This question, caused me to wonder about the formula for being and several questions began to enter my mind. What does it mean to be? What is the role of doing in that formula? How are doing and being related? Is there any relation at all?

It didn’t take me long to realize that it is possible to do, without being, but I do not believe that it is possible to become, or to be, without doing something. Are you with me on that?

Permission To Soar In Ascending Spirals

This is actually a conversation that I have had with myself many times and it represents the vision of my work. I believe that achievement, the result of our doing, by itself is worth very little. If we spend our life achieving and doing, we will never be filled. We will simply move from one quest to another without ever gaining any sense of satisfaction. That said, we can’t just throw away any and all forms of doing in pursuit to be. In all reality, we must be anxiously engaged in many good causes.

Buddha taught this lesson beautifully. He began his journey to enlightenment by sitting under a Bodhi tree. He believed that if he denied himself all his privileges and desires and sat under that tree suffering all manners of affliction, he would soon suffer his way to an enlightened state of being. It didn’t take him long to discover that that was not the way. He realized that the true path required both active (doing) and passive (being) activities.

The journey to being begins with a careful clarification of what it is that we value. Our values, must then influence our dreams and aspirations. Our dreams and aspirations, must then guide the things we do. Aligning all that we do, with what we wish to become puts us in a state of balance and we are then free to soar in ascending spirals. This is important, WE GIVE OURSELVES PERMISSION TO DO THAT!

Living The Commitments That Accelerate Growth

What we do, determines our ability to grow and to be. Paul, taught us this lesson in a letter he wrote to the early Christian community that was living in the Roman Province of Galatia. He warned them to be very careful about how they spent their time by saying, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Hence, our version, you reap what you sow, was born.

If you really want to “BE” something, you must be willing to live the commitments that are associated with that quality or behavior. You can’t smoke and be a “non-smoker”. It takes effort to be, and that effort translates into doing. Do you see the natural connection?

Arya was asking about the relationship between doing and being, but I believe he was also asking about the place of rest and meditation. Is it necessary to be doing something all the time? The answer of course is yes, but you are the one responsible for choosing your activity.

My perfect day includes a lot of time to meditate, pray, study, and ponder. I like to be alone in my thoughts. It is how I reinvent myself. It is how I recharge my batteries. When I give those activities up for the pursuit of others, I find myself out of balance. These are the things that I am willing to commit to, and they work for me. You may find your energy in totally different places doing totally different activities. The key is deciding what commitments we are willing to make and then sticking with them.

This, is where the balanced feeling of being comes from. When our dreams are aligned with our commitments, we create harmony. Life begins to feel like, and appear as if, we are running on auto-pilot. Growth is accelerated, and we are ready to become.

Standing Whole and Ready To Lead With Purpose

But alignment is not enough. Your light, the essence of your being, will never reach its full potential until you learn to shine brightly. It is only when we learn to radiate the vision of who we are to the world, that we begin to lead with purpose.

Leadership – that is the purpose of becoming. The greatest work we will ever do is to lift another to a new level. It is the most fulfilling and satisfying experience. It is the essence of being. When we become our best, we see for the first time that there is room for everyone to be their best.

Arriving at this gateway to enlightenment strips us of all forms of toxic competition. We learn to cheer others on without any worry that they will somehow surpass us. We are inspired by their efforts. We feel a desire to be better for our own account, because we see that there is so much potential that is yet to be realized. We see so very clearly that we are all connected and that we are all one.

Life moves fluidly. The doing that we do appears to happen without any effort. From the outside to the inside, we are filled with peace. We know who we are and we are being that person. The struggle to do, is no longer found within us. We simply live on purpose and we lead that way too.

Have you identified your aspirations?

Are you willing to live the commitments that are necessary for their realization?

What are you doing with your light? Are you willing to shine brightly?

I don’t have all the answers, but I know that I am anxiously engaged in becoming my best. I understand where balance comes from and what it takes to get it. I want you to create harmony in your own life and leadership responsibilities because I know it will bring you great joy. Please do me a favor today. Take a moment to write down what you value most in life. Then examine how you are spending your time. Then take a step, no matter how small toward balancing the ledger. You are now free to move about the cabin!

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

Andrew Thorn

Parents and classroom teachers have not taken these ideas to heart. Students, from a very young age, undergo “forced ranking” through the grading system, a competition which labels individuals as being at the top, middle or bottom of their class. (Enron raised the stakes with their “rank-and-yank” approach to firing underperformers which did wonders for long-term leadership development.) Not coincidentally, teachers habitually point out to students not what they do right but what they do wrong – over and over. Furthermore, they tend to focus their quality teaching time on those students who they perceive will answer a question correctly. As a result, students learn that the best way to succeed is to give the teacher what they want and not make waves. Even if you thought you were right, there’s no point in arguing with the person giving you your performance review, i.e. grades. It’s the rare and heroic teacher who breaks that pattern – check out Dead Poet’s Society, Finding Forester and Rudy for a few Hollywood examples.

Not surprisingly, when we get to the corporate world, we often discover that the leaders of organizations were people who flourished in the educational system of compliance. It’s natural for them to find faults in their reports and dwell on those faults until improvement is seen or the person goes away. The same applies with selection and promotion. Internal competition for the best jobs is based on who provides the right answers according to the boss rather than a good answer the boss may not have considered before. Similarly, organizations look to hire the person who graduated top in their class, not realizing that the person in the middle may in fact be the most innovative or driven.

Come performance review time, we see the way this impacts the bottom line. Performance management involves seeking out the areas where an employee has not had success. In our multirater data, we focus on the lowest results, and do training needs analysis and development activities to fill that gap. We fail to realize that the strengths a person has – if enhanced – will raise their performance to a higher level in a way that will be much more productive. We mistakenly think there is more value in taking a person from a 2 to a 3.5 on a 5 point scale, rather than helping them improve their 4.25 to a 4.75.

I once told a manager, “Stop trying to teach a bird to bark and a dog to sing. It only annoys the animals and frustrates the teacher.” Asking a person to work on the thing they have the least aptitude for is counter productive to development. It’s like putting an obstacle in front of a blind person. The message, reinforced continually, is “I don’t perform well.” The energy spent on filling those gaps draws from the energy that could be multiplied by excelling at strengths. The organization fails to benefit as well. By using a resource inefficiently, it is unintentionally hamstringing itself in the competitive marketplace. Better to focus on filling those gaps through complementary resources or different ones. Consider also that people who excel at their jobs are happier, more innovative and customer-focused; while adequate managers who build their strengths can become good or even excellent managers, multiplying their positive impact.

Most of us are conditioned to expect criticism during performance reviews – or we get bland assertions of positive but unhelpful data. Whenever I do feedback sessions with people seeking a behavior to work on, I suggest that they focus on one of their strongest and most frequently demonstrated behaviors. The reaction is like a deer in the headlights. “What are you talking about? I already do that well!” Yes, I answer, but what would the impact on your work be if you were to make incremental improvements that led to even stronger results? Imagine the excitement for your projects, goals and strategies if you were even better at what you do well now. Instead of struggling unsuccessfully with a weakness, I explain, you could focus on building and refining a strength. The lights begin to shine brighter because what I am saying actually makes sense.

Corporate performance improvement occurs only when people performance improves. For years, however, we’ve been stubbornly “herding cats” by forcing people who are unmotivated to change to adopt new behaviors. At a recent Linkage conference on Leadership Development,  speaker after speaker raised this message. As Jack Zenger put it, leadership development is in its infancy because we have not yet focused on what makes the most dramatic difference in performance: improving our strengths. There were nods around the room, but also a lot of “deer in the headlights” expressions. When it comes to changing our cultural bias towards working on weaknesses, we still have a lot of work to do.

Here are some suggestions for managers and HR professionals to build strengths in others:

1. Eliminate packaged program development suggestions for low scores.
2. Focus on what people do well and can improve – in line with business objectives. As much as possible, employees should discover those areas themselves. Don’t provide suggestions just because you think you have to!
3. Provide positive feedback whenever possible based on constructive observations. Put the suggestions in the light of current behavior not the desired actions.
4. Confront inappropriate behaviors and set out clear action steps without losing sight of the positive.
5. If inappropriate behaviors violate cultural values, don’t hesitate to remove that person. The negative effect on others is higher than the effect of losing one employee, no matter how well they perform.

David Cohen is president of Strategic Action Group and the author of Inside the Box: Leading with Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success and The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing, and Keeping Top Performers.

A few months ago I was sitting in a seminar conducted by Bruce Tulgan, the guru on generational differences.

He was talking about the group known as Generation Y (those persons who were born between 1980 and 2000) and why they feel they need the corner office right now instead of working their way up the ladder. Driven by a sense of guilt over the effects of divorce, etc, the parents of Gen Y (the Baby Boomers) sent their children to counseling. Here Gen Y learned they were significant and of value so when they show up on the job they expect to be treated accordingly.

Further examination of this topic reveals that it isn’t just Gen Y that is concerned about significance. Zig Zigler, noted author and public speaker and Bob Buford, author of the book Half Time: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance talk about the distinction between success and significance. Both say that as we age, the emphasis switches from thinking about being successful to being significant. That is, we must be involved with what is important. Success doesn’t necessarily breed significance say these men. Employees in general want to know their work is viewed as being important to peers and management.

Diversity and inclusion are words that are often used to promote workplace harmony and productivity. I would invite us to add the word significance as a part of the conversation. Significance is about how things feel, inclusion is taking action and diversity is a process and an outcome. The following illustration is a recent example.

One week prior to the writing of this newsletter our firm hosted a meeting with my colleagues from the Diversity Collegium. We get together twice a year to discuss the current trends and needs of our profession. As a set up to the meeting each person was asked to do some pre-work and then to bring hard copies to the meeting so we could review things more quickly. I wrote and asked if we could do the review of each others work by e-mail prior the meeting. The real reason for this request was so I would be able to read it in advance instead of trying to play catch up during the meeting. Much to my surprise and pleasure, every single person responded by submitting their comments before the meeting and I was able to truly be present in the room.

During the course of the meeting, the colleagues were able to visit my office to see how I do my work on the computer. They learned about the voice software I use (Jaws), how I use the Braille display to help move the cursor on the computer, and also gained some insight to the challenges I face when trying to find my way through web sites. They started asking questions about how I feel, what I need to do and then commented on the need to make sure they get things to me in advance.

So here is the continuum as I listened to their responses. First, they were beginning to understand the difference between being sighted and my being blind (diversity awareness). Though they’ve known me for years and have been helpful in matters such as reading the menu to me or helping me get from one place to another, on this occasion their level of awareness dramatically increased.

Secondly, they acknowledged the importance of submitting their thoughts/comments by e-mail prior to the meeting (inclusion). I was able to be an equal player in the room.

And third, the questions and comments as they were viewing the computer demonstration gave me the feeling that what was important to me was now important to them (significance). I was blown away because very rarely are people attentive to my unique needs as a blind person. The key here was they were doing it out of respect for me and not out of compliance, tolerance or politics.

So now let’s look at where does significance come from and how does one get it if they don’t experience it. First significance comes from encouraging comments by family, friends, peers and managers/supervisors. Secondly, the individual needs to feel that what they do has value and is a contribution to the business.

Group identity may also be very influential in determining whether or not someone feels significant or of value. In some cases there is a differentiation of how people from different groups are treated. Based on this treatment the individual may experience difficulty in figuring out their significance as an individual and as a member of a group in relationship to how they are viewed, or even how they view themselves.

For many years, my membership into the group known as people with disabilities seriously impacted my feeling good about who I am and the group I was a part of. Through the help of colleagues and friends, I am now able to make the distinction between individual worth, its relationship to a series of groups I belong too, and the tasks that are being performed. It becomes necessary for people of color, women, people with disabilities and anyone who is in a “lower level” position in the organization to constantly examine their filters of how people feel about them in relationship to how they feel about themselves.

As individuals it is necessary to develop a plan for self improvement and self enhancement. For example, you may need to acquire new tools to do the job better, participate in a self care program where you pay attention to all aspects of your life (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) and/or build and maintain appropriate support mechanisms.

If you are the manager or leader it is important that you clear pathways and create openings for others to be successful as well as add value. Remember that in some cases, it is the little things and not the big things that contribute to the process of creating significance for workers at all levels.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

While listening to Steve speak so openly to coworkers about his efforts to develop himself as a leader, I realized how much the world has changed.

Twenty years ago, few CEOs received feedback from their colleagues. Even fewer candidly discussed that feedback and their personal developmental plans. Today, many of the world’s most respected chief executives are setting a positive example by opening up, striving continually to develop themselves as leaders. In fact, organizations that do the best job of cranking out leaders tend to have CEOs like Steve Sanger who are directly and actively involved in leadership development. That has certainly been my experience.  This has also been confirmed by a recently completed research project led by Marc Effron at Hewitt Associates, one of the largest HR consulting firms. Hewitt and Chief Executive magazine put General Mills on their latest list of the top-20 companies for leaders, among such familiar names as IBM and General Electric.

Hewitt found that these organizations tend to more actively manage their talent. They put lots of focus on identifying high-potential people, better differentiate compensation, serve up the right kinds of development opportunities, and closely watch turnover. But crucial to all these efforts were CEO support and involvement.

No question, one of the best ways top executives can get their leaders to improve is to work on improving themselves. Leading by example can mean a lot more than leading by public-relations hype.

Michael Dell, whose company made the Hewitt list, is a perfect example. As one of the most successful leaders in business history, he could easily have an attitude that says, “I am Michael Dell and you aren’t! I don’t really need to work on developing myself.” Michael, however, has the opposite approach. He has done an amazing job of sincerely discussing his personal challenges with leaders across the company. He is a living case study from whom everyone at Dell is learning. His leadership example makes it hard for any leader to act arrogant or to communicate that he or she has nothing to improve upon.

Johnson & Johnson, tied for first on the top-20 list, has successfully involved its executives in leadership development. Its CEOs, formerly Ralph Larsen and now Bill Weldon, and top executive team regularly participate in a variety of leadership-building activities. Having a dialogue with the CEO about his business challenges and developmental needs makes it a lot easier for employees to discuss their own business challenges and developmental needs.

Executive candor can even help turn around a troubled company. Consider Northrop Grumman, the aerospace defense contractor. CEO Kent Kresa inherited a company that had a poor reputation for integrity, a battered stock price, and an unfortunate reputation as one of the least-admired companies in its industry. His leadership team reversed the company’s poor image and engineered an amazing turnaround – ultimately becoming the Forbes’ most-admired company. From the beginning of the process, Kent led by example. He communicated clear expectations for ethics, values, and behavior. He made sure that he was evaluated by the same standards that he set for everyone else. He consistently reached out to coworkers. He didn’t just work to develop his leaders–he created an environment in which the company’s leaders were working to develop him.

Unfortunately, in the same way that CEO support and involvement can help companies nurture leaders, CEO arrogance can have the opposite effect. When the boss acts like a little god and tells everyone else they need to improve, that behavior can be copied at every level of management. Every level then points out how the level below it needs to change. The end result: No one gets much better.

The principle of leadership development by personal example doesn’t apply just to CEOs. It applies to all levels of management. All good leaders want their people to grow and develop on the job. Who knows? If we work hard to improve ourselves, we might even encourage the people around us to do the same thing.

Marshall Goldsmith (Marshall@MarshallGoldsmith.com) is corporate America’s preeminent executive coach and a founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners. He is the author, most recently, of Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get it Back if You Lost It, as well as What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – the Wall Street Journal #1 best seller, and Succession: Are You Ready – published in February 2008 as part of the Harvard Business ‘Memo to the CEO’ series. Marshall is also on the faculty of the executive education programs at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan.

This article in a different form originally appeared in Fast Company Magazine.

Ankle Breakers

While the tree is known for its beauty, it is also known for its spiked fruit. These “gumball” shaped droppings are very unpleasant to walk on, and they do not decompose. If left on the lawn, they turn it into an uneven surface full of lumpy pock marks. Here in North Carolina, they call the the fruit “ankle breakers” because both the fruit, and the holes they create in the lawn, are known to cause many ankle injuries.

As a newcomer, it was hard for me to understand why this tree was being removed. It looked like a beautiful tree. The decision to eliminate it, was not made in haste. Its removal had been considered for many year and it was finally time to create a new landscape plan. Its seasonal beauty and the shade it provided could no longer save it. The mess it regularly makes had finally sealed its doom.

Character Reveals Itself Over Time

As I watched the tree fall, I thought about the people I know who have faced a similar fate. They may possess many strengths, but for some reason, their weaknesses always seem to bring them down. In the beginning, their coworkers and leaders enjoy the immediate contributions they make, but in the end, the pollution they spew on their social environment is so toxic that they are asked to leave.

I find this especially sad because people are not trees. The “gumball” tree is what it is and cannot change its behavior, but people can. Some simply reject the idea of growing new behaviors. They believe that their strengths will always save them, so they refuse to deal with their fatal flaws. They are surprised when they are no longer wanted, but they shouldn’t be.

I foster a “strength based approach” in all of the work that I do, but I also make sure we take enough time to identify and eliminate any critical behaviors that can potentially derail a career. These characteristics are usually seen by all, but rarely addressed until it is too late. It is my job to discuss these unspeakable blemishes in such away that the needed growth is understood, accepted and embraced.

No one can really expect to hide these types of behaviors for very long. They are always revealed in time. The only way to deal with these challenges is to grow beyond them. That requires constant effort. I like to help people learn what they can do, instead of what they must stop doing, but sometimes they just need to stop doing certain things or they will continue to face similar consequences.

Leveraging the Perspectives of Others

I realize that it is difficult to see our own “fatal flaws” and that is why we must encourage others to tell us the truth about our behavior. Sometimes those around us don’t tell us the truth because they don’t want to hurt us, but the only way the truth can hurt us is when it is withheld from us or covered up. Plain and simple, we need to know if there is a problem.

Other times, the truth is spoken and we refuse to hear it. We tell ourselves that the person that is speaking it does not really believe what they are saying, or we argue that their perspective is not valid. The person trying to tell us the truth eventually loses interest and leaves us alone until we self-destruct.

If we want to thrive, we must be willing to listen to the spoken and unspoken feedback we receive from others. If we fail to do that, we will be cut down. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.

• Are you taking the time to hear and understand the feedback you are receiving?
• Do you look for ways to uncover the unspeakable?
• What are you doing to encourage others to tell you the truth?

We cannot ignore the truth for very long. If we do, we will find ourselves in undesirable circumstances. Growth is much easier to accomplish when we see it ourselves. Don’t wait for somebody to tell you that you need to do it. Take care of your personal “ankle breakers” today.

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

Relationship building, networking and community building are some of women’s finest gifts. Therefore, The Essential Feminine Company™ is opening its “Living Room” as a place for women to get together once a month to share ideas and suggestions about various topics. This is a free event happening at noon (Pacific Time) on March 24 and continuing on the fourth Wednesday of the months following. You will need to register for the event at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/448858688

We will begin our Living Room discussion with the topic, “Inviting The New, The Different and The Good Into Our Lives”. After the initial theme has been presented we will be opening the lines for announcements, wishes, desires, and general networking. Please contact us at info@theessentialfeminine.com if you have something you would like to share during the second half hour. We need at least forty-eight hours prior to each Living Room event for your comment or need to be considered.

We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to join women from around the globe and help us create a community of women who want to create their lives from their true selves and thus make a difference.

Maureen Simon

Note: Yesterday (March 8) “was International Women’s Day celebrating the progress women have made in their struggles for equality and development and also focusing on what remains to be done to ensure there is equality for all. The theme this year is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All.””

Note from The Hunger Project: “(THP) firmly believes that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Wherever we work, our programs aim to support women, build their capacity and ensure their voice is heard and influence felt, both in their own communities and more widely.” To read more: http://www.thp.org/learn_more/publications/newsletters/february_2010

Note from Heifer International: Women Working Wonders; Since they received goats from Heifer, the members of Zambia’s Evergreen Women’s Club have been able to provide life-saving milk for their children, grow valuable crops to support their families and help their neighbors support themselves. To read more: http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201594/?msource=kwg538

Maureen Simon
“Designing Business & Lives”
Create Your Blueprint for 2010
info@theessentialfeminine.com

http://womeninfluencingnow.wordpress.com

http://www.facebook.com/maureensimon

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Join our Facebook Group “Women Influencing Now”
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Very true, indeed. Think about your own organization. Have you ever attended a corporate retreat or executive training session that was titled something like Stupid Things We’re Doing That We Need to Stop Doing?

Or, when was the last time your CEO delivered an internal talk that focused on his negative traits and his efforts to stop this destructive behavior? Can you even imagine your CEO (or immediate supervisor) admitting a personal failing in public and outlining his efforts to stop doing it?

Probably not.

There are good reasons for this, largely allied to the positive tone and fast-forward momentum organizations try to maintain. Everything in an organization is designed to demonstrate a commitment to positive action — and couched in terms of “doing something.” We will start paying attention to our customers (rather than stop talking about ourselves). We must begin to listen more attentively (rather than stop playing with our BlackBerrys while others are talking).

Likewise, the recognition and reward systems in most enterprises are geared to acknowledge the doing of something. We get credit for doing something good. We rarely get credit for ceasing to do something bad. Yet, they are two different sides of the same coin.

Think of the times you might have seen colleagues go on a sales call and return with a huge order. If they’re like the salespeople I know, they’ll come back to the office ready to regale anyone who’ll listen with a blow-by-blow account of how they closed the deal.

But let’s turn that scenario around. What if, during that sales call, these salespeople crunch some numbers and realize they were about to agree to a deal that actually costs the company money with every unit sold? What if they decided, on the spot, to stop negotiating and say “no” to that sale? Do they rush back to the office and brag about the bad deal they avoided?

Hardly. That’s because avoiding mistakes is one of those unseen, unheralded achievements to which we devote little time or thought. And yet, many times, averting a bad deal or situation can affect the bottom line more significantly than scoring a big sale.

Think of Gerald Levin, the formerly admired chairman of Time Warner during the 1990s. He was hailed as a revolutionary business leader who foresaw the future of cable TV and helped invent HBO, and also transformed the company from a hodgepodge of magazines, music and movies to a media powerhouse.

But in 2000, Levin made a mistake. He merged Time Warner with online service AOL. It was the biggest corporate merger in U.S. history at the time — promising an organization that would dominate the media landscape for decades.

Of course, it didn’t work out that way. The merger nearly destroyed Time Warner: Its stock lost 80 percent of its value, and thousands of employees lost the bulk of their retirement savings. As for Levin, he lost his job, a big chunk of his net worth and all of his reputation. He went from being chairman of Time Warner to being the architect of the worst corporate merger in U.S. history (with the possible exception of the recent Daimler-Chrysler debacle).

Now, imagine if Levin had walked away at any point during the negotiations for this merger. Chances are, we’d never know about it (or wouldn’t give it much attention if we did). Levin certainly wouldn’t have held a press conference to announce the companies weren’t merging. If he had applied the brakes to this deal, though, his reputation and net worth might have remained intact.

That’s the funny thing about stopping negative behaviors and actions. It gets no attention, but it can be as critical as everything else we do put together. As you evaluate your own performance, consider how what you aren’t — or shouldn’t be — doing is having a negative impact.

Marshall Goldsmith (Marshall@MarshallGoldsmith.com) is corporate America’s preeminent executive coach and a founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners. He is the author, most recently, of Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get it Back if You Lost It, as well as What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – the Wall Street Journal #1 best seller, and Succession: Are You Ready – published in February 2008 as part of the Harvard Business ‘Memo to the CEO’ series. Marshall is also on the faculty of the executive education programs at Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan.

This article in a different form originally appeared in Talent Management Magazine.

In order for our collective responsibility to change, we must change on a personal level. Attempting to change collective responsibility will fail, as it is a symptom and not the disease. For true change, we must accept our personal responsibility to move beyond fear, selfishness and superiority to a place of deep understanding and care for the benefit of all. Women are particularly needed to lead this new way of living/leading because we who give birth, by our very nature hold the potential for compassion for all (the whole). It is my wish that women step forward today and take a greater lead in where our collective (world) is headed. It is my passion to help that to happen.

Maureen Simon is the founder of The Essential Feminine Company™ (TEF)—a lifestyle and business design company that supports women in creating successful, powerful lives that incorporate their feminine attributes and gifts. She can be reached at:

415-381-5115
maureen@maureensimon.com

www.theessentialfeminine.com
http://globaldialoguecenter.blogs.com/women/
www.facebook.com/maureensimon

Join our Facebook Group ” Women Influencing Now”
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According to a Harvard Business Review article[1], 55% of all Fortune 100 companies define integrity as one of their “core” values. When working with a senior team, I could just cite that statistic if I wanted to discourage the inclusion of integrity on their list. Or, I could add that integrity was one of Enron’s values too. But either because I’m too polite to take a cheap shot or an optimist at heart, I take a deep breath and say: “Okay. If integrity is one of your values, let’s define it in a way that is meaningful to your organization.” And let the fun begin.

I always find it difficult to mediate the ensuing debate. What is integrity? What does it mean for this organization? How do we define it in concrete terms to understand it better? Other values, equally over-represented on corporate mission statements, do not create the same trouble. For example, senior leaders also love the words teamwork, respect and stewardship. No problem. What kind of teamwork? Teamwork between front line staff and management to provide great customer service. What kind of respect? To one organization it means respect for the traditions of the brand, to another respect for the environment. How about stewardship? Sometimes it means financial oversight or prudent investment, other times it means stewardship over the community’s resources. Defining those values in specific contexts gives them power.

But when you get to integrity, it is much harder to come to common agreement. Are we talking about commitment to quality? Honesty in dealings? Trust between employees? It’s as though there are too many synonyms and analogous situations available to sift through for us to pinpoint an exact meaning. I am reminded, each time, of what a teacher told me many years ago in rabbinical school: no institution has integrity, only people do. It’s more personal than other values.

But a theological argument is not completely satisfying in explaining our difficulties. So I’ve spent a few years contemplating the issue. Here’s a list of possible answers. Is the problem with integrity that:

A)   Corporations, by definition, don’t have any?

B)    I can’t recognize integrity because there’s something wrong with me?

C)    Integrity is not what we think it is?

D)    All of the above?

If you answered A, you’re more cynical than I am or I need to tone down my sarcasm; B and I’m worried about my reputation; D and you take too many multiple choice tests. The correct answer, at least by elimination, is C. I only realized that recently, however, when grappling with a serious values issue with a major client.

The organization, an insurance provider, was going through its values exercise. At the same time, in a seemingly unrelated event, it was being sued by a family for coverage that hadn’t been provided after an accident because of an issue with a premium. We went through our values work as the newspapers blared headlines about the progress of the court case. Perhaps because of that contentious atmosphere, our debate was particularly rigorous and thoughtful. When we finally came to agreement, everyone in the room was happy. Then one executive threw cold water in our faces: “If all of these values are really true, and I think they are, then we’re doing the wrong thing fighting this family in court.” It was a sobering thought, but one that galvanized a powerful reaction. Immediately, it was decided that the company would reverse its stand and pay up. The lawyers couldn’t believe it. But the executive team had a good night’s sleep, comforted by the certainty that they had done right by the family and the organization.

The reaction to this switch was overwhelmingly positive outside the company. It was in fact an event which had the makings of a genuine corporate legend – one of those stories which demonstrates what an organization stands for better than any list of values. The press loved the decision. Politicians applauded it. The community genuinely appreciated it as a refreshing gesture. Other companies, at a conference that took place soon afterward, admired it. They understood that it takes a lot of courage to do the right thing when that costs money. More importantly, the people within the organization felt good about the decision. The employees held their heads a little higher and could explain it within the rationale of the values. The executives, as we mentioned, slept better at night. As one declared: “We acted with integrity.”

Stop the presses… Integrity was not one of their values. I wondered, should we A) rewrite the values to include integrity, or B) think about what acting with integrity really means?

The correct answer, of course, is B. This realization was a major “aha” for me. Integrity is not a value, I realized. Instead, it’s the act of living your values. To violate a value is to diminish your integrity. Think about the powerful emotions aroused when a company gets caught in a hypocritical stance. For example, when a senior team turns out to be crooked, or a finance firm permits harassment of women to take place systematically, or a manufacturer pollutes the environment, the public (and internal) reactions can be severe. But the reactions will be much more severe if that company espouses financial stewardship, teamwork or respect for the environment as differentiating values.

To include integrity in a list of values is a redundancy. Integrity is not a value unto itself but a summing up of the other values together. Organizations act with integrity when they live up to their values. Doing so can be difficult when it costs money, competitive position or strategy. But even though the benefits of acting with integrity may not always be as clear as with the insurance company I described, the reinforcement of integrity, internally and externally has its own well-deserved rewards.

David Cohen is president of Strategic Action Group and the author of Inside the Box: Leading with Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success and The Talent Edge: A Behavioral Approach to Hiring, Developing, and Keeping Top Performers.

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