Bryon Sabol

Besides for the overuse of the phrase “unbelievably interesting” and “interesting”, this is a pretty awesome graphical presentation by RSA and Daniel Pink. I first became aware of Pink when I heard him say that the “MFA is the new MBA.” Having a MFA and being a MBA student, I can tell you firsthand that this argument is completely ridiculous.  Though the MFA has served me well and advanced my career, I have a lot of MFA classmates who are working at restaurants just like in college. To Pink’s defense, he was simply stating that creative people are an asset to their companies especially in a global economy where business skills are becoming more common.  I agree more with Washington Post writer Philip Kennicott’s observation that the statement is an obvious one, but I kind of liked hearing the MFA getting a little more respect.

This YouTube video is about how to motivate people. Are people motivated by incentives and more money? Pink claims no. What do you think?

The Washington Post’s “On Leadership” discussion section asked the question today, “In a crisis, organizations are advised to be as open and transparent as possible. In that spirit BP has vowed to continue its live ’spillcam’ coverage this week as engineers attempt to plug the oil well with the risky ‘top kill’ maneuver. Has this been the right strategy?”

Panelist Katherine Tyler Scott, who is Managing Partner of Ki ThoughtBridge, a leadership consultancy, and is author, most recently, of Transforming Leadership: The Episcopal Church of the 21st Century, offers some lessons that she hopes BP and other organizations take away from the disaster.

I believe that Scott’s suggestion number 2 (Your core values should supersede concerns about profit; return to them and monitor whether they are being lived out internally.) is her most important, but it needs to be expanded to define core values. Companies values must be for the betterment of society and not solely for the profit of shareholders. A company cannot survive if the community that it resides in is collapsing. A company should not take risky ventures that will harm the communities and environments that allow them to operate. It’s clear that BP forgot or, worse, didn’t care about this important element of business when they undertook the risk of deep sea oil drilling. Environmental stewardship and the “betterment of society” was not an active part in BP’s “core values.” It needs to be a part of every company’s mission and values.

What are your thoughts on Scott’s and the other panelists’ suggestions?

1. Organizational trust is your greatest asset. It is developed from a culture of openness, honesty, and integrity. Protecting your brand should not be the first response. So, tell the truth, tell the truth.

2. Your core values should supersede concerns about profit; return to them and monitor whether they are being lived out internally.

3. Position your organization to respond to crisis before crisis occurs. Events will happen that are beyond your control. Anticipate what you can, but know that you can’t know everything that will happen. Therefore, equip your leaders with adaptive skills so they can navigate through difficult times leaving the company’s integrity and good reputation intact.

4. When you do something wrong or something goes wrong, acknowledge it and assume responsibility to do everything you can to fix the problem. It’s a blow to the public persona of any company when its short comings are expressed for all to see. But an honest assessment of the problems leads to responsible responses.

5. Use the media to inform and educate the public, not to sensationalize the crisis or saturate it with data that is not understood by the average person. Your job is to create understanding, not confusion, and to manage expectations. When you leave a vacuum of understanding, the media fills it and it isn’t always helpful.

6. The more successful your company is, the more intentional you need to be to guard against cultural insularity and arrogance. Bad things can, and do, happen to good companies. What matters now is your impact, not your intent.