It's a Matter of Pride

When people are proud, they don't stop with just good enough.

When people are proud, they search for opportunities to contribute, to make a difference, to model the way.

When people are proud, they manage themselves and require less oversight from leaders.

When people are proud, they convey a deep conviction and a contagious enthusiasm.

When people are proud, they do things because they want to, not because they have to.

When people are proud, they take greater satisfaction in accomplishments ... theirs and those of others.

When people are proud, their energy is the fuel that ignites others.

Perhaps Jon Katzenbach, Why Pride Matters Most, said it best: “People who are emotionally committed to something … behave in ways that defy logic and often produce results well beyond expectations.”

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Storytelling: The Need for Narrative

Big-city amenities with a small town feel. Great quality of life for the price. Amazing downtown that is clean, safe, and filled with amenities. So easy to do so much. A place that moves in new directions a bit conservatively, but when it does, it almost always does so successfully. An overall B+/A- place to call home that is relatively hassle-free.

This is the story that those of us living in Indianapolis told others (and each other) during the early years of this decade. This is the story that has produced (among other successes) the gleaming White River State Park filled with cultural destinations, the Canal Walk, an outdoor music amphitheater and much more. It’s the tale that no doubt helped us secure the 2012 Super Bowl, quite a coup given the competition and the potential for a very cold January. This is the story that made you feel good about living in a place that some still refer to as India – No – Place.

While remnants of this story still creep into conversations, they no longer saturate them. Much of this is due to the changed economic conditions that have put some developments on hold, trimmed back others, and made balancing the city budget quite difficult. This more challenging climate, however, should only have dampened the fire of what was a very compelling narrative shared by many. …

… If our civic leaders would have kept telling the story. But they haven’t. When we talk about the power of storytelling, we often reference sitting around the campfire. But any campfire goes dark unless it is provided with new kindling and timber and stirred and stoked periodically to spread the burning embers.

When our citizens elected a new mayor in November of 2007 they not only changed administrations, they voted out some of our primary storytellers. This isn’t unusual. Candidates often win elections because they tell a new or different story that voters find appealing. But our previous mayor was voted out largely due to public opposition on tax matters. People didn’t vote against the city’s story he helped cultivate. They didn’t even vote for a new story since the eventual victor didn’t really have one.

Our new mayor presents himself as a “get down to business” brass tacks kind of guy. He prides himself on being no nonsense and frequently cites lessons learned form his military career. He rightly focuses a great deal of energy on addressing the significant infrastructure needs that any major city has, and he is indeed making some progress.

All this is well and good. But his story isn’t our story. Sidewalks and safety fall at the base of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Important as they are, they aren't the narrative fuel that unites a community, inspires passionate and vibrant nonprofits, fully engages corporate generosity, and helps continue to shape a world-class convention and tourism destination.

And in the absence of a shared story whose flames are stoked by very visible storytellers, we are left with many smaller stories told on smaller soapboxes to more isolated audiences. It's fragmented. Pockets of pride can be found from some storytellers, but the waves of momentum and synergy are much smaller. And some stories and storytellers are not so positive. Some don’t contribute to our growth and development. Some even suck the energy out of the civic fabric. And worse yet, many people now have no story that they believe in or tell to others.

Every successful institution—company, school, community, association—has at one time achieved great things because of the stories its leaders, and more importantly, its members, residents, or stakeholders have told. People need a future to believe in and need to know that others not only believe in that story, but are working together to make it a reality. CEOs don’t necessarily have to be great storytellers, but they do need to insure that a great story is being told.

What’s the story being told in a place you care about?

There's More than One Way to Score Runs

The over-the-fence homer is a guaranteed crowd pleaser at a ballgame. One crack of the bat can send the fans to their feet and put another run on the scoreboard.

Far less thrilling, but equally valuable when it comes to winning games, is the slower and more methodical approach of putting people on base and then advancing them to home plate. The final score doesn’t denote how the runs were earned … just that they were.

When it comes to organizational innovation, too many people think only of home runs, of the star player who takes a turn at bat and hits it out of the park. Read any of the research about how innovation actually occurs and you learn it results from a mix of striking out at the plate and a lot of singles and doubles to finally earn a run. And periodically a sacrificial bunt is required to get just the right product or service created.

Organizational executives and strategy consultants do a huge disservice to the innovation process when they focus too exclusively on just the big swings, the home runs of idea generation and implementation. It falsely defines innovation and makes it appear out of reach for some of the game’s most important players.

Just as no baseball manager can make having a star player hit a home run a defining strategy for a game, neither can any leader rely excessively on one or two individuals, committees, or divisions, to deliver the game-winning hit on demand. Organizations instead need a deep bench of players with varying capabilities and a clear strategy for advancing ideas one base at a time. That’s what puts runs on the scoreboard and delivers value to members or customers.

Saving time or time to savor?

Saturday morning found me chopping vegetables and making homemade bread ... aka, "trying to use up everything in my CSA box before another one comes this week."

I probably spent about 2-3 hours total cooking away, knowing full well that the farmer's market sells the very bread I was making and that I could pick up a bag of chopped frozen vegetables anytime at the grocer's.

And I remember my first association job where four professionals with graduate degrees gathered around a small table every other week to label and stuff envelopes for a member mass mailing. Mundane work indeed, but the time together was filled with lots of laughs, informal brainstorming, and periodic deep dives on strategic questions we needed to address.

In their great book, The Experience Economy, authors B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore use the example of birthday cakes to explain how our economy has evolved from extracting commodities (flour, eggs, butter) … to making goods (using a pre-made cake mix) … to delivering services (buying a cake from the bakery) … to staging experiences (outsourcing the bday party to Chuck E. Cheese).

But we're starting to see numerous examples of people "regressing" from being spectators at staged experiences to becoming more involved in the creation process once again … some because of economic realities and some because of a desire to reconnect with the craft itself.

Perhaps the time-savers in our life might actually be depriving us from investing time in activities and relationships we can savor.

Swifferize Your Routine

For millions of people, Swiffer products have been a game-changer, offering a quick and convenient way to clean your floors on a more regular basis between deeper cleanings. I love being able to catch all the dust accumulating in just a few minutes.

Every now and then we all stop and sort through the stacks of clippings, unread professional publications, notes from conferences attended and the like. To be truly effective though, we need to complement these episodic organizational deep dives with more ongoing review and action.

Example: While I use an electronic calendar and organizer, I go low-tech for my daily routine. On a 3x5 index card, I note my appts. and tasks for the day on one side. As things come up during the day that I need to remember and/or act upon, I note those on the other side. The card is my key to portable productivity. At the end of the day, I clear the card, reviewing both sides and taking the necessary actions.

Take 10 minutes right now and figure out one way you can Swifferize the way you manage your desktop (actual desk, mental, and/or computer).

The clutter you remove just might lead to the clarity you seek.

Garage Sale Economics

A complete set of Aunt Martha's cherished china that has been passed on from generation to generation? $15.

An heirloom puppet you once used to entertain all the neighborhood kids? $3

The plastic patio table and faded umbrella under which so much laughter with good friends occurred? $25

This is the time of year when so many look to reduce the clutter in their lives and use cheap prices to entice us to increase ours. It's a time-honored ritual in which we ignore the sentimental value and meaning attached to objects and instead opt for the joy of empty shelves and a bit more breathing room.

So many companies and associations would benefit from having a garage sale of their own, purging themselves of the programs or services that have little value but people just can't seem to part with yet. Only by letting go does new space become available for what we have yet to create.