Photo Credit: monkeyc.net via Compfight cc
If I work for you, you’d better know my story.
Thanks for the fitness center and the Holiday party, but until you understand what inspires me, you’ll have to continue to write your “gotchya” policies. Sure, I’ll work hard for the bonus, but until you discover that there’s something in addition I want from this job, you’ll never get my best.
What matters to you? And why? The answers to these two questions provide a window into what causes actions to happen.
The story of the individual, the story of each person on the payroll, is intricately woven with the (success?) story of the organization they work for. Companies and bosses who disregard this connection, this element of humanity present in their organizations, are destined to underperform.
It’s not difficult to know which supervisors know this, because they know you. (Who do you know?)
Before the next meeting, before we look at another 50-slide deck, try this: “Excuse me, before we start, I wanted to ask you…”
Business – excellence in business – means we’ve got to be personal, we’ve got to know stories. To pretend there isn’t a life behind those delivering the numbers is to pretend we can lead.
Leadership and Greatness…
Instinct stimulus, for certain is the heart of the matter literally, not figuratively. The proverbial “carrot” has a limited shelf life from a motivation stand point. And, the proverbial “stick” is as barbaric as it reads and sounds. I’ve come to learn in recent years the essence of motivation is a matter of psychology and feeding our innate desires, namely, our desire to be first – recognized – to be great.
Alford Adler, Psycho Analyst, contends in part the desire to be first, recognized, praised, and to lead is a dominate innate impulse, a contrary opinion to Sigmund Freud.
Martin Luther King Jr. does an exquisite job in describing this behavior in a sermon he calls “the drum major instinct.” He goes on to say and share we all can be great and it is acceptable, “we ought to be.”
However, we should do so under the motivation of serving, aspiring moral excellence, and if our aim is to be a leader among leaders, be willing to serve more abundantly. This he calls a new order of greatness, which suggests we can all be great and leaders.
As important, arguably more so, the position of leadership is “best served by those whom are prepared” to serve selflessly, void of ego, selfishness, and other known false constructs of leadership, such as are often seen and heard among “pretend leadership.”
Listen to the message behind the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcuifZJdyaY
John – thanks for sharing your powerful thoughts on this post and including thoughtful leaders who inspire. There’s much to your note about motivation coming in the form on wanting “to be great.” Here’s to all that you do to support that premise!