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I’ve been reading John Maxwell’s (@johncmawell) new book, Put Your Dream To The Test.

The 2nd chapter of the book, titled The Clarity Question: Do I Clearly See My Dream?, contains the following quote about the importance of vision by popular blogger, power twitterer, and CEO Michael Hyatt (@michaelhyatt).

What you need is a vision that is so big that it is compelling, not only to others, but to you. If it’s not compelling, you won’t have the motivation to stay the course, and you won’t be able to recruit others to help you. Both vision and strategy are important, but there is a priority to them. Vision always comes first. Always. If  you have a clear vision, you will attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you. I have seen this over and over again in my professional life and personal life.

Later in the chapter Hyatt says this about a transformation that he led his organization through…….

I spent way more time — probably ten to one — focused on the what rather than the how.

A 10:1 What/How ratio.

My guess is that most organizations have a What/How ratio closer to 1:10.

What do you think?

I have a love/hate relationship with the large corporation.

I love large corporations. I work for a large corporation and the income and benefits that I earn by working there are truly a blessing to my family.  In addition, the power, resources, and scale of large corporations have produced and will continue to produce products and services that significantly enhance the world we live in.

I hate large corporations. I work for a large corporation and, if I’m being honest with you, there are days when the nonsense that happens inside my large corporation makes me want to bang my head against the wall of my 6 x 6 cubicle.

Size.  Magnitude. The very qualities that make large corporations so powerful are the same qualities that make them so difficult to change improve.

That change improvement might not be easy, but this is where I would start.

Large corporations need…..

Less rules, policies, standard operating procedures.  // More vision, purpose, direction.

Less managers. // More leaders.

Less confusion.  // More clarity.

Less suits and ties. // More blue jeans.

Less silos. // More collaboration.

Less knowledge hoarding. // More knowledge sharing.

Less coworkers. // More teammates.

Less status meetings. // More brainstorming sessions.

Less boredom.  // More fun.

Less commanding & controlling of people.  // More unleashing of people.

Less status quo. // More change, creativity, innovation, improvement.

Less PowerPoint presentations. // More whiteboards.

Less playing it safe. // More risk taking.

Less “That will never work here.” and “That’s impossible.” // More dreaming.

Is that kind of large corporation even possible?  What do you think?

Oh, i almost forgot one.  Less email.

At work, we have a new team as a result of a recent reorg and we have our team launch meeting next week.

One of the potential agenda items for the meeting is to establish a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for our team.

If you have an interest in business and/or leadership, you might recognize that term from Jim Collins’ book, Built to Last.

This is what Collins says about BHAGs……..

All companies have goals. But there is a difference between merely “having a goal” and becoming committed to a huge, daunting challenge-like climbing a big mountain. A true BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is clear and compelling and serves as a unifying focal point of effort and acts as a catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. A BHAG engages people-it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused. People “get it” right away; it takes little or no explanation.

Some good info from Collins at a time of year when lots of goal setting is going on.

Does your team/organization/company have a goal that meets the BHAG criteria?

I have been in the workforce for almost 10 years now.  So not really a veteran, but also not a rookie.  I have spent time in a number of different roles on many teams in various organizations at 2 large companies.  Each role on each team in each organization at each company was a unique experience, but interestingly there are 6 common attributes that I have found, in varying degrees, in most of my work experiences.

{ 6 Common Attributes } 3 positive attributes & 3 negative attributes.

The 3 positive attributes that I have found in most of my work experiences are…….

1)  Talent, Talent, Talent

I have had the privilege of working with so many talented people.  People with leadership skills, great communicators, star project managers, technology gurus, etc.  A shortage of talent has rarely been an issue in my work experiences.

2)  Effort

In my experience, most people are willing to work hard.  Most people take pride in what they do and they are willing go above and beyond to accomplish great things.  I have also found that people will go out of there way to help their coworkers.

3)  Ideas

Light bulbs are flashing on above people’s heads all the time.  All the innovative and creative ideas needed to transform teams, organizations, and companies are sitting there in the minds of current employees just waiting to be unleashed.  People in the trenches live with organizational frustrations, problems, and inefficiencies daily and they have tons of ideas on how to eliminate them.

The 3 negative attributes that I have found in most of my work experiences are……..

1)  Lack of a Clear, Consistent, Compelling Vision

In some cases, there has been a vision, but it wasn’t clear.  It was confusing and people couldn’t follow a vision they couldn’t understand.  In some cases, there has been a vision, but it wasn’t consistent.  Leaders would cast the vision, and then it would disappear or reappear in a different form.  I recently heard Bill Hybels say, “Vision leaks.”  So true.  People need to be reminded of the vision, consistently.  In some cases, there has been a vision, but it wasn’t compelling.  People like to follow a vision that they can get excited about.  The lack of a clear, consistent, compelling vision means that Talent, Talent, Talent gets wasted, wasted, wasted.

2)  Disorganization

Organizations are not organized.  Documents and files are scattered in various locations.  Project data is not typically documented and maintained properly and made visible to project team members.  Enterprise project management tools that enable task management, resource management, and project collaboration are rarely used.  Knowledge is not shared across the organization.  Time gets wasted on processing email and sitting in meetings because other more efficient forms of communication are ignored.  In disorganized organizations, employee effort is spent going sideways instead of moving forward.

3)  A Status Quo Mentality

In most of my work experiences, a status quo mentality has been strongly embedded into the culture.  I call it the “That’s the way we’ve always done things” syndrome.  Innovative and creative ideas die a quick death in organizations with a status quo mentality.  And worse, employees within a culture like this will eventually stop presenting their ideas out of fear of rejection.  An organization with a status quo mentality will often, unintentionally, kill the very ideas that are needed to transform it.

I’m not saying these 6 common attributes are present in every organization.  Obviously, there are some organizations without one or more of the 3 positive attributes.  For example, a company with a talent shortage.  And clearly, there are some organizations where one or more of the 3 negative attributes are not an issue.  There are many cutting-edge technology companies that definitely do not have a status quo mentality.  But the fact that these 6 common attributes stand out so clearly to me over almost 10 years, makes me think that others must have experienced the same thing to some degree.

Have you experienced something similar in your work experience?  If so, I would love to hear about it.

Have you experienced a work situation with the 3 positive attributes, but without the 3 negative attributes?  I would really love to hear those stories.

I got the chance to hear from an amazing man named Bill Strickland tonight.

Bill grew up in the inner city of Pittsburgh. He now runs the Bidwell Training Center in the inner city of Pittsburgh.

Bill has a passion for working with the least advantaged among us to help them achieve the impossible in their lives.

He is also the author of the book, Make the Impossible Possible.

Here are a few Bill Strickland quotes from tonight……

“People are a function of environment and expectations.”

“Beautiful space creates beautiful people.”

“People are born into this world as assets, not liabilities.”

“It’s all in the way we treat people that determines a person’s outcome.” “We all make ourselves “poor ” in one way or another when we accept that we are not smart enough, experienced enough, or talented enough to accomplish something.”