My 2022 Challenge for You: Don’t just exist, Choose to Endure
This past week I was supposed to write. I was supposed to plan for the new year. I was supposed to prepare. I had an entire list of things that I needed to do before our first client engagement in early January. Over the past two months, our little experiment called Crescent Leadership got it wings. I’m still standing on the ground trying to spontaneously learn to fly. There’s an app for that, right? But instead of doing all the things that I needed to do to be ready to hit the ground running on January 1, I cleaned. I organized every closet and drawer in the house. I alphabetized my library. I shredded, filed, and recycled an entire year of documents that had been hiding in a bin beneath my desk. I purged broken toys and donated clothes and stored away keepsakes. I cleared my head of the chaos in the house, to free it up for our work ahead in 2022. As I foraged through old paperwork, I found a “plan” that I had typed on January 21, 2021.
The top of the page read:
January 21 to February 1: Prepare.
February 1: Give Notice.
February 2 to March 12: Work Notice.
March 12 to September 30: Window to Change Life.
I had forgotten about this “plan.” I forgot how I felt in the moments that lead up to writing it. In a heartbeat, all those feelings came rushing back. All at once, I felt the excitement of knowing that I was ready to build something of my own. I felt the confidence of knowing it was the right thing to do if I desired to make a lasting impact in this world. I felt the fear—crushing, indescribable, nauseating fear—that I was about to take the biggest risk of my life. Seriously. My grand plan consisted of four steps—prepare, give notice, work notice, change life. Clearly, this was an ambiguous plan.
I snort-laughed a bit (as I do) when I remember the meaning behind step one: Prepare. I gave myself 10 days to talk myself out of it. I am a peculiar combination of head and heart. When I wake up each morning, I’m not sure which is going to take the lead. Most people tell me I overthink. I can’t count the number of times someone has said to me, “Don’t over-engineer this, Jes.” But those who know me best say I lead with my heart, sometimes to a fault. After January 21, I never looked back. I just kept pushing forward. In six short weeks, my five-year plan became my right-now plan. My heart was in control of this one, and my head was chasing behind doing its thing—shaping, creating, organizing, forecasting, and quietly pleading, “slow the hell down!”
All of a sudden my consulting side hustle became a formal business, and my role as a professional Leadership Consultant and team leader shifted from being directed, to me calling the shots. For the first time in my professional career, I could choose to work with like-minded Leaders who share my leadership and organizational growth philosophies. These Leaders are risk-taking Rockstars. I’m not talking about the kind of risk-taking that typically gets air time. They are not betting it all on some new innovation, or completely upending their business model, or bringing in edgy, new talent to shake up the internal dynamic. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. They are taking the risk to build enduring organizations. They are systematically untangling their internal challenges and rebuilding their organizations on a strong foundation of Trust, Parity, Vitality, and Purpose. Why is that a risk? It’s a risk because there is little to no immediate return. Building an enduring organization takes time, patience, and commitment to an ambiguous, frustrating process. It means changing the way we think about growth and results.
Companies have become paralyzed by the results they want or need to achieve—increasing sales revenue, new customer acquisition, higher net profit, less customer attrition. When executives fail to meaningfully focus on the actions and behaviors necessary to achieve those results, the need to “hit the goal” becomes the driving force behind decision-making. No other case study more succinctly illustrates this outcome than the Wells Fargo fake account scandal. In a 2020 press release, the US Department of Justice detailed the egregious actions by the company over a fourteen-year period. In order to meet sales expectations, employees used existing customers’ identities without their consent “to open checking and savings, debit card, credit card, bill pay, and global remittance accounts.” The internal environment devolved into a culture of fear as managers pressured employees to achieve unrealistic cross-sell goals and performance metrics. “This case illustrates a complete failure of leadership at multiple levels within the bank,” Nick Hanna, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “Wells Fargo traded its hard-earned reputation for short-term profits, and harmed untold numbers of customers along the way.” The company was forced to pay $3 billion to resolve its criminal action, but the broken internal culture, external perception, and shattered customer trust will be far more costly.
Do something for me. Take a break from reading this article and look at your organization’s current strategic plan. Read the top-line strategies. If any include language to increase or reduce percentages, numbers, or dollars, your team will be hard-pressed to achieve them. When the results become the strategy, the organization devolves. Your strategies should guide the team on what it takes to achieve the results, not the other way around.
If the past 18 months has taught us anything, it’s that, as Leaders, we cannot control market disruptions, the actions of our competitors, and existential crises. What can we control? We can control what happens inside our organizations. Former CEO Alan Mulally, known for leading one of the most brilliant turnarounds in business history, intuitively understood this when he took the helm of Ford. I remember watching him testify at the congressional hearing where he pledged to take an annual salary of $1 until he could turn the business around in the wake of a $14.6 billion company loss in 2008. Even in the midst of financial failure, he knew he had to focus on rebuilding the company from the inside. When he talks about what created the internal culture he says, "Ford had become a house of brands," listless and unfocused (Guzzetta, 2017). There was no trust or transparency throughout the organization, and top executives were more focused on self-preservation than fixing the broken organization. Mullaly set his sights keenly on untangling the toxic culture that had metastasized over many years. Through his painstaking focus on putting people first and building trust and connection, by 2010, Ford had experienced 16 consecutive quarters of profitability.
The case studies on Wells Fargo and Ford represent two perspectives on organizational growth. One focuses on achieving the goal, regardless of how the goal is achieved. In the Wells Fargo case, the result drove the behavior. Ultimately, it only resulted in short-term, unsustainable gains, and a catastrophic brand crisis. The other focuses on conscientious culture building, knowing that the results will follow. In the Ford case, the behavior drove the result. A few weeks ago, I introduced you to the Leader-First™ Enduring Organization model. In the context of these divergent cases, I want to revisit the model here to reinforce the efficacy of the latter.
When the Leader is steady, empowers her team to take risks, and personally leads courageously, she reinforces the Trust Culture and untangles the culture of fear. As a result, the team takes risks, innovates, and performs at its highest level.
When the leader demonstrates gratitude and personal commitment to holistic wellness, she reinforces the Vitality Culture and untangles the culture of fatigue. As a result, her team is productive and engaged.
When a Leader is inclusive and self-aware, she reinforces the Culture of Parity and untangles the culture of isolation. As a result, her team collaborates and is more connected.
When a Leader is virtuous and committed to her own personal growth, she reinforces a Culture of Purpose and untangles the culture of apathy. As a result, her team is committed and motivated.
Keeping in mind the four culture elements, my 2022 challenge to you is this. No matter how ambiguous the plan may seem, or how scary the risk may feel, choose to endure, not just exist. Make the investment, take the time, and embrace the risk of building an enduring organization that not only withstands external threats but thrives in spite of them.
Happy New Year Friends. We’ll see you in 2022!
Jes, and the Crescent Leadership Team
Guzzetta, M. (2017). The 4 Keys to One of the Biggest Turnarounds in Business History. https://www.inc.com/marli-guzzetta/how-alan-mulally-turned-ford-around-inc5000.html.
The US Department of Justice (2020). https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wells-fargo-agrees-pay-3-billion-resolve-criminal-and-civil-investigations-sales-practices
