Earlier this week I had the opportunity to hear Chelsea Clinton campaign for her mother. Chelsea commented on how she had spent quite a few hours of her life at rallies such as the one she was at, and it was apparent that all her experience paid off. She was poised, articulate and totally at ease.
I was surprised when Chelsea spoke only for about five minutes, and then opened the floor for questions. It is a lot harder to "fake it" in a Q&A forum. Author Michael Hyatt just wrote a post on how to be a true expert and not a "poser," and gave an example of someone who aced it in the prepared presentation but was unable to handle the questions. Let me assure you that Chelsea is no poser!
She deftly gave answers that wove together personal stories about "her mom," combined with quotes from the presidential debate, policy positions, and other things she has heard her mom say on the campaign trail. It wasn't just encouraging people to vote; she was providing answers as to why.
Politics aside, I was struck by the depth of knowledge Chelsea was delivering. I wondered what it would take for me to be comfortable having someone not just speak for me, but actually represent me and answer tough questions on my behalf. Who would I allow to "be me" for the day, both in mannerisms and substance, knowing that their actions would certainly be attributed to me more so than my surrogate?
And then it struck me that we ask our employees to do this most every day. We rely on them to represent the company and impart its values. We count on employees to deliver service in a way that reflects well on the organization. We expect leaders to articulate our positions and respond on the company's behalf. It's a little less personal than representing an individual, but no less important.
Think about what you are doing to train the members of your organization and to equip them with the knowledge and understanding they need to "be you." Every day is equivalent to being on the road stumping for your organization. Are they garnering you more votes or doing more harm?
-- beth triplett
@leadershipdots
I love stories about people who created something that has become so commonplace that we never stop to think about its origins. Malcolm McLean fits that description, an inventor who was introduced to me on literally the last two pages of Smarter, Faster, Better that I wrote about yesterday.
Malcolm McLean was credited by Forbes as "one of the few men who changed the world," but until I read Charles Duhigg's book I had never heard of him. McLean's claim to fame: he invented the intermodal shipping container.
It is a decidedly unglamorous product, but the use of it revolutionized commerce. His idea "eventually transformed manufacturing, the transportation industry, and the economies of whole continents," writes Duhigg. Not bad for a former truck driver who grew up in the Depression.
Before McLean, all cargo on and off of ships was loaded manually. All this repeated handling increased the likelihood of theft, damage, wetness and error. It also cost a great deal of money. McLean's standardized shipping containers allowed cargo to remain inside the boxes, reducing problems and greatly increasing efficiency. Shipping by container also impacted ships, docks, cranes and entire shipyards as they changed to accommodate more containers and fewer individual loads.
Today, approximately 90% of the world's trade is shipped via containers that McLean invented!
McLean envisioned his idea by combining the concepts of semi-truck bodies and ships; initially wishing he could drive his truck onto the ship rather than unloading it. Today hundreds of such trucks (aka intermodal shipping containers) fill the hulls of ships and cross the globe.
Creativity doesn't need to be sexy. The mundane notion of linking trucks and ships doesn't sound like much, but it had far-reaching implications. What two things can you put together to make something totally new?
-- beth triplett
@leadershipdots
Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg, 2016
The Truck Driver who Reinvented Shipping by Anthony Mayo & Nitin Nohria, from In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, October 3, 2005
Who wouldn't want to do things smarter, faster and better? I think we all would, so in that spirit I read Charles Duhigg's new book by that name.
Duhigg sets out to help readers understand how to be more productive in life and business, and categorizes these lessons in eight categories: Motivation, Teams, Focus, Goal Setting, Managing Others, Decision Making, Innovation, and -- the one that surprised me -- Absorbing Data.
"Data can be transformative," Duhigg writes, "but only if people know how to use it." He advocates spending time and energy with new data that we encounter, and actually doing something with it. This may involve teaching it to others, creating an experiment or linking it to something we already know.
An example he cites is the Cincinnati School District where selected schools all had data rooms and the teachers were mandated to spend time there engaging with the data. They district was producing numerous reports and measures about student achievement, but results did not improve until the teachers started working with the data themselves. By requiring teachers to record certain data elements by hand, to manually create graphs and charts and keeping track of select indicators on an index card for each student, it increased the meaning of the data to where it was actually used to influence teacher behavior.
It reminded me of my dissertation, where we were required to enter our research results ourselves into the statistical models because it was through this process that we could identify nuances and truly internalize what was a trend and what was an outlier in the data.
Duhigg acknowledges the "disfluency" in this approach -- that it is harder and more time consuming to manipulate data manually at first -- but he believes then the data becomes "stickier" (i.e. meaningful) and can shape our subsequent actions in more productive ways.
Productivity is not about efficiency and no waste," says Duhigg. "It is about recognizing choices that other people often overlook." What data do you have that could help drive your decisions -- if you only spent time truly absorbing it? Doing so may make you smarter, faster, better in the long run.
-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg, Random House 2016
During the Back-to-School marketing season, pilot ran several ads promoting its G2 Pen as the "Official Pen of Overachievers." It's another one of those claims that can't be proved or fact checked, but they did throw in a testimonial by television writer Shonda Rimes as proof that at least one overachiever considers the G2 the pen.
As part of this campaign, Pilot is offering a $50,000 G2 Overachievers Grant to someone who has overachieved by helping others. I happen to have a sister that fits that category, so I looked up the nominating information. I was shocked to see that the entry needs to be a 1000 word handwritten essay!
I have good penmanship and can write without many scratch-outs or errors, but I think I am in the minority these days. I can't imagine reading hundreds (thousands?) of entries by hand to come up with a winner.
But what an authentic thing for this brand to do. Of course a pen company would want you to handwrite the essay. I'll even venture to say that the winner's entry will be written with a G2. It ties together perfectly.
Pilot is going to have extra steps and time involved in conducting a contest this way, but is a wise investment to link their product and their promotion. What can you do that may involve more effort, but makes a stronger statement about the values of your organization? How can you infuse authenticity in your promotion and events? G2 has overachieved in this category and can offer lessons for you to follow.
-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
I recently volunteered to play a major role in a project that the organization could have hired out instead. I cheerfully and willingly offered to contribute significant hours gratis, but the leaders were hesitant to accept.
"I don't want to take advantage of you," one said.
I don't want them to take advantage of me either! (Although it seems hard to take advantage of someone if they offer of their own free will...)
It seems that the key distinction in this scenario was that we were taking advantage of the opportunity that allowed me to be able to be involved in this way. I had both the ability and the availability at the same moment as their need, and it was because of this juncture that I raised my hand.
When someone makes you an offer, assume that they genuinely want to make it. The person knows their circumstances and commitments and can best judge how their proposition fits within that context.
Just as with a gift or a compliment, a present of one's time should be greeted with a polite "thank you" instead of "oh, you shouldn't." Grace in receiving is a gift, too.
-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
I recently saw the movie Sully about the US Airways flight that ended up in the Hudson River in 2009. Most people know the story about Captain Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger's skill during that flight that allowed for a safe ending for all 155 passengers, but the movie shared perspectives and aspects of the post-flight that made for great entertainment and new information.
Two things lessons from the film's account of the experience:
1) The pilots were adamant that the word "crash" not be used. It was a "intentional forced water landing," but that was entirely different than an accident. While "crash"was the common vernacular in the media, the pilots understood the crucial distinction. Their objections reinforced the important role that language plays in creating a culture, and how you need to be intentional about the words you choose.
2) From the moment the birds flew into the engines and disabled them to the time of the water landing was 208 seconds. In three and one half minutes, Sully had to make hundreds of decisions that literally determined life or death. It's a good thing to have manuals and procedures, but in a true emergency there will likely be no time to even access them, let alone read them and respond. There is no substitute for judgment in a crisis. Continue to do planning and training for myriad scenarios, but continue to hire for innate capabilities that you can't teach.
The movie shows that the little things make a leader and a that leader can make a miracle. The Miracle on the Hudson was three minutes of judgment informed by forty years of experience to avert a crash. Is your crew the right one if your 208 seconds happen?
-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
It is hard to resist walking by a bowl of M&Ms. My mouth waters at the sight of those vibrant colors; yet, until now, the company hid their asset behind an opaque packaging that did not show the actual product.
Apparently that is changing, at least on some level. Note the new packaging for "Patriots M&Ms." Not only does it capitalize on the fact that the candies are in team colors, but it also allows you to visualize the actual product. You can almost taste those little morsels when you look at them.
Why hasn't M&Ms done clear packaging for all their products? They are sitting on a gold mine of color, and packing them in various assortments would make for great eye candy (pardon the pun!)
M&M has expanded its product line as much by changing colors as adding additional flavors. I think they would be wise to show off this key asset through clear packaging on all their products.
What asset are you hiding? Just because the bags have always been brown, doesn't mean they need to stay that way. Think of how you can reveal an aspect of your organization in a new way and let some of your offerings do more to promote themselves.
-- beth triplett
leadership dots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
Thanks Tracy for sharing!
