The intense storm came and went quickly. Then, as the sun reappeared, it left behind the rainbow you see in the photo above. 

As my wife and I drove by the church at the time, she photographed the image and sent it to Rev. Dr. James Smith, pastor of the church under the rainbow. Later, we learned it had much grander significance than the serendipity of a country church under a beautiful rainbow.  

The rainbow’s end pointed directly at the cemetery behind the church where Smith had just conducted a funeral. Rev. Dr. Smith sent the photo to the family who had lost their son. 

They had been distraught over their loss. Yet, they interpreted this fantastic photo and its timing as a spiritual sign that all was well. 

Its influence on their lives afterward was substantial.

A rainbow is an amazing phenomenon in nature. A rainbow connection can also be a powerful metaphor and guide for executing outstanding leadership. It carries many meanings, each a lesson in how to influence others to achieve important goals. Here are a few to consider.

Rainbows are expressions in light.

Rainbows appear in the section of the sky directly opposite the sun. That means they reflect the sun’s light and spirit. 

Great leaders are light and spirit-infusers; their associates typically reflect that impact. People do not inherit spirit, acquire spirit, or borrow spirit. We all choose spirit, much like we choose to introduce ourselves to a stranger. Those who opt for an upbeat, positive spirit are happier, healthier, and more productive.  

Spirited people choose the light over the fog. Most people don’t opt for the dark but tolerate a fog—those dull, eventless moments. Spirited people demonstrate the courage to show no tolerance or compliance with party poopers, wet blankets, and spoilsports. Helen Keller advised, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Great leaders encourage those they influence to challenge the status quo in ways that provide enrichment, growth, and progress.  

Rainbows are displays of diversity.  

Rainbows show a spectrum of seven colors. When there appears a rare double rainbow, the colors on display are opposite—red is on the inside instead of the outside of the spectrum. It is a powerful symbol for valuing differences and embracing variety. Great leaders appreciate a bouquet of talents, views, and perspectives. They know it is not differences that divide us. What divides us is our refusal to accept and applaud those differences. Great leaders help others see their beauty and embrace their worth.

Best Buy CEO Corie Barry wrote, “It’s been proven time, and again that diverse teams produce better outcomes. It is not just about this year or this moment in time. It is about how each of us continuously thinks about how we drive change for the long term.” Businesses must have the capacity to adapt quickly. Having associates in the huddle focused on the future and not on their opinions of each other helps ensure enduring success.

Rainbows are transparent.  

Ever notice when you approach a rainbow, it seems to melt into thin air. 

It carries no baggage; it makes no judgment. Great leaders use only as much leadership as is needed to achieve the goal. They do not seek to leave behind their signature, only their stimulus. In the song “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie, one powerful lyric goes, “Rainbows have nothing to hide.”

Leadership is a genuine expression honed from a strong sense of self. It is unabashedly who we really are in front of others. Unshackled by a fear of rejection, such leaders are released to go further and soar higher. Realness is boldness, unclothed, and without remorse. Like a rainbow, great leaders lead with openness and authenticity.   

In so doing, they help others find and express in their work precisely who they are supposed to be.  

Rainbows lead to valued outcomes.

The most popular myth about rainbows is what lies at their end: a pot of gold. The truth is the pursuit of that pot is impossible since rainbows are constantly changing and therefore have no end. Great leaders know that perpetual change is the secret sauce of success. Folk singer Bob Dylan captured that sentiment in the lyrics of his 1964 song, “It’s Alright, Ma.” The words communicate that if you are not actively being born, then you are actively dying. Today, customers notice innovation and read it as an indication of whether an organization will survive.  

Innovation is no longer a nice-to-have strategy. Obvious evidence of experiments, trials, pilots and beta tests implies a company is thinking about the future (“being born”) and not just resting on the present. Moreover, today’s customers are more interested in long-term relationships than drive-by transactions. And they are more apt to invest their time, funds, and affinities in those enterprises they believe will still be around in the future.  

Everyone loves rainbows. It is no accident rainbows decorate children’s faces at fairs, adorn birthday cakes, and are the subject of countless poems and songs. Yet, somewhere over the rainbow, there are poignant lessons for leaders on how to provide inspirational influence that encourages dreams that do come true.

Let’s start with two important leadership principles: 1) There is a good service person inside almost every front-line server; and 2) just as customers can stand on the outside and see the absurdity of stupid rules, we need to sometimes help a service person navigate the bureaucracy that can govern their service.

Practice these two principles, and poor service will be a rarity. They are also two rules for great leadership!

I was visiting a friend in the hospital. When the nurse announced to my friend she would be shortly bringing him breakfast, I saw it as an opportunity to go down to the hospital café and get breakfast-to-go to eat when my friend got his breakfast. The café was set up as a self-service buffet with powdered eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, hashbrowns, toast, and biscuits.

Two cooks were in the back of the open hospital kitchen in conversation. When one saw me not serving myself, she asked, “May I help you?”

“Good morning!” I warmly said to her and waited for a response. When she echoed my greeting, I asked, “I’ll bet you have a grill?” I had noticed one behind her. “Yes, we do,” she replied.

“Wonderful,” I said, with all the optimism and sunshine I could muster. “I’d like two eggs cooked over easy, please, for my friend who is a patient.”

“Sorry,” she said in a very robotic voice, “We are not allowed to cook eggs over easy.”

Now, pause for a second. What would the typical customer do next? And, what would the typical customer conclude? This is where the two important leadership principles come into play.

“I am so sorry,” I said. “But, I’m confused. I thought I heard you mention that you had a grill?”

“Yes, but we have a rule that uncracked eggs cannot be served to a patient or a guest,” she said with the first sign of “wish-I-could-help” coming from her voice. “You’ll have to have the scrambled eggs on the serve-yourself buffet.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” I amiably said. “I just know your gourmet eggs would be so much better than these powdered eggs. And, I bet you could crack the eggs and cook them fried on your special grill!” There was a pause. “Coming right up!” she told me and began her work. At this point, two nurses came in to serve themselves and saw me waiting.

“Can we help you?” one nurse asked.

“Thanks,” I answered. “I am waiting on the chef to finish cooking my eggs.”

Then, the punch line that was worth the price of admission! “You got her to cook you eggs?” the other nurse asked in disbelief. At that point, I could not resist. I called back to my egg expert and commented, “They surely do smell great!” She turned and grinned.

Once the eggs were cooked, instead of just handing them to me over the counter to put on my plate, she brought them around the buffet counter and presented them to me!

Now, here is the moral of this story… in story form. Spotting the biscuit on my plate from the buffet, she enthusiastically asked, “Would you like me to heat up that biscuit in my microwave back there?” The two nurses looked stunned. She was now no longer the hospital’s cook; she was my chef! “Where do I leave your large tip?” I asked as I was heading to the cashier, knowing tips were not allowed. Again, she giggled and called back, “You just come back to see me again!”

Leading Great Service as a Customer

Leadership is not just about getting employees to achieve important goals. It is about influencing anyone to direct their personal pride and energy toward an achievement. Let’s examine a few rules of engagement that netted me great service and could net you great results from those you lead.

1. Check Your Pessimism at the Door

Enter the encounter with a server or an employee with the expectation that greatness is about to happen and should happen. Visualize an awesome outcome. Then, let your positive attitude and confident expectation come from that terrific mental picture. Avoid making demands. Instead, put your energy into creating a lighthearted connection. Directing must start with connecting; caring must bolster guiding.

2. Carefully Manage the First Ten Seconds

The first ten seconds are vital to shaping the reception you get. Aim your eyes and best Steinway smile at the server (or employee). Deliver a greeting that loudly proclaims, “We are about to have some unbelievable festivity here. And you’re invited!” Optimism and joy are generally infectious. Always use your best manners—“please,” “sirs” and “thank you’s.” A chilly initial reception will generally thaw if you are persistent in your cheerfulness; don’t assume success will come from your opening line.

3. Help Others Deliver Greatness

Most service people and employees are really eager to deliver excellence. Sometimes barriers make it difficult. Be a willing helper in clearing barriers away. If the barrier is a foul mood, try a quick tease or sincere compliment to turn sour into sunny. If the barrier is a silly policy, offer a creative suggestion that helps bolster confidence without putting the service person or employee at risk. “What if you…” can more easily be heard without resistance than “Why don’t you…” Show your best curiosity and focus on empowerment, not insurrection.

4. Be Generous and Thoughtful

Never view any encounter to be influenced as a single transaction but rather the start of an important relationship. Affirm excellence, not just results. Praise service people to their superiors; employees to their colleagues. Express your compliments to great service providers or employees with a follow-up note or call. The next time you return,
you’ll get their red carpet best!

Don’t wait for great service or outstanding employee performance to just happen. Take charge of elevating the encounter from “okay” to “awesome.” Servers like great customers just as much as customers like great servers. Leadership is about serving others, not getting your way. Serve others from your heart, and you will be served in the same fashion.

The title of this story is a line we use at my house when a product or service is unusually challenging. It might be that bottle or package that requires a hack saw and a blow torch to open, or it might be that service that offers way too many steps to reach your desired outcome.  

Our most recent experience was the black pepper container that added an “open the whole box top” feature instead of only the shake side, scoop side or pour side. We found it challenging to seal shut this new feature. The result? The whole top of the can unexpectedly opened, dumping a box of pepper in our soup instead of the dash we desired. Reviews on the pepper company’s website revolve around harsh suggestions of what to do with the product’s designer.

We all know the value of making products and services tamper-proof, shoplifter proof, and over-the-top safe. Buy a new ladder, and you’ll have countless warning stickers to remove, each a likely response to a ladder lawsuit. Governmental regulations dictate full disclosure, transparency, and accommodations to consumers with unique needs or restrictions. We accept these boundaries as well-intentioned defensive efforts. Yet, too often an enterprise will place “delight the user-consumer-customer” far down their list of priorities.    

My business partner, the late Ron Zemke, and I pioneered the universal practice known as “customer journey mapping” in the late 1980s. The back story is the classic “let the CEO open it” saga. 

You can read about our early work in Ron’s 1989 book, The Service Edge, and our 2003 book, Service Magic.

We consulted with a large phone company and focused on what customers went through when their telephone did not work. After countless interviews, focus groups, ride-alongs in telephone repair trucks, and sit-alongs at call centers, listening to customers, we decided to graph what we had learned as if customers were telling us their stories.

We took our diagrams to senior leadership. Their classic answers were, “No wonder the customer is angry when they finally speak to a call center rep, look at what we’ve put them through,” or “We sure make customers wait a lot,” or “I would be confused if I were the customer, too.” When we drilled down to understand better customer expectations around each encounter (the moment of truth), we saw that we were actually being instructed by customers on how to make their experiences better.  

Remember, people within organizations cannot accurately see through their customer’s eyes since they know too much and are blind to customer experience. But there are ways to come closer to “being the customer.” It demands that the CEO “open it.” Here are three ways for the C-suite to gain close inspection from the customer’s purview.

Stop Thinking Boardroom Briefings Are the Voice of the Customer

“How do you know what matters most to your customers?” is a question I have asked many C-suite leaders. I often hear reports of briefings conducted by the chief customer officer, complete with slides, graphs, and survey stats. When I reference the fact that customers’ connections with the organization is through a relationship and then rephrase the question to end with the word “spouse” instead of “customers,” I get a less confident tone. While the parallel is admittedly extreme, it dramatizes the point that customer encounters are emotional and thus far from the sterility of a data point. 

When a whole box of pepper dumps into my soup, “strongly dissatisfied” is not the phrase I would use.

Create a board of customers and rotate membership, so no member loses objectivity or the capacity to be candid. Hold “What’s stupid around here” meetings with front line employees to learn what impedes their ability to serve customers effectively. Invite customers to board meetings for direct feedback. Turn all receptionists, security guards, and drivers into valuable scouts who learn about customer experiences and priorities. Meet with them frequently to get their scout reports.  

Go Where You Can Hear the Voice of the Customer 

I once worked with a client in Miami and stayed at the Biscayne Bay Marriott. 

Checking in, I spotted a familiar face behind the check-in counter a bit further down from me. It was Bill Marriott. This was years ago, when every property sported his portrait with his father in the hotel lobby. As I got into the elevator with the bellman carrying my luggage, I confirmed my observation. “He has been here a couple of days,” the bellman told me, “spending time in various departments.” Now in his eighties, Marriott still visits over a hundred properties a year.  

Become an expert on your products and services and, if possible, get into your “customer’s shoes” to experience things exactly as they do. Marriott told a group of senior leaders, “Leaders should spend time with the frontline, not to make them feel better, but to learn.” When you speak directly with customers, ask them questions about their hopes and aspirations, not just their needs and expectations. Turn customer interviews and focus groups into a treasure hunt in which you are likely to be surprised by the answers, not a dialogue to confirm what you already know or suspect.

Take a Bold Step to Improve the Customer’s Journey

Years ago, I consulted with a major bank. Correspondence to branch managers at that time was mainly through inter-office mail and couriers. Interviews with branch managers revealed managers were severely restrained from spending valuable time with customers and branch employees because of the time required to respond to various bank departments for information or reading reports they were expected to read. When I mentioned my findings to the regional bank executive, he hit the roof. He had a branch manager box up all the requests for one week, rented a van, and had the boxes of paperwork delivered to the CEO’s office. Stacks of boxes sent a powerful message, and the process was changed to ensure someone was always aware of the whole picture.

Knowing the real world of your customer is the first step. It then takes execution — that creates a delightful experience for them — right alongside the priority list of safety, security, and accommodation. To paraphrase poet Maya Angelou, “Customers will remember how you made them feel long after they have forgotten what you did for them.”

Legend has it a man was driving his relatively new Rolls Royce across the English countryside. The luxury vehicle unexpectedly coughed, sputtered, and stopped running. 

Realizing it was several miles back to the nearest small town, he called the dealership where he had purchased the car for their advice. The friendly service tech got his location and promised to have a response in less than a half-hour. The man was a bit surprised since his Rolls dealership was two hours away. 

Twenty minutes later, a helicopter landed on the roadside near his Rolls, and a repairman got out and began to do mechanical surgery under the bonnet (a.k.a., hood). After a few minutes, the car was running perfectly again, and the helicopter departed as quickly as it had arrived. The man was very impressed by this James Bond-like over-the-top response.  

A couple of months later, he realized he had not received a bill for the miraculous roadside service. He called his dealership; they reported no record of a roadside repair. “But, where did the helicopter and mechanic come from?” he asked. The service tech suggested someone at the corporate headquarters might know and transferred him to the Rolls headquarters in Derby. 

Again, a friendly service person could not find any record of a service call and suggested he worry no more. As he was about to hang up, she warmly added, “Besides sir, Rolls Royce cars do not break down! They are built for the utmost perfection.”

Through the lens of this story, examine what it would take to create a magical myth that your offering was perfect, astonishing, remarkable, or practically a miracle. It starts with great pride in product and service coupled with the zeal to guarantee always to match your customers’ hopes, not their expectations. It requires elevating standards to the pinnacle of superiority. As my friend Shep Hyken would say, it also takes leaders who inspire employees to “be amazing or go home.”

Add Magic to Your Service Vision

How do service leaders foster a vision laced with magic? It starts with having a vision that excites, challenges, and points to a noble aspiration. 

Author Seth Godin sometimes asks his audiences to “raise your hand as high as you can.” After the audience complies, he adds, “Now, raise your hand a little higher.” You can predict the outcome. Everyone held back a little instead of complying with his initial request. 

Focusing on magic-making stretches employees to reach as high as they can every time.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company’s mission (or credo) contains “magic in the mission.” It reads: “The Ritz-Carlton experience…fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.” 

Armed with this vision, a waiter at the restaurant at the Crystal City, VA property had an associate go to the theater in the adjoining shopping mall to get a box of popcorn when a guest asked his son what he wanted for dessert. “Popcorn,” the young man said. And, moments later, a bowl of popcorn appeared. But here is the best part. When the guest returned to the same restaurant a year later, he was asked by a different waiter, “Would you want popcorn for dessert again, sir.”

Show Associates the Magic You Expect

A mid-seventies age customer of Umpqua Bank stopped by the nearest branch to request a stop payment on a check he had written to a firewood supplier. The supplier had promised to deliver a load of firewood and split it. The firewood was delivered, but the supplier claimed he didn’t have time to split it! “Go get an ax!” was the solution the supplier offered when the elderly man asked how he was to get the wood split. The bank retail service manager had to inform the customer that, unfortunately, his check to the supplier had already been deposited.

For most banks, that would have been the end of the story. But, that’s not how the “World’s Greatest Bank” does customer service! With two other associates, axes in hand, the retail service manager drove eighty miles to the customer’s home. They split and stacked the wood and swept the garage clean! You can imagine the emotional impact on the customer whose only source of heating was his fireplace. Will Rogers wrote: “People don’t learn from conversation; they learn from observation.” 

According to the official Rolls Royce history, when Henry Royce was designing the first Rolls Royce, a colleague suggested he “turn out a reliable car at a low price.” Royce had a vision of magic—“the best motor car in the world regardless of cost.” Henry Royce (and his partner Charles Rolls) led with such purpose and conviction that the dream became a modern-day reality, one not possible without inspiring the fledgling Roll-Royce team to dream big, raise their hands high, and work with a spirit of magic-making! 

It was the Fourth of July week. Two of our granddaughters were off at camp; the third was in Spain playing in a soccer tournament with her mom along as a chaperone. So, my son brought his black labrador, Bella, to our river house for a couple of days.

When our son decided to float the river (a five-hour trip), we chaperoned Bella. When we opened the screen door to let Bella run free, she was super happy; when we closed her up on the screened porch, she went to sleep. It reminded me of some front-line employees.  

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Leaders provide guidance in many different ways. Some train and resource employees to make smart decisions and then give them the authority to make judgments on behalf of customers. Empowered ignorance is anarchy. When employees encounter an exception, they are encouraged to work to understand the customer’s ultimate goal and pursue a solution that respects the customer’s desire and honors the organization’s need for discipline. When they make an error, their hiccup becomes a coachable moment. “Running free” ensures they are super happy. Just ask an employee at Zappos, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, or a Nordstrom store.

Guidance can also come in the form of many, many rules. Little supervision is required if your leadership job is to enforce the regulations. Little thinking is needed by employees if their job is merely to follow procedures and enforce the rules. Customers hear, “I am sorry, but it is against our policy” or “I am not authorized to allow you to do that.”  Or, they just hear a lot of “no’s” without any explanation of the rationale for their negative response.

My wife and I were planning a 102nd birthday party for my mother for 25-30 members of the immediate family. When she celebrated her 100th, the local newspaper gave it great coverage as she took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the small town where she lives. On previous birthday celebrations, this restaurant had been very accommodating in handling special requests. But, they brought in a new manager—one who apparently likes rules.

It all started with: “Can we have her very favorite food—fried chicken—on the buffet?”  The sales manager quickly said, “No, we cannot guarantee we will have fried chicken that day.” Then, we asked, “Can the children order from the kids’ menu rather than go through the buffet?” Answer: “No, your entire party must choose between buffet and menus.” Then, “Can we have ice cream with her birthday cake?” Answer: “You will have to preorder it through us, and the minimum order is 48 cups for $60. And, you will have to pay for it in advance?”  

Are you noticing a pattern? But wait, there is more. We asked, “Can we bring our own ice cream with the cake we are bringing?” Answer: “No, you cannot bring in ice cream.” We asked, “Can we move the tables a bit closer together in the restaurant so we will all be able to sit near one another?” Answer: “No, you are not allowed to move the tables at all.” Oh, yes, one more: “May we bring small birthday decorations for the tables?” Answer: “No decorations are allowed in the restaurant.” All rule announcements were delivered with firmness and indifference, like the sales manager’s soul had gone to sleep.  

We elected to talk to the sales manager’s boss. He informed us if we would guarantee $350 in revenue, we could do the buffet and let children order from the kid’s menu. We agreed. “And,” he added, “Since you are guaranteeing our minimum break-even revenue, we will make sure there is fried chicken on the buffet.”  But, we lost on our plea for ice cream, table moving, and birthday decorations on the table tops.  

Leadership is defined as influencing others to achieve essential goals. He was not influencing, he was merely rule-reading. The role model he established influenced his sales manager to be a rule-reader as well. There was no attempt to provide explanations thus opening the door for negotiation or problem-solving. He likely was convinced he ran a disciplined restaurant. And, it was just that—disciplined, not delightful.  

Employees are not simple creatures like Bella. Being gated makes Bella get bored and just go to sleep. With gated employees, their source of empathy, compassion, and caretaking takes a nap. It’s as if their soul was left in the parking lot before they clocked into work.  

And, the price? My wife concluded they were working very hard to go out of business. “This must be someone’s hobby business being used as a tax write-off and the owner is ready to let it go.” Want to take a guess how many friends and family have heard this “Rules ‘R Us” story? 

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This summer I visited the ancient ruins of Akrotiri on the Greek Island of Santorini. Akrotiri had been a wealthy, flourishing city enjoying a booming commerce because it was on an important trade route between Cyprus and Crete.

I witnessed very advanced building construction including indoor toilets on the second floor of homes, complete with sophisticated waste management systems.  Carvings and paintings reflected artisans who were extremely talented. Their form of government was enlightened and progressive. Life was good in the city of Akrotiri in 1627 B.C.

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But, there were periodic earthquakes that signaled an impending volcanic eruption nearby. Since earthquakes were not that unique, the people of Akrotiri believed they had plenty of time to prepare should they need to escape catastrophe. Finally, the leaders of the town thought it was time to leave. Every single citizen boarded large boats and departed the island of Santorini for a safer domicile. 

When the Theran eruption occurred, the blast was massive. Scientists estimate that 40,000 people were likely killed in just a few hours. Volcanic ash was blown as far away as Asia and Africa. It caused a drop in global temperatures and created strangely colored sunsets that lasted for at least three years. The blast was heard 3,000 miles away. 

And, the citizens of Akrotiri? Archeologists believe they waited too late to leave. The estimated forty-foot tsunami created by the eruption would have swallowed up any boat of that time. The entire population of Akrotiri disappeared without a trace. The city was not discovered until 1967—over 3500 years after it was deeply buried (and preserved) by volcanic ash. Some believe Akrotiri is the lost City of Atlantis that Homer wrote about in the Odyssey—the city that has remained a mystery to seagoing adventurers! 

It is popular to talk about disruptors of business enterprise today. Business leaders in demand are those who lead bold, innovative companies—Tesla, Google, Amazon, even Uber. They not only disrupt their industry; they influence all industries. They are like the rumble of earthquakes stirring up the “way we’ve always done it.” We laud their outcomes, marvel at the methods, but find mimicking their pioneering spirit uniquely challenging. Fear of failure can keep too many leaders tied to the “tired and true,” despite evidence they need to early abandon their hesitation and board the ship to new frontiers.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin in boldness.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

The pursuit of correctness often drives an aversion to the messy, unpredictable necessity to fail forward. Being “right” trumps being “effective.”  Too many leaders reward short term results and look with skepticism upon a novel approach, a revolutionary direction, or an experimental course. Calculation is king; experimentation is deemed hazardous. Some opt for the guaranteed certainty of mediocre over the uncertain prospect of distinction.  Their organizational metrics are anchored exclusively in the scientific method of proof rather than balanced with the creative arithmetic of adventure. Success today requires a deep commitment to being bold, not just looking good.

W. H. Murray, in his book, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, wrote: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.” Goethe called that unbridled commitment “boldness” and wrote: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin in boldness. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

We point to countless famous brands that were competitively drowned. Blockbuster had a chance in 2000 to buy Netflix for $50 million dollars. Borders outsourced all online purchases to Amazon because they saw little market for online books. Encyclopedia Britannica turned down an offer from Microsoft to put their product online.  We all know the stories of Kodak, Blackberry, Saturn, Motorola and Sony. And, we watch the current precariousness of Sears, Macy’s, Dell, Toys ‘R Us and Yahoo. Leading in times of change takes leaders willing to create and sustain a resilient, daring culture that gets on the boat of innovation.

In a recent article in RetailCustomerExperience.com by Chris Peterson entitled “Does Walmart really have a shot against the Amazon juggernaut?” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was quoted as saying: “I’ve made billions of dollars of failures at Amazon. None of those things are fun. But they also don’t matter. What really matters is companies that don’t continue to experiment, companies that don’t embrace failure eventually get in a desperate position where the only thing they can do is a Hail Mary bet at the very end of their corporate existence.” 

Bottom line, if you too long ignore the warning of the earthquakes of change, you will not be able to outrun the tidal wave of competition that will wash over you. We have reached the limits of incremental improvement. Corporate survival going forward depends on a bold commitment to be a pioneer, not an also-ran.

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My good friend, Lisa Earle McLeod, author of Leading with Noble Purpose writes in her best-selling book: “We’ve all heard the adage: ‘No one on their deathbed wishes they’d spent more time at the office.’

That adage, though, is misunderstood. It belittles the critical role that meaningful work plays in our lives. Human beings are hardwired for meaning. We want our lives to count for something. Unfortunately, many people see their work as devoid of higher purpose. Instead, they experience work as an endless grind. But it’s not the work itself that kills our spirit. It’s doing work without meaning.”

Meaning is elevating and enriching when it reflects a valued purpose, a gallant proposition, and a virtuous promise. It inspires when it connects a person with an appealing higher plain — one that enhances, deepens, and nurtures. Its by-product – passion – is released when employees view their role and responsibility in grander terms than simply doing a task or job. People are more enthused about “building a great cathedral, than simply laying bricks.” It means helping every employee see a clear link between their efforts and this grander calling. And, it includes reinforcing the work standard that all actions must be congruent with that noble purpose.

Researcher Arie de Geus in his book, The Living Company, revealed that the average life expectancy of a multinational corporation – Fortune 500 Company or its equivalent – is forty to fifty years. Forty percent of newly created companies exist less than ten years. Yet, there are some that endure for centuries (Royal Dutch/Shell, W.R. Grace, DuPont, Rolls Royce, Suzuki, etc.). De Geus studied the companies that had lasted many years to learn what they shared in common.  First among the four commonalities included a strong and stable sense of purpose.

Turning Converted into Witness

I had a business meeting in Houston several years ago in a high-rise office building that was the corporate headquarters for a large company. The company rented the top four floors to my client while the rest of the building were their corporate offices. To get to my client’s offices, I was required to register with the security receptionist, get a badge, and wait for an escort. I could not help but notice the marble wall next to the security desk. Deeply engraved in the marble were the core values of the corporation; “integrity” topped their values list.  I was standing in the lobby of the corporate headquarters of Enron. 

What leader would not “salute their company flag” or pay homage to their corporate mission, vision or purpose. It would be downright “sacrilegious!” It is imperative for leaders to communicate to all that they are true believers – converted if you will – of what their company stands for. Pronouncements of such a belief make great fodder for all-employee meetings and shareholder gatherings. They look good in the annual report and on breakroom walls. But, being a pronouncer is a far cry from being a witness.

When I strolled through Universal Studios Hollywood with then theme park president Larry Kurzweil, he demonstrated his “full of noble purpose” witness by warmly greeted guests, asking if they were having a great time, and “polishing the park” by picking up trash. Marriott Corporation chairman, Bill Marriott, queries guests in hotel lobbies and elevators about their experience with Marriott’s service.  FedEx CEO Fred Smith reminds employees they are not just “taking stuff by 10:30,” they are delivering precious cargo to customers — an organ that may save a life, papers that could rescue a company, or someone’s fifth wedding anniversary gift. Kurzweil, Marriott, and Smith all know that leader observation is more telling to employees than leader conversation.

Do a noble purpose check. If you brought your child or grandchild to work for a day and allowed that child to watch you all day long, would that child be able to easily discern your purpose solely by your actions. Again, employees do not watch your mouth; they watch your moves. Those moves — your leadership acts as a witness to your purpose — tell the tale about whether it is a purpose you pronounce versus one you practice. When was the last time you made a controversial decision by coming down on the side of “the right thing to do?”

The word “noble” is synonymous with upright, virtuous, honorable, and ethical. We live in an era when concepts like pragmatic, cost-effective, efficient, and profitable are too often the sole criterion for decision-making. Greatness comes from integrating all of these attributes. But, when cost-effective and conscious-effective are at odds, great leaders boldly face the conflict that comes with always standing up for purpose. “You have enemies?  Good,” wrote Winston Churchill. “That means you’ve stood up for something sometime in your life.” Witness means you have a job to do and not just a label to wear.