David Novak is the Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands. Yum is the parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC.

In his new book Taking People With You: The Only Way to Make BIG Things Happen Novak tells us the driving force behind company succcess is its emphasis on developing people.

He states the single biggest thing I can imagine is that we continue to build the top people capability in our industry. If you get that right, you satisfy more customers, and make more money. We make upgrading that capability our highest priority. Show me a great restaurant and I’ll show you a great leader.

There is no doubt he is sincere in this statement in an industry not known for glitz and glamour. We all remember the bad fast food experience but I think there are as many good ones. It is easy to find fault with what he says as we point out people who are not great at leading and developing people. Every organization faces this challenge, so does yours.

You dont have a chance of creating a great culture with great leaders if you dont make it job one. Leaders make new leaders. It is in their DNA, if it isn’t there, they put it there. (what’s in your genes?)

Goldman Sachs and now American Airlines….check out the rants on the web.

What a great time of year! Bonus time. If you are in a firm or position that does them it can be like Christmas. It can be disappointing too. But at least you get a conversation with your manager about what you got and why.

That is unless you are my friend Jared. He was noticeably agitated the other day at the gym and he proceeds to tell me that he figured out what his bonus was when he went to the ATM and had more money than expected. He looked a bit deeper and saw his direct deposit was larger, but not much larger, than normal. He put it together and realized it was bonus money.

The next day he talked with his manager. Oh yes, she protested. I was going to tell you, blah blah blah…I would add pathetic. Sends a great message about how important he it.

I am sure some of you have similar stories. Just don’t let them be about you.

Big day for ESPN yesterday and this AM…

Peyton Manning leaves the Colts and tears up at the press conference. Adrian Foster, an undrafted free agent two years ago, signs a 5 year $40mm contract with the Texans and cries as he thanks his Mom for the sacrifices she made so the family would be OK.

Grown men crying on TV? Go figure. Actually, just real people showing real emotion. Nothing wrong with that.

When is the last time you showed any emotion at work or are you too busy being “professional?” Be yourself, authenticity is what followers really admire.

Yup, 100 years ago the Oreo was born. Where would be without the Oreo? (OK, a few pounds lighter perhaps but that is not the issue here today!) This is a great occasion for an impromptu party at work. Heck, it is a good an excuse as any but what better way to inject some low-cost fun into the workplace.

The first of the iconic crème-filled cookies rolled out of Nabisco’s New York bakery and were sold to a Hoboken, NJ baker on March 6, 1912. Since then, they’ve expanded into over 100 countries,  most recently welcoming India, Poland and Germany.  And according to Oreo’s birthday press release, they’re the best selling cookie brand of the 21st century.

This post comes out early this AM…still plenty of time to get to the store and get a case or so of Oreos (Double Stuff are OK with me too) and milk (skim or 2%).

We all work hard, leaders should acknowledge that and a bit of celebration is a great way to do that.

Surfing the net and I come across an article entitled Leadership 101: How to be a successful leader. OK, I’m game. I do this for a living, let’ see what others are saying.

The article goes on to cite a survey In a Robert Half International survey, 76 percent of workers said they don’t want their manager’s job. Hmm, I thought we were talking about leadership? Now we mention manager….Let’s read on. While you might not covet your supervisor’s job, chances are you do want to move up the corporate ladder at some point in your career. Prepare yourself by starting to sharpen your leadership abilities. Now we have the word supervisor in the mix – umm, is that person a manager or a leader? and then the article goes on to say – Following are tips on successfully modeling the actions and habits of the best managers: WELL WHAT IS IT? ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT LEADERSHIP OR MANAGEMENT? ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT A PERSON OR A POSITION? A ROLE OR A RESONSIBILTY?

And herein lies the problem. While we generally toss the terms and concepts around somewhat interchangably Leadership and management are not synonyms. Let’s go back to Omaha Beach for a moment. Or to Juno Beach where the Canadians landed on D-Day. I have never read an account of the acts of managment that ocurred on the beach that morning.I have read about leadership. OK, maybe battle is too dramatic.

Consider John Kotter at Harvard who wrote that leaders set direction, align resources and motivate people. But managers plan, organize and control. Others will say leaderhip is about change for better results. Management is about consistency for better results. Tastes great, less filling. You get the point. There is a difference.

There is no doubt that the two must be intimate allies and not arch enemies as  once heard a speaker say. But for better understanding I think we must be more precise and not so lazy about the wording.

By the way here is what the article went on to say: Become a first-class communicator, listen better (umm, isn’t that part of communicating), have a strong moral compass, build a strong internal network, and be flexible.

Good advice for any human really. And yes, leaders and managers are well-served to do these things but where is the budgeting thing if we are talking about managing, for example? The article does itself, and you, a disservice by getting lazy about the wording.

Lanny and students on Omaha Beach

This picture is of NC State professor, Dr. Lanny Hass, on Omaha Beach. Lanny and I collaborate on several leadership programs and Normandy is one of our favorites, of course.

While Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, yields more leadership lessons than we could discuss in a week, let alone a day, you need not go to France to find something to talk about. Leaders Make New Leaders. In fact,that is what chapter 6 of No Yelling is all about. Click here to see more about that http://noyelling.net/make-new-leaders.html

The key thing is that you are looking for those teachable moments so you can use them to, umm, teach. From your daily interactions at work, to the history of the company, to the business press and front page of USA Today, to the history of your area there is plenty to choose from. If you are near a Civil War or Revoultionary War battlefield you can walk the ground and talk about the issues and actions of those involved. It doesn’t take much effort to extend that conversation to what you do at work. It does take some effort but it is worth it. Emloyees want to be engaged.

A recent study shows almost as many people call off sick because they are bored and don’t look forward to going to work as those who are actually sick. Think about it. They would rather be home than be bored. What environment are you creating? When you engage them in discussion about the business you are leading.  Give me a call if you want to talk more about how to do it. And if you want to go to Normandy, my passport is current!

The Greatest Generation lost another one last week…(actually it lost a lot more than that but this one I knew)…in 2010 I was a guardian for an Honor Flight to DC. This is where we take WWII vets to DC to see their memorial etc. Quite a day…Imagine taking  bunch of 80-90 year old men on a field trip!

One of my men was John Dew. He fought in Europe after D-Day. Kind of ironic that he was buried last week on the same day I was at Omaha Beach. He was a fine man and he shared some wonderful stories with me on our trip. When we first got to the WWII memorial I could see him grow distant as he surveyed the rain soaked scene (I brought extra ponchos. No way my guys were going to have to miss anything because of rain!). I pushed his wheel chair into the memorial further and he looked up at me. I asked what he was thinking and he said, “I was just thinking of all those boys who never came home…” Later at the Air and Space Museum as we looked at vintage aircraft he remarked every morning seeing “hundreds of planes flying east to bomb Germany…….but then, in the afternoon, not as many planes flying back west.” Again, I could feel his sadness. There were other stories and in telling me he helped me learn a bit more about his experience and made me better/smarter for it.

As humans we learn a lot through story. You can use them to help your tenured folks transfer knowledge to the junior ones. As people retire, and many will be doing that in the coming years, we risk losing their knowledge. We also know that experience is the best teacher but we don’t have time to let up and comers get all the experience they need to be successful. But we can transfer some of that experience based learning by creating opportunities to tell a story. It isn’t as childish as it sounds. It is actually a best practice for transferring knowledge.

Ultimately we are talking about scenario based training but it all starts with a story that begins with “There once was a time…”

Spent last week in France with a client. We take 12 leaders to HQ in Paris for a few days and then we take them to Normandy for two days. We visit the beaches and the cemeteries. Always a powerful experience. I enjoy taking people there. This was my fourth time but it never fails to make an impact.

Leadership lessons abound. From the strategic to the tactical it is all there. It is a transformational experience. When a students says “after my marriage and the birth of my kids, this is the most significant thing I that has ever happened to me” that makes me feel good. Of course, ROI is about taking action after the transformation. This is always the challenge but we know if we make a deep impact on someone they are more likely to take action.

Who are you making an impact on? What have you done different – way outside the norm – to make more of an impact? You do not have to take them to Omaha Beach but you do have to work at it.

Perhaps the most rewarding thing is to see this firm continue to make money even in the down market of the past few years. That only happens with inspired people who are well led.

OK, sorry, been real busy since last Thursday…but man, how rewarding has it been.

In work with four distinctly different clients in the past week I have been blessed with being able to collaborate and make an impact. What is neat is each case is different and some alot harder than others but in all cases we made it happen.

Please don’t take this as bragging. I am simply saying it feels good when we get in the zone. You know the feeling, when you work hard and the reward and impact exceed the effort, even when the effort was high.
On Monday we worked 16 hours. Loved every minute of it.

Are you loving work? If not, why not? What about your people? Are you creating the high performance environment for them to want to deliver excellence? Again, are you finding that key inside you to do the same.

Today I was with a team that is working on a VERY challenging project. High visibility, easy to get demotivated. Time to dig deep and find that excellence. Not easy but so worth it.

I just wanted to remind you to keep on keepin on…..you will be glad you did.