On Culture and Leadership

The universe is a complex and ambiguous place. Reality is not always easy to grasp.

A few weeks ago I said the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. Through this process of repeatedly defining reality, a leader creates a culture for his or her organization.

Culture is a difficult, but important, topic. Perhaps the world's leading expert on organizational culture is Edgar Schein. Ed spent much of his career as a professor at MIT.

I recently read Schein's landmark book Organizational Culture and Leadership, and loved it, so I thought I would pass along a portion of that love.

Schein defines cultures as, "A pattern of basic assumptions–invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and integral integration–that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to the problems."

He continues, "Because such assumptions have worked repeatedly, they are likely to be taken for granted and to have dropped out of awareness."

Culture is the result of the assumptions we use to get along in this crazy world. The assumptions we live by. Assumptions about the way the world works.

All is well-and-good as long as the assumptions hold. However, the world is constantly changing. And, eventually, good assumptions will turn into bad assumptions.

For this reason, it is wise to periodically question your assumptions. Perhaps every couple years ask yourself, "Are our assumptions still valid and effective?"

Especially after you experience an unexpected failure, you should reevaluate your assumptions. Unexpected failures are often the result of flawed assumptions.

Like Schein said, very often our assumptions and beliefs operate outside of conscious awareness. As you probably know, we humans tend to operate on auto-pilot. The key, just like with a pilot, is to know when to turn-off the automatic assistance, and fly the plane conscientiously.

Don't forgot to question your assumptions.

Does life have no meaning?

Last week, I talked about the idea that two people can look at the same set of facts, come to different conclusions, and both be right. Does this mean we should all simply become nihilists? Does life have no meaning? Well, yes and no.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would say that life has no meaning. That is to say, your life does not have some preordained meaning, which was written amongst the stars.

To clarify the point, Csikszentmihalyi then says this does not mean your life cannot be given meaning. Indeed he says, "The meaning of life is meaning." By that, Csikszentmihalyi is saying it is incumbent upon each of us to discover, and cultivate, our own life's meaning.

To say we must each discover, and cultivate, our life's meaning is to say we must each define our own reality. And, this brings us back to the Max DePree quote from two weeks ago, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality."

In my life, one thing I have discovered is that leadership is largely a function of effective living. Effective living gets results. And, people tend to follow results.

The problem, of course, is that life is complicated. And, getting results ain't easy. Especially with entrepreneurship!

So, to the extent we are effective in our own lives, we are better able to lead others, because we know how to get results. As Carl Rogers said, "What is most personal is most universal." 

Life does have meaning. It has the meaning you give it. And, the same thing happens within organizations. Businesses are given meaning by people because leaders help define reality.

I think Csikszentmihalyi was on to something. The meaning of life is meaning.

"It is not logical..."

Last week, I talked about Max DePree and how he said the first job of a leader is to define reality. This week, I wanted to elaborate on the concept because defining reality is harder than it might sound.

I want to bring Stephen Covey into the discussion. Have you ever read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? It truly is one of my all-time favorite books. In 7 Habits, Stephen Covey talks about the subjective nature of reality. Covey says two people can look at the same reality, come to different conclusions, and both be right.

To illustrate the point, Covey includes the following image:

Apparently, this is an exercise used at the Harvard Business School. During the exercise, half of the class is shown an image which primes them to see a young woman, in the image above, and the other half is given an image that primes them to see an old lady.

Then, when all the students are shown the image above, and asked what they see, they end up arguing over whether it is an old lady or a young woman. Both sides can become incredulous even accusing the other side being being completely ridiculous.

The students use lots and lots of words to try to convince their counterparts of what they are seeing. Unless you have done this exercise, you have not been primed with regards to which woman you should see. So, let me try to explain how to see the two woman.

In the picture, the young woman is looking away. She has black hair, a feather extending from her forehead, and some sort of fancy white head-dress. With her looking to her right, we see a clear shot of the left side of her jawline. She also has a black necklace and a fluffy dressy shawl type thing. Can you see her?

The old lady is shown more in profile. The necklace of the young woman becomes the mouth slit of the old lady. The left ear of the young woman becomes the left eye of the old lady. The jawline of the old woman is the profile of the old lady's left nostril. What had been a stylish white head-dress becomes a more functional head cover.

Whereas the young woman is looking to her right, perhaps to see what all the excitement is about, the old lady is looking forward, towards the ground, with her chin tucked in, as though she were feeble or cold. Do you see it?

I have tried to explain the differences to show how futile words can be. If I have done an insufficient job, you can click here to be primed with the young woman, and click here to be primed with the old lady.

By the way, according to Wikipedia, "Priming is a technique whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention."

We are all the sum of our life experiences. These experiences have primed us to look at the world in various ways. And, we have all had different experiences. As such, we have all been primed to look at the world in different ways.

So, who was correct? The people or saw the young woman? Or, the people who saw the old lady? The answer is BOTH. Again, two people can look at the same set of facts, come to different conclusions, and both be right. Covey says it is not logical, it is psychological.

The First Job of a Leader

I sit here, typing these words, with a hot cup of coffee, a warm pair of slippers, and perhaps the most comfortable chair ever invented. The chair is called an Aeron, and it was created by the Herman Miller company.

Herman Miller is a very interesting company. Their designs are beautiful. Which causes them to win all kinds of awards. And, as I have mentioned, their products are simultaneously elegant and utilitarian.

Herman Miller got its start in 1905. The company was, and is, based out of a little town called Zeeland, Michigan. Knowing this, we immediately encounter a challenge. How do you attract high-level designers to a little town in western Michigan? In a word; excellence.

The company was started by DJ DePree, who obviously did a great job, before turning the reins over to his son Max. Throughout its history, Herman Miller has focused on building a great organization, not just great products.

The level of institutional intelligence, at Herman Miller, is quite impressive. Today, I simply want to mention one point. It is a quote from Max DePree. Max said, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality."

This is a really important concept because, the truth is, many people try to deny reality. You see, we humans have mastered the art of wishful thinking. For various reasons, we choose to believe reality is what we want it to be, rather than what it truly is.

Life is to be lived and enjoyed. This I truly believe. So, there will always be room for romance. There will always be room for wishes, dreams, and fantasy. That said, leadership is about getting stuff done. The right stuff!

I think I am going to leave it at that. If you are, or hope to be, a leader, your first responsibility is to define reality. It is your job to distinguish between truth and fantasy. And, this is usually not very easy because we have a real knack for wishful thinking.

How do we overcome our proclivity to delude ourselves with wishful thinking? I wish I had a magic potion to give you. Truth be told, I think it boils down to an old, boring word. Practice. (sorry not sorry)