintain the quality of the products and/or services they offer, and to insure the execution of their vision, but part of it is certainly to maintain their own freedom. Collaboration requires that the idea of complete autonomy by a leader be “given up.” How do leaders think they can maximize performance of a modern organization with top-down initiatives, myriads of centrally generated goals, constant demands for conformity with corporate directives and HR policies, and regular “Performance Reviews?” As we have seen one of the most foundational elements of our culture is personal freedom. The expectation that employees will give theirs up and conform is almost ludicrous when you think about it from the larger cultural push for independence and freedom. True collaboration requires that strong-minded business owners and entrepreneurs have a deep respect for others and recognize that while they have strong opinions theirs is not the only perspective nor the only way. This can be a very difficult pill to swallow. Often entrepreneurs become successful, (or at least think they do), due to their ”single-mindedness.” However, this approach is not sustainable long-term in the new business paradigm that is emerging.

We are not saying we have all the answers to what appears to us to be a major “fatal flaw” in many of the leadership/management teams’ thinking that we encounter.  Being an ostrich about such a fundamental problem with traditional corporate thinking does not, however, move us forward at anywhere near a fast enough rate to compete successfully in the modern business world. It is important that leaders recognize the powerful, cultural forces at work and that their own desire for freedom also exists in the hearts and minds of their employees and co-workers.

Obviously in the space of a blog it’s not possible to go deeply into all the issues around collaboration. We have proposed a number of ways to maximize freedom, initiative, creativity, and productivity in our new book, “Accelerate: High Leverage Leadership For Today’s World” available here. We encourage vigorous inquiry and discussion and would love to hear your ideas on the subject!

For most modern organizantions, the classic “command and control” model of leadership is on the way out and is being replaced by alternative ways of working together. In the transition, there are many opportunities for confusion, misunderstandings, and false starts. Much of the discussion around these newer approaches focuses on “collaboration” and yet there doesn’t seem to be a clear sense of what that really means.

We also find that our 2130 Partners’ clients and Vistage members also experience or at least encounter resistance when the subject of collaboration comes up. Most often the underlying thinking seems to stem from the perception that “collaboration” is the same as “cooperation,” which they believe they already do, or fear that it means “consensus,” which is seen as loss of ability to get anything done.

Let’s consider the following definitions:

First, from an excellent Wall Street Journal article:  “The Hand That Feeds You: What makes some collaborations with suppliers succeed – when so many fail?” by Nancy W. Nix, Robert F. Lusch, Zach G. Zacharia and Wesley Bridges.

Collaboration:  An intense process where partners exchange information and pool their capabilities to solve problems that each can’t tackle individually.

Cooperation: Parties merely consider the needs of the other while working toward their own goal.  The two are arranging things so that both come out ahead, but they haven’t shared information or worked together closely to devise a novel solution to a complex problem.

Following these definitions it is pretty clear there is much more creativity and effectiveness available when collaboration is present rather than mere cooperation.  However, to become truly collaborative there are some critical pieces that must be put into place:

1)     Participants surrender their own protective barriers  and come with a commitment to create an essential atmosphere of mutual trust, respect, and safety.

2)     Participants create, support, and place more importance on accomplishing shared goals than competing with each other and gaining credit for their individual accomplishments. 

3)     Participants commit to outcomes that exceed their own insights, so it can’t always be about “looking good.”

One of our “Essential Notions” the “Leadership Effectiveness Zone,” summarizes the core elements for creating a context or paradigm that allows collaboration to flourish.

Essential Ingredients (See – Leadership Effectiveness Zone):

1. Connection – must be present - in an atmosphere of mutual trust, respect & safety
2. Alignment – on a shared Yonder Star, or shared vision
3. Focus – Yonder Star is kept present, roadblocks & potholes are quickly addressed in partnership

Now lets examine “consensus,” applying the following definition from Wikipedia:

Consensus: General agreement, group solidarity of belief or sentiment

We often encounter the fear that consensus requires unanimous agreement or, that if you as the leader listen to everyone’s input you will then have to do “whatever they want.”  Just because you solicited input and listened carefully to your subject matter experts, it doesn’t mean you must acquiesce to everything they recommend. It also doesn’t mean that you make decisions that only create harmony and general agreement between everyone on your team.

The goal is clearly not outcomes and decisions so watered down they will be “toothless.” Collaboration is a form of respectful interaction. Its primary value is in putting all the cards on the table, subsequent creative exchange that can lead to unforeseen powerful outcomes, and the sense among participants that they are heard.  The leader will still generally “call the play” or make a decision among competing ideas.

Understanding the distinctions between collaboration, cooperation, and consensus is essential to achieving the responsiveness, creativity, agility, and focus your leadership will require to succeed in today’s world.

There are some highly valuable qualities that are universal with volunteers which are key for leaders to understand. If these qualities can be developed in “paid teams,” the potential for a new level of results and for a new level of satisfaction and fulfillment in work is greatly increased.

I first began to wake up to the valuable lessons from working with volunteers in the late ‘70’s when I spent two years as a full time volunteer during the launch phase of The Hunger Project, a global movement to unleash the human spirit by ending chronic, persistent hunger on the planet. 

The first phase of work at that time was to make people aware of the basic facts about the enormity of hunger around the world and that it could be ended.  The idea was through awareness we could generate the “political will” to end the problem. Our primary strategy was a campaign to have people sign “enrollment cards,” which was, in some ways, similar to having them sign a petition. Basically, by having them ”sign a commitment” they were willing to say, “yes, I understand this is a problem and yes, I want it to end.”  This was an intimidating task.  We learned to get the penetration we were committed to, we would have to go out in the streets and local markets with the sidewalk performers, Hare Krishna, Salvation Army, and many other uniquely interesting individuals and groups. We went on beautiful days, rainy days, in the snow, and sometimes late at night if that is what it took to make our goals.  That’s where I began to see people do things they would never do for a paycheck out of their passion for the end of hunger and their commitment to reach the number of people we said we would reach during a particular week.

I was reminded of all of this last weekend when we met and completed with last year’s facilitators and team from The World Academy For The Future of Women, and then spent two more days with twenty new volunteers looking to go to SIAS International University in China to lead one of the modules of next year’s program. 

Here was a group of experienced, capable professionals from across the United States gathered at our home to explore the opportunity to give up their incomes and familiar surroundings and pay their own way to spend five weeks working with young Chinese women aspiring to become leaders and global citizens.  Again, what stood out was their passion to contribute and willingness to give up income, creature comforts and conveniences, and the security of familiar surroundings and to commit themselves to producing incredible results with very few resources and little support.

When you consider the passion, excitement, commitment level and willingness in groups of volunteers it’s truly extraordinary. Amazing things happen when individuals get together and feel commitment to a cause, another group of people, an issue, etc. There is enormous creativity generated when resources are slim and “the stakes are high” as far as the potential to make a difference. What if this same passion, willingness, commitment, excitment and creativity could be generated by employees? What if your team brought this level of energy to bear on your business? It’s my experience that  most people are just itching to make a difference. What if you found a way to unleash this within your team? When you examine your own leadership, how might you shift your behaviors to honor the passion and commitment that your team members are dying to display?  What might you do to start hearing them in more powerful ways?  How can you unleash them? Get out of their way?

Much of our work in Vision Focused Leadership™ and Productive Interactions™ has been and continues to be developed out of these experiences.  We have found that the more you can let your teams bring their passion to your business and the more they feel a personal stake in the outcomes and results, the greater their satisfaction in their work and their productivity thrives. This is why we believe it’s important to recognize and work with the “heart and soul” of an organization, not just the processes, the numbers and the org. charts.

(July, 2010) Dwight and Suzanne Frindt developed curriculum and then taught at The World Academy for the Future of Women part of SIAS International University in China. Concurrently, they were part of the 4th Annual Women’s Symposium which was held at SIAS while they were there. Dwight Frindt gave a key note address to almost 5,000 attendees and both Dwight and Suzanne led multiple breakout groups. To get more information please open the .pdf of the complete article.

[Download] .pdf

What I have been seeing in the past six weeks or so among my clients is what I would call, “The Paradox of the Double Dip.” Let me explain. As you all know the economy and financial markets crashed badly. In March we saw “the low” and the economy was supposed to be on the road to recovery. Now we are seeing another down trend and the term ”the double dip” is being discussed – meaning a second dip that might indicate the economy is not actually on the road to recovery after all. I am hearing “the sky is falling” from a variety of people about what’s happening. I am also hearing comparisons to the ’80s when we had the S&L scandal and Japan’s economy tanked. The US recovered from the S&L scandal and cleaned up its mess. Japan did not recover in the same way and in fact is still experiencing repercussions because of the actions they did not take. In the current scenario we are being compared to Japan and the fear is our economy is going to be a mess for an undetermined length of time.

The problem with all of this from a leadership standpoint is that instead of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” we are in a “speak and grow poor” mentality and this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When asking clients how business is going right now I hear a range from “it’s a good year,” to “it’s a record year.” These are statements based on financial facts. However, the “looming crisis” conversations are not based on facts, but on fear and speculation and there in lies the paradox – things are going well for many on multiple fronts and yet there is a belief taking root that it’s all going away. 

This brings up one of the most important lessons for leaders to learn – it’s critical to understand that when fearful concerns and speculations are put out there it alarms the troops, which changes their behavior and the self-fulfilling prophecy is triggered. One of the foundational pieces of our philosophy at 2130 Partners is our set of Operating Principles. One of these Principles is “Be Responsible for What Gets Heard.”

From a leadership perspective it’s critical that executives recognize when they are spreading fear. Leaders create “an emotional wake,” (as our friends at Fierce, Inc. would say), just like boats leave a wake on the water. When leaders speculate in a negative tone and leave a wake of fear there are significant consequences. A frightened team is not going to be bold, innovative and confident. They are not going to be high-functioning and highly capable. Leaders need to be clear what emotion they are triggering within their troops – confidence, or fear and be responsible for it. 

Does this mean leaders should just be pollyanna positive and “paint the world pink” all the time? Of course not, but leaders do need to realize the power of their words, the emotional wake they create and learn to be responsible for what gets heard.

Have you ever wondered whether there is any common language that exists for all humans and, if so, how knowing about that language might help you be a more effective as a leader? Well, there is and researchers have called it “deep metaphors.”

In the November/December 2008 issue of Spirituality & Health magazine, Managing Editor Betsy Robinson’s article, “Our Common Language,” offers a very insightful summary of work done by Harvard Business School professor and sociologist Gerald Zaltman, Ph.D. and his team across 12,000 in-depth interviews in more than 30 countries. 

Dr. Zaltman and his son, Lindsay Zaltman, have described their research in their book Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers. While the consequences for marketing are dramatic, today we are more interested in how a working understanding of these metaphors will assist you in your leadership, your skill at conflict resolution, and your understanding of and ability to clear upsets.

According to Robinson, these deep metaphors are unconscious, universal, basic frames or orientations we have to the world around us.  In the language of the work of 2130 we’d call it “the instant, automatic, and largely unexamined context or paradigm in which you live your life.”  The researchers have identified seven main lenses:

1)   Balance – justice, equilibrium, interplay

2)   Transformation – change in state, status, substance, circumstance

3)   Journey – meeting of past, present and future

4)   Container – connotes inclusion or exclusion

5)   Connection – relating to oneself & others

6)   Resource – source of support

7)   Control – sense of mastery, vulnerability, well-being

and four subsidiary ones:

1)   Movement or Motion – related to journey

2)   Force – power that can compel or constrict

3)   Nature – not from humans, growth and evolution

4)   System – gives order

If you’d like a visual experience of these lenses, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2exh6i6T6tg

Two very important dimensions of this work are the emotions and beliefs that we have connected with each of these deep metaphors and the fact that we cannot express ourselves without using the metaphors. Put simply, our conversations are full of phrases, which arise out of these metaphors, and they all have emotional baggage with them. Since we all use the same deep metaphors when relating to the same situations, it is the emotions that we have historically attached to each that yield the connecting or conflict that arises from each conversation.  In our 2130 Partners’ language, this is the “stuff that fills our File Cabinets.”

Your ability to resolve conflicts, dispel upsets, and be an effective, productive leader will all be greatly enhanced by learning about and observing these deep metaphors in the situations you encounter.  Robinson offers several helpful practices and exercises:

1)   Make a list of the emotions and beliefs you have associated with each metaphor.

2)   When you are in the middle of conflict, realize that there are deep metaphors at work and the parties have differing, perhaps extreme, emotions and beliefs associated.  Find a way to appreciate the others’ basis in the conversation.

3)   Find a way to sketch out a shared vision for the parties – what would life be without the conflict?  In 2130 Partners we call this finding a Shared Yonder Star for the conversation and the relationship.  Where will we be when it all turns out? Build a productive conversation from that commonality.

While it may seem difficult or awkward at first, viewing your encounters through the lens of deep metaphors and appreciating the generally unconscious, unexamined and often differing emotions and beliefs associated will almost certainly increase your conversational capacities and your ability to lead effectively.

In the realm of leadership the conversations are almost always quite serious. We discuss characteristics and traits like integrity and core values and mission statements for guiding teams of people. We review how leaders make mistakes, and how they fail. Process improvement, ROI, P&Ls, the list goes on. One topic that rarely comes up is “fun.” And why would it? Leadership is serious stuff right? Profits are at stake. People’s livelihoods are dependent on the successful outcomes of business plans. Fun is “frivolous” and has no place in conversations about important topics like leadership – or does it?

Culturally we are a very driven society. There is a push to succeed, particularly on an individual basis. In business this often translates to company cultures of, “if you are car isn’t in the parking lot on Saturday, don’t bother coming back to work on Sunday” which translates to 60, 80, or even 100 hour work weeks. The thing is high levels of stress are well-documented to break us down and cause serious health problems. Over-worked, exhausted people are less likely to be creative, innovative and productive and are more likely to be out sick.

So what does fun have to do with it? Enter Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. He is leading one of the most successful companies in America and his focus is on happiness – for his customers AND his employees.  Here’s a quote that’s typical from articles about Hsieh and Zappos:

“And yet, this mild-mannered fellow leads a company that is entirely uninhibited. Interviews are held over vodka shots, bathrooms are plastered with “urine color” charts (ostensibly to ensure that employees are hydrated but also just to be weird and funny), and managers are encouraged to goof off with the people they manage….

Hsieh tries his best to keep up with the goofy, libertine culture. Every day, he blasts a steady stream of playful messages to 350,000 people on Twitter. (Before taking the stage at a conference earlier this year, he posted this missive: ”Spilled Coke on left leg of jeans, so poured some water on right leg so looks like the denim fade.”)” (quote from Inc. interview)

Hsieh’s approach to business is radical. He sits with his employees rather than in “an important office,” and he encourages their creativity and “goofy fun” daily. Of course there is more to his approach than having fun, but it is a critical piece of the formula and an element that is seriously lacking in American business these days.

Many companies have “enforced fun” like the annual company picnic, the annual Holiday Party and such. These events are often met with reactions ranging from “this is annoying, but I have to go,” to all out dread by employees and feel unnatural since they aren’t in sync with the daily culture. Employees often attend to be sure they get their “points” and to be seen as being loyal and enthusiastic, (whether they really feel it or not).

So what would happen to America and American business if we “lightened up?” What would happen to you as a leader if you allowed yourself to have fun? You may argue this wouldn’t be natural for you, but according to reports, it’s not natural for Tony Hsieh either. He is described as a fairly shy, reserved person, yet he pushes himself out of his personal comfort zone because he understands the bigger picture benefits to his company and business.

What would happen if you not only allowed, but encouraged your employees to have fun? What if fun wasn’t once or twice a year “because you should,” but it was a daily part of coming to work? Might be worth experimenting with this one…

In May I was forwarded an email written by Shama Kabani (@Shama). [She runs an online marketing firm in Texas and is also the author of Zen of Social Media.]

Here is the opening of the email: “I just got back from The Leaders of Tomorrow conference at St. Gallen in Switzerland. It was a fantastic trip, and I gleaned some great nuggets of business wisdom from the world’s best. One particular session I really enjoyed was presented by McKinsey partner Dominic Barton. As someone who spends much of his time with the CEOs of the world’s leading companies, he shared 5 insights from his experience.”

First, I was fascinated to discover this St. Gallen Summit as I wasn’t aware of it. Second I was really struck at the list of insights coming from McKinsey and recapped by Shama in her email. I found them compelling because in addition to my role as Principal and Co-founder of 2130 Partners I am also a Best Practice Chair at Vistage International. Vistage is the world’s leading CEO membership organization and I have worked with them for more than 16 years. I can say the 5 insights offered by Kinsey below are very consistent with my experience of the CEO population. Here they are with notes from me included.

1) They struggle with loneliness – The higher you get, the harder it is to find the right sources to trust. This is a fundamental reason for the success of Vistage. Having access to a peer group and being able to work issues with people who face the same types of challenges you do every day can be amazingly helpful for a top leader.

2) Lack of time - CEOs continue to balance an overflowing plate and prioritizing becomes key. This is something everyone is facing these days from the top office throughout an organization. We have found that the key issues here are in the “human dimension”- meaning that things often get slowed down between people through miscommunications, misunderstandings and upsets. This is why we developed our Productive Interactions program and why we have developed the concept of Lean Conversations.

3) Appetite for cross-sector knowledge – CEOs and companies across the globe are looking at what they can learn from industries other than their own. Cross-pollination at its best. What can marketers learn from HR? What can IT learn from sales? This is another area we find that communication is critical and is not happening at an optimum level. Often groups, teams, and departments become “silos.” There is usually a lot that can be learned by an organization and its leaders from within, from its own people. The challenge is opening up the flow for that to happen.

4) Understanding transitions – Leaders transition in and out of positions, jobs, and companies. They are consistently looking for help with these transitions. This is where a solid, experienced Executive Coach can really add value. Transitions are often fraught with emotions and complexities. Hiring a partner to help you through is key.

5) The battle for talent – The biggest competitive advantage of any company in the future is going to be people. Often CEOs don’t know the scope of talent available to them within their own company. This is a source of frustration for many. See point number 3 above. It is amazing how much knowledge and information inside a company does not flow. Again, challenges in the “human dimension” often hinder this flow. Fear, politics and other factors can keep key information like “how talented is your talent pool” from being clear to those at the top.

Bottom line, from our perspective at 2130 Partners, for CEOs to manage these top 5 challenges, investigating and investing in the “human dimension,” is the place to work. The greater the skills and capacities CEOs and those on their teams have to effectively and efficiently communicate and create results, the less painful these 5 challenges become.

Does the oil mess in the Gulf of Mexico outrage you? Are you saddened by the recent mine disasters? Are you distressed by the air and water pollution we see on the news or in person if you travel much? Do you drive a car, have air conditioning and heating, and/or fly much?

Here’s the biting part – you & I are causing all of these unhappy circumstances. Granted, for most of us our role is somewhat indirect. However, there would be no oil drilling, coal mines, refineries or plastics manufacturers if we didn’t buy and use the products to facilitate the lifestyles we enjoy. Being angry at the owners and executives of the companies involved makes sense on one level, but on another level it is a way to push responsibility off on someone else and comfortably go on with our lives. Large, complex systems will fail periodically, despite our best human intentions. There will be crashes, fires, stock market plunges, and on and on. We are all part of the large complex systems we live within and use to continue our lives as they are. It’s critical we examine this from a larger lens. It’s also important that we start to open to the idea that no matter how small, we do have a role in these large systemic failures that seem to be someone else’s fault.

So what are we to do, or, perhaps more powerfully, who are we to be in the matter?  How do we, as leaders, relate to these seriously troublesome issues of our time? I don’t know if anyone truly has the answers, but I suspect the power may lie in the questions themselves. I keep listening and looking for actions that are the most responsible I can take while continuing to own and be present to the realities of our world, where things are headed with our collective humanity, and the consequences if we don’t own our actions and change directions.

I’m also interested in how this same idea applies to other areas of our lives. What other parts of life are too difficult to face? What is happening in your organization that you refuse to be responsible for in the bigger scheme of things?

Consider the possibility that stepping up and owning it all may provide new access to solutions and strategies you had not seen before. You may find that owning it all even gives you a new sense of freedom – the freedom to be with the good the bad, and the ugly without suffering about it. The suffering may all come from resisting the way that it is and the way that it isn’t rather than because if it. 

Your inability to cause change where you’d like to see it may be similar. Instead of examining the condition, you may be caught up in complaints, judgments, opinions, and all the other noise around almost every condition these days. What if you give all that up and free yourself to turn your focus to discovery? Would you be unleashed to be creative and interact in a real problem solving way with others? What if you spend time asking questions and examining the “unfaceable conditions” instead of denying, ignoring, judging or being angry about them? Why not give it a try? See what happens if you are willing to be 100% responsible for everything in your life and for everything going on around you. Experiment with questions and curiosity. You might be surprised at the results.