John B. Izzo's Blog, page 7

Purpose Revolution Episode 1 The Coming Purpose Revolution—Why Should You Care?

A Conversation with Richard Leider, Author of The Power of Purpose

 

 

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Purpose Revolution Episode 1

Learn how leaders and organizations can thrive in the emerging purpose revolution.

 

 

The post Purpose Revolution Episode 1 appeared first on Dr John Izzo.

The Five Thieves Threatening Humanity’s Future

Answer this question quickly without giving it much thought: Is the human species inherently a compassionate, constructive species destined to leave the Earth better than we found it?

A quick perusal of the daily news surely suggests that, though we have many noble qualities, the current state of human progress leaves some doubt as to our destiny. Climate change is accelerating, the ocean is drowning in tons of plastic garbage, the coral reefs are dying, and many scientists say that humanity is about to cause the sixth great extinction in Earth’s history. Global terrorism is growing, civil unrest is widespread, and nationalism is rising. The threat of nuclear proliferation is rising after decades of keeping the lid on weapons of mass destruction.

Yet the history of the human species suggests that we have become the most dominant inhabitants of Earth precisely because of our unparalleled capacity to cooperate even across large numbers of strangers spanning continents. We are often willing to make great sacrifices for the good of the larger tribe, as evidenced by acts of heroism both large and small. So what is holding humanity back from achieving our highest possibility?

Mental Mindsets Holding Humanity Back

It is my contention that the answer to the question of humanity’s future will be determined by whether we can overcome five mental mindsets that undermine our collective happiness. I call them the five thieves of humanity’s future.

There is little doubt that the mental mindsets each of us has influences our personal happiness and achievements. In my new book, The Five Thieves of Happiness, I explore five mental thought patterns that keep us from experiencing the happiness that we all seek. It is my contention that these same five mental patterns are robbing humanity of our future. If these thieves continue running our collective house, our future as a species is questionable and our impact on the great experiment of life on Earth is likely to be a negative one. If we can tame them, then we may yet become a positive force for future generations.

The Thief Named Control

This mental mindset keeps us wanting to avoid having our point of view challenged. We want to be right rather than learn. Humans don’t like dissonance for the most part. This need to be right keeps us seeking information that confirms our existing bias and helps explain why we will read “fake news” that agrees with us rather than be challenged by real facts that might force us to alter our views.

This desire to be right rather than learn is a major impediment to our progress. As a species we face multiple complex problems that require us to seek to learn rather than prove we are right. Resistance to the need to make changes for the sake of sustainability can be linked to the fact that facing the realization that we are ruining the planet makes us feel out of control. The easiest way to stay in control is to pretend everything is fine when it is so obviously not; there is good reason that Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film was titled An Inconvenient Truth.

The Thief Named Comfort

This thief keeps us locked into old patterns of thinking and behaving even after the outer reality has changed around us. Neuroscience has shown us that humans are truly creatures of habit. We tend to keep doing things a certain way long after the habit serves us. There are two prime examples of the way this thief is robbing humanity of our future.

For most of human history our main challenge was conquering nature. After all, nature was very large and we were very few. But because of our growing numbers and advancing technology we have become the largest force shaping Earth. Though reality has changed, many people continue to believe that humans are too few to change nature and still see nature as abundant. Our main challenge now is to help nature, not to dominate it, but the old pattern is still dominant.

Another example relates to terrorism. In a time when wars were mostly between nations, military might was the obvious and logical path to stability. But the greatest threats now are not wars between nations but wars between ideologies. Even one radicalized person can wreak meaningful destruction. In this war of ideas, we must learn to build bridges but are stuck in a pattern where we think force is the answer. A simple example is Aarhus, a city in Denmark that took a different path by welcoming back potential radicals who went to Syria. Unlike most places in Europe that treated the returning citizens as criminals, this city welcomed them back and offered practical help in finding employment as well as a place to live (including the offer of a mentor). Many dubbed it “hug a terrorist,” when in fact it was rooted in sound psychology since humiliation is highly rated to radicalization. There have been no terrorist acts there.

The Thief Named Conceit

This mindset wants us focused on our species, our tribe, and our generation. This focus on the small self is not serving us. The gap between the rich and poor is growing, nationalism is rising even while the commons that we share, such as the climate and oceans, have grown. Rather than focusing on the good of the whole, we find ourselves focused on the ego.

Just as individuals are happier when serving rather than focusing on themselves, so all life’s purpose is to improve and extend the experiment of life. This is something nature knows but that humanity has lost touch with. Our conceit has left us thinking we can thrive while the rest of nature declines, thinking our tribe can be wealthy without helping others gain a better life, and using up Earth’s bounty in one small generation. Unless we overcome the thief named conceit, humanity cannot thrive.

Companies must also overcome this conceit mindset since business is a subset of societal health, not the other way around. Sustainable business is built on a mindset quite the opposite of conceit – that of service. When a company focuses on having a purpose that serves the greater good of both customers and society, now and in the future, only then is a brand truly sustainable. A company focused only on its own interests will neither be a magnet for talent nor ultimately attract loyal customers. The same can be said for a species.

The Thief Named Consumption

Consumption focuses us on possessions as the prime definition of ‘the good life’ especially at the societal level. We measure GNP and GDP as a proxy for the good life even while rampant consumption drives ecological damage, keeps us focused on working hard to buy things that don’t bring happiness and has created a human system that requires more consumption for society to thrive.

But we are not thriving and only a few brave places such as Bhutan are starting to use Gross National Happiness as an alternative measure of health. Happiness has always been an internal construct rather than a result of consuming anything outside oneself. Yet our entire economic system is based on consumption. Unless we deal with this thief and redefine the good life along with changing an economic system which values consumption above all, humanity will remain on a troubled path.

In many ways, business has driven our focus on consumption as a source of happiness. One of the major challenges facing the sustainable business movement is how to remain profitable while helping to define “the good life” in a way that doesn’t focus on unsustainable consumption. This will not be an easy task. A good starting place can be found in efforts such as Patagonia’s “Don’t buy this jacket” campaign and Whole Foods’ decision to only sell sustainable seafood. Sharing economy models such as Airbnb and Uber show the business opportunity in meeting human needs through less consumption and the use of existing resources. Surely there is great opportunity for brands that can help consumers tame this thief.

The Thief Named Coveting

The final thief focuses us on what others have, putting us in a place of resentment rather than gratitude towards our own lives or others. Rather than seeking a way for all of us to succeed, we focus on others as an impediment to our happiness. This becomes fertile ground to blame immigrants, foreign countries, and other ethnic groups which we know historically often leads to genocide and greater focus on national as well as ethnic identity often ending in violence. In the 1930s, the Nazis scapegoated the Jews as the source of Germany’s economic woes. Only a true appreciation of our differences can put humanity on a path to a productive future.

The truth is that only a world that works for all will be sustainable. Growing gaps between the rich and poor will create unstable societies, as well as foster anti-global trends such as Brexit.

How Can We Stop the Five Thieves?

The best way to stop the five thieves is to first name them. That which cannot be named cannot be tamed. These thieves are running wild in our current society and we must recognize that control, comfort, conceit, consumption, and coveting are not humanity’s future. Only when we see these thought patterns for what they are can we begin to change.

Then we must replace them with new ways of thinking. Control must be transformed and replaced with openness and dialogue. Comfort must give way to a willingness to challenge our patterns of subduing nature or believing that military might create security. Conceit must give way to a focus on creating a world that works for all; and where humanity sees that we are here to serve nature, not the other way around. Consumption as a prime metric of human success must be replaced with new ways of measurement that put wellbeing at the center of our communal life. Finally, we must replace blaming others for our misfortune with a true desire for all to thrive.

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New Year—New You: How to Be Happier in Life & Work

Happiness is all the rage today. Books about happiness proliferate everywhere, it seems. The science of happiness has become big business, as well as the subject of scientific exploration. University studies seeking to discover, through clinical research, how happiness is engendered and maintained have become common at the University of Michigan. I have written extensively about happiness, as well as lectured on it around the globe. In spite of all this attention, we live in a world awash in books and lectures on happiness, but unhappiness is all around us.

Research shows that the happier we are in life, the more productive, successful, and engaged we are at work. But how do we find that illusive state of happiness? How do enrich our lives so that we bring that forth in our work?

It is my suggestion that there are five thieves that rob us of our happiness. A thief is someone who takes away something that is already yours. In the case of happiness, the thieves are thought patterns and internal filters through which we see the world in a distorted way. They cloud our view of what is true and natural.

In my new book The Five Thieves of Happiness I show how five mental mindsets rob most of us of the happiness that is naturally ours. The five thieves are control, conceit, coveting, consumption, and comfort.

Control

The first thief is control, the desire to control the outcomes of our life and for things to be different. Happiness is knowing what we can control and accepting what we cannot control. At the most basic level, happiness comes from understanding that we can control our actions and our responses to things external to us, but we cannot control the results of our actions. Focusing on our actions brings happiness; focusing on the result of our actions brings unhappiness. All suffering is resistance to whatever is at any moment.

How to stop the thief:

In each moment surrender to whatever is happening. Control and influence what you can while choosing to accept whatever is at that moment. Accept the hard truths about life. Go with the flow at work. Remember that it is the craving for things to be different, not the circumstance that robs you of happiness.

Conceit

Conceit is perhaps the single greatest barrier to true contentment and even societal well-being. Conceit if a focus on your small self, on trying to find happiness separate from all other people and things as opposed to in the experience of being one. Another word for this thief is ego. Happiness comes from serving and getting lost in something outside yourself.

How to stop the thief:

Whenever you find yourself obsessing about the story of your life, remind yourself that you are already a part of a larger story. At work, focus on the bigger purpose and embrace the team energy. The thief wants you sitting around, staring at your own reflection, but there is no happiness to be found there. Building an equitable world that works for all is part of this, if not for moral reasons than for practical ones. Only when all prosper can we all be truly safe and happy.

Coveting

Coveting is the thief and comes disguised as something harmless or even ambitious in some productive way. What could be wrong with wanting to have something you don’t yet possess? Is not desire for something the very source of moving forward in life? The opposite of coveting is to be in a place of gratitude. Coveting also keeps us from celebrating for others because life becomes a comparison.

How to stop the thief:

Whenever you find yourself asking the mirror on the wall of your subconscious how you compare with others, remember that it is the thief speaking to you. It is lying when it tells that you that life is a contest rather than a journey. Ask instead: Am I being my best self? Also, practice gratitude through daily journaling or simply taking a few minutes to identify three things that you are grateful in that day and one in your life. Each day choose another person in your personal life and at work, and write down three things you want to celebrate for them.

Consumption

Consumption tells us that there is something outside ourselves that we need to achieve happiness, and it tries to hide from us the truth that we can choose it at any moment. Intuitively, of course, we all know

that happiness cannot come from consumption of something because we all know people who appear to “have it all” but are consistently discontent, as well as people who have “next to nothing” and appear to be quite happy. This thief is like a thirsty person with a large bottle of good fresh water but a hole in their throat.

How to stop the thief:

Whenever you find yourself saying, I will be happy when…or I will be happy if…, stop these thoughts and come back into the inner house where happiness is found. Focus on the choice to be happy now. Challenge the consumer in yourself. Whenever you are tempted to buy something, ask yourself if it will bring any real happiness. The thing itself is not a problem; the belief that it will bring happiness is the issue.

Comfort

The final thief—comfort—is an insidious one. In fact, at first glance it may even appear as a source of happiness rather than a barrier to it. This thief is like a lethargic person on the sofa, TV remote in hand. It wants us to stay on the same channel, in the same comfortable position, stuck in a routine that is not life giving. It does not care about the consequences of this routine, even if the channel we are on is no longer of interest to us or serving our higher needs.

How to stop the thief:

Make a commitment to try one or two new things every week. Vary your routines, from taking a new route on your daily walk to a different dating experience with your partner on a Friday night. Try new areas of learning—it is good for both your mental and physical health. Notice the core comfort patterns of your life. Stretch yourself at work—volunteer, take a course to increase your knowledge, or apply for a new position. What have you carried from your past that is no longer adaptive to your life today? Identify an important pattern, and take two months to work on noticing how it shows up, then choose to ride in another direction.

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For Sustainable Customers—Every Day is Election Day

In the aftermath of the U.S. election, the Facebook pages of most people who care about environmental sustainability read like a grief or suicide support group. Amidst the weeping and gnashing of teeth, there is a sense of everyone looking forward to the next election in two or four years.

While I understand the sentiment, it is important to remember that election cycles are always at the whim of a small group of swing voters whereas every person who cares about sustainability and social justice has a chance to vote many times every single day and that vote might ultimately have as much, or even more impact on the future (and present) as elections do.

Every Purchase is a Vote

The vote I speak of are the purchase choices we make every day multiple times and aggregately millions of times a year. Businesses, especially corporations, play a major role in our society and are having an increasingly large influence on issues like climate change, the rights of marginalized groups and even public policy. The good news is that we won’t need anywhere near 51% of the population to have a big impact with our votes. Even a small percentage of consumers voting every day with their dollars will have great influence on companies.

If you doubt I am right let me point out two examples. When states started passing laws to ban gay marriage and forcing transgendered people to choose the bathroom of the government’s choice, it was large corporations that stepped up to threaten boycotts of those states. Many states responded almost immediately to the pressure. Why did business respond in this way? Well two reasons. First because they know that customers and employees care about these issues and second because many people who run major companies care about these issues.

Another example concerns climate change and environmental sustainability. Mr. Trump has promised to opt out of the hard fought climate change accord in Paris as well as roll back environmental regulations at the EPA. For people concerned about the future of our children and planet this may seem an unavoidable disaster. Yet many large companies from 3M to Walmart are already taking large strides to reducing waste, carbon emissions and supporting renewing ecosystems. By voting with purchases to support companies that are progressive on environment and punishing those who are not making strides, even 5% of us could have a huge impact on these companies since that loss or gain of customers can be the difference between profitability and loss.

By voting for companies who do the right thing and voting against companies that do the wrong thing through our daily purchases, we can truly encourage businesses to take a leadership role on issues like climate change.

What’s more, business often plays an important intermediary role in the decisions governments makes. In British Columbia, Canada, an entire rainforest was saved from deforestation in part by pressure consumers brought onto companies like 3M who engaged to successfully pressure government to act. In other words, our “purchase” voting can ripple to pressure on elected officials.

So if you really want to influence future regulations, start writing the companies and asking them to take a strong stand for the planet and for justice in their own lobbying efforts.

Use Social Media to Make Your Purchase Vote Count More

Voting with your purchases is good but even better is to amplify your vote. Every day, use social media to advertise the votes you make and include the hashtags of the companies on Twitter. Say things like “voted for 3M’s commitment to sustainability today at Staples.” Do the opposite, like “friend was thinking of buying a VW today until I reminded them of the emissions scandal.” Muhtar Kent the CEO of Coca-Cola told me that social media has a big impact on companies and leaders. When I asked Kent what he thought would really get all businesses serious about social good, he said “when we get to a trillion tweets a day.” Of course, he didn’t mean that literally but he was saying that when consumers engage with regularity, businesses will listen!

Think of Beth Terry who I wrote about in my book Stepping Up. Beth was an anti-disposable plastic consumer who used Brita water filters to avoid bottled water, but was disturbed that these filters could not be recycled. She started connecting with other consumers by getting them to write letters to Clorox who owned the North American Brita rights. Her efforts on social media lead to conversations with the CEO and eventually a collaborative effort between Clorox and Whole Foods to recycle the filters. She could have waited for an election or proposition to require it but instead starting voting with her purchases and amplifying it on social media.

Terry’s story shows what happens when consumers really take an interest in influencing companies. But every consumer can be a Beth Terry. Follow the news. Find out which companies are actively supporting climate change legislation and sending clear signals that they plan to accelerate towards sustainability. Then find out what companies are doing the opposite and vote with your buying and amplify your choices.

Support Good Companies When They Do the Right Things

One of the other things about every day being election day for sustainable consumers is that we must remember that in order for companies to do the right thing they need our support. Recently, a socially responsible business came out in support of a major environmental initiative and got a meaningful backlash from people who disagreed with their stance on social media. What struck me is that those of us who admired the company did little to support them. It is critical for us to remember that every time a company makes a stand for sustainability, we need to make a stand for them.

At the recent follow-up meeting in Morocco, several hundred U.S. companies issued a statement asking President-Elect Trump not to abandon the Paris climate change accord and reaffirmed their efforts to reduce carbon. On the list are some iconic companies like Nike, Levi-Strauss, Starbucks and Staples. So here is a question: How many of us took to social media to say thanks? How many of us reached out to our friends and said “go vote for these companies today and thank them for standing up for the future!”

You see, we often want companies to do the right thing but don’t make the effort to support them when they do.

Every day is indeed election day for sustainable consumers. We can vote with our dollars for a sustainable future by our purchases and what we choose to amplify.

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Four Ways to be an Inspiring Leader

My colleague and friend Jim Kouzes has been studying leadership for three decades. Over that period of time he and his colleague Barry Posner have been asking people all over the world what factors make them want to follow a leader. Not surprisingly, being perceived as an inspiring leader is consistently near the top of the list.

Over the years, thousands of leaders have asked me: But what does it mean to be inspiring? Having worked with over 500 companies and thousands of leaders to create highly engaged workplaces, here is what I’ve learned about why leaders are seen as inspiring.

Inspiring Leaders Focus on Purpose

Inspiring leaders are focused on something bigger than just selling more or making the numbers. People want a vision of greatness that is about purpose.

Purpose can be having a unique relationship with customers as can be seen at places like Southwest Airlines and Westjet, where the purpose is to truly serve customers. The leaders who started both those airlines focused on the higher purpose more than the business purpose.

Steve Jobs was seen as an inspiring leader precisely because he was not focused so much on Apple’s profits as its cutting edge technology. Profits come from serving a need and inspiring leaders focus on the need more than the numbers.

Inspiring Leaders Share Their Own Purpose

Another critical factor is that the leader makes purpose personal. When Mike Eesley became CEO of Centegra Healthcare in Illinois, he had a vision to become a premier hospital through quality and compassionate service. He inspired people through a personal story about his own mother’s healthcare experience in a small community. Inspiring leaders share their own story.

For several years I gave keynote talks at a series of leadership events for Northrop Grumman. At each two-day session there was a leader in residence and on the first night they spoke about their own leadership story. Invariably, those leaders who shared their personal story of what inspired them were the most highly rated. Get personal.

Inspiring Leaders Make Other People the Hero

We tend to think of inspiring leaders as heroes, the ones who comes in to save the day. But it’s more important to make other people the hero. We are not inspired by people who tell us what a hero they are, we are inspired by leaders who bring the hero out in each of us.

Jimmy Blanchard, former CEO of Synovus Bank, loved to tell stories of people within the bank who inspired him. The best leaders focus on highlighting others making a difference.

Even more, help people see how they can inspire in their jobs. The role of the leader is to help every person see how their job and their opportunity to make a difference is even bigger than they know.

Stop trying to be Luke Skywalker, your job is to be Yoda!

Inspiring Leaders Think About Legacy

Finally, inspiring leaders are focused on the legacy they will leave behind not just what will happen during their tenure. Years ago an African tribal elder in Tanzania gave me the best definition of a leader I’d ever heard. He said a leader is “someone who worries about the future.”

Inspiring leaders show they are thinking about the future. That can involve corporate social responsibility, sustainability focus, or the impact your company might have on your industry.

Ray Andersen, former CEO of Interface, set out to change the standards around waste not only for his company but for the entire industry. He was worrying about the future and showed it!

Effective Leaders Do This

So here are four ways to be an inspiring leader:

Have a purpose beyond profit and communicate it regularly
Talk about your personal purpose and ground it in stories
Make other people the hero, show them how they can inspire
Focus on legacy beyond your tenure

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My Day at Auschwitz

Elie Wiesel the great Jewish writer wrote about the struggle he had to find words to describe his experiences as a prisoner at Auschwitz but went on to say that he felt his witnessing to what happened there was so important that he had to try. Having spent a full day at the camp on a recent speaking trip to Warsaw, in some small way I now understand.

Auschwitz is not only the most famous of the Nazi concentration camps but also a place where over 1.1 million people lost their lives, the vast majority Jewish people systematically exterminated in gas chambers. The choice to even go there involves a decision to encounter the depth of emotion it is certain to conjure up.

In the hours that I spent both at Auschwitz 1 and 2 (also known as Birkenau), my emotions ranged from deep sadness, numbness, rage, despair and in the end, hope. At this death camp, all that is evil about humanity and all that is dignified can be found in the memory of what went on within those barbed wire fences.

Walking through the so called living quarters where up to 1,000 people lived in quarters made for a few hundred, sleeping nine across with one small blanket in sweltering heat and freezing winter without even latrines, it wasn’t hard to imagine the hell they endured. With little food, they worked from sunrise to sunset often enduring random brutal beatings. Yet I was inspired by the stories of men and women who maintained a deep sense of dignity and kindness amidst this brutality. As Victor Frankl wrote when discussing his own experiences at Auschwitz in Man’s Search for Meaning, the fact that even one person endured such suffering finding meaning and living with dignity is witness to what we are all capable of. He witnessed many who did so.

Dignity Amidst Cruelty

There was a hall filled with pictures of prisoners from Auschwitz that included their name, their date of birth, date of deportation to Auschwitz and often their profession. Many looked frightened, quite a few defeated, but one man’s photo reached out to me. There was something about the goodness and resolve in his face that made you realize that this was something not even this cruelty could take away. The pictures themselves had been saved by prisoners who had been directed to burn all the photos as the camps were being evacuated to hide the truth of what had happened there. But they risked their lives by wrapping photos in a wet blanket and hiding in in a chimney. They may have died but they wanted the world to remember.

Barracks ten was a place of great cruelty. Not only were thousands shot dead in the courtyard there but also held prison cells made for torture including one where groups were placed and held there until they starved to death. It was outside that building that Maximillian Kolbe, a Polish priest who had lead anti-Nazi activities before being sent to the camp, had volunteered to take the place of a fellow prisoner being sent to the starvation cell who had cried out “my wife, my children.” Not only did Kolbe outlast everyone in the starvation cell where he led prayers until the end, but when the Nazis finally killed him with a needle to the heart he is said to have raised his left hand in defiance and final surrender.

There was a room filled with locks of hair from perhaps forty thousand people. The hair was sent back to Germany to be used in textile factories. This was the only time I wept at Auschwitz. Each strand of hair was a flesh and blood human being with hopes, dreams and family, taken without care from the world. It was shortly after that when I asked my guide how long he had been doing tours at the camp. “Three years,” he answered “though I stopped for a short because it is difficult to spend every day telling of these things. But I came back because it is my mission that this story is never forgotten.”

Perhaps the most difficult place is the railroad landing where almost one million people arrived and to stand near where an SS doctor with the simple pointing of a finger left or right sent a person to work or to be immediately to the gas chamber. There are pictures of women and young children confused and frightened waiting in line. That any human being could be the person pointing that finger frightens me to the core or even more that thousands of guards carried out those orders. Yet I remembered how, even here, experienced prisoners assigned to unload the belongings would risk life to whisper to those arriving to tell them how old to say they were, knowing it would increase their chance to survive.

There is a story told by Elie Wiesel in his book Night about three people hung at the camp including a young boy who was well liked. Before they hung him, he spoke out in calm defiance. When the noose did not kill him quickly, one man said to Wiesel “where is God.” From inside himself Wiesel heard himself say “there is God hanging from the gallows.”

The Question I Left With—What Am I Not Standing Up To?

There are no clean and easy to digest lessons from a day at this place. But there are two things that stand out for me. Though over one million human beings were killed in that camp, human goodness could not be killed. Even amidst the cruelest of all conditions, people rose above to demonstrate courage, kindness and sacrifice. The Nazis tried to kill the goodness that exists in the world but they failed. And as Frankl noted if we can find humanity here then we know it exists.

Finally, I left with a question: What is happening in the world that I am not standing up to? When I arrived back in Warsaw, BBC was doing a story about Muslims in Syria who are trying to defy ISIS and the terrible torture many are now enduring. My friend Tom had written about an ethnic group in Burma being denied health care and basic rights (often the precursor to genocide) and new studies suggested the warming of the Earth is accelerating. Auschwitz is a reminder of the hope of humanity for a better world. The world finally did stand up to the Nazi’s but too late to spare the incredible pain and hardship endured in this place. But there is a chance for each of us to stand up right now to be counted in the noble quest for a world we know is possible.

Elie Wiesel wrote of his own witness to Auschwitz “the witness has forced himself to testify, he does not want his past to become their future.”

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Wells Fargo Just Closed Its Most Important Account

Wells Fargo bank just closed the most important account any company has—the trust account. Not only did they open accounts in customers’ names without their permission and charge them fees for accounts they never asked for, but have now fired over 5,000 employees who more or less did what the company was incentivizing them to do. The icing on the cake, if it turns out to be true, are news reports that they fired whistleblowers who used their internal ethics hotline to express concern about the practice. Their CEO even got a now viral tongue lashing in front of a Senate committee by Elizabeth Warren.

Trust is the Key to Engaging Employees

Surveys show that working for an ethical company is near the top of the list of things that matter to employees. And my friend Jim Kouzes has asked people around the world why they would follow a leader and everywhere they said that “honesty” is the most desired quality. What’s more, when you ask people how they know if they are working for a company with a purpose, the top factor is whether their products and services help customers. The bottom line is that trust is the most important asset a company has to attract, engage and retain talent.

Almost twenty years ago now, Synovus Bank was named by Fortune Magazine as the best company to work for in America. I visited with Jimmy Blanchard, their CEO at the time, and learned that one of their values was to “do the right thing.” On my first day there, a salesperson in their credit card processing division told me about a million-dollar contract he had discouraged a client of theirs from committing to just a week before. “They didn’t need our help so it was the right thing to do. I knew the company would back me up for doing what was right and they did.”

Many people may wonder how Wells Fargo got itself into such a mess. I mean from the outside it sounds so ridiculously stupid to open up accounts for customers without them knowing it. Well having worked with almost six hundred companies all over the world, I can take a pretty good guess how it all began. Somebody ran the numbers and calculated how much the bank would make if each customer had eight accounts. In bank parlance, they call that getting a bigger share of wallet. Almost every bank I have consulted with has a goal to get customers and clients to have more of their accounts with the bank.

Then they said “let’s incent employees to get to ‘eight.’” How we got from incent for new accounts to opening up accounts without people knowing, we don’t know yet. But the fact that they have fired 5,000 people indicates the practice became widespread. Having worked with so many  companies globally I can safely say that some pretty senior people knew what was going on. Whether they found out later or encouraged it, we have yet to find out.

Effective Leaders Drive Purpose not Numbers

The banks I’ve worked with may have had a goal to get a bigger share of a customer’s accounts but they focused on adding value to those clients. Never once have I heard an executive say “open accounts even if the customer doesn’t need them (let alone ask for them).” Something went terribly wrong at Wells Fargo and like all ethical slips there is a good chance it began a long time ago. Ethics are like that—one little lie leads to bigger lies and so on. The best way for a company to demonstrate trustworthiness is to be trustworthy. Even the smallest action that is encouraged or tolerated by leaders that isn’t good for customers or clients is the beginning of trouble.

What Wells Fargo Should Do Now?

So what should Wells Fargo do now? Well the CEO, assuming he was not aware of it, needs to clean house starting at the top. If he did know, he must step aside right now giving the board a chance to act. Instead of starting by firing thousands of front line team members, find out the highest ranking people who knew about this or tolerated it, and send them off. If whistleblowers really were fired, then heads must truly roll. He must reiterate the company’s commitment to integrity. Get uber transparent sans corporate speak with the employees. Rebuilding trust begins there. The customers won’t trust if the employees don’t. Then go back to basics, there is a pretty good chance there is something foundational in the culture of the bank that needs fixing.

Warren Buffet once said “it takes years to build a reputation and only five minutes to ruin it.” He has been silent so far on the scandal even though his company has a ten percent stake in the bank, but it looks like they should have read the quote a little earlier. I always tell my clients that when it comes to trust you can take the elevator down but you have to take the stairs up. Whatever small profit gain Wells Fargo made from the eight account program it will be undone multiples of times in the years to come. This is what happens when you close your most important account.

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Employee Engagement is Driven by Purpose

Purpose at work has become a hot topic in leadership circles these days. Although employees are clearly rating purpose more highly as something they want from work, the reality is that employee engagement and commitment have always been connected to purpose. When I wrote my book Awakening Corporate Soul in 1994 we asked 3,000 people about their most engaged times at work. Many people talked about times when they felt they were being of service. By the time we wrote Values Shift (2000), having a noble purpose had emerged as one of the six top emerging expectations of workers.

What Leaders Need to Know about Engaged Employees

The real question leaders need to think about is how engaged employees define and connect to purpose. Saying that people want purpose is one thing but understanding how to help them find it day in and day out is what matters. What we have discovered through years of research on purpose and experience advising hundreds of companies, is that purpose really comes down to three simple questions:

1. Do I believe in the product or service?

The first driver of purpose is whether your people believe that the products and services your company provides truly help your clients and customers. Deloitte did a large study on how employees define purpose in 2014 and this was the #1 factor. Leaders often forget that the most basic driver of purpose is the work itself.

Are the cars we produce safe? Do we really care about our customers well being or just about making money? Do leaders regularly communicate the purpose of our services/products?  For example, at Qantas Airlines, where we have worked extensively, their absolute commitment to safety gives a deep sense of purpose for their team members at all levels.

So how do leaders drive that purpose? Regularly talk about how your services make a difference for real people. Bring in customers and clients to talk about how your products make a difference. Focus on customer satisfaction metrics as an end itself, not just a business driver.

2. Can I live my values in this workplace?

Leaders often think that purpose comes from lofty company values and these do matter, but research shows that a more important driver of purpose is whether workers feel they can live their values in your workplace. That is why it is so important for companies to know what the values are of their workers.

When TELUS created their core company values over a decade ago they went out and asked thousands of employees about their values. The four core values came from the bottom up. At Ford Motor Company, they are currently asking thousands of team members to tell how they feel they are contributing to sustainability and making the world better in their job. That is, they are helping people to claim their own values at work. Our job as leaders is to unearth the purpose people already have.

3. Do I see purpose in my job?

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make in driving purpose is forgetting that people have to be connected to purpose in their daily job. Having a company with a lofty purpose is nice. But it is when people can feel personally connected to that purpose when the magic happens. I call this hands-on purpose.

Get people involved in your green and do good efforts. For example, TELUS has discovered that over the last decade employees getting excited by company donations has declined, while engagement from getting to volunteer has gone up. CN Rail found that employees really got interested in their sustainability efforts when the company asked people to sign up as a sustainability champion in each rail yard.

Another key is to get people to identify the higher purpose of their own job. Get people to write a purpose statement: here is how I find meaning in my job. Research shows that when people see a calling in their job they truly engage, and the best people to uncover that calling are the team members themselves.

Leading purpose requires leaders to pay attention to the things that truly drive a sense of purpose in teams. The more we focus on helping people get line of sight to answer these three questions, the more engagement will grow.

 

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