Skeptics and Skepticism

Sometimes I don't write for a while because something is brewing inside of me and looking for a way to grab my attention.  That's the case this month.

I've grappled with the subject of skeptics my whole life and it suddenly dawned on me, I'm not the only one.

If you've read my blogs, you know there was one where I told you the story of doing a cartwheel. I desparately wanted to be a cheerleader, I was still in grade school and it was a big deal. To be on the squad, though, you had to do a cartwheel, minimum requirement.

The gist of that story was the remembered taunting of the other kids, the shouts of 'kelly belly' on the schoolyard, as I tried and fell, tried and fell. And the ultimate victory that persistence brings, doing a cartwheel and making it on the team.

I had alot of skeptics back then, even my parents tried to dissuade me, perhaps thinking an overweight kid is just going to embarass herself.

Here's the thing:  the skepticism never eased up. In fact, it got more intense as I grew up.  The numbers are in the hundreds and now thousands of people I would encounter who would ask me something about myself and I would answer and receive a barrage of naysaying, doubting, challenging, sometimes angry, skeptical retorts. Even close friends, family.

We've heard about this before, right?  Michael Jordan not making it on his high school's basketball team, most famous example.  Somehow those stories seem far removed from my little coffee shop, and my morning cuppa joe and that one person who seems interested and curious, and then wham, before your caffeine has kicked in, your told five ways your story/dream/idea/purpose doesn't work.

Does dreaming a really big dream scare that many people?

I'm dreaming a really big dream right now.  I'm in California, and I'm going back to school for a Ph.D. Here's the big hairy audacious goal: how can we shift our corporate/business models so their focus is on human growth and development and secondarily on commerce?

I have an idea how to do that. (And a ton of people who are skeptical!)

Even so, I have an idea.....and I'm going for it.

I wrote this for my current and future clients.  Here's the takeaway: Skeptics are there to hone our choices, to make us better, to shape and mold our ideas. Thank them, honor them, stay the course, tweak it, and carry on!

To Stand Alone and Risk Looking Ridiculous

When I had some medical challenges earlier this year and had to have surgery, I wasn't worried, not at first.  I'd put away money for just such a thing.   Like a good soldier, I had my surgery, recovered, and went back to work.

It was while I was building my clientele back that I understood for the first time that I had crossed some invisible line.  I realized that:

• I do coach my clients, but I can not define myself as simply a coach, not anymore
• I do consult with my clients but I would never want to be classified with the likes of the McKinsey's
• What I do and how I do it is very different than anything that has been tried in the past, and
• I've gone to the very edge of my comfort, that place on the ancient maps that says, "Beyond here th'er be dragons!"

In the midst of this discomforting insight, a family member asked me, "Why?  Why do you keep going? You don't have anything to prove. It wouldn't be a failure.  Just let it go.  Come back to the East Coast.  Get a job here, any job."

In an instant, every moment I have ever failed flashed through my head and with brilliant searing clarity, I realized that failure wasn't even possible. 

The secret is out.  MacGregor, Schein, Csikszentmihalyi, they started it.  And these leaders, all have lead the way: Tony Hsieh, John Mackey, Tim Ferriss, George Zimmer, Roxanne Emmerich, Tony Schwartz, Stephen M. Covey, Christine Comaford-Lynch, Keith Ferrazzi, Bill George, Hazel Henderson, Sarano Kelley, Tim Sanders, Casey Sheahan , Vicki Robin, Shai Agassi, Ping Fu, Lance Secretan, Tami Simon, Randy Komisar, Chip Conley, Juanita Brown, Richard Barrett, Lisa Nirell, Srikumar Rao, Bo Burlingham, Bettie Spruill, Paul Spiegelman, Marcia Wieder, Alan Gregerman, Kellie McElhaney, Chester Elton, Monika Broecker, Ari Weinzweig, Ahmed Rahim, Jeff Hayzlett, Simon Sinek, Raj Sisodia.

And me! I have added my piece - Transforming the human side of enterprise is one of the four components of creating sustainability.  People, planet, profit and purpose, the quadruple bottom line, all connected. 

Failure isn't possible simply because I am in too much good company. But something else nagged at me.  Why don't I just quit?  And the answer came:

.... because I'm still afraid.

In 1999, I raised my hand timidly at Columbia Business School and asked my professors, "In what class will we learn how to get along with each other and work together?"

Complete silence.  Then one of the academic supervisors said, "HR is next semester."  Everyone laughed. Except me. I didn't get it.  Where were the 'people' people? But, I tucked my head and went back to coloring inside the lines.

It's been twelve years since that day.  And I've picked at this scab every day, chipping away at the idea that how people work in a business is just as important if not more important than how the business itself works. 

I've heard it said that 'to stand alone and risk looking ridiculous' is the measure of a true leader. Until last Thursday I was uncertain of my leadership status.  

At the Boeing Auditorium at the University of Washington, I stood alone and said, "Ten years from now, not a single company or enterprise will exist without a Chief Culture Officer, a Director of Culture, or even simply named, the 'people' people."

I suppose I can quit now. 

Nah.

Culture is Contagious

I get alot of skepticism in the work I do.  People often ask me how my work is any different from the big OD firms, from the McKinsey's, and whether I really believe that culture can be changed. 

There are so many things I feel and think when I get this question.  The biggest thought that flashes through my mind is, 'my goodness, what are these other consulting firms doing wrong?'  (joking!)

But let's go with the flip side, 'what am I doing right?'

It starts with the belief that culture is contagious.  It is the easiest thing in the world to catch and the simplest to change.  There are no excuses for a rotten culture.     

Think of it like this.  I'll use the analogy of taking a trip to a foreign country.  Say for instance, you're going to France and Italy; you'll be there for three weeks.  You've read up on all the places you'll be visiting, and even know a few phrases in the native tongue to get you by.  You start your trip in the French countryside, greeted every morning with fresh baguettes coming into the house, still warm.  On the fourth day of your trip, you start to notice that you use your hands more expressively. You laugh at yourself and your partner laughs too!  By the time you get to Italy, you're saying, "mangia!!!," with both your hands flying in the air as if they were the ones doing the talking.  How did this happen?

Culture is contagious.  In any single moment, we can catch it.  When we choose to willingly put ourselves in a place we want to be, and we open ourselves up to the experience, we're likely going to catch something, something really good.   It could be a new way of seeing and being, a new approach or attitude, a new skill.  If we're open to possibilities and patient with the process, 'catching a culture' can be an exhilarating experience.

But there's a catch to catching a culture.  Like any contagion, there needs to be a consistent vehicle. 

That vehicle is called 'climate.' Climate is the weather, the temperature around the table. It's our attitude, our thoughts, and our behaviors.  It can be that big wind blowing on the other side of the conference room or the hot air coming from our colleague to the left. 

This is climate. It is everything we do and everything we don't do. Each one of us.  Everyday. Shift these, the attitudes, the behaviors, the expectations, and we shift our climate.  Do this consistently, and we shift our culture. 

So back to the question posed at the beginning:  what is different about my work and why does it seem to be so successful? 

I work with the climate, not the culture.  Day in, day out, I sit with my clients and their leadership teams and I notice each person. Here are just a few examples of what I might notice:

• I notice silence from the team member who is most experienced with an application
• I notice vocal ambiguity from a high performer
• I notice disagreement from the team member who consistently fights against and rarely fights for.

Hundreds of factors affect climate.  Most are unconscious, and once brought into awareness, dissipate. And that's my job, without judgment or blame, I bring attention to these small opportunities for change.  And each small change adds up to a collection of days and weeks and months of climate change that then tips the balance, and shifts the culture.

My work is successful because the people I work with invite me in.  They are committed to catching a culture of balance, harmony, sustainablility, and prosperity.  Many of them tell me that somewhere in the back of their minds is a little voice asking, "Am I contagious today?"