Three Commitments of Leadership: How Clarity, Stability, and Rhythm Create Great Leaders (BUSINESS BOOKS) - Hardcover

Endersbe, Tom; Wortmann, Jon; Therrien, Jay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071774599 ISBN 13: 9780071774598

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2011

Synopsis

BE THE KIND OF LEADER PEOPLE WANT TO WORK WITH

“Do you want an engaged and best efforts culture? Do you want to attract and retain the best people? If your answers to those questions are yes and yes, then I highly recommend you read and you practice The Three Commitments of Leadership.”
―DOUG LENNICK, CEO, Lennick Aberman Group and author of the internationally acclaimed Moral Intelligence

“In The Three Commitments of Leadership, the authors offer safe harbor for those in any leadership role that find themselves in rough seas. The text is full of memorable wisdom and important stories, well told. This book moved me; it will move you, too.”
―MARK BRYAN, bestselling author of The Artist’s Way at Work

"The authors of Three Commitments of Leadership have distilled the qualities of leadership into an inspiring essence. You'll not only learn what it takes to become a great leader; you'll learn how to inspire those around you to commit to greatness as well."
―DANIEL H. PINK, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

Every effective leader has his or her own personal style―but they all share one thing in common: Commitment. They know what commitments to make to motivate their teammates, build more productive organizations, and be the kind of leaders people want to work with.

But what exactly are great leaders committed to? The Three Commitments of Leadership delivers the answers that are the foundation of an evolution in the way human beings will lead for the future.

Written by a team of learning and development experts, this groundbreaking book provides a leadership model that will help you know where to pay attention, so every action you take has the impact you hope for. Too many leaders obsess over short-term profits, popularity, and pleasing boards, bosses, and special interests―when they should be obsessing over building lasting relationships and results.

TheThree Commitments of Leadership digs deep into what leaders must focus on to truly be exceptional:

• CLARITY―Creating a common understanding of what success looks like
• STABILITY―Providing the resources people need and building a culture of trust
• RHYTHM―Fostering a flow of work and an environment that feels natural

It’s simple―but not easy. Globalization, competition, and shrinking margins are making it tougher than ever to operate without deep engagement from every member of every team. The solution is a tenacious dedication to a straightforward way of leading that produces the outcomes you need and turns every teammate into a fellow leader, too.

About this title

About the Author

Jon Wortmann is an advisor and speaker on leadership, communication, and building trusted relationships. Trained at Harvard University, he has consulted with educational, nonprofit, startup, and Fortune 100 organizations. He is the principal at Muse Arts, LLC, a think tank and consultancy for leaders. Visit his Web site at www.whyilead.org.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE Three COMMITMENTS of LEADERSHIP

How Clarity, Stability, and Rhythm CREATE GREAT LEADERS

By TOM ENDERSBE, JAY THERRIEN, JON WORTMANN

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Tom Endersbe, Jay Therrien, and Jon Wortmann
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-07-177459-8

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1 WHAT KIND OF LEADER DO YOU WANT TO BE?
CHAPTER 2 CLARITY
CHAPTER 3 STABILITY
CHAPTER 4 RHYTHM
CHAPTER 5 HOW TO BUILD A TEAM OF LEADERS
CHAPTER 6 1,000,000 LEADERS
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

WHAT KIND OF LEADER DO YOU WANT TO BE?

The Ship Is Sinking

The sky is a blanket of black. It's 2:30 a.m, and the moon has set; the starsbarely light the few feet in front of him. The skipper can barely see the othertwelve men on the boat. There are two other boats patrolling with his: they'reghosts, trying to ambush the enemy. This is the passage their destroyers sail asthey return home from battle.

One of the other officers is on the bow. He's using his binoculars, scanning thedark to locate a target. The 80-foot motor torpedo boat is the perfect surpriseweapon, faster and smaller than the enemy's giant ships. The skipper is at thewheel, waiting. He has a quick daydream about sailing as a child. He's alwaysloved the sea. The skipper snaps back to attention, and he thinks he sees hisfellow officer point. His skin tingles at the prospect of action.

Then the scout bellows, "Ship at two o'clock!"

Because the skipper is trying to prevent detection, only one of the boat's threeengines is fired up. He spins the wheel, hard; but it's sluggish. The boatcrawls. The night is so quiet, but suddenly he sees a 379½-foot enemy destroyer,towering 60 feet high and approaching at 40 knots. He doesn't have time to hearthe roar.

In the next moment, the skipper's boat is split in half. The only thing visibleare the flames from gasoline burning on the water's surface. Frantically, hescans the scene. Men were thrown from the boat, and the boat's wake spread themover an area larger than a football field. Some of them are hurt, and otherscan't swim—their life vests barely keep them afloat. They scream for help.The skipper and four others are still on the bobbing hull, and he realizes thecurrent is pushing the fire toward them. Because he is the commander of asinking ship, his men's lives depend on what he does next.

This vignette is a true story. Leadership experiment Number One: what would youdo? Your ship is sinking; men are in the water, hurt and screaming; burninggasoline is about to overtake the only part of your boat that's floating; andfive of you are in its path. What's the first action you'd take? If you'rehesitating, imagine. Imagine yourself on half a boat. It's pitch-black. You havecrew in the water. Feel the fear and tension of that moment. And feel theweight. Those men need you, and you have the courage and the strength to helpthem.

There is no wrong answer to this question, just like there's no perfect way tolead. The three commitments we'll teach you will focus your attention as aleader whether you're directive or collaborative, in a strict hierarchy or aflat model. Each of us is different in our leadership style: what matters is whowas included in your answer. If you thought, jump in the water, you'reright, but did you say anything to the other four men who were with you?

When a ship is sinking—whether it's a business, a government, or a city orregion facing a natural disaster—the first, completely understandablehuman instinct is to save yourself. Leaders want to save themselves too; thisbook is not about martyrdom, even though self-sacrifice is essential forleadership. The three commitments are about making sure our people always havewhat they need to thrive. The leaders we revere and the ones that get results,they pay attention: to how they lead, to the environment theirleadership creates and to every person on their team.

In the actual story, the skipper's first action was to yell, "Over the side." Hegave clear instructions that focused those around him, and when the destroyer'swake moved the floating fire away from the boat's remains, they climbed backaboard. Then he took account of his situation. He had four men on the boat withhim and another eight in the water, at least a few of them seriously injured andbegging for help.

Again, he was clear. He wanted to know exactly who was still with him,so he had every man call out his name. Of the 12 men, 10 were accounted for.Next, he told one of his men to blink a light so the healthy could swim to theboat. Then, pinpointing the direction from which one of the wounded was yelling,he took off his clothes and dove into the water. Over the next three hours,before the sun rose, he and those who were still healthy got every man onto whatwas left of the ship.

As dawn began to break, the men were scared. The skipper, of course, was scaredtoo. He didn't want to be in the middle of a disaster, but he was ready for it:he didn't become the commander of that boat by accident. He wanted to lead. Heused his connections to get into the war early. He didn't want to sit on thesidelines, and he ended up in the Pacific theater during its most perilous time.

What he was doing for his men began when he was young. He was a Boy Scout. Heran organizations in high school, both official and the playful Muckers Clubknown for pulling practical jokes throughout the campus. He led drama andathletic teams in college—his captainship of the swimming team had been ofparticular importance when his men were in the water. He traveled the world, andhis first book about leadership and foreign affairs had been published andbecome a bestseller the month after he graduated. When he found himselfshipwrecked with men in the water, he had been preparing for this moment hisentire life.

By the time he and the able-bodied tended to the wounded, the sun was rising.They were still on the remaining half of the boat, and in the distance, theycould see numerous islands; they knew the enemy occupied all of them. Theystarted to argue. There was nothing in their military training to prepare themfor this. There wasn't enough room for all of them on the boat; the woundedneeded the space, so the skipper took over. He had to rebuild their trust in oneanother and create some kind of stability in the chaos if they weregoing to survive. Except for the two hurt seamen, he ordered everyone includinghimself into the shark-infested water. They spent the morning watching for enemyplanes, shocked that no one had come to their rescue.

Then, at 10 a.m., their injured vessel began to creak—even the wounded menhad to get in the dark water and hang on. The boat capsized, guaranteeing itwould sink, and the skipper made the decision most people would have thought wasinsane. The men who could swim grabbed a piece of the boat's timber and headedfor the one island that, while further away, they bet was too small to beoccupied. The skipper then cut one of the straps on the life vest of a man whowas burned too badly to move. He put the strap in his own mouth, and began toswim. Every few minutes he would stop and rest and talk with the man in tow. Ittook five hours to reach the island, but everyone made it safely.

The stability of dry land, however, wasn't enough. To be rescued, they had todraw the attention of a passing friendly ship without attracting the enemy. Thatmeant preserving their energy as long as it took. The skipper helped them findan uncomfortable but necessary rhythm. Each day, he or one of his men orsometimes the two together, would swim out into the boat passage where they weremost likely to be found. The others laid low: they watched dogfights in the sky,ate the coconuts that had fallen, and tried to keep their spirits up.

After four days, the skipper changed the plans. He knew they needed water andhope. He took the strongest man and swam with him an hour to the closest island.Reaching the beach, they saw one of the enemy's shipwrecked barges, and two men.The two men saw them but jumped in their canoe and paddled away. The skipper andhis man crept up on the barge and found what they needed: hardtack, water, and asmall native canoe, which was big enough for only one man.

All day, they hid from the enemy and tried to explore the island. When nightfell, the skipper left his mate and paddled back to the other men and deliveredthe rations. His crew told him that the two men he had seen during the day wereactually natives of the local islands: they had visited and described where theJapanese were and how to avoid them. The next morning, the skipper headed backtoward the island where they had found the food and he had left his mate.

But on the way, a strong wind arose. The waves were too big for him to preventwater from pouring into his canoe. In minutes, he was swamped. The canoe sankfrom under him, and he was alone in the water. After five days, almost dying atleast twice, the skipper felt as though he couldn't escape this time. Heimagined home and the bay where he swam as a child. He remembered an image ofbeing under rough water, the sun pouring through, and how calm he felt. Hethought of his men. He wondered whether he had prepared them; if they would gethome.

There will be moments, even when you've done everything right, that everythinggoes wrong. This is another reason why the three commitments are so vital. Whenyou commit to the experience you want your teammates to have when they work withyou, they notice. They absorb the way you speak and think; they model thebehaviors you use because they are effective. The three commitments showleadership that people want to learn and that gets results, even if you neverintentionally try to develop your teammates into leaders. If you follow thethree commitments, when it looks as if everything is falling apart, you have ateam of leaders ready to step up and keep the important work you do together.

We need others to help us reach any goal. As the skipper thought about dying,out of nowhere another canoe of natives appeared. They pulled him out of thewaves and brought him to the island with the barge. They showed him whereanother two-man canoe was stored. Before they left, the skipper took out hisknife and scratched a message on a coconut for the natives to deliver, prayingit would find its way to his commanders: "NAURO ISL COMMANDER KNOWS POSIT HE CANPILOT 11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT KENNEDY."

The skipper, a young John F. Kennedy, knew what to do under pressure, and that'swhat the three commitments do every time we get the privilege of leading: theyreveal what to pay attention to so our teams never forget that what they'retrying to accomplish is worth the fight. Kennedy's crew could have given up somany times. They could have missed the slim chances they had at life in the fearand real danger that surrounded them. Instead, he focused their energy, helpedthem feel secure and united, and generated a flow of effort that had only onepurpose: getting home—and they did.

The natives who saved JFK had been working with the New Zealand Army. They hadtaken the message on the coconut to their contact and returned the next day witha stove and food for the men, and a letter for Kennedy. It read:

On His Majesty's Service.To Senior Officer Kennedy, Naru Island.

I have just learned of your presence on Nauru Is. I am in command of a NewZealand infantry patrol operating in conjunction with U.S. Army troops on NewGeorgia. I strongly advise that you come with these natives to me. Meanwhile Ishall be in radio communication with your authorities at Rendova, and we canfinalize plans to collect balance of your party. Lt. Wincote.

P.S. Will warn aviation of your crossing Ferguson Passage.

After surviving the sinking of his ship, Kennedy stayed in the war until 1945.His back was never the same after pulling his injured crewman five hours tosafety. What never changed was his commitment to a way of leadership that helpedhim become the thirty-fifth president of the United States.

Before we dig into what the commitments are, a quick note on the examples we'reusing throughout the book. We are not intending to hold up Kennedy or any of theother individuals we highlight as the ideal leader. The criticisms of howKennedy and his men ended up in the destroyer's path, fact or fiction, point topossible failures in leadership. As a human being, Kennedy had the same kind ofweaknesses that live in most of us. There simply is no perfect leader, and wehope that inspires you. We hope it takes away some of the false perceptions ofwho can be a leader. No matter what your background, education, or present placein life, you can lead too.

What we're emphasizing in this book is what leaders do in the moments thatmatter most and how they arrived at those moments: the way they prepared andpracticed. We will hold up and examine what was eternally valuable about thethinking and actions of the leaders who so many of us admire. We will focus onhow they led at their best in a way that shows how you can make the samecommitments as they did. Great leadership is actually quite simple; we just needto know where to put our attention.

Leaders Create New Realities

Leadership is the act of creating new realities. And every leader knows deeplythat creating new realities is grueling. No part of leadership is ever easy, butwhen the pressure rises and you know what to do, leadership can be the mostrewarding experience in life. Conversely, when we don't know what to do,leadership can be one of the most frustrating and painful experiences mostpeople never want to repeat. There is nothing worse than being in the leader'sseat, with all eyes on you, and you feel helpless. We've been there, but byapplying the three commitments, we hope to save each of us from ever having thatexperience again. The three commitments that make you the kind of leader peoplelove to work with are clarity, stability, and rhythm.

When these three words become the focus of how you lead, you will always feelready to act. In fact, when they become muscle memory—out of which youconfront the daily challenges of developing a team who wants to work togetherand during moments of crisis when you need to take command— leading mayeven feel like what you were always supposed to do. Why are they commitments?They are the three realities that every human being needs each day to engagewith their work while deeply valuing the experience.

The first commitment is clarity. Clarity is total awareness about thecore knowledge of what we do, in ourselves and in every member of our team. Ifit sounds elementary, it is; too often as leaders, however, we have anineffective habit when sharing information: we want to tell someone to dosomething once and then have it done. That, in and of itself, is not clarity.Dictating instructions and expecting performance can still work in suchhierarchical environments as the military. But even if you have stars on yourshoulder, they won't value your leadership if you're not willing to seek tounderstand who your people are and what they need to be completely clearabout in where they're going and in what you're doing together. They will notfreely and enthusiastically continue to follow you into the trenches.

Committing to clarity starts when we develop a personal state of totalawareness: of where we're going, what we need to get there, and why it matters.It is the first commitment because so many problems are instantly improved whenwe pay attention to where we're confused. Clarity is also the process ofcreating mutual understanding with every member of our team. What is the biggestissue facing your team right now? Is everyone involved 100 percent clear on thewhere, what, and why of the action required? We can't ever ignore the minordetails or assume that everyone absorbed the exact meaning of everyconversation, meeting, or e-mail.

True clarity happens in a group when every teammate knows what success lookslike and has the confidence and the capacity to talk about it. We promised youcould begin to apply the commitments after the opening pages. Where is your teamunderperforming? It is probably because some part of "what" they need to do,"why" it matters, or "how" to do it is unclear, and you can work on thatimmediately just by having a conversation about where they're lacking clarity.

The second commitment, stability, is the promise to do everything we canso that everyone on our team or in our organization has what they need. To besuccessful consistently, each of us needs two things to feel stable: resourcesand a culture of trust. By resources, we mean everything from food and a safeplace to work to tactical drills and coaching around the core skills of aperson's role. With stability, we can take risks—share new ideas,collaborate, put in the extra time—and believe the effort will be worthit.

But risk taking happens only when we trust the people with whom we work and theorganizations in which we serve. In our busyness and fatigue, leaders andorganizations are too often inconsistent, disconnected, and unavailable. Noweven though we don't mean to act this way, these behaviors destroy culture andcreate an environment of stagnation and underperformance.

Think about it right now: where is your team playing it safe? They can't takerisks when they don't have the stability to jump. Even if your teammates haveenough stability to keep up what they're doing today, will flat growth and noimprovement in their performance get you closer to the new realities you want tocreate? We can immediately begin the process of building a stable environment byasking each person what he or she needs to feel stable. In many cases, what isrequired may be free and something you can provide easily.

The third commitment, rhythm, is a pattern that leaders foster toproduce more of the results we want. In sports, rhythm is the zone. In business,it's peak performance—not just maximum efficiency but a place ofheightened creativity and meaningful work as well. In psychology, it's describedas flow. Leaders have incredible power to create an environment that innatelyremoves the roadblocks that get in the way of people performing at their best.Even more important, as we achieve with our teams, we can pay attention towhether they're happy and whole.

When we are grounded as people and we feel that our efforts are part of acollective endeavor to do something important, we charge an environment with anenergy and desire for excellence and progress. The commitment torhythm—whether we do it through building efficiency, creativity, or thatelusive place where everything just seems to work naturally (we'll go intodetail about that holy grail of the three commitments in Chapter4)—is how we raise the rate, volume, and quality of the work we andour teams produce.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from THE Three COMMITMENTS of LEADERSHIP by TOM ENDERSBE. Copyright © 2012 by Tom Endersbe, Jay Therrien, and Jon Wortmann. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071774599
• ISBN 13: 9780071774598
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208