We’re losing the business!

I haven’t closed many sales pursuits by selling.  And most buyers haven’t bought much consulting work by buying.  Uhhhh, what?  Read on.

We encounter lots of opportunities to develop business from RFPs to extensions of work at existing clients to that random encounter with friends when the topic of “what do you do for a living” comes up.  And all shades in between.  And in those pursuits that have moved smoothly and successfully from “help me” to “I’ll trust you to do that” pure selling and buying played minor roles.  If any.  I’m not talking so much about the formal process – I’m talking about the reality of the decision maker’s mind – and heart.

It’s funny how when we fear losing the business (Patrick Lencioni’s first mentioned fear in his book Getting Naked) we fall into deadly behaviors that unless cured, seem to drive us into exactly the result we fear – we lose the business.

It was a really big deal – a “make it” kind of deal – and we were leading and pulling away.  Cruising along in the race executing our selling approach – dotting i’s, crossing t’s, step left, step right, check the box, etc.  And then this little birdie said “how is life when losing?”  Reaction?  You know the feeling – looking in the mirror, heart pumping, irrational thoughts, splash some cold water on the face.  Later after checking and feeling a bit, it was true – we were not winning this business.

Some say “change the game” when you don’t think you can win with the buyer’s rules.  Sometimes works.  Risky.  Depends on a lot of factors.  Didn’t agree that those factors existed here and I’m not sure I like the classic approach to that strategy much anyway.

Lencioni offers the same notion – but from a deeper-seated relationship perspective.  Paraphrasing a bit:  prove you are more interested in helping people in their business and not preserving your own revenue stream – and thus, you are likely to preserve your revenue stream.  Ergo, act like you are not afraid of losing the business or you likely already have.

Much gnashing of teeth and wearing sackcloth on our part.  Well, sorta.  Knowing we were behind and confident in our abilities, we asked for a meeting to discuss our position, our thoughts, and our potential to withdraw from the fray.  They agreed.  Almost surprisingly.  But that is another story.

We shared some kind truths, expressed our understanding and feelings about our current position, and asked a simple question:  “do you really know what it is like to experience working with us?”  Like asking someone do you really know what jalapeno jelly tastes like:  you read the ingredients, you know what jalapenos are, you get the concept of jelly – but unless you have tasted it, you really don’t know what it tastes like.

That is what we were really asking them.  Wouldn’t you like to “taste” what working with us is like?  To experience that, we suggested that right there we do a little consulting about one of the processes they needed help on – with the risky bet that if they didn’t like our way, feel, aka “taste” that we would not be a good fit for them anyway.  Better to know now and move along than to drag out the process any further.  That was our pitch.

So we worked openly with them – digested, diagnosed, and developed some conclusions about one of their problem areas – and at the end, checked in with them on the experiment.  Telling sign was that they were so engaged that none of them realized 2 hours had passed.  Funny to watch execs scrambling with quick emails to apologize to others for their tardiness.

Not instantly but shortly, we won the work.  What had happened?  Paraphrasing Lencioni again:  start serving prospects as if they were already a client.  Find a way to meaningfully help – and if they don’t hire you, they must not need you or the fit isn’t right.  That is what happened.  Consult.  Don’t sell.

100% effective? I think so if you can get the conversation turned that way.  Artful and risky and some higher order skills.  And a lot of fun.  I guess for me it’s about rubbing off on a prospect like we rub off on clients.  If we can help and our ways look and feel and “taste” right, we likely win.  Almost as if that is an altogether better approach for buyers too. Hmmm.

Stay naked.

Oh. THAT Conversation!

I told her “Stop doing that.  You are acting like an amateur.  You’re screwing this up!  And I am looking bad.”  Well, that’s what my emotional venting side wanted to say.  Fortunately, I moved from victim to coach and asked myself (key point:  BEFORE meeting with her) what did I really want.  The answer was I wanted her to get out of the details, to quit changing her mind and to really manage the process with me.  She was a tough client and deeply experienced in this kind of stuff.  I had a few choices but primarily I knew THAT conversation had to happen.  But how to have it?  Not thrilled about the confrontational approach from the past.

Patrick Lencioni gives us a good lesson in a Getting Naked point – tell the kind truth – emphasis on kind first and then truth.  Like confronting clients (or really any relation) with difficult messages even when they may not like hearing them.  Do it recognizing the dignity and the humanity of the client – with kindness, empathy, respect.  It’s definitely a confrontational feeling but with caring.  Stuff isn’t happening as it should and the course needs to be corrected.  The tough part and the “art” part is this dance you have to do – dancing your way through putting the relationship at risk and valuing the truth-telling more than the revenue stream.  Naked consultants understand they have a responsibility for being a truth-teller even if they may be sacrificed.  Not randomly, not without deep thought, and not without wise counsel.  Nevertheless, a truth-teller.  Yep.

You see it is like “a way” – you know, a set of truths so embodied that you walk-your-talk that way.  That you come to the conclusion there is no other way.  And that this way is the pure way of building lasting relationships.

And yes this one is surely one of the toughest.  You know this conversation.  Consultants have typically been confrontational, finger pointing, and less than effective in considering the human being across the table from them.  So this time, let’s Get Naked in conversation.

We spoke.  I asked her how she thought things were going.  Some short answers, a soliloquy on marketing theories and in the end still convinced she needed to be hands-on in most of the project aspects.  So with a  detour, I asked her what she wanted.  Like really where her heart was.  As her gaze turned out the window, out came mostly mumblings about being tired and wanting to see the kids more. A fake smile and then she turned to toward some more detail work discussion.  But I paused her and seizing on the small opening, I pushed her a bit.  “You’re spending so much time in the details and micro-managing the people, we’re missing the great effects you could have by focusing your energy on managing the process.  And you are probably wasting time that could be regained and then, maybe you could prioritize things better.”  Deep breaths and silence.  Eyeball to eyeball.  And in a bit, I saw her shoulders visibly settle and drop.

She acknowledged her work style, some lack of confidence, a bit of fear – a conversation we simply had never had.  In a place and manner we had never been.  You can paint the rest of the story yourself.  And you would be right.

What happened?  It wasn’t the end – it was the beginning.  And we asked each other periodically “what do you want” and that seemed to trigger the better, more Naked conversations.   Not all roses but certainly fewer thorns.

Funny sorta.  Put the dollars in the far background, pay attention to the human in front of you, and follow a few simple principles.  Act honestly and prove you are more interested in your client’s success than your own revenue stream.   Duh.

Stay Naked.

Can you smell courage?

Can you smell courage?

Some would say it embarrassed the [fill in your expletive of choice] out of them and they would never do it again.  Others recall the how painful and humbling an experience it was … and is.  For me though, the smell of spring rain in the pines brings me back to that meeting – and I always pause with that smell and recollect how miserable, unimportant and secondary I felt.  And to let those emotions be ok with me and to act in a manner that generates them, well that is the smell of courage I believe.  So, now that you are feeling dismal, read on.

You’ve seen this before and you know what it “looks” like.  But do you know what it “feels” like? Easily practiced in theory yet dramatically different in real life.    Patrick Lencioni describes it in his book Getting Naked.  “Take a bullet for the client.”  Lencioni tells us, “It is about finding those moments when we can humble ourselves and sacrificially take some of the burden off of a client in a difficult situation …”  I love to hear humble and sacrifice in the context of doing business.  But that is exactly what it is.  And courage to allow yourself to feel inferior.  For a while anyway.

Simple example.  Recall Danny Noonan the young caddy in Caddyshack?  He took the blame (something like “I forgot to clean the golf club grips”) for Judge Smails throwing his golf club in anger.   Selfless?  Not really.  Danny was calculating and acted with rational thought.  Selfish?  Not really.  Danny’s reputation was surely impeached some.  Also remember Danny’s  immediate reward was 25 cents (yee ha) but he did eventually achieve his goal thru Smails by getting his endorsement for law school.  But in that moment, being yelled at by Smails in front of the country club crowd had to make Danny’s heart pound.

My client and I stood together in the room waiting on the call.  The system was struggling, massive amounts of data might be lost, and there would likely be much bloodletting.  The call would tell us “we fixed it”.  Or not.  And if not, then starting over was the only option. You could cut the tenseness and silence with a knife.

Earlier that day we had stood together in front of the CEO telling the story.  He lit into me – all guns blazing.  Almost excused the notion of joint responsibility.  Even questioned my motivation.  Truth was it was my client’s people who had caused this.  Both my client and I knew it.

I remember looking out the CEO’s window as the rain started to hit the Georgia pines.  And that unique smell of rain in the pines.  The smell of courage?  Maybe.  For whatever reason, I chose right then to take the bullet for the client and not retort the CEO’s rantings.  Just told him we would know for sure in a few hours and we would talk later.

As my client and I waited for the fateful phone call, he thanked me for not throwing him and his people under the bus in front of the CEO.  I certainly could have, but really it was not the time and I was resolved to take the bullet for now.  Still raining and feeling like crying.  Then the phone rang.  He and I just stared at each other for what seemed like a thousand heartbeats. A quick conversation with our team … and …

Well, all turned out recoverable with the system and our consulting team basically saved the day.  Still acting courageously, I took that moment in private to remind him that his behavior was not acceptable to me and I expected more of him.  He knew I would not do it again.  He apologized and agreed.  Lencioni similarly adds how we have to move forward from there – “then—and this is critical—confront them with the kind truth. Without that confrontation, taking a bullet would indeed be enablement.”  That’s it.  Kind truth told in private so taking a hit for the client is just that and not establishing a pattern of enablement.

I still keep in touch with my client even though that was a long time ago.  Lifelong relationship.

So, how does it feel to feel inferior? Are you kidding?  It feels inferior.  No one said this was easy or instantly gratifying.  Leading while naked demands that we face our potentially embarrassing situations with rational thinking and emotional fervor body checking each other.  Waiting on us to decide and act.  Slide.  Step.  Walk.  Spin.  The dance of leadership – thinking and feeling our way through situations.  And being rewarded in the end with better relationships, better clients, and experiences that serve us in life’s entire journey.

I love the smell of rain in the pines.

Stay naked.

That’s a Dumb Question!

“Check your ego at the door!”—he told me—if I wanted to have a real conversation with a potential client. My ego: a bulldozer in the push/pull conversation running inside my head about how I want to be credited with great feats, while at the same time not wanting to appear, or act, superior to others.  When I have The Answer, or so I think, I can barely hold myself back from revealing it, in all my “subject matter expert” / “Mr. Cool” glory. At the same time, that little voice on the other side of my brain is beseeching me to hold my desire for applause long enough to let a colleague or “client-to-be” discover and bring forth the nugget of wisdom.  

Oh yeah, and in not so few cases, I realize that my answer – though magnificent and shiny – was not the only and perhaps not the best answer. 

I have had the pleasure of several learning experiences with Mahan Khalsa dating way back in my consulting career.  Many of you know of him and have either read his stellar work Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship or perhaps attended one of his sales training sessions at FranklinCovey  or know of his Helping Clients Succeed body of work. 

Mahan said “check your ego at the door.”  Right. Easy.  Thanks for playing and please try again. Usually the best I can do is to tone-down that debate inside my head between my ego and my – well, whatever my ego isn’t.   I can affirm this:  whenever I do check my ego at the door and put others in first place, good things happen.

And that ego thing gets right to the heart of the matter and relates dead-on to conquering the fear of being embarrassed as Patrick Lencioni describes it in Getting Naked.  “Ask the dumb questions and make dumb suggestions,” Lencioni tells us, as he takes us through those Lighthouse Consulting folks’ experiences doing the same.  Not exactly what they teach in the B-schools, huh? Or what your boss would advocate as your #1 strategy to execute in front of the next gazillion dollar client prospect. Listen to yourself saying this as you enter the proposal discussion meeting with Ms. Big Shot prospect: “Hey boss! I want to ask dumb questions and make dumb suggestions even if they turn out to be laughably wrong.”

Ok don’t tell your boss that.  Let’s try it with more subtlety, some artful conversation skills, and without announcing what we are doing….

I had listened about as long as I could listen to the rambling presentation our team was making.  Process this, measurement that, benefit those.  Somewhat boring and snoring to me – like we were selling, not consulting – but that is yet another story.  My glances at our prospects confirmed my feelings.  Seemed to me our logic was sound and that we were hitting the mark on what they were asking, but I wondered if even they were asking the right questions.  There was just something missing and I’m pretty sure I had the answer.  But I checked my ego and decided to pursue a different path.

It was coming up on my turn to discuss the team we would propose, the project schedule and our pricing.  Pretty sure my team gave me those parts because I would be hard pressed to screw them up.  After all, I really didn’t know much about the intricacies of selling medical equipment and devices or of this company’s history with implementing and using newer technologies in their sales teams.  This project seemed like so much work to me.  So, taking a deep breath and shifting in my chair, I said I wanted to clarify some of my thoughts before going on.

Question:  “Do your teams normally do this much work in so short a period of time? “ 

Reaction and Response: About 5 seconds of silence while everyone looked at each other.  Then some glaring eyeballs from my colleagues, a few “oh, sure we do” replies, slight smiles from a few IT leaders, mostly dismissal of the thought.   I now assumed it was a really dumb question – but no one had given any real examples.  My heart rate was definitely up.  Stand pat, ego.

Question:  “Ok, maybe that was a bad question.  We’re supposing a team here that works local and remotely.  Both our people and yours.  How will your non-sales people feel about that travel? “

 Reaction and Response:  “No problem”, “We do what we have to do”,  etc.  I was about ready to move on to my next dumb question, when one of the IT team leaders quietly admitted he was slightly concerned about the travel.  To clarify, he wondered aloud about the effect on his son’s struggles with his grades – and that he hadn’t quite worked it out yet.  Silence.  And then a finance person commented that summer was always a time where this company’s headquarters staff spent a lot of time together after work – and she didn’t know how this project would go over for some of them.  More silence.  Finally, the CEO acted a bit surprised and noted they had never raised those concerns.  I moved along.  But I knew this dumb question was not so dumb.

 Question:  “Since you were discussing culture some, how will the social edgy-ness of this new system play in your company?  I mean you guys tweet and all that, right?”

Reaction and Response:   Mixed laughter followed by “Of course we do” and “Doesn’t everybody?”  Then a really eerie silence.  I noticed the CEO a bit tight lipped with his head down.  And so I pressed the point with a dumb suggestion (not unlike a dumb question):  “Great. Me too.  Your marketing team could start tweeting about this.  Be good for the brand and your reputation.”  At which the CEO raised his head and said curtly, “I don’t see the benefit of that.”  Wow!  An unexpected zinger.  Not sure that comment would even put him in the Worried Skeptic archetype as Charlene Li portrays in Open Leadership.   She notes about that particular archetype “ They look at Twitter and see nothing good coming out of it – because it’s people with too much time on their hands….”  (Open Leadership, location 2762 in Kindle Reader).  The conclusion (or was it a very untested assumption?)—that this socially edgy system, designed to take advantage of all the social media technology tools available, was a right fit for them—needed some vetting.  After all, many of the benefits in the ROI were about the social edgy-ness.  I felt pretty good about myself.  But I quickly checked my ego at the door and started thinking about how to re-craft this deal.

I could go on but you get the drift.  I had asked a few simple questions about working hard, traveling, and the use of social media.  Maybe those discussions had already occurred but I didn’t know.  I missed on a few, here and there – after all they are “dumb questions”.  But I discovered, just like Patrick Lencioni points out, “Naked service providers are the ones who ask the dumb questions that others in the room are afraid to ask out of fear they would embarrass themselves.” (Getting Naked, location 2506 in Kindle Reader.)

It’s a good combination – checking your ego at the door (it’s ok to feel embarrassed) and asking dumb questions / making dumb suggestions.  Powerful and consultative.  I like that.

Now some wisdom from the grey hair:  play nicely with the other children.  Asking dumb questions and making dumb suggestions has to come from a place of honor, not a place of manipulation or playing with people.  It’s about discovery and a sense of appreciative inquiry, not about pushing other people’s buttons.  And don’t penalize others when they ask what you consider to be dumb questions.  After all, they are just like you.  Human.

Stay naked.

Enter the Danger

If you are like me, any time someone in a business setting uses the two words “step” and “fearlessly” in the same sentence, the hair on your neck stands up and your heart rate goes up. But Leading While Naked requires you to step right into the middle of uncomfortable situations and fearlessly deal with the issues everyone else is afraid to address.  You know you’re going to feel that hair-raising feeling and you know how all the people in the room are going to react – they’re all going to be looking at you and thinking “I can’t believe he said that” and “he’s right, that is the real issue.”  

 In Getting Naked, Patrick Lencioni describes this exact moment as ENTERING THE DANGER and wow, is he right.  It’s like the old adage of pointing out the elephant in the room, only this elephant is exceptionally large and very smelly.  So large and so smelly that even though many can see it and smell it, no one has either pointed it out or acknowledged the smell.  This is a distinctly crisp moment for the Naked consultant to step in with both feet and fearlessly pronounce “hey, does anyone smell that?”  Uncomfortable situation?  Are you kidding?  High return on your emotional risk?  You bet! 

 An old consulting friend (let’s call him Bob) tells the story of trying to help an organization navigate the rocky waters between two senior executives who didn’t see eye to eye on a number of things, including spending levels and investment priorities.  One was more short term, cost savings oriented, and the other more long term, revenue growth oriented.  You know the push/pull – “operational savings yields the profitability to get to tomorrow” versus “building for tomorrow with today’s dollars yields a much brighter future”.  Both good strategic viewpoints that have their merits.  And Bob knew what was at stake for the leaders – the ramifications of the degree of adoption of competing strategies would cause contractions in budgets, headcount, and certainly power.

 As Bob describes it, his chance to ENTER THE DANGER came at yet another in a long series of meetings with both leaders and their direct reports.  He had been invited to describe the proposed initiative (and his team’s consulting involvement) in more detail including how it would affect cost improvements and revenue potential.  As Bob’s sponsor passed the baton to Bob to lead this discussion, Bob paused.  Something about the exasperated looks on the faces of almost everybody in the room might have been the key.  Or maybe his own frustration with the process had grown too much.  Or maybe it was just a Tuesday.  But right then and there, Bob chose to ENTER THE DANGER.

  “Hey look,” Bob started.  “You all know enough about this initiative to decide about it on its merits.  No other facts can be presented and nothing is different today from yesterday about it.”  He took a deep breath and continued, “If this initiative is what is holding you back from agreeing on and moving forward with your overall plans, then it is not worth doing and I am officially withdrawing our proposal right now.”   Well, the silence was deafening as all eyes were fixed on Bob.  The exasperated looks were gone – replaced with wonderment, shock, awe, disbelief.  He had ENTERED THE DANGER and proved he was not afraid of losing the business by acting in the very best interest of his client. In truth it wasn’t likely that Bob’s initiative had much to do with anyone deciding on overall going-forward plans, but Bob was making a vital point and truly doing his best for his client’s best.

 He gathered his belongings and slowly rose to leave, and then paused as he neared the door. He might be right; he might be wrong; but he finished the thought. “Can’t you smell it?” he asked as they all stared at him.  “It’s the elephant in the room. “  He turned and stood between the two leaders.  “In your minds, you are all speculating about the potential impacts of the decisions you need to make. Including the impacts on your personal situations and those of your friends and associates.  And about their spouses and families. I know it and you know it, yet you are holding back on moving forward because you won’t discuss that part of the decision.  Like it’s off limits for some reason.  I’m not sure how you need to deal with it, but in my opinion you need to deal with all that as a part of deciding on your overall plan.”

 One visual sweep around suggested he was right.  Slight noddings, some knowing side glances, a few heavy sighs.  There was no other part of the collective decision that was not being discussed so why weren’t the personal issues being openly considered?  Why couldn’t discussions about the humans and the human impact be considered openly in the scope of the decision?  Bob turned to go but one of the leaders grabbed his arm.  “Bob, please stay.  I think both of us agree that your initiative is worthwhile and we should move forward with it.  Do you think you can you help us try to have a good conversation about the … well, you know … the personal stuff?”

 What a lesson learned. 

 Like Bob, when you smell the Elephant in the room will you find the courage and integrity to act at an opportune and decisive moment?  It’s probably not the most normal thing to do.  You will miss the timing a bit.  You won’t get the words exactly right.  But when Leading While Naked you must find a way and a time to ENTER THE DANGER.  It is NOT optional.  As Lencioni says, those who Enter the Danger are seen as acting with courage and integrity. These are qualities that are disarming, attractive, and rare.  And deeply valued by clients and by everyone, I think.

 Stay Naked.

Happy Thanksgiving – or How Lincoln Led From the Heart

Vance Havner said, “We grow up taking things for granted and saving our flowers for the dead.  All along the way, countless hands minister to our good, but rarely do we acknowledge them.”  I wonder why that is?  Why do we not stop, acknowledge the beauties of the day, and thank those who have helped us?  Or at least do all that more often?  And why don’t we send flowers every day to say “thank you”? 

Ironically enough the Civil War, which started in 1861, gave rise to one of President Lincoln’s most interesting but least known acts: establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday.  For context, on November 19, 1863, Lincoln delivered the now famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  It was a mere four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.  His address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as “a new birth of freedom” that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, and that would also create a unified nation in which states’ rights were no longer dominant.  I understand that people said “the United States ARE” before the Civil War and the term we have grown accustomed to, “the United States IS” became the way after the Civil War.

 And in case you haven’t read it in a while, here is the entire text of that two-minute Gettysburg Address:

 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

 But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

 Remarkable?  You bet.  Absolutely stunning in impact and directness!  But there is even more to this story than meets the eye – and certainly more to Lincoln.  As he surveyed the state of the Union in 1863 and surely wondered if his strategies would work to hold us together, he found the time, attention, and ability to take pause to formally establish Thanksgiving Day – on October 6, 1863 – a mere 40+ days before the Gettysburg Address.  Think about it.  Kindergartners can recite the Gettysburg Address but very few adults can identify Lincoln as the one who officially called for a national day of Thanksgiving.  A day when we send “flowers” to all we know, to slow down the pace and breathing and enjoy the moment, a time when most if not all seems right with the world.

 And in case you haven’t read it in a while either, here is the entire text of Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.

 It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

 We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

 We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

 But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

 Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.

 I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

 A. Lincoln
October 3, 1863

Draw your own conclusions about the spiritual references – it was Lincoln’s way – maybe not yours.  But get the message:  Let us not become “intoxicated with unbroken success.”  And let us forever recollect why a President, facing the ravages of a civil war, countless citizens dead, and a nation divided, could and would pause and say ‘thank you’”.  Incredible. 

 Happy Thanksgiving.   To you and your loved ones.

“I Like the People and I Believe in the Mission”

Reflecting on Leading While Naked as the colder winds start to tingle the fingers.  Tom Horton, CEO at American Airlines in addressing the Baylor Business Network of Dallas (Tom is a BU grad, of course) this week talked about why he returned to American from AT&T where he was the CFO.  A few simple answers, paraphrased a bit but not much:  I like the people and I believe in the mission.  Could it really be that simple?  I mean, really – I like the people I work with.  In fact, I think they are the “A team” in town, fun to hang out with, and rich with integrity and caring for their fellow associates.  And I truly believe in the mission of Slalom Consulting:  to be the leading consulting organization that helps their clients win on their most strategic initiatives.  Easy to believe in that mission and easy to like the people I work with.  Is that it?  Is that the sum of the real reasons I work here?

 Tom also talked about the airline industry in general, the way American has approached managing its financial affairs (I DO like the emphasis they put on capitalism and operating in a free market economy), and what issues face the industry over the next few years. And some other really informative business discussion.  But what really grabbed me … what really resounded  … what was the great uniqueness about his conversation with us Baylor types was the way he talked about himself and the people.  You can see it in people’s character, he said.  It’s my job to connect people, places and ideas he mused. 

Hmmm.  Well I like that.  Really, I like that a lot.  I relate to those feelings on a heart and mind basis.  Not that either is more in play than the other but that both are REQUIRED in today’s business leadership. And yes, it smells a little (or maybe a lot) like Leading While Naked to me.  Put People First! and they will take care of your clients and your business.   Take care of them and they will take care of you.  Relate with deep integrity (as the great Arthur Andersen himself said, “think  straight, talk straight”), create a culture that believes in and acts with honesty (“tell the kind truth” Patrick Lencioni calls it in Getting Naked), and lead with heartfelt attention to the absolute fact that people matter the most (ok – sorry – nothing else really matters, I guess).

I met Tom Horton a while back and have spoken to him a few times.  He always remembers me.  A gracious man who granted me a personal meeting 2 weeks after we first met just because I asked him.  And sharing a common alma mater helps too.  But really, my sense is that is the real Tom Horton anyway.  You can hear it in his words and see it in his interactions with others.  Yeah, he has to pay attention to the seriousness of financial matters, difficult union discussions coming up, refreshing a fleet of a gazillion planes, and the daily pounding that Wall Street can give.  But with all that, when asked “why?”, his fundamental answer was the people and the mission.  Man, I like that and I relate to that not only in a logical but also a deeply emotional basis.

Leading While Naked.  It’s about a mindset of risk taking on the emotional level.  Yes.  That’s right.  For example, Lencioni talks about telling the “kind truth” to clients, employees, and I guess probably anyone else in your relationships.  He says it is more important to serve than it is to protect your revenue stream.  Or even better, if you don’t serve you won’t protect your revenue stream anyway.  That in confronting clients with difficult messages (even when they may not like hearing it), while doing it with the recognition of their dignity and humanity, you will achieve greater respect in their eyes.   Hey guys – this is artful conversation.  From a place of deep integrity.   And likely not without some real risks.

But what is the alternative?  Tell “kind lies”?  Yes – that is what happens a lot.  You know it and see it.  Better to preserve the status quo in the relationship than seek some correction in the course.  Give me a break.  Do you think that would be the approach you as a leader would want your people to follow?  Or better yet, would they want that from you?

Can’t do it.  Gotta Lead While Naked.  I like the people here too much.  And I don’t think they (and I) will deliver on the mission unless we go forward that way.   Happy trails.