Leading Change by Seth Kahan

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Innovation Is the Opposite of What You Think It Is

That’s what David Murray says in his new book, Borrowing Brilliance, which edged up onto the WSJ’s bestseller list just two weeks ago.

The book follows David’s adventures, which are many. This includes some really interesting jobs, like head of innovation for Intuit. He is refreshingly candid about sharing the ups and (way) downs of some of his entrepreneurial efforts.  And, he always pops up one more time than he goes down, which is inspiring in itself. In fact, if you're currently suffering a hard time as a result of our economic turmoil, jobless recovery and all, this is a great book to read. It will buoy your spirits and give you a way through that likely will lead to success.

Along David's way, he has codified the process of innovation. That, he says, is much more about building on existing ideas than it is divining something wholly new.  David’s process is neatly parsed into six steps, which are absolutely worth the time to read and digest.

David is a practical visionary. He cobbles together two separate worlds: the mysterious, creative world of the artist that generates new forms, and the pre-defined, cost-effective world of repeatable business success. So, the meld is interesting. In some places it is hard and tight, clearly spelled out. In others, it is more curious, serendipity, generated through inspiration and artistry.

Actually, it’s very useful that way. I think he has done a great job of coming clean with innovation.

In a recent conversation David said to me, “There are two questions that brought me to the book. First, can you teach creative thinking? My message is, yes. And not only can you teach it but you can understand the basic mechanics of creative thinking… the real blocking and tackling. Then, you can actually get better at it.  The second thing is, there is a real, definable process to innovation.”

If your business involves change, transformation, metamorphosis, upheaval, ingenuity, you have got to hear what David has to say. The time spent reading his words will easily justify the great ideas you get in return and the process you can put to work.

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

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WorkLifeSuccess: Monday Morning Magic

At the beginning of every work week there is an opportunity to set goals for the five days ahead. But, there is also an opportunity to raise the bar on your own performance. Want to put a spring in your step, a twinkle in your eye? Then, find a special area to focus on that will improve your personal performance, bringing inner satisfaction and better results for your life.

Here are four areas to focus on:

1.     TimeCraft – Each one of us gets the same amount of time as everyone else: 24 hours in a day. What you do with it and the competencies you develop are yours to profit from.

2.     MindSet – Your most important asset is the quality of mind you bring to every day actions. It will help you in challenges and opportunities, large and small.

3.     SelfPromo – Learn how to let others know what you have been up to in ways that are tactful, inviting, engaging, and helpful. When it comes to looking out for yourself, no one else can do the job quite as well as you.

4.     ValueGeneration – Creating benefit for other people is a skill unto itself. Mastered by few, it creates demand on your participation. This is the very lever you pull to advance your position.

So, pick one of these and set yourself a goal to make visible progress by Friday.  This little project becomes a personal edge that you bring to every engagement. It will make you shine and improve your performance over the long haul.

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

Seth Kahan is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a community of CEOs working together to innovate through the current economy. His next book, Getting Change Right: Guaranteeing Buy-In from Your Most Valuable Players, will be published in spring 2010 by Jossey-Bass. Visit his other blog, GettingChangeRight.com for more info on the book.  

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8 Conversations that Create the Future

For each of these conversations you must establish an atmosphere of genuine exploration. These eight topics are meant to open the doors of perception to new possibilities, creating an environment where half-baked ideas can emerge for examination and development, insights can form, and new possibilities can edge their way into view.

1. What is the best possible thing that can happen as a result of our efforts?
     a.  What performance improvement is possible as a result?
     b. What could this mean to you, me, and us?

2. How do new ideas successfully take root in our culture?
     a. Where has success happened in the past?
     b. What innovations have we operationalized with good results before?

3. Where do the trajectories of our efforts converge?
     a.  What are the possible synergies if we are both successful?
     b. How can we leverage each other’s results?

4. What motivates you to succeed?
     a. What is the source of your inspiration, yor motivation?
     b. How can this be leveraged for even greater returns?

5. What would be the consequences if we were both successful?
     a.  Can we describe this world?
     b.  How would individual and organizational work be improved?

6. If we were to generate dramatic results, what partnerships would we rely on?
     a.  Who else must be involved in our achievements?
     b. How do we provide returns to them?

7. What prerequisites do we both rely on to achieve big wins?
     a. What can we do to ensure we have what we need?
     b. Where can we combine efforts to ensure success?

8. How can our interdependence be improved?
     a. What are the opportunities for mutual leverage?
     b. Where can we exceed expectations by working together?

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

Seth Kahan is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a community of CEOs working together to innovate through the current economy. His next book, Getting Change Right: Guaranteeing Buy-In from Your Most Valuable Players, will be published in spring 2010 by Jossey-Bass.Visit his other blog, GettingChangeRight.com for more info on the book.  

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CEO applies Business Acumen, Transforming Nonprofit into Powerhouse for Change

Profile of a Change Leader: Tony Cancelosi

As the CEO of Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind (CLB) in Washington, DC, Tony Cancelosi brings more than 30 years leadership experience from the computer and software industry to his efforts to serve the blind and visually impaired.

CLB enables people of all ages who are blind or visually impaired to remain independent, active and productive in our society. Under Cancelosi's leadership they are introducing innovative programs and building the partnerships required to serve millions more across the nation. In the years to come the current population of 13 million blind and visually impaired in the US will more than double as people live longer and disabling diseases such as diabetes take their toll. Cancelosi is applying his business acumen to provide solutions.

If you have ever used a live chat while ordering from a catalog company, you have used technology Cancelosi developed as the CEO of eStara. Cancelosi also served as COO of Kee Systems, which you may recognize as Sylvan Learning, now a public company.

Under Cancelosi Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind is expanding the number of people it serves in the DC metro area and broadening its impact with innovative programs that include Bridge to Work - ensuring veterans who are blind or visually impaired have the skills, resources and training they need to succeed in the workplace, Digital Data Scan - a competitively priced document conversion and indexing service operated by blind and visually impaired, and Rehabilitation Services - helping people who are blind or visually impaired reassert control and independence, living independently at home, school, work and in the community.

I met with Cancelosi to better understand his success and methods. Here is a piece of our conversation.

Cancelosi: There is a great opportunity here. As a businessman it's hard to miss. In this country we still don't understand the opportunity to hire the disabled. When leaders put together their strategic plans, they don't even consider it. They are worried about how it will work, what is required to change the workplace, and the impact on culture. What they need is an education. We have tools today that make hiring the blind and visually impaired a cost effective solution, providing value that adds to business growth.

In the coming years we are going to see incidents of visual impairment rise significantly - more than 25 million people in this country will have some form of visual impairment in what I call the Silver Tsunami, the great wave of increase in our aging population. We will be ready to help.  Just the psychological impact of losing your vision is debilitating. This can be minimized with all kinds of new technology available today and through retooling the life skills that make people comfortable so they can enjoy their lives. 

Kahan: How are you applying what you have learned in the world of business to help the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind succeed?

Cancelosi: I use a two-sided approach that relies on (a) business basics and (b) fund-raising and partnerships. As soon as I arrived I made sure that the organization was operating like a business. By that I mean we have the infrastructure and metrics in place to measure our performance, we are all on the same page understanding our goals, core competencies, strengths, and weaknesses.  We all need to know the same story. Storytelling is a very effective way to get the message across. 

With operations running like a business, I turn my attention to fund-raising and partnerships. Did you know more than 85% of nonprofit CEOs don't like to fundraise? Yet, this is essential to strong leadership.  I participate in the community, go out and speak, and always look out for partners who can profit by joining forces with me. 

At CLB, we are creating a national model - I have 89 other agencies like myself that are going to help with creating the low vision clinics and services. Every 7 seconds someone loses his or her sight in the US.  We need to raise awareness and link people to serve this need. People who are visually impaired or blind can reconstitute into a job and train because of all the technology available today. Of the 3 million visually impaired or blind in the US who are working age, 1.5 million are unemployed. We will bring those people into the marketplace, making our country stronger and giving them meaningful jobs.

Kahan: How do you fund raise?

Cancelosi: I look for partnerships where there is a takeaway for each person. We are both going to get something we want.  There must be complementarity, where we help each other achieve our goals... a perfect marriage. There has to be a scorecard in every potential partnership: you do this and I do that. Identify the benefit and track that scorecard. This gives us a set of metrics so we can be sure each of us is getting what we want out of the relationship.

Kahan: How did you assemble a Board of Directors to support the change work you are doing?

Cancelosi: I study the bylaws and covenants and use them to serve our mission. Many nonprofits are lax in this area. I build a matrix of core competencies that we need to succeed in our change agenda and I recruit other CEOs because they know what it takes to lead transformation. They are doing this in their own organizations. 

I pick leaders who understand how to operationalize the future. They are the best in their field. My board members are brilliant. These people understand what I am trying to do, the opportunity that is here to be realized. They understand our vision for the future and they know what it takes for us to get there. They are helping us create a new world.

Cancelosi is a change leader, applying his skill and experience to serving society, improving the world, making a difference in the lives of the blind and visually impaired. He is doing it using business smarts, helping a nonprofit to become a profit center, in more ways than one.

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

Seth Kahan is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a community of CEOs working together to innovate through the current economy. His next book, Getting Change Right: Creating Rapid, Widespread Engagement will be published in spring 2010.

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World Business Forum covered here - Live Oct 6 & 7

I will post to this blog, covering the World Business Forum in New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, live as it happens, Oct 6 & 7, 2009.

The World Business Forum brings together global leaders, business icons and legendary CEOs to address critical issues. Presenters will include President Bill Clinton, George Lucas, T. Boone PIckens, Gary Hamel, Bill George, and others. Issues to be addressed include the financial crisis, energy policy, healthcare, and globalization.

This year the World Business Forum has been selected to be part of the Drucker Centennial, a historic celebration of the 100th birthday of Peter Drucker, business revolutionary, leadership futurist, seer of the Knowledge Age, and widely considered "The Father of Modern Management" 

I am among 50 people designated as “some of the best business bloggers” who will receive special seats in Radio City Music Hall that include electricity and Internet access, so we can cover the event live, as it happens.  All so that on October 6 & 7, I can post the World Business Forum here in real time. Tune in!

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

Seth Kahan is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a community of CEOs working together to innovate through the current economy. His next book, Getting Change Right: Creating Rapid, Widespread Engagement will be published in spring 2010.

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WorkLIfeSuccess: Ode to Monday Morning

1999 I was working on $66 million systems overhaul at the World Bank.  Every Monday morning one of our top analysts (I'll call him Mark) would come in with his extra-huge (Venti) cup from Starbucks, pure caffeinated lift. I was stunned by the size of his chemical jolt. Mark was one of the best. He understood the guts of our data set like no one else and could create correlations to satisfy any query. In my mind, he was way underpaid, one of the most valuable people on the team.

We had pulled him from the front office where he served, always ready to generate a report for the VP at a moment's notice. But the real value was Mark's deep understanding of how to correlate data, finding dependencies and relationships that could be plumbed for pure business power.

Every Monday morning I would watch as he began to work on that gargantuan coffee.  The thing was, he came in with a smile and a pleasant swing in his step. He came to work with enthusiasm and determination. After working side-by-side with him I learned that his parents had recently passed away and he was flying back-and-forth to his home country in South America to ensure smooth operation of the family business. All this while he was helping us. Mark had his hands full. Yet, every Monday he hit the deck ready for action. It was a joy to work with him. 

His focus was intense. He was 100% present with the task at hand, and his intellectual prowess was visible. At the same time he was gracious and friendly, even happy.  

What I learned from Mark is that every Monday is a new beginning. It's like January 1st, only focused on the week. Early Monday morning you have five days spread out in front of you, with the potential for increasing momentum and real progress.  In this regard, the first day of the week is unique. That is why Mark attacked every Monday morning with such joy.

Monday holds a special promise: the chance to make real progress.  Look ahead and dream what is possible in the next five days. They will never come again, and yet here they are in all their glory. I think I'll head down for an oversized cup of (decaf) Joe right now!

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

Seth Kahan is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a community of CEOs working together to innovate through the current economy. His next book, Getting Change Right: Creating Rapid, Widespread Engagement will be published in spring 2010

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WorkLIfeSuccess: 5 Keys to Sustained High Performance

High-performers are experts at sustaining a constructive frame of mind, a clear vision, and a continuous supply of personal energy.  It's a tall order. Here's how it's done:

1. Improve your health - your body is your instrument. I spent 10 years producing and performing street theater. When you are expressing yourself to a divergent group of people, you have to draw on everything you have to get your message across. This includes full body movement, clearly articulated voice, solid and well-chosen emotional response, physical control.  Street theater is a great metaphor for life. If you want to capture people's attention and move them to action, you need full capacity of your instrument, your whole body. Develop it. Tune it. Have fun with it.  Optimize your primary tool of expression. 
   
   
2. Pour yourself into worthy causes, with your change agenda foremost.  High-performers reserve their time, attention, and energy for those initiatives that bring out their best. This happens when they deeply care about their work. When you are involved in an effort that matters to your heart and soul, it will pull on resources you don't even know you have taking your performance to a level beyond what you think is possible. Why do anything else?
   
   
3. Build real and deep relationships with close family and friends. This is the foundation for all activity, creating the platform that supports you when you need that something extra and providing a rejuvenation nest when you need to recover or refuel. The effort relationship building requires is significant, and the payoff is extraordinary. Many leaders skimp on their family, yet it is in these highly intimate relationships that the very skills you need to drive change person-to-person are sharpened.  Focus on this and you will find a source of great inner renewal and a proving ground for building the soft skills required to succeed.
   
   
4. Engage your soul.  Spiritual development is unique to each person. It ranges from time spent in a faith-based community to personal pilgrimages to sacred places, from meditation to prayer, from long walks in the wilderness to ministering to those in need in the city. This deep well is intensely personal and yields strength unmatched. Experience the joy of being connected to something greater, the most profound source of inner vigor and stamina. Enter into life's greatest mystery and most intense reward, the world of your spirit.
   
   
5. Develop your mind. The quality of your consciousness, the caliber of your character, and the capacity of your acumen determine your impact. Keep your mind in shape. Read news and fine literature. Debate your opinions and reshape them as you learn from your jousts. Talk regularly with people who are smarter than you. Participate in intellectually alive communities. Go to museums, theater, and live concerts. Study music, mathematics, and history.  Apply everything that is relevant to your next challenge. Raise the bar on your cerebral prowess, take on extraordinary cognitive challenges, and surprise yourself with your mental achievement.

These five activities make it possible to rise up and meet challenge after challenge, prevailing to see results achieved, and that is the very definition of high performance.

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

Seth Kahan is a Change Leadership specialist. He has consulted with CEOs and executives in over 50 world-class organizations that include Shell, World Bank, Peace Corps, Marriott, Prudential, American Society of Association Executives, International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, Project Management Institute, and NASA. He is the founder of Seth Kahan’s CEO Leaders Forum, a community of CEOs working together to innovate through the current economy. His next book, Getting Change Right: Creating Rapid, Widespread Engagement will be published in spring 2010.

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The Power of a Park

Profile of a Change Leader: Barbara Tulipane

In August I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Marvin Gaye Park in NorthEast Washington, DC. Since I first moved to DC in the late 80s this park has been known as "Needle Park," a haven for drug dealers and users. It was dangerous and so filthy with needles, trash, and junked cars that only hoodlums would inhabit it.  But, all that appears to have changed, with dramatic progress in 9 short months. Barbara Tulipane, CEO of the National Recreation and Parks Association went looking for a park to transform in DC so she could study its effects. Needle Park was perfect and a kickstart transformation of Marvin Gaye Park was born.

"I want to know the power of a park, " says Barbara. "I am going to find and fund the research necessary to understand how parks improve people's health, how they help communities and children, what their trees and green space do for the environment, the correlation with decreases in crime, and how they help with stress. If it means I have to single-handedly coordinate local and federal agencies and work hand-in-hand with university research teams, so be it."

Pulling together a coalition that included Washington Parks and People (WPP), the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority, the DC government, Surface America, and Playworld Systems playground equipment provider, Barbara set her sites on full-scale transformation. The ceremony I attended took place in a beautifully clean park with a new playground populated with laughing kids, a fully functioning community center, a produce market, and plenty of grass roots organizers along with many of the women who are the elders of the community. 

"I am not under the illusion that a park is created by cleaning it up and installing playground equipment, " Barbara says. "You can't just create an instant park without community support. The community needs to have input or there is no ownership.  WPP is very close to the people. They met regularly with the people. They have the trust factor, on-the-ground people with community results.  As a result we have been able to generate a good deal of ownership. But, now comes the hard part. We want to study what happens next." Working together with George Mason University and WPP, NRPA is sponsoring a study to document how this playground and park improve the lives and health of children and adults in its surrounding communities. 

"Ultimately, I want to make it easy for people to put their money where it can have the greatest impact. That is why we are partnering with universities to conduct five studies this year: We will be learning about the impact parks have on:

She adds, "There is a lot of data out there. But, to date no one has brought it together. Each of the universities we are working with will do a literature review, locating everything that exists on these topics. Then they will document it so we can say, "Here is what we know." Based on these five studies we will identify the gaps. These gaps will be where we focus our efforts in the next stage - this will be the original research we will carry out. It will make clear exactly what the impact of parks is on communities.

Barbara is tough.  When she was giving us the tour of the Community Center a fight almost broke out among five older teens. "Hey, boys. Not today... not today!" she said, as she moved in close to look them in the eye and put things right. Things calmed down in short order.  One gets the feeling that she draws on this same toughness in the face of confusion and adversity when it comes to working with bureaucrats, politicians, and thorny problems. Her results have begun to speak for themselves. Visit Marvin Gaye Park and see.

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The Transformation of Transportation

I was in Chicago today at IBTTA's annual conference on the Transformation of Transportation. Robert Atkinson spoke. He is President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a policy think-tank, and author of The Past and Future of America's Economy: Long Waves of Innovation that Power Cycles of Growth.

He spoke about the kind of dramatic impact that significant investments in IT and the Smart Power Grid could have on our country, comparing it to the secondary impact of the Interstate highway system in the 60s. 

"When we built the highway system back in the 50s, it did a whole lot more than help people get from point A to point B. It jumpstarted the growth of the automotive industry - people bought more cars. It changed the housing distribution in the country as people adjusted their location based on the highways. It made possible the large chain department stores that brought together varieties of offerings under a single roof because trucking was improved. All of these dramatic changes were essentially built on the interstate highway system."

"We would get a similarly powerful impact today from a new digital infrastructure.  Japan and Korea are the two world leaders in broadband. Today 85% of Japanese homes have high-speed fiber optics. They have a goal to achieve 90% next year, and 100% the year after that. We are behind."

"In the US only 15% of doctors have electronic health records. In Denmark or Finland or Sweden or Netherlands, 90-95%.  When you do that, you transform the entire healthcare system. You can build real time information networks and answer questions like, how many people have flu today? what is effect of this drug on this day?"

"If we had the smart-grid infrastructure we could achieve real time monitoring of traffic. We could respond to congestion, pollution, accidents as they occur." Imagine the amount of time saved if you cut your time in congestion by half over the course of a year. There would be a corresponding surge in productivity. 

Atkinson went on, "Government needs to enable the creation of these platforms. Once the platforms are built, private sector can ride on them, building a new generation of capabilities." You can reach Atkinson at ratkinson@itif.org.

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com

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5 Ways to Create a Shared Stake in Success

Success at leading change – dramatic, sustained improvement – is largely determined by a leader’s capacity to engage others in a mutually supported vision of the future. Engagement means getting people’s whole-hearted support and participation. When this is realized, change is held in place by myriad hands, heads, and hearts.  

This is critical because obstacles are part of life and you will need all the help you can get to realize success. You want resources to flow to you, people, money, and time to be dedicated by any and all who see a shared road to success.  When this happens, synergies will take place you do not mandate, coordinate, and may not even be aware of.  This is because your ideas have successfully spread, and other people in other places are taking action helping you move things forward. 

Five Techniques for Creating a Shared Stake in Success 

1. Practice exceeding others’ expectations. Every morning ask yourself, how can you “wow” somebody who is critical to your success? Do it, and meet with them face-to-face to express your appreciation. Then, engage them in a discussion on how your combined efforts are creating a better future. Ask them, “What synergies do you see in our work?” Listen and learn.

2. Engage others in conversation to discover their answers to these questions:

a. What are your most pressing issues?

b. What needs do you have that are not being met?

c. What successes are you working toward?

d. Who are your constituencies and what do they want?

Then, explore with them how these can be addressed through your efforts.  

3. Hold meetings with groups of allied players to identify mutual goals. Follow-up with regular progress reports showing the results of your efforts and the challenges you encounter. Work together to overcome obstacles and clear logjams.

4. Create a visible representation of your key players’ interpretations of success. Post it somewhere it can be easily viewed. This generates (a) a sense of inclusion among all who participate and (b) mutual ownership as everyone sees their thumbprints on the future.   

5. Meet with senior stakeholders and ask them to describe in detail the future state they are working toward. Go through the details with them and listen carefully: 

a. What does this future state look like? Describe it in detail. What will be different? What new capacity will emerge?

b. How will you know it when it happens? What are the indicators you will look for? How will success be measured?

c. What are the benefits to you personally? To the organization? What is the ROI (return on investment) for the effort?

Write up what you learn in a 1-page summary and present it back to each senior member you interview, or otherwise visibly demonstrate what he or she communicated to you. Verify with them that you have captured their point-of-view. Refine it with their input until they are satisfied.

- Seth Kahan, VisionaryLeadership.com