Was a bit tired yesterday getting on a late plane from Denver to Raleigh. Knew I wasn’t up for work and knew I shouldn’t sleep as I would not be able to sleep once I got home at midnight..went to the bookstore for something light. Found Driving Mister Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry and Baseball’s Greatest Gift. It fit the bill perfectly but there is more to it than an entertaining read. (For Yankee fans this is a must read). It has a few lessons on life and leadership I want to share with you.

First, the history. Yogi Berra played for the Yankees as catcher. Winning 10, YES TEN, World Series rings. He was also a 3-time league MVP. He went on to manage a few teams and was fired by George Steinbrenner prompting a falling out between the two men that caused Yogi to never set foot in Yankee stadium for fourteen years. Now that is a man of principle. Steinbrenner, The Boss, was no shrinking violet but he allowed himself to be talked into flying to NY from FL just to see Yogi and to ask forgiveness for the poor way his firing was handled. Both men took  advantage of the opportunity and reconciled. How many times do people take a grudge to their grave or let it eat them up and let it push them into the grave? Great lesson there. Saying I am sorry and accepting it when someone one says it to you.

When Yogi came back he started going to Spring Training. Evidently a number of old-timers do that to help out. Yogi loved it and he quickly found his voice as a mentor to some of the best in Yankee history. They revered him, his experience, and his wisdom.  They listened and learned. He gave them a sense of history too as he regaled them with stories of his Yankees. When Jeter won his fifth world series title Yogi reminded him that was half-way there. The lessons on mentoring and history are on every page and we would all do well to learn them. The Marines do a great job with legacy. We celebrate our birthday every November 11. How can your firm capitalize on the corporate knowledge of those about to retire, or even those who are retired. They have been there and done that and they see things and can offer insights. Why put them out to pasture?

Finally, the book is about friendship. In this case the one that bloomed between Ron Guidry and Yogi Berra when Yogi returned. They knew each other before but somehow they came to be best friends. A generation apart but sharing values on life and respect for the game. Their unique give and take and good-natured ribbing is the stuff locker rooms and relationships are made of. We recognize the importance of creating these opportunities for connection at one of the corporate universities I support. The meals are as important as the content as they allow people to connect and build those cross company relationships that provide cohesion and strength for the company. I always enjoy seeing classmates sitting together at larger corporate meetings years later as I know they have been in touch and are connecting.

The book gave me alot more than I was looking for or expecting. I guess  alot like Yogi. Grace, Committment, Mentoring, Excellence, Generational Dynamics, Tradition, Winning and Friendship. Not bad for a “light” read.

Easter Sunday….I had a bet with myself that this Sunday would be like many of the past Easter services at our church. The young man playing trumpet as the choir enters from the back of the church, etc, etc, etc. Now, Let’s be clear. This isn’t an anti-religion nor an anti-tradition rant..It IS an anti-staleness rant. It was cute when the lad was in Middle School..now, not so much..in fact, he looked disinterested and bored. Well, I would have won/lost the bet as today was like years past. YAWN…

Now, let’s talk about your annual meeting. I participated in threee of them in the past two weeks. All were cited by attendees to be among the best ever. In the first case, we prepared and rehearsed and made sure everybody who presented was excellent. We also built some follow-up tools and commitments right into the meeting which gave people a sense that this wasn’t just a pep rally.

In the second one the CEO, to the surprise of all, rode in on a Harley and talked about revving up safety focus. (it actually was pretty cool..) even more so when he said if they go without a lost time incident in the coming year someone will get a Harley, or similar incentive. NOW, THAT got attention. But they also had different speakers and added a healthy does of interaction to include one of our very popular workshops. It was different and that helped to make it good.  Third meeting, new content, new speakers, outstanding delivery, etc etc.

DON’T sound the trumpet….When your mind hears and sees the same thing too many times it has a harder time hearing and seeing it. In fact, your mind, out of boredom, may start to wander.

Variety matters in our message delivery and it is up to you as a leader to make sure you are getting heard. Maybe you need to try something different. Next time, get rid of the trumpet and let’s go with drums…

Got this from an attendee at a session today.

OK, think fast…there is situation on a job site at work and you need to call in some support. Maybe you cant get there and you need someone to fight the fire or maybe you are on site and need some reinforcements. Who do you call? OK..crisis handled…….time goes by..another crisis, who do you call?

Many of you will answer the same person you called the first time. We all have that go to person. We need a person like that. The problem is when we never call someone else. Why? First off, the go to guy may be tired of being called although they will never tell you that. Second, and much more important, you aren’t doing much of a good job in developing people in your
organization if you never call anyone else.

One of the traits of best of class leaders is they develop new leaders. They dedicated time to growing and developing people and have a default approach in that they are always developing people when they can. Chapter Six of my first book, NO YELLING, is called Make New Leaders and we talk about this very point.

It reminds me of the time a great manager who worked for me asked me where I had been and I told her I was at a location that was having troubles. She knew the answer but asked why I never spent time with her. Of course, I didn’t have to, she was fine. But her point never left me. We need to take care of our good people too. I digress but you get the point from both examples.

So, who you gonna call?

What if I told you I found a way for you to save $3.27 for every dollar you invest in this area? Any business person would be hard pressed to pass on a 3 to 1 payback. But it gets done everyday.

You know the cliche, people are our most important asset. Then why isn’t more being done to help them on the wellness front?

Harvard researchers found that for every dollar invested medical costs go down by $3.27. Sign me up…

And we aren’t talking about installing a gym, although that might be nice, just get moving. Get the team to walk around the block for ten minutes a few times a day. Go ahead and encourage gym membership. Allow time for peopel to get fit. Bring healthy food in along with the donuts. Do something. Lead them, set the example.

A few times a year I do a corporate university with a client. We added morning activities which is either a run or a walk of 2 miles. Sadly, there are people who cannot walk a mile. Wactching them stretch and do jumping jacks is downright scary.

Healthy people save you money on health care and are generally more productive because of higher energy and well-being.

I say again, we need not complete an office Ironman but we might start with a walk around the block. And it falls to you to lead people in that direction.

April? Already? Final Four is almost done, Easter is next week. Taxes to pay. Things to do. What better time to get started?

I had a hugely productive night in the office last night and have a healthy things to do list for today. And it feels great. Last week was an intense week with a great client but now I slow down to 2 days a week on the road for a few months. While this is good for my golf game it can also very good for my business as I can invest time in those capacity building and marketing activities that I know pay off in the long run.

I call these my dental floss kinds of actions. I know I am supposed to do it and I know it is good for me but I don’t always do it. I am sure you have some things like that too. Consider this a friendly reminder to floss today in whatever way works for you but get out of the routine and integrate some value activities that don’t always get done.

I am at a two-day company meeting with a client. There are a number of internal presenters of content. All of them are doing a good job because they went through a process where their content was reviewed, an initial presentation was critiqued and finally they got personal one-on-one coaching the day before the event. A Lot of effort? Yes! Worth it? I think so, and so do they.

These are not professional speakers but they learned how to present better in front of an audience. and like it or not, that is a skill worth having and working for in corporate America. It is true that we find better speakers to be more credible, intelligent, successful, etc etc…While we don’t as readily attribute such characteristics to poor speakers. The actual truth may be different but the perception is what matters here.

One of the single biggest things you can do to improve your visibility and promotability is to get better at speaking in public.  Rehearsals and coaching are a good start.

A little refresher here from the Great Place To Work Institute as reported in USA Today a few weeks ago..

Insurance provider Acuity has been ranked at the top of the medium-sized business list by the Great Place to Work Institute. The institute looks at factors that make up the best workplaces and recently released its first-ever list of multinational companies with the happiest employees. The top five slots went to Microsoft, software firm SAS, data management company NetApp, Google, and FedEx. The highest-ranking firms tended to share three traits: employee trust in management, pride in the company, and camaraderie with coworkers. When choosing the best multinational workplace, Great Place to Work examined applications from 350 firms with at least 5,000 employees worldwide and 40 percent of workers based outside their home country. Applicants also had to have made at least five of the group’s regional “best workplace” lists. Deciding factors included health benefits, employee turnover, use of flex time, and how companies maintained employee trust during rough times, such as the way they conducted layoffs. While pay helps with motivation, it has not been found to be a primary driver among employees. Workers often say that respectful treatment is more important than pay, as is work/life balance, type of work, quality of coworkers, and quality of leadership.

There you have it. Money matters but so does leadership and money without leadership actually doesn’t go very far.

Or any other place for that matter.

Just read this in the USA Today travel section.

According to two just-released surveys….the Hotwire.com discount travel site sent out findings from its “American Travel Behavior Survey” that found the average U.S. employee leaves 6.2 days of paid vacation days unused at year’s end. The survey of more than 2,000 adults was conducted online by Harris Interactive. And another online survey, conducted for the JetBlue airline in late September and reported by Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, found that about 57% of about 1,100 workers polled don’t use all vac days. That survey says the average days left on the table are a whopping 11 and that almost a third of employees are “too afraid to ask for vacation” in a time of high unemployment and job insecurity, according to theDaily Mail.
In a society where people are stressed and over committed on time vacation is an important thing. I know I dont take as much as I might. We do a full week once a year, at least, but I am hesitant to do more. I do a great job of finding time but as my wife points out, “you dont take days off, you take hours off.” Well, at least I do that!

What do you do and what are you doing to make sure your people take time? If they burn out they are of no use to you.

So what about you, readers?

Forrest Lucas, 70, gained national recognition (in name anyway) when his firm, Lucas Oil, became the sponsor of the Indianapolis Colts new football stadium. He went from long-haul trucker to oil company exec. No, not Exxon type, his is a research and retail operation that does maybe a few hundred million a year in revenue.

He recounts at age 21 he often got contracted by Mayflower moving and storage. He often moved succesful people. These were company presidents and senior military officers. I would study them, he says, and all the guys who made it to the top were nice people. So, it’s part of my philosophy to be nice. I dont have a single rude person working for me. Great lesson there. Leadership is a relationship and it is much easier to build a positive relationship if you are not a jerk. Today I am with a client and that very trait characterizes the people at all levels. They are gracious gentlemen who say please and thank-you, who hold the door for you and who go last on line for food. I like working with this client. (Do you run to the chow line first or do you go last?)

A few other pearls of wisdown from Lucas. Be honest to a fault, put your employees first, use products made in the US and be fair. Honesty and take care of people. Sounds like a few chapters from my books – and many others. Read any good leadership books lately?

Was just reading the Marine Corps Gazette. It is the professional journal for Marines. While the technology of the Corps has evolved since my time the principles of leadership endure.

J Doty and D Gerdes in their Military Review article  “Humility as a leadership attribute” from September 2000 maintain when authentic humility is applied to relationships, mutual trust develops and stirs an abiding sense of loyalty and authentic modesty – creating an environment to achieve great things

Writer J. M. Templeto states humility is not self-deprecation…humility represents wisdom.

Leaders across the country selected humility as one of the 26 words to lead by in my new A to Z series on leadership. Humility recognizes that people are more important than things. Leadership is all about people but too many leaders are too task oriented to get it.

Do you?