Michael Lee Stallard's Blog, page 3

Three Tips to Draw Employees Back to the Office

Can real-life office connections save lives? Consider this: a chance meeting in an office setting years ago set in motion a vaccine to prevent untold number of deaths due to Covid-19.

Dr. Katalin Kariko and Dr. Drew Wiseman, both researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, got to talking one day about their respective areas of RNA and immunology as they took turns using a copier. That friendly conversation led to a collaboration that ultimately resulted in the mRNA technology used in the first Covid-19 vaccines. For their pioneering work, in 2023 the two were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Chance encounters that spark innovation is one reason why leaders advocate for a full return to the office. However, this policy makes attracting and retaining the best employees difficult. Work has not returned to pre-pandemic norms. Many of the best employees prefer maximum flexibility and favor employers who provide that flexibility. Requiring people to be at the office five days a week will be a deal breaker for many people going forward.

Recent research by Gallup on remote-capable employees found that only 20 percent work entirely on-site, 30 percent work entirely remotely, and 50 percent of them have hybrid work arrangements. In addition, Gallup found that eight in ten remote-capable employees expect to work hybrid or fully remote.

What if leaders thought about this differently? Rather than strictly dictating being on-site, consider offering employees the flexibility to work remotely part of the time then make being in the office such a positive, inclusive, and energizing experience that people want to be in the office together. Leaders can do this through cultivating a culture that is rich in relational connection.

Why Connection Cultures Are Attractive

Here’s why this approach works. As I explained in Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work, a culture of connection meets the seven universal human needs at work:

RespectRecognitionBelongingAutonomyPersonal growthMeaningProgress

Who wouldn’t want to work in an environment that offers these benefits?

Employers benefit, too. Connection cultures boost employee engagement, improve the quality of decisions, increase the rate of innovation, and much more. Only this type of culture is a win-win for employees and employers.

How to Create a Connection Culture

Great leaders recognize that perks, creature comforts, and a cool office vibe aren’t enough to create an environment where people want to be. Instead, they look for ways to boost these three building blocks of a relationally rich Connection Culture:

Communicate a vision that inspires and unites peopleValue people as individuals instead of thinking of or treating them as mere means to an endGive people a voice to share their opinions then consider their input when possibleThree Ideas to TryAsk your employees for feedback…and really listen. See what they think about the direction of your company, the current work environment, their perspective on being back in office, and what they would do differently if they could. What have they appreciated about working from home? What have they missed about being in the office?Bring back a pre-pandemic favorite or start a unique new tradition. Was the annual chili cookoff always a big hit? Did your team bond over shopping for and wrapping gifts for underprivileged kids around the holidays? These less frequent, but highly meaningful, traditions are the perfect candidates to bring back. You can also start a new tradition that ties into your local culture, like a crawfish boil, clam bake, or barbeque. Aim to offer a meaningful connection opportunity on a quarterly basis.Find your weak spots, then strengthen them. Take an honest look at how connecting and engaging your various team sub-cultures are. Use past employee engagement surveys, opinions expressed in exit interviews, and what you’ve picked up through conversations and observations. Identify the teams that would benefit from more focused efforts to improve connection and start there. Identify the leaders or team members who would benefit from mentoring to improve their connection skills, then offer it to them.Three Ideas to SkipMake a one-size-fits-all policy decision. Instead, consider the level of in-person interaction that is truly necessary for each team to do their work well.Offer “fun” that isn’t really fun. Friday pizza parties and 8 am Monday bagels and coffee won’t truly incentivize anyone who wasn’t planning to be at the office anyway to come. Would you brave a Monday morning commute just for a bagel? Save those budget dollars and put them toward something your team will truly enjoy.Put different requirements on local versus remote workers. A common complaint from locals who are required to be in office is that they still end up spending most of their in-office time on Zoom calls because of geographically dispersed team members. If your team has members who can’t come to the office regularly due to geographic constraints, consider reserving mandatory in-office time for those less frequent occasions when everyone can truly be together.The Bottom Line

We all want to reap the benefits that come with in-person interactions, but return to office initiatives will fail unless backed by an engaging in-office environment. Gain a competitive advantage in the war for talent by fostering a Connection Culture. Your employees – and bottom line – will thank you.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

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People First… Love Them Up!

“People first… Love ‘em up” is a phrase that Alan Mulally has been consistently saying at work for more than 30 years. He said it as general manager of the multi-year project to develop the 777 aircraft at Boeing, he said it as CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and he said it as CEO of Ford Motor Company as he led the turnaround that brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy to become one of the most profitable automotive companies in the world. When he retired from Ford in 2014, Alan was named by Fortune magazine as one of the top three leaders in the world.

“People first… Love ‘em up” is one of the foundational expected behaviors in the Working Together Leadership and Management System that Alan designed and employed at Boeing and Ford. In this article, we’ll also consider a second expected behavior on his list of Working Together principles and practices: Everyone is included. These two are important principles in the Working Together system that have the effect of connecting people and contributing to a culture of connection.

What does Alan mean by these phrases? How might they inspire us to become more effective leaders in our own workplaces?

Putting People First

“We use the word love too narrowly and need to genuinely care about the people we lead,” Alan wrote in a chapter he contributed to The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility by Marilyn Gist. “They are not pawns to be used to achieve goals, but human beings — love them up. Show them they matter.”

Over the past year, we’ve had extensive conversations with Alan as part of the research we’re doing for our next book on Connection Culture. We asked him about using the word “love” in the work context. He told us he would say to colleagues: “We’re going to create value for all the stakeholders and the greater good by working together. That means that every one of you is really important and we’re really glad that you decided to join us. Even more, we respect you so much. You’re a human being and you are worthy of respect and love. We’re going to treat you that way. … We’re going to include you on everything because we respect you. … We care what you think.”  In addition to actively and consistently including people, he talked about thanking them for their involvement, showing you appreciate them, and celebrating them.

Putting people first is about welcoming and harnessing the collected efforts of everyone. Alan is a big believer in widely disseminating information in all directions. About this, he has written: “We need to break down assumptions that only people at the top should know and oversee the organization’s strategic efforts, in fact what we need is transparency — genuine openness — about both what we are trying to accomplish and how we are doing.” At Ford, for instance, Alan’s Working Together system had practices and processes that ensured people throughout the organization — from the C-suite to the factory floor — were “in the loop.”

Alan is a stakeholder-minded leader and so “everyone” extends out beyond the organization itself. He feels that the views of stakeholders should be heard and considered. On the Boeing 777 project, teams working together, and with valuable input and feedback from the airlines, came up with innovations in a number of areas, including wing design, propulsion systems, flight deck and systems, materials, and passenger space.

Alan told us that he met with Ford’s stakeholders frequently to give them updates and get their feedback. This was important. As he wrote in The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility:

Rather than have us determine what is best for [stakeholders] and try to force it on them, we work together with them by including them in the development of the strategy and plan. That means we discuss our mutual goals and needs. As an example, every country has its own certification requirements for cars and planes. Differences like this are challenging when we are doing business globally. But by having the humility to include our international partners as we develop our plan (respecting their dignity as well as their views and systems), we are able to work together on compromises acceptable to all sides.

In Alan’s Working Together system, all people groups affected are valued and each stakeholder group must be satisfied. At Ford, this meant that customers, employees, dealers, investors, suppliers, unions/councils, and the community benefited.

In addition to Alan’s “Working Together Management System” chapter in Marilyn Gist’s excellent book, The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility, we also recommend reading  an interview Alan did with Sarah McArthur for Leader to Leader titled “A Conversation with Alan Mulally About His ‘Working Together’ Strategic, Operational, and Stakeholder-centered Management System.”

How Are You Doing?

Alan’s comments raise several issues for leaders and managers:

Do you genuinely care about the people you are responsible for leading? Do they feel you care? How can you tell?Do you regularly include, express appreciation to, thank, and celebrate the people you are responsible for leading?Do you show you care about the people you are responsible for leading by demonstrating that you are committed to creating a smart and healthy organizational culture that fosters connection?Do you include all stakeholders in discussions about what you are trying to accomplish and how you are doing so that their views can be represented and considered in decisions made?

Taking the time to answer these questions and identifying actions that need to be taken can help get your team off to a successful year ahead.

Katharine P. Stallard co-authored this article. 

 

Photo by  Amy Hirschi  on  Unsplash

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Leaders’ Biggest Mistake in Q1: the Communication Illusion Trap

Alan Mulally, the former CEO who saved Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Ford Motor Company, was recognized by Fortune as the best business leader in the world in 2014. In a series of conversations that I had with Alan, he made a point about communications that is especially relevant in the first quarter of the year. I subsequently discovered this quote in Twenty-First Century Jet in which he elaborates:

“One of my most favorite expressions is that the biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred. We think when we express ourselves that, because we generally understand what we think, the person that we are expressing it to understands in the same way. Well, in my experience I’ve found that’s very difficult.

When you are creating something, you have to recognize that it’s the interaction that will allow everybody to come to a fundamental understanding of what it’s supposed to do, how it’s going to be made. And I think we should always be striving to have an environment that allows those interactions to happen…” (italics mine)

Alan’s observation, that it’s the interaction that allows everyone to get on the same page, is especially relevant this time of year when people working together need to have a shared understanding about certain matters. A major mistake leaders make in Q1 is to not schedule time for interaction with the people they are responsible for leading. The result is that a communication illusion trap develops, and it in turn undermines performance.

How to Avoid the Communication Illusion Trap

To avoid the communication illusion trap, schedule time with the people you are responsible for leading in Q1. The purpose of your meeting is to ensure that they understand the following:

Where are we going this year?Why is it important to get there?How are we going to get there (i.e., what is our plan, including the top 3-5 priorities)?What’s my role?

Consider including other issues that your team needs to be on the same page about.

It’s important that this meeting not be limited to one-way communication. Instead, incorporate times for interaction to ensure the communication is fully received and understood.

One way to bring about interaction is to share your plan for the year, let people know that you realize you don’t have a monopoly on good ideas and that you want to seek their opinions and ideas, and then ask them to share their thoughts about “what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s missing” from the plan. Be quiet and listen closely to what you hear.

This approach offers several benefits:

You will gain knowledge that will help you improve the plan.Your team will gain a clearer understanding of your plan so they can align their behavior to the plan.Your team will feel more connected to you because you are showing that you value them and that you have the humility to seek their opinions before making final decisions.The Bottom Line

By investing time interacting with your team now, you will avoid the communication illusion trap while boosting strategic alignment and employee engagement. This will help get your team off to a strong start in the new year.

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

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Lessons from Holiday Movies: Why We Need More Leaders like George Bailey than Ebenezer Scrooge and Henry Potter

Holiday movies may not be the first place one might look for gleaning leadership lessons we can apply in the workplace. But if we did, what might we see? Think of a movie and see what comes to mind. Off the top of our heads, from Home Alone you could talk about the need to think out of the box and be innovative when facing adversaries or threats to your territory (looking at you, 8-year-old Kevin). Or you could draw inspiration from Buddy’s commitment to pursuing his vision while adapting to a completely different environment in Elf. Comparing two classics, A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life, highlights the importance of a leader’s character and motivations. Is he or she a connector who cares about others or a disconnector more focused on personal gain?

A Christmas Carol is based on Charles Dickens’ novella published in 1843. While there have been many movie versions made over the years, the 1951 film starring Alastair Sim plays most often in the month of December. It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a business owner who idolizes wealth and mocks charity. Scrooge’s values, and the behavior emanating from them, isolate him from family and friends, and make him stingy and miserable. Scrooge gets a wake-up call in the form of a nightmarish visit from the ghost of his business partner and then the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. In response to what he is shown, Scrooge’s hardened heart is softened and he begins to invest in relationships, including how he treats his employee, Bob Cratchit.

A Christmas Carol highlights how certain character vices lead to relational isolation, which results in dysfunction and death. This is in contrast to character strengths that lead to human connection, thriving and life. Charles Dickens understood just how powerful human connection is and that it flows out of character strengths, including humility, love and service. These are character strengths and virtues we celebrate during the holiday season (and hopefully live year-round).

The same themes of connection and character are explored in the 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life starring Jimmy Stewart and directed by Frank Capra. The community-minded character of George Bailey who runs his family’s savings and loan is contrasted to that of Henry F. Potter, a Scrooge-like figure who is the wealthy, selfish owner of the primary bank in town and has control of other local businesses too.

We see George’s character in a scene when he and his bride, Mary, are heading off for their honeymoon, but choose to turn back to avert a potential crisis for the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan. George prevents a “run on the bank” by reminding people that their money is actually helping each other and that cashing out their shares that day would cause further hardship to their neighbors. Potter has seized on the opportunity to put a further squeeze on the Baileys by calling the bank loan and requiring them to turn over the cash that was on-hand. George pleads with people to ignore Potter’s enticing offer to move their funds to his bank instead, adding “…. Now, we can get through this thing alright. We’ve got to stick together though. We’ve got to have faith in each other.” To help in the short-term and keep the business afloat, George and Mary use what was to be their travel money to meet the immediate needs of their customers.

The Bailey Brothers Building & Loan makes it through the Depression but faces its biggest test when cash is misplaced and a regulator happens to be in town to audit the business’ books. This sets up a meeting between Potter and George. Potter’s comment that George was worth more dead than alive (referring to a life insurance policy) triggers a crisis of confidence in George’s life.

As in A Christmas Carol, the story’s protagonist receives a visit from the other side. When, in desperation, George wonders whether it would be better if he were not alive, an angel named Clarence intervenes. Clarence shows George what life would be like had he never been born and thus not there to help others and consistently stand up to Potter. The misery Potter’s values afflict on the whole town are clear to see as are the ways that lives are bleak without the good deeds and kindnesses extended by George. With his eyes and heart opened to the reality of the impact he has actually had, George pleads with Clarence to return him to his life. In the final scene (spoiler alert), George’s family and friends rally around him, each contributing what they can out of gratitude to George, and together they save the Building & Loan — and the day. We like to think that this experience gives George the conviction of character he needs to become an even greater leader of his business and in his community.

Today’s Leaders: Ebenezer Scrooge, Henry Potter or George Bailey?

When leaders are primarily motivated by financial gain (like Scrooge) and having power over others (like Potter), a culture of disconnection ensues, as opposed to what happens when leaders are dedicated to work being done together in a way that benefits the many. We need leaders and corporate cultures grounded in humility, love and service rather than in greed, envy and fear, not unlike the differences portrayed in A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Real-world examples show us that results-driven leaders who are equally relationship-minded can infuse connection into the culture and draw out outstanding performance of the group or organization for a sustained period of time.

As a contrast, history shows us the downfall of iconic corporations when taken over by leaders with a shareholder capitalism mindset who focus on maximizing short-term stock price (which, coincidentally, benefits them personally because most of their compensation comes from shares of stock and stock options). In a culture that becomes one of disconnection, the new leaders treat employees as expenses and they may put in place the “rank and yank” performance review system to get employees to compete with one another (which, unfortunately, comes at the expense of connection, collaboration and cooperation). The result is that senior management and shareholders win in the short-term but everyone else suffers, including customers. Long-term shareholders lose, too, because the leaders boost stock prices by applying most of the company’s cash flow to pay dividends and repurchase shares of stock rather than invest in research and development and in capital projects that grow the business and pay off over longer time periods. This approach that favors the few has ripple effects that have weakened democratic nations around the world.

Cultures of connection and stakeholder capitalism, in which shareholders, employees and the community all benefit, are not just good for business but are needed to protect democracy and serve the greater good.

What You Can Do

Leaders who create and maintain a culture of connection: 1) communicate an inspiring vision about where the organization is going, 2) value people as individuals rather than treat them as mere means to an end, and 3) give people a voice to express their ideas and opinions. These three actions help unite people and lead to “relationship excellence.” These leaders also orchestrate task excellence by developing plans with measurable goals and reviewing them on a frequent basis to see if the organization is on track to meet the goals or if actions need to be taken to get back on track.

To learn more about what it takes to build and nurture a connection culture, read our books, Fired Up or Burned Out and Connection Culture, now in its second edition. Doing so will give you the knowledge you need to cultivate healthy, high-performing work cultures. In addition, you can take our LinkedIn Learning course, Creating a Connection Culture. The course, now available in 13 languages, recently surpassed 45,000 learners (who rated it 4.7 out of 5.0).

We hope you will join us in advocating for cultures of connection. The world could use more leaders like George Bailey who serve a cause greater than themselves. Our future depends on it.

Katharine P. Stallard co-authored this article.

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A Connection Culture Success Story at Yale New Haven Health

During the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Tooba Kazmi and Patient Services Manager Lauren Thayer of Yale New Haven Health were tasked to spearhead a novel unit designed to provide care for chronically ventilated patients. The outcome of their dedicated efforts was they achieved record results in successfully weaning patients off ventilators.

It wasn’t until they attended a Connection Culture workshop that the team fully understood what had happened. In this new video, they explain the “a-ha” moment they had about why the unit was so successful. Being able to pinpoint the crucial elements means the team can replicate them in the future and help even more patients achieve successful outcomes.

If you can’t see this video in your RSS reader or email, then click here.

 

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A Practice to Finish the Year Strong

The final months of a calendar or fiscal year are an important time for teams. When you consider the goals you established for the year (or were assigned to you and your team), how are things looking at this juncture? Are you confident you will meet the goals by the end of December, cautiously optimistic, concerned, or slightly panicked? 

A helpful practice for leaders and managers to undertake is to have the people you are responsible for leading document what they’ve accomplished year-to-date. In these documents, encourage people to include as many accomplishments as possible — big and small. Once you receive everyone’s accomplishments, create a master document that groups the accomplishments under your team’s priorities and goals, and an “other” category that includes accomplishments that don’t fit under one of your team’s annual priorities.

Why take the time to do this now? Assembling this information should bring clarity around three facets: perspective, progress, and performance.

Perspective: Casting a Vision by Clarifying What Still Needs to Happen

First, reviewing all that has been accomplished so far this year gives you perspective on what you will want to accomplish during the remainder of the year so that you and your team can focus on those actions and finish the year strong. Without this review, your team may spend too much time in areas that have already made substantial progress and inadvertently overlook forgotten areas that are lagging. 

Progress: Motivating Your Team

Second, reviewing all that has been accomplished provides a sense of progress toward meeting your annual priorities. Seeing all that you have accomplished so far can motivate you to keep pressing toward the goals. Be sure to share the master document with your entire team so they also experience that motivating and connecting sense of progress. 

Performance: Coaching Your Team and Spotting Opportunities to Express Appreciation

Finally, having a detailed list of individual and team accomplishments will give you insight when preparing performance reviews. It will help you identify who you want to recognize for the good work they’re doing and who might need assistance, coaching, or some course correcting. It may also bring to light any gaps in skills on the team and help you consider the people you need on your team to accomplish your priorities next year. 

Just as the beginning of each year brings an opportunity to unite your team around a common vision, the end of each year brings a similar opportunity to foster connection around shared goals. By including your team in the process of documenting their accomplishments to date, you can help everyone to see how their daily work makes a difference and motivate them through the final sprint to the finish line.

This article was coauthored by Katharine P. Stallard.

Photo by Alexandar Todov on Unsplash

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Connection Heals Trauma

At some point in life, many people experience some form of trauma. This may be a personal trauma that occurs at home or in the workplace. It might also be a collective trauma, such as the trauma experienced by many in the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A number of books have been written about trauma and how to heal from it. Two books we recommend are Untangling the Mind: Why We Behave the Way We Do by David Theodore (“Ted”) George and What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey. For those of you who don’t have the time or inclination to explore this topic more deeply, we’d like to share a few points that everyone should be aware of since the ripple effects of trauma can affect relationships and the ability to work effectively.

Trauma Is Common

For starters, trauma can occur from many types of experiences and it is much more common than most of us realize. The most frequent cause of trauma is thought to be sexual abuse. For other people, they may have been the victim of domestic abuse or violence or they were exposed to those scary situations in the home environment as a child. Being in a minor car accident or being bullied in the workplace can trigger trauma. Even if you have not personally experienced trauma, it is likely that someone you know has.

Trauma Leads to a Chronic Stress Response

In our “Creating a Connection Culture” workshops for managers and leaders, we teach that trauma is a stressor because it often causes damage to our brains that leads to a state of chronic (i.e., ongoing) stress response. Another way to state this is that people who have been traumatized can become stuck in a state of constant stress and anxiety. This state is like having a car in Park, pressing the gas pedal to the floor to rev up the engine, and then keeping it there, straining the engine while the car remains in place. It is only a matter of time before damage begins. The revving up of a human body to a state of high stress will burn it out and impair the individual’s wellness, wellbeing, and performance.

Trauma Can Cause People to Overreact

Another point to keep in mind is that people who have experienced trauma will often overreact to perceived slights or threats. Biologically, trauma has been shown to cause damage to a switch in the human brain that leads to the periaqueductal gray, a part of our brain that determines fight, flight, or shutdown response to threats. The effect of this damage is that trauma often makes people so sensitive to threat that their brain misperceives something in their environment as threatening when in fact it is not. An example that is frequently given is the returning military veteran with PTSD who hears the sound of a car backfiring and misperceives it as gunfire. In addition to sound, a triggering stimulus can also be a sight or an odor that the brain associates with the traumatic event.

Trauma Can Lead to Other Mental Health Struggles and Burnout

You may see a rise in emotions such as anger, fear, or depression. As we wrote in the 2nd edition of Connection Culture, based on conversations with Ted George, here are other reactions:

Thought processes become programmed for survival. Black-and-white thinking overtakes rational thinking.Vulnerability is minimized. The ability to trust and to either love or receive love is impaired. Feeling numb or detached from others becomes the norm.The future becomes darkened. Preoccupation with the past serves as a constant reminder that the threatening circumstances could return. One must be vigilant and ready! Healthy relationships seem out of reach.Experiencing extreme emotions and associated behaviors is exhausting. Not understanding how they arise is troubling. The need to reach out for help is perceived as an exercise in futility.Drugs and alcohol often are used to dampen emotional pain.

The effects of trauma also factor into burnout which progresses from emotional exhaustion to depersonalization to a diminished sense of personal accomplishment, according to the academic researchers Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter.

Human Connection Can Help to Heal Trauma

The good news is that caring human connections help heal the damage caused by trauma. Speaking with a licensed mental health professional may be needed. We can each play a part by offering simple connections such as smiling, saying hello, using people’s first names, offering sincere affirmations, and finding ways to help others. These seemingly small acts can also be a source of healing the damage done by trauma.

The Bottom Line

Trauma has far-reaching consequences, but simple acts of connection can make a difference. Helping others on their journey of healing and moving forward is yet another reason greater human connection is needed today.

Katharine P. Stallard co-authored this article.

Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash

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Missing from the Oppenheimer Movie: The Connection Catalyst

Ever since learning that a movie was being made about J. Robert Oppenheimer and The Manhattan Project, I have been waiting for it to come to movie theaters, curious to see how the man and his work would be portrayed. In my first book, Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity, and Productivity, I had written about a particular angle of The Manhattan Project in reference to an element that teams need in order to function well. 

Opening weekend came, my wife and I bought tickets, and we settled into the comfy chairs (with foot rests!). Three hours later, the closing credits began to roll. Debriefing as we drove home, after “that was intense” and “it was really well done,” we ventured into interesting conversations on a host of topics that the movie raised. 

Given the popularity of “Oppenheimer,” I thought you might enjoy the inspiring story below, excerpted from Fired Up or Burned Out, as, to my surprise, a piece of it was not included in the movie. Regardless of your personal feelings about the development and use of the atomic bomb, this bit of history is one clear example of the power in helping people find meaning in their work.

Inspire with Identity

In Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman’s insightful book Organizing Genius, they tell the story of America’s race to make an atomic bomb before the Nazis during World War II. The Manhattan Project, as it was called, represented one of the most challenging and significant scientific accomplishments in history.

The story began in 1939 when Albert Einstein learned from three Hungarian physicists who had defected to America that the Nazis were trying to build an atomic bomb. Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt warning him that he believed the Nazis might find a way to do it. Within days of receiving Einstein’s letter, FDR established an advisory committee to investigate using atomic energy for national defense.

During 1941 and 1942, research was conducted at four universities: Columbia, Princeton, University of California at Berkeley, and Chicago. By mid-1942, the project had become the number-one defense priority with a $2 billion budget. In the fall, soon-to-be Brigadier General Leslie Groves was appointed to head the project following his stint building the Pentagon. Groves, a 250- to 300-pound crusty veteran career officer, began to pull together the people and the resources to make it happen.

On December 2, 1942, a team led by Enrico Fermi, a brilliant physicist, successfully created a self-sustaining nuclear reaction in an unused squash court under the University of Chicago’s football stadium. It was a pivotal moment that meant the project could shift to producing an atomic bomb since the concept had been proven.

General Groves identified a tall, gangly thirty-eight-year-old quantum physicist at Cal Tech, J. Robert Oppenheimer, to be the technical leader of the scientists and engineers. Although military intelligence officials objected to Oppenheimer because of his Communist Party connections, General Groves insisted that he was the best person for the job. Refusing to back down, the persistent Groves got Oppenheimer approved.

One scientist on the project was a young genius from Princeton named Richard Feynman who was to supervise technicians supporting the project. For security reasons, the army did not want the technicians to know the purpose of the project. As a result, it was difficult for them to put their hearts into their work. Their productivity was lackluster, and the quality of their work was disappointing. Feynman asked Oppenheimer to let him inform the technicians about the project’s purpose. His request approved, Feynman explained to the technicians what they were working on, its importance to the war effort, and the value of their contribution to the overall project.

After the technicians understood the meaning of their work, Feynman said he witnessed:

Complete transformation! They began to invent ways of doing it better. They improved the scheme. They worked at night. They didn’t need supervising in the night; they didn’t need anything. They understood everything; they invented several of the programs that we used . . . my boys really came through, and all that had to be done was to tell them what it was, that’s all. As a result, although it took them nine months to do three problems before, we did nine problems in three months, which is nearly ten times as fast.

The technicians’ improved productivity and innovation helped the Allies beat Hitler in the race to make an atomic bomb. On the morning of July 16, 1945, the Manhattan Project team watched as the first atomic bomb was exploded in the New Mexico desert. Their efforts gave the Allies a decisive edge in the war. 

Photo of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Ernest Lawrence (courtesy the  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ) via the  U.S. Department of Energy – Office of History and Heritage Resources

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Summer Reading to Change You for the Better

Have you ever experienced a moment of clarity in your own life as you were swept up in reading a good book? Maybe it was the way a person behaved that gave you insight into an issue you were wrestling with or something a character said that resonated with you.

Some years ago, George K. Kaufman and Lisa K. Libby published a fascinating article in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled “Changing Beliefs and Behavior Through Experience-Taking.” They explained ”experience-taking” as “the imaginative process of spontaneously assuming the identity of a character in a narrative and simulating that character’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, goals, and traits as if they were one’s own.” Their research found that reading narrative can result in “experience-taking” that produces changes in self-judgments, attitudes, and behavior that align with the character’s on the written page.

I’m not surprised. Many books by or about leaders I admire have had a positive effect on my beliefs and behaviors. I may never be the president of the United States trying to pull together a splintering nation, for example, but reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin reinforced my approach of listening to divergent opinions when seeking to make optimal decisions, especially in an environment of division and distrust.

What’s on your summer reading list this year? Personally, I gravitate toward non-fiction books. No surprise, I tend to read them through the lens of connection, looking for attitudes, uses of language, and behaviors that connect people and help individuals and groups thrive. Here are three books I highly recommend that I believe will inspire and bring out the best in you. By stepping into each of these great leader’s shoes, you can learn things that will benefit your own career.

American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce G. Hoffman
Kudos to Bryce Hoffman for capturing the miraculous turnaround of Ford Motor Company in such engaging detail. Hoffman sets the stage by describing the toxic culture that existed at Ford before Alan Mulally arrived to be its new CEO in September 2006. From the start of Mulally’s presence at Ford, he demonstrates that he is not a stereotypical CEO. He’s sensitive to and respects the dignity of all stakeholders, irrespective of status and power. He speaks the truth. In implementing his Working Together management and leadership system, Mulally led the transformation of Ford from near bankruptcy to one of the most profitable automotive companies in the world and the #1 automotive brand in the U.S. Among other things, this book helped me see, as Alan’s parents instilled in him early in life, “by working together with others, you can make the most positive contribution to the most people.”

My Personal Best: Life Lessons from An All-American Journey by John Wooden and Steve Jamison
There are quite a few books on the legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, one of the winningest coaches in history. I am especially fond of this one because it tells Wooden’s life story — the back story, if you will, of the life experiences and people who influenced him and the development of his “pyramid of success” and “personal best” philosophy. Wooden’s love for his wife, Nell, and for his players will inspire you. He had a profound impact on his players, including the superstars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, as evidenced by the relationships he had with them long after they put the ball down as a UCLA Bruin.

Wooden strove to develop players who had the desire to challenge themselves and give their best efforts to prepare to win. “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” he told them. To Wooden, “Success is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.” Their competitive greatness would not be reflected in the final score of a game but in the work they did to become the best player, and person, they were capable of becoming.

A teacher-philosopher-coach, Wooden realized that defining success was only part of it. He would need to show young people how to achieve it and that led him to articulate the 25 attitudes and behaviors in his Pyramid of Success. He explained that they were “a combination of personal qualities and values that I believe are intrinsic to making the effort to reach your potential as a person.” They are relevant beyond the world of sports, such as Team Spirit (A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all), Intentness (Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations and being determined and persistent.), and Alertness (Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve.). Some 75 years since Coach Wooden first settled on these particular qualities and arranged them in the iconic triangular shape, his Pyramid of Success continues to motivate people. (Observant fans of the series “Ted Lasso” would have seen it taped to the wall in the office Coach Lasso shared with Coach Beard.)

This book helped me see that we don’t always control outcomes but we do control our own effort, and when we give our best effort over time, positive results tend to come.

Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk
This book makes people aware of Abraham Lincoln’s lifelong struggle with “melancholy “(i.e. depression) and his determination and ability to carry on through adversity and trials, including the death of his son Willie, his wife Mary Todd’s struggle with emotional health issues, and times when the Civil War was not going well for the Union. Shenk’s thesis is that Lincoln’s experience living with depression gave him the strength of character, and especially the humility and perseverance, that made him the great leader he was. The chapter on Lincoln’s mindset titled “Comes Wisdom to Us” is a masterpiece that helped me in my own journey of faith.

I hope you will pick up one or all of these books in the coming weeks. Let me know what you think of them by emailing me at mike@connectionculture.com.

Photo by Alexandra Fuller on Unsplash

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Healing Our Workplaces through Cultures of Connection

The decline of social connection and rise of loneliness in the United States has caught the attention of the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, which prompted the publication of a new advisory.

“The harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished,” writes U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community released on May 2, 2023. “Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation [on individual and societal health], we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis.”

Dr. Murthy believes that this is an “urgent public health issue” that calls for much greater public awareness as well as substantive action, and therefore it is worthy of the serious step of issuing a Surgeon General’s Advisory. Not only does the new advisory lay out an in-depth case that America is facing an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation that is harmful to our country and its citizens, it also provides a national strategy to increase social connection. We’re encouraged that the advisory calls for an increase in connection across all areas of daily life and makes recommendations to the following stakeholder groups: national, territory, state, local, and tribal governments; health workers, health care systems, and insurers; public health professionals and public health departments; researchers and research institutions; philanthropy; schools and education departments; workplaces; community-based organizations; technology companies; media and entertainment industries; parents and caregivers; and individuals.

We wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Murthy’s assessment. For nearly 20 years, we’ve been advocating for greater connection in the workplace and in life outside of work because we know the profound positive impact connection has on individuals and groups. The loneliness epidemic that has been growing, and was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has made our mission more than just about improving engagement and productivity in the workplace. We are grateful that we had the opportunity to provide advice and feedback to the team from the Surgeon General’s office that prepared a report on improving mental health and wellbeing in the workplace that was issued in October 2022.

“If we fail to [build more connected lives and a more connected society],” warns Dr. Murthy, “we will pay an ever-increasing price in the form of our individual and collective health and well-being. And we will continue to splinter and divide until we can no longer stand as a community or a country. Instead of coming together to take on the great challenges before us, we will further retreat to our corners—angry, sick, and alone.”

Advisory Recommends “Cultivate a Culture of Connection”

Of the advisory’s six pillars to advance social connection, we’re focusing this article on the pillar of developing and sustaining cultures of connection. Here is how the advisory presents this foundational piece:

A culture of connection is vital to creating the changes needed in society. While formal programs and policies can be impactful, the informal practices of everyday life—the norms and culture of how we engage one another—significantly influence social connection. These shared beliefs and values drive our individual and collective behaviors that then shape programs and policies. We cannot be successful in the other pillars without this underlying culture of connection (italics ours).

Such a culture of connection rests on core values of kindness, respect, service, and commitment to one another. Everyone contributes to the collective culture of social connection by regularly practicing these values. Advancing this culture requires individuals and leaders to seek opportunities to do so in public and private dialogue, schools, workplaces, and in the forces that shape our society like media and entertainment, among others. Behaviors are both learned from and reinforced by the groups we participate in and the communities we are a part of. Thus, the more we observe others practicing these values, the more they will be reinforced in us.

All types of leaders and influencers (national, local, political, cultural, corporate, etc.) can use their voices to underscore these core values and model healthy social connection and dialogue. Media and entertainment shape our beliefs through the depiction of stories. These narratives can help individuals see themselves in stories and help to reduce stigma, thus enabling more connection. Further, our institutions should invest time, attention, and resources in ways that demonstrate these values.

Specifically regarding the role of workplaces, the advisory recommends the following:

Make social connection a strategic priority in the workplace at all levels (administration, management, and employees).Train, resource, and empower leaders and managers to promote connection in the workplace and implement programs that foster connection. Assess program effectiveness, identify barriers to success, and facilitate continuous quality improvement.Leverage existing leadership and employee training, orientation, and wellness resources to educate the workforce about the importance of social connection for workplace well-being, health, productivity, performance, retention, and other markers of success.Create practices and a workplace culture that allow people to connect to one another as whole people, not just as skill sets, and that fosters inclusion and belonging.Put in place policies that protect workers’ ability to nurture their relationships outside work including respecting boundaries between work and non-work time, supporting caregiving responsibilities, and creating a culture of norms and practices that support these policies.Consider the opportunities and challenges posed by flexible work hours and arrangements (including remote, hybrid, and in-person work), which may impact workers’ abilities to connect with others both within and outside of work. Evaluate how these policies can be applied equitably across the workforce.How We Can Help

If you are ready to put the advisory’s recommendations into action, we can help. Because many actions that boost connection reflect common sense, leaders often assume they are occurring in the organization (when in fact they are not). We’ve come alongside a wide range of organizations and leaders at all levels over the past two decades and we understand that what may be common knowledge may not be common practice. Our work focuses on helping you to find ways to make connection practical and integrate it into your day-to-day workflow. We’ll help you develop a connection mindset and then equip you with a connection skill set to increase connection.

If you would like to speak with us about the services we provide, contact me (Michael) at mike@connectionculture.com or call me at (203) 550-0360. We provide keynote speeches, and half-day and one-day interactive workshops and training on creating a culture of connection. In addition, check out our book, Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work, now in its second edition, and our Linkedin Learning course, “Creating a Connection Culture.”

Katharine P. Stallard coauthored this article. 

Photo by Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash

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