Have
you been following me over the last few week? I sure hope so. I have been
running through each of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Today, we discuss the sixth habit. Which is the
third, and final, of what Covey calls “Public Victories.”
This
blog is about effectiveness and entrepreneurship. It is meant to link
the two ideas together. For the most part, entrepreneurship requires the
building of organizations. Drucker said we live in a society of
organizations. And, synergy is all about organizations.
There
are many important functions in a large and successful business. And,
no one person can be good at all of them. So, we must hire, or partner with,
people who can do the jobs we are not good at. Thus, as you can
imagine, we need self-awareness and the ability to identify our
strengths.
Drucker
recommends we always ask ourselves the question, “What should my
contribution be?” In order to answer that question we must identify
the mission of the organization, the necessary tasks, and our
particular strengths. Then, we can match strengths to tasks. This is harder
than it first appears.
An
example would be the entrepreneur who prides him/herself on being an
“Idea person.” That person is basically saying they are not good
at execution. In turn, an idea person needs to partner/synergize with
an execution person. A good example would be the partnership between Charles
Kettering and Alfred Sloan.
Even
if you are good at both ideas and execution, the world is much too
vast and complicated to know it all. Most
people believe they are objective and see the world the way it is.
The problem is that we tend to see the world, not as it
is, but as we
are. For this reason, it is wise to value differences of opinion.
Covey
would say, “The
essence of synergy is to value differences. Synergy means two heads
are better than one. It is the idea that the whole is greater than
the sum of the parts. One plus one equals three, or six, or sixty.”
If
Sloan had to come up with the ideas, he might not have gone far.
Conversely, had Kettering needed to be an executive he would have
struggled. So, in some ways, we could say that synergy is similar to
teamwork. The only problem is that synergy is much more than
teamwork.
Teamwork
can often involve an element of uniformity. I think we have all heard
that funny quote of Henry Ford saying, “You can have whatever
Model-T you want. As long as it is black.” Additionally, John
Wooden was one of the best college basketball coaches of all time.
And, one thing was for certain, on Wooden's team, you did it his way.
As
I have mentioned, synergy is different. With synergy we value the
differences. You could have uniformity, with the Model-T, because it
was the only show in town. And, uniformity also applies to basketball
because it is a pretty simple game.
The great game of business is different. Basketball has not changed much
in one hundred, or so, years it has been around. But, business
changes constantly. Remember MySpace?
To
stay ahead, in business, requires great talent and diversity. Which
is very difficult. Most of us seek out people who are similar.
Differences often create friction. The great organization builder
knew how to lubrication that friction so they were able to utilize
the concept of synergy.
A
great example of an organization builder would be Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln is, arguably, the greatest President in United States
history. And, one thing Lincoln was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was
a great organization builder.
If
you have never done so, I encourage you to read the great book Team of Rivals by
Doris Kearns Goodwin. The book explains the political genius of Abe
Lincoln. And how, one man cobbled together a team that saved, and
reinvented, America.
Lincoln's
success was the very essence of synergy. Difficult but worth it. As
Covey wrote, “When properly understood, synergy is the highest
activity in all life.”
