HAVE A HIGHER PURPOSE
The Antidote To Employee Apathy
by Paul Levesque
A visit to the home of Mr. Potato Head illustrates how some companies imbue their employees with a "sense of higher purpose" that makes their work feel far more meaningful and satisfying—while also making a positive difference in the world at large.
Rhode Island-based Hasbro Inc. is one of the nation's largest manufacturers and marketers of games and toys—and one of the most public-spirited corporations in the world. In 2004, the company was presented with the annual Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy award by actor Paul Newman (cofounder of The Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy).
The Hasbro Charitable Trust was established in 1983. In 1994, the doors of the Hasbro Children's Hospital—a state-of-the-art pediatric and family care facility—opened in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1999 the company launched the Team Hasbro employee volunteer program, which qualifies most full-time employees for four hours of paid time off each month to volunteer for a child-focused charity. America's first corporate Boundless Playground (outfitted with special equipment that allows children in wheelchairs to play with others who are not similarly encumbered) was built by Hasbro employees. Wayne Charness, the executive responsible for corporate communications (including the Charitable Trust), estimates there are now 100-plus such playgrounds across the country, with more on the way.
In 2003, to mark the twentieth anniversary of its Charitable Trust, Hasbro made a special presentation to all its employees, which included a video segment in which World Vision president Rich Stearns documented the effects of Hasbro's philanthropy on children around the world. When guest speaker Sister Emerita McGann from Kentucky extended an impassioned thank you for the joy Hasbro's corporate generosity has brought to children in her care, children living in the midst of the most stifling poverty in America, "there wasn't a dry eye in the house," Charness acknowledges. When one observes employees identifying with their organization's objectives with such depth of feeling—in vivid contrast to so many business presentations where employees are visibly disinterested and openly cynical—one inevitably feels the urge to ask, is this not the way working for a living is supposed to feel? Is this not important?
Students of human motivation such as Abraham Maslow describe a hierarchy of human needs: once basic survival issues have been addressed, other needs come into play, such as a need for self-worth, a need to feel "useful and necessary in the world."
This means that for most workers a regular paycheck, while essential for survival, will never be enough in and of itself to generate higher meaning in their work. "You want to work hard for something," Charness says. Philanthropic companies like his give their employees precisely that "something"—a sense that the work they do for a living is making a positive difference in the world.
Even in less philanthropic companies, employees can still find ways to make a difference in their work. Simply choosing to be especially courteous and caring to customers, or especially helpful to co-workers, can become a personal form of giving—philanthropy on a one-on-one basis—and it can generate the same kind of personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.
As Wayne Charness puts it, "People like the combination of doing good and doing well at the same time."
Choose a worthy cause for your own organization to get behind, one that most employees can relate to and will therefore be more inclined to support.
If possible, choose a worthy cause that in some way links to the organization's basic business.
Create opportunities for employees to become volunteers and get personally involved in the worthy cause.
Paul Levesque is co-author (with Art McNeil) of Dreamcrafting:The Art of Dreaming Big, The Science of Making It Happen (Berrett-Koehler, 2003). More on his study of philanthropy as an employee motivator can be found in his forthcoming book Flashpoint!
When the Path Takes a Turn (or Two)
by Jesse Stoner
She was the first female executive in the 150-year history of the large manufacturing company, The Stanley Works, maker of Stanley tools. Tall, slender, with short blonde hair, her direct, yet easygoing style allowed her to fit well with Stanley's male-dominated culture. Reporting directly to the CEO, Barbara Bennett had accomplished what few other corporate women had—she had broken through the glass ceiling.
At that time, she was my client and I worked closely with her in a variety of ways to align Stanley's culture and business strategies. She was absolutely committed to making a difference, for the company and the individuals within it. Convinced that breaking down barriers was in the best interest of the company, she was exceptionally creative in finding ways to do so. For example, years before either of us had heard about "large group interventions," Barbara asked me to help her plan a "working meeting" for their annual managers' meeting, where they would make real business decisions. I had never done anything like that before but thought it was a great idea. The meeting was a smashing success and took down many psychological walls. We appreciated and enjoyed each other, and over time, we became real friends.
About eight years ago her boss retired, and the new CEO had plans to remake the culture. At odds with where the company was going, Barbara decided to take an early retirement. I was concerned about what my dear friend would do without a job to keep her focused and without a corporate identity to hang her hat on. She was only in her mid-fifties—far too young to retire.
Boy was I wrong! Barbara entered the next phase of her life with the same enthusiasm that drove her to the top. Only this time, she focused on her own personal development. No more fancy titles. No ego involvement. I watched in amazement as her crisp business edge softened. She began meditating, studying healing and spirituality, and volunteering regularly at a hospice.
A couple of years ago Barbara announced that she was going to clown school. Once again, I wondered what she was up to. She sent me a "graduation" picture. Absolutely adorable. But why be a clown? I don't think she knew at first. As she put it, she just had a strong desire to learn to be a clown. But once again, she wove the strands of her life into a fabric that makes sense. She began to visit nursing homes and hospitals as a clown. In "clown face," Barbara was amazed that people would open up to her immediately and start talking about their deepest hopes and fears in ways they never would with an ordinary volunteer. Clowns break down barriers!
Has Barbara really changed? She has always wanted to break down barriers and make a difference. Where once she was a role model for many women and someone who had a huge sphere of influence, she now has a different kind of power. She uses the power, not to change people, but to help them discover joy and to be present with them in whatever place they are. To me this is the most powerful way to make a difference—touching people deeply.
Barbara's path has taken some unexpected turns. At times she hasn't been clear where the path was leading. However, she continues to focus on her purpose and trust herself to know that she doesn't have to have it all figured out—eventually the connection will be revealed.
If you are clear about your purpose, trust yourself and trust the process, even though, at times, you don't know where it is taking you.
Think big, act small. The person in front of you is your "client," no matter who that person is. Focus on him or her, while keeping in mind what is in the best interest of the larger organization.
Visit www.seapointcenter.com or read Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision to learn more about how to create a compelling vision that will provide focus, energy, and direction and will guide you over the long term.
Jesse Stoner, co-author of the business best seller Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Company and in Your Life, is a partner in Seapoint Center, which helps people in organizations create a shared vision and the strategies to achieve it (www.seapointcenter.com).
Renewing Passion Through the Legacy of Contribution
by Chip R. Bell
Apathy comes in many forms. It can be complete emotional indifference, the sleep-walking movement of a factory worker, or the wooden sound in the operator's voice. Apathy robs teams of energy, marriages of romance, and organizations of much needed productivity. It is not a life-threatening malady—no one ever died from apathy—it is simply a spirit-killing one.
We live in an era of passion larceny. Downsizing has robbed colleagues of colleagues, leaving them hollow. Constant reorganizing has not only reshuffled key alliances, it has stolen valued allegiances. And, the heartless hustle for razor-thin margins has too often put short-term profits at center stage and long-term partnerships in the cheap seats. As the soul of the organization is put in a profit-at-all-cost vise, what is squeezed out is the positive spirit of workers.
How do leaders turn lethargy into energy? Some leaders point to the appeal of a compelling vision. Some rely on the WIIFM (What's In It For Me) of great economic returns. CEO Brad Schreier inspires employees to focus on their legacy by helping them remember the past.
"How would you like people to remember the contribution you made while you were here?" Schreier asks his associates at Taylor Companies Corporation headquarters in Mankato, MN. His message continues with thoughts like: Assume your children are not just inheriting your stuff but also the sounds of people talking about the work you did here. Would that message be one that would make you proud? If not, then start making it one today.
Great leaders know that as people remember the past they could leave behind, they passionately pursue the future they can create ahead. Helping people see how they contribute to the future is a vital part of the role of a great leader. Helping them discover how they contribute to a rich history is also a part of that role.
At a turning point in Taylor's history, Brad Schreier elected to address every manager from the eighty-five companies throughout North America, Europe and Australia that make up the privately-held corporation. One attendee recalled his message this way: "He reminded us that we were all standing on the shoulders of the pioneering giants who came before us. But we are the people on whose shoulders others will stand in the future. It is the quality of our work that insures they have a sound footing."
Passion comes from the kind of belief in the future that gives us security. It also emerges from a legacy of the past that arms us with substance. Great leaders don't let employees forget their corporate ancestry. Not to perpetuate an ineffective "we've always done it that way," but rather to honor the emotional ground on which the organization stands.
Use the organization's history as a way to build pride and inspire the building of something even grander.
Let employees know they will be judged, not by who they knew or what they knew, but by what they left behind.
Help employees craft a "Last Will and Testament" outlining what their organization will inherit when they depart.
Chip R. Bell is a renowned keynote speaker and Dallas-based consultant on customer loyalty. He is the author or co-author of several best-selling books, including three published by Berrett-Koehler—Customers As Partners (1994), Managers As Mentors (2002) and his newest book Magnetic Service: Secrets for Creating Passionately Devoted Customers (2003). He can be reached through www.chipbell.com.
And If You Had That, What Would You Have?
by David Schmaltz
Clients always try to undermine consultants. They do this innocently by focusing upon measurable goals. We too easily neutralize real improvement with unspoken conditions, degrading work into derivative, number-driven effort when it could have been purposeful pursuit. Making a real difference might require co-opting these innocent incapacitations.
When a large New York financial institution contracted with us to deliver project management workshops, the agreement focused on the usual terms and conditions: schedule, content, target audience, and cost. The need was obvious.
Accepting a hefty retainer, we interviewed staff, confident in our ability to provide a solution. We heard about all the usual difficulties, but something seemed to be missing from these conversations. Who sponsors workshops for the purpose of sponsoring workshops? Even acknowledging the company's aspirations, improving project performance seemed like a hollow target. We realized that we had bought into a purposeless effort, another one just like the projects we were supposed to help the client improve.
We scheduled time with the executive sponsor to make the distinction between goal and purpose. After several rounds of "And if you had that, what would you have?" he sighed deeply and began, "Several years ago, I was stationed in Germany working with Air Force intelligence. The Berlin Wall was coming down and the security challenges were overwhelming. We were several months into incredibly stressful, forced overtime, when one of my young sergeants had a paralyzing stroke. We sent him home on a stretcher." He paused before continuing. "I see some of the same patterns here, and I've invited you here to help my staff learn how to better cope with the stress, so I won't have to repeat that sorry meeting I had with my sergeant's wife."
Whew! My partner and I brushed away tears as we acknowledged that we had just heard a real purpose. "Have you told anyone else this story?" we asked.
"No," he replied. "I still feel guilty about that situation."
We continued interviewing staff the next day, repeating the executive's story with each conversation. A remarkable resonance emerged. Everyone could relate to the story, and each found within it compelling reasons to do more than simply comply with his directive to attend the class.
Project performance improved. Clear purpose made the real difference.
Managers:The next time you assign an objective, articulate a juicy purpose for engaging. It's not achieving the goal but the juiciness of the purpose behind it that makes every pursuit worthwhile.
Consultants: Before accepting a juicy retainer to pursue some numbing objective, ask uncomfortable questions until some juicy purpose emerges. Asking "And if you had that, what would you have?" five times should help uncover a juicy enough purpose to justify even the largest retainer.
We can numb each other with our numbers and lose our purpose in our means for finely measuring success. When you cannot uncover this juiciness wherein the clients can expose their vulnerability, you might be best advised to simply send back the retainer and move on to where you can really make a difference. How could any result fully satisfy an unacknowledged purpose?
What responsibilities are numbing you today? Noticing where the energy isn't will tell you where it might belong.
Continue asking, "And if you had that, what would you have?" until the juiciness appears. The quality of the target always influences the quality of the pursuit.
David A. Schmaltz is the author of The Blind Men and the Elephant, and Mastering Project Work (Berrett-Koehler, 2003), and founder of True North pgs, a strategic Brief ConsultancyTM. "In the instant between perception and action, belief and behavior, lies the power to change the world." (www.projectcommunity.com)
Naming Our Life's Calling
by Richard Leider and David Shapiro
A few years ago, on a business trip to Boston, a cabbie reminded me of how naming our life's calling can make all the difference.
"So, whattayou in town for?" he asked me as we pulled away from the airport.
"I'm giving a presentation to some business people," I said, hoping to make it sound uninteresting so the driver would leave me alone.
He didn't take the hint. "Oh yeah? What's it about?"
I wasn't interested in giving the speech twice, so I offered the Reader's Digest abridged version. "Hearing and heeding your life's calling. Doing the work you were born to do."
My cabbie scoffed. "Your life's ‘calling?' C'mon, I drive a cab here. What's that got to do with a calling?"
I closed my folder and caught the driver's eyes in the rear-view. "You weren't born to drive a taxi?"
He just laughed.
"But you like your work well enough?"
He shrugged. "I guess it has its moments."
"I'm interested. What are those moments?"
"You mean besides quittin' time?"
I leaned forward and put my hand on the front seat. "I'm serious. Is there any time you feel like you're really bringing all of yourself to what you do?"
He smirked like he was going to say something sarcastic but then stopped. Gradually, his face softened. He laughed a little and said, "Well, there's this old lady."
I stayed silent and he continued.
"A couple times a week, I get a call to pick her up and take her to the grocery store. She just buys a few items. I help her carry them into her apartment, maybe unload them for her in her kitchen, sometimes she asks me to stay for a cup of coffee. It's no big deal, really; I'm not even sure she knows my name. But I'm her guy. Whenever she calls for a taxi, I'm the guy that goes. And I dunno, just makes me feel good. I like to help out."
"There's your calling right there," I said.
"What?" The smirk returned. "Unloading groceries?"
"You said you like to help out. That's a pretty clear expression of calling."
A smile spread across his face. "Well, I'll be damned. I guess that's right. Most of the time, I'm just a driver, but when I get that chance to help somebody—as long as they're not some kinda jerk or something—that's when I feel good about this job. So, whattayou know? I got a calling."
He fell silent for the rest of the trip. But I could see his face in the rear-view mirror and even when we hit the midtown traffic, he was still smiling.
That smile stays with me today and reminds me of an essential truth: the more of ourselves we bring to what we do and the more clearly we articulate that—by naming our life's calling in simple, straightforward terms—the more likely we are to find satisfaction and fulfillment in all that we do.
Ask yourself, "When do I bring all of me to what I do?"
Name your calling in simple straightforward terms.
Make a difference by living your calling.
Richard J. Leider is a founding partner of the Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm in Minneapolis, MN, devoted to bringing out the natural potential in people. Author and co-author of six books, including the best seller Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life (Second edition, Berrett-Koehler, 2002) and ClaimingYour Place at the Fire: Living the Second Half of Your Life on Purpose (Berrett-Koehler, 2004), Richard is also an online columnist for Fast Company.
David A. Shapiro is a writer, philosopher, and educator who finds himself drawn again and again—both personally and professionally—to questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives. David is the author of Choosing the Right Thing to Do: In Life, at Work, in Relationships, and For the Planet (Berrett-Koehler, 1999), and is co-author with Richard J. Leider of three books, including their newest, ClaimingYour Place at the Fire: Living the Second Half of Your Life on Purpose (Berrett-Koehler, 2004).
Our Only Choice Is to Make It Work
by Robert Jacobs
Have you ever been so tired of trying to make a difference that you felt like giving up? The odds were too long. Others had already tried and come up short.
That's what Nata Preis and her staff tackle five days a week. Nata is the principal at Village Glen School for children with special needs in Culver City, California.
"By the time we see these children, their self-esteem has been beaten back so much it's miniscule. We start by helping them feel good about themselves and their peers. We celebrate what a student knows, not what they don't know. We help them not feel frightened if they fail. You can't learn if you're afraid to fail. Every human being needs to feel successful. Success builds confidence. Confidence leads to learning. Learning how to create your life empowers you to want to have a life. If these kids give up at such an early age, they never become active participants in their lives."
I know Nata Preis makes a difference. She and her staff have already made a difference in my life. My son Aaron is a bright, kind, articulate boy. But he had attended four schools in the past seven years, having trouble at each one. We could not tell what the problem was. His teachers said that Aaron would talk out of turn. He needed more of their attention than the other children. Each school had given up on him.
We took him to many experts. Each added their own diagnosis to describe his troubles. Our loving, kind-hearted son had become a list of medical acronyms. With courage and grace he made his way through each day the best he could.
Recently we discovered Aaron has Asperger's, a high functioning form of autism. For autistic children basic social cues are a mystery. Seeing others laugh, smile, furrow their brows, and create personal space are all reminders that they are living in a foreign land. Children on the autism spectrum can't readily understand other people's feelings. Nor are they able to articulate their own feelings all the time. Nata offers an analogy, "Imagine how frightening it would be for us to be forced to live in a culture we don't understand. Every day. All the time. That's the world these children live in. That's the fear they have woken up to and had to face for years in getting ready for school in the morning.
"Lots of people have given up on these kids. The difference we make is that we never do give up. We just have never said, ‘There's nothing we can do.' Our only choice is to make it work."
What can we learn from Nata? When you have no choice but to make it work, miracles happen on a regular basis.
If you never give up, you find a way to make a positive contribution.
When you assume there is something you can do that will make a difference, you find there is. Where others have given up, you succeed… Just ask Nata Preis.
Robert W. "Jake" Jacobs is founder and president of Robert W. Jacobs Consulting, a firm specializing in accelerated, sustainable change. He is the author/contributor to four books including Berrett-Koehler's RealTime Strategic Change (1997) andYou Don't Have to Do It Alone: How to Involve Others to Get Things Done (2004). You can visit Jake on the web at www.rwjacobs.com.
Aaron Feuerstein: A Beacon for Change
by Robert D. Marx, Karen P. Manz, and Charles C. Manz
On Aaron Feuerstein's seventieth birthday celebration, a conflagration threatened to destroy what it took three generations of his family to create. A fire enveloped one building after another of this CEO's Malden Mills in the early hours of December 12, 1995. It was described as the worst industrial fire ever in Massachusetts. Thirty-three workers were injured, thirteen severely, and most of the buildings were rendered useless. One thousand of the 2800 employees were left without a workplace.
If Malden Mills followed the example of other textile mills in New England, its owners would collect the insurance money and relocate to cheaper labor and land in the South or offshore. Malden's hapless employees would be left unemployed. With 3000 jobs lost, the towns of Lawrence and Methuen, Massachusetts would face a grim future.
"There will be a Malden Mills tomorrow," Feuerstein vowed in the darkest hour of the fire's devastation. Against all odds Finishing Building 2 was left standing and several new machines used to make the firm's famous Polartec product survived because they were still packed in trailers away from the fire.
Feuerstein, a devout Jew, decided to keep his hundreds of affected employees on payroll with health benefits. His employees vowed to "pay (him) back tenfold." Six weeks after the fire Polartec production was running 50 percent above pre-fire productivity and Feuerstein was proclaimed a national hero.
Almost two years later, with $300 million of insurance money and another $100 million borrowed, a new state-of-the-art factory opened where the ashes of the old mill once prevailed. However, amid the widespread acclaim for Feuerstein's courageous and compassionate leadership, dark clouds were gathering. The insurance settlement proved inadequate for rebuilding the factory and a declining economy and cheap knockoffs of Polartec fabric forced an honorable man to file for Chapter 11 on November 29, 2001.
Feuerstein never gave up trying to save his 3000 employees' jobs rather than see them migrate to countries with cheaper labor costs. "It would be unconscionable," he said later to one of the many audiences he addressed as an invited and honored speaker.
On August 26, 2003, the company emerged from Chapter 11. On October 7, 2003, the U.S. Congress approved a $19.1 million expenditure for Polartec garments for use in all branches of the U.S. military. To everyone's amazement, Feuerstein once again staved off the apparent inevitable loss of his company by selling undeveloped land adjacent to Malden Mills for $100 million. The courage, compassion, and integrity Feuerstein expressed through his leadership, along with the justice he created for his loyal workforce, has sent ripples throughout the business world. Serving as a beacon for catalyzing positive change, he embodies wisdom that looks beyond the short term and "does what's right" for employees and the community.
In a 60 Minutes interview with Feuerstein on July 6, 2003, Morley Safer commented, "the fact that you became a hero for simply doing the right thing is a terrible commentary on the business world." We prefer instead to see much hope in this inspiring MAD (Making A Difference) example Feuerstein has set for today's leaders.
When you face a moral challenge and it appears that the easiest way out is to compromise your ethical beliefs and values, stop and imagine yourself standing in front of a mirror. Remember how hard it can be to look into your own eyes or the eyes of those your decisions will most affect if you don't stay true to a higher good.
Don't forget that the power of your spirit is far greater than the fear created by ego-based emotion. When your own feelings or the reactions of others are set to intimidate you into compromising your ethical standards, draw upon the strength of your deepest and best self to stay the course and do, as Aaron Feuerstein would say, "what's right."
Adapted from material originally published in the book, TheWisdom of Solomon at Work:Ancient Virtues for Living and Leading Today, by C. Manz, K. Manz, R. Marx and C. Neck (Berrett-Koehler, 2001).
Charles C. Manz, Ph.D., is a speaker, consultant, best-selling author, and the Nirenberg Professor of Business Leadership at the University of Massachusetts. He is the author or co-author of over 100 articles and 17 books, including his five Berrett-Koehler books : The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus (1998), The New SuperLeadership (2001), The Wisdom of Solomon at Work (2001), The Power of Failure (2002), and the Foreword Magazine Gold Award winner for best self-help book of the year, Emotional Discipline (2003). His two newest books are titled Fit to Lead and Temporary Sanity.
Karen Manz is a writer and speaker in the areas of spirituality and work life and adult learning. She has co-authored articles in a variety of journals and periodicals. She is a co-author of the books, TheWisdom of Solomon at Work: Ancient Virtues for Living and Leading Today (Berrett-Koehler, 2001) and For Team Members Only: Making Your Workplace Team Productive and Hassle Free (AMACOM, l997).
Robert D. Marx, Ph.D., is an associate professor of management at the University of Massachusetts and is a member of the faculty of the Athens Laboratory for Business Administration, Athens, Greece. He is co-author of
TheWisdom of Solomon at Work: Ancient Values for Living and Leading Today (Berrett-Koehler, 2001) and Management Live! The Video Book. He has won numerous teaching awards and consults with many organizations in the United States and Europe.
A Caregiver Who Cares
by Steve Ventura
She's neither a business executive nor a community leader. You won't read about her in the papers, she's done nothing for "the masses," and it's unlikely that she'll ever receive any type of public award. But five days a week, in her own small and quiet way, she makes a big difference for the people she touches. Her name is Lucy. And she is—as she's so proud to say, even after twenty-five years—a NURSE.
Nurse Lucy works day shift in Postpartum—the place where new mothers are cared for after giving birth to their truly special miracles. And those patients who—by luck of the morning assignments—have her as their nurse, are in for large doses of the one medication she's allowed to prescribe:TLC.
If you could peek at the scores of thank-you letters and commendations in her personnel folder, you'd know that Lucy is from "the old school." She believes that providing the absolute best patient care possible is the only real agenda. As a result, she has (by her own admission) had some difficulty adjusting to today's cost-cutting "business approach" to healthcare. More patients per nurse, increased documentation, limited (read non-existent) overtime, belt-tightening restrictions on the use of supplies, and a never-ending barrage of new regulatory-driven policies and procedures are just a few of her professional realities—ones that could interfere with tending to her new mothers if she'd let them. But she doesn't.
Lucy understands that nursing is about taking care of people. As a result, she somehow always finds the time to remake a bed (for the third time) so a patient will be a just little more comfortable, or make someone's day with a sponge bath and back massage, or have a comforting chat with an anxious new mom, or hunt up a treat for a hungry visiting dad—even if it means occasionally cutting into her own lunch time to do it. "I know that hospitals can be scary and expensive places," she told me. "I justtry to help my ladies have a positive experience… and get their money's worth."
The behavior of this difference maker is guided by three simple principles that seem applicable to anyone—regardless of their occupation or industry:
Despite any challenges you may be facing, never lose sight of your ultimate purpose—the real reason your job exists.
Strike a balance, but occasionally be willing to put the needs of those you serve before your own.
Pay attention to the little things—the random acts of kindness that add up and mean so much to those on the receiving end.
That's what she does; that's how she creates so many magical moments for those she truly cares for.
Yes, her name is Lucy. And she is—as I'm so proud to say, even after twenty-eight years of marriage—my wife.
Steve Ventura is an author, educator, and training program designer. His books include Walk Awhile In MY Shoes, Forget For Success, Start Right… Stay Right, and Who Are THEY Anyway, co-authored with BJ Gallagher.
