Leadership Wisdom From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari Part 6

Start with what they know,

Build on what they have.

But of the best leaders,

When their task is accomplished,

Their work is done,

The people will remark,

"We have done it ourselves."

Ancient Eastern saying When I was a kid, my dad would always tell me that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason: to listen twice as much as we speak. Well, for the first time in my entire career, I began to put that lesson into practice. The days following my meeting with Julian in the park brought changes that were nothing short of miraculous. I knew the lessons he had been teaching me had stood the test of time and were sound in nature. But I could not have imagined the impact they would have on my people.

Although I hadn't come close to mastering Ritual 2, I was giving it my fullest effort. I inst.i.tuted an open-door policy and really meant it. I tried to keep even the smallest promises and commitments I made. I stopped interrupting everyone and became an aggressive listener, as Julian had advised. I now looked for opportunities to perform "minor acts of caring," whether this meant taking a valued manager out to lunch or simply offering a few words of genuine encouragement to a team member who was giving her best. I even started making the disciplines of honesty and openness a key part of my leadership style, sending out e-mails or circulating personally so as to get essential information out to those whom it affected. And what a difference it made.

As with the previous rituals that Julian had shared with me, I knew it would take time before the full power of the second ritual was released. But even within the few weeks of our last meeting, the men and women of GlobalView realized that something big was happening and that they were a big part of it. The programmers soon came up with suggestions to increase our efficiency and innovativeness. After I shared the insight I had gained about enriching human relations with my management team, they inst.i.tuted a Truth-Comes-First policy and promised the members of their teams they would be "fanatically honest" in all their dealings with them, keeping them in the loop and making certain their voices were heard. It was as if GlobalView was becoming an entirely new company. People started getting to work early and staying late. Just from the conversations I overheard and the way everyone was treating one another, I could sense that everyone was beginning to care again. For me, as their leader, it felt wonderful.

Finally, the night I was to meet Julian at the stadium arrived. As I entered the complex, an usher asked if I needed help. Upon looking at my ticket, he smiled and said, "Welcome to the CivicDome, sir. Let me escort you to your seat. You've got the best location in the house."

As I sat down, I noticed that every seat in our row was occupied, except for the one next to mine. "This must be Julian's seat," I thought. But where was he? The game was going to start in five minutes and Julian was nowhere in sight. I began to worry. After all, it was not like Julian to be late. He had clearly become a man who practiced what he preached and I knew he wouldn't want to keep me waiting, especially having whetted my appet.i.te for his profound leadership wisdom during our past two meetings.

Then, two minutes before the game was scheduled to begin, I saw the strangest sight at the other end of the stadium: A man holding a small telescope in one hand and two hot dogs in the other was rushing through the crowd with exceptional speed, the mustard from the hot dogs dripping onto the red robe he wore. When he spotted the place where I was sitting, he let out a yell that attracted the attention of everyone in my vicinity. "Hey, Peter, save that seat! We monks don't get to see many good ballgames!" Julian had arrived.

As he sat down, he gently placed his telescope under his chair and handed me the hot dogs. "These are for you, I know you'll love them. The vendor said they are the tastiest he had. Sorry I'm late.

I was watching the stars and lost track of time. It's become quite a pa.s.sion of mine, you know."

"So I've gathered. What's so special about it?"

"When the time is right, I'll tell you. For now, I suggest you dig into those hot dogs before they get cold. Do you think our guys will win tonight?" he asked, deftly moving on to a new topic.

"I'd be willing to bet on it," I replied. "They're on the longest winning streak in their history. This should be another easy win for them."

As the game got under way, Julian leaned over and asked softly, "Aren't you curious why I asked you to meet me here tonight?"

"Just a little," I replied, understating the truth.

"Well, I thought you'd learn a lot about leadership from watching what's going on here. See the head coach over there?" he said, pointing to a tall bald man, impeccably dressed in a dark blue pinstriped suit, the kind that Julian himself had once favored.

"Yes."

"He embodies the leadership philosophy I want you to adopt. You see, Peter, though he is the team's leader, he doesn't dictate the players' every move. Instead, he coaches, guides and encourages the players as they liberate their strengths. Great leaders are great teachers. That is precisely what you should begin to do. See yourself as a coach, inspiring your team to manifest your future vision and rallying it behind your compelling cause. I'll bet you didn't know that the verb 'to coach' came from the root meaning 'to bring a person from where he is to where he wants to be.'"

"No, I didn't."

"Not only that but a good coach keeps his or her team highly motivated as it journeys to that place on the horizon. A good coach energizes, challenges, develops and equips his people. He brings out the very best that they have to offer. He demands that they perform at their peak and then trains them to do so. In this day and age when most organizations suffer from low morale and unmotivated workers, leaders must become skilled coaches to ensure the success of their team."

"So how do I become a great coach and motivate my team?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Julian replied, just as one of the point guards on the home team swished a three-pointer. Suddenly Julian jumped to his feet and started yelling at the top of his lungs. "Way to go! A few more of those babies and we'll be home free!"

I'd never seen Julian so animated since he had returned from the Himalayas. On our previous meetings, he had been so serene and peaceful. Now, amid the excitement of the basketball game, he was on his feet, cheering and clapping like a kid at his first circus show. It was great to see him so happy. He'd been through more pain and turmoil in his life than anyone I'd ever known.

"Sorry about that, Peter. It's just that since my time with the Sages of Sivana, I've learned that every day is a gift. Every day is special and full of tiny blessings. When I was a time-starved, out-of-balance lawyer, I was so busy chasing the bra.s.s ring that I lost sight of the simple pleasures of life. I let my family life slip away. I let my friendships slip away. And ultimately I let my health slip away. Sure I made a ton of money and had all the toys any person could dream of. But I wasn't happy. I wasn't fulfilled.

"So now, even though I have few possessions, I find joy in the special moments that every day brings. I look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. And that's why I'm having so much fun tonight. Who knows if I'll ever get to see another game like this."

I was surprised to hear Julian talk in this way. He was so positive and alive. To hear him speak of his own mortality and the possibility that he might not be around was uncharacteristic of the new Julian Mantle. And I told him so.

"Oh don't worry, Peter. I plan to live many, many more years. I have so much work left to do in this part of the world. I pledged to Yogi Raman and the other sages I would spend the rest of my days spreading their message for leadership in business and in life, and I plan to do just that. There are so many more people I can help and so many more things I need to do. The best years of my life still lie ahead of me, my friend. Count on it. All I'm saying is that we must all remember that time slips through our hands like grains of sand, never to return again. Have the courage to embrace and enjoy life as you travel through it."

"Point well taken, Julian. Before your leadership wisdom started to transform our company, I'd become so stressed out I couldn't sleep more than a couple of hours at night. Samantha was worried about it and the kids complained that I was always cranky, which made things even worse. I felt like everything I'd spent my whole life working for was slipping away. My response was to work even harder. But now I know what needs to be done to return GlobalView to peak performance and perfect health. Now I can work smarter and begin to enjoy the journey of leadership."

"Good. Okay, back to your question about how one can become a great coach and develop motivated employees. The secret to having highly inspired, loyal workers, who will do whatever it takes to help you manifest your vision can be stated in four words. Want to know them?"

"No, I thought I'd get another hot dog," I said with mock sarcasm. "Of course I want to know the secret of highly motivated employees. Doesn't every leader and manager?"

"Well here it is: Reward Routinely, Recognize Relentlessly."

"That's Ritual 3," I said pulling out the third piece of the puzzle, which also had a pattern on it, like the first two.

"Yes, my friend. Ritual 3 in Yogi Raman's ancient leadership system is the ritual of team building. All visionary leaders have made it a daily practice to reward and recognize their employees. They have the wisdom to know that employees who feel appreciated deliver superior results."

"And I'll bet that's another reason that you picked this location for us to meet tonight, right Julian? It's all coming together now."

"You're a fast study, Peter. I've always liked that about you. Even in the old days, when you were my golf partner, you were always one step ahead of the game. Yes. The head coach is most certainly applying the principle I am sharing with you. He has obviously discovered that when you honor employees, they will come to honor you. He clearly practices the twin leadership disciplines of rewarding and recognizing. That is why his team is so successful."

"Where's the starting point? I'll admit it, I had no idea that rewarding and recognizing employees was so important. I've been so busy with other things that I've never really thought about 'honoring my people,' as you suggest. But I know from my own days as an employee, when I did something right and my manager noticed it, it made me want to perform even better the next time around. Sad to say, in our company, employees don't really hear much from management until they do something wrong. Otherwise, they're pretty much on their own."

"Most companies are like that, Peter. The leadership a.s.sumes that the men and women who work for the organization are mature adults who don't require a pat on the back. Managers believe their job only requires them to spot bad behavior and correct it. They never tell their people about the many positive letters that come in from satisfied customers; instead they haul their workers into their offices to interrogate them the minute a complaint arrives. In so doing, they unwittingly invite their employees to spend their days trying to avoid bad behavior rather than focusing their energies on doing good work. And rest a.s.sured, such companies never grow to world-cla.s.s status. Would it surprise you to learn that most people in our part of the world go to bed hungry every night?"

"That's impossible, Julian. We live in the land of plenty."

"Well, it's true. Most people go to bed hungry every single night of their lives. Hungry for a little recognition and sincere appreciation for their efforts."

"So what can I do to turn things around? I'm beginning to see the potential of our people peeking through the suits of armor they have donned in response to my old dictatorial leadership style. I am determined to free their strengths and let them be the kind of workers and people they are capable of being. But where do I start?"

"The starting point for motivating your employees is simple: hunt for good behavior."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you said it yourself: At GlobalView you and your managers are constantly looking for bad behavior to correct. The only indicator most of your employees have that they are doing okay is the fact that they have not been fired. Well, that's not good enough. Your people deserve better than that. You need to shift your mind-set and start hunting for people who are doing things right. Get aggressive about finding employees who are performing the way you know they should be. Be like a hunter relentlessly searching for his target. And when you find it, let the rewards and recognition flow freely. Remember, you always get more of what you reward."

"Do you have to acknowledge good behavior immediately?"

"Great question, Peter. Not necessarily, but I'll tell you one thing for sure: the sooner you reward the good behavior, the more likely it is to be repeated. Keep rewarding the kind of behavior you want to see again and again. When you condition your people in this way, they develop a clear sense of your expectations. They will soon realize what success looks like."

"But don't most employees already know what they should be doing? Don't they already know what success looks like? I've always felt that most are simply too lazy to achieve it. In my experience, they just want to make an easy buck and head home as early as possible."

"You are dead wrong," came the blunt reply. "Yogi Raman always told me that almost everyone wants to do good. Each one of us wants to contribute in a positive way and feel that our life has some meaning. We all have dreams and hopes and pa.s.sions that we pray will be fulfilled one day. But the reality is that most people's ambitions are stifled by the men and women who lead them. They are told what to wear or when to have lunch or how to do their work. Most employees in our part of the world are micro-managed to the point where they feel that it will be detrimental to their careers if they become free thinkers and innovators.

"What you need to start doing, to free the strengths and talents of your people, is to reward the behavior you want to see repeated. Let every single employee know exactly what success looks like by recognizing those who are doing it. You might not believe it, but most workers lack a clear sense of what peak performance means, which further adds to their stress levels. Their leader has never provided them with a model to emulate. Then he or she criticizes them for not doing what they should be doing, making matters even worse.

"I've been in far too many companies where the expectations the leaders have of their employees bear little or no resemblance to employee job descriptions. Visionary leaders define precisely the kinds of results they hope to see from their people and then set them free to realize them. Like I told you earlier, nothing motivates and focuses the mind better than a clear purpose. Once people know where they are going and what is expected of them, they will fulfill their responsibilities."

"But what about when they fail. Surely they need to be punished?"

"That leads me to another important point. In underperforming companies, people are so afraid of failing that they never take risks. By never taking risks, they never discover new things. And by never discovering new things, they spend the rest of their lives within a small zone of comfort, doing the same things with the same people in the same way every day. To add insult to injury, management then chastises them for their lack of creativity and innovation. Look, don't get me wrong, Peter, you know I'm a pragmatisti no one is saying that leaders and managers should not correct bad behavior. But don't miss the forest for the trees. Have the vision to understand that failure is essential to success. When one of your people tries something and fails, he or she is simply learning how to succeed. Failures are nothing more than lessons in disguise. They eventually lead us to wisdom and prosperity. Visionary leaders make work environments risk-free. They give their people the freedom to fail. And by doing so, they ultimately succeed."

"Wow, I've never thought of failure like that."

"You might be surprised to learn that at Southwest Airlines - the spectacularly successful company I mentioned earlier - a young manager who came up with an innovative new idea that failed disastrously was actually promoted! The manager had proposed a same-day cargo service that would increase Southwest's revenue by 50 percent. The president personally approved the program and significant sums were spent on advertising and setting up the new operation. Unfortunately, the business never came. But the company's executives understood that while bold risk taking is necessary for ma.s.sive success, it can also lead to big failures from time to time. It's just a cost of doing business. They ensured that the lesson was well learned and then forged on. By not firing the manager, they sent out a powerful message that innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit was appreciated."

"That's an unbelievable example, Julian."

"It gets even better. Guess how a Southwest employee is recognized when a complimentary letter arrives from a customer?"

"Let's hear it."

"The letter is immediately sent to the employee along with a memo from the president saying, 'I think you're great and my hat's off to you. Keep up the great work. I love you.'"

"Amazing. But I don't know about this loving-your-employees thing."

"At Southwest, the president seizes every opportunity to tell his people that he loves them. The word 'love' is not used in a soft, sentimental way but as an expression of appreciation. However, you don't have to tell your employees that you love them to motivate and inspire them. Just thank them when they do the right thing and forgive them when they make a mistake. To quote the Tibetan proverb that Yogi Raman favored, 'If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will avoid a hundred days of sorrow.'"

"I'd guess that the best way to reward positive behavior and peak performance is with money. True?"

Julian's response was interrupted by the loud sound of the half-time buzzer. Our team was dominating the game and the fans began to applaud warmly. Since Julian had bought courtside seats, we were able to hear what the head coach was saying to the players as they came off the court: "Phenomenal job, guys. We're playing our game, just the way we planned it in practice. Keep this up and we're guaranteed a playoff spot. I know you've been on the road for the past two weeks and I know you guys are darn tired. Let's wrap this one up for our fans."

As the players began walking toward the hallway that led to their locker room, the coach added, 'Hey guys ... I'm really proud of you!'"

"Does that answer your question, Peter?" Julian asked. "Huh?"

"Did that coach just motivate his team?" "Definitely."

"Did he pull out a sack of money and hand out bills to each player to do it?"

"No," I said with a smile. "So how did he do it?"

"He praised them. And he did it sincerely. I really felt that he cared about them and felt proud of their excellent performance."

"Exactly. You see, my friend, praise is free. Sincere praise can move mountains and revolutionize your entire organization. And it won't cost you a penny. Too many leaders think that bonus checks and cash incentives are the only way to motivate their teams, and since money is tight, they do nothing. Yet, contrary to popular belief, money is not the strongest motivator of human beings. Research shows that people prefer simple praise to almost any other type of reward.

"In one landmark study of 1,500 employees, personalized, instant recognition was found to be the top way to energize staff. Yet only 42 percent received such feedback. In another survey, 58 percent of employees said they seldom received a thank-you note for a job well done even though they said that this form of recognition motivated them the most."

"A simple thank-you note is all they want?"

"Maybe your people want more. You, as their leader, need to make the time to find out. Here's a key lesson: don't reward people according to the way you would like to be rewarded if you were in their shoes. Instead, find out what motivates them. Figure out what you and your managers can do to make your employees feel like heroes. Start asking yourself the Wow Question.' It's extremely powerful."

"What's the Wow Question'?"

"The Wow Question is every leader's best friend. It simply requires that you ask yourself the following: 'What could I do, in terms of rewarding and recognizing my people for excellent work, that would make them say 'wow' on receiving it?' Remember that timeless truth, Peter: the way you treat your employees determines the way they will treat your customers. If you have the discipline to make them feel special, to go 'wow' on a regular basis, they will do the same for your clients. As I said earlier, giving starts the receiving process.

"Different people must be rewarded in different ways," Julian added. "Gifts need to be customized. Giving a salesperson who hates to fly or is constantly on the road away from her family a trip to Bermuda might not be a great idea. A person who is well paid but working eighteen-hour days just might prefer a few days off over a big bonus check. There was one young guy on my own legal team back when I practiced law who just wanted to be acknowledged for his excellent work in front of the people he worked with. As Yogi Raman said, 'Crack the codes of the people you lead and find out what makes them tick.' Find out what specific things will make them feel good about any success they have achieved. For one it might be a trophy, for another it might be a day-pa.s.s to a local ski hill. Tailor the reward to suit the person.

"I can still remember Yogi Raman coming into my little hut one day, after I had been diligently studying under him and trying very hard to integrate the wisdom of the sages into my own life. 'You have been a very good student, Julian,' he said gently, 'probably the best one we have ever had. You have been respectful of our customs and shown a very sincere interest in learning our philosophies on leadership and life. Every one of us has grown fond of you. We now see you as a member of our little culture. And though we have few possessions, I would like to give you a small gift as a reward for the progress you made. I would like to give you something that is meaningful, so rather than selecting the gift myself, I thought I'd drop by and find out from you what token would make you happiest.'

"You know, Peter, it was the first time anyone had taken the time to ask me to choose my own reward for a job well done. As a result, I was one happy student. I started studying even harder, just so I wouldn't disappoint this teacher who had invested such faith in me."

"And what did you ask for?"

"I knew you'd want to know. It was something really simple. Inside the temple that stood in the center of the monks' village, there sat a plaque made out of wood. In my quiet moments, I would go in and silently reflect on the words that Yogi Raman had carved onto it. They had great meaning to me. My wish was that Yogi Raman provide me with a similar plaque. He gladly complied, delivering it the very next day."

"What did the words say?" I asked with great interest.

"They were the words of the great Indian philosopher Patanjali. As I have committed them to memory, I can recite them for you: When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world, Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.