Green To Great

Tim Russert, Death and Success

On a daily basis, I write about, coach and teach leaders about creating their own brand of success, of making a career and life on your own terms. Lately, I’ve been thinking about death and the role it plays in creating a successful life.

Tim Russert, beloved host of Meet the Press and NBC’s top political analyst, last week dropped dead of a heart attack at age 58. On one hand, you could say that was an early, tragic death. On the other, the outpouring of love and respect from his family, colleagues and viewers is a testimony to something much more important – his was a life fully and well lived that will be long remembered.

A friend of mine lost his mom a few weeks back. Ari is the co-CEO of an extraordinary business based here in Ann Arbor, Zingermans. INC magazine published a cover story on Zingermans a few years back, naming them the Coolest Small Company in America. (Click on the following link if you want to read more about why MBA’s are getting off the fast track to work for this small company in Ann Arbor, MI.) My own father passed away three years ago this July, so Ari and I have been exchanging emails on our thoughts about death and success.

Ari wrote that his mom always lived in the present moment and died in a way that was true to who she was. She passed away suddenly while on vacation in Israel, on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence, having worked passionately all her life for that nation’s right to self-determination. She pursued no fame or fortune in her 78 years, but rather believed in doing simple acts in service for the people and causes she cared about. Six hundred people showed up to her funeral.

Ari’s mom made me think of the many of stories of elderly Zen meditation masters who get up as normal one day and go about their regular routines, then quietly announce to the community in which they live, that the time has come for them to pass away. Come evening, they simply and peacefully pass into the night with their friends and students by their sides.

There are even stories of deeply saddened Zen students pleading with their dying teacher not to go just yet, but to give them a little more time to learn from him. And the Zen master agreeing to delay his death for a few days or even weeks until the students can pull it together! How amazing, how powerful, to seemingly be able to choose not only when but how you die. For me, it throws the definition of a successful life onto an entirely new spin.

I wrote to Ari that his description of his mom’s death is like another version of the Zen masters stories. Maybe, in the United States especially, we misunderstand the value of death. We use all our energy and technology and money to try to beat death, to delay it far past the natural timing of things, and to generally pretend that, if we're just smart enough, we really can get out of here alive. When perhaps the simplest, easiest, most gratifying thing we can do is to live a life true to who we are and fully in the present moment...and thereby in some strange way get some say, some choice, over how we die. That wouldn’t be a bad way to go.

Goodbye Subaru, hello Mini Cooper

I sold my Subaru Forester this past weekend.  I found my dream Mini Cooper two weeks ago and I just couldn’t pass it up -- I’ve wanted that fun, fuel-efficient, cute set of wheels since they landed on American soil.  I expected to be silly-happy about the Cooper (believe me, I was).   But I didn’t expect to feel so sad watching my Subaru drive away.

I’m letting go of something…and it is not just a car.  I bought the Subaru in 2001 to take me from my former life as a single, HR professional inside of The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia to my new life as a wife, a stepmom to two, teenage girls, and a budding entrepreneur living in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  It was an exhilarating and scary time. I was thrilled for all that I was becoming and yet embarking on untested ground -- icy and snowy ground at that.  No wonder I went for a car with anti-lock braking, all-wheel drive and one of the highest safety ratings on the road.

As we say in the coaching business, what got you here won’t get you there.  Literally.  I can’t hold onto the security and familiarity of my Subaru and have the freedom and fun of my Cooper too.  On many levels of my life and career, it is time to open things up and see what this baby can do.

When my younger daughter (now 20) asked if I was bummed as the Subaru’s new owner pulled out of the driveway, it really hit me that this un-tethering of my ties to Atlanta is exactly what I need.  In reply, I looked at her and her father and said I guess this means I’m stuck with you people.  And we all smiled.

Danger Zone: The Other Energy Crisis

A new battle for leadership talent is well underway. Several workforce trends have coalesced into a perfect and growing storm of talent scarcity. These trends include: an aging/retiring workforce; a smaller and less skilled replacement workforce; greater diversity in drivers of workforce engagement and loyalty; the down-sizing and flattening of the leadership pipeline; ever increasing complexity and competitiveness in a global economy; a technology-enabled, virtual work world that runs 24/7; and the rise of free agents and solopreneurs.

The most proactive corporations have a jump start on what is in part a numbers game.  These businesses are strategically defining their targets for future business growth and executing programs to develop the quantity of leaders required to drive their business into that future.  Dell Computers alone must globally source, develop and deploy over 50,000 employees, 4,500 managers and 300 executives in order to meet double-digit growth projections in the short-term (next 3-5 years). The least proactive companies don’t even have this talent tsunami on their radar screen.

But few if any companies are strategizing ways to maximize the leadership resources they already have: the leaders currently in position and the rising high potential talent already targeted for development.   Maximizing existing leadership talent means not just developing the skills (capabilities) of leaders, but also sustaining and expanding leaders’ physical and mental energy, motivation and creativity (their capacity) to do the exceptional.  Constant stress, rising workloads, decreasing resources, increasing time pressures, endless emails and even more endless meetings are sapping the energy, passion and creativity of talent …just when companies need those things the most.

And that is just the list at work.   (Anyone out there also trying to sustain a marriage or partnership, parenting children, caring for aging parents, find some time for yourself and/or simply manage your day-to-day life?)

As I travel from company to company, I see this other energy crisis eroding the success of our companies at an ever-increasing rate. And I have come to think of work/life balance as the measure by which we need to start calibrating the depth of the energy & creativity reserves our people.  While companies are more willing to verbally acknowledge the importance of work/life balance, 99% treat work/life balance purely as a “personal” issue.  Individual contributors and leaders alike are expected to forge their own work/life balance (in their own way and on their own time with little to no help from the corporation).  As a result, the default strategy of corporate America is to literally outsource the very life-blood of its future -- its energy and creativity and ability to compete -- to the individual employee.

When the talent supply is infinite, that outsourcing strategy works.  When the supply of top talent becomes a limited resource, you’ve got another oil crisis on your hands.  And like a multitude of individual oil rigs madly pumping the ground of already dry wells, the future can only be declining returns. 

High potential, low capacity?

I went to the doctor for my annual physical the other day.  Luckily all is well, pretty great, in fact.  The older I get, the more I appreciate simply feeling physically good, given as they say the alternatives (cancer, heart disease, the aches and breakdowns inevitable to aging bodies). I left my doctor’s office in a state of gratitude for my health and what my health makes possible in my life and work.

Health, energy and well-being are overlooked success factors in the literature on high potential leaders.  You can add health, energy and mental/emotional well-being together and you get one simple word – capacity.  Capacity is either the “silent killer” or on the up side the “secret sauce” that determines whether a leader will realize his/her potential and sustain her/his success over time.  High potential leaders tend to power through new challenges and greater personal and professional demands by simply demanding more of themselves.

But time and life catch up with us all, at multiple points in even the most perfect career.   In those demanding periods, it is not how smart you are or how talented or creative or well-networked that determines your success, but rather the energy reserves and the mental/emotional bank account you have built up inside you.   And my experience with HIPOs is that the vast majority are running with the needle way closer to empty than a full tank.

One of the books I highly recommend to my clients is The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.  (You’ll find the cover in my Recommended Reading on the left side of this page.)  It will open your eyes wide to the relationship between your energy and your performance.  Not taking what I call “radical self-responsibility” for one’s energy is a top, if not the number one, way high potentials self-sabotage their success.  To what degree are you self-sabotaging?  To what degree are you setting yourself up to succeed?

Next week: the impact of companies “outsourcing” the capacity of their workers and the dangerous implications for sustaining the pool of leadership talent needed for the future.

Maya Angelou Talks at The Ross School of Business

I live in the college town of Ann Arbor, just across town from the University of Michigan.   There are many times I am simply floored by the foresight and wisdom that comes out of The Ross School of Business at the University; no small feat in a corporate world still enamored with hiring traditionally trained and too often tunnel-visioned MBAs.  Inviting a poet to speak to the business school was an inspirational act of showing our true colors as human beings (and no, I am not referring to the maize and blue).

The dean of the business school invited one of my personal heroes, Maya Angelou,  to speak on the interdependency of science and art.  Like a true rock star, she packed the largest concert hall on campus.  Her six-foot frame was a bit stooped with age and her stride slowed by a bad knee that required a cane and an arm to lean on.  Yet once settled in her solo seat on the stage, her magnificent voice and powerful presence captured business leader and lay person alike.

She conveyed more wisdom, humor and hope in humanity in that one hour than I could ever do here.  But I will attempt to retell one of her stories.  A black slave named Terentius served a Roman master sometime around 190 to 160 B.C.  Upon gaining his freedom, he became one of the greatest playwrights of his day.  He, a former slave, crafted a line that has shaped philosophy and psychology alike down to the modern day:

Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto.  I am human, nothing that is human is alien to me.

Dr. Angelou (raised female, poor, African American and in the deep South) writes this line on the blackboard at the start of every semester at Wake Forest University where she teaches.  She said that one way to understand Terentius’s line is that however bad or evil we might judge an action of another, because we are all human, in each of us lurks that same capacity for wrong.  Then she went on to emphasize the other side of the coin -- what is also true.  Whatever dream or magnificent feat some other can accomplish, in each of us lives that same potential for greatness.

Whatever dream or magnificent feat some other can accomplish, in each of us lives that same potential for greatness. 

Amen to that.

The Rhythm of Success

The publisher of my upcoming book, Blueprint for Success asked me to pick a topic for my chapter in the book, anything I wanted to write about.  Immediately in my mind’s eye I saw flashing in neon red the words “work/life balance”. And what popped out of my mouth was the title, The Rhythm of Success.  I was a little surprised at the force of that knowing and I spent some time wondering why I chose that topic and why now?

Then it hit me.  In my first book, my co-author and I created a model for sustainable success (the 7 Essentials) in life and business.  One of those essentials was RENEWAL.  Renewal in a fundamental characteristic of any healthy living system – from the human body to the ocean’s ecosystem.  Every healthy, living system balances the expenditure of energy with the recovery of energy (with rest and regeneration).  Renewal serves two vital functions: first, to give the system resilience and flexibility in times of stress and change; and second, to give the system the resources needed for optimal performance, during periods of productivity and creativity.  No living system – including a single human being – can survive or much less thrive without regular care for and renewal of its natural resources.

Renewal was always my favorite of the 7 Essentials, but we didn’t have the space in that book to give it its due.  That book also had a different purpose -- to tell the story of the trends we saw emerging in business that would drive a greater focus on the idea of sustainability and a triple bottom line: people, profit and planet.  (As Al Gore takes home the Noble Peace Prize for his dedication and leadership in creating global understanding of the environmental crisis, I can’t help but feel a bit of pride for our small contribution to this world-wide conversation and change of heart.)

RENEWAL on a global level is an essential idea whose time has come.  But we won’t practice on a grand scale what we don’t live in our own individual lives.

When was the last time you really recharged your own batteries?  Or recycled your experiences and learnings into the wisdom and skills needed to step into your next challenge?

Writing My New Book & Not Writing My Blogs

A funny thing happened on my way to writing my latest book; I totally stopped blogging, as you my readers (all ten of you) may have noticed.  Seems a funny thing since I was writing anyway, but there you have it.  As the big milestones on the book are nearly complete, I find myself getting the blogging bug again.  That and many well-positioned kicks in the rear from my dedicated virtual assistant Kristi Pavlik have reminded me it is time to deliver the goods again.

So as Jack Nicholson said so succinctly in The Shining, I’m baaaaack! To get us rolling again, let me tell you a bit about my upcoming book on success, or more specifically, my chapter in an upcoming book on success.  The title of the book is Blueprint for Success and it will feature renowned success authors Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), Ken Blanchard (The One Minute Manager) and ten other authors, including myself.   Like an architectural blueprint, this book will be a one-stop shop for strategies and action plans to help people like you accomplish your goals and achieve success in your personal and professional lives.  In short, it is a book about realizing your potential – a favorite topic of mine! 

The target date for publication is January, 2008.  We’ll keep you posted (here on the blog and at my website, which is currently being refurbished) on the final publication date, where you can buy the book, both in the stores and on-line, and a special pre-order offer.

In the meantime, look for my next blog where I’ll talk more about my chapter in Blueprint for Success -- The Rhythm of Success: The Pace of Work/Life Balance is More Important than the Payoff.

The Hero’s Journey: Eat, Pray, Love

I’ll be talking a great deal in this blog about the Hero’s Journey (HJ) and why it matters to leaders.  So I figured y’all might want to know a bit about what the HJ actually is.  First and foremost, the HJ is a myth. A myth that matters. 

Try saying that three times fast.  Myth that matters, myth that matters, miff that mathers. Only if you want to you, or if you are bored.  Or if you are punchy from drinking too much coffee, which I apparently am.  For those of you who insist on something intelligent and relevant in this blog, a myth is a traditional story about key figures – ancestors, heroes, supernatural beings -- that informs the world view of a people or culture and gives them guidance for action. 

Stories about heroes reside in every human tradition and society, both ancient and modern. No one loved these stories more than Joseph Campbell, the world’s foremost authority on mythology.  (Joe became famous when he was interviewed by Bill Moyers in 1988, in a series called The Power of Myth.)  Joe describes the HJ this way: “The usual hero adventure begins with someone from whom something has been taken, or who feels there’s something lacking in the normal experiences available or permitted to the members of his/her society.  This person then takes off on a series of adventures beyond the ordinary, either to recover what has been lost or to discover some life-giving elixir.  It is usually a cycle, a going and a returning.”

Put more succinctly, a hero is someone who: 1) hears a call to adventure, requiring him/her to leave her/his current life; 2) embarks upon a journey where s/he must face challenges and tests; 3) discovers the truth or gift that is her/his unique contribution to the world; and 4) returns home to use that gift in service of those s/he loves.  And Joe goes on to say that contrary to the popular idea that a hero does this all alone, real heroes are helped by 5) allies and friends; in fact, they CANNOT make it without them.  I’ll talk more about each of these steps of the HJ in future entries.

For now, you may be wondering about the subtitle of this entry.  It is the name of a book that is currently number one on the NY Times non-fiction, best-seller list: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia, by Elizabeth Gilbert.   A dear friend told me about this book and I have savored every morsel of it.  This brilliant, true story is the epitome of the Hero’s Journey, as Elizabeth sets out on an outer journey of the world and inner journey of her own soul.  Her story is laugh-out loud funny, heart-achingly real and simply an inspiration to any woman who has searched for God and for her own self.

In our work with High Potential leaders at Microsoft, we say that the Hero’s Journey is the inner journey you must take yourself in order to succeed in the outer journey of leading others.  Why would that be true?  (Great question.  I love great questions!)  Why don’t you hang out with that one for a week and see what answers come?

Being the Hero of Your Own Life, Not the Superhero of Others’ Lives (Part 2 of 2)

A study published last week by Salary.com found that a typical stay-at-home mom puts in a 92-hour work week. Not surprising, given that 10 distinct jobs comprise an average mom’s work load: housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer of the home and resident psychologist.  If women were paid by the market, compensation for this uber-job calculates out to $138,095 for a stay-at-home mom and $85,939 for a “part-time” mom (above the salary she earns out side the home).  Supermom is alive and well.

Actually, she is probably not all that well.  Only a superhero can sustain that kind of crazy-busy life.  Inevitably we Wonder Women end up at a crossroads of our lives and careers – lost, exhausted, sick, lonely, and squeezed dry.  We are the unsung leaders of our families, communities, businesses, departments and teams …and the dirty, not-so-secret secret is that we are running on fumes.

I’m not talking about finding work-life balance; that is the false grail of our modern age.  Life is a dynamic, messy process of evolution and change, and any kind of balance is a temporary state.  I’m talking about women living into the essence of leadership – the journey of the Hero.

A Hero is not the same thing as a superhero.  A Hero has no super powers.  She is imperfectly human yet also graced with a unique gift she must discover in order to serve those she loves best.  A Hero embarks on a journey that has a starting point and an ending point; a Hero has time off.  A Hero is not a hero 24/7, 365 days a year.  Finally a Hero doesn’t succeed alone – she opens herself up to the support of friends and when she needs help, she takes it.

A Hero is called to a journey of personal growth and service to others. While the phone can ring at any point, perhaps it sounds most loudly at mid-life and mid-career.   Fifty-million Baby Boomer women are now getting this Hero message in their voicemail box (they’re too busy to answer the phone).  How many of us will delete the message and how many of us will pack our bags for THE trip of our lifetime?

They say that a dream will call you or a pain will send you, but either way you’re going.  The choice lies in how we choose to travel.  What I’ve learned personally and through my clients is that, for every woman who steps consciously onto that road, the rewards can be greater than we ever imagined: richer self-worth, rediscovery of unique passions and talents, excitement of new opportunities and successes, and the collective power of new allies and ever-deepening friendships. (Ring, ring.)

50 Million Women Realizing Their Potential (Part 1 of 2)

A few weeks ago I was a featured speaker at the 2007 Gulf Coast’s Women’s Expo in Pensacola, FL.  Partnering with a client and colleague of mine from Microsoft, we ran a shorter version of a workshop we had originally developed for Microsoft’s high-potential leadership program. This women-only version we called Heroes Among Us.  It challenged women to shift their perspective as leaders from being the superheroes for everyone else to becoming the heroes of their own lives. It was an amazing experience and we met many exceptional women, including Lt. Meagan Varley, a fighter pilot and the only female ever to fly the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat.  For many reasons, Meagan stands tall (I guess pilots need to be) but also lays low in her humor and humility around her significant success.

She reminded me that “flying under the radar screen” in corporations is a group of high-potential talent who is often overlooked and who often underestimates themselves: the fifty million American women currently passing through their midlife transitions.  These women have seen, done and juggled it all in their careers and home lives.  As they enter perimenopause/menopause, these women are embarking upon a true heroine’s journey – a path of physical, emotional and spiritual transformation into the best that they are meant to be. They have raised families, cared for dying parents, turned around failing organizations, driven new business initiatives and climbed the corporate ladder.  And now begins THEIR time. 

These women (usually in their forties and fifties) begin to ask big questions about their work and their lives, including: does this role still make me happy?  What is the work I am meant to do?  Where can I set free my real passions and strengths?  What dream am I no longer willing to delay for someone else’s agenda?  Never have these women professionals and leaders been more valuable to their company and never have their organizations been more at risk at losing such talent.  These women are ready for more meaning, more fulfillment, more recognition, and simply more fun.  And they are willing to do whatever it may take – including leaving their job, career or company – to make their life their own.

What are YOUR answers to these big questions (italics above)?  Next week I’ll write Part 2 about the hero’s journey for leaders and why women executives in particular need to pack their bags and make that trip. (Hint: the choice is to intentionally step forward onto that road or be dragged down the path, kicking and screaming – either way, you’re going.)