Issue No. 454 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting quotes the author of Ruthless Consistency: “What matters more than anything you do is everything you do.” And this reminder: click here for my May review of Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future.
Best 2020 Book Title: “Ruthless Consistency”
You’re the field goal kicker for your NFL team. It’s overtime and the score is tied 6-6. Which coach would you prefer to play for? Michael Canic (a former football coach) favors Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll:
“Surprisingly, each team’s kicker missed what should have been an ‘automatic’ game-winning field goal in overtime. After the game, when asked about his kicker’s performance, Phoenix coach Bruce Arians [now Tom Brady’s coach at Tampa Bay] responded bluntly, ‘Make it. This is professional; this ain’t high school. You get paid to make it.’
“And what did Seattle coach Pete Carroll say about his kicker? ‘He’s been making kicks for us for years. He’s gonna hit a lot of winners as we go down the road. I love him, and he’s our guy.’”
Michael Canic, the creative author of Ruthless Consistency, says that “constructive accountability and compassion are not mutually exclusive.” My suggestion: his five powerful principles for holding team members constructively accountable should be posted on every office wall (and visible during Zoom calls!). He urges all leaders and managers to change their mindsets: “You’re Not a Manager; You’re a Coach” (Chapter 11). He preaches, “Look in the mirror, Coach. It starts with you.”
If you’re looking for fresh insights and memorable leadership lessons—wrapped around a comprehensive plan for building and enriching your organization—this is the book. I’ve named it my “Best Book Title” of 2020. And the subtitle to Ruthless Consistency is both practical and aspirational: “How Committed Leaders Execute Strategy, Implement Change, and Build Organizations That Win.”
Canic quotes Jim Collins: “The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.”
In his convicting chapter six, “Climb the Right Mountain,” Michael Canic warns that the wrong BHAG could destroy you. “When I was young and foolish,” he begins, “my buddy Ken and I decided to test our rock-climbing skills on Cascade Mountain in the Canadian Rockies. Having done almost no research, we arrived at the mountain, picked out a route that looked promising, and began to climb. Without ropes, of course.
“It was all going well. Until it wasn’t. The climbing got increasingly difficult, and we soon realized we were at the limit of our abilities—and our risk tolerance. Just one problem: We now had to downclimb. Hmmm, hadn’t planned for that.”
Spoiler Alert! The author survived—but he’s never forgotten the big lesson: not every dream is worth pursuing. Canic quotes Alfred Adler: “Follow your heart, but take your brains with you.”
Canic says that leaders must address the three Rs: Rewards, Risks, and Requirements. Canic lists four strategic positioning questions you must answer, including how your brand commitment addresses this: “What makes us desirably different?” (His word choice is stunning.)
Whew! Amazingly comprehensive for a 250-page treatment, Canic allocates his 20 short chapters across five major sections:
1) The Reality (“What matters more than anything you do is everything you do.”)
2) The Right Focus (“Stop Strategic Planning” and “Do Less, Use More Resources . . . No, Really”)
3) The Right Environment (“The Value of Feeling Valued”)
4) The Right Team (“Hire for What You’re Likely to Overlook”)
5) The Right Commitment (counter-intuitive wisdom on three enemies you must defeat)
Anytime I find a book that challenges my conventional thinking—I’m in. I was hooked by page two. “Strategic planning? It was a charade. A waste of time, money, and effort. And our experience wasn’t unique. Published failure rates for strategic planning range from 70 to 90 percent.” Yikes!
It gets worse on page three! “When SCIs [strategic change initiatives] fail, you create a track record of failure.
• You create an expectation of failure.
• You create an acceptance of failure.
• And you create a culture of failure.”
Then Canic clocks you with this jab: “Failure becomes the norm.”
In addition to the comprehensive insights on how to build and grow a healthy organization (from his years at FedEx, The Atlanta Consulting Group, and as a member of the Marshall Goldsmith’s global 100 Coaches project), Canic’s tasty morsels, snippets and bonus insights abound. Examples:
• How to leverage the “One Team Meeting” concept (page 44).
• The “Ruthless Consistency®” model chart (This overachiever delivers the goods on page 11, not waiting for my “Page 25 Take-Aways” rule-of-thumb.)
• The psychology of inconsistency and why “people are bloodhounds for inconsistency” (page 20).
• How he helped a region of the National Kidney Foundation answer the core question, “What business are we in?” with this “what we do” statement: “We help people pee.” (LOL on page 68).
Plus: Pop Quizzes, Feedback Questions, and a Delegation Chart!
• Two pop quizzes with 22 questions each—and this poke-in-the-ribs: “What do you think is a good score? Here’s a hint: What’s the title of the first chapter?” Answer: “What Matters More Than Anything You Do Is Everything You Do.” Idea: Highlight one question at your next 22 weekly staff meetings (pages 109 and 182).
• Big idea: 20-minute micro-training single-topic modules (page 126).
• The “One Thing Better” brilliant feedback question (page 166).
• The search for universal success traits (six traits) and the assessment, High Potential Trait Indicator (HPTI). (See pages 203-204.)
• And…another brilliant one-page chart, “4D Prioritization Process,” to enrich your core competencies in the Delegation Bucket (page 239).
I agree with the endorsement from Marshall Goldsmith (author of my 2013 book-of-the-year pick): “This is the ultimate guide to implementing real, positive, and lasting change in your organization.” I urge you to read Michael Canic’s book (or delegate the book to a team member)—and then highlight his wisdom at future staff meetings.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Ruthless Consistency: How Committed Leaders Execute Strategy, Implement Change, and Build Organizations That Win, by Michael Canic. (And thanks to the author for providing a review copy.)
EXTRA CREDIT! Read chapter 21, “The Five Coaching Conversations,” in It’s the Manager, from the Gallup team. (Read my July 2020 review.)
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) The author says “people are bloodhounds for inconsistency. The moment you say one thing but do another—boom!—they’re on it.” He describes a core value of “speed” at one organization, but it took accounting six weeks to send out staff expense reimbursements! OK, Team—candor will be rewarded. Describe one of our inconsistencies and how we could do one thing better.
2) Michael Canic says “rip the script” during job interviews—and lists five questions to jolt candidates out of their rehearsed answers. Example: “Describe the culture of a company in which you would be a poor fit. (Why would you be a poor fit?)” Why must we practice ruthless consistency when recruiting the right team members here?
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Mount Everest…or Mount Failure?
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
Speaking of mountain climbing and strategic plans (per the Strategy Bucket), I’m indebted to David Schmidt, friend and consulting colleague, for his insightful wisdom:
“Your strategic planning consultant/facilitator/volunteer
will use different tools to get you to the top of Mount Everest (a completed plan).
But it’s important to let your facilitator use his or her own tools!”
The “Rolling 3-Year Strategic Plan Placemat” (a one-page 11” x17” summary of a strategic plan) is adapted from Schmidt’s helpful model. David knows how to get clients to the top of Mount Everest! Click here to visit Wise Planning and click here for David’s white paper on “Embracing Redemptive Disruption.” He outlines three possible planning paths during this COVID marathon.
Reminder: every strategic planning model will have strengths and innovative nuances. Just pick one—and trust your guide! Failure will result when you inflict your planning tools on your experienced guide! Pick one:
[ ] Ruthless Consistency, Michael Canic, President & Chief Flag-Bearer at Making Strategy Happen®
[ ] Wise Planning, David Schmidt
[ ] Breakthrough: Unleashing the Power of a Proven Plan, by Randon A. Samelson
[ ] The Rolling 3-Year Strategic Plan Placemat
• Tool #14 of 22 tools in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson
• Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates and Tips from John Pearson, with commentary by Jason Pearson (2nd Edition, 2018)
For more resources in the Strategy Bucket, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Before you go public with your strategic plan, you’ll improve your odds for success (and not failure) by involving your outside communication specialist—early in the process. Check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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