Admiral Rickover and The Responsibility of Leadership

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

“Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience. Once implemented they can be easily overturned or subverted through apathy or lack of follow-up, so a continuous effort is required.  – Admiral Hyman G. Rickover

Admiral Hyman Rickover was considered the father of the nuclear Navy and, as described by his officers and others, a man obsessed with leadership and responsibility.  In the Admiral’s view of the world, leadership and responsibility were synonymous and he preached his mantra everywhere he went.

“Responsibility is a unique concept: it can only reside and inhere in a single individual.  You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished.  You may delegate it, but it is still with you.  Even if you do not recognize it or admit its presence, you cannot escape it.  If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else.  Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.”                                                     - Admiral Hyman Rickover

I never had the pleasure of meeting the Admiral, but I worked closely alongside several of his officers and civilian staff in the early 1980′s.  It was during this time that I came to understand the power of individual responsibility and how it can change the course of destiny and improve organisations.

Most people my age remember the 1979 Three Mile Island Nuclear accident.  At the time it was the second most publicised media event in US history, next to the JFK assassination.  For months on end the press treated the public to story after story and accusation after accusation on who was to blame, the “danger”caused, and the clean-up efforts.

It just so happened that in 1982 I was hired as a young consultant (okay, not so young!) to assist the new CEO of General Public Utilities Nuclear Corporation (the organisation responsible for all the GPU Nuclear assets), Philip Clark, in developing a leadership and culture change program to build a “culture of safety” at Three Mile Island.  Phil Clark was  a veteran of the Nuclear Navy Reactor program and a student of Admiral Rickover.  And in building his new management team to take on the containment of the damaged TMI Unit 2 Reactor and the successful restart of the undamaged Unit 1, he chose others from Rickover’s Nuclear Navy.  It was definitely the A-Team and I was proud to be associated with them.

And together we learned a great deal.  From me they learned about the power of corporate culture and the “shadow of the leader” concept, as well as the importance of team building, even for highly technical nuclear engineers who didn’t want anything to do with “charm school”!  But I think I got the better part of the deal, from them I learned the Rickover philosophy of responsibility and accountability.

If everyone is accountable, no one is accountable.

 Thanks to the efforts and vision of Phil Clark and his leadership team, TMI Unit 1 is one of the safest and most productive nuclear power plants in the world, constantly setting records for continuous production and safety.  Also, the damaged TMI Unit 2 has been successfully decommissioned and its damaged fuel cells safely contained.

Today in my work with CEOs on turnarounds and strategy execution, the lessons of Three  Mile Island are always forefront in my workshops, trainings, coaching and advisory work.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.   -Theodore Roosevelt

Tight Lines . . .

John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in consulting, corporate culture, John's views on the world, leadership, Organization Behavior, Personal Development, strategy execution | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Learning a Life Lesson, The Painful Way . . .

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Life is a harsh teacher.  It gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.

I was inspired to create this post after reading a posting from one of my favourite bloggers, David  Kanigan (Lead, Learn, Live).  I honestly can’t recall which exact post triggered this long-buried memory from high school (1964 to be exact) but once the memory resurfaced it tugged and screamed for acknowledgement.  To be free it needed to be expressed and finally given the dignity the situation deserves.

Because I learned such a huge life lesson from this incident and I believe that it contains one of the few real basic principles of living a successful life, I thought I should share the situation with my readers.  Maybe you have a similar situation that has provided an important “life lesson”. Or simply you can learn from my experience.

I was in my junior year of high school in a very small town in Northern California.  My father was the school Superintendent (that’s like the CEO of the school district, and comes with all the headaches, too) so I was fairly well-known because of that as well as for playing sports and being in the honour society (no internet or Facebook distractions back then, just sports and studying). The time was fast approaching for the Junior Prom, which was the major boy-girl dance at our school and entailed getting dressed up and being cool.  At that point I didn’t have a steady girl-friend and yet still wanted to attend this big social event, so I started asking my circle of friends for some “suggestions” (sounds corny today but that’s how it was back then).

About a week before the Prom one of my friends said that a friend of hers knew of a girl who wanted to go to the Prom with me.  When I heard the name I was shocked and to be honest, both embarrassed and slightly unnerved.  You see, in my school there were definite social cliques, mostly based on economic status and “looks”.  I imagine the same is true today, but these cliques were strong and had invisible but strong boundaries.  Well, my friend’s friend said that a certain girl, in my year, admired me and wanted desperately to go to the prom with me.  To be honest, I handled it very poorly and that was only the beginning of my life lesson.

First of all, I was concerned about my “image” as one of the “cool jocks and brains” of the school.  This girl lived in the housing projects (analogous to the ghetto in a big city), wasn’t in my social scene or even close, and certainly wasn’t one of the beautiful girls at school.  There was no way I would be seen going out with this girl, let along going to the prom.  So, I avoided the whole issue.  I ignored the request.  I avoided even speaking with my friend who was relaying the message for the next two weeks and made certain I was nowhere near any of them during breaks between classes or lunch period.  Basically, I hid out!  I knew this was not the right way to behave, but my ego and image took over completely.  I didn’t even have the courage and courtesy to be honest and say that I wasn’t interested.  I just avoided the whole thing, imagining it would go away and wasn’t really a big deal in the first place.

Then came the painful part.  A few days later she was hit by a car and killed while riding her bicycle across an overpass near town. A human life taken at such a young age is a travesty. Her potential contributions lost to the world.  Her family devastated. And I never had the courage to even talk to her or find out anything about her.  I know I had nothing to do with her death, but the fact that I could have been a friend or at least been friendly, but didn’t, has stayed with me for these past 48 years.  I learned a lesson that day.  I made a promise to be kind to everyone I meet, no matter how different we were on the outside.

And I have tried to keep that promise to myself, not always perfectly, but it is one of my basic principles for living a successful life and I still work at it.  Kindness costs nothing, but pays huge dividends to everyone.

I would like to hear if any of you have similar or powerful life lessons that I can learn from.

Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live. -Robert F. Kennedy

Tight Lines . . .

John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in Human Psychology, John R Childress, John's views on the world, leadership, Life Skills, Personal Development, Psychology, Self-improvement | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why the Eurozone is Failing . . .

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

It will not be possible to solve the current crisis with euro bonds. ~Angela Merkel

 A long time ago (at least it seems like it), April 2000 to be exact, I wrote and published a book on the emergence of the Euro and the European Union onto the global stage and how leadership would have to change to take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity.  The book was called “A Time for Leadership: Global Perspective from an Accelerated European Marketplace” (published by the Leadership Press, Los Angeles) and was the result of 2 years of interviews with 60 CEOs and business leaders of major European companies, like ABB, Carlsberg, BBC, ABN Amro Bank, Electrolux and others.

The basis premise?  The old hierarchical and patriarchal style of leadership practiced as the norm in many European companies for years would have to change if Europe was to take its place on the world stage in terms of innovation and productivity as a global economic powerhouse.

Here’s the opening story:

After a particularly tough day, the chief executive of a major European company came home exhausted.  A barrage of crises and questions assaulted him all day long. Some of the issues he was familiar with, but many he did not fully understand.

Relieved to enter the sanctuary of his home, he left his briefcase in the study and slowly made his way upstairs. Peeking into his son’s room, he saw his ten-year old playing a computer game.

The executive was amazed to see how deftly his son manoeuvred the keys and joy stick. He couldn’t  help but notice that the game, an action sequence in which his son played the role of a helicopter pilot racing through a perilously narrow canyon, was progressing incredibly fast, with seemingly countless actions happening all at once. The slightest movements led to new situations, so the executive found it difficult to keep track of the screen activities and his son’s movements at the same time. He was captivated by both the speed of the game and his son’s skill.

After watching for several minutes, the CEO asked his son to let him have a try. All it took was the start of one game for this Captain of Industry to discover he couldn’t last 10 seconds. Try as he might, he couldn’t even manoeuvre the helicopter in a straight line, let alone use the weapons systems!  Before he knew what happened, before he could make any adjustments with the controls, the helicopter had crashed three times and the “Game Over” sign flashed onscreen, accompanied by an ominous and unmistakable death knell. All he could do was shrug, realising he lacked the tools, skills, dexterity, and mindset to play the game.

His son said, “Dad, you can switch it to a slower speed. There’s a setting for beginners!”

The executive realised at once that this instrument of make-believe imitated his experience of the larger business world, where he was caught up in a whirlwind of actions requiring quick decisions and acute peripheral wisdom.

Unfortunately, there was no “Slow” switch in his office.

Today, 12 years later, I find that while many business leaders have adapted to the requirements of a fast moving, global economy, unfortunately European politicians have not.  The Eurozone is crumbling, as I predicted in my book, not due to being out competed on the world stage, but from self-serving, power hungry elected officials and the weight of a bloated European parliament filled with those whose sole purpose is to tap into the “gravy train” of money that is being raised through oppressive taxes and then loaned (in the billions) to countries that have no right to be at the economic table in the first place. The members of the European Parliament, as a whole, lack the will, foresight and courage to work together to build a strong future for Europe.

It is only through strong and forward thinking leadership that the EuroZone can survive.  Unfortunately, leadership has let us down.  ”Game Over!”

What’s your opinion of the leadership  in Europe?

Tight Lines . . .

John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in corporate culture, Human Psychology, John's views on the world, leadership, Organization Behavior, the business of business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Traffic Signs, “Personalising” Data and Strategy Execution

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Yes, Officer.  I did see the speed limit sign.  I just didn’t see you!

I’ve been reading about the impact of traffic signs that show motorists their speed.  These are often put up in residential areas or construction zones.  The purpose is to give feedback to the driver about how fast they are going.  And it seems to work.  I know that when I am driving I have, like many others, the tendency to drive and think of other things at the same time.  Not the best approach to safe driving, but very natural for all of us. So when a motorist sees a digital sign that displays his/her actual speed, it helps us switch off autopilot, check our speed and pay more attention to safe driving.

And the statistics are favourable. According to one study 75% of drivers who see their car speed flashed up immediately slow down and are more cautious, staying within the speed limit for approximately 5 miles after passing the digital sign.

To me, this is a great example of the power of “Personalising Data”; that is, making it about me and not just otherwise impersonal information.  For example, a printed speed sign, say 35 mph, is impersonal and really doesn’t get much of our attention in this fast-moving, data overload world we live in.  But a flashing digital speed sign that specifically focuses on me and my speed, becomes “personalised data” and, as the study shows, the impact lasts for miles after the event.

So, what’s this got to do with strategy execution?  Quite a lot, actually.  One of the reasons most strategies fail is that the information given out at most meetings, like current revenue, current forecast, current EBITDA, sales funnel numbers, customer service scores, etc. are useful, but impersonal.  They are collective numbers and collectively we are supposed to do something about them, either reverse a negative trend or keep a positive trend going.

In these types of meetings or business reviews, everyone nods their heads, makes notes, promises to do better, then it’s back to business as usual.  The data wasn’t personal and so the strategy lumbers along, often sidelined by daily “firefighting” and immediate problem solving.

“Every seasoned executive knows that if everyone is accountable, nobody’s accountable!”

Our unique Line-of-Sight™ Strategy Execution process, however, has built-in “personalised data”.  Strategic initiatives have specific individual owners who are fully accountable to the entire organisation for the delivery of an important piece of the strategic plan.  And each member of the senior leadership team is personally accountable for one or more strategic initiatives.  And when your project data is shown during the strategy review meetings, in front of all the other executives, this data suddenly becomes very personal.  Peer pressure to perform well, not let the team down, to “look good” to the boss, and all the other human factors associated with personal motivation now come strongly into focus.  ”Personalized Data” helps you and I take the situation personally and the impact in terms of correction actions, focused countermeasures, and improving results is focused and substantial.

Most people say: “Don’t take it personal, it’s just business!” But I say:

“Take it personal.  It’s about leadership!”

Tight Lines . . .

John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in consulting, corporate culture, Human Psychology, John R Childress, John's views on the world, leadership, Organization Behavior, Personal Development, Psychology, strategy execution | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Leaders Avoiding Leadership

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

                 “You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.” ― Ayn Rand

A few posts ago I commented on how bankruptcy seems to be a new form of business strategy (see The Best Defense is a Good Offense).  To me it’s just another case of poor leadership trying to ditch their accountability.

Well, there is another growing trend which defies the “logic of leadership accountability” and it seems to be rampant among large banks in particular.  It’s the trend of appointing Co-Heads to run functions or lines of business.  Let me translate.  It simply means that instead of one person being the Head of Capital Markets or Head of EMEA, there are two leaders.  They are called Co-Heads, as in both are leaders of the same business.  And it’s quite popular, especially when there is a merger or integration and there are two very qualified leaders for one position.  It has recently happened in spades now that there is a new CEO at Deutsche Bank who had made multiple Co-Head appointments. The Co-Head phenomenon is also rampant in another broken financial institution, Citibank.

“Did you hear about the engineer who named his two sons Ed? Why? Because two ‘eds’ are better than one.”

Now having two highly qualified people overseeing and running a large function or department seems like a good idea.  Two points of view to help find the best solution; two sets of experiences to make certain nothing is overlooked; two leaders to travel the globe meeting with customers and rallying employees around a common message.

Maybe this is the motivation for the popularity of Co-Heads, but I honestly doubt it.  Mainly because the overwhelming evidence is that Co-Heads don’t work!  Ask any  bank employee and especially the executives who report to Co-Heads and you will hear the same thing (maybe not in the same words):

“It’s a joke!  They don’t work together at all nor do they strive for a common view.  One is there to make the other look bad so he (she) can get the top job for themselves.  And they constantly bad-mouth each other to anyone who will listen.”

So if it has been proven time and again not to work, why continue appointing Co-Heads? There is a simple reason: the CEO is unwilling to make that hard decision!

They are abdicating their leadership responsibility to choose the best team, align them around a common direction and set of values, and go forth to serve the needs of the customer.  Instead, they take the easy route, appoint two people and let them slug it out. Survival of the fittest (or the most devious) is alive and well inside of big banks. Great for the CEO who can abdicate his responsibility of leadership so easily, but not so great for employee morale and team alignment.  Employees wind up not respecting the two combatants and definitely not respecting cowardly leadership at the top.  Another reason why morale and productivity is so poor in our “too-big-to-fail” institutions.

Leadership is about making the difficult decisions that are in the best interests of the organisation for which they have been appointed to lead. Leadership is an obligation, not a position!

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Tight Lines . . .

(for more on the situation of banking today, see The Origins of the Banking Crisis by Demetrie Comnas)

John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in consulting, corporate culture, Human Psychology, John R Childress, John's views on the world, leadership, Organization Behavior, Personal Development, Psychology, strategy execution, the business of business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Firefighting . . .

Posted on May 12, 2012 by

“If I had an hour to save the world,  I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute finding solutions”                -Albert Einstein

I was born in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Logging country, and at times, forest fire country.  Since both my parents worked as teachers during the day, from a very early age I stayed with my Nanny, or at least that’s what I called her. Her name was Althea Duncan and she was the matriarch of a logging family.  All the men in this large extended family worked in the timber industry, most as loggers, a few in the mills. I still remember the smell of pitch, dirt and pine needles on their clothes when they came home, popped the tops off long neck beer bottles and sat around talking about their day.

At certain times of the year the topic always turned to forest fires and in these small towns everyone knew of at least one logger lost to the rapid moving blazes.  Whatever the cause, lightning strikes or careless campers, the devastation was always massive and long-lasting.

I recall hearing a story about a logger who took his crew to help fight a fast-moving blaze. After he and his crew were dropped off near the fire line, instead of immediately breaking out their shovels and axes and getting to work, he told his crew to pull out their lunches and canteens, and sit down with him.  The crew was stunned but since their boss was a wise old veteran logger, they did as he requested. After finishing a sandwich and a long pull off the canteen, he said to his team.

“Fires are like people.  They need to be carefully studied in order to understand what they are all about and how to best deal with them.”  He then proceeded to get his crew to study the wind, its direction and intensity.  To study the terrain and the dryness of the timber.  After a few minutes they had assimilated all the information available, developed a plan, and only then did they attack the blaze.

I find corporations full of ineffective fire fighters, running around frantically using poor information or “tribal knowledge” to attack important problems, often without a plan, but with lots of effort.

The very worst fire plan is no plan.  The next worse is two plans.  ~Author Unknown

Let’s stop corporate fire fighting and install better planning discipline.

Tight Lines . . .

John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in consulting, corporate culture, Human Psychology, John R Childress, John's views on the world, leadership, Organization Behavior, Psychology, strategy execution | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Compensation and Obligation

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

A long time ago a king died unexpectedly and his young son ascended to the throne.  Now this young king was rather spoiled  and didn’t quite understand the obligations of being a king.  He spent much of his time enjoying the wealth of his kingdom without giving much thought to his duties.

One day his tutor, who had been with the young boy since birth, asked the new king a question.

“Do you know why you have all this wealth at your fingertips?”

The arrogant young king answered. “It’s my birth right!  I am the son of a king and now I am the king. It all belongs to me.”

The wise old tutor smiled, nodded, then replied.  “You are partly right.  But you won’t remain a king long being only partly right.”

The king jumped up from his throne.  “What kind of heresy is this.  I am king for life!”

“Again, my king, you are partly right.  The question is, will you have a long life or a short one?”

Sobered and slightly humbled by the wise man’s reply, the young king slumped down into his throne.  “Tell me how to have a long life?”

Seeing that he finally had the young man’s full attention, the tutor began to explain the principle of compensation and obligation.

“Wealth and income is a result, not a birth right.  Even for kings.  And, contrary to popular belief, it is not a result of hard work, although that is a part of the story.

Wealth, income and compensation are given by the people you govern in return for your duty to your people.”

The young king couldn’t contain himself. “But the people have a duty to worship and obey me, the king.”

“And they will, your majesty. They will even follow you into the fiercest battles, if you fulfill your obligations to them.”

Hands on his hips, the young king demanded, “And just what is my obligation?”

“Your obligation, as their leader, is to rule in such a manner that your country grows and prospers and your subjects have the opportunity to live up to their potential. “

“And what if some are lazy and don’t want to work hard to develop their potential?”  The young king was both curious and skeptical with this philosophy.

“Even a great king cannot help those who chose not to work or develop themselves.  Your obligation is to provide opportunity, not guarantees or free handouts. And if you do this,  fulfill your obligation of leadership, then people will continue to provide you with the wealth, income and compensation that you deserve. “

Man is paid in direct proportion to the service he renders to mankind!  -William Penn Patrick

For centuries the principle of compensation and obligation was the only way those in public service and publicly traded organizations achieved significant compensation.  That is until Banks-to-Big-To-Fail, Fund Managers, Investment Bankers and CEO Rock Stars came along!

But excessive compensation without obligation has its price.  We are already seeing significant shareholder revolt against excessive compensation.  And the trend is growing.

Before it’s too late we must start educating ourselves and our young people on the principle of compensation and obligation.  We certainly aren’t getting the message from television!

Tight Lines . . .

 John R Childress

john@johnrchildress.com

Posted in consulting, Human Psychology, John R Childress, John's views on the world, leadership, Life Skills, Organization Behavior, Personal Development, Psychology, Self-improvement, the business of business | Tagged , | 1 Comment