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What does Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, Sam Walton, Walt Disney, Robert Johnson, David Packard, George Merck and Thomas Watson all have in common? They are all well known leaders, who were not necessarily charismatic leaders, but who were organizational visionaries that changed the world around them. How would our world be different if the United States of America was not formed? How would our world be different if advances in technology and health care did not happen? How would your world be different if Wal-Mart did not exist? 
Jim Collins and Jerry Porras wrote a foundational book, called Built to Last. In it they studied the successful habits of visionary companies. These are companies that are the best of the best that others tend to look toward as models. They are organizations that were built to last and endure far into the future.
According to Collins and Porras, if you don’t want your organization to last (or even your work as an individual to have a lasting impact), then do the following:
Don’t Have Authenticity
Don’t choose a personal purpose or organizational purpose based on what was successful for another person. For purpose and values to be meaningful, it must be fully believed by you.
Collins and Porras state, “Hewlett, Packard, Merck, Johnson, and Watson didn’t sit down and ask ‘What business values would maximize our wealth?’ or ‘What philosophy would look nice printed on glossy paper?’ or ‘What beliefs would please the financial community?’ No! They articulated what was inside of them – what was in their gut, what was bone deep. It was as natural to them as breathing. It’s not what they believe as much as how deeply they believed it (and how consistently their organizations lived it). Again, the key word is authenticity.”
Continually Change and Adapt Your Purpose and Values, but Keep Everything Else the Same
THE defining factor of visionary organizations is that they keep their core purpose and values the same. Their core ideology serves as a guide, but their vision, goals, and strategies can all change. The core ideology gives a foundation of stability to endure for 100 plus years in the midst of adapting strategies to stay relevant in a changing world.
Collins and Porras state, “The only truly reliable source of stability is a strong inner core and the willingness to change and adapt everything except that core. People cannot reliably predict where they are going and how their lives will unfold, especially in today’s unpredictable world. Those who built visionary companies wisely understood that it is better to understand who you are than where you are going – for where you are going will almost certainly change.”
Don’t Engage in a Discovery Process to Find Your Core Purpose & Values
Finding your core ideology is a discovery process, which is fundamentally different than developing vision and goals, which is a creative process. Sometimes we don’t move forward with defining our core ideology because we are approaching it the wrong way. A core ideology is not something you create. It already exists within you. You just need to search for it like a treasure (Which when you define it, you realize how priceless it truly is.)
The key to discovery is to ask yourself the question, “Why?” David Packard describes it like this:
“I want to discuss why a company exists in the first place. In other words, why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being. As we investigate this, we inevitably come to the conclusion that a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately – they make a contribution to society, a phrase which sounds trite but is fundamental… You can look around (in the general business world) and still see people who are interested in money and nothing else, but the underlying drives come largely from a desire to do something else – to make a product – to give a service – generally to do something which is of value. So with that in mind, let us discuss why the Hewlett-Packard Company exists … The real reason for our existence is that we provide something which is unique (that makes a contribution).”
This past week I had the privilege of working with 2 business owners as their Performance Development Coach through the USI BreakOut team. As we discussed their business, it became quite evident that they don’t just want to form a business, but they want to be organizational visionaries that change the world around them through their business. So we dug into a process of helping them define their core purpose and values because the common foundation of enduring organizations is that they have a core ideology.
Do you want your organization to last beyond your life time? Do you want your life’s work to endure? What is your core purpose and values? How is it changing the world around you?
Generating Greater Performance Through Listening
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“Every so often a Celtics game would heat up so that it became more than a physical game or even mental game, and would be magical. That feeling is difficult to describe, and I certainly never talked about it when I was playing. When it happened, I could feel my play rise to a new level.” – Bill Russell (key basketball player of the Boston Celtics team that won 11 championships in 13 years)
We hear about certain people who reach a level of “greatness,” like Bill Russell. We wonder how do they do that and wish we could bring our own “game” in life to that level. With athletes it is well known that getting to the top of their game is more than just being physically fit. Your top athletes are able to go to deep states of attention and awareness that allow them to perform at a whole other level.
Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also founding co-director of the Emerging Leaders for Innovations Across Systems (ELIAS). He has researched about how top awareness states can be applied to leadership. His book “U Theory” goes into greater depth about his study and application.
Dr. Scharmer states, “We know a great deal about what leaders do and how they do it. But we know very little about the inner place, the source from which they operate. Successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation. Two leaders in the same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about completely different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each operates.” Dr. Scharmer has studied how leaders focus their attention and has discovered four levels of listening that form the root to awareness, which eventually leads to performance.
As I have reflected on Dr. Scharmer’s four types of listening, it has made me think about how I make decisions. The times that I have made the best decisions are when I have disciplined myself to go to the deepest level of listening. Below is an application of the four levels of listening as I have seen applied to decision making.
Listening 1: Downloading
Listening 1 is where you do something based on what you already know. When I try to make a decision at listening 1, it tends to be based on a habit of thought that I was taught in my past. For example, if I am trying to make a decision about how to spend money, these taught concepts may come to mind: “A responsible person saves their money for a rainy day.” Or “It is better to give than to receive.” My mind is not listening. Instead, I am just trying to follow the rules of my past. So, I go into auto pilot and do what I have always done, whether or not it is the effective choice. Or, I get stuck in my decision making if I feel that the taught concepts of my past contradict each other.
Listening 2: Factual
At level 2, I try to make a decision, based just on the facts. I listen to data outside of me, but turn off my inner voice. What is the most logical choice? However, I know that facts and figures give only one side of the story. When I make a decision based just on facts, I often miss the awareness of greater opportunities. For example with business, we can make monetary decisions just based on spreadsheets, but is this money really creating the most effective outcome?
Listening 3: Empathetic
At listening 3, I listen to other people and understand their experience. This gives greater insight. I now move outside of myself and beyond just my own agenda. The synergy of relationship pushes my understanding and awareness to a deeper level. However, at this level I must be careful not to make a decision based solely on the experience of the other person, which is not the full picture. My awareness must still go deeper.
Listening 4: Generative
At listening 4, I listen deeper within myself. This is where creativity and new solutions I never realized before happen. My values, fact finding and input from others all combine as a resource in this level but there is a greater understanding that comes from this deeper level of listening within. When applied, this is where peak performance happens. Not only is a better decision found but a whole new level of understanding and foundation for generating a better solution is spawned. And the best part is the sense of peace, quietness, confidence and authenticity that accompany this level of awareness.
Listening can seem so simple, yet there is a depth to it that is so rich if we take the time to develop it. It is a discipline that takes focused practice and work. But it might just be the most beneficial art that you ever achieve. It could just take you to peak performance.