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We continue our conversation about the 3 leadership shortages I see regularly. Today’s topic will seem identical to yesterday’s. SERVITUDE.

the state of being a slave or completely subject to someone more powerful

Yesterday we focused on serving your people. It’s about putting the needs of your people ahead of your own.

Today it’s about customers. Think of service as internal and servitude as external. That’s how I’m using these terms.

I know you’re the boss and you enjoy thinking, “I answer to no one.” But we both know the truth – you answer to everyone! Most especially to the customers you have.

Great leadership has an intense focus on making customers happy. It’s determined by the leader’s commitment to surrender to this group of people who hold greater power, customers.

There’s a key to this leadership gap. It’s not complicated. And it’s completely within your ability and personal power. It can happen instantly.

Here it is…

Make up your mind. Do it right now.

Decide.

Commit in your mind.

Surrender to your customers.

Decide that servitude is how you’ll roll from now on.

A few things stand in your way. I know from years of coaching CEOs and business owners.

Ego. If it’s not number one, it’s number two. Your own pride and self-will stops you from lots of growth and progress. Don’t fret. You’re in grand company. It does the same thing for me and every other entrepreneur. Well, the fact is you don’t even have to be an entrepreneur for it to plague you. It corrupts all of us.

Give it up. Decide that pleasing yourself is far less profitable for your business and career than pleasing customers. Learn the truth of that. Persuade yourself. Spreadsheet it. Data mine it. Google it. Do whatever you have to in order to come to the realization that it’s true. Because it is.

Profit. Think of ego and profit as interchangeable number one obstacles. An awful lot of business owners and CEOs believe being in servitude to customers will cost too much profit. They wrongly think they can’t afford it. It’s just too expensive to make customers happy.

Listen to the ridiculousness of that logic. Making customers happy is too expensive? Well, it’s not nearly as expensive as making them angry, dissatisfied, unhappy or indifferent. Those efforts may have lower up-front costs, but they have extraordinarily high long term costs. Fact is, that kind of behavior on the part of your company will fast track your company to bankruptcy.

Shallow thinking about how to build a business – aiming for today’s transactions instead of a deep, rock-solid customer base and aiming to satisfy your own ego – stop CEOs and entrepreneurs in their tracks. It cripples growth and expansion. It weakens customer bases. Fools us into thinking today’s transactions will be sustainable. All the while customers are growing increasingly dissatisfied. Word is spreading. Worse yet, we’re incorporating apathy throughout our company culture – apathy toward customers. And shoppers. And prospects. Or the absolute worst…we contribute to forming a culture where our shoppers, prospects, and customers are despised.

If your organization openly mocks or makes fun of customers, then look in the mirror. You’ve got a servitude gap in your leadership. It’s your fault. And you can fix it. The organization will follow your lead.

Pay attention to the language and the behavior inside your organization. Look for expressions of disdain. Stamp it out. Don’t tolerate it. But mostly, look in the mirror and gauge your own displays of servitude. If they’re lacking, then get your act together. Push your servitude to the top of the hit parade. Make it meaningful, not just lip service.

Then drag your pulpit around and preach the message. Share why it’s important and why you’re making it the top priority. Teach and train your people how to more properly display love for customers at every encounter. Include prospective customer in your displays of love.

Lead the way. Then preach the way. Don’t accept anything less.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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Starting today we’re going to get our toes in the water on the three shortages I regularly see in leadership: service, servitude, and stewardship. Honestly, there are MANY leadership shortages. I’m just looking at these 3 over the next three days.

You should know my bias. Leadership isn’t about position. It’s about service. Let’s frame some context around this.

You own a business. Or perhaps you’re a CEO or executive leading a team. You have a title and a position of authority. That’s the boss element of your identity. I’m not diminishing that, but that’s not what we’re talking about today. Being the boss is about the position, but that’s not leadership. So today, separate these two things in your mind. And do that again for the next few episodes this week because I’m not talking about your authority, your power or your capacity to make decisions as a boss.

Great bosses are also great leaders, but not all great leaders are bosses. Since you are a boss it would be ideal for you to excel at both being a boss (having authority) and being a leader (serving with positive influence). It’s a tough chore being both, but it doesn’t need to be impossible.

Service is aimed at helping others. It’s action-oriented. That’s why I picked it first. We can sit around and think of stuff, but it’s infinitely more profitable to do stuff. Doing helps us figure it out.

I heard Joe Rogan talk about starting his stand up comic career. He talked about how there’s only one way he knows to get into that business or to get good at it. Do it. Stink at it. Get better. Stink some more. Improve. He pointed out that there are no books, classes or coursework. You learn from others, but mostly you learn by doing it yourself.

Leadership may work best the same way. Do stuff…for others!

Self-serving leadership isn’t leadership. It’s just selfishness.

The big gap in leadership is the ability and willingness of people to get their mind and attention off of themselves and onto others. It’s a gap in the ability to recognize when people need help, when they need encouragement, when they need recognition, when they need something you could supply to help them. Not because it advances you, but because it advances them.

That’s the service you should provide to everybody who reports to you. If you own the joint or you’re the CEO then it should be service you provide to everybody in the company. If not on an individual level then through whatever hierarchy exists in your organization.

Let’s forego talking about why you should do this. If I need to convince you why you should do this, then you’re that interested in this podcast anyway. I’m not your cup of tea. Instead, let’s talk a bit about HOW. How do you serve?

Rather than dive into specifics which wouldn’t likely serve to help you, let’s pull back and think more globally. Let’s fly to a higher altitude so we can see the bigger picture.

It’s about people. Question: how would you characterize the problems you’ve experienced in life? Can you possibly do that?

Not likely. Because life is complicated and our problems, challenges, and opportunities are all over the board.

“Well, people’s personal problems aren’t my area. I don’t have any business going there.”

Is that true?

Your right-hand person tells you it appears they’re headed toward a divorce. They’re wrecked. What are you going to do? Tell them it’s none of your business? Tell them it doesn’t pertain to the company so you’d prefer to not discuss it?

If you’re an uncaring jerk you may. But you’re not. So you won’t. But what will you do?

You’ll serve this person. Their life and this problem will become a priority for you to help them in whatever way you can. Maybe you tell them to take some time away from work and you implement a plan to spread their work around so they can step away to focus on their marriage. There are any number of things you could do as a great leader.

Lessons can be learned by looking at how pathetic bosses behave. It’s what NOT to do.

A right-hand person won’t tell their boss about their problems. That’s where the problem begins. They don’t feel safe to confide in their “boss” what’s happening. They come to work, keep their head down and try hard to do their work. But the boss notices they don’t have their head in the game.

Performance may slip, if only slightly. The boss can get angry because the expectations are unaltered. He has no idea what’s going on with this key person. Nor does he really care. That’s why the employee never told him.

But a day arrives where the boss confronts the behavior. The employee still may or may not divulge the problem. If he doesn’t, then the pressure is on to up his performance in the face of a very stressful personal situation. If he does, then that pressure exists plus the pressure of worrying how the boss will respond or what the boss may think. It may feel like making a bad situation at home even worse by bringing it to work.

The net result may be deterioration of performance where the boss decides the demote or terminate the person. And great leadership would have likely resulted in a very different – much more positive outcome for both the employee and the boss (the great leader).

I noticed his performance slipping. It started early in the week. I was in my 20’s. It was my first real #1 job of running a company. Something was off with him and I noticed it. By day 3 I asked him to come see me.

He walked in and I asked him to close the door. I knew something was wrong and I suspected it was personal because I knew of no work-related issues that might cause his behavior change.

He settled in and I asked, “I know something’s worrying you. I don’t want to pry, but I want you to know I care and I’m here to help if I’m able.”

He broke down, crying. His wife had moved out. Taken up with a boyfriend he never knew she had. He didn’t know what to do.

I moved from behind my desk to occupy the chair beside him. I listened. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him I was sorry he was enduring this.

We talked about it and I let him lead the conversation. He told me everything.

My mind was reviewing the alternative courses of action I could take as the boss to relieve him of work responsibilities so he could focus on his life. When the clouds of emotions cleared I asked for his permission to talk about what I could do to help him. He readily agreed.

I said, “There’s no reason to let this impact your career. We’re going to do everything in our power together to make sure that won’t happen. It won’t serve your life to let things crash here so I’m going to do whatever it takes to prevent that.” He was very appreciative.

We huddled, reviewing the next two weeks of work scheduled. Together we collaborated on what might be our best course so he could step away to handle his personal affairs. There were a few days he needed to be at work and he expressed strong desire to be there. Basically, he wanted to work, but knew he needed a few days to get with an attorney and figure out how to navigate his divorce. We devised a plan where he’d take 3 days off immediately, then over the next few weeks there’d be some additional time away from the office. We also agreed on how we’d let the company know (again, he was in full command of that message – he decided he wanted people to know it was a divorce, but nothing more).

We communicated and put the plan into action. Things went fine. Different, but fine. For about 3 weeks. He may have missed 6 days plus a few half days, but in the end he got through it and so did the company. If anything, his performance went higher post-divorce. Our company proved how safe we were for him during the most troubling time of his entire life. It wasn’t about the company. It was about him. Yes, we put a plan in place so the company’s needs could continue to be met, but his needs drove that – not the other way around.

I can’t possibly know every challenge, problem or opportunity your people face. But I know great leadership is gifted at making sure they know the people well enough to know what’s going on. Without intruding, if it’s personal.

When you take square aim at SERVICE, putting the needs of people in the forefront, then compassion rules the day. People feel safe to share. They know you want what’s best for them.

Great leadership isn’t conditional. That is, it’s ineffective if you serve people provided you can get what you want. Service doesn’t have an IF. You simply do what you must do. It’s like Harold Geneen, the crusty tyrant who ran ITT, said, “Managers must manage.” Translation: you find a way. In this sense, you find a way to serve the people doing the work.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy

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Touchy feely fru fru alert!

Forgiveness is a quality of the highest character. Something we should all aspire to incorporate into our lives, something we should elevate and increase as much as possible.

I know revenge and getting even is deemed more fulfilling, but that’s a lie. They’re not. They damage us more deeply. Forgiveness enhances and improves us. Forget the benefits to the forgiven. WE benefit.

You can research on your own, if you care, the enormous benefits of forgiveness. And there’s empirical evidence that revenge, resentment, and bitterness destroy us. There’s just no upside to neglecting forgiveness. But if you want to lower your character and the quality of your life, then you can do that.

I’m focused on forgiveness because in the next few days I want to provoke you to think increasingly more about service, servitude and stewardship. These are the components of leadership I most often see missing!

The first C focal point of my work is COMPASSION. People ballyhoo empathy today. And I agree. It’s important. But compassion is how empathy’s horsepower is put down on the pavement. Without compassion, empathy is unrealized horsepower. Compassion prompts empathy to take action.

One of the most fundamental actions born from compassion is forgiveness.

Great leadership cannot exist without compassion. It’s impossible. Every great leader cares deeply about people, especially those people willing to follow or be influenced. You can certainly be a boss without compassion. Fact is, there are likely tons of those roaming the wild. Bosses focus on making decisions and telling people what to do. Judgment rules their life. They’re always judging what people do, criticizing it and attempting to correct it. I’ve never found any success in converting bosses into leaders. In my experience, they’re just too committed to being the boss and being in charge. Authority matters more to them than service and influence.

My feelings about forgiveness mirror how I feel about optimism. I just don’t see the downside. People often hear me say, “I know optimism is hard, but pessimism is harder.” Ditto on forgiveness. It’s often crazy hard, but holding a grudge and refusing to forgive is way harder.

Think of a time when you sought somebody’s forgiveness. Do you remember how desperately you wanted it? Did you get it? When you did, how did it make you feel?

Our desire to seek forgiveness can be as strong a desire as anything. And our relief when it’s granted it among the biggest exhale moments of our life. So I don’t have to persuade you how valuable forgiveness is. You know.

Here’s the business aspect we must consider – the lasting impact on us (or whoever does the forgiving) and the lasting impact on the people forgiven.

We’re all capable of insanely improved behavior when others extend enough graciousness to us to forgive us. It enhances our desire and effort to earn it even if it’s beyond our ability to earn it. And that’s AFTER it’s been given to us.

Forgiveness is a singular act that proves our compassion as a leader. It enhances our ability to be trusted unlike anything else. That fosters a level of unparalleled safety for our culture. When people trust more deeply and feel safer, performance is enhanced.

The opposite is true. Don’t foster trust with your team. Don’t make them feel safe. Then expect them to soar and tell me how well that works for you.

Let people make mistakes. Let them mess up. It’s grand permission to let them learn, understand and grow. But only if you’re willing to forgive them.

Be well. Do good. Grow great.

Randy

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All of us learned the proverbial truth that what you reward gets done. And that what gets measured can be improved.

The tougher lesson learned – and one I talked about a bit in the previous show – is that we sometimes get the rewards wrong. Which means we get the wrong outcomes. Who among us hasn’t experienced more than our share of, “Oops! I didn’t see that coming?” Or, “Oops! That’s not what I wanted to happen?”

Rewards and consequences matter. They can make or break the outcomes. Especially when you’re taking square aim at customer happiness! And I encourage you to make that THE aim of your business.

But rewards and consequences apply to all human behavior. It’s the whole pleasure versus pain deal. And the whole fear versus safety thing. Sad versus happy. Pick whatever Ying and Yang you prefer.

It reminds me of that scene from The Simpsons where Homer is playing hooky from work and the plant calls his house. Marge relays the message.

“The plant called. They said if you don’t come in tomorrow, don’t worry about showing up on Monday.”

Homer gleefully responds, “Whohoo! Four day weekend.” #DoesNotGetIt

Be careful the message you send…and the rewards or consequences you implement.

Creating a meritocracy is harder than it looks. But it’s worth the effort to get it right.

Thankfully today technology can help us create “what if” scenarios so we can get it closer to right straight out of the gate.

I’ll share a personal story of rewards and consequences to help get your juices going on how you might be able to implement systems that create the results you want.

Operating a luxury retail company that delivers products to customer’s homes is fraught with opportunities to mess up. Damage to customer’s homes. Damage to the products. Damage to the company equipment, including the delivery trucks. There are lots of moving parts.

Fanatism about customers drove me to try to figure out a way to reward and penalize delivery teams so we could be remarkable 100% of the time. Scratch a hardwood floor of a customer’s home a few times and you’ll understand the pain I suffered at the time.

Armed with spreadsheet data and cooperation with our warehouse/delivery manager, we figured we could earmark a percentage of the delivery fees to go toward a bonus pool for all the delivery teams (2 man teams and we had a number of them). We noodled around with it until we got it where we felt like it should be – a program that would get us closer to the ideal we were aiming for. Stellar customer experience!

Every month a portion of the gross revenue amount of the delivery fees collected from customers was put into a pool. That pool represented 100% of what would be evenly divided among the delivery teams. That was the reward.

The consequence? We would deduct any damage to customer’s homes, merchandise or equipment. Additionally, we’d track the delivery teams responsible for the damage and grade them each month. Consistently poor performing teams would likely suffer being removed from a delivery team, or being terminated. But it wasn’t a heavy-handed affair. Just candidly stated so everybody knew the rules of the game.

The potential dollars were significant. Both plus and minus. We went back and calculated what teams would be bonused taking into account the dings they’d suffer due to damages.

Our thought was positive peer pressure would be advantageous to our customers and the company. Each team would put positive pressure on each other to avoid any damages thereby giving the teams the maximum bonus amount.

At some point early on we encountered a situation we didn’t fully prepare for. The program was working like a champ. Monthly meetings were held to celebrate giving out the bonus amounts to each member of the delivery team. Results were reviewed. Challenges to make the next month even more successful were issued.

One day a delivery team left a dolly at a customer’s house. It was about a $200 dolly. They went back to where they left it and it was gone. The customer said they hadn’t seen it. (What are you going to do? Argue with a customer? No, we didn’t do that.)

The team responsible made a noble request. They wanted the $200 deducted from their bonus only. They didn’t want their teammates to pay for their mistake. I remember being impressed with the sentiment. But we held our ground and told them that everybody knew the rules going in. We only promised to tell their teammates about their request. Honestly, I don’t remember what decision we made, but it proves the point. Rewards and consequences can be very effective when you’re driving the exact behavior you want. They can backfire on you big time if you get it wrong.

Thankfully, you can always fix it.

In my experience good intentions matter. When your employees know the objective of what you’re trying to do and they know you’re wanting to incentivize them to do superior work, they’ll deliver.

You’ll figure this out IF  you want to. Today, I’m urging you to think about the rewards and consequences you have in place. Monetary and otherwise. Figure out if they’re really doing what you want. Figure out what you implement that can drive performance higher. Reward it. Penalize behavior that negates what you’re after. Work with it until you get it right. Figure out what works best and make the game fun and fulfilling.

Be well. Do good. Grow great.

Randy

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It’s comically effective. Very much so.

“Is there anything you’ve tried that has worked better than anything else you’ve tried?”

They answer, “Yes.”

I respond with, “Then do more of that and stop doing all that other stuff.”

At which point I’ll smile and say, “Good night, everybody!”

If it goes well (and it always does), then everybody smiles and chuckles. When the room sobers back up – within mere seconds – everybody realizes the profound simplicity of it all. And how true it really is.

The next conversation is typically focused on why and how we’re making things worse, not better. It’s the antithesis of the Hippocratic Oath.

“The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future — must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm.”

We’ve mostly heard it incorrectly stated, “First, do no harm.” But that prioritization isn’t really accurate. Rather, it’s more clearly stated to do good and avoid doing any harm. Very binary. Needful in the practice of medicine. Also needful in the operation of your company.

Do good.

Don’t do harm.

It’s empty advice at first blush. Sorta like telling a poor person, “Get rich.”

Unintended consequences abound. Well-intentioned actions do, too. No matter that these things may not always be congruent with our desired outcomes.

Make sure the problem is really THE problem.

Part of the challenge is the accurate identification of the issue. Do we really know what the problem is? We can make things worse because we’re fixing the wrong thing.

This is where listening first kicks in. Don’t assume you already know the problem. Be deeply curious to find out. How? By soliciting the perspective of others. And by listening to them.

It doesn’t mean you have to convert to their point of view. That’s the remarkable thing about listening that people can get wrong. Sometimes I suspect people don’t listen because they don’t want to change their viewpoint or belief. Well, that’s fine. Nobody says you must agree with or be converted to the viewpoint of the people to whom you listen. That’s up to you.

Get over it. The fear of changing your mind. 😀

It sounds ridiculous, but it’s absolutely true. Just look at the political landscape. Or pick any cultural topic. Nastiness rules the day, not listening. Makes me wonder what people are afraid of. All I can figure is it’s the fear of being convinced to change their mind. Or maybe they’re fearful they’ll learn something. Or understand something.

Listening matters. 

But only if understanding does, too. And when you’re trying to identify a problem accurately enough to solve it, then understanding really matters!

Have you ever made a problem worse because it started with you saying something like this, “I know what we need to do…?”

We’ve all done it. Jumped to a conclusion. Too often the wrong conclusion.

It’s easy. Leaping to conclusions. Filling in the gaps in our knowledge with assumptions. Mostly false ones.

Proactivity is ballyhooed. We think we need to jump on a problem straight away. Speed isn’t always the best answer when it comes to identifying and solving a problem. Being thoughtful and mindful is always appropriate.

The quality of our questions determines the quality of our business. And the quality of our decisions. Which includes the quality of our problem-solving.

Leaders – those who would be great (and those who already are) – display enough patience to learn more. To dig deeply enough to make sure the problem is properly identified. And as fully understood as time will allow.

So here are just a few suggestions you may want to consider as you approach the problems facing your business (and they can work toward helping you solve the problems of your life, too).

One, assess the time frame that’s available to you. 

Hint: there’s almost always more time available than you think.

Is there a stated deadline? Is that deadline non-negotiable?

How urgent is it that a decision be made? What’s the risk or downside to waiting? What’s the risk or downside to not waiting?

Problems aren’t all equal. Some are far more dangerous than others. Some are quite innocuous while others are screaming for attention.

As the leader, you have to perform the first triage of the situation so you know what resources to marshall.

Two, figure out who can best help you figure out the real problem.

Hint: it’s safe to assume you’re not seeing it correctly. That’s far safer than assuming you are.

Not everybody is helpful. Great leaders deploy resources to increase value – which is the entire purpose behind the business.

I know super smart people who are quite anxious under pressure. If the problem has a restricted timeline, they’re not likely the best people to lean on. But if the problem allows lots of time to ponder, they may be great. You have to know your people well enough to know who you need to help this go round.

What areas need to be represented in the room as you consider the problem?

What areas don’t seem to be needed? Be careful right here because this is where we frequently make problems worse. We exclude people thinking, “They don’t need to be involved.”

Three, figure out who seems to be the least needed to help you figure out the real problem.

Hint: put them in the room anyway. These are the exact people who can help you do good and no harm.

Worst case scenario – they’ll wonder why you brought them to waste their time. That’s your opportunity to evangelize the need to consider as many viewpoints as possible to prevent being blindsided by some unintended consequence as you thought you were solving the original problem.

Best case scenario – they’ll be major contributors providing you insights that would be unknown had they not been in the room.

Four, ask good questions, then ask great ones.

Put perspectives, opinions, and thoughts on trial for their life. Don’t fall in love with your solution or anybody else’s. Let the best solutions bubble to the top through rigorous questions.

Hint: foster debate and lively dialogue. Just demand respect always be displayed.

Five, it’s not a democracy, but find out what the room thinks should be done.

Hint: this doesn’t mean you have to agree. It’s information gathering so you can make the best decision. Let these people serve you.

Go around the room and have people commit to some course of action. Getting people to go on the record in front of their peers – and you, their boss – will be a powerful statement of what they believe.

Do not share how you’re leaning.

Hint: you’ll ruin the benefit if the group already knows what you’d like to do. Keep that to yourself until the entire group has debated it and they’ve all weighed in.

Six, decide.

You’re now armed with sufficient insight to make improved decisions. It’s highly unlikely – although anything is possible – to make the problem worse. At the least, you’ve safeguarded the company from that happening. At best, you’re armed to make a great decision that you alone could have never made.

Be well. Do good. Grow great.

Randy

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Listening is learning.

Choosing to learn is superior to choosing to be the smartest person in every room you enter.

It’s born of our curiosity. How curious are you? To learn and understand things you don’t yet know…or understand?

Have you ever stumbled down a rabbit hole to learn something that suddenly jumped onto your radar and it was as though you entered another dimension, a world you didn’t even know existed?

If you’re super curious it happens to you often. It happens often enough for me to make me realize that my experiences, knowledge, and insights are tremendously narrow. Narrow doesn’t mean useless. It means limited.

When I was a high school kid I got a job selling stereo gear. I had never done it before. I knew plenty about the equipment and about what constituted a good system. But I hadn’t really sold stuff before. And I had never worked in a retail store. But I was brought up to be polite and I knew how to interact with people. Still, there was an awful lot I didn’t know. Imagine teenaged me trying to figure it all out on my own!

Remove the people who showed you the ropes. Remove the people who taught you in school, at home, and on the job.

Talk about living in a matrix. Having to figure everything out without relying on anybody who knows something you don’t. What a royal pain that would be. And think about how long everything would take to figure out. Even basic things.

I can’t even imagine life without YouTube videos showing us how to do all sorts of things. We’re learning home repair, car repair, how to play musical instruments and how to speak a foreign language thanks to complete strangers willing to put videos up on YouTube.

Then why are CEOs, executives, leaders and entrepreneurs sometimes resistant to seek insights and knowledge from others? Especially in areas where they think they’ve got a pretty good grasp of the subject?

I mean, it’s easy to listen to others when we admit we’re outside our lane of expertise. I remember being quite young and negotiating my first lease. I was young, but I wasn’t stupid. So I hired an attorney who specialized in commercial real estate. Absolutely worth his weight in gold. When you’re operating retail companies and you’re smart – and I was both at one time 😉 – good real estate attorneys can be among your favorite people. Well, it’s easy to do that when you know how clueless you are.

But what about when you’re not so clueless? Or you don’t think you’re clueless at all?

Regularly I have a curious conversation. It goes something like this:

Me: “What would you most like to protect yourself from?”

CEO: “Blindspots. I’m fearful of what I may not be seeing.”

Me: “What are you currently doing to protect yourself?”

CEO: “I’m not quite sure what to do about it.”

I’ve got grandkids. The youngest will be 4 this summer. The oldest will be 12. Every single one of them knows the answer. I’m working hard to contribute to helping them maintain the quality they naturally have to protect themselves from blind spots.

Questions. These kids ask TONS of questions.

Curiosity. They’re obnoxiously curious.

Fearless. They’re not bashful to ask any question. Their quest to know trumps any fears they may have to appear foolish. Truth is, except for the two older of my grandkids (about 10 and 12 respectively), that doesn’t even cross their mind. Funny how the older kids grow the more intimidated they can be to ask questions that may make them appear foolish. I don’t think that’s a positive thing!

This week the two oldest grandsons have been attending football camp at a nearby high school, conducted by the high school football coaches. It’s about 2 hours every morning. They were excited to go and here we are late in the week – they’ve gone every day this week – and they’re still excited. Why?

In large part because these coaches know way more than they do. And they know it. They expect it. It’s why they’re attending this camp. They want to learn, understand and grow.

CEOs and leaders can lose their way for a variety of reasons. We’re number 1 in authority – we’re the people others look to for answers and decisions. Ego can fuel us to incorrectly think it means people expect us to be infallible. We lose our fearlessness – that fearlessness every child has to admit they don’t know and then to ask.

Formal instruction is easier. It’s one reason why workshops, seminars, and conferences can be more palatable. But too frequently less profitable. Because we’re passively sitting there absorbing new information, but that doesn’t mean we’re using what we’re learning. New information doesn’t often enough wind up being incorporated into our lives.

Formal instruction puts us in the company of others. That can make us feel better. “See, there are all these other people who need to learn this, too!”

Those forums can be profitable. And often appropriate. But tell me about a workshop, seminar or conference you attended that changed your life because of the instruction you got. Most aren’t transformational.

Transformational happens at a much more personal level. Usually in a much safer, more confidential setting. That’s especially true of CEOs and top-level leaders or entrepreneurs.

Executive and leadership coaching exists to address this. Peer groups exist, too. But what can you do today to get this thing headed in a more positive direction?

Step 1 – Let’s start with your direct reports, the people with whom you have an established relationship. Make time to sit down with them one-on-one to find out what they know better (or more than) you.

Remove any anxiety by asking them to meet with you for up to 30 minutes – just the two of you – because you want to get their feedback.

At the beginning of the meeting tell them your goal is to help them find more productive ways to contribute – and your hope is to make them feel better about their contribution.

“What don’t I know about your knowledge and know how? In other words, what do you know a lot about that I may not be fully aware of?”

See where the conversation goes.

Be curious. Be interested.

Step 2 – During the conversation with direct reports think of what you’re hearing and how this newfound knowledge might help the company with some existing problems.

Ask. Ask them how you may be able to help them leverage this know-how, or experience, or insight more and better.

Step 3 – After you’ve met with each direct report assemble them together in a group meeting. Allow an hour. Set the agenda. It could look something like this:

8:30am – Opening remarks – the purpose of the meeting is to find out what hidden knowledge and expertise we may be neglecting to leverage (so we can better leverage it)

8:40am – Sharing the insights I gained in my one-on-one meetings with each of you

9am – Roundtable discussion to share which insights may be most useful to help us address our current constraints/opportunities

9:25am – Wrap up / concluding thoughts

9:30am – Meeting ends

Along the way, facilitate good questions. One big objective of this meeting is to ready the group to lean more on their collective abilities and knowledge. The signal you’re sending is that you value their insights, experiences, and knowledge. But don’t make this about YOU. Make it about THEM.

Step 4 – Keep repeating this process as often as possible, especially the group meeting with your direct reports.

Don’t make this a one and done or nothing will change.

The quicker we understand that everybody matters and everybody has a contribution to make, the better we all become.

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”                -Harry S. Truman

President Truman was right. The ego that drives us to forsake our curiosity and our ability to value what others think and feel robs us of growth. So today, commit yourself, “No more!” Starting now leverage more fully the power of others by finding out what they know that you don’t – or what they may know more or better than you. And together see how much further and faster you can go.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Randy