Mon • Oct 27th, 2008 • by Tom Nees • Comments 4
Last week, in preparing those who serve at the Global Ministry Center of the Church of the Nazarene for financial belt-tightening, General Superintendent Jesse Middendorf recounted a family story from the Great Depression. In the 1920’s his grandfather was reduced to selling coal on the streets of St. Louis to support his family after the banks foreclosed on his income-producing properties.
Depression era stories remind us that our forbearers survived times at least as bad if not worse than the present. I’m told that even in the late ‘30’s during my childhood, my pastor father bagged and sold sawdust to spread on the floors of meat markets since the church he served in Butte, Montana could offer, with no guarantees, only $5.00 a week salary.
Listening to Middendorf’s story I was thinking about a book I’ve just read – “How Starbucks Saved My Life.” In the book Michael Gill, a once prosperous New York advertizing executive now in his mid-‘60’s, writes about messing up his personal life, losing his job as well as his family, living alone in a one room apartment and needing treatment for a brain tumor without health insurance and no income.
One day with no place to turn, he stopped for coffee at a Starbucks in Manhattan. A young African-American women recruiting for Starbucks approached him with a question – “Would you like a job?” The question and the prospect startled him. But he took the job and she became his boss. He learned to work with and be hospitable to people he had spent most of life avoiding.
The sub-title for the book is, “A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else.” What would leaders be like if they had to live like everyone else? Few, if any of us who live above the poverty line have ever known real want.
Gill, an Ivy League graduate who once had a six figure salary, was terrified when out of his element. Starbucks “partners” younger than his children taught him to scrub toilets, mop floors, and brew coffee for modest wages. Through it all he found a better way of living and leading.
He eventually transferred to a coffee shop close to where he lives. The Starbucks “partners” and “guests” who helped him find his way, offered him a farewell prayer since in their words, “you have taught us never to give up our dreams.”
Hardship stories teach us that being reduced to selling coal, bagging sawdust or even working at Starbucks would not necessarily be the end of the world.
Mon • Oct 20th, 2008 • by Tom Nees • Comments 7
For leaders, whose challenge it is to project confidence in the face of uncertainty and maintain morale when making personnel cuts, during this financial crisis doing without may be more symbolic than necessary.
A judicatory leader and friend of mine decided not to attend a national conference of his peers, not because he couldn’t afford it but because he wanted to demonstrate solidarity with many of his pastors and churches which have had to lay of staff members, can’t afford health insurance and have fallen behind on mortgage and rent payments.
He said it would send the wrong signal to travel across the country, stay in a nice hotel for a week, listen to inspiring speakers and enjoy the fellowship of his peers at organizational expense when those upon whose financial support he depends can not afford the same.
Since I attended the same conference he sure got me to thinking about my own priorities and the signals I send.
Most of us, personally and professionally, are learning to do without some things. With the high cost of fuel we may make fewer trips to the shopping mall. Given diminishing investments we might forego buying a new car or flat-screen TV. We may eat out less often. For half of the population in lower income brackets the choices are severe – sometimes food or rent, clothes or school books for the kids. Saving for the future is an unaffordable luxury.
Leaders face a unique challenge when their followers are facing tough times. Most of the organizations of which we’re either leaders or participants are being forced to down-size in order to insure future growth and development. Leaders are expected to be examples as well as experts – as the public reaction to lavish compensation for Wall Street executives has demonstrated.
Leadership privilege has been the common notion. A better office, more salary, travel perks are givens. In the ‘70’s Robert Greenleaf, a former AT&T executive wrote about the “servant as leader” as a challenge to leadership privilege.
Greenleaf was suggesting something more radical than that leaders should become servants. He observed that great leaders are known first as servants. His ideas continue to be advanced at the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership (www.greenleaf.org). A 25th anniversary edition of his writings is in Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness – with a foreword by Stephen Covey (www.stephencovey.com) and an afterword by Peter Senge (www.solonline.org/PeterSenge).
Max De Pree, former CEO of the Herman Miller office furniture manufacturer, has written similar ideas in Leading Without Power: Finding Hope in Serving Community. His work continues through the Max De Pree Center for Leadership (www.depree.org).
The current financial crisis may help leaders and organizations connect with and serve their constituents. And followers are likely to become more discriminating about the leaders and organizations they choose to support.
Tue • Oct 14th, 2008 • by Tom Nees • Comments 0
I was impatient, and maybe a little grumpy waiting for an officer in the local branch of the BB&T bank. Finally Carl McCrary – youthful and smiling – invited me to his office to begin the conversation before referring me to the officer I really needed to see.
He asked a few questions, took down some information and then began to inquire about my plans for the future. I was surprised to be talking with a total stranger about my hopes and dreams.
Carl gave me his business card which on the back has this –
My Commitment to You
Reliable: I am dependable and you can count on me
Responsive: I act quickly to help you with your needs
Empathetic: I listen to you and am sensitive to your feelings
Competent: I am equipped with skills and knowledge to help you
He was all of that, as was the officer who eventually finalized the transaction. Every BB&T bank officer has made the same commitment and has this commitment on the back of their business cards – a constant reminder of how they treat customers and one another.
Mr. McCrary went on to say that this commitment applies to internal relationships within the bank headquarters in North Carolina and throughout the branches in the Eastern States. Bank officers treat one another with the same sensitivity and expertise they extend to their customers. They learn this through the Leadership Development Program at BB&T University (http://bbt.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=18&cat=4). The bank’s mission is as much about people as it about money.
Leadership requires commitment to the best interests of others. Peers as well as followers look for leaders who care as much, or more, for those they serve than their own self-interest.
One more thing about Mr. McCrary – the smile. His associate said that no matter the situation he always has a smile on his face. I left with a commitment too – to live and serve with a smile.
Thu • Oct 9th, 2008 • by Tom Nees • Comments 9
In the last 24 hours I talked with two close friends, proven leaders faced with the necessity of eliminating jobs, laying off good people from important assignments because the current global financial crisis has spread to their organizations.
We cling to the hope that eventually the financials will turn around, that housing prices will increase, that the stock market advance, that governments and political leaders will find a way out. In the meantime leaders are faced with tough decisions.
The leaders I talked to are feeling the pain today. One said, “I know that it will be difficult if not impossible for some of these people to find jobs elsewhere.” They are not sure how their organizations will fare with limited staff resources.
What do leaders do when forced to down-size?
A few observations –
ü During these times leaders are forced to establish priorities and make tough decisions about program and staff reductions.
ü In tough times leaders learn how to lead through events and circumstances beyond their control.
ü Leadership is most important when there is no clear path to the future.
ü Leaders need the same kind of personal, emotional support and encouragement they would offer their followers.
Which makes me wonder where leaders go for help.
A leader I’ve been coaching is facing some very difficult decisions about the future of his organization – circumstances that could affect his personal family life as well. He left a message wanting to talk and asking for prayer.