This is a long post.
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1st, I apologize. I prepared this on 11/18/99, finished 2/3 of it. Only
now, I pressed myself to finish what remains.
The 2nd apology is for those who are going to receive this msg more than
once because of the multiple listservs they subscribe to.
_______________________________
On Wednesday 11/17/99, I attended the largest business meeting on earth,
watched by about 200,000 people around the globe. The presenters were key
consultants and top business people. Here is a run-down of my notes
although I did not take enough time to edit them. Pls share them with
others if you think they're useful:
Here are the main points:
- Wheatley: A leader we want is the one that has more faith in us than we
do in ourselves. He invites us back to more meaningful work for the
organization. Encourages us to have more faith in one another. He has the
act of courage and the sense of confidence.
- Wheatley: All of this calls for the need to find ways to come together.
There is a deep interest in all of us to learn and create. Yet, we are
afraid from each other, because of our narrower self-interest. We need to
find ways to come together.
- Cooper: Don't compete. Excel. Competition is about beating others /
tearing others down / Comparing yourself to others. It distract us from
who we are to asking "are others ahead of me?" Always saying "It's a war
out there." They need to lose for you to win.
- Cooper: The key is to recognize strengths & talents in you & others.
- Host: Leadership is the act of making a difference and influencing
others. Always ask yourself who are heroes and what capabilities you
admire in them & try to gain those. Leadership should come from the ground
up.
- Al-Ajmi: Leadership is the ability to bring the best in people. Both in
public and in private the leader is always a good example. He said that
Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) is a good example of a great leader.
He gave examples where Islam teaches us great lessons in leadership:
- Al-Ajmi: Many build successes by destroying others. Other leaders pull
together in teams/groups. They're like magnets. The worst that a leader
could do is to give up & say no one is listening.
- Al-Tuwaijri: Do not like your followers who always tell you, yes.
- Turner: To have a big success, you need to do something that no one
did before
- Think a lot - Come up with a plan - Execute fast. He said that for many
yrs, people in the US had to patiently wait for the 7:00PM news; then
11:00PM local news. Why can't we combine them, and make the news available
any time, global, and good enough a product. Maybe earn money in time, but
when? We did not know then.
- Covey: People need to feel deeply understood. This is not logical; it
is psychological.
Here are the main points I noted from each speaker, almost unedited. I
expect you'll find some typing mistakes since if I don't send it now, I
never will:
- Tom Peters:
- This is the age of talent. Love talent, and know where to find it.
There is a great war for talent. This war is time-consuming, involves
everyone, and non-ending. If you don't grab this talent, your competitors
are already ahead of you. That's what differentiate
companies/institutions. Your role is to find - live - develop talent.
- Here are some behaviors of talent your competition is looking for.
Committed, passionate, focused, impatient, action-obsessed, ask for
forgiveness rather than seek permission, deeply in touch with followers,
and real good at what they do.
- In the Internet era, there are growing signs that role of middle people
is being eliminated. Direct relationship between customer and end-supplier
is increasing.
- If you can't become distinct, you'll be... extinct.
- Incrementalism does not energize corporations. Amway created a separate
company called www.quixstar.com . Its objective is to blow-out Amway ways
of operation. General Motors created e-GM as an E-Commerce unit to create
new business for GM based on Net technologies.
- Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.
- New acronyms that some executives are adopting. One company CIO uses
the title CEFRNS: Chief Energizer of Really Neat Stuff. Personnel director
uses a title of DBIRCP: Director of Bringing in Really Cool People.
- A lot of working people, have this unspoken sign. "I would have done a
lot of really neat stuff, but my boss wouldn't let me."
- Here is a msg that will be surprising to people not familiar with
Peters. "If your followers always agree with you, fire them."
- The web is changing Teachers to be Students and Students to be
Teachers. Our children are way ahead of us.
- You must put yourself at risk everyday. If you don't, check your pulse
to ensure you're not dead.
- Comapnies need the young who lead us - slightly mad. Bravery /
Commitment / Players / and above all "raise hell."
A much slower msg, after Peters' bang bang, came from Margaret Wheatley.
The msg was still quite strong.
- A leader we want is the one that has more faith in us than we do in
ourselves. He invites us back to more meaningful work for the
organization. Encourages us to have more faith in one another. He has the
act of courage and the sense of confidence.
- Disciplined leadership identification and selection process includes
the self confidence to give up control. Self control during especially
during hard times, and bench strength.
- This is not just techno-time. We need the pro-human spirit.
- This is a time of high stress. It is a time of Chaos. Everything is up
for grabs. No one person can tell what's going on or understand it enough.
- All of this calls for the need to find ways to come together. There is
a deep interest in all of us to learn and create. Yet, we are afraid from
each other, because of our narrower self-interest. We need to find ways to
come together.
- Surveys show that one of the main reasons people are interested in
mtngs is that they don't trust colleagues. They're afraid decisions are
made in these mtngs that will negatively affect them.
- Leaders have a great intrinsic strengths. Who I am is the way to know
who you are. People want to be motivated. They desire work that has
meaning. They want to be together. She says that money was never in the
top 5 to 6 motivators to work.
- Reasons people work at home is to get away from the office politics.
They want to do work that matters. They want to make a difference.
- Mission/Vision. Always reach out to the world. It should outline the
need for meaning / contribution / participation.
- As a leader, you should evoke positive behaviors and prevent bad
behaviors. Some of the bad behaviors include creating petty work and
lowering expectations.
- Here is something interesting. Don't establish boundaries first. Then
pour life (people) into them. Then cut-off left over edges that do not fit
within your box (people with thinking similar to yours.)
- We should not pretend any longer that people will support what they
haven't created.
- You must abandon bossing people around - If you push people, they will
always push back.
- To get commitment & creativity, others need to involved, they need to
participate, they need to be working in teams. This is not a fad.
Collaboration is not a fad.
- Your circle of inclusion must widen. This circle should include people
we do not like.
Robert Kooper came next starting with a recorded interview of Warren
Buffett (the only billionaire totally making it from the stock market),
and Bill Gates.
Buffett: - Here is something I have been doing for a long time. Look at
the leaders you admire. Then look at your habits that you dislike.
Turn-off the habits you dislike in yourself, and turn on the habits you
like in others.
Gates: Enjoy what you do everyday / Work on new problems / The bar gets
raised. Here is one of those nuggets. "We observe a lot; just by
watching."
Buffett: Something that was always on my mind. It is OK to lose all my
money. I will not be able to psychologically accept losing all others'
money.
Kooper then started some of the messages he had:
- Don't compete. Excel. Competition is about beating others / tearing
others down / Comparing yourself to others. It distract us from who we are
to asking "are others ahead of me?" Always saying "It's a war out there."
They need to lose for you to win.
- The key is to recognize strengths & talents in you & others.
- Here is the question everyone of us should be asking: "What do I choose
to become today?" The time is now. The leader is you.
- Here is a very interesting quote from Robert Frost: "The brain is a
wonderful organ. It start working the moment you get up in the morning and
doesn't stop; until you get to work."
- The heart is not just a pump. We must touch the brain in the heart.
We're motivated from the heart. This motivation has to be visible. We need
to be valued and respected. We need our leaders to be real. We need to be
treated like volunteers.
- He outlined some points a leader needs to have to get results. The key
is to recognize strengths & talents in you & others.
1) This is the work I'm best at
2) This is what I most love to do
3) These are my values
4) This is what I need to learn & work best
5) These are the results I can be expected to deliver
6) To feel genuinely respected & recognized, I need
- Time spent at work represents about 60% of all activities in life.
When was the last time you said to a follower(s): Thank you - You made a
difference. To them that really makes a difference.
- Take a strategic pause every half and hour. This should lasts on 15 to
30 seconds. Results: Energy is up 50% & productivity up 10-15%.
The host of the event summarized what she thought were the main ideas so
far:
- What enabled Microsoft to be in the position they are in is...people.
They have a sense of how to do things.
- Leadership is the act of making a difference and influencing others.
Always ask yourself who are your heroes and what capabilities you admire
in them & try to gain those. Leadership should come from the ground up.
- Stats show that 93% of the workforce are not recognized. All of these
people keep hoping that in the rush of things, someone would stop and
acknowledge them. Go out and change that.
- Don't compete. Excel.
- Typical Leaders have tendencies to want their followers to fit in the
same squares they are in. Whatever does not fit in that square, they would
like to trim it off.
- Passion. Commitment. Belief in the cause.
During mid-session break, there was a local panel. Nasir Al-Ajmi, former
president of the Railroad Organization, and a former Saudi Aramco board
member attended. In addition Professor Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, GM of Arab
Admin Development Organization shared the panel. Here are their comments
about what they saw thus far.
Al-Ajmi:
- Leadership is the ability to bring the best in people. Both in public
and in private the leader is always a good example. He said that Prophet
Mohammed (peace be upon him) is a good example of a great leader. He said
that Islam teaches us great lessons in leadership:
1) Good intentions that are pure in the cause of Allah. This he said
encourages a good balance twn personal and organizational goals, and
establishing a common ground when conflicts arise.
2) Give more than taking. The more we give, the more successful we are.
Do not worry as much about taking. That will follow naturally. If it is
pure for the right cause, then even if not now, in the hereafter. This
gives the internal calm and confidence.
- There was a question about how all of the above relates to Saudi Arabia
where buracracy is a fact in so many places; complacency is the norm. His
answer was that although this could not be ignored, this has to change if
we're to survive in the World Trade Organization age. We have to identify
key competencies we excel in, and find ways to add value. He emphasized
though, that a lot of the people we heard are consultants and they thrive
by selling their ideas to corporations (he called some of these
consultants Rock-throwers). A lot of them have not gone themselves thru
what they teach. We have to consider these ideas; we also have to
recognize that facts of working life a lot of times dictate otherwise,
though.
- Many build successes by destroying others. Other leaders pull together
in teams/groups. They're like magnets. The worst that a leader could do is
to give up & say no one is listening.
Al-Tuwaijri:
- Do not like your followers who always tell you, yes.
- Upgrade people skills, so you don't get guided into doing daily work
that others should be doing for you.
- Trust your people and develop them. Keep thinking that they can do more
than you.
If you have reached until here, the excitement now begins. I just make
this free flowing comments as they came during the actual discussion. I
like it, so don't tell me you don't. You'll love it, because I do too.
After that was a great panel consisting of Richard Bronson (the Virgin
Group), Ted Turner (Mr. CNN), and Steve Case (AOL - which is in the
process of buying Time/Warner which bought CNN). Here are the major points
to take home in this great dialog about innovation & creating what's not
there:
- Turner: To have a big success, you need to do something that no one did
before
- Think a lot - Come up with a plan - Execute fast. He said that for many
yrs, people in the US had to patiently wait for the 7:00PM news; then
11:00PM local news. Why can't we combine them, and make the news available
any time, global, and good enough a product. Maybe earn money in time, but
when? We did not know then.
- Steve Case attested that in AOL's 14 yr life time, 3 times they almost
went bankrupt if they did not select a strategy that was what the market
really wanted.
- Bronson: Didn't set up Virgin to make a lot of money. It just had the
fun of being in it.
- Case: Passion about possibilities. No solid evidence exists in the
fields we are in. It could go 15 different ways or none. No surveys will
help in this case (!) since people can not give you a sense of what they
can not imagine. In the end what counts is this feeling you have in the
gut that this could be the next thing (Initially for AOL customers, the
feeling of being connected).
- Bronson: Do what you & your people passionately believe in.
- Turner: You should be fearless to be successful. You should know when
to "Hold Them - Know when to fold them." You should have the leap of faith
- not fear but being concerned about expectations.
- Bronson: You should be compassionate. The moment you lose it with your
people, you lose the business. Here is a nice advice he gave "Keep smaller
as you grow larger".
- Turner: My people should feel that they're working with me, not for me.
The discussion changed to character traits.
- Case: You should be a shock-absorber - genuinley care. The people feel
it. They enjoy that we're making history. There is a sense of purpose.
We're the ones to shape this industry, and the most valuable, and
respectable company in the world. With such attitude, you will always
win.
- Turner: The leader is honored to be where he is - he has infectious
enthusiasm - willing to go into the trenches.
- Bronson: Survival is key at the beginning - He should be good at the
art of survival. He should not be looking at being better than before;
rather look at things that have not been done before.
- Bronson: Brand is key. Strech the brand. Stick with the quality
experience people have with your products. Customer relationships are what
make the difference. Good marketing gets the people to try the product.
Bad products are killed faster without the need for surveys that will not
give you a good picture.
- Turner: I knew people wanted news at anytime; because that is what I
also wanted. I did not want to wait for it. I did not need surveys. People
did not want to wait for the 7:00/11:00 news.
- Case: People were saying bringing in more customers. Grow your customer
base. What we did instead is that we said we have 10,000 customers who
used our services. They selected us againsts Sears/IBM Prodigy and
Compuserve. We had one key thing to focus on and that was simple. Know
what these 10,000 customers want and do more of it. Know exactly what
these 10,000 customers do not want and do less of it.
- Turner: Media in 2005 content will be king. Newspapers will not be a
business to go to. There will be some impact on the magazine business, but
they will not disappear.
- Case: The impact on the social aspect is increasing. Change in buying
habits. More interactive. You can reach everybody all the time. Lines
btwn businesses blur. Industry segments will have new definitions.
- Case: Many devices to receive/send similar data whether Palm, GSM,
Telephone...because different people have different preferences.
- Bronson: One device.
- Turner: Time to be unhooked.
- Case: This puts you in control, when you want. We need devices that are
integrated in a consumer-centric way. AOL anywhere. Everything will work
together.
- Bronson: Most important letters are the ones coming from your staff.
Answer them. Prioritize first in the day when to get your important msgs.
- Turner closing: 5 Ps: People king / Perspective / Passion / Paranoia /
Perseverance. Early to bed. Early to rise. Take my rap & Advertize.
Stephen Covey followed with his strong msgs and outstanding examples.
- Your job is in your circle of influence. Outside it is the circle of
concern. As you increase your circle of influence, the circle of concern
shrinks.
Disempowerment happens when you put borders, take initiative to remove
these borders.
- People need to feel deeply understood. This is not logical; it is
psychological.
- Their survey of 54,000 people showed that by far the biggest quality of
a leader that people care about is Integrity. These are the qualities that
follow in a descending order: Communicator, People, Visionary, Caring,
Decision Making, Dedicated, Model, Motivator, Expert, and Courageous.
- Restate the last person's point to their satisfaction. Interpret the
same data differently. Listening stages are: 1. Ignoring. 2. Pretend
Listening (Innerly preparing to reply). 3. Selective Listening. 4.
Attentive Listening. and 5. Empathic Listening.
- The leader is foregiving. Living what he's teaching. What he does is
more important that what he says. Nothing you can't do. You decide.
- Be a light. A model. Not a critic. Make a difference in your area of
influence. The spiritual being brings out the human experience.
For more, you can read last write up I had about a previous Covey
presentation here: http://train.ed.psu.edu/trdev-l/summary/CLE.txt
Steve was followed by Ken Blenchard with the most vivid examples you can
imagine, and of course Acronyms.
- The Acronym here is SCORE: Shared Power, Compelling Vision, On-going
Learning, Relentless Focus on Customer Results, and Effective Structures
and Systems or Energizing.
- Running day-to-day business sounds after a while like the only reason
you're in the world is to make money.
- Toughest is recruitment / Retainment.
- Are you a servant leader or a self-serving leader?
- Power control Vs. Take Charge. Which will help people to put their
brains to work?
- Instead of job security, people want Honesty, and opportunity to learn.
- Lead at a higher level. Let's win together.
The time by then was past 12:00 mid-night. The event was going-on until
01:30. I started work early that morning, and carried on until this event.
It sure was time to hit the sack. I was dead. You need to find another
person to give you ...the rest of the story.
Tonight as I finish this report, this looks like a repeat of that day.
Except this time I can't even hit the send key. I'll do it tomorrow
morning, Insha Allah (God Willing). I'm going to bed. Enjoy!!!
If this is interesting, you will not believe the difference the video will
make. You can order it, here if you're in Saudi Aramco:
http://highlights.aramco.com.sa/data/HN400.pdf See end of page 3, titled
"Lessons in Leadership Videotapes." If you're outside Saudi Aramco, you
can order the tapes here: http://www.lessonsinleadership.com/index1.asp
You can also read more about the event & download some presentations here:
http://www.wyn.com/wwiv/
Thanks...Jamal Al-Dabal
Saudi Aramco
[Host's Note: Many thanks, Jamal, for this summary. This was certainly
quite an event! ..Rick]
--"Jamal K. Al-Dabal" <dabaljk@aramco.com.sa>
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