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| "My Bad!" |
In 2010, the BBC conducted their international survey on the biggest concerns of the day. In the past, the number one spot was always poverty, and the second was typically the environment. But, for the first time the number one concern for the globe was corruption. This means that the ethics of our businesses, governments, religious institutions, and entertainment outlets are so bad that concerns about people dying of starvation and the impending doom of our planet are taking a backseat. If corruption is this ubiquitous and universal throughout the world, I am just glad that people are still shocked and outraged by something like the Sandusky trial.
So what happened!? If an institution like Penn state, with its' storied past and the glory of its' football program, can go awry end up in the same light as Enron, Lehman, and Nixon, then we really need to question where our evolution as a society is going. Penn State as a brand has its' work cut out for it. There is no doubting that. But they can climb back. Because people want great brands. Consumers WANT to interact and dialogue with companies/brands that get it. That get where business is pointing towards.
Up to this point, the majority of institutions operated on very individualistic mind set, all singing the same solo by Al Davis, "Just Win Baby". (Couldn't resist another sports reference) It has been like the wild, wild west with everyone loosely grouped together but with no focus except for immediate, short term gain. But this myopic focus on the quick win produces the same blind spot in all of these groups: no concern for HOW they win.
In my previous post I spoke about vision. I currently work for a wireless sales company which, for the most part, has a focus on transactional, high volume sales. The current mentality within the industry is sell, sell, sell, push, push, push. Now I am not saying that personal success within this system is a bad thing. It is just extremely limited. Because when it comes to personal success, there are still only 24 hours in a day. There is only so much that you can achieve on your own. So we need to push past this phase and into, what Dave Logan in his book Tribal Leadership, calls Stage 4 development.
This is the next logical step for brands to pursue, and is also what the populace is clamoring for. In the book they talk about the different stages which are recognizable by the dialogue that person uses. Here is a graph that describes the various stages.
Over the next week I will be dissecting the various hallmarks of this stage of development. But here is a brief snapshot of the different markers.
Epiphany
This is the starting point of the individual that is currently in stage 3 and realizes that they have attained a great deal of personal success but so what? They realized that when they have a big personal victory, it is actually small. They are sick of the posturing within their company, and all the games and manipulation. There has to be something more.
Noble Cause
This is where the vision for the company is casted and everyone acquires a laser focus. It is a “pronouncement of a future state that a tribe will bring about through its coordinated action”. This is not the vision of an individual, but rather it is what the company is in service of.
Core Values
If the noble cause is the direction that the company is the headed in, the core values are the fuel that propels the group towards that aim. The stage four group must live these values as they are the adhesive that will keep the different personalities bound. They must follow them, sometimes to a fault.
Triads
This is one of the most important aspects of stage four. This is what will allow us to accomplish some gargantuan tasks. This is the collaborative effort of you and two others. People are treated as ends and not means. It is within these relationships that we see the burnout of stage 3 turn into exponential gains in productivity.
Stay tuned as I will give examples of all these markers and unpack each one.
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