Honesty

I Care—Do You?—the key to great customer service

/ Ken Blanchard / 5 Comments

bigstock-Enigne-4002090One of the books I’m working on this summer is a customer service book with Kathy Cuff and Vicki Halsey tentatively titled I Care—Do You?: The Essentials of Delivering Legendary Service. A recent experience I had at my vacation home in upstate New York beautifully illustrates what we are trying to capture with this new book.

I was driving the car we use up here when the light came on and said I needed an oil change and the air pressure in the tire was down.  So I took it over to a local service station about fifteen minutes from our cottage for an oil change and to have the tire checked.  Bob, who owns the place, is a fabulous guy.

While my car is being looked at I asked, “How’s business going?” and Bob replied, “Amazingly well—but some of the other folks I talk to, it’s not so good.” And I said, “The reason, Bob, is because you are such a fabulous guy with your customers.  You really care and so do your people.” Continue reading →

5 Keys to Connecting With Your People

/ Ken Blanchard / 10 Comments

bigstock-Different-46099117I was talking with some friends at a recent morning men’s group. Our focus was on the importance of being connected to other people and what it means. We came up with five things we think help you really get connected to others—at work, and in all aspects of life. How would you rate yourself in these five areas?

  1. Listen more than you speak.  We talked about listening a lot. If God wanted you to speak more than listen, he would have given you two mouths!
  2. Praise other people’s efforts.  This one has always been so important to me. Catch people doing things right.  That really helps you get connected with people.
  3. Show interest in others.  It’s not all about you. Find out about people and their families and learn about what’s happening in their lives.
  4. Be willing to share about yourself.  In our book Lead with LUV, my coauthor and former Southwest Airlines president Colleen Barrett said that people admire your skills but they really love your vulnerability. Are you willing to share about yourself?  I think being vulnerable with people is really important.
  5. Ask for input from others—ask people to help you.  People really feel connected if they can be of help to you. Continue reading →

New Year’s Resolution Time!

/ Ken Blanchard / 1 Comment

It’s time again to think about New Year’s resolutions. I like to picture myself sitting here one year from today, looking back on 2012 and smiling because I’ve accomplished two or three things that I wanted to accomplish over the year. I’m patting myself on the back! 

So what would you like to do between now and then?  Now you’re going to obviously have some goals in terms of your job and your organization, but what about you personally?  What about your weight?  Your exercise?  Your health?  What about learning a new language, like Spanish or Chinese?  What about improving your organizational skills?  What about writing something that you’ve wanted to write for a long time?  What would really make you feel good if you accomplished it by the end of next year? 

It’s great to write out your resolutions as SMART goals.  Be Specific on what you want so that it’s observable and measurable.  M stands for motivational—make sure it’s something that excites you. Is it Attainable?  Don’t set some unrealistic goal that there’s no chance you’ll accomplish.  Make sure your goal is Relevant and important to you.  And have a goal that is Trackable, which means you can chart it over time so you can catch yourself doing things approximately right and see yourself making progress. 

I have found that I do best on New Year’s Resolutions if I share them with my wife Margie and people at work, and anybody else who is around me, so they can help and support me. We all need an accountability group to help set ourselves up for success. 

So in the next few days I’ll be thinking more about what I would like to accomplish that’s going to make me feel good.  What would you like to do?  How do you want 2012 to go for you?  Let’s see if we can help each other keep our commitment to our commitment.  So often New Year’s Resolutions are just announcements.  Don’t just announce it; really make it happen!  And good on you for 2012!

Lastly, I’ve posted a few of my resolutions for 2012… take a read, and let everyone know a few of your own! https://howwelead.org/resolutions/

Leaders Don’t Need Charisma

/ Ken Blanchard / 2 Comments

A lot of people wonder if they can be a leader if they don’t have charisma.  I’m not sure I really even know what charisma is.

I think what you need to do as a leader is be who you are. I think sincerity and caring are the qualities people look for in a leader—not some dashing person with charisma. Don’t feel you have to play some sort of a role and try to be something you’re not. On the other hand, if you’re a person who does have that extroverted style, don’t hold back. Be who you are, because that’s who people want to get to know.

Leadership is about being authentic. And it’s about reaching out to people in a way that says, “I think you’re important. And I’d like to help you be the best you can be.” People don’t care if you have charisma. They just want to know that you care about them.

The Firing of Legendary Penn State Coach Joe Paterno: An Ethical Dilemma

/ Ken Blanchard / 8 Comments

The firing of Joe Paterno as coach of Penn State has dominated the news this week. A legendary coach with the most wins in the history of major college football, Joe was dismissed for not doing more to stop the alleged sexual abuse of children by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The news came as a shock, because in many ways Joe was considered an outstanding human being. Not only had he coached at Penn State for 61 years, he’d also donated more than $3 million to the university and helped raise more than $13 million for its library.

I feel badly about the Paterno firing for two reasons. First, I’m deeply saddened about the impact of the alleged sexual abuse on the victims and their families. Second, I’m saddened for the students at Penn State, who argued that the board of trustees should have allowed Joe at least one more game or let him finish the season. From their point of view, Joe had broken no laws. When he’d learned about the sexual abuse, he’d reported it to the athletic director and to the vice president.

As I thought about it this week, the case of Joe Paterno is a classic example of why it’s so important to do the Ethics Check when making key decisions. In our book The Power of Ethical Management: Integrity Pays! You Don’t Have To Cheat To Win, Norman Vincent Peale and I describe the Ethics Check, which poses a series of questions around three areas: legality, fairness, and self-esteem. The next time you’re faced with a dilemma, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is it legal? Will you be violating either civil law or organizational policy?

In today’s society, people tend to focus on this first aspect of the Ethics Check—the legal question. They think if they can get lawyers to okay the decision, they’re doing the right thing. But just because an action is legal does not make it ethical. To assure that you’re doing the right thing, it’s a good idea to review the second two aspects of the Ethics Check.

2.  Is it balanced? Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well as the long term? Does it promote win-win relationships?

If Coach Paterno had really thought through the fairness question—if he had fully considered the trauma to the victims and their families—he might have realized that he needed to do more. He’s already made statements that he probably should have done more. The fairness question goes beyond the legal question and looks at the effect your decision will have on others.

3.  How will it make you feel about yourself?  Will it make you proud? Would you feel good if your decision was published in the newspapers? Would you feel good if your kids and grandkids knew about it?

Unethical behavior erodes self-esteem. That’s why you feel troubled when you make a decision that goes against your own innate sense of what’s right. As the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.” Thinking through how you’d feel if your actions were published in the newspaper or if your kids found out about them can help you decide the right thing to do. I’m sure that if Paterno knew how this incident would dominate his reputation at the end of his career, he certainly would have done more.

This simple but powerful Ethics Check can help anyone—from world leaders to boards of directors to private citizens—make decisions that stand the test of time and result in the greatest good. When you look at all three aspects of the Ethics Check, you can see that in making their tough decision, the board of trustees at Penn State did the right thing.