Don’t walk into Clearspire‘s D.C. headquarters and expect to be impressed. Spartan furnishings and a simple glass sign adorn the waiting room. You may not believe you are in the right place–the offices lack the posh trappings of an emerging law practice competing against the top 200 firms.

Yet they represent the [...]]]>

Don’t walk into Clearspire‘s D.C. headquarters and expect to be impressed. Spartan furnishings and a simple glass sign adorn the waiting room. You may not believe you are in the right place–the offices lack the posh trappings of an emerging law practice competing against the top 200 firms.

Yet they represent the new face of the legal profession. And they are winning global Fortune 500 clients by focusing not on the quality of their office trappings, but on the way in which they deliver and manage client engagements. Other B2B companies would be wise to learn how Clearspire is changing the client rules of engagement in a traditionally secretive, high touch, low-tech field.

Corporate counsel clients have the right to demand changes. Years after corporations have complained about billable hours and unnecessary fees, most law firms are still deploying industrial age business models to serve their clients. The “hours for dollars” approach to delivering knowledge work simply goes against the grain of delivering value. Professional services firms often promote rainmakers who bill the most hours.

Clients get the short end of the deal in this scenario. They are afraid to pick up the phone because the meter starts running in 1/10 hour increments.

In today’s flat world, pedigreed resumes and upscale, wood paneled offices no longer cement client relationships. Value does.

Let’s establish what I mean by value before we share some of Clearspire’s value secrets. In today’s business world, value is a by-product of several factors:  the perception of your brand, your ability to communicate your brand clearly and ethically, and how consistently your brand and delivery mechanisms align to ultimately create a positive client experience. Creating value is one part art, one part science. It takes a blend of great listening skills, the ability to think on your feet, and the courage to be provocative.

Clearspire is committed to creating more value, and putting an end to the law industry’s dysfunctional behavior. Furthermore, they have the technology and commitment to prove it. Co-founders Mark Cohen and Bryce Arrowood invested their own funds and 2 1/2 years of R&D to build a technology platform called CORAL.

Since they launched CORAL earlier this year, it delivers on these promises:

1. Fixed project fees, established in advance of the engagement–no billing surprises.
2. A highly secure technology platform to collaborate real time with clients and team members, post questions, review briefs, and more.
3. Clients receive a project plan that clearly outline how and when a client engagement will be completed.
4. Efficiency bonuses are shared equally with legal team members, the client, and Clearspire (the firm) when an engagement is completed ahead of schedule.
5. Clients are not subject to “fee padding” to support exhorbitant bricks and mortar offices.
6. Collaboration trumps hierarchy. Clearspire’s team members do not boast fancy, formal titles. Everyone is a partner.

As co-founder Bryce Arrowood puts it:

Over the last 100 years, the law firm business model was predicated on billable hours. We felt that there was an opportunity to take that model and turn it on its head by re-aligning the incentives of the lawyers who do the work, the law firm that provides the service, and the clients who consume the work.

Here are four Clearspire-inspired strategies that any B2B company can implement:

1. Align your proposals and engagements around a client initiative, not your deliverables and outputs.
2. Create services and deliverables that allow your client to re-use the content without re-engaging your firm. Inside CORAL, Clearspire provides client with templates they can re-use in the future.
3. Identify the thought leaders in your industry and educate them on your value-based model. Prior to launching CORAL, Arrowood and Cohen started working with the major legal thought leaders across IT, academia, and industry associations.
4. Look beyond your services offering to refine your value proposition. CORAL is the hub of Clearspire’s culture and value proposition, not their employees’ resumes and pedigrees or a fancy office.

The verdict has been reached: Antiquated “hours for dollars” business models deserve a life sentence. Clearspire’s solid defense team ensures corporate client budgets and relationships receive the protection they deserve.

Watch my interview with Bryce – 9 ½ minutes:

Click the image above or here to watch the video.

Lisa Nirell helps companies grow customer mind share and market share. Since 1983, Lisa has worked with Sony, Wells Fargo Advisors, Adobe, Microsoft, and hundreds of entrepreneurs in nine countries. Lisa is also an award-winning expert speaker, FastCompany expert blogger, and author of the acclaimed EnergizeGrowth® NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company. Download your sample chapter and business energy booster survey at www.energizegrowth.com.

This post originally appeared on fastcompany.com.

[Image: Flickr user State Library of Victoria Collections]

copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Recently, on television, I caught an old episode of the All in the Family television comedy series. It’s still interesting to think about the iconic character, Archie Bunker, and his attitude toward race and social change.

My sentiments about Archie evolved over time. When I first learned of the concept for this situation [...]]]>

Recently, on television, I caught an old episode of the All in the Family television comedy series. It’s still interesting to think about the iconic character, Archie Bunker, and his attitude toward race and social change.

My sentiments about Archie evolved over time. When I first learned of the concept for this situation comedy, I agreed with observers who opined that it would trivialize the serious topic of racial prejudice and set back recently gained progress in the area of race relations. My initial viewing of the show affirmed my concerns.

For starters, the open expressions of prejudice angered and dismayed me. The idea that someone could build a “comedy” around behaviors and beliefs that had harmed so many was appalling. As the show matured, my anger evolved into a simmering resentment about the exploitation of such a serious issue. Yet, strangely, I continued to watch.

In spite of my initial anger and resentment, I eventually found myself viewing the show with almost no feelings. I simply watched as if I were an “objective” observer accepting what for many was an accurate portrayal of the American scene.

This acceptance mode gave way to a period in which I laughed heartily at Archie, sympathized with him or even empathized with his views; although, I in no way endorsed his thinking. Here is where I asked myself, “What’s going on? Why are you developing a strange fondness for this bigot?”

My appreciation for Archie has grown over the last few years, as I have continued to explore the nature of diversity and have gained – in my view – an enhanced understanding of Archie’s dynamics.

At a very fundamental level, Archie was a bigot. No doubt about it. But he was a different type of bigot. He did not emit the malice and hatred that I had come to associate with bigotry. Archie appeared to be a “benign” bigot who intended no harm to anyone. Perhaps Archie’s bigotry came across as less harmful because it was not confined to race alone, but ran the gamut of the human experience.

Indeed, Archie faced multiple challenges across a wide breadth of dimensions – race, gender, ethnicity, geographic origin, economic class, sexual orientation, age, and political affiliation, just to name some of the most frequently mentioned ones. Archie grappled with diversity and its inherent differences. He found it difficult to address mixtures characterized by differences and similarities. Hence, he was severely “diversity challenged.”

This state of being “diversity challenged” can exist independently of bigotry. One can be a bigot and not be “diversity challenged,” and one can be free of prejudice and still be “diversity challenged.” This offers one explanation as to why Archie’s prejudicial behavior projected little hatred or malice. His behavior was not driven by hate, but rather from the frustration of an inability to effectively address a growing number of diversity concerns.

At still another level, Archie struggled with change. He vehemently disliked change. In one episode, as Edith brought him a glass of beer, the following exchange occurred:

Archie: Why are you bringing me my beer in a glass? You lose so much to the air.

Edith: Archie, I thought it would be a nice change.

Archie: Well, remember this! I don’t like change!

This dislike for change came through loudly and clearly. “Those Were the Days” served as the comedy’s introductory theme music. Everyday, Archie came home at six, expecting his dinner on the table and nobody in his easy chair. In one episode, his daughter Gloria declared, “Daddy, I don’t want to end up like you and Mom. You do the same thing everyday!” But this predictability and lack of change constituted Archie’s very essence.

Norman Lear, the creator of All in the Family, once commented, “Many found Archie to be a despicable character. I did not. I saw him simply as a man struggling to deal with change.” In this context and in a time of rapid change, Archie’s prejudicial expressions conveyed little hate, because they were really cries for help from a proud and confused man.

So, what lessons can we learn from Archie Bunker in terms of race and racism? Certainly, the elimination or containment of prejudice alone will not be sufficient to bring substantial, sustainable progress in race relations. Archie’s problems with race grew out of his prejudices, his inability to deal with diversity in general, and his struggles in general with change. In other words, racism was not the only causal factor.

Any effort to enhance race relations must operate on at least three levels: (1) elimination/containment of bigotry, (2) expanded individual and societal capability for dealing with diversity, (3) and improved ability to accept and implement change. A most sobering and disturbing reality is that our society and corporate America have for the last forty years or so focused primarily only on the first level. We still have a long way to go.

In this context of multiple causes, we must exercise care in diagnosing and interpreting racial incidents. For example, in analyzing corporate racial conflicts, care must be taken to determine the principal cause of the dynamics, such as racism itself, inadequate diversity management, and/or an inability to deal with change. Effective remedies require accurate diagnosis.

To say that more than bigotry can undergird poor race relations does not minimize prejudices or the need to contain them. The point is that other dynamics can be in play.

The notion of multiple causation has helped me understand why I was laughing at Archie. I laughed not at his bigotry, but rather at that part of him struggling with diversity and change. In my view, many of us share with Archie these diversity and change struggles independent of any prejudices we may have.

Finally, obsession with racism can blind us to other situational dynamics. Over the years, I have read much commentary about All in the Family, but I have never seen it discussed from the perspective of dealing with change, or even from the perspective of Archie’s struggles. Instead, the focus has centered on his bigotry.

The lessons above suggest that improving race relations is much more complex than we earlier assumed. Continual progress will require that we broaden our perspective about the multifaceted and often emotionally provocative issues concerning race, diversity, and change.

Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., is the CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training (RTCT) and the founder of the American Institute for Managing Diversity. He has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative concepts and strategies for maximizing organizational and individual potential through Diversity Management. He is the author of Building a House for Diversity; Beyond Race and Gender; Redefining Diversity; and Building on the Promise of Diversity.

I met Shane, a dubiously anointed “star salesperson,” on a client assignment in San Diego. He piloted the biggest customers. When I worked [...]]]> When your biggest customer calls with an emergency request, do you dial 911? Chances are you are setting off unintended fire alarms – and causing your profits to lose altitude.

I met Shane, a dubiously anointed “star salesperson,” on a client assignment in San Diego. He piloted the biggest customers. When I worked with the General Manager of this $40M software division—his boss—I noticed how Shane could turn the entire support and customer service organization into a tailspin with one email. I cringed when I witnessed how his knee-jerk reactions drove adrenaline levels to an all-time high. Things became so heated that the CEO ultimately reassigned him to another division. In fact, he committed an even greater sin: he promoted him to VP of Sales.

Over the years, Shane’s General Manager was equally to blame. He fostered a customer-driven culture. And, as a B2B business leader, you may be unconsciously acting the same way. This behavior is guaranteed to stall your growth and burn out your best people.

First, let’s draw a distinct line between customer-focused and customer-driven cultures.  Think of customer-driven companies as those firms who will go the extra mile for every customer, no matter how large or small. They allocate their best resources to every account. And the founders probably invest at least half of their time with customers. Read on for a more exhaustive list.

Conversely, customer-centric companies put customer needs (latent and overt) front and center when making important growth decisions—not all decisions. They treat clients in accordance with their values. But they are unwilling to sacrifice their relationships and principles to make one more sale.

Contrary to common wisdom, every B2B firm is not in the customer service business. My auto mechanic is. And guess what? If they mess up my new Audi SUV, I will complain and find another one.

Here are common traits of client-driven cultures. If more than three ring true for you, it may be time to re-visit your true purpose and ways of operating:

• Your clients comprise most of your social circle.
• At least 20% of your revenue is derived from one large client.
• You deploy an arbitrary resource allocation process.
• Your delivery resources are at every beck and call of the sales organization. This encourages artificial “rush” jobs accepted and done at the expense of Developing.
• Principals are deeply involved in delivering service and making sales calls. Every project is unique because clients demand changes, solutions, and change orders—at no extra charge.
• You encourage personal boundary “erosion.” After-hours calls and pages are worn like a badge of honor. Your team cannot enjoy a meal without their smart phones beside them to harass their dining companions. If your sales, marketing, and support people are encouraging your clients to call them on a 24 x 7 basis, and they sleep with their smart phone at bedside, then you are a client-driven culture (not to mention dysfunctional. Would you want to be married to that person?)
• Suit vs. creative mentality. According to David Baker, founder of Recourses and author of Managing Right the First Time, “’Suit’ is shorthand for account executives. In a business that’s focused too much on saying ‘yes’ to clients, they often make promises that the creative types or technicians have to fulfill, cleaning up after the suits.” This will kill profits and morale in a heartbeat.

Imagine if my local airport – Washington National– were run this way. Any self-appointed “important person” would fight to control their own runway. The gates would admit passengers on a first come, first served basis. Air traffic control would be rendered useless. The inmates would indeed be running the asylum.

Shane cannot be trusted roaming the airport terminal without adult supervision. Nor are your teams if you have given them carte blanche to rule the airways with customer driven behaviors. Act now before the controllers (your customers) go on strike.

Lisa Nirell helps companies grow customer mind share and market share. Since 1983, Lisa has worked with Zappos, BMC Software, Adobe, Microsoft, and hundreds of entrepreneurs in nine countries. Lisa is also an award-winning expert speaker, FastCompany expert blogger, and author of the acclaimed “EnergizeGrowth® NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company.” Download your sample chapter and business energy booster survey at www.energizegrowth.com.

[Image: Flickr user Ed Yourdon]

This post originally appeared on fastcompany.com.

Copyright 2011, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Jim Bampos, VP of Customer Quality at EMC Corporation, was one of [...]]]> When you can attribute a 20% revenue gain to a customer centric culture or program, you get noticed. And that’s exactly what happened to several Voice of the Customer thought leaders during the annual Allegiance Engage Summit 2011 in Deer Valley, Utah.

Jim Bampos, VP of Customer Quality at EMC Corporation, was one of the show stealers–and for good reason. Unlike many companies who talk a good game about putting customers first, EMC can prove it.

EMC dances on the leading edge of the Voice of the Customer (VoC) movement.

Click here to watch the 7 minute Jim Bampos EMC interview.

VoC programs emerged from the market research milieu. This term describes the in-depth process of capturing a customer’s expectations, preferences and aversions. Specifically, VoC systems produce a detailed set of customer wants and needs and prioritizes them in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. Highly evolved VOC program leaders also analyze and act upon free form customer comments from multiple sources, including call centers, salespeople, Twitter, etc.

VoC solution providers such as Allegiance, based in South Jordan, Utah, have flourished in response to the VoC movement. EMC became one of their early adopters out of necessity.

Although EMC was enjoying double digit growth, it was facing intense competition. They needed to think differently about the customer experience. Says Bampos, “We really did not understand the full customer life cycle from the time that they were made aware of our solutions to the end of life of our products. The professional services organization was the first to launch a pilot VOC program to bridge the gaps between the customers and the internal support organization.”

EMC’s VoC pilot program gained traction within two years. Since launching the VOC program, they have witnessed a 30 point Net Promoter Score improvement and over 20% revenue increase–representing hundreds of millions of top line revenue.

Other competitive industries are following suit. During her Summit keynote presentation, Bonny Simi of JetBlue also shared details about their Voice of the Customer program. “Our mission is to bring humanity back to travel. How can you know how you are doing without asking your customers?” Simi, an accomplished business strategist, Olympian and airline captain, described their palpable two year VOC journey. Simi and her team juggle 50,000 survey responses per month and 1.6 million Twitter followers. Gathering and analyzing customer data is a small piece of the VoC puzzle. She spends a great deal of time demonstrating the value and ROI of their program, as well as gaining sponsors across departments and locations.

Click here to watch the 5 minute Bonny Simi JetBlue interview.

The right survey tools can help smooth out the VoC journey, but should not precede solid branding, a customer-obsessed culture, and strong executive sponsorship. Bruce Temkin, founder of Temkin Group in Boston Massachusetts, emphasizes that companies need to master four customer experience competencies in order to become truly customer-centric: purposeful leadership, compelling brand Values, employee engagement, and customer connectedness. Temkin posits that “It turns out that companies are only as strong as their weakest link. VoC Programs are often an important tool in building the Customer Connectedness competency. We recently had more than 200 large companies complete our competency assessment and only 3% ended up at the highest level of customer experience management maturity, what we call a Customer-Centric Organization.”

After spending three days with over 300 VoC zealots, these statistics do not surprise me. The majority of companies attending the Engage Summit are still in the early stages of determining the ideal data collection and validation methods. VoC leaders still spend most of their time discussing the right listening posts, choosing the questions to ask, and debating ideal metrics to use.

Clearly, most B2B companies have a long way to go towards becoming truly customer-centric. Allegiance is clever enough to create an annual event that attracts fervent customer evangelists–half of whom are not yet their customers–to accelerate industry adoption.

If your company is considering a VoC program launch, beware of the rush to select a technology solution. First, invest the time in defining the purpose of your program. Executive support will take time. Tell people why you are embarking on the program, and how you will use the customer data once you have collected it. VoC programs typically provide these benefits:

1. A detailed understanding of the customer’s requirements
2. A common language for the sales, marketing and product development teams going forward
3. Valuable, real time input to set appropriate design specifications for the new product or service
4. A springboard for innovation.

VoC evangelists Bonny Simi and Jim Bampos have their work cut out for them. With only two years of VoC under their belts, the journey ahead will be met with some resistance. Let’s hope they focus their energies on the art of enchantment and influence, and leave the community building and tool making to market leaders such as Allegiance.

Lisa Nirell is the “Chief Energy Officer” of EnergizeGrowth® LLC. She advises B2B companies who aspire to create sustainable companies by attracting great customers.  Companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Wells Fargo Advisors, and dozens of mid-market companies have worked with Lisa to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.  Visit www.energizegrowth.com and http://blog.energizegrowth.com to assess your company’s readiness to grow by downloading your complimentary Wealthy Company Scorecard.
Copyright 2010, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.

Chief Diversity Officer’s (CDOs) worried about the fate of diversity management efforts during the current economic downturn are in good company. For the past several months, diversity practitioners have routinely asked, “What are you seeing?” Most who did so fully expected major cutbacks by their organizations. Indeed, several internal diversity practitioners have already reported a [...]]]>

Chief Diversity Officer’s (CDOs) worried about the fate of diversity management efforts during the current economic downturn are in good company. For the past several months, diversity practitioners have routinely asked, “What are you seeing?” Most who did so fully expected major cutbacks by their organizations. Indeed, several internal diversity practitioners have already reported a reduction in the status of their positions.

Few expect an early economic comeback. Clearly, CDO’s must rely on their wits if they are to thrive in the near-term environment. They must, in short, be clear about the value of diversity management efforts and adept at communicating this value to their organization’s decision makers. The five strategies that follow should help in doing so.

(1) Focus on the upside. Remember that a crisis can facilitate Diversity Management (making quality decisions in the midst of differences, similarities and related tensions and complexities). The shared danger experienced by organizational participants in crisis can clarify the “ties that bind,” encourage the dissipation of petty rivalries, and mandate the establishment of priorities –all of which can foster a greater awareness of the importance of and benefits of quality decision-making in the midst of diversity.

(2) Understand and assert that if diversity and Diversity Management offer viability benefits in “good times”, these contributions are equally or more important in difficult ones. For example, Diversity Management’s enhancement of the ability to make quality decisions in the midst of differences and similarities is a particularly valuable contribution in hard times.

(3) Seek and share a basic understanding of concepts. Through conceptual differentiations, you can heighten appreciation of unfinished diversity business. For example, differentiate between work force representation (having a work force profile reflecting the demographics of society) and work force diversity (having behavioral variations). Those advocating for work force diversity should recognize that both are needed.

Similarly, differentiate between diversity and Diversity Management. Organizational leaders who achieve diversity, but fail to make quality decisions in the midst of this diversity risk losing their representation and diversity gains. So, the greater the representation and diversity progress, the more essential Diversity Management becomes.

(4) Look for non-traditional opportunities to display the power of Diversity Management, particularly when the potential gains for leaders and the organization are significant. In difficult circumstances, mixtures beyond the CDO’s usual domain often present ripe opportunities for demonstrating Diversity Management’s potential. For example, organizational leaders must make balanced and insightful decisions that address the diverse requirements of the crisis situation and the status quo. CDO’s can help their organizational leaders understand how valuable Diversity Management can be in addressing this diverse mixture of requirements.

(5) Offer the Presidency of Barack Obama as a case study in diversity. This Presidency is an interesting diversity case study because President Obama in essence is embracing diversity and Diversity Management.

Mr. Obama says, for example, that he wants to be President for all, not just for those who voted for him. Serving this diverse–and sometimes unruly–mixture represents a major Diversity Management challenge.

He has also assembled a cabinet that is representative not only in terms of race, but also gender, ethnicity, political affiliation, ideology, experience, style, education and other attributes. Behaviorally, these individuals will generate and passionately present a multitude of diverse prescriptions for their various policy areas. A key Diversity Management task for President Obama will be to foster quality decision-making in the midst of these significant representative and behavioral differences and similarities.

In support of the Diversity Management challenges he is facing, President Obama has called for engaging our differences and similarities productively as we problem solve around pressing issues. This will require that Americans of all persuasions engage and understand each other, disagree without being disagreeable, problem solve, and remain unified as a country in the midst of our differences and similarities. These attributes are central to effective decision-making in a pluralistic democracy.

By publicly following the Obama presidency, CDO’s can spotlight Diversity Management lessons as they emerge. Implicit in adopting the presidency as a case study is the message: If the President of the United States can benefit from Diversity Management; surely, it merits serious consideration for adaptation by the country’s various organizations.

The strategies noted above suggest that CDO’s can thrive in these difficult times. Doing so will be challenging, but achievable. Practitioners who pragmatically understand the challenges and address them with flexibility and creativity can play a great role in helping our country and its organizations move through these difficult times.

The 2008 Presidential election led many of us to believe that there is a widespread hope, even a longing, for a post-racial society. The incident between Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley in the summer of 2009 reminded us that confusion and uncertainty remains.

To me, the ongoing [...]]]>

Where is America “at” with respect to diversity?

The 2008 Presidential election led many of us to believe that there is a widespread hope, even a longing, for a post-racial society. The incident between Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley in the summer of 2009 reminded us that confusion and uncertainty remains.

To me, the ongoing conversation about race in this country demonstrates two challenges that may thwart the progress that has been made. We have an inability to distinguish pluralism from diversity; and we have an intense aversion to diversity tension. Many Americans who think that they are comfortable with diversity are in reality comfortable with pluralism. So what is the difference?

Pluralism is defined as the presence of multiple variations of an attribute. Diversity is defined as referencing both attribute and behavioral differences and similarities. In such case, the presidential campaigns of Senator Clinton and President Obama were milestones in pluralism. Their campaign successes broke racial and gender barriers and contributed racial and gender pluralism to the field of politics. But neither campaign brought much behavioral diversity to the arena.

In this respect, these candidacies can be compared to the hiring of Jackie Robinson, America’s first Black major league baseball player. Certainly, this represented a monumental milestone with respect to racial pluralism in baseball. However, it added little or no diversity to the game because Robinson brought few-if any-behavioral variations to the sport. He simply played the game better then most.

Why is it important to make this distinction? Because diversity tensions arise at the point in which the behavioral differences integral to pluralism surface. This tension is an anathema to many Americans, who have counted on political correctness to suppress or eliminate racism. Their insistence on avoiding diversity tension through political correctness has become the second key barrier to advancing racial progress.

This insistence became most evident in the speed and forcefulness with which those who played the race card were discredited. In a genuinely diversity comfortable society, such people would have been essentially ignored. Yet we pounced on the offenders with frenzy and fear, as if their deviations from political correctness would thrust our entire society into full-fledged race wars. Or, worse still, as if such indiscretions might require us to admit that our diversity progress is less than we had hoped.

Remember the reaction to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s racial pronouncements? President Obama followed the Reverend’s You Tube debut with a landmark speech that called for a different discussion about race. Yet most references to race since the You Tube event have been divisive and full of fear and anger. The incident between Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley being a case in point.

Clearly, if the American Experiment in diversity is to work, we must become more sophisticated about the accompanying tensions. Politically, the challenge is to acknowledge this tension, avoid the temptation to use it to divide, and seek to develop “ties that bind” even in the midst of gut-wrenching tension.

What is true for the nation is true within organizations as well. Diversity executives must become more reasoned and flexible in their responses to alleged acts of racism. They should certainly not tolerate these acts. However, they should tailor their responses to the consequences of the offending behavior, eschewing emotional outrage as the only viable response.

Diversity management – with its emphasis on making quality decisions in the midst of differences, similarities and related tensions – can help them to do so. It sharpens the focus on business objectives; thus helping to keep racism in perspective as a dimension along which people can be different and similar. It also provides a framework for making quality decisions in the midst of a difficult situation.

Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., is the CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training (RTCT) and the founder of the American Institute for Managing Diversity. He has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative concepts and strategies for maximizing organizational and individual potential through Diversity Management. He is the author of Building a House for Diversity; Beyond Race and Gender; Redefining Diversity; and Building on the Promise of Diversity.

Over 20 years ago, I raised the question of whether corporations were prepared to recruit, select, develop and utilize a diverse talent pool. I also wondered aloud whether managing a racial, gender and ethnic diverse pool of human resources called for a different capability than that of managing a relatively homogeneous group of people. I [...]]]>

Over 20 years ago, I raised the question of whether corporations were prepared to recruit, select, develop and utilize a diverse talent pool. I also wondered aloud whether managing a racial, gender and ethnic diverse pool of human resources called for a different capability than that of managing a relatively homogeneous group of people. I contended that two different sets of processes were called for, and I labeled the process for a diverse pool “Managing Diversity.”

The goal of this process was “full utilization of human resources” in pursuit of competitive advantage and productivity gains.

A critical implication for Chief Diversity Officers is that they must assure the integration of Managing Diversity with all of the people processes in their organization. I rarely see this degree of integration. If anything, Managing Diversity is integrated with recruitment and hiring, but, seldom do you see other people processes being designed with an explicit built-in diversity capability assuring effectiveness for all individuals.

Another implication for Chief Diversity Officers is that they must work to enhance the development and credibility of the field within their organization and in the broader societal context. . Unfortunately, progress “with numbers” and “best practice” awards do not necessarily translate into credibility beyond the boundaries of the field. More attention will have to be given to the development of Managing Diversity concepts, principles and skills, and their intersections with other managerial disciplines.

The stakes are high. If diversity considerations are not present in efforts to achieve competitive advantage through the development of talent, any gains in numerical representation of women and people of color will be difficult to sustain.

Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., is the CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training (RTCT) and the founder of the American Institute for Managing Diversity. He has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative concepts and strategies for maximizing organizational and individual potential through Diversity Management. He is the author of Building a House for Diversity; Beyond Race and Gender; Redefining Diversity; and Building on the Promise of Diversity.

I have had the privilege of [...]]]> After reading countless books on leadership, writing or co-editing 22 of them, and reviewing profiles for desired leadership behavior in more than 100 corporations, I think there is one critical question that repeatedly gets left out when assessing the potential of our future leaders: How much do you love leading people?

I have had the privilege of working with many wonderful leaders. Upon reflection, the best of the best had one quality in common. They loved leading people!

Peter Drucker often noted that Frances Hesselbein (the former chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts and now chairman of the Leader to Leader Institute) was the greatest leader he had ever met. I have to agree with Peter’s assessment. I originally worked with Frances as a volunteer consultant to the Girl Scouts. Over the past 25 years we have worked together on myriad projects. She is now one of my best friends.

When Frances discusses her work as a leader, her eyes sparkle and her face glows. No matter what personal or professional challenges she is facing, she is always up, positive, and inspirational. Frances defines leadership as “circular,” with the leader reaching across the organization to colleagues, not down to subordinates. Her motivation has never come from the outside, meaning from money or status. Instead, it has always come from the inside, from her love of service and what she does.

Personal Example Conveys a Lot

I consider Alan Mulally (former CEO of Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BA) and now CEO of Ford (F)) to be a fantastic leader of people. I have known Alan for several years and have seen him face challenges that would make most people want to simply throw in the towel.

I have never seen him get down on himself, his people, or his company. Alan has an enthusiasm that radiates to the people around him. He has an almost childlike joy in what he does. He once told me: “Every day I remind myself that leadership is not about me. It is about the great people who are working with me.” Alan’s love of what he does enables him to work incredible hours, face daunting adversity, and serve with a smile on his face. His personal example says more about leadership than his words can ever convey.

Retired General Eric Shinseki is the former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. He has continually communicated an incredible sense of pride in the young men and women who are the backbone of the Army. He has shown no interest in the trappings of power that come with being a four-star general. In fact, he sees the status and perks that come with being a general as major obstacles to overcome. His voice fills with emotion when he discusses the sacrifices of the brave soldiers who are risking their lives for our country. In short, General Shinseki is a soldier’s soldier.

Leaders Think of Others

As much as I respect Frances and Alan, General Shinseki has had to overcome even more adversity than they have. He has recovered from very serious injury only to push himself to go back out and lead our troops. He has had the courage to say and do what he believed was right for his soldiers, even if his views were not always politically popular. His love of service and leading people has produced an integrity that goes far beyond what can be delivered in a motivational speech.

Great leaders are different from great individual achievers; not better or worse, just different. For great individual achievers, achievement is about themselves. For great leaders, achievement is about others.

You can have a wonderful career and be a fine human being without leading people. For example, you can be a great teacher who loves teaching, a great salesperson who loves selling, or a great actor who loves acting.

A Telling Question

Many of the qualities that we list for great leaders are applicable for professionals in other positions. I’m talking about integrity, vision, commitment to quality, service to customers, respect for people, ability to spark innovation, and ability to achieve results. These characteristics don’t just apply to leaders.

To assess your leadership potential, ask yourself: “On a scale of one to 10, how much do I love leading people?” If you have never been in a leadership role, ask yourself, “How much do I think that I will love leading people?” If your score is low, you may want to rethink that prospect of becoming a leader.

Although high levels of leadership may bring status, power, or money, these benefits come at a cost. Almost all great leaders work extremely hard, take their jobs very personally, are subject to ongoing (and often unfair) criticism, and pay a price for their success.

Finding Reward on the Inside

If you love leading people, like Frances Hesselbein, Alan Mulally, or Eric Shinseki, leadership will be a joy and service will be a blessing.

If you do not love leading people, leadership will be an ongoing pain.

Don’t become a leader because you are looking for reward from the outside. Become a leader only if you will find your reward on the inside.

When you stand up to lead, the people that you are serving will not just be listening to your words, they will be looking into your eyes. Ultimately, you will not be able to fool them or fool yourself.

You can only inspire the people you are leading if you are inspired to lead.

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.