Simon T Bailey’s Blog

Recently, I was invited to be the closing general session speaker for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare at their 38^th convention in Boston, MA.  As I was preparing my remarks, I saw on their website that I was following Jim Collins, bestselling author of “Good to Great” whose books have sold a bazillion, and James Carville, chief political strategist in the Clinton Administration. Oh, did I mention that they also had presentations by Michael and Kitty Dukakis, and Michael Kennedy.

Was I scared? If I said no, then I would be telling a white lie. (Whatever that means.)  Was I somewhat concerned? Absolutely. Why? I was walking in the footsteps of some of the most celebrated and recognized names in the United States. Now allow me to share with you the naked truth, I believe I was the youngest person to address this group of CEO’s, board members, senior executives, blah blah The client told me right before my presentation that they had looked at over 100 videotapes before they selected me.

All of these thoughts were running through my mind, but I had to shut them out and dig deep. This presentation had to be over the top and I had to look fear in the face and slap it into the next century. I know that is a bit dramatic. However, the point is my fear was rooted in feeling inadequate, and not good enough to exist in this rare air. Yes, it is true that it’s not who you are that blocks your brilliance from shining, it’s who you think you are not.

Right now, you may have a ton of opposition against you. Perhaps some of it is self-imposed. I invite you to take a long hard look and feed your belief in a better future and starve your fears to death. Do not feed into it. You are brilliant and it‘s time to shine.

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I was recently flying to Sacramento, CA to visit with Governor Schwarzenegger (ok, I am just kidding) and was reading one of four newspapers to catch up on the latest. In the USA Today money section, the question was posed by Experience.com  of 2,774 college students, “If you had two job offers and one company was “green”, would that have an impact on your decision?”  79% said yes and 21% said no.

Can you imagine what the answer to that question would have been just a decade ago? More than likely it would have been the other way around. Nevertheless, it was very telling to me to see that college students, who are the future workforce, want to join an organization that believes in doing its part in saving the planet and being environmentally friendly.

Perhaps the new way to recruit your future workforce is to tell them your “Green Story” and them pay them the greenbacks. More importantly, if they are to release their brilliance, ask them in what other ways the company should “Go Green!”

Simon Says…You may lose the battle over what you can pay them, but you may just win the war in enlisting them into your green movement!

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The painter Pablo Picasso was dining at a five-star restaurant in a metropolitan city. A female admirer walked over to his table to say hello and to tell him how much she admired his work. Sensing that he was receptive to her accolades, she asked if he would do a sketch for her.

Picasso grabbed some paper, and with pen and pencil promptly sketched the waiters carrying luscious ice cream parfaits. As the woman reached for the sketch, Pablo Picasso said, “Madame, that will be $10,000.” Shocked, the woman replied, “But that only took you five minutes.” “No, Madame,” replied Pablo Picasso, “it took me fifty years.”

Pablo Picasso knew how much time he had invested in the mastery of fine art. He didn’t belittle his value or succumb to the pressure of someone who didn’t value his worth. Up until that moment at the restaurant, fifty years of his life had been invested in developing his artistic brilliance. He refused to allow anyone to diminish his self-worth.

How much are you worth? What are you doing to increase your self-worth? People will treat you the way you treat yourself. When they sense that you are unsure of your value, they will handle you any way they see fit.

 A friend of mine who was unhappy at her job one day decided that she was worth more than the demeaning way she was being treated, and refused to be abused any longer. Thus, she decided that happiness, peace of mind, validation, affirmation, and celebration was worth more than stock-options and the schizophrenic behavior of leadership.

 My friend, wrap your brain around this profound truth…your outward experience will reflect your inward self-worth. Your self-worth is as priceless as a rare diamond. Why settle for crumbs of bread when you own the bakery? Simon Says…You are worth it!

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I recently heard a story from a friend who was considered a Hi-Po (High Potential employee) with his previous employer. I was shocked when he told me he had divorced his employer…he’d had such an incredible track record of high performance and stellar results with the organization.

My friend explained that every time he had the “where is my career going” conversation with his leader, the response was always the same: “Just hang in there. We have big plans for you.” Leadership recognized his contributions, but did nothing to help him move up the food chain, nor did they offer him juicer projects or growth opportunities.

Since he wasn’t feeling the love, his eyes started to wander. He began looking outside his professional marriage and initiated an affair, discreetly interviewing with various companies. He received several offers and was in the final stages with one company when he decided to make a last-ditch effort to save his current professional marriage.

 So, he went to his direct leader and told him about the offer that was on the table. In a panic that their star employee might walk out the door, the organization’s leadership threw him a bone – a $10,000 salary increase. One of the senior executives even called him to say that the organization valued his contributions and hoped he’d stay.

What a joke! Imagine receiving a call from a senior executive who barely knows you and rarely has anything to say to you, but suddenly is begging you to stay with the company. It’s like a father-in-law who barely talks to his son-in-law and then calls out of the blue to say, “Please try to work things out with my daughter…divorce should be the last option.” Right buddy – and you’ve been married how many times?!

The point is this: Employee turnover (i.e., Professional Divorce) looms as a major business issue for 73 percent of U.S. businesses, according to TalentKeepers, the global employee retention research and solutions firm. “Employee turnover is a business problem. No longer can the loss of talented employees be viewed as a people problem where responsibility and solutions reside solely with the HR department,” says Craig Taylor, TalentKeepers’ Senior Vice President.

Professional divorce rates are on the rise. If you’re unhappy in your professional marriage, don’t take the easy way out. There’s too much at stake – you’ve invested too much time and energy in this relationship to just walk away.

Employees, let me ask you: Is leadership fighting to keep you? Are you worthy of being kept? If you’re thinking about a professional divorce, consider the following:

Talk to your direct leader or manager – early and often – about the state of your career. Do you feel undervalued, unappreciated, unchallenged? Then tell your leader. He or she can’t help you if you don’t communicate.

If your direct leader is the reason you want to leave the organization, seek a transfer to another division where you can re-engage with a different leader, reconnect with your organization’s core purpose and renew your energy.

Sharpen your professional skills to prepare yourself for the next level. You must be ready when the leaders of your organization come calling with a new opportunity, project or promotion.

Visit with the HR champion for your area. Instead of complaining about your situation, offer a constructive plan for what you’d like to see happen with your career at the organization. Remember – it costs your company more to replace you than to keep you.

Find and build a relationship with a sponsor (this is different from a mentor) who has some status and influence in the organization. Your sponsor will leverage his or her credibility to keep you in the organization by opening doors, making contacts on your behalf, and looking for opportunities for your growth and promotion.

Leaders, let me ask you: Why is it that you only throw employees a bone when they’re fed up and ready to leave? If you want your high potential stars to feel the love and stay committed to your professional marriage, consider the following before they tell you they’re thinking about divorce:

Listen to your employees (listening is very different from hearing). What are they really telling you? Remember the wife who wants her husband’s attention more than his gifts.

Ask your Hi-Pos what they need in order to remain committed to the marriage (the organization). Then work to make it happen. Remember – it costs your company more to replace Hi-Pos than to keep them.

Challenge them with juicy assignments and projects that stretch their skills and abilities. Promoting Hi-Pos isn’t always an option, but there are always ways to capture and keep their minds and hearts.

Engage employees in career discussions on a regular, on-going basis. Having this discussion only during annual or semi-annual reviews simply isn’t enough.

Help Hi-Pos connect with and develop relationships with senior management – not because you have to, but because you want to. This will greatly enhance the “love connection” between employees and the organization.

 I have a genuine desire to keep today’s professional marriages strong and healthy.

 Simon Says…Work on your professional marriage before you consider divorce!

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Ten to thirty years of a person’s life is spent in a place of business. Simply put, your employer is like a marriage partner. Are you satisfied in your professional marriage? If not, are you having an affair behind your company’s back or just going through the motions?

Come on…I know you’ve been thinking about it. Go ahead and blush. And don’t be shocked when you find out the person in the cubicle next to you has been doing it — interviewing (going on secret dates) with another company. If there’s some chemistry during the date interview then they will meet a few more times before an offer is made to consummate the relationship.  

Recently a friend told me that her company was monitoring everyone’s computer activity and was fully aware that people were surfing www.hotjob.com  www.yahoo.com www.monster.com and www.careerbuilder.com However, the company has done nothing about it. She said the only time the organization seems to care is when it’s time for the employee opinion survey. Management will then host an impromptu pizza social to get everyone in a good mood prior to taking the survey. What kind of professional marriage relationship is this?   

The Conference Board recently released a report that said the following:

U.S. workers are growing increasingly unhappy with their jobs

The decline in job satisfaction is widespread among workers of all ages and all income brackets

Half of all those surveyed are satisfied with their jobs — down from nearly 60 percent in 1995

Only 14 percent are “very satisfied”

25 percent of the U.S. workforce is simply showing up at work to collect a paycheck

Two out of every three workers do not identify with or feel motivated to drive their employers’ business

goals and objectives

(Based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. Source – TNS)

By now you are probably wondering if there is any hope for this marriage relationship between employer and employee.

A leader who wants to preserve the marriage relationship between employee and employer will focus on your value and brilliance until you see it for yourself. If you are dissatisfied in a going-nowhere professional marriage, then it’s time to stop “cheating” (playing the field hoping for a better offer while you give less than 100% to your current position) or hanging in there for the paycheck. It’s time to take steps to align yourself with an organization you can truly commit to. Or perhaps you have realized that your company really is worth your full commitment.

Simon Says… Remember that your job is where you spend most of your time – either find the one you love, or love the one you’re with.

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In my work as a Catalyst for Brilliance, I have the opportunity to experience all types of organizations that are impacting the world every day. I love what I do. If you can’t tell that by now, just continue to hang out with me and you’ll see. I consider myself one of the Cheetah Generation and someone who is always open to new ideas that stretch my world view.

Recently, I presented a new program (“Simon Believes…Success Is an Inside Job”) to a very sharp group of intellectuals with MBAs and PhDs who are the rising stars in global corporations. When I introduced the cheetah vs. hippo concept (outlined in my last blog), it was as if I’d thrown a live grenade on the table. A tremendous debate ensued around why cheetahs should be celebrated more than hippos.

I love brilliant minds! They push back and don’t necessarily agree with you just because you said something clever. Most will not accept something as the new gospel until it has been dissected and looked at from every conceivable angle.

As the discussion continued, some key points emerged from this group of bright individuals that I just had to share with the thousands of you who read my blog. As Paul Harvey would say, “And now for the rest of the story…”

Organizations recruit cheetahs but often turn them into hippos. Cheetahs come to the organization as change agents with a fresh perspective, full of energy and ready to achieve. But over time, the real message from the organization and its leaders comes through loud and clear: “Go along…get along. Don’t rock the boat. Just do your job.” The once nimble cheetahs shut down, settle in, and simply work for the paycheck.

Some hippos have an inner cheetah that has been caged and tamed by bosses whose management style conditions them to do as they are told what to do instead of thinking for themselves.

Hippos are too often wrongly pushed aside and their contributions devalued. Hippos are tremendously valuable in that they possess institutional knowledge and a historical perspective that is not written down. If they were to walk out the door en masse tomorrow, key insights and wisdom (that the cheetahs may need one day) would be lost.

Every organization needs a balance of cheetahs and hippos to have equilibrium in the workplace. An organization full of hippos is not innovative enough or quick enough to capitalize on changes in the marketplace. On the other hand, an organization full of cheetahs can be too impetuous, recklessly chasing opportunities without much thought to strategy or downstream implications. A balance of cheetahs and hippos is crucial to sustained success. (One of the brilliant participants said, “What happens when you put a cheetah and a hippo together in the same organization? You get a cheepo!” Everyone fell out laughing at that one.)

I’m sure that by now you’re wondering if I am backtracking on my assertive and biased view of cheetahs which I shared during my last blog. The answer is “No.” I’m simply being open to the ideas and beliefs of others, and sharing multiple perspectives instead of one man’s opinion. Has my view of hippos changed somewhat based on the impassioned arguments of my participants? Yes. Would I still rather be a cheetah than a hippo? Absolutely!

It is interesting to note that when it was all said and done, every single person in the room that day agreed that they wanted and needed to rediscover their inner cheetah.

I invite you to consider where you are on the cheetah-hippo continuum. Only you can decide where you fit.

Simon Believes…Everything and everyone in nature has value.

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The cheetah is indeed a truly amazing animal. According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the cheetah is the swiftest land mammal on the planet and can reach speeds of 70 mph in mere seconds. It covers 20 to 25 feet in a single stride, with only one foot touching the ground at a time. In fact, at two points in the stride, none of its feet touch the ground! However, what most fascinates me about this protected species that lives primarily in Africa are its unique physical characteristics:

• Oversized liver
• Enlarged heart
• Wide nostrils
• Increased lung capacity
• Black “tear” marks under its eyes

For just a moment, reflect on these characteristics of the cheetah, and how they relate to humans: Flexibility is the key quality of all globalization and Life 2.0. As you encounter and experience change personally and professionally, can you mimic the cheetah? Can you contract, expand, bend and turn in any direction? Increase your personal productivity in business by being flexible in your decision making and moving swiftly to meet the needs of your external and internal customers. If you don’t, they will find someone else to do it for them.

The liver has an almost miraculous ability to biochemically transform virtually any chemical it is exposed to. It not only breaks down, stores and eliminates toxins, but also produces beneficial chemicals the body needs in order to function. The cheetah’s oversized liver is a crucial component in its highly efficient and effective physiological system. What about you? Is transformation a part of your daily language and consciousness? Are you able to transform yourself so that you can efficiently and effectively adapt to any given situation? Never be satisfied with the status quo. Instead, be a seeker of the unknown and commit to ongoing transformation.

While the cheetah’s enlarged heart pumps more blood to give it additional speed and power, an enlarged human heart overflows with abundance. It seeks to give rather than receive, to serve rather than be served. Enlarge your heart and infuse those around you with your spirit of optimism. Infuse your community with a spirit of service. Infuse your business culture with a “can do” attitude.

How big is your nose? Smile! Having wide nostrils is in vogue. Why? It means that you can pick up on the scent of opportunity and the smell of possibility. You must sense where things are heading and make split-second course corrections that will take you into the future. Improvise and innovate. Stop waiting for someone to give you the green light. You have to make something happen for yourself.

The cheetah strategically stalks its prey. It carefully maneuvers into a position to pounce and then gives chase with a burst of blinding speed made possible by its increased lung capacity. Do you methodically stalk what you want? Are you expanding your capacity so that when the time is right, you can muster the speed and the skill to give chase and capture your dreams? Expand your capacity by improving yourself one day at a time. Identify the cheetahs in your life and learn from them. Do what is in front of you with all your might. Take on what you have rejected in the past for what you will become in the process.

The Cheetahs are coming – into your organization, your community, your social circle – and they are hungry, focused and willing to step up. Will you be one of them?

If you’re not one already, decide today to become a cheetah. Move it…Move it…Get to it! If you don’t, you will forever stare at the rear end of a Hippo!

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There is a health care center in the mountains of South America that is accessible only by foot or by mule because of treacherous roads. Surprisingly, it draws patients from hundreds of miles away even though they have clinics closer. A representative of the World Health Organization asked one of the patients why: “Why do you travel so far when help is so much closer?” The patient answered, “Because the hands are different here.” Brilliant hands create a brilliant point of differentiation in business and life.

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I recently was invited to speak at an annual leadership meeting for the top 400 leaders of MDU Resources (Montana-Dakota Utilities) in Bismark, ND. I was intrigued to visit a place I had never been to before, and curious to see another part of the United States. Well, I was blown away as I listened to President/CEO Terry Hilstead share that within the last ten years their company had grown from 2,000 employees to 13,000 employees and from $600 million in annual revenue to $4.2 billion. I had a chance to sit with him and his wife at the closing dinner. I discovered that he and his team built this incredible company through 126 mergers and acquisitions and by maintaining a decentralized management style built on trust. This has enabled them to operate successfully in 44 states and grow steadily and aggressively. However, my favorite insight from Terry was that in the prior year they had given their employees over $50 million dollars in bonuses, incentives and benefits. Brilliant! Simply Brilliant. There are three big takeaways from my time in with them:

1. Trust leaders to do their jobs and get the heck out of their way.
2. Love is not what is says. Love it what it does. If you appreciate your people, then grease their palm with a few benjamins that can help them with the escalating gas prices.
3. Maintain a rentless focus on the customer experience.

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Why do you work where you work? It is the power and prestige of your position that attracts you to your place of business? Are you challenged to be the very best that you can possibly be? Do your leaders, peers and clients provide intellectual stimulation that causes your mind to be stretched, your spirit to soar, and your heart to jump for joy? In case you are wondering…I don’t work. I play all day every day. While some would call what I do work, I choose to call it my calling, passion and brilliance. And guess what? It feeds my soul. Even when I am in the midst of a challenging situation, I call it an opportunity to grow. (I just change my perspective — it’s like trying to enjoy the squash and okra my mother strongly urged me to eat growing up.) A friend of mine in the Washington, D.C. area recently shared with me that she had quit her job and was looking for a new one. I mentioned that most people keep a job until they find another one. She informed me that in her gut she could hardly bear the thought of driving each day to a place where she was bored to tears, unhappy and suffering from professional malnutrition. She said to me earnestly, “I want more than a paycheck.” I stared at the phone with a blank look…and thought to myself…are you kidding me? You want more than a paycheck. WOW…what a concept. She turns 50 this year and believes she can work another twenty years. Her employer didn’t have enough work to keep her engaged. Therefore, she fired herself. I challenge you to reinvent yourself at your place of business. Transform everything that you are doing…do it better, do it bigger and be intentional. Why? If you are professionally starving, then it’s your own fault. I would like to invite you to get engaged or get out. You are holding up space for someone who really wants and needs that job. It is not the human resource department’s job to provide meaning for you in the workplace. It’s your job to rediscover how to play and release your brilliance.

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