Flywheel - No Miracle Moment

In reading Jim Collin's book, Good to Great, he talked about companies not being able to pinpoint a defining moment that turned everything around and make them a great company. Their success came from cumulative and consistent effort in the same direction. As time goes by, the flywheel effect takes place. This is where with the same effort, accomplishments made over time increases.

The opposite is the doom loop. This is where a momentum gets build aiming for a flywheel effect, then changes were made in leadership or structure or process, momentum is lost, disappointing results, and then another round of changes takes place once more. The cycle goes on. For those of us who've seen this happened, it is painful to witness what was once a great start, became a disaster.

This is where Peter Drucker's "The Effective Executive in Action: A Journal for Getting the Right Things Done" came to enlighten. The authority of knowledge is surely as legitimate as the authority of position. However, humility is necessary in recognizing what we only know and proper care be given in the dynamics where we operate. Our wrong actions will have an impact in the area that to repair it or not will eventually hurt.

The least we want is to be remembered in history as the one who messed the whole thing.

From Fox to Hedgehog

In Jim Collin's Good to Great book, the hedgehog concept strucked me. Hedgehog organizations are known for their consistency, knowing the "one big thing" and stick to it. They leave the competition behind for behaving like foxes - known for being crafty, cunning creatures that knows a lot of things but lack consistency.

To be a hedgehog organization, its people must understand and agree what they can be best at and not be best at, assessing the wants. Knowing what you can be best at and focusing yourself to it can serve as a a basis of your organization's hedgehog concept. You may not be the best in that area right now but can undertake projects and activities to reach that goal. For as long as the organization and the right team members share the same deep passion, then you're on the right track.

As you identified your can be best potential, analyzing your economic engine is important as well. You need to figure the one denominator (profit per x) that has the biggest impact. It can be profit per employee, per customer, per area, per brand, per local population, among others.

Once your hedgehog concept is established, you can implement and monitor through an active council composed of various members of the organization. This is equivalent to your 360 degrees feedback process that allows you to shape your implementation process to meet your end goal.

Downside of Charisma

In Good to Great, Jim Collins cited that most Level 5 heads lead with questions, rather than answers. They admit what they don't know and engage themselves with their right people in rigorous debates. At the end of it, what is agreed upon gets fully supported by the people in the bus. This openness allowed a full 360 degrees feedback in place, allowing leaders (navigators) to update their strategy and actions (flight plan) as necessary. This is where the truth is heard by default. Brutal facts are laid down and analyze regularly, without blame and coercion.

Celebrity CEOs, on the other hand, are show horse, full of charisma. On the downside, these are the people who come in with an agenda in mind, with team members who'll just likely concur and hardly ask questions. They are not used to feedback and rarely take effort to act on them. Team members tend to worry first about their celebrity CEO mood before raising any concern, than organizational urgency. If this is happening to you, then that is bad.

However, it is not too late. Celebrity CEOs should strive to have a feedback process in place in order to check regularly what is happening on the ground. How people and markets are reacting. This is where surveys can play an important role as well. As the people around you start recognizing how genuinely emphatic you've begun, the more you'll receive feedback directly.

Level 5 Leadership

For those of you who got the chance to read the 8th Habit, I highly urge you to get a copy of the book, "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. He is the author of the popular book - "Built to Last."

According to the author, this book is a must read prior to Built to Last. In order to find what does it take to be good to great. Once greatness is achieved, push for making it lasting.

For the companies that were featured from being good to great, there's one thing common about them. Their leaders exhibited Level 5 leadership. This is where the figurehead of the organization has great humility and professional will. They are ambitious in achieving the goals of the company first, not themselves. They set up their successors for even greater success in the next generation.

They are not your usual celebrity CEO. Level 5 leaders are modest, self-effacing, and understated. They are diligent and work like a plow horse than show horse. They attribute success to factors other than themselves but take full responsibility when things turn poorly.

The level 5 leadership values totally jives with the 8th habit. It focuses on finding the right people and empower them, rather than write lofty visions then find people to do the work.

This is where I fully realized that when things don't go well as planned. It is not just the programs, it is having the wrong people in the bus.

Indeed, the age of wisdom requires us to unlearn a lot of things. However, one can say that wisdom is realized when humility and courage are combined in getting the work that needs to be done.

Note that the more we know, the more we don't know. Because as our wisdom increase, the more we become sensitive about the things we don't know. Therefore giving us humility and courage to accept such, and reach out to others for help in getting things done.

If we want the organizations that we serve turn from good to great, we must have the 7 Habits and 8th habit instilled in us to achieve Level 5 leadership. As we mature and reach that level, what is best for the organization, customers, employees, than what's in it for our personal interest shall matter most.

Related post:

• Dealing with position power
• Downside of charisma
• From fox to hedgehog
• Flywheel - no miracle moment