A Back Porch Mba!

by Mike Manes

I was visiting with a friend. We were discussing Leadership and Management issues and the future of his organization. I was discussing leadership and management issues recently with a friend who’s the President and CEO of a company he started only ten 10 years ago. He’s built a good company that in the short term has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Next week he’ll announce an achievement that will impress even his most severe critics. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the customers he serves, the industry in which he competes, and the suppliers that have been critical to his success are in crisis themselves:. His is a market that is a harder market than anyone in his industry has ever faced before. In addition to these challenges, the rules have changed. What his company has done in the past (although significant) cannot carry it into the future. He must reinvent a ten year old company.

My friend is a devotee of the ideas professed presented in the books Built to Last and Good to Great, by (James G. Collins and/ Jerry L. Porras) and now its sequel Good to Great. I’m a believer in Peter Drucker and Max DePree. Collectively we’ve probably read all of the top selling business books.

In theory concept, we know every answer. The problem is that his challenge is not a conceptual one. His decisions must be made with concrete terms and actions. He’s in combat and the bullets are getting close. While we theorize about conditions that are five years out, he has major decisions to make, opportunities to capture, and crises to address - tomorrow.

To convert his challenge to the vernacular - 'when you are up to your ass in alligators, it’s tough to remember your original challenge is to drain the swamp.'

We were sitting on his back porch. My friend had to meet with a contractor to discuss a major addition to his home. I had time to do what I do best - not think but observe. His is a modest house sitting on a beautiful, tree filled lot. My only companion during his absence was his dog, Mollie Deux. 

She’s a yellow Lab or maybe a Lab Lite — Lab genes in a Heinz 57 mix of blood. She certainly is well fit for his big yard. A Chihuahua would probably be snake food. Birds were singing and mosquito hawks were performing aerial acrobatics not 20 feet in front of me. It was a peaceful and a simple life. This is why we live here and enjoy, no love, the life we have.

After a morning together, we captured our best ideas over lunch and then further refined them for the next two days via e-mail. Great stuff — but would it work?. Could these best ideas from Wall Street, Wharton School of Business, and the ivory towers of academia be converted to a practical, and actionable plan to meet the challenges faced by my friend and his small little company here in the backwaters of Louisiana?

If these ideas could be utilized (and I’m sure they could) would this be the best way to lead and manage into the future? The truth of his and every other organization is that a culture has been established. To lead and manage inside the culture is certainly the ideal. To change the culture is very, very challenging and often in some cases impossible.

As we drove back to town, I saw a bumper sticker rarely seen but always appreciated in this neck of the woods. It stated in clear and unequivocal terms: "WE DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HOW YOU DID IT UP NORTH!"

That bumper sticker provided the impetus to make us realize that although Good to Great and/or Built to Last were powerful tools that could be used to meet my friend’s challenge. On a practical level, however, they were overkill.

The addition to his my friend’s home is beautiful. He had found local craftsmen and artisans to build a den and master bedroom suite that would rival any such additions by the biggest, and best international contractor.

My wheels were starting to turn. He could have found and could have afforded such a mega-contractor, but he didn’t. He will end up with a better addition, more control over the process and results, and more personal satisfaction by completing this project with local talent — people who understand and appreciate a screen porch, coffee, a rocking chair, and a Lab.

My mind was racing. The answer to his business dilemma was not in the pages of any or all the books we discussed, nor in the classrooms of Harvard, or the mahogany Board Rooms of Wall Street. The answers were in the basic simple ideas we discussed over coffee on the back porch. The same leadership and management that had resulted in his acquiring, building, and remodeling a house and finally converting it to a home could be used to renovate and if needed or create an addition to his company.

HERE GOES — MY BEST ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES I OBSERVED ON THE BACK PORCH.
Thanks, Mollie Deux-olly!

Leadership is about a capturing a dream. It’s about Vision, Values, a Mission, and Standards. To get to my friend’s house you cross a railroad track. There are probably 50 to 60 houses on the single road that is this subdivision. The land was once a sugar cane field so there are no trees except for those that formed the fence row.

The one exception is my friend’s lot. It has literally dozens of trees. The original builder had the vision to plant these trees and my friend and his spouse had the vision and discipline to maintain them when they really were out of place in the subdivision. His yard is different in a subdivision built on sameness.

As you drive down this road you see houses that vary in price from $100,000 to to -$500,000. Before the addition my friend’s home would probably would’ve been appraised in at the bottom third of those in the area. When the addition is complete, his will be the benchmark. What he bought originally was an average house with great potential (a dream). What he now has is a dream realized - priceless!

It’s a two-part dream — one part is the house, the other part is the home. The house is about things — a structure, an asset, a residence, a thing that he and his spouse will leave to their children. The home is about people, a lifestyle, a love — how to live and how to die. It’s about what they shows and teaches theirs children — yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

In terms of the house, my friend and his spouse focused on the dream that they had for more than a decade ago, and that dream has been focused clearly into a Vision that is now outlined and detailed on the architect’s drawing spread out on the work bench plans. Soon they’ll realize the Vision of the house. Building the home is an ongoing process.

In terms of the home, the dream that my friend and his spouse shared as starry eyed newlyweds over more than 25 years ago has been realized in a Vision that is their marriage, their children, and the love they shared yesterday and enjoy today and will share tomorrow. It is realized, but not yet complete. It grows as they grow. And the best things about Dreams and Visions are that when we die, they don’t. Visions and Dreams are bigger than one person; they can be left to those we choose or those who adopt them.

The conversion of their house and home dream to the current reality that exists today and the partially realized Vision that remains did not just happen. My friend and his spouse established a Mission either on paper or in their minds and souls to describe who they’d be (their family - themselves, and their children). To make this Vision concrete and attainable, they established Values and standards that they would live by and standards of behavior and performance that would hold themselves accountable to.

This combination of a Mission — the organization needed to achieve the dream, with the Values — the absolutes that would drive the people (their Commandments and Constitution), and the Standards — clearly articulated expectations for performance —

are the issues of leadership. This is all part of the Vision thing and the plan to achieve it. It’s the most important thing and the dream will never be realized without it. But of equal importance is the implementation and application of the plan — management.

Management deals with implementation of a plan, monitoring the results, and adjusting performance to assure success in a future of constant change. In a family everyone will manage and will be managed at some point in time. To keep this article short and simple, I’ll only report on my observation of these management techniques used by my friend, his spouse, and children in relationship with just one family member — Mollie Deux.

As stated earlier, Mollie Deux is perfectly suited for this family, house, and yard. The first absolute established in the relationship between Mollie Deux and the family is the 'turf'. This is Mollie Deux’s area of operation. It’s framed by the perimeter of the yard and is limited to the outside of the house - Mollie Deux is a yard dog. To assure Mollie Deux respects this limit and to protect Mollie Deux from herself (if she leaves her turf she maybe hit by a car and killed) there is an electronic fence. There is a consequence if she exceeds her authority (turf) - a shock! This is not cruel - it’s necessary. To leave Mollie Deux without boundaries would be cruel and dangerous.

In addition to the turf restrictions the family uses two other basic techniques to manage Mollie Deux. These are the carrots and sticks of her life. Mollie Deux, like the good people in your organization, must meet certain expectations to remain a member of the family. To be successful Mollie Deux must understand these expectations and be willing and able to meet or exceed them.

To create willingness in Mollie Deux (or an employee) we must motivate them. To establish ability we must train. To assure consistency we must constantly monitor the performance of Mollie Deux and provide the appropriate consequences for behavior.

When Mollie Deux was in training the process was significantly more intense than it is now or needs to be today. Now that her training is complete, her motivators are varied. A 'carrot' might be as simple as a kind word or a pat on the head. Special recognition might include a dog biscuit, playing fetch (providing attention), or a bone. For great performance, Mollie Deux may get a piece of steak or have someone scratch her so that her leg twitches.

The ''sticks'' of her world are equally simple. The range includes everything from a stern 'NO' to a rolled- up newspaper across her butt.

Management of the work of an employee’s work can be framed similarly. If they are right for the job, what’s their 'turf' — what are the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of each employee? Once these are clearly defined and the employee is trained and motivated, let them run free. Don’t keep them on a leash or confine them in a dog pen (don’t micro-manage).

What training is needed? What are the motivators? Are the managers monitoring performance within the 'turf' originally established and providing the appropriate 'carrots' and 'sticks'? Don’t micro-manage!

Remember, we lead people and manage things (work). Leadership is about effectiveness — doing the right things. Management is about efficiency — doing things right. Everyone in the organization needs to fully understand the difference. Your employees need to know and embrace the Vision, Values, Mission, and Standards of the organization. If these are not acceptable to an employee, then they must leave. These protect you as leader, the organization, and the employee.

In the management of their work, all employees must agree on their roles, responsibilities, and expectations. The organization must be sure theat employee is are properly trained, motivated, and rewarded properly. The process of management and the implementation of work must be constantly monitored constantly and adjusted to the changing environment. This is simple.

Sit, Mollie Deux! Good dog!