Any CEO who wants to cultivate culture needs to be bold and passionate and expect to get some backlash. Not everyone will come onboard and some will even try to undermine the transformation. In this week’s episode of By Your Life, we talk about how you cannot be timid if you want to accomplish big change.
Mass Readings Audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2019/19_08_18.mp3
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 18, 2019
Welcome to the seventy-third episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life. If you haven’t already, please sign up for notifications on your favorite podcast app or on the right side of this page so I can let you know when each new episode is posted. If you know of someone who can benefit from By Your Life, I’d appreciate it if you’d forward to a family member, co-worker or a friend.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Luke’s Gospel began, “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’” (Lk 12:49) You can hear the passion in his words and the vision he had of a world on fire with his love. Yet, he knew that realizing this vision would not be without challenges, in fact, that it would cause division. He knew because he understood our humanity.
Any CEO who wants to change his/her company’s culture needs to be as bold and passionate about the culture he/she wants to cultivate as Jesus was because he/she should expect that there will be some backlash, that not everyone will come on board, and that some will even try to undermine the transformation. You cannot be timid if you are to accomplish the change you want to bring about.
Several years ago, I wrote an article for TwoTen Magazine about Jerry Colangelo, a man who is a legend in the world of professional sports. His career rocketed from being the youngest general manager in the NBA at age 26 to Owner, Chairman, and CEO of the World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks—the fastest expansion team in MLB to win a championship. For an encore, he led the United States Basketball Team to win gold medals in 2008 and 2012.
When the call came asking Jerry to take over the reins of Team USA in the spring of 2005, USA basketball was reeling from its embarrassing performance at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. The Americans only earned a bronze medal in a sport they traditionally dominated. The only thing worse than their performance on the court was the arrogance of Team USA. Jerry said he was insulted by the view of “Ugly American” that was shared all over the world, and that is why he accepted the job.
To transform the culture that had taken over NBA basketball and led in part to the breakdown of Team USA, he instituted the “Gold Standards” or basic values that are an integral part of today’s Team USA program and brand. The “Gold Standards” had nothing to do with a player’s free throw percentage, rebounds per game, or 3-point shots. Instead, they had everything to do with their character. They reinforced why they were there, what their goals were and what they stood for. They included values like:
- Respect for each other and opponents. Always be on time. Always be prepared.
- Communication: Look each other in the eye and tell each other the truth.
- Care: Have each other’s back and give aid to a teammate.
- Unselfishness: Be connected and make the extra pass. Value is not measured in playing time.
- Trust: Believe in each other.
- Intelligence: Take good shots, be aware of team fouls, know the scouting report.
- No Excuses: Have what it takes to win.
- Aggressiveness: Play hard every possession.
- Performance: Be hungry. No bad practices
- Enthusiasm: This is fun!
The formula for success, “isn’t rocket science,” Jerry said. “If you want to be a part of this, then this is what you have to do. If you can’t, we will find someone else.” He got input and buy-in from players and coaches, all of them legends in the game. The road wasn’t smooth and there were talented players who were let go. In the end, Team USA proudly recaptured the gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the FIBA World Championship in Turkey in 2010 and the London Games in 2012.
Every leader who preaches core values will be opposed, by some of the team anyway. People who get stuff done but are toxic are the biggest challenge. But either your core values are non-negotiable, or they aren’t core. Either people come on board, share the values, or they are shown the door. The process of culture change can get messy. Jesus understood this when he said, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Lk 12:51) He knew he was challenging people’s strongly held beliefs.
We know from Scripture that the Prophet Jeremiah, St. Paul, and Jesus each met with a hostile response when they spoke the Word of God—spoke the Truth. When I say hostile, I mean verbal and physical attacks, exile and execution. These men were preaching something that was counter-cultural, and people didn’t want to hear what they had to say because it conflicted with their beliefs about themselves and what they thought was right. People didn’t want to hear what they had to say because it was difficult to make the changes that accepting this new truth required.
Jeremiah, St. Paul and Jesus experienced firsthand what Plato said. That is, “No one is hated more than the one who speaks the truth.”
No one is hated more than the one who speaks the truth. ~ Plato #leadership #corevalues #beliefsEven though Plato lived almost 2 ½ millennia ago, people today, that is you and I, still don’t like to hear the truth because it may conflict with our version of the truth, which often involves self-deception. We can’t escape this. As humans, we are biased toward ourselves, our beliefs and our values, and these biases can cause us to think in a way that leads us to be wrong. It is as unavoidable as it is hard to recognize.
Our biases cause us to think in a way that leads us to be wrong. It is as unavoidable as it is hard to recognize. #confirmationbias #leadershiplessonsWe all sort through a gazillion tons of data every day, so our brains create patterns that turn into generalized thoughts. In many cases, these generalized patterns are wrong. Yet, when we hear something that conflicts with what we believe is right, we try to prove the other person wrong, even when we are wrong.
Why? Well, maybe to further our agendas, justify our actions, defend groups we belong to, or to just make ourselves feel better about ourselves. So, we look for evidence that supports what we have done or the beliefs we already have, rather than look for opposing evidence. We become self-righteous hypocrites when someone disputes our most cherished beliefs, we can get very defensive, or even worse, aggressive.
We experience this in our workplaces all the time. I recently facilitated a conflict resolution workshop for a client, and I asked the folks who were there to describe a conversation they had recently that was difficult or ineffective. The general theme was “I wanted to fix a problem, the other person got defensive, and the conversation was a waste of time.” Another way of putting this is “The other person screwed up and they didn’t like it when I told them, so we never fixed the problem.” I don’t know the details behind any of the situations these people had in mind, but one thing was certain, they were right, and the other person was wrong…at least that is what they believed.
I often have coaching clients who express frustration when their employees repeatedly fail to do something right. I get comments like, “I’ve told them a hundred times how to do such and such, but they still can’t do it.” Or, “You’d think someone at their level should know how to do such and such.” Or, “It’s not that hard, I think they just don’t care.” In all these cases, my clients believe they are a competent supervisor, they have provided their employees good training, and that their performance expectations are realistic. They believe there is nothing wrong with them, so the problem must be with the employee.
Imagine how annoyed my clients get when I challenge them by asking, “If you’ve told them a hundred times and they still can’t do it, what’s wrong with the way you are telling them?” Or, “You may be right to expect that a person at their level should know how to do such and such, but obviously they don’t. Who hired and trained them?” Or, “Have you asked them what is getting in the way of doing what you’ve asked?” I had one client tell me that he hated me for two weeks after one of our sessions because I suggested that perhaps, just maybe, it was his training and not the employee that was the problem.
But then, my client decided to sit with the employee and watch him follow the documented procedure to see where there was a breakdown between how things were supposed to be done and how the employee was doing it. He took the time to ask the employee to explain his reasoning and why he did what he did. And guess what, they found a weakness in how the process was documented and this was why the employee kept “messing up.” Both my client and the employee learned a lesson that day. More importantly, both my client and the employee gained a little bit more respect for each other.
Similar challenges come up when the leadership of an organization is trying to change its culture. There are always people who are quick to point out the problems in the organization but fail to realize that they are part of the problem. People who are the holdouts when it comes to culture change, don’t like the fact that if the culture is going to change, then they must change. That is hard to accept because they don’t believe they are the problem. They will espouse the core values of the company and agree that the culture would be better if everyone were to honor the core values. But when it comes to honoring the values themselves, they point to everyone’s failures, as if others’ failures are a defense of their own. Again, like my clients who see their employees as being the problem, these people see everyone else as the problem, and they don’t like it when someone suggests differently.
If you challenge the existing culture, prepare to get blasted. Just look at the comments on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. There is hateful rhetoric everywhere from people who believe that “It is obvious that I am right. If someone thinks differently, that person must be, misinformed (ignorant of the truth), evil, or stupid. So, in the case that they might be misinformed, I must loudly speak the truth to them, and if they don’t jump on board right away, they must be evil or stupid.” With this attitude, the opportunity for civil comments evaporate. The “I’m obviously right and they are either evil or stupid” line of thinking makes rational discussion impossible. I read these comments with interest to understand where different sides may be coming from, but I admit, it is sad that as a species, we are not very dignified at times. There is certainly an abundance of division out there.
So, what can you do? I offer two thoughts to ponder. First, be open to the truth, especially if it means that you must challenge your firmly held beliefs. Consider what part of a problem you own and how you either contributed to it or failed to be part of the solution. And consider, what if, just for kicks, the other person has a valid perspective. If you discover you are right, your beliefs will only be stronger. If you discover you were wrong, you’ll have grown as a person.
Challenge your firmly held beliefs. If you discover you are right, your beliefs will be stronger. If you discover you were wrong, you’ll grow as a person. #leadershipSecond, when speaking the truth and challenging others, do so with love. Heed the advice in the Letter to the Hebrews, and “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. (Heb 12:1-2) You should expect backlash but offer mercy, in the same way others have extended you mercy. “Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. (Heb 12:3) and go set the world on fire with his love.
Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to come and enkindle in us the fire of his love, that he may renew the face of the earth, and we may glorify the Lord by our lives. Amen
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