Issue No. 175 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights the latest book from Patrick Lencioni. It’s tempting, already, to call it a Top-10 book for 2010. And this reminder, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.
Shedding 3 Fears
Jim Collins wrote an insightful foreword to the latest edition of Peter Drucker’s 608-page classic, Management. Collins said, “There are two ways to change the world: the pen (the use of ideas) and the sword (the use of power). Peter Drucker chose the pen, and thereby rewired the brains of thousands who carry the sword—and contributed as much to the triumph of the free world as any other individual.”
Another world changer with a potent pen is Patrick Lencioni. He too rewires our brains and, fortunately, does it by telling stories that don’t run 600 pages. His latest gift to leaders and managers is Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding the Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty.
Caution! Lest you think this book doesn’t relate to you, think again. In classic Lencioni story-telling style, this very, very humorous fable convicts, gives hope, challenges and offers memorable teachable moment stories. (Yes…I read the most poignant and funniest ones to my wife.)
So what’s with the “naked” part? Lencioni explains (after telling the story), “At its core, naked service boils down to the ability of a service provider to be vulnerable—to embrace uncommon levels of humility, selflessness, and transparency for the good of a client.”
He adds, “As obvious as that may sound, it is more difficult than it seems, because humility and selflessness and transparency often entail suffering. And suffering is not something most human beings, especially in our modern culture, understand or welcome.”
So what’s funny about that? Nothing. But read the book in a setting (you can do it in one sitting) where you can laugh out loud, because you will.
The main character is a consultant and the storyline delivers three unexpected side benefits. If you use consultants, you’ll immediately raise the expectations bar and never again settle for someone who fails the core values test (vulnerability). If you are a consultant or even consult informally on the side or in other departments, you’ll want to embrace the values. It’s simple, but sacrificial. If you’re a consultant wanna-be (and who isn’t?) you could create your own apprentice program and see if you dare integrate these values into your current life in the trenches.
Each of the three fears (like “Fear of Feeling Inferior”—and who doesn’t have that problem?) include powerful sub-points, like “Take a Bullet for the Client” and “Do the Dirty Work.” I don’t want to squander all of my Top-10 book picks for 2010 (it’s only March), but, wow…this one has gotta be on my list.
As we know, the power of the pen delivers the power of story and the power of story enables life-long learners to get it quickly—and right between the eyes. Read this book and let Lencioni rewire your brain. Then maybe God will help you rewire your heart. To order this book from Amazon, click on this title: Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding the Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty, by Patrick Lencioni.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) In applying the principles of “getting naked” (vulnerability) to a broader audience, Lencioni writes, “When we can demonstrate vulnerability to the people we live and work with, we build stronger relationships, affirm our trust in them, and inspire them to become more vulnerable themselves.” This makes so much sense—so why is it so hard?
2) Why do you think Lencioni, in 2010, wrote a business book about humility, selflessness, and transparency?
Reading Best Practices - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
One of the big ideas in the Systems Bucket, Chapter 18, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to search out best practices. So what’s your system in reading—and learning from—books?
At your next staff meeting, challenge several people to create a book reading “system” at your shop. It might start by pooling together the Top-20 books your team has read and recommended in the last 12 months. Put them on your resource shelf and build a “Leaders Are Readers” DNA into your culture. Use hoopla! to celebrate not just the reading of books, but the learning from books.
And this reminder: delegate your reading. If you have four direct reports, each person would need to read and report on just one book a month and your team will have digested 45 to 50 books a year.
For more ideas on the Systems Bucket, or the Book Bucket, visit the Management Buckets website.
I'm impressed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that's equally educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you have hit the nqil on the head. The issue is something which too feww men and women are speaking intlligently about. I'm very happy I found this in my hunt for something concerning this.
Posted by: http://www.tabouretdebarpascher.info/ | November 24, 2013 at 03:40 PM