The McKinsey article, When sustainability means more than ‘green’, is adapted from Adam Werback’s new book, Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto and  reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Press. Copyright © 2009.  Adam Werbach is the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, a former president of the Sierra Club (at age 23 in 1996), and the author of many works on sustainability, including the 1997 book Act Now, Apologize Later. I strongly encourage you to view this accompanying video interview, and then read the article.

True sustainability has four equal components:

• social, to address conditions that affect us all, including poverty, violence, injustice, education, public health, and labor and human rights
• economic, to help people and businesses meet their economic needs—for people: securing food, water, shelter, and creature comforts; for businesses: turning a profit
• environmental, to protect and restore the Earth—for example, by controlling climate change, preserving natural resources, and preventing waste
• cultural, to protect and value the diversity through which communities manifest their identity and cultivate traditions across generations

I would like to thank our web guys who helped clean it up and monitored it daily to ensure it stayed clean. In fact the malware returned after two days. Shujaat and his guys at Frizcon were very responsive to our needs.

Take 5 minutes to reflect

There are times when publishing inspirational ”feel good” videos or quotes are useful. We all need to feel good once in a while.  It occurs to me that we don’t take time – even a little bit – to reflect on things.  This includes being grateful but it also includes pondering the mysteries of life.  For many years now, when I am asked to explain what kind of coaching I practice, I often begin by saying that I am a “reflective coach”.  By that I mean, I help create a space in time for my clients to take that precious time, to think, to strategize, to reflect about what is important to them and their organization.

Methods for Reflection and Tranquility

I don’t mediate but have always thought this to be a useful activity.  Journalling has not come easily to me either.  Yoga has been a way for me to tap into my inner self and quiet down.  I have been negligent over the past few years and I believe that it has shown up quite vigorously in my lack of patience.  So I look for other ways to reflect.   Often I come across something in my journeys through the internet and social networks that encourage me to take a few minutes to reflect.  I hope to share some of them with you.

Take 5 minutes for this:

Here is Parker Palmer on talking about the mystery of the Soul in 4 minutes. Palmer is is an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He runs the Center for Courage & Renewal.

“The Soul is also very shy.”

My Distinction between Inspiration and Reflection

Inspiration is in the present.  It gives us a sense of uplifting and optimism. It may illicit a feeling of “I feel good” or “I should”.  If we are lucky, we will go to the next level and say “I will”.  It is emotion – sometimes with context sometimes more etherial.

Reflection while appearing to be in the present is actually more future oriented.  Reflection raises questions in our minds: “I wonder” or “What if?”.  It integrates our thinking and emotions. It grounds us and gets us in touch with our values. It gives meaning and focus to the passion.  Consequently it is more likely to create action than inspiration.

Robert Shiller is the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics at Yale University. In this 7 minute video interview from the McKinsey Qurterly, he describes the role played in our economy by “animal spirits,” the subject of his new book written with George A. Akerlof, the Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. The text below is adapted from Animal Spirits.

Adam Smith saw that human beings rationally pursue their economic interests, and his economic theories explain what happens when they do. But they are also guided by noneconomic motives—“animal spirits”—which Adam Smith and his followers largely ignore. Sometimes people are irrational, wrong, shortsighted, or evil; sometimes they act for action’s sake; and sometimes they uphold noneconomic values like fairness, honor, or righteousness.

The research is pretty clear. We make totally irrational emotional decisions about almost everything – unless it is insignificant and then we let logic rule. However, once we have made that instant emotional response, we let our minds believe it is analytical and devise reasons to “make it so”. (While a google search will come up with a number of articles on this, I am still trying to locate the source that I prefer to reference.)

Theoretical economists who struggle to understand how people handle uncertainty seem to be converging on behavioral economics. Jack: Straight from the Gut, the title of the autobiography of former GE chairman Jack Welch, sums up this reality: investment decisions are intuitive, not analytical. Intuition, a social process, follows the laws of psychology—indeed, of social psychology. Asking why capital expenditure fluctuates from year to year is a bit like asking why beer consumption fluctuates from one poker party to another.

What all this got to do with Sustainable Change?

We talk about planning change as if we can take into account all the facors. Even if we could anticipate all the possble logical and some of the emotional reactons and develop contingency plans, it may be a futile effort”. (This following in fact not the original quote from To A Mouse by Robbie Burns but the colloquial phase. The proper verse can be listened to by clicking this link.)

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Even we really want to see meaningful change we had better start figuring ways to tap unto the human spirit and passion. At 1-Focus we are pretty clear about how to do this through genuine engagement.

I don’t do Change Management – never have; never will. 

I have never called myself a Change Consultant but I have slipped into saying that I do “Change Management”. Sometimes it is easier to say that you “do” change management than try to explain OD.  Sometimes it is even easier to say that you do leadership development and training. I had the official title of “Organization Effectiveness Consultant in 1982 for a Hi Tech Telecommunications Company (that recently went bankrupt).  For the past 25 years, whenever I explain to people that specialize in Organizational Development, it seems that their eyes glaze over. It isn’t that I can’t define it quite succinctly. I have always used Dick Bechard’s definiton – which may be slightly dated but still holds the essence of OD:

Organization development is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization-wide, and (3) managed from top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organization’s “processes,” using behavioral science knowledge. (Richard Bechard, 1969)

I will come back to what I think needs to shift in the definition in today’s environment but first, let me explain why I do not like the term “change management”. The concept of OD is very specific, if not complicated, but “change management” is a moving target. Historically, change management has taken a mechanical perspective that “focuses on observable, measurable business elements that can be changed or improved, including business strategy, processes, systems, organizational structures and job roles.”

Today it is far more nebulous – like empowerment, leadership or engagement. It can be all things to all people. Today it encompasses both the human aspects of change as well as the technical side. A good and simple explanation of this evolution can be found here. The human side of change was only appropriated when those engineering the change finally realized that their efforts were failing.

In ten years we will still be talking about “it” but “it” will be called change leadership! However, I would like to take OD to the next level and maybe it will be called Iterative Sustainable Change.

What is missing in OD today?

The process can no longer be planned nor take the length of time it has in the past. It needs to be designed, co-designed. (Hence, interventions may be planned.) It needs to happen fast, which will be more transformative and truly systemic. This means that it has to be a collaborative process like we have not seen. It will not be managed from the top but lead by each person and managed through out the organization. This means everyone, and I do mean everyone, has to be engaged. Engagement does not mean “involved” or “participating”. I repeat, it will be co-designed by everyone. It will be iterative and sustainable because it happens from the inside out. And my role and the role of all “change consultants” or “change facilitators” will be to help create and hold that safe space.

Please share your thought.

]]> http://1-focus.com/sustainingchange/archives/298/feed 0 http://1-focus.com/sustainingchange/archives/435 http://1-focus.com/sustainingchange/archives/435#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:11:10 +0000 Roberta Hill http://1-focus.com/sustainingchange/?p=435

The first time you find out that someone else has YOUR name you are devastated.  For most of us this happens at quite a young age. . . for me I was around 8 or even 10 before I discovered that anyone had the same name as me. To be honest I am not sure that I have ever got over it.  I have remained very protective of my name; it is my brand afterall.  So I track how it shows up on the internet through Google Alerts. (BE sure to watch the video at the bottom of the post.)

Roberta Hill Whiteman, a Native American writer always seems to “beat me” on the google searches, coming up number often 6 out of the top 10 on google. There is also another “Canadian” Roberta Hill who is a real estate agent in British Columbia. She owns the .ca domain that I didn’t purchase because I thought nobody would want it. Recently, we have all been competing on the google searches with an elderly Roberta Hill who has gained some notoriety for her appearance in a small documentary, Cinemaniacs, about five people in New York who are simply obsessed with movies. She has supposedly seen 1000 movies a year for over 20 years, although she’s been banned from some theaters. Here is the trailer:

I am writing this today because “another Roberta Hill” located Maine that I have come across before was a reminder that I wanted to write about how my name has been used lately as a “pen name”.

I have been annoyed for sometime now because a “bogus” Roberta Hill has shown up on EzineArticles listed as follows: “Roberta Hill is an expert on the subject of constipation remedies, and offers tips and advice on the subject on her site constipation cures.”

Who wants to be associated with constipation? Don’t laugh too hard! Maybe I am being silly but my name is my brand even if a couple of other people legitimately have it too. Right now I feel that someone is trying to claim to be me. Another colleague mentioned that is why she always uses her middle initial – which by the way I did for years until I began using www.RobertaHill.com

While there are obviously good reasons on using pen names in some instances, it seems that there are very few restrictions. The person writing for EzineArticles appears to come from India and listed as an expert on the subject of constipation remedies, Tooth Crowns and Dental Cleaning and care. I have requested that it be stated on their site that this person is using a pseudonym but I have not heard back.  I would very much appreciate your comments on whether or not you think that I am being overly sensitive.

Finally, in case the title of this post rings a faint bell, the line is from “To Tell The Truth” a popular television show that ran from 1956 to 1968.  Each contestant claimed to be the same person and panelists had to guess which one was telling the truth. The phony claimants could lie but the actual person had “to tell the truth” when questioned. At the conclusion of the show, the host would say, “would the real ________ please stand up.”

I know that I really shouldn’t take myself so seriously, so please enjoy this video . . . 

Side note:  In the sixties there was a show called “What’s My Line?” First episode was in 1950 and it ran until 1967. (You must check out some of the You Tube videos.)

Q. What was the most important leadership lesson you learned?

A. I’ve learned to be patient and not lose my temper. 

Patience I have learned over the past five years is my biggest developmental need.  (Such a nice way of putting that I too impatient and easily I loose my temper at my children.)

A colleague, CJ got around to blogging about this this interview and it is always interesting to see the different points that strike us differently.  Patience stood out for me but we did share some other similarities.

I don’t think PowerPoints help people think as clearly as they should because you don’t have to put a complete thought in place.  You can just put a phrase with a bullet in front of it. And it doesn’t have a subject, a verb and an object, so you aren’t expressing complete thoughts.

The higher someone rises in an organization, the more important their intangible qualities become, suggests Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson in an in-depth interview (by Adam Bryant of the New York Times) on the unquantifiable aspects of human capital. How Anderson conducts interviews and what he is looking for is particularly insightful.  While his approach is different, for him some of the key elements he is striving to elicit are:

• a really strong set of values
• a really good work ethic
• adaptability to change
• ability to get along well with people
• a team player
• ability to motivate people

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I call ‘Transition’ – a word I use because I don’t like the word (or even the concept of) ‘retirement.’

I realized that I had become locked into a binary mindset. Either a person retired in the traditional sense, leaving work completely, or continued working well past the traditional retirement age.

I’ve come to the realization that there is a middle ground between total retirement and working fulltime. (I can hear some people saying, “What took you so long?”) In the middle ground, a person continues to work but in a changed role. That’s one part of transition.

Business owners often keep working. They love their work. Work gives meaning to life. It’s a place to go, something to do. It’s the challenge of solving problems, the pleasure of interacting with others, having credibility in the community. And, as owners, they have the flexibility to make choices about their future involvement.

The new economy is forcing many people to reconsider ‘retirement’ and continue working to generate income to make up for the big drop in their 401k and other retirement funds.

For many, it’s the way they have wanted it all along. “I don’t want to quit altogether. I want to keep working but in a different role, at a different pace.”

I worked with many business owners and managers who have faced the same issue. It’s probably the most challenging question professionals will ever have to face. I came to the conclusion that, for many, especially professionals, it may not a binary choice: “Should I stay or should I go?” That’s not the right question.

I say this from my personal experience. When I was trying to decide whether it was time to move on from WENDEL I agonized over my decision for three years. I wrote about some of the issues I addressed in a newsletter article (in the article archives of this newsletter) “Don’t Retire – Transition.”

Instead, ask a different question: ‘How can I keep the company progressing – leaving my legacy – but change my role to enable me to do what I love to do and be free of those other responsibilities that I don’t want to do?” Maybe its: “How can I live a meaningful life while maintaining a reduced role in the business?” Another article (also in the archive) “Approaching Retirement” might help you with your deliberations.

Based on my own personal experience and my work with business owners over the past 20 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that they need to deal with their personal ‘transition’ issues – their ‘new’ role – before they can begin to explore succession planning. If they can’t/won’t clarify their new personal role they are unable to consider succession.

Are you pondering your personal transition? I suggest you start do the following:
A) Define your life goals,
B) Choose your new future,
C) Identify your ‘next steps’ to best achieve that future.

Then, you can address ’succession issues’ that are so important to your legacy.

It’s tough to ponder the whole transition challenge and look at it objectively – to step back from the day to day work and ‘just think about this.’ It’s key to set aside blocks of time, away from the work/business issues, to help give you focus. Maybe a ‘coach,’ someone experienced in addressing this challenge, can help you focus on your strategic life issues and add discipline to the process.

The future will not be the past all over again. It’s going to be different. Now is the time to get prepared!

Working with business leaders who are exploring their ‘transition’ options has become a focus of my work. If you’d like to explore your situation give me a call.

Peter Wendel

This article first appeared in Peter Wendel Group Newsletter and was published in Organizational Development Network of Western New York, April 22nd 2009.

Although the environmental and human rights movements are sometimes perceived as two different things – especially in many developed countries like the United States – in much of the world they are closely intertwined.

As part of their 30th-anniversary issue, Inc. asked Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last, what we might expect in the next 30 years. His answer: uncertainty, chaos, turbulence, and risk.

In the end, I think we need to have absolute faith in our ability to deal with whatever is thrown at us. And we need to have a complete, realistic paranoia that a lot can be thrown at us. It’s our ability to put those two contradictory ideas together: We need to be prepared for what we can’t predict and, at the same time, have this total, unwavering faith that we will find a way to deal with all of it. And I believe we will.

I never felt anxious or fearful walking alone at night in the city.  I have been known to hitchhike in the city during a transit strike. Canada has always been a “safe” place and here in Switzerland one gets the same feeling that it is OK that our kids can play outside around the neighbourhood.  I had the privilege of always feeling personally safe.

This is simply not the case for many people around the world and perhaps even someone you know living next door.  Domestic violence, sexual abuse, slavery, political torture and ethic genocide are all closer than we may realize.  Fear is an amazing tactic to keep us silent.  I don’t think I fully grasped the significance of this until I was recently reminded of something. 

Have you ever been harassed via email? I have. It was back in 2003.  Something of mine had been published online out of context and I sent a private email to ask that a correction be made.  This resulted in a series of bullying emails that were scary due to the craziness and menacing style. I disengaged and began to step back from my online presence.  The author of these emails had a large database and I was afraid of what he might do to my reputation.  For the first time in my life I was fearful and acted like a victim.  Life goes on and the feelings receded in my mind.  

This very same person has recently requested to connect with me through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It is as though we are colleagues with some sort of good relationship. I simply ignored them.  I was very surprised to find these old feelings of anger (fear) surface a few days ago when this person began sending replies to ask me why I hadn’t followed back on Twitter.  The person was suspended later that day and then opened up another account.

Sure I could have just blocked the identity but this could go on forever.  I then got thinking about all these other “crazies” out there who might follow me or even if they didn’t a search is easy enough to do and find my tweets and read them anyway.  I could be retweeted out of context AGAIN.  

Stay cool, don’t let someone (or something) rent space in your head. (Robert Bacal)

The post mentioned below had been circulating in my mind since I had read it a few months back. So I decided to re-evaluate my strategy for social networks – specifically Twitter and decided to remove myself from the public timeline. I still maintain a strong online presence and will continue to do so but I decided that I had the right to be in control of who could or couldn’t pester me.  I have no need to be famous. 

Which brings me back to the point I wish to make about personal safety and change . . . I have a new found respect for anyone in the pubic eye – regardless of the reason or how I may feel about them.   It is easy for us to remain silent, feeling safe and secure knowing that no one can point at us directly.   German anti-Nazi activist, Pastor Martin Niemöller (in his often misquoted speech that I too have misquoted) gave us the best reason not to remain silent.  ”Then they came for me - and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

If one is sane, to stand up to opposition and be counted takes a tremendous amount of courage. So it seems to me that courage is a precursor for change.  And I know that this is scary.  Change always comes at a cost or a loss.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  AND it is worth it. 

I suppose too, that when someone asks what “I do” or “we do” at 1-Focus International, our response is pretty consistent.  We say that we help create and hold a “safe space” for people to do their work and thereby the group or team can co-develop their shared vision of the future and begin the process of sustainable change.  And as coaches we do the same.  We my ask powerful questions but first we establish the safety to explore ideas or places that are unfamiliar. 

While not about harassment on Twitter, this is a must read: Why my Twitter updates are protected by Melanie McBride.