YOUR Company Story Can Change The World

WHAT’S WRONG WITH BUSINESS TODAY?

Are you as angry as am I about the perceived state of ethics in American business today? Almost every day on the front page or three of the Wall Street Journal there is an article about corporate wrong-doing, and the efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the US Congress to do something about it. Usually it focuses on regulations, enforcement and punishment. And who can blame the government policy wonks? It makes for great sound bites:. “Yes! We’re sending CEOs to jail! And they’ll lose all of their chateaux in Aspen, their plush private jets and swanky yachts.” Sounds good, right?

The fact is, there have been some egregious behaviors going on with some of our bigger companies. So government and the press have gone after them. Good. Unfortunately some of this mud is sticking to every company out there, and most of us don’t deserve it. So whom can we blame?

We could start by assigning blame to the press’s favorite scapegoats, like over-paid CEOs, unethical corporate attorneys and greedy financiers. Are they guilty? Sure. But the majority are not greedy, overpaid and unethical. And, there are more people to blame (and we’ll make the list short): every darned person who works in every darned organization anywhere. And their stockholders who demand 20% return every quarter.

Ouch. Chances are that means you. We know it means us. Now stay with us…

CULTURAL DEMANDS

What brings out the ethical best in business units is individual responsibility and the stories that result. When employees and bosses work in such a way as to cause there to be frequent stories told of high ethical behavior, the corporate culture ends up demanding that behavior at every level. Ethical behaviors, retold as stories in corporate cultures, beget more ethical behaviors. Slick behaviors, retold as successful edge-pushing scams, beget more ethically marginal behaviors. It’s that simple.

A few examples we know intimately. One food product manufacturer had a contaminant in their product that was within the accepted limits of the Food & Drug Administration. Did they let it slide? No, Regardless of government standards, they found it unacceptable for their own standards. In spite of the fact that it was a VERY difficult contaminant to trace to its source, they didn’t give up. They found and eliminated it. That story is told around the company as one illustrating what they mean by quality. The story: “our quality standards are greater than are required by the FDA.”

We worked with another company that issued a recall because of a product packaging issue. Again, the recall was not required by the FDA, the package was labeled in such a way as to excuse the defect, and the recall was resisted by the manufacturer and other companies using the same packaging product. Our client issued the recall to their customers at their expense — and took the hit in the press for having a defective product. Because it was the right thing to do. That story is told and retold within the company. Must be nice to be in a position to make those decisions, right? 

ANSWER TO THE QUIZ:

The right answer? We need to choose to behave in a way that great stories can be told. Culture- creating stories. Stories that impress the people who hear them. Stories that you’d love to tell your grandparents and grandchildren. Stories that demonstrate you taking radical responsibility to make a positive difference in the world around you.

Sounds simple, yes? Let’s face it, it’s easy when it hits the fan to whine and complain about it. More difficult to ask someone to fix it. Even more difficult to think about what you’re going to do about it. Most difficult to actually choose to do something about it. Especially when it hurts in the short run. But it’s these levels of responsible activism that create the best culture-creating stories. 

DO SOMETHING?

The people who blew the whistle on accounting wrongdoing at Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and other organizations took this to a high level. They weren’t content to sit around and watch people do what they knew was wrong. At the end of the day they didn’t say, “Gosharoo, somebody should do something about this!” And then go home and watch television. They took their case to people — both inside and outside of the organization — who could do something about it. Until they found someone who finally DID something about it. 

And what was the cost? Well the Enron collapse caused a measurable portion of the wealth of the United States to evaporate, pension fund values dissolved, and trust in auditing firms suffered. Plus, three noted “whistle blowers” earned Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” distinction at the end of 2002.

But that’s not the point. The point is that things shouldn't have gotten that far. Did somebody know there were improprieties happening? Of course. Why didn’t anybody do anything about it? Who knows. I’m sure they had their good reasons. But what if more people had said to themselves, “this isn’t right. So what am I going to do about it?” Let’s face it. The second we have to start teaching people about ethics, the company is screwed. It’s not about people understanding what is or what is not allowed, it’s about people doing what they know is right and standing up against what is wrong. Many people do take this responsibility… but it requires vigilance for our own laziness… our own “stay below the radar screen” behaviors… our own desire to only bring good news to the shareholders, the board, our bosses. 

IT’S UP TO US TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Cultures are nothing more than the behaviors that a group of people follow on a regular basis. What most determines these culture-creating behaviors are the stories that people tell about what creates inclusion, and what creates exclusion from that culture. You are in control of the stories you create. You are in control of the stories you tell. Therefore, you are in control of creating the culture around you.

At the end of the day, the only thing that we have any control over is our actions and what we think/say. Thinking out-loud is storytelling. Henry Ford said, “If you think you can or think you cannot, you’re right.” Now Henry didn’t do everything right either. And neither will any of us. But he created a can-do culture by thinking out-loud: “We can do this!”

THE HEADACHE OF TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Like McNeil Consumer Products (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) who handled the Extra-Strength Tylenol?capsule cyanide tampering case in the early 1980s in such an exemplary (and rare) way. Rather than cover it up, or ignore it, or blame it on suppliers or employees or the bogeyman, they took responsibility. They advised consumers not to use any Tylenol product until the issue was solved while they removed over 30 million bottles nation-wide from the shelf (and took a $100 million charge against earnings). 

In the Tylenol case, someone took radical responsibility and others followed. During the Tylenol cyanide scare, with the name and reputation of J&J at stake, company managers and employees made conscious decisions that were inspired by the philosophy and values embodied in the company’s Credo (i.e. “dominant cultural story”) and likely their own values. They explored their values, had some discussions and then said, “This is what we have to do. This is what’s right.” No matter what the cost. And they slept better at night. And lives may or may not have been saved. But an example for the world and a higher bar for corporate responsibility was set. 

HOW DO YOU DO THAT?

So here are some simple things to help with the complex task of taking radical responsibility for your actions and thoughts so you create the stories a winning organization needs:

1. Ask questions. The average child asks 300 questions a day. The average adult asks (drum-roll please) six. Seek to really understand what’s happening and why it’s happening. Work to understand the costs and benefits of your actions and inactions. Know how you can influence what’s happening around you. Until you fully understand what’s happening, you can’t do the right thing for you, your company, or your family.
2. Learn how to focus your concentration The single most helpful thing you can do to improve your world is to control your thoughts about how you see the world. If you see the world as out of your hands, you’re right. If you know that you can do something about it, and focus on how to make it happen and let go of the thoughts that get in your way, you’ll change your world. Practice focusing your concentration every day. Here’s how: spend at least five minutes every day focusing on something simple (a sound, a word, a simple image, your feet touching the floor) and when you notice your mind wandering (and it will wander), bring yourself back. Every time you bring yourself back, you develop the muscle that controls your attention. So that you can consciously choose your reaction to what happens around you.
3. Understand that how you react to the world determines your experience. Stress isn’t caused by what happens to you, stress is caused by your experience of what happens to you. Ever wonder why two people can walk away from the same serious accidents and one can go on to live an extraordinary life and the other person can spend the rest of their life scared? One person chose to see it as a new lease on life… found time… an opportunity to start over, while the other person chose to see the message, “Life is dangerous. Be careful.” Are they both right? Watch how you choose to interpret what happens around you.
4. Pay attention to your language. Our language is a powerful determinant of how we act. For instance, we often say “He makes me angry.” Not true. But if I say that to myself, I’ll act based on what I’ve said. I’ll blame and attack the person who made me angry. But, if I acknowledge that my anger is my choice, I’m much more likely to respond constructively. Any language that puts responsibility on another person for creating our experience of the world is dangerous. It creates stories that make us weak. And that’s no way for a world-changing leader to be.
5. Take responsibility for your speaking. Just yesterday I found myself saying to a partner (in a not very polite, quiet or pleasant tone), “You’re not listening to me!” Which truly is bull s**t. The partner WAS in fact listening. How else would they have heard what I said and misinterpreted it? What is required is a change in our attitude about listening and speaking. Rather than blurting out what there is to say, we need to make sure that what we say is clear so that the other person understands it as we intend (checking to make sure that we spoke clearly is always a good idea). If we’re not understood properly, we need to take on the responsibility to communicate until we are. Rather than delicately shrieking, “You’re not listening,” We should be shouting (internally), “I need to say it better!”
6. Start asking, “So what are you going to do about it?” This is a question you can ask others and also yourself. Whenever you hear whining, complaining, or bellyaching, listen politely so that they (or you) can vent, and then ask curiously, “So what are you going to do about it?” You can ask this question in several ways for added depth: “so what ARE you going to do about it?” “So WHAT are you going to do about it?” “So what are YOU going to do about it?” “So what are you going to DO about it?” Venting is fine. But it accomplishes nothing to change a situation. That’s why it’s important to take the next step and DO something about it.

SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Forget ethics classes. Don’t worry about the SEC. Congress isn’t going to fix this. In a perfect world, we’d all do these things all the time. We’d start asking ourselves the question, “What might be all the things I can do to fix the situation.” And then we’d start doing them. Of course when we’re up to our navel in alligators, that’s difficult to do. But the more you and I can get into the habit, and practice it on little things (nobody’s made coffee? Don’t spend energy complaining, make coffee!) or on the big things (my partners aren’t communicating with me? Guess I’ll have to start communicating with them), the more likely we are to get it right when it really counts. 

And you and I won’t get it right always. But the more we try for “always,” the closer we get to “often.” Which brings us to Mahatma Gandhi who said, “You must first be the change you wish to see in the world.” Notice that he didn’t say “Someone else must do something and if you like it maybe you could possibly do something similar.” Nope. He said YOU must first BE the change. Don’t talk about it, BE it.

In other words it’s up to you to start looking for where you can straighten out your company, your life, your world. Then tell us your story. We’ll listen. We may even re-tell it. Together then, we’ll change a culture! So… what are you going to do about it?

----

Jake is Partner at New & Improved spending his time facilitating, training and producing much of our virtual learning content.

As a strategic thinker who has trained in the art of public speaking since his childhood, he holds a special panache for sparking energy in crowds and creating a space to facilitate the development of ideas.

When not hacking the gator brain, Jake can be found snowboarding, rock climbing, diving, and developing an ever-widening and incredibly diverse array of skills. He is a polymath.