In choosing which of my early posts to discuss in this week’s edition of Saturday Rewind, I was influenced by two things – one, Trevor Gay’s mantra of “Simplicity“, and two, John Moore’s manifesto on “Change This” regarding the Starbucks “Tribal Knowledge” he learned as an (now former) employee. In thinking about these things I came to this basic statement: “When everything matters the “simple things” become critical to success”. Here is an illustration of that from my own leadership perspective:
March 4, 2006
Leadership Simplified
I had an experience this week while in Montana that really hammered home the sometimes utter simplicity of effective leadership. A local employee pulled me aside to tell me about the local general manager and why that person was better than the two previous managers that had been there before (we’ve had three in three years unfortunately). Two things – honesty and caring. He really appreciated this person’s “no BS” approach and more importantly, knew that what he had was a leader who cared about their welfare. What was the tipoff? How simple was this – before the days work in the field the leader would always tell them to “be safe”. That struck this employee more than any other instruction, more than any other laundry list of exhortations. It certainly reminded me that it always boils down to those little things that separate good leaders from bad. A valuable lesson indeed.
One of the mantras of Starbucks, noted Mr. Moore, is “EVERYTHING matters”. In the case noted above, part of that everything was a basic concern for employee welfare. The simplicity was the elegance and ongoing message of two little words – “be safe”.
I know being a “big picture” leader sometimes implies that these details become less important to the broader scope of a company strategy, but I don’t think these terms are incompatable. I’d rather believe that having the benefit of the “big picture” means that a leader is MORE aware that everything matters, particularly within the context of employee and customer satisfaction. The simplicity comes into play when “shrinking” that broad brush of detail into digestable principles (like “be safe”).
All in all, a good leadership lesson to re-think, and thanks to Trevor and John for the inspiration.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Terry – you are so right.
The best leaders I have worked for; those I have met; and those I have interviewed, ALWAYS care for their people more than they care for the process. They make it their business to make us feel good. They worry about the ’small’ stuff.
We do not have to have the IQ of Einstein to work out that if we are nice to people then they are likely to nice to us.
Simplicity rules my friend
Aloha Terry, this is excellent! Your “basic statement” is a keeper, for you are absolutely right – the concepts of keeping focus on the simple basics within the big picture view are not incompatible at all.
Quite a terrific Saturday Rewind; well done. You know, on most blogs the weekends are about resting. On yours, they have become about renewing. You are creating quite a habit with me in my stopping by each Sunday for the gems!
Rosa
Hi Terry. Trevor told me about your blog. I think simplicity is something you have to keep in mind at any moment if you are leading any project. I find simplicity as the perfect example of well understanding and mastery.
Trevor, Rosa, and Felix, thank you for your comments (and I apologize about the delay in responding). You are right about simplicity, Trevor and Felix, and Rosa, you are too kind with your comments. I really like looking back on my earlier posts, and I like the “renewal” aspect you mentioned. Thanks again!