Warren Bennis, Marshall School of Business, USC
Peter Andrews, IBM's Advanced Business Institute
Marshall Goldsmith, #1 rated executive coach
Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point
Mike Eruzione, Captain of the 1980 Olympics Hockey Team
Marcus Buckingham, author of First Break All the Rules
Margaret Kelly, President, Remax Int.
MichaelTreacy, author of Double Digit Growth
The magazine has 8 international editions and a combined print and online circulation of more than 25,000. It will also be circulated at the The Global Institute Leadership Development Conference on Oct. 17-22 in Palm Desert, CA. http://www.linkageinc.com/conferences/default.shtml
For more information on the magazine, look at the website at http://eep.com/Merchant/newsite/eeindex.htm
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LEADERSHIP MOMENTS
My wife Leslie and I were leaving Sri Lanka after a session, heading off to Dubai, from there on to London.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and made our way to the immigration line. Despite the airport 'bursting at the seams' in terms of travelers, there were only a few immigration booths open. Disinterested immigration agents seemed to relish sending passengers back to locate departure cards that were minutely different from those found at the airline check-in desks.
One international traveler was getting visibly angry as the immigration agent at her line just took off, without bothering to find a replacement! A number of passengers started making noise. Though there were numerous agents loitering in a nearby office, none of them felt 'moved' enough to step in. That traveler was held up in this fiasco of a line for a further 45 minutes!
In customer service, we often speak of 'moments of truth'. Such apathy and poor treatment as I've described above also signifies 'leadership moments'. Such moments show both the absence of leadership, and the unwillingness of the individuals involved to search for or summon the personal leadership drive and energy from within themselves.
I use Sri Lanka airport as an example. Some people reading this might say that's par for the course in a third world airport. But Sri Lanka abounds with graceful, hospitable, capable people! I know doormen at hotels and chefs in small cafes in Sri Lanka that are responsive, alert, abundant with energy. This cannot be explained away as a 'third world' phenomenon. Whoever set up the parameters for these people, whoever supervises them, whatever they imagine for their own lives -- all of that is sadly letting down the country and service they represent, as well as their own self-concept and potential.
A week prior, we had left Manila, heading to Singapore to catch our connecting flight to Sri Lanka. Singapore Airlines is justly famous for extraordinary service and excellence. We are among the airline's devoted fans. However, the plane was delayed , and we had to switch terminals and make a connection in less than 40 minutes. While the aircrew assured us that someone from Singapore Airlines would help us ensure we were able to make our connection, the gate agent was a bored, over-decorated young lady, who was chomping something, and said 'We don't help when they're going to another Terminal.' There wasn't an iota of concern, not a spark of interest or empathy...though her airline's delay had caused our need to rush.
Here is a first-world country, an airline that motivates staff superlatively, yet represented at the gate by a lackluster person, who seemed to have relinquished her own sense of purpose or service focus. Another 'leadeship moment' both for the airline, as well as for the young woman herself.
The GM of a world-celebrated hotel who is also a personal friend, checked into a 'famous' Las Vegas Hotel, the Bellagio. This is one of those 'gems' that have soaring architecture and amazing design and finish. However to check in he had to join one of 4 lines that were backed up. A person brusquely told him 'You have to join a line.' Arrival at a hotel is a key 'leadership moment' as well as a service 'perception point' (my friend Ron Kaufman's preferred description of this).
My GM friend was there with a group of hoteliers, and yet they were accorded the same attention as a can of tuna fish. His room was spectacular, however it had only one dustbin throughout its expanse. Housekeeping services were uneven and unimpressive, and one day a pail full of dirty water was left in his room. Talk about a collapse of leadership, and the lack of leadership desire or drive in the people who work at this gaudy place that seems unable to distinguish between opulence and style.
The unkindest cut of all came when he tried to check out. He had 15 minutes between meetings. He had politely asked for a late check out and was told dismissively: 'We don't do those'. Now he was in a teeming line, again one of four separate lines, snaking around the corner. He finally had enough and forcefully got the attention of someone: 'I have 10 minutes to check-out, I'm in the middle of meetings at your hotel, that's why I flew here from around the world. Either find a way to do check me out in a reasonable time, or else I'm leaving and you can chase me with the bill.'
A manager 'appeared' and checked him out. While processing the payment, he asked in a perfunctory way: 'How was your stay sir?' My GM friend told him about feeling like a cog in a machine, the dispiriting service, the mismatch between 'hardware' and human 'software'. He even handed over his card showing his hotel's name -- a hotel that is truly legendary around the world. No reaction. Just a grunt. A bill handed over, and another automation went about his day. What a 'moment of truth'. What a 'leadership moment' that this gentleman chose to ignore and avoid. All the fancy advertising jingles, all the glittering chandeliers, won't make up for the lack of individual and collective soul displayed.
At home, your husband or wife needs to talk. They feel dismayed by their experience at work, they are demoralised, and need some empathy. Instead of this, they get fleeting attention from us as we change channels. Instead of understanding they get platitudes and bumper sticker slogans. Instead of emotional nourishment, they get parched by our lack of engagement. 'Leadership moments' defined as moments when we get to influence people and situations, where we are called on to step up and make a difference, where our spirit and selves have a chance to shine, don't come in any more important a 'packaging' than that. When we default on such moments, we default on who we are, what our company seeks to be, and to some extent we bring the standards and spirit of the world down just a little.
KEY LEARNING AND APPLICATION:
Take a look at what the 'leadership moments' are in your business.This is where you and your colleagues have to truly 'come through' for each other, for customers and more. This is where we need vitality, and connection, and a commitment to contribution. If that is happening, reliably and consistently, more often than not, you have the makings of excellence at the group and individual level.
If it isn't happening (check this out through random visits, surveys, customer reviews, internal service surveys and more), then this is where significant leadership energy needs to go. We are made and unmade, one interaction, one perception, at a time. Such leadership moments invested in with the best of us, create the leadership habits that pave sustained success.
At a personal level, be alert to moments that call for YOUR leadership -- at work, at home, in all kinds of interactions and opportunities. There is a vacuum of leadership in the world, you and I have to choose to fill it. Why? That's where our differentiation will come from, that's how our personal brand will be built, that's how we will find our own sense of satisfaction and significance, that's how we will rally others and excite them to synergise with us.
May you have a powerful month ahead. A month in which you look for your 'leadership moments' as a citizen, partner, parent, contributor, service provider, team member. May we each choose to come ALIVE to our moments to solve, serve, heal, resolve, create, add value and liberate both enthusiasm and possibility.
See you next month!
Yours in possibility,
Omar Khan and the Sensei International Team
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