NDTMA Annual Conference 2011

Las Ve gas, NV - Fe bruary 10, 2011

Leadership Development Session

Summary of a presentation from the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit 2010. For a review of the presentations at the 2010 Summit go to http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/2010/vidhub.asp

Never, Ever, Give Up: Jim Collins

Jim Collins, nationally acclaimed business thinker, serves as a teacher to leaders throughout the corporate and social sectors. Author of the best-selling books Good to Great and Built to Last, he is a student of companieshow they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. His writings, based on groundbreaking research, have been featured in Fortune, Business Week, The Economist, USA Today, and Harvard Business Review. His latest volume, How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, looks at common mistakes of organizations in a state of decline and what leaders can do to reverse negative patterns and flourish anew. In Good to Great he explored the idea of companies going from average to extraordinary. Good is the enemy of great. It taught us that greatness is not entirely a matter of circumstance, its largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline. To be great we must have great social enterprises, schools, homeless shelters, hospitals, cause-driven organizations, and church leaders building churches around the globe. Instead of looking at how enterprises become great, they shifted their focus to How the Mighty Fall. Some of the greatest enterprises in history fall from great to good, to mediocre to bad, to irrelevant to gone. No company, no church, no nation, no society, or no individual person is immune. Anyone can fall and many do, but not all. We can be sick on the inside but look strong on the outside. In the Five Stages of Decline, you dont fall until Stage 4. The disease analogy is helpful but its wrong in one crucial way. These stages are largely self-inflicted. Organizational decline is more about what you to do yourself than what happens to you.

The Five Stage of Decline

Leadership Team Dynamics On-the-Way-Up VS On-the-Way-Down Teams on the Way Down People shield those in power from grim facts, fearful of penalty and criticism for shining light on the harsh realities. People assert strong opinions without providing data, evidence or a solid argument. The team leader has a very low question-tostatements ratio, avoiding critical input and/or allowing sloppy reasoning and unsupported opinions. Team members acquiesce to a decision yet do not unify to make the decision successful, or worse, undermine the decision after the fact. Team members seek as much credit as possible for themselves yet do not enjoy the confidence and admiration of their peers. Team members argue to look smart or to improve their own interests rather than argue to find the best answers to support the overall cause. Teams on the Way Up People bring forth unpleasant facts Come here, look, man, this is ugly to be discussed; leaders never criticize those who bring forth harsh realities. People bring data, evidence, logic, and solid arguments to the discussion. The team leader employs a Socratic style, using a high questions-to-statements ratio, challenging people, and pushing for penetrating insight. Team members unify behind a decision once made and work to make the decision succeed even if they vigorously disagree with the decision. Each team member credits other people for success yet enjoys the confidence and admiration of his or her peers. Team members argue and debate, not to improve their personal position, but to find the best answers to support the overall cause.

Hubris born of success. The undisciplined pursuit of more is how the mighty fall. Success doesnt lead to failure. Outrageous arrogance inflicts suffering on the innocent. Outrageous arrogance leads us to believe that even though we have good intentions and noble aims that our decisions must be good. Bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions. Great leaders know its not all about them and they never give up they are Level 5 Leaders. The signature of what separates the good leaders from great leaders is humility. Humility isnt taught, its a burning ambition to do whatever it takes no matter how painful it is.

The Undisciplined Pursuit of More The mighty fall is by over-reaching. The biggest sign of falling is breaking pace. Regulate growth by the number of great people you have in the key seats. Do you have all of your seats filled with fantastic people? If no, you must resist growth until you have them in the right place before you grow. Good to great leaders do not set a vision and motivate leaders to get there first. They get the right people on the bus first and figure out where you are going.

Denial of Risk and Peril Elements and information can trip us off to see that things arent right [decline in numbers, negative feedback, etc.] The problem is we deny it When a culture of denial takes hold, we are fully in stage 3. From the outside, you really look great. That makes it easy and plausible to deny. How do we move forward in a world filled with great difficulty? The Stockdale Paradox: Never confuse fate and facts. [check out In Love and War ] Never give up; never lose faith with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts today. The ability to put faith and facts together is what makes great teams.

Grasping for Salvation We fall when we neglect the facts and pursue more. Greatness is never a single event, silver bullet or breakthrough its a cumulative process.

Its the flywheel effect disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought doing disciplined action.

Capitulation to Irrelevance of Death We have squandered everything, and we are out of choices and options. Great companies succeed because they have a reason to endure. If you measure your success by money you always lose. Theyve answered the question what would be left behind if they ceased to exist. We struggle because we have to endure. Our purpose must be rooted in our core values. Imagine the power of the values and purpose in our work. The truly great enterprises have values that are not open for compromise or change, they hold things together. If you lose our values we lose our soul, if we lose our soul we lose everything. The signature of mediocrity is not the inability to change, its chronic inconsistency. Its not either/or its AND. There is one huge AND behind every great business Preserve the Core unchanging: We hold these truths to be self evident Stimulate Progress - changing: I have a dream Its combining core values and BHAGS Big Hairy Audacious Goals

10 To-Dos Do Your Diagnostics Check out the Good to Great Diagnostic Tool available at www.jimcollins.com Count Your Blessings, Literally When you begin to account for all the good things that have happened to you that you did not cause, all the success you did not cause are humbling. Count it. What is your Questions to Statements Ratio? Can you double it in the next year. Great leaders dont know all of the answers, they ask great questions. Answer the Question How many key seats do you have on your bus? Do the How the Mighty Fall Teams on the Way Up/Teams on the Way Down Diagnostic Create an Inventory of the Brutal Facts Stop Doing Something Great teams/companies are defined by what theyve said no to so they can pursue what they are called to truly be doing. Define Results and Show Clicks on the Flywheel Double Your Reach to Young People by Changing Your Practices without changing your Core Values.

Set a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal

If you truly set out to be useful you can never capitulate, never give in, never ever, ever, ever. Never give up on the idea of building a great Church. Never give up on the discipline to create our own future. Be willing to embrace loss, endure pain, but never give up the faith to prevail. Never give up on your core values.