CORPORATE STORYTELLING:
Discovering Fire for the Second Time
Vol. 5 Number 2 2005
Publisher: Evelyn Clark
evelyn@corpstory.com http://www.corpstory.com
(c)
Clark & Company
2005
“Storytelling is hugely important."
--Anne M. Mulcahy, Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp.
as quoted in Fast Company, March 2005
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. What Great Managers Do
2. WRQ’s Founder on Leadership Qualities
3. USA Today Prophetic?
4. Xerox’s Chairman and CEO on Storytelling
5. Corporate Storytelling Live and in Print
1. What Great Managers Do
The One Thing You Need to Know...About Great Managing, Great Leading,
and Sustained Individual Success (Free Press) is a newly released
book that’s
getting a lot of attention. Author Marcus Buckingham, who also wrote First
Break All the Rules, and Now, Discover Your Strengths, says
that corporate America has made the job of leadership too complicated.
He says, in fact, a
leader’s job is simple: Maintain clarity…about the future, about
your customer, and about how you’re going to win.
After studying 80,000 manager and 3 million employees as part
of the Gallup Organization’s research program, Buckingham decided that he might learn
even more about leadership by studying only a few who truly excel at their
jobs. He struck out on his own, and he wasn’t disappointed by what
he learned.
This month’s Harvard Business Review writes
about the book in an article entitled, “What Great Managers Do,” and Fast Company calls its
report, “The Clear Leader.” To buy a copy of the HBR article,
go to http://hbsp.bsn.endeca.com/hbsp/controller.jsp?Ntk=main_search&Ntt=%22What+Great+Managers+Do%22+&N=105&x=6&y=11
You may read Fast Company’s article at http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/92/clear-leader.html
2. WRQ’s Founder on Leadership Qualities
In response to an item in last month’s issue on traits that define a
leader, Doug Walker, WRQ’s founding partner and former Chairman, wrote
to offer his company’s list of essential leadership qualities:
Integrity (defined by Webster as “incorruptibility, soundness, completeness,
honesty”)
- Includes notions of respect, ethics, fairness
- Genesis/cause of trustworthiness
Purpose (defined by Webster as “something set up as an object or end
to be attained; intention, resolution, determination, resolve, goal”)
- Provide a clear and compelling vision for those you lead
Empathy (defined as "the capacity for understanding, being aware of,
being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and
experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings,
thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner")
- The critical part of this is “understanding” and
being aware
- In order to lead people it's helpful to understand how
they perceive the world. Empathy helps gain an understanding
of shared values. It is not
as necessary to "feel others' pain" as it is to understand
the pain
Ability to Execute, or “get things done” (defined
as “to
make or produce especially by carrying out a design; to carry out fully; put
completely into effect”)
- Ability to achieve Strategic Business Results
- Ability to focus a team on achieving defined goals
Judgment (defined as the capacity for discernment, meaning the ability to
see what is not evident to the average mind; discrimination, meaning the power
to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent; perception,
which implies quick and often sympathetic discernment as of shades of feeling;
insight, suggesting depth of discernment coupled with understanding sympathy;
and acumen, implying characteristic penetration combined with keen practical
judgment)
- Usually requires intelligence and is the object rather than intelligence
itself
Ability to Inspire the Followers (defined
as “to influence, move, or
guide; the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions; to spur on;
to urge or drive forward or on by or as if by the exertion of strong moral
pressure”)
- Ultimately leaders must influence their followers or they
are not a leader
- Beyond whatever personal attributes he or she possesses,
a good leader knows that success belongs to the team, not
to the individual. By
selecting
the right team members, giving them appropriate training and motivation,
and then offering them as much autonomy and responsibility as possible,
the leader
strives to create new leaders who can bring new strengths to the
organization. The ultimate test is: Would you trust the success
of an endeavor to a member
of your team?
- Foster the belief (among those you lead) in your combined
ability to achieve successful outcomes
We’re grateful to Doug for sharing WRQ’s definition
of leadership. If you have thoughts to contribute to this e-zine
on this or any other subject,
please send them to evelyn@corpstory.com
3. USA Today Prophetic?
Affirming WRQ’s choice of integrity as a key leadership trait, a report
in last November 5’s USA Today now seems to have been a
prophetic warning of trouble ahead for The Boeing Company. The report said
that some companies
are now probing prospective executives’ personal lives in search
of clues that would indicate a lack of integrity. The close examination of personal
behavior has been motivated by the string of corporate scandals that have rocked
the nation's economy in recent years. According to the USA Today report, the
most common red flag is whether the person has been unfaithful in marriage.
“If their life is a lie, it's not confined to their personal life,” Thomas
DiBiagio, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, told the paper. “If they are
lying to their wives, there's huge potential they are also lying to their colleagues,
their board of directors and potentially their auditors.” The article
said that former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski had at least two affairs with
subordinates before he divorced his first wife and married his mistress,
and WorldCom's
Bernie Ebbers openly courted a sales executive while married to his first
wife. Enron's top officials also dated women outside their marriages, according
to
the article.
Companies are beginning to ask for more extensive background
checks that go beyond traditional references in order to find
executives with the “highest
professional and personal ethics,” USA Today said. “More
are taking information about morals and ethics into consideration when
deciding whether
to hire or promote an executive.”
4. Xerox’s Chairman and CEO on Storytelling
Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp., says in
this month’s
issue of Fast Company that storytelling has been a key tactic
as she’s
led the company through the crisis of market repositioning, outsourcing and
cost cutting. “You’ve got to get out there, give people the straight
scoop, and get buy-in,” she says. “At our town meetings, the most
frequently asked question wasn’t whether we’d survive, but
what we would look like when we did.
“I got great advice: Write a story.” Mulcahy goes
on to explain that Xerox executives created a pseudo Wall Street Journal article
dated five years out to help people see what the company could
achieve if everyone persevered,
and “people loved it. No matter where I go, people pull that article
out. They personalized it.”
By listening to and collecting stories from people throughout
the organization, Mulcahy says, you create “powerful momentum. It’s
much more powerful than the precision or elegance of the strategy.”
To read the full article, go to http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/92/wikn.html
5. Corporate Storytelling Live and in Print
Storytelling Magazine published a review of Evelyn’s
book, Around
the Corporate Campfire: How Great Leaders Use Stories to Inspire Success, in the
current March/April issue. And her guest column in Washington CEO magazine,
originally scheduled for earlier this winter, is now scheduled to appear in
the upcoming April issue. The column is based on material from her book, Around
the Corporate Campfire, and features practices instilled by the WRQ’s
Doug Walker, whose follow-up on leadership traits are noted above.
If you don't already have a copy of Around the Corporate Campfire, buy
one today! It’s available in e-format as well as hard copy.
Learn how some of America's top companies are using stories to convey
values, vision, and
desired behavior. Become a better leader by modeling your communication
after the CEOs and executives of companies such as FedEx, Nike, Costco
Wholesale,
Mary Kay, and The Container Store.
Demand continues to grow for Evelyn’s storytelling services. Among other
projects, she recently addressed a management retreat at the state Department
of Health, created a recruitment ad as part of a re-branding campaign for Microsoft’s
Legal and Corporate Affairs, and is developing the story of the Western Wireless
legacy prior to the company’s merger with Alltel.
To bring the power of story to your company, or to your organization's next
conference or retreat, book The Corporate Storyteller now. Call (425) 827-3998.
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Evelyn Clark, The Corporate Storyteller
Author, Around the Corporate Campfire
t. (Seattle area) 425-827-3998
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