Passion Makes the Difference—James Taylor vs. The Who
February 10, 2009
Being passionate about your work makes the day go by quicker, helps you be more productive, and generally makes you more fun to be around. When you lose your passion for your work, everyone around you knows it!
We can see an excellent example of this in the music industry. Growing up in New York City in the ’70s I had the opportunity to see many concerts. Two stand out as contrasting examples of passion. In 1975 I saw James Taylor at Tanglewood in the Berkshires and The Who at Madison Square Garden.
The Who was really at its musical peak, and the band’s leader, Pete Townsend, was the driving force. During an interview, he commented that when he was performing, he was on the stage physically, but he was somewhere else mentally. Once he even punched out a policeman who came on stage to tell him that there was a fire in the theater; he was so caught up in the music he really didn’t know where he was. Needless to say, this concert was memorable.
James Taylor, at that time in his life, was heavily into drugs so his passion was probably more focused on feeding his drug habit than it was on performing. His concert was good, but not great.
Jump forward 22 years. It’s the summer of 1997 in Raleigh, NC, and both The Who and James Taylor are coming to town. I was really excited about these two concerts. The Who was performing Quadrophenia, the great “concept” album they released in 1972, which we listened to constantly as teenagers. James Taylor’s new CD, Hourglass, contained his best material in 20 years, and, arguably, some of his best ever.
What I experienced was a flashback to the 1975 concerts—and now the roles had reversed. It seemed like The Who was just going through the motions. The band members put on an adequate show, but there was no real depth to their performance. James Taylor, on the other hand, was amazing. He looked as if he was having the time of his life. He interacted with the audience, joked around with his band, and played about ten more songs then he had planned on because he was having so much fun.
Maybe he was in such a great mood because he’s originally from nearby Chapel Hill. Maybe it was because we were sitting third row center. Or maybe he was really passionate about what he was playing. In any case, it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended, and his passion for his music, for performing, and for connecting with the audience left everyone in a great mood.
If a performance can have that kind of effect on an audience at a three-hour concert, imagine what kind of effect your own passion for your work can have on people you see for forty or fifty or sixty hours a week! Identify and understand the areas of work that you and your staff are passionate about and try to channel your efforts into those areas. You will be amazed at the results.
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February 9, 2009
Random Acts of Kindness
February 5, 2009
Every so often, I see bumper stickers that say something like, “Commit Random Acts of Kindness!” To be honest, I normally dismiss these as a bit over-idealistic. The level of work we have to do—both inside and outside of our jobs—can leave us with precious little time to entertain such noble and altruistic thoughts.
But I had an interesting and encouraging experience a few weeks ago that helped to somewhat restore my faith in human nature.
My 11-year-old son and I will be riding in the MS-150 later this month. The MS-150 is a 150-mile bike ride to help raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. As you might imagine, biking 150 miles over two days requires a fair amount of preparation.
My son and I were on a training ride when another cyclist rode up and joined us on our ride. We talked about bicycles and good bicycling routes in the area. Then I mentioned that my son and I were in training for the MS-150 and had to raise a minimum of $150 each. He was impressed that an 11-year-old would do something like that.
Then, while we were riding, he opened up his “handlebar pack,” handed a $5 bill to my son, and said, “Here—now you only need $145 more!” Needless to say, my son was thrilled. The cyclist then rode on ahead.
About ten minutes later, he doubled back and joined us again. He asked my son if he had any bike shorts. (He didn’t.) A cycling jersey? (No.) He then told us that he used to own a bike shop, and he had a lot of inventory left over. If we wanted to stop by his house, he might have some clothes my son could wear.
When we arrived at his house, he took us into his garage and proceeded to hand my son three beautiful cycling jerseys, two pair of padded shorts, two pair of gloves, and a seat pack for storing tools and an extra tube. All of this was brand new—well over $250 worth of clothing and equipment.
He commented that he had loved to ride when he was a child; and if my son enjoyed riding and was willing to ride 150 miles for such a good cause, then the clothing would be more useful with my son than it would be in his garage.
Weeks later, I’m still amazed at this person’s generosity. And my son has learned a valuable lesson about “giving.”
Helping other people for no other reason than being nice makes both the giver and receiver feel great. Try to find something you can do that might have a similar impact on someone in your organization. It’s infectious, and it can have a profound impact on an organization’s culture.
How You Spend Your Time Demonstrates Your True Values
February 3, 2009
To determine the true values of an organization, you need to look at where their senior leaders spend their time.
Do the leaders in your organization tend to say one thing, yet do another? When their actions are inconsistent with their words, it is difficult to know their true values.
On a flight back from Ottawa, Ontario, to Raleigh, North Carolina, I had an eye-opening experience about this concept. I was sitting in the aisle seat; the middle seat was empty; and a man was sitting in the window seat. We had our tray tables down and were both working diligently on the papers in front of us.
Then I did something you’ve probably done yourself. I let my eyes stray over to his pile of papers—just for a second. Of course, at exactly that time, he happened to look up at me, and I quickly snapped my head back to my own work. A few minutes later, he did exactly the same thing and got “caught” himself. Then, almost in unison, we asked each other, “What’s that you’re working on?”
At the time, I was involved in strategic quality planning and was reviewing my notes for an upcoming conference presentation. He, as it turns out, was a consultant who worked with senior leaders from Fortune 500 companies that were undergoing change. We decided to put away our work, fold up our tray tables, and enjoy a productive conversation for the remainder of the trip.
First, I shared some of the approaches to change that were successful in my organization. Then I asked how he worked with his clients to help them implement meaningful change. Here is how he explained it to me:
“Well, usually my clients bring me in to a mahogany-and-brass boardroom, with all the ‘grand pubas’ sitting around the table. Then they say something that amounts more or less to, ‘Oh, please tell us what to do, oh enlightened sage!’”
“What do you do then?” I asked him.
“I go over to the most senior executive in the room, borrow his or her Day Planner, open up to any date at random, and read what it says. Of course, the executive is a little confused, and asks what I’m doing. I tell him that I’m trying to find the time on his calendar where he personally taught a class on the new initiative, or met with customers, or ate lunch with the ‘little people’ in the cafeteria. “Oh, that!” he would answer, “Let me get on the phone and I’ll get my Senior Associate Executive Assistant Vice President for Quality on the phone, and he can help you!” This told me everything I needed to know about the organization’s level of management involvement.”
While this may have been an isolated case, we all know that this kind of approach to change rarely works. Although we don’t really expect the senior executive of the group to do all the leg work in implementing change, at some point delegation ceases to be delegation and becomes abdication—abdication of the leader’s responsibility to lead by example. And when this happens it is easily recognized by everyone in the organization—and the results can be difficult to overcome.
In business, as in life, when things are important, we find time or make time to do them. If you want to determine the true values of your organization, study the behaviors of your leaders—watch where they spend their time—and you’ll come to a very definite and clear conclusion about where they stand.
