There is a difference between giving directions and giving direction.
Direction is the far-away destination to which you are heading and directions are the route you will take to get to get there.
As leaders and managers, we often forget the distinction. When we want to tell someone to do something, we give them directions when we should be giving them direction. Great leaders do not get involved in the details of what route is taken, they focus on ensuring everyone is clear of the destination.
Once established, a leader needn't obsesses about the short-term gains or losses, but rather the long-term trend. If a submarine commander, for example, says head north, he doesn't focus on the frequent course corrections, he just wants to feel confident that his ship is heading due north. The same is true for any company or organization.
Any leader who spends too much time worrying about the directions instead of the direction risks destroying any morale, creativity and commitment they may have gained. Worse, while looking down, they will miss what's far ahead.
Directions are instructions given to explain how. Direction is a vision offered to explain why.
Directions are given by teachers, of which there can be many. It is for you to decide which directions suit you best.
Direction is set by a leader, of which there can be only one. It is for you to decide if you want to go on the journey or not.
Direction must always come before directions otherwise how will people know where they are going?
The next time someone asks you "what do you want me to do?" Don't answer their question. Don't give them directions. Point and offer them the direction you want to go in and let them figure out the rest. That's what all the great leaders do.
Start With Why is a book for those who want to learn to inspire others and for those who want to find someone to inspire them. Start with Why is available now at your favorite book seller.
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I am often asked "how do people know when your WHY is clear?" The wonderful thing about a WHY is when it's clear, you know it...and so does everyone else. Sounds suspicious right? What you just read is a manifesto, a statement of belief, from the home page of a company called Yoga To The People. Do you know what they believe?
Even if you've never been to there, you probably have a very clear idea of what the experience would be like? It might not surprise you that they charge $7 for a class...or that on same days, the cost is just a donation. Their goal is to get back to the essence of yoga - to relax. As they say, "Yoga is meant to help strengthen and stretch your arms and legs, not cost you one!"
This manifesto is a statement of WHY they exist. WHY they do what they do. What they believe wasn't buried deep in some "about us" page - it was right on the home page. Because Yoga To The People starts with WHY, anyone who comes to their site knows exactly how they see the world and already has some level of expectation of what their products and services will be like. And they didn't have to read a single brochure.
When people believe what you believe, it piques their interest to either learn more or buy from you without much "selling" required. If people don't believe what you believe, they will either turn away or do business with you anyway because you meet some other requirements. In other words, you won't lose those customers, but you will gain some very special, high quality ones. Start with what you believe, start with WHY, and you can instantly filter and attract the customers most likely to be loyal.
Surf around the web, look at some other companies and you'll quickly see websites with home pages filled with details, prices, facts, photos - everything to "attract" new customers. But none of it really does. And of course, your IT professional will tell you the importance of filling your homepage with more instead of less. All that does is attract more people but it doesn't inspire them to do business with you.
The best part is, if you have the discipline to start with WHY and if someone believes what you believe, even if they don't buy your product, they may talk about you to their friends...or blog about you. And that blog may attract more new customers than the one you think you lost.
p.s. let me know if you visit their studio because of this blog.
Leadership is only part vision. The other part is the ability to communicate that vision. President Obama is failing to lead America into a new era of healthcare reform not for lack of vision, but because he's not talking about it properly. Worse, he's starting to sound like "just another Democrat."
Too many Democratic politicians suffer from an under-diagnosed and
often incurable affliction - Democrats Disease; that insatiable need to
always want to "correct the facts" and "set the record straight."
Democrats often seem more concerned with being technically right than
advancing their cause. Though it is important to have all your t's
crossed and i's dotted, the facts never inspire people to rally for a
cause...which is exactly what the President needs America to do.
What inspires people to raise their hands to volunteer to make change happen is the feeling of being a part of something larger than any individual. A noble cause. What's more, that noble cause must be stated in terms that people can relate to - i.e. themselves. Ronald Reagan, a great communicator, understood this better than most. He was the first president to invite a "hero" to sit in the balcony during the State of the Union address to personify the benefits of a policy - a tradition that has continued in every single State of the Union since.
In his recent speech to a joint session of Congress, Obama started to make his case for national health care reform by laying out some numbers. "We are the only democracy," he implored, "the only advanced democracy on Earth -- the only wealthy nation -- that allows such hardship for millions of its people. There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two-year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone."
Though I appreciate that he is trying to tell Americans that we need to do this because it could happen to you, unfortunately, all those big numbers get in the way of the message. What most people actually heard was, "you have to be responsible for giving insurance to 30 million people." No wonder there is so much animosity to such an idea - it sounds big, expensive and nearly impossible.
More important than the number of people without insurance or what
the statistics might prove, is the answer to the question why? Why
should I bother? Charity and goodwill on a massive scale are not good
enough reasons to take the risky journey into the unknown. This cause
can only be championed with relevant, human language not statistical
reasons to act.
Obama defended the fuzzy (and dare I say socialist sounding) language
of a "public option" by saying that fewer than 5% of people would need
it. If that is the case, then he should have used language that
communicated why we need a public option in the first place. Call it,
"assistance for extreme cases," for example. Without any statistics,
this revised language clearly communicates that such a system would not
be a financial burden on the general population. Facts and stats should
only ever be used to reinforce a message not define it.
The President has a clear vision of what American could look like if his plans are enacted. The irony is that he has had to spend too much time to set the facts straight because he wasted so much time making a rational case for "national health care reform," instead of rallying the country to look forwards and find a way "to provide a doctor for every child." Clear, simple language that explains why this matters to America.
This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post
"I'm homeless. I'm hungry. I've got 6 kids. I've got AIDS. Pleas help. God bless," reads the handwritten cardboard sign sitting in front of the homeless man. Sometimes we are drawn to give and sometimes we're not. Regardless of what you may think is happening that sign he are holding is in fact a piece of marketing. The question is, is it an effective piece of marketing?
As much as we like to think we are giving selflessly, the fact is, every time we drop some spare change into the cup of a homeless person we are completing a perfectly legitimate business transaction. What the homeless are selling is the feeling of goodwill...and sometimes we buy it. More importantly, our decision to buy goodwill from one homeless person or another is based on all the same decision-making principles as any other purchase decision we make everyday. And, like most businesses, the homeless use marketing to help drive the transaction. In their case, billboards.
If the principles of communication work the same way for a company as they do for a homeless person, I decided to do a little experiment to prove it.
We found a homeless woman in New York who was willing to help. Sitting on the corner of 23rd St and Park Ave, she told us that she makes between $20 and $30 over the course of an 8-10 hour day ($30 constituting a good day). Her sign was similar to the norm - I'm homeless, I'm hungry, please help, etc. She agreed to use our sign the next day and with it, she earned $40 in 2 hours.
So what did the new sign say?
For starters, it didn't talk about her. Like so much bad marketing out there, her original sign tried to sell based on facts and details about her without considering why anyone would give to her in the first place. We don't know if any or all of their claims she presents are true and, like companies, she has also experimented with which claims work better than others.
Companies are no different. They offer features and benefits, facts and figures, everything they think we need to know about their product or service to encourage us to buy. A computer company, for example, tries touts the superior memory and the processor speed or other bells and whistles. A law firm tells us they are one of the biggest firms with all Ivy League attorneys. A cereal company tells us their product is packed with vitamins and minerals and is part of a well-balanced diet. But why should we care? They've spent most of their time and energy telling us about them without saying a single word about us.
Claims or no claims, what if the whole marketing approach was completely flawed? What if effective marketing had nothing to do with features and benefits at all?
Good, effective marketing is that which talks about the buyer not the seller. We don't care about the seller, we care what we can get from the seller, and I don't mean the product attributes . We want things that reflect our own values and beliefs, things that fit into how we live our lives.
So what can companies learn from the homeless? Stop talking about yourselves and start talking about why anyone should care. Talk about our lives and simply place yourself and your products comfortably into our lives. That's exactly what we did with that homeless person's billboard.
And what about that sign? What did the new sign say that was able to double revenues in a quarter of the time?
It said simply: "If you only give once a month, please think of me next time."
Click here to download a PDF version of this article
This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post
David Marquet graduated at the top of his class from the Naval Academy. After serving aboard submarines in the Atlantic and the Pacific, Captain Marquet finally earned something many officers dream of - his own command. Marquet was handed the keys to one of the finest boats in America's fleet - the fast attack submarine, USS Santa Fe. Stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, this was a great honor indeed. But there was a catch. The crew Marquet inherited was the lowest performing crew in the US submarine fleet.
But it didn't stay that way.
In just a short period of time, things turned around. A lot. Very quickly Captain Marquet's submarine became the highest performing crew in the fleet. Scoring the highest marks in a number of metrics, Marquet's crew went on to win a number of distinguished awards.
All to often, those in leadership positions too quickly blame poor performance on the people around them. That may be the true in some cases, but more likely than not, it's the leadership that failed to produce results. In the case of Capt. Marquet, it was all about the leadership. And what Marquet did was change the culture aboard his boat from one of permission to one of intent.
The Navy is a permission based culture. Before a sailor performs any act he asks for permission. For example, "permission to dive to 400 feet." To which the captain will reply, "permission granted" And the sailor will acknowledge the permission and perform the task, "Aye sir, diving to 400 feet."
Marquet completely did away with this.
Aboard his boat, his sailors didn't ask permission, they announced their intentions. "I intend to dive to 400 feet, sir." The captain was still in charge and could still affirm or deny the intention. The task was the same. Everything that happened, in fact, was the same. Except aboard Marquet's boat, every action was owned by the person performing the action. He built in accountability. And not in the traditional sense of setting a goal and a metric and making someone responsible for achieving that goal, but in a deeper, more personal sense. The crew aboard the Santa Fe weren't just accountable for the results, they were accountable for their actions.
We don't think of businesses as permission based cultures, but they are. Pay close attention how people talk to each other in status meetings or when they talk to their boss. "What do you think we should do?" Is a common question. "Can I...?" "Should I...?" "What if I...." very often precede a thought someone has. What if companies required all employees to announce their intention instead of passively asking permission? Imagine a status meeting in which every person at the table explains their intentions not their plans. "I intend to call this client to apologize for over charging them." "I intend to get the website built by the end of the week."
Nothing at the superficial level changes. The boss is still in charge. The tasks are the same. But everything changes in how people feel about their jobs. With intent, psychologically every member of the team puts some proverbial skin in the game. They are not just accountable to some arbitrary metric, they become accountable to themselves. An employees ability to perform is now on their shoulders.
Intend to try this and see what happens. The effects are felt immediately. And the results are profound. David Marquet proved it. With the same people, the same resources and the same tools, simply by allowing people to have intent instead of permission, you can completely turn the boat around.
We have an obsession in America with telling people what not to do. Don't smoke. Don't pollute. Don't eat fried food. We do the same with our colleagues, our employees and our customers. But telling people what not to do just isn't as effective as telling them what to do. Or better put - amplify the positive instead of trying to fix the negative.
Let me give you an example. What do you think of when I tell you, "Don't eat McDonald's. It's bad for you."
Did you think of a Big Mac? Did you think of the amazing smell of their fries? Or did you think of eating nuts and lettuce - the healthier option.
The fact is, our brains can't process negatives. It's like saying to someone, "don't think of a pink elephant." It's the first thing that pops in to your mind. So instead of telling someone, "don't eat McDonald's because it's bad for you," say, "eat broccoli, it's really good for you."
Tell someone not to eat McDonald's because it's unhealthy and your imposing your dogma. Tell someone to eat broccoli because it's healthy, and now they become accountable for their own well being. The decision making becomes proactive instead of reactive.
Now think about this in a business context. We impose our dogma on people everyday. "Choose us not our competitors." "We're better than them. Buy this." When was the last time a company simple laid out what they believe about the world and how their products or services are helping to advance their cause and then said simply, "do what's right for you."
When was the last time someone squeezed you on your price and you simply replied, "if it's too expensive, then you should go with someone else." Shifting accountability is very powerful. And it's in accountability that people perceive value. Don't forget, value is a perception held by the buyer, not the seller. Value can only be perceived if the buyer is accountable for their own decision instead being pressured to do what you think is the right thing to do. This has nothing to do with the quality of the product or the service - telling someone not to eat McDonald's because it's bad is good advice...just not as effective as telling them to eat broccoli because it's good.
So...from now on, don't tell people what not to do.
I mean...from now on, tell people what you believe and allow them to make the decision that's best for them.
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by TrueNYC, a great company devoted to finding and sharing ideas for entrepreneurs. 
They asked me about how people and companies can find their Why and some of the ways it can be applied to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a business. The answers I gave have value for big and small companies alike.
Enjoy.
I'm fascinated how companies feel the need to use the holidays as a cheap excuse to troll for business. It's so unsavory. Don't get me wrong, sending a holiday card at the end of the year is a great way for a company to reconnect a lapsed customer relationship or foster a new one. But if you don't really want to send holiday cheer, don't send the card...you could do more harm than good.
Everyone knows that sales is about relationships. And everyone knows that relationships can't be built in 5 minutes. Any experienced salesman knows that if he just walks in and starts "selling" ("show up and throw up" as Jack Daly, one of the best sales coaches out there, calls it), then the sales call will probably not end successfully. The same is true for holiday marketing.
Of all the fake holiday wishes I received this year, this one was my favorite. An internet marketing firm sent me an email with the subject: Happy New Year from www.eyelogicmedia.com (see below). Not knowing who they are, I actually did think that it was a nice sentiment and opened it. That's when I realized that they don't care about me and my happy and healthy New Year at all. There is not a single warm wish in the entire email. There are however copious announcements about their new clients and all their awards.
How disappointing.
They did exactly what Jack Daly rails against - they had my attention and an opportunity to talk to me like they cared about me (or at least fake it). They could have taken a step to building a relationship with me (especially if their email was memorable). They could have sent me holiday cheer and easily created an opening to talk to me again about business in the New Year.
But they didn't.
As soon as I realized they weren't wishing me a Happy New Year (as they promised in the subject line), I disengaged. I deleted the email without reading a single word about how great they may be.
Sending a holiday card to existing, lapsed or potential customers shouldn't be seen an opportunity to make a sale or remind everyone how great you are. It should be used to send warm wishes and wish people good fortune in the New Year. That's it. If the message is genuine and if you are creative in how you deliver it, people will remember you. And if you really care to send holiday cheer to people, then odds are your holiday card will be one of the steps you'll take to lay a foundation for a long and fruitful business relationship.
And on that note, I wish all of you a very happy and health New Year (and don't forget to check out our online store - there are big savings on all our most popular items)...see what I mean.
Just a short addendum to the piece to my last posting "The best customer service is no customer service."
T-Mobile is much lauded in the press for their superior customer service. They have made customer service a priority and deserve great credit for their improvements. BUT...why do they need great customer service in the first place?
"All they've got is great customer service because their product sucks," says Julie. A T-Mobile customer who did not read this blog nor did I talk to her about my opinions. She's been on the phone with their "great customer service" because something went wrong...as she says, "something always goes wrong with them."
Again - I am a great believer in great customer service, but it's even better if your customers don't need it.
Earlier in Southwest Airlines life, a company heralded for their great service, they didn't have a customer service department. They didn't need it. They didn't get any complaints. Someone in the office volunteered to answer the occasional letter of complaint that would come in now and then. The reason they didn't need it was simple - because their product was excellent. Their front line service was so good, there was no need for staff to deal with things later.
I applaud T-Mobile for making strides in customer service, and I'd be even more impressed if they had to shrink the size of their customer service department because they couldn't keep everyone busy.
The modern adult version of "I'll be your best friend" is the MySpace "top friends" list. "I'll be your best friend" is the highly effective negotiating tactic employed by generations of children to obtain a toy, cupcake or good will from their peers. And, as any child who has ever handed over candy with the hopes and aspirations of actually being Adam Johnson's best friend can attest, it works.
Ranking our friends, as it turns out, is serious stuff. Our real friends of course get a ranking, but the list can also be used to court favor with others. A first date can appear in the ranking as part of the courtship process. People can also be dropped from the list in a passive aggressive burst of disapproval or anger.
I was curious to see if the "top friends" of certain more prominent adults could provide clues about from whom they are trying to court favor. I've also included the tagline that MySpace allows its members to include next to their primary picture in hopes of understanding the belief or cause of these people.
Here are some of my favorites:
Hillary Clinton (no tagline provided) has 19 top friends of which her number one pick, as it turns out, is herself. The number two slot is also herself. And number four is none other than herself. Proving that one needs to believe in one's self to be the President of the United States, Hillary has employed triple best-friend redundancy. She can rest assured that she can count on a vote for herself in the Democratic Primary.
Barak Obama (tagline: "Join the Official Barack Obama Myspace Profile") has 40 best friends. His best friend right now is "Iowa for Obama" followed by "New Hampshire for Obama." He's obviously trying to use the "I'll be your best friend" tactic to court favor in two primary states. His fourth best friend is Christina Cheatham, a psychology and political science major at Georgia College and State University. Christina enjoys psychological thrillers, singing and learning to belly dance. That ranking worked, however, Christina donated $5 through MySpace to the Obama campaign.
John Edwards (tagline: "For America") has 24 top friends of which his number one is his wife, Elizabeth. He posted a good video which challenges his critics complaints that he spent $400 on a haircut. His 2nd best friend is a US soldier currently on deployment in Afghanistan. His third friend is a volunteer from One Corps, Edwards' grassroots organization. His fourth friend is Anael. I don't know anything about Anael or what Edwards is trying to woo from him.
President Bush (tagline: "http://www.whitehouse.gov/") doesn't seem to have many friends. He has a total of 86 friends of which he ranks only five as his top friends. These include: Craig, a self-described, 26 year old self-deprecating mathematician from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Saina, a 27 year old Canadian, er, model. Little Miss Moaner, a young woman from Devon in the UK and a gentleman from Los Angeles who says he's "just looking for the bar..." I was going to make a witty comment about Mr. Bush's top friends, but I can't come up with anything better than his actual top five friends.
A very sporty looking Mitt Romney (tagline: "The Official MySpace Page of Governor Mitt Romney") is all about family. He's got 23 top friends of which his number one is his wife, Ann. Friends two through six are his five sons - Tagg, Josh, Matt, Ben and Craig. And sneaking in at number 23 on the list is none other than the ubiquitous Tom. Tom Anderson is president and co-founder of MySpace and is friends with everyone on the popular networking site. You've got to give it to Mitt Romney, he's hoping his "I'll be your best friend" will court favor with Tom's 193,904,348 friends.
John McCain (no tagline) enjoys sports, hiking, fishing, boxing, basketball, football and history. His favorite film is Viva Zapata!, a film about Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the
corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the
early 20th century. I applaud McCain's choice of film, it certainly helps us understand what he's passionate about. Problem is, it's a film from 1952; Harry Truman was President and Barack Obama was 9 years old.
Joking aside, these examples show some good and bad uses of the popular community site. Some are used as shameless sales pitches, which are no more effective than bad advertising. And some are used to actually attempt to articulate a cause for us to believe in. Of course, the most egregious example is George W. Bush. It's obviously not a profile managed by the White House - once again proving, if you don't control what you say, someone else will.
Advice to would-be all political or corporate MySpacers:
If companies all had a clear sense of a purpose, cause or belief, the result could be world peace. You think I'm joking. I'm not.
There is no difference between customers or employees...they are both groups of people. If you have a clear sense of what you believe, you will attract people who also believe the same thing. They will take your cause and make it their own. Some might choose to work for you, some might choose to buy your products, others might just be fans. But it is the common belief system that earns companies like Apple, Southwest Airlines and Harley-Davidson the most loyal customers AND the most loyal employees. They are all aligned. They all believe what the companies believe.
Imagine what Steve Jobs believes. Now imagine what someone who works for Apple believes. Now imagine what Apple customers believe. All the same right? They are all comfortable with the idea of challenging the status quo, they all like the idea of "think different." It's no accident creative people are drawn to the brand, it reflects their own beliefs about the world.
It is because of this sense of being a part of a bigger cause that some people choose to stand in line for 14 hours to be one of the first to get an iPhone or the new Harry Potter book.
I went to the Scholastic store last Friday to see what all the hubbub was about. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but it was amazing. People of all ages were there. Many were in costumes. The line stretched over five city blocks! I walked the whole line and the energy from front to back was energizing. People had been waiting for hours and they were still happy. They were standing in line for a whole day and they were genuinely happy. I can't stand in line at the bank for 10 minutes without hating everyone around me.
Now, I'm not saying that companies need to have big product launches all the time, but if they have a strong sense of cause, that element of optimism and happiness will come with every product they sell. Do you feel happy when you buy an HP computer? Eh. But do you feel happy when you buy a Mac? Yup.
Companies need to clearly understand and state their true and honest belief in the world so they can include a free bit of happiness with every purchase.
Who knows...sell enough products with free happiness enclosed and maybe that's enough to bring about world peace.
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