Daily Brief

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Culture and communication continue to be key conversations with business owners and leaders. For good reason. They’re vital in establishing accountability. Every experienced leader knows without accountability there can be no sustainable improvement or growth.

Our growth and improvement individually hinge on our willingness to be accountable to others, and our willingness to let others be accountable to us. This week a local sports talk radio station interviewed retired Dallas Cowboy tight-end Jay Novacek. They were reminiscing about the glory days when Jay played with Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith, and Michael Irvin. Jay said those teams really enjoyed being together. They had good chemistry. It prompted the radio hosts to ask him, “Was the chemistry good because you guys won, or did you guys win because of the chemistry?” Without hesitation, Jay said, “We won because of our chemistry.”

It’s true with sports teams, business or organizational teams. If real estate lives and dies by the motto, “Location, location, location” then our businesses live and die by “culture, culture, culture.” It’s a major distinguishing factor between successful and failing organizations. Cultures aren’t created equally any more than real estate locations. Some are way better than others.

If you don’t begin to create or correct your culture so it incorporates one vital component – ACCOUNTABILITY – then it’s likely that you’ll be in the same spot 5 years from now. The problem is, the market is going to change. And your company may not survive. It’s the high price we’ll all pay for sitting on our butt thinking we’ll somehow get by on our own. 

I can readily tell you that the most underrated characteristic of high achieving businesses and organizations is accountability. CEOs and business owners who shy away from it have no chance of building a culture of accountability. And I know why some shy away from it. They’re afraid. They don’t understand it. They’re ignorant of how great things could be with accountability.

Accountability isn’t a police action. 

You own the joint. I completely understand. But don’t confuse your ownership with some delusional idea that you don’t need accountability in your life, or that your people don’t need it in theirs. 

Culture is a bit different than personal accountability in that you’re the boss, so you dictate the philosophy and principles by which your company operates. If it’s important to you, then it’s going to be important to the company. That’s the influence and power you weld. As it should. 

All the more reason to be careful about the culture you want to create. Don’t be haphazard. Or bashful to show your organization how you’re willing to accept accountability for your role as the Chief Leader, #1. Be willing to be accountable to your entire company. You are anyway. So you may as well embrace it, own it and celebrate it. 

It doesn’t mean that people impose on you. They can’t. Unless you let them. And as a business owner, you’re not likely going to do that. Nor should you. Truth is, nobody can tell you what you ought to do. You can accept input, feedback, and suggestions, but you get to decide for yourself and for the organization. In that regard, accountability isn’t a police action. It’s more of you deciding something, then being willing to have the organization hold you to it. You’re the policeman, but even cops need high accountability because with much authority and responsibility comes elevated accountability if we’re going to perform at the highest levels. 

Accountability isn’t punishment.

Another myth is that accountability is punitive. While it can be, that’s not at the heart of the matter. 

Instead, it’s among the highest levels of service you can offer, or be offered. Don was an alcoholic for almost 20 years. Highly functioning, but still an alcoholic. He admitted that for almost 10 of those years he wanted to stop drinking. He was mostly a closet alcoholic. So he tried everything he knew to get sober on his own. He read books. He educated himself on his affliction. Knowledge didn’t help. And Don quickly realized that lack of knowledge wasn’t his problem. Accountability was. He said to me, “Nobody can get sober alone.” I’m a teetotaler, meaning I don’t drink alcohol at all (never have). But I trust what he tells me about overcoming this challenge. 

Don decided to go to somebody. Somebody he knew he could trust to hold him accountable. Within a short period of time, Don was free from alcohol ruling his life. He’s determined and committed, but so is the person holding him accountable. They’re in it together. Don said he increasingly was driven to not let himself down, but he didn’t want to let down the person working so hard to hold him accountable either. 

It’s been just under 10 years since Don had his last drink. Ask him if accountability is punishment and he’ll quickly correct you by telling you it’s a supreme degree of service. It changed his life. It’ll change everybody’s – or anybody’s life. Yours. Mine. And the people who work for us, too.

Accountability is for all of us. We’re in this together.

If your end of the boat sinks, so does mine. That’s the culture of accountability. It’s the difference maker. Like Don overcoming alcoholism, or a salesperson struggling to achieve success, or an accounting clerk struggling to keep up the workload, accountability is THE service of helping people improve and grow. 

The reason most people don’t grow or improve is largely due to their lack of accountability. Sparked mostly by their unwillingness to submit to being served. Or their unwillingness to serve others. 

Self-improvement is a paradox. It incorrectly presupposes that we can do it for ourselves. All by ourselves. Shockingly, I don’t know a single person who has ever achieved it that way. Every high performing person I’ve ever met has had help. Somebody willing to help hold them accountable for what they want to accomplish. 

Like everything else in your company, it all begins and ends with you, the owner. Look around at how well, or how poorly you’re serving and being served when it comes to accountability. Be honest. Face the truth. If it’s not as impactful or effective as it could be, then set about the change the truth. Get busy building a high accountability culture. And watch the improvement and growth start to happen. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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A group of startup sales managers are sitting around swapping stories and sharing experiences. Some of the startups are mere months old while others are a couple of years old. At some point, the conversation turns to pipelines, funnels, ideal prospects, customer acquisition and all the other components of selling. Some of the companies are B2B and others are B2C. It’s your basic shop talk. 

These are good people. Decent performers. Ambitious. Driven. Smart. Capable. 

But they’re doing something they’re not even aware of. They’re dehumanizing their prospects and customers. And it’s another teaching moment for me.

I’ve historically focused on the language salespeople use. Most of my career was spent with commission-based salespeople. I cared about the words they used, even away from the customers, because I knew it had an impact on how prospects and customers were treated. Shop talk among salespeople and sales managers fosters whatever the company allows. 

Words like “pursuit” are frequently used. As in their pursuit of customers. I seize the moment. Not with judgment, but with a point-of-view that I know these quite young sales managers hasn’t considered. 

A lead, an “up,” an avatar – these aren’t words I like. I’m not the semantic police or anything. I know we often use terms just to communicate effectively, but when we’re talking about building a business by getting new customers or serving existing customers better – two-thirds of the trifecta of successful business building – we can incorporate verbiage that doesn’t serve us well. Truth is, sometimes our words create challenges making our task even more difficult. Instead, we should incorporate wording that helps and serves our purpose well. 

You can chase or pursue customers. Like prey. Or victims. 

You’ll be better served – so will your customers – if you woo them instead. 

We woo people we love. People we care about. People we hope to develop a deeper relationship with. Wooing involves getting to know them and allowing them to get to know us. Yes, we have an interest, but we want this to mutually beneficial. 

My grandson Easton loves bugs and lizards. Our yard is filled with plenty of both. Easton will pursue them with a dogged determination. He’s pretty good, too. He catches them more often than not. Mostly because once he spots one, he won’t stop until he successfully captures it. We constantly urge him to release them, but he never wants too until he’s enjoyed putting them into a jar or something where they’re contained. He’s 5 so we’re still teaching him that they’re much happier being free. As a little boy, he’s not terribly concerned about what they might want, or what might be best for them. He wants to see them, watch them and play with them. He’s not interested in hurting them, but he’s not thinking about them. It’s a completely selfish endeavor of a little boy. 

Selling always involves people. Words reflect and form our perspectives. Don’t let anybody tell you words don’t matter! They do. I could approach you and if I knew the right thing to say to make you mad as a wet hen, your temper would flare immediately. My words could offend you, hurt you, disturb you, embarrass you or make you angry. My words could foster all sorts of emotions and energies in you. And garner all kinds of responses or reactions. You know that’s true. 

Keep talking about pursuing or hunting customers and it builds within us an image. We’re prowling for customers. We win at their expense. They’re something for us to conquer and drag back home. The spoils of business war. 

If instead, we busy ourselves evangelizing our products or services, then we hope to convert people. We want to influence people because we know their lives will be better if they can see what we see, and believe what we believe. 

If we passionately woo our customers, then we court them with the desire to get to know them better. And we’re driven to help them better understand and know us, too. We seek a relationship with another person, not something to tick on a sales dashboard so we can hit some KPI. 

Passionately wooing customers is about connecting with another human being. One person at a time. It doesn’t matter if you have a number of stakeholders to satisfy. Each of them are individual people. Woo each one of them and you’ll forge a relationship with all of them. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you make a sale to a group? One person at a time. 

If your language hinders people in your company from viewing customers as real human beings, then take some time to change it. It’s a first step to hitting the first two legs of the successful business building trifecta: getting new customers and serving existing customers better. And it won’t hurt your efforts on that third leg either: not going crazy in the process.

Be enthusiastic and passionate about what you’re able to do for your customers. Deploy that enthusiasm as passion. Let the prospects and customers see and hear it. Woo them. That’s how you’ll win their hearts and their business.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Read With Aubrey is an online platform based in the U.K. that connects complete strangers with each other so they can read a book together. It’s not like a 2-person reading circle though. There’s a twist. You connect and spend just a few minutes reading the book aloud to each other. People are reporting solid experiences, connecting with a complete stranger simply because you both agree to read the same book to each other. 

Part of me wonders how we got here. To a place where such an app has an audience. But life and technology have changed. So I embrace it. 

Just a few years ago nobody would have considered meeting a future spouse via some online platform, but today eHarmony and a host of other providers serve a growing market. The same could be said of hopping in the car of a complete stranger, but Uber and Lyft changed that. And Airbnb has turned the hotel industry on its ear because we’re willing to book a reservation in the home of a complete stranger.

“Strange connections” doesn’t mean they’re weird or odd. It means they’re strange because they’re unfamiliar. At least until they become familiar. Uber and Airbnb aren’t strange to us anymore. Many of us can’t imagine not having those services. Are you in love? Married? You were strangers until you weren’t. There was a time when you weren’t familiar with one another. Then a connection formed.

This time of year I’ll walk 4 to 5 miles every morning. Early. There’s a nice dog park along the route I walk. Admittedly, I’m a dog lover. I smile every time I see dogs bound out of the car anxious to go run and play with other dogs. Dogs they’ve never seen before. Their urge to socialize with other dogs is pretty remarkable. 

Read With Aubrey is just one of the more recent examples of how people can make a connection with a single commonality. In this case, reading the same book at the same time. The people may have nothing else in common, but that one thing is enough. Only experience and intuition make me believe that they likely discover other commonalities as they embark on reading the book to each other. 

You’re at some social gathering. As you mill about the room you encounter people without any successful connection. But suddenly you encounter a person wearing a pair of New Balance shoes that happen to be your favorites. You approach this stranger and remark, “Those are my all-time favorite shoes.” They confirm they love them, too – and own six pairs. Shoes! One point of connection. And 30 minutes later you both know quite a lot about each other. 

That’s how it happens. 

Today is Monday so I want to encourage you to seek some strange connections because you’ll discover value. This morning as I walked past that dog park I was thinking of the benefits we get from connecting with people who aren’t already part of our circle. As I watched those dogs hop around playfully together I thought of the valuable business benefits of collaboration – people who discovered a connection through just one single point of commonality and went on to help each other. Would we have known Jobs without Woz? We’ll never know. 

The value of strange connections isn’t about how high you’re flying today. It’s about how high could you fly if you had a few more connections with whom you shared very important interests, beliefs, convictions, or whatever else – like New Balance shoes. 

In a few months when the north winds start to blow we’ll see many flocks of geese and other migratory birds flying south for the winter. They’ll be squawking, flying in formation. We won’t see them flying alone. They’ll always be together. Whatever their differences, they share important things that bond them together to make another annual journey of many miles successfully. It’s a journey they make for their own survival. So they do it together.

Don’t go it alone. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Texas Instruments said Tuesday afternoon that CEO Brian Crutcher resigned for violating the company’s code of conduct related to personal behavior. I’m sure in the coming days we’ll learn more. Crutcher had been with the company for 22 years when he was just recently appointed CEO effective June 1st. Chairman and previous CEO, Richard Templeton will reassume the roles of president and CEO. The company said this is a permanent move, not interim. 

Barnes & Noble. Intel. Texas Instruments.

It just keeps on rolling. Bad behavior from the high places.

It doesn’t defy explanation. Maybe power does corrupt. It certainly presents the temptation. 

Or maybe it’s what you often hear said of fame or wealth. They amplify who we really are. If we’re jerks, then our jerkiness is amplified.  If we’re decent and upright, then that too is amplified. 

Who knows? Really, who cares?

I’m tired of excuse making. And explanations. Not because I don’t want to understand, but because I already do. Some people behave poorly. Some always have. Some will always find a way to behave badly. 

Ethical and moral behavior are not outliers. I rather believe they’re the norm. Not because I’m naive, but because I’m optimistic. 

We decide how we’ll behave. We choose. I have no idea what the TI CEO did, but he’s accountable. Responsible. 

His salary was $1 million. Stock options and other incentives would have compensated him over $9 million a year more. TI is a $15B company. Money can’t buy wise conduct. It’s priceless with no cost of entry other than a mind made up. 

I’m not going to deliver an ethics lecture. What I will do is encourage us all to behave ourselves. 

For four years or so I coached a local college roller hockey team. The players were good. We went to the national tournament each year, achieving the Elite 8 one year (our best result). These were college guys who would hear me repeatedly admonish them with a single word, “Behave!” They weren’t highly compensated CEO’s who had been elevated from the COO role like Brian Crutcher at Texas Instruments. They were young college guys, but they clearly understood the instruction (okay, it was more of a plea). Behave. 

I’ve got a grandson who is almost 3. He understands the command. Yep, for him it’s a command. We figure he’ll learn otherwise soon enough. Until then we’re doing our collective best to instill in him that behaving is non-negotiable. Because in our family it is. 

What does it mean to behave?

It means you do what’s right. Unless we’re sociopaths we know what’s right. Well, to be fair, I suppose even sociopaths know. They just don’t care. Psychopaths may not know, or care. But I’m not trained in such things. No matter, I’m hoping you’re neither of these things so what does it matter?

Last year there was an interesting article in The Guardian entitled, “Crazy at the wheel: psychopathic CEOs are rife in Silicon Valley, experts say.”

“A true psychopath is someone that has a blend of emotional, interpersonal, lifestyle and behavioral deficits but an uncanny ability to mask them. They come across as very charming, very gregarious. But underneath there’s a profound lack of remorse, callousness and a lack of empathy,” said forensic and clinical psychologist Michael Woodworth.

The article points out that investors and HR departments can protect the founder/CEO in Silicon Valley. And presumably elsewhere. 

Here in Texas high football is legendary. Consider Friday Night Lights (first the book, then the TV show and whatever else came after the book). Young high school boys between 16 and 18 who are talented enough to be scouted by major college programs are entitled. They’ve been catered to and pampered because of their skills. Some behave poorly. With some, the privileges spur even poorer behavior. Like some Silicon Valley CEOs who find protection, these young athletes find it, too. 

We all need accountability. No matter if we’re a Silicon Valley CEO, high school football player or a college kid playing a lower tier sport like roller hockey. NOTE: I do not think it’s lower-tier, but I’m not naive how the world views it. It beats soccer all to pieces. 😉 

We can argue that TI’s board held their CEO accountable. And they did. They do. But no board can hold the CEO accountable at a micro, everyday level. That’s not to say that we need people hovering over us constantly. But it does mean that we can all benefit from more consistent accountability. It serves us. Makes us better. Helps us grow. 

It’s not a lack of trust. It’s responsibility. Value.

My wife and I are far from micromanagers of one another. I don’t keep a hawkeye on her any more than she does me. We trust each other. We respect each other. Yet we still check in with each other. We don’t walk out of the house without informing each other of where we’re going. We’ll text each other when we’re on our way home. These little check-in’s are part of our life that happened organically really. We didn’t sit down and establish rules. They’ve always existed because when we first got married we started answering to each other. In all the best ways. 

It’s spousal accountability. If you don’t see the value, then I offer a major proof that it works (although there’s more to it for sure) – we’ve been married 40 years. 

Our growth individually and together has been helped with that joint accountability. Don’t tell me it isn’t required, or that it doesn’t work. Don’t tell me you own the joint so you don’t need it. Maybe if these dethroned CEOs would have had people in their lives who held them accountable they’d still have their highly compensated gigs. Ten million bucks a year is a big financial loss. The greater loss is reputation and showing the world a lack of integrity. You can always earn more money, but regaining a good name can be very difficult.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

P.S. If you’re the owner of a business you may find The Peer Advantage by Bula Network an ideal accountability circle. You could join with 6 other business owners to work on your problems, your opportunities and your leadership. You can find out more by going to ThePeerAdvantage.com. I’d enjoy talking with you to learn more about you and your business. 

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First of all, don’t ignore and hope things will improve. Avoiding a problem isn’t a wise way to solve it. The sooner you jump on it, the better. Speed is key.

This means you have to see reality quickly. Your measurements – whatever dashboard you have – need to be speedy and accurate. There’s no excuse to not have real-time data today. There’s no excuse to say, “I don’t know” when it comes to the critical measurements that show whether you’re moving forward or not. I’m talking about the key performance indicators necessary to operate your business. 

It’s foolish to manage the work with knee-jerk reactions. You miss your targets one day. That doesn’t mean you burn down the processes, hammer all your people or some other foolish reaction. A day doesn’t a trend make. 

First responders are people willing to go in first. Fire fighters. Policemen. EMT’s. Soldiers. As the leader of the organization, you have to be a first responder. This means you have to be the first person whose curiosity drives you to find out what happened, what is currently happening and what is planned to happen. Curiosity is manifested with questions. Your job in tackling performance and growth problems is summed up in one basic activity, asking great questions. 

“The quality of our questions determines the quality of our business.”

As the top leader asking questions – great questions – it’s important how you ask. Tone matters. 

Harold Geneen, the tyrannical leader of ITT, arguably the first conglomerate, was notorious at berating and asking such difficult, challenging questions he could reduce top executives to mush in front of their peers. It would seem that much of that was intentional. He was successful. But I’m not prone to argue against success because it is what it is. What I may argue – and usually do – is formed as a question, “How much better could he and ITT have performed?” I’m always focused on what could be, searching for the potential to grow. To improve. To be better.

You know you can gather the troops in a conference room and start bombarding them with very challenging questions. You’ve got the right. My question is, “Why?” Why do that? If you answer, “Because I’m the boss,” then okay. True. You are. And don’t the people in that room already know that? Are you so insecure you have to remind people, during times of trouble, that you’re in charge. Honestly, I’d rather remind them when things are great. 😉

So often, when things aren’t going well, leaders form a posse to find the culprit – the person who messed up. I understand mob mentality. And the blame game. I just don’t understand how that helps us solve our performance or growth problem. 

Over the course of operating multi-million dollar businesses since I was 25 I’ve never once experienced searching for an answer to the question, “Why?” and had it fail to reveal any potential human lapses. Simply put, there’s no need to find out who is at fault when you can find out WHAT happened and figure out a whole lot more than just the people side of the problem. 

Be confrontational. Be rude. Be angry. You’ll shut down the people you need to find out the details of the problem, and the possible solutions. 

Foster safe, open dialogue. Make people comfortable to openly discuss the problem. Make it safe for people to own their possible contribution to the problem. 

How?

By putting all the attention on the problem’s solution. Focus on the source of the problem is just like focusing on the person who can most be blamed. It’s too one-dimensional. It doesn’t accomplish anything positive. It may feel good, but the net result is empty. 

People will instantly know where you’re putting the attention. They take their cues from you. What you think is important is what they’ll think is important. Make sure THE SOLUTION is what matters most. 

You won’t be able to find the solution without deep investigation into the problem. But the context is completely different when finding a solution is the goal. 

Remember, speed is key. 

Use another approach, with a different agenda, and you’ll slow the process. You may not even be able to get to the root of the problem so you can find the best solution. 

Instead, you’ll foster covering your butt behaviors. People will deflect. They’ll excuse. They’ll look for others to blame. It’ll kill the accountability you need to have a high-performance organization. 

This isn’t about neglecting challenging questions. You must ask challenging questions. 

Tone and intent matter. If you have the right intent, you’re tone will be right. 

Let’s say sales are trending down slightly. Here we are on Thursday, day 19 of the month. We’re headed toward a month-end revenue number that’s going to be 7% below our projection. Is that a problem? I don’t know. It will be if we miss our mark by 7%, but since we’ve got time before month end…we may make it up. So what does that conversation sound like? Jim is our VP of Sales. 

“Jim, I notice we’re on pace to come in about 7% below our projection. I wanted to get your input on what I might be able to do to help.”

I’m not threatening Jim. I’m not pitching a wild-eyed fit. I want Jim to talk to me about this. By just having the specific conversation you and I both know Jim is feeling some heat. Appropriately so. But he also knows I’m here to help him. Jim’s a smart guy. He also knows I’m removing any excuses he can have at the end of the month IF we fail to hit our target. I’m using speed to solve the problem, not to catch Jim. But my speed will in effect put positive pressure on Jim to do whatever he can with the remaining days of the month. Isn’t that the point? It is if you want to solve the problem instead of something with far less pay off. 

Jim may tell me about pipeline activity I don’t know about. He could tell me about a deal that’s going to hit the dashboard next Monday that will put us 3% over projection with still more month left. 

Jim may remind that the seasonality of the projection, based on the last 5 years, has been that 35% of the total month’s revenues are generated in the final 5 days. When that seasonality plays out Jim commits that we’ll easily hit our projections.

There are any number of things Jim can say. I need Jim’s help. He’s tip of the spear in sales. I need Jim to own the performance, along with me. I can help him do that, or I can make him run scared looking for others to blame, or circumstances to blame. 

Performance and growth problems can be simple, or complex. The questions tend to get better the deeper we go into the conversations to find solutions. That’s appropriate. We help our people ramp up toward the best solution. 

Remember a time when you engaged in a conversation that didn’t start off very well. Ten minutes later it was going swimmingly. What happened? You likely read the situation and started having true dialogue. The other person (or people) began to open up. It got easier. More productive. Foster that inside your company. 

In summary, put people at ease to own their part of it by focusing all the attention on having them help solve the problem. Ask great questions. Get great answers. Don’t accept just any answer. Encourage your team to not accept just any answer. You need truth, accuracy and reality. As you puruse the solution, pursue full accountability. It begins and ends with you. Invite your team to join you by making sure they know you’re a first responder to every problem. Celebrate their contribution to the solution. The blame will come out in process. It’ll be whatever it is. You need to intentionally praise and celebrate the effort and ability to figure out the solutions. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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