The Happy Orca

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“We think that leaders need to provide answers… actually leaders need to deal with questions… and the questions that are powerful invite responses in which people participate together.”

“Leadership sounds wonderful but the truth is leadership and being a leader can be very risky business. Leaders are people willing to look out there into the future, create something for themselves and invite others to create it with them or for themselves, and often times you are out there and you look around and there’s nobody out there with you. You know the vision you’ve got, the possibility you’ve got the intention you see, which goes beyond the current circumstances – often times other people can’t see it – they are dealing with the current circumstances. They are trying to survive or deal with what’s happening. And leaders need to understand that its perfectly natural – its fine – the risk of being out there can be exhilarating… and then the question is how can I bring people over here where I am. And that lives in conversations… conversations I am willing to have with people. And it begins with listening – its really not talking to people, its talking with people… finding out what’s their future, what’s their default future, what’s not working for them, what is that they would want to create and in those conversations new possibilities naturally arise, which is the hallmark of leadership. Leaders create collaboration and the co-authoring of new futures.”

“Leadership requires no authority. Most of the confusion around leadership is that its based on authority. So if I am the COO then I am the leader, or if I am the head of this department then I am the leader. Our new model of leadership really says you don’t need any position of authority in an organisation or in any situation for you to have a conversation for what’s possible. Anybody can provide leadership.”

As a management professor and management consultant, we have had the opportunity to work, train, and problem-solve with executives and managers in nearly every type of organization, from small businesses and Fortune 100 companies to nonprofits, associations and government agencies at the city, state, and federal levels. The most frequently cited challenge, beyond all others, is “communication”. Over the last twenty-five years of teaching and consulting, we have discovered two things about the “communication problem” in organizations.

First, most people do not know that communication is actually made up of different types of conversations. People think of communication as a broad general area riddled with problems, gaps, and pitfalls in which success is a matter of skill or luck or both.

Unfortunately, this generalization is like saying, “I have a driving problem” when one needs to start by learning the difference between ignition, steering wheel, accelerator, and brake. Generalizations do not solve the very real problems of organizational work.

Second, most people do not understand that their own communication, not someone else’s, is the key to recognizing and resolving the communication problem. It is easy to blame others, either individually or as a group, for not communicating well. Now we need to consider that we might not be using the appropriate conversations, or using them properly.

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From the Introduction:

The power in this book stems from using the Three Laws of Performance. A law isn’t a rule, tip, or step, but distinguishes the moving parts at play behind an observable phenomenon. A law is invariable. Whether you believe in gravity or not doesn’t lessen its effect on you.

The greatest advances in history have come from applying newly discovered laws. Think of Newton’s three laws of physics. Each on its own is interesting and insightful, and when combined together and applied, they become powerful and predictive.

When the Three Laws in this book are applied, performance transforms to a level far beyond what most people think is possible. It doesn’t happen bit by bit, but all at once, as individuals and organizations rewrite their future.

The first section (Chapters One, Two, and Three) takes these laws, one at a time, and shows how to apply them. You’ll see how to jettison what’s holding you back, create a future for your business, and your life beyond what’s predictably going to happen. Along the way, you’ll likely see and transform much of what is holding you back, both professionally and personally.

Through the journey of these first three chapters, we’ll visit companies in South Africa, Japan, and the United States, looking into diverse industries such as aerospace, energy, construction, and mining. We’ll make stops in a high-tech start-up, a Brazilian conglomerate, even in the Harvard Business School. We’ll see that the Three Laws always hold – they are universal principles that apply any time human beings are involved in any kind of effort. We’ll see the result of understanding and applying them – dramatic elevations in performance.

Section Two (Chapters Four and Five) looks at leadership in light of the Three Laws. This section identifies key leadership principles, and how to apply them in organizations. We also look at the new frontier of organizations: working effectively in the developing world, creating sustainability in communities, and generating the expansion of wealth (both material and in the well-being of people). This section is intended for people interested in organizational leadership. If your interest is mostly personal application, you might want to skip to Section Three.

Section Three (Chapters Six, Seven, and Eight) is about the personal face of leadership. Chapter Six shows how you can apply the Three Laws to yourself – and in the process expand your own leadership. Chapter Seven is about taking the walk down the path to mastery of the Three Laws. Chapter Eight is some guidance on how to take these new ideas out into your world.

This book is not an academic study, although its conclusions draw on well-established lines of research. Our intent is to introduce these laws, and illustrate how their application can enhance performance. The examples almost all come from cases in which we and our colleagues have been personally involved. We’ve been there, seen it, and now we want to share it.

In reading this book and applying the Three Laws, you’ll do more than find fixes to your problems. You’ll find the power to rewrite your future.