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Uncovering Your Staff's Genius March 10, 2008 In Nepal, the mountain people of the Himalayas, who carry all goods on their backs in baskets up hazardous trails where there are no roads, have created a t- shaped walking stick which doubles as a support to take the weight off their backs when they stop to rest on the trail. In South Africa I saw 10 year old children dig mud out of the riverbank by their tin shack homes and mold perfectly shaped rhino and hippos to sell to tourists. And, I noticed the simple effectiveness of a potato peeler I recently used in my kitchen. One definition of genius is - a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect. It has been said of geniuses that ..... I once asked a client what was his particular area of genius. He responded “My mirror - I am a genius about me, everyone else is just guessing, even my family and my friends.” I could only agree with this profound insight. And, this client’s wisdom is reflected in the research on brain based learning. In the field of accelerated learning, they talk about at least nine kinds of intelligence including: musical, intra-personal, spatial, kinesthetic, inter-personal, logical-mathematical, linguistic, nature and existential. The most commonly undisputed genius was of course Albert Einstein, who interestingly enough, did not finish high school and did most of his most recognized work sitting in a chair carrying out what he called “thought experiments.” When a worker does a job everyday for an extended period, he or she soon becomes very skilled at this job. For someone who has not done the job and who does not understand the intricacies of it, such ability can be viewed as genius like. For example, I once had a mechanic who regularly worked on my car. A colleague once remarked that he read fuel-injection system manuals to relax. What I know is that he could often just listen to my car’s engine to diagnosis the problem, whether it was the fuel system, the ignition system, the suspension system or whatever system that was the source of the difficulty. I remember being in awe of this man with a grade 10 education and me with my post graduate degrees. Brain based research still struggles to find any significant differences in the brain of Albert Einstein. Carol Abraham, health reporter for the Toronto Globe & Mail, even wrote a book (Possessing Genius - The Remarkable Story of Albert Einstein’s Brain) about Dr. Thomas Harvey’s forty year effort to discover any significant uniqueness between Einstein’s brain and ours. So, my client’s comment actually has a great deal of truth in it. I will bet you have someone in your circle of family, friends or colleagues who has what they call an interest, passion or hobby, that you and others consider their genius. And, this genius is displayed in the depth or scope or quality of their work. While they may not call it genius, they will usually tell you quite readily that they love to do it or make it or whatever the case may be. I have a friend who is a bird carver of exquisite skill and at first glance you are almost waiting for the bird to take flight as you approach to inspect it. He genius has been honed over years of work. It is often hard to find genius in the workplace. It does occur but is often hidden by the scrutinizing nature of the work environment. But, it is there. People more often display their genius in hobbies rather than at work because there is less likely to be evaluation and criticism from others when it is a hobby. However, while their is less likely to be external evaluation unless the creator requests it by perhaps entering a contests for example, there is still evaluation of another sort. It is of course, self-evaluation. Self evaluation is generally considered the toughest form of evaluation because first, the evaluator has a good idea of what the product or service should look like because of all the experience that the worker brings to the task; second, there is a greater drive to be truthful to honor their own awareness and dignity; and third, the feedback will be very specific to the learning needs and capability of the worker. These factors make self evaluation the most important and effective form of feedback in human learning and production. When we think about it carefully, we realize that self evaluation is the most common and most effective form of feed back that generates what we called genius. Certainly when you check the histories of publicly recognized geniuses like Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Pablo Picasso, or Henry Ford, each was individualistic, and while they collaborated with others, usually relied most heavily on self evaluation to further their work and make the contributions to which we credit them today. In the same way, workers can self evaluate their own work and judge how it can be improved to satisfy the customer. While they may need information of what they customer wants, still they are in the best position to create it and judge how their part of this process can be enhanced to meet the customer’s needs. Self evaluation is a critical part of leading workers to produce high caliber products and service. And, the need for its implementation is being accelerated by our move to a global economy. Lead Management is based on the use of self-evaluation as one of its’ primary tools to ensure that quality products and service are competitively provided to the world economy. It is only by instituting a process of self-evaluation within a Lead Management style that staff will offer their genius to their work. We see it every day in the art and craft industries, it is time to more it to the main stream. Implementation tools are available in the recently published award winning title Using Lead Management on Purpose by Kenneth L. Pierce, an experienced business psychologist. 
Competing Globally Demands A Lead Management Style March 10, 2008 As we move invariably closer and closer to a world economy, it will be enlightened managers, with Brian’s awareness, who will succeed in business. These are the managers who recognize and appreciate the need to tap the genius of workers if their company is to compete. It also means that these managers know what many others do not, it isn’t rewards and punishment which create competitive products and service, rather it is inspired workers who connect their work to some of their highest personal values. And, these managers also know that it is their job to assist their staff in making this connection regularly. When they do this through modeling and inspired leadership, competitive, high caliber products and service emerge. People stop being energetic, creative and committed to their work when they lose sight of how it is linked to their personal values. They lose sight of their work when it no longer reflects in their own mind how it enables them to be who they are, do what they do and have what they have, their life purpose. Without this conscious connection, each of us soon fall into mediocrity, indifference and drudgery. Robert Bryne captured it well when he wrote, “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” When this connection is made, staff willingly and eagerly give their manager their energy, creative and commitment to whatever task is required. But, this demands enlightened leadership and a Lead Management style. Its’ originator, Dr. William Glasser has published almost 20 books to date focusing on building quality relationships in a variety of business, educational and family environments. Glasser stated his fundamental position repeatedly, simply and succinctly works in his writings when he said that, like common sense dictates, it takes quality relationships to create quality products and service inside a business. Lead Management is an approach to business and leadership that emphasizes communicating with workers at all five levels of their being in the pursuit of excellence in products and service. Traditional boss managers usually operate at a Behavioral and sometimes Thinking level of human awareness. But, Lead Managers goes way beyond these two levels to include the Values, Identify and Spirit levels of awareness. It is communication at these levels which instigates the purposeful behaviors Brian was referring to as his enthusiasm, creativity and commitment. As far as we can tell, humans are the only animal that thinks about thinking, that think about where they came from, where they are going, who they are and why they are here. These fundamental questions are the catalyst for humans to strive to make a difference and create perfect products and service. A Lead Management approach to leadership incorporates this insight to inspire others to offer their energy, creativity and commitment to this task. Lead Managers know that everything in the universe has a purpose and that this applies equally to every person. Lead Managers know that if you help workers connect their job to their purpose those workers will willingly offer their energy, creativity and commitment to both the task and the organization. Global competition requires this level of awareness in its leaders and organizations otherwise they will be unable to meet the world wide competition that is a fact of the modern economy. So, Brian’s insightful comment that buying the time and attendance of workers at the job site will not produce the energetic, creative and committed staff needed to produce the high caliber products and service demanded by the global market, is right on the money. We see examples of this regularly in the media. General Motors plans to lay off 74,000 of its workers while other domestic manufacturers are also making drastic staff cuts. Meanwhile non-domestic (foreign) auto makers continue to increase their market share. Foreign manufacturers tend to lead and manage their workers using all five levels of being unlike our domestic producers. Successful companies led by managers who operate at all five levels of human consciousness and tap the energy, creativity and commitment of their staff will be the ones who will thrive in the global economy. In the same way General Motors will be unable to keep its market share against foreign competitors whose quality goods, usually offered at higher prices, are being produced by workers led by managers who honor and operate at the five levels of human awareness. This difference makes all the difference to the bottom line of both the leaders and their staff. Implementation details are available in the recently published, award winning title Using Lead Management on Purpose by Kenneth L. Pierce, an experienced business psychologist.
Personal Values Hold the Secret to Competing Globally March 10, 2008 Have you noticed that successful business leaders are invariably principled people which a clear, passionate and driving connection between their business and their personal values. There are lots of examples around like Warren Bennis, Bill Gates and others. It is the only way to build and sustain the energy, creativity and commitment it takes to build a world class business. To compete globally requires three things: first, a high caliber product or service at a competitive price; second, an energetic, creative and committed team of workers; and third, inspired leaders who know who they are, what they can offer the world and have the resources to make it happen. It is the second factor, an energetic, creative and committed team of workers, that is usually the most neglected and the least appreciated. We seem to expect it in our leaders but not in the rest of the team. For example, Atlantic Canada is experiencing an alarming labor shortage. Provincial governments are so concerned that they are cooperating on common remedial strategies. Droves of skilled people are heading to western Canada to seek work. My friend Scott explained his move to Calgary this way, “I am going for a short time to make some big money so I can return home to my family, my friends and my life.” Of course western employers are of two minds about Easterners; on one hand, Easterners are quick learners and hard workers but on the other, many of them seem to lack commitment to the job and so just when they are trained and productive, they want to return east. The ones who do stay and make a new life for themselves in the thriving western economic boom do so because they have made a unique connection between the job and themselves. Many others return east for the same simple reason they went west. This simple reason is that their western employer, just like their eastern employer, did not help them connect their job to their personal values. Because this connection was not made these workers returned to that place where they developed those values, home. What is also interesting is that many employers themselves have made this connection and it is what drives them in their work. But these same employers either do not appreciate that workers need this connection as well, or they are don’t know how to assist their workers to make this vital linkage. So the wisdom of Sigmund Freud’s comment, “All that matters is love and work.” fits well here. Those that stay, either in the East or in the West, are able to make this connection, either with or without their employer’s assistance, and with this awareness became connected to their job and so give their employer their energy, creativity and commitment. Such workers are doing what they love and so love what they do. These are the workers who can compete globally by producing high caliber products or service. So it falls to CEO’s, leaders, employers, supervisors and team leaders of all types in every organization which wants to retain its staff in a highly competitive global economy, to not just have this insight, but also to model it and lead their staff to this ;;awareness. This is what Lead Management does. It shows leaders how to inspire their staff to make this connection between their work and their personal values thereby freeing the workers to give their job their inspired genius to the tasks at hand. This is what create a product or service which competes successfully in a global economy. Detailed implementation tools are available in the recently published, award winning title Using Lead Management on Purpose by Kenneth L. Pierce, an experienced business psychologist.
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