Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Week #6-- Just Do It! Facing Fears and WL Gore & Culture
We hope you enjoyed the class and found it useful. Feel free to share your thoughts about the Fear Circle exercise—- we did not have sufficient time to fully “debrief” the experience. Many thanks to Carol, Sandra and Nhu-Y for propelling us so effectively through the Gore case. If you want to press further learning about the company, you might try watching the video of CEO Terri Kelly speaking at MIT:
http://video.mit.edu/watch/nurturing-a-vibrant-culture-to-drive-innovation-9405/
You now have some new “tools” to deal with stress in your life:
1) The Three Stressors: categorize for clarity and forward action.
2) Moving toward your fear: speak it out loud, then re-frame it. What would breakthrough look like? What will it take?
Try using these tools and following your live-with, JUST DO IT!, this week in order to take action on both your course challenge and other points of stress. How can you get enough clarity, so that you can take appropriate actions?
Regarding WL Gore and company culture, please post any ideas that you have.
The Ray chapter introduces the Relationship Challenge. You can comment on this if you wish.
Also, if you are not familiar with Whole Foods, try to visit one... and read the case
Have a great week,
Julie & Hal
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A couple weeks ago I faced a fear that I have had the past couple of years and I feel that it is very relevant to our class and particularly this week's reading "Relate from your Heart." I have felt a rift with one of my best friends the past couple of years and felt that our friendship was becoming more competitive and less about being who we are. I started to distance myself and found that I had my guard up when around this friend. I wasn't sure though if she felt the same way, or if I was just making this all up in my head. So I kept assuming that "the next time we hang out it will be better." Each time we hung out, it was the same and I walked away feeling worse about myself and our friendship.
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago I finally decided to face my fear. My fear being that I didn't want to lose my friend. Also fearful and highly intimidated of confrontation. I decided that it was better to say something and confront the fear face on, instead of just letting it get worse and worse and potentially cause a bigger rift and damage the friendship even further.
The end result was compassion. We finally got back to seeing each other as people with hopes and dreams and fears. Our guards were down. We could talk through our feelings and felt safe. This was a huge internal conflict within me for a couple of years now and by facing this extreme fear, I found a great internal comfort and compassion now with our friendship and very hopeful that we will build back the friendship we once had.
During last week’s “fear circle” exercise, our group expressed tremendous creativity during the role playing. It was enlightening to hear how others interpreted, communicated and addressed another person’s fears. the “fear circle” presenters were in a better position to address each fear through objective intelligence (VOI) rather than VOJ. This alternate perspective became an effective implementation of the “just do it” tool. It was beneficial to hear these VOI based approaches, and each person can apply them immediately (just do it).
ReplyDeleteAs I was practicing “just do it” this past week, there was one shared experience that was consistent with the “Relate From Your Heart” article. For some time now, my wife has expressed a desire for us to go to the gym together - but I have made excuses. The excuses were typical: not enough time, too tired, too late in the day, etc. - many of them were probably related to VOJ. What I did not realize is that she wanted us to motivate together and share the experience as part of a new, healthier routine. It was important to her, and I should have understood that better. So we made it a priority and went to the gym together (no more excuses on my part). And we intend to keep this routine going forward. It had been so long since I went to the gym I forgot how invigorating it is! By “just doing it” I was able to re-capture this energy and also share the experience together with my wife. It is a “win-win” situation.
ReplyDeleteMost people would agree that Steve Jobs was effective in his role as Apple CEO, but does he qualify as a “Level 5“ leader? Jim Collins’ article “Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve” explains that deep personal humility and intense professional are two key prerequisites to becoming a Level 5 leader. There is much written about Jobs’ intense professional will, but is there any evidence that he possessed a deep personal humility? If Jobs did not demonstrate such humility, does that disqualify him as a Level 5 leader? And given the monumental success of Apple under Jobs’ leadership, what is the long term impact of not attaining Level 5 specifically? It has been reported that key executives have left Apple since Jobs’ passing, which could be interpreted to be a consequence. The company continues to develop and roll out new products to the masses’ continued delight, but how many of the new products exemplify the ground-breaking innovation showcased by Jobs? It will be interesting to see how Apple will function without having Jobs at the helm, and how the future may be related to Jobs’ broader leadership capability.
ReplyDeleteThe HBR article titled “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs” by W. Issaacson was an insightful summary. Many of the lessons paralleled what we have been practicing during this class. For example, “Bend Reality” and “Focus” seemed to be exercises in addressing VOJ as well as practicing “just do it”. The article’s examples illustrate how people will build self-imposed barriers to success that can be overcome with some creativity and focus. Similarly, “Don’t be a Slave to Focus Groups” and “Push for Perfection” reminded me of practicing Precise Observation: Pay Attention. Jobs had tremendous empathy for the customer experience, and he leveraged that empathy to develop products that he knew they needed. And “Simplify” seemed to be an exercise in asking “dumb” questions to streamline Apple’s product design. Imagine how asking why an on/off switch is needed can lead to a better product design. Given these data points, it is clear how Jobs’ leadership resulted in some of the most innovative products the world has seen.
ReplyDeleteGiven their time tested success, why is WL Gore’s culture so rare? Does their culture set expectations that are ultimately unrealistic given today’s business environment? Today’s business environment seems to based on a “corporate governance” model, where more experienced leaders are brought in to ensure consistent business strategy, decision-making and of course profits. How could such a system co-exist in a culture where the company CEO is elected democratically vs. recruited (usually in secret) by a board of directors? And if employees were to choose their own projects/objectives, how can WL Gore communicate an overall, cohesive business strategy? Granted, WL Gore is a privately held company with less scrutiny than a publicly traded company, but in today’s market companies typically require some form of investment and/or venture capital. Or perhaps WL Gore’s culture is ahead of its time, and they represent a more evolved business paradigm. WL Gore’s culture represents an evolved form of integrative thinking and “just do it” attitude. In time, others may be able to re-set expectations (VOJ) regarding company culture and previous corporate governance models.
ReplyDeleteThe Three Stressors tools has proved to be very helpful for me. I made a list of all the things I was worried about or that stressed me out, and it turned out that most of them could easily be solved by taking action. Amazing how fast things were solved, and I wondered why I hadn't done this earlier... The result was a sense of accomplishment and relief, and I had extra time left to do other things. Now the challenge is to consistently and regularly apply this tool, so that I don't fall back into my "old pattern".
ReplyDeleteThe Fear Circle exercise was a great experience. It helps you realize that you're not the only one with a certain fear. We all have the same fears. Everyone could relate to each other's fear, and in fact we "took over each other's fears" and provided different ways to deal with the fears. It's a great exercise to bring people closer together and make people more compassionate. It even made the fears seem less significant.
Speaking about compassion, it's true what Ray says in his article that there is a lack of compassion in this world. People are so consumed with their own needs, that they don't have time or don't bother to listen to others. We even lack compassion to ourselves. We worry so much that we ignore the warning signs, both external and internal. Relationships deteriorate (external) our bodies are giving us warning signs (internal), as too much worrying causes mental, physical, and emotional stress. Not surprising that you see there are so many books out there about reducing stress, living in the now, etc. It would be good to stop for a while, pull the plug and be more reflective of ourselves. This is not the easiest live-with, but I tried meditation in the past and know how powerful it can be. Another thing that works for me is running, cooking, even doing the dishes and trying to give my full attention to whatever I'm doing, without trying to think about the next thing I need to do.
Thanks for the video about Terri Kelly from W.L. Gore. One thing I noticed and which came back in the article about Steve Jobs (as well as the article about Whole Foods), is that the emphasis was not on money. Both leaders/companies focused on creating great products. It was W.L Gore's and Jobs's passion that shaped their companies' culture. Jobs biggest creation, according to himself, was Apple itself. His passion was to create an enduring company by motivating people to create great products that add value. Similarly, John Mackey rebelled against conventional businesses and corporations because they selfishly sought profits, whereas he was looking for meaning in his life and had the well-being of customers in mind by providing high-quality, natural products to them.
Another key element that both innovative companies share is face-to-face communication to build relationships and promote innovation.
The three stressors tools also has been really helpful in my life. I decided to make a list of the things that were very stressful and the pleasurable on the past few weeks. Then, I'd tried to solve/avoid the stressors and repeat/expand the pleasures. And, with the spirit of "Just do it" I ended up having an amazing week, cutting the stressors one by one, my week was pure joy (as I didn't have in more then a year).
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The Fear circle was scary in the beginning but in the end, comforting. I was in a group with the most diverse kind of people and even though, we shared the same fears. It's good to see that you're not alone, it's okay to be afraid, because everybody does, and they fight their fears and even though they are never sure. We will never be sure, but that can't become an obstacle in our lives.