Do leaders have to downgrade ethical or moral standards in order to succeed in the business marketplace?  High-Performance Ethics authors Wes Cantrell and James Lucas, say that the answer is definitely, “No.”  Cantrell, the former CEO of Lanier, and Lucas, President and CEO of Luman Consultants International, outline ways to make ethical decisions (based on the Ten Commandments) that lead to highly successful business practices and increase the likelihood of a healthier bottom line.  High-Performance Ethics includes tips on how to lead a team with integrity, practical tools for resisting the pressure to compromise workplace standards and encouragement for workers who want to see strong businesses and strong values flourish.  The authors include vignettes from Cantrell’s 40 years at Lanier to illustrate real-life business scenarios.  The writing, though influenced by the Ten Commandments, is business savvy and useful across all organizational perspectives.  Ten Principles are included, with chapter assigned to each that give steps in how to ethically operate/improve your organization.  Briefly, they include:

1. First Things Only (priorities)
2. Ditch the Distractions (keep your eye on the game and not the score)
3. Align With Reality (never claim support for a bad cause)
4. Find Symmetry (without whole life symmetry, your life is on a crash course)
5. Respect the Wise (honoring the savvy within your organization)
6. Protect the Souls (you can’t climb high on the backs of others)
7. Commit to the Relationships (without partners, big wins are mere dreams)
8. Spread the Wealth (you take theirs, you may lose yours)
9. Speak the Truth (place a premium on truth and squash the grapevine)
10. Limit Your Desires (you may find a greener pasture, but it may be artificial turf)

High-Performance Ethics is a practical and wisdom-packed resource for leaders who want to do things the right way and have the right results, ethically, morally, and financially.

Developing healthy relationships is a normal desire within each of us.  According to the authors of Love the Life You Live, Neil Clark Warren and Les Parrott, it is imperative that we become whole and emotionally healthy ourselves, since a relationship can only be as healthy as the least healthy person in it.  With a candid and realistic approach, Love the Life You Live guides each of us to becoming a more complete person by helping us recognize our blind spots, learn to be more authentic, strengthen our social skills, put the past into perspective and more.  Chapters include self-tests and practical suggested activities. While everyone longs for healthy relationships, inner contentment and peace, the journey toward emotional wholeness is hard work. But it's the most significant thing anyone can do for his or her relationships.

Love the Life You Live is divided into “Three Secrets:”  Secret #1 is called Profound Significance and includes topics, Tuning In to Your Self-Talk and Moving Past Your Past.  Secret #2, Unswerving Authenticity, includes discussions, Discovering Your Blind Spots and Harnessing Your Wild Side (personal impulses versus chaos or magnificent gains).  The third, Self-Giving Love, completes the “secrets” with offering understanding through Reading Your Social Barometer and Loving Like Your Life Depended On It.

Parrott and Warren use these topics to guide the reader to “experience a life of emotional and spiritual health, beginning today!”

In the July 7th issue of Economist, there was an interesting article on the changing values of today’s corporation from two U.S. retailing titans who view things differently.

The CEOs of The Container Store and Whole Foods Market indicated that for these two firms, the wants, needs and expectations of the employees and customers are placed above the desires of the shareholders.  The concept is that if one takes care of the employee and customer first, the shareholders are happy with the results in the long-term.  The success of each company would suggest that the concept has strong merit.  The article also admits this philosophy works best in new, growing companies versus established ones.

Conversely, so often publicly held companies focus primarily in serving one master, the investor, and accordingly short-term results can easily take supremacy.

What Wall Street wants in financial results this quarter can cause a shortsighted focus by a board of directors and executive leadership such that long-range tactics are ignored and employee morale is liquidated.

I’d suggest the ideal formula is three fold… that the interests of all three stakeholders (investors, customers and employees) must be the focus in the organization’s strategy for optimal long-term performance.  When management aligns all three, it’s amazing how positive the results can be.

Let me cite three examples, all firms we’ve had the pleasure of having as clients: Herschend Family Entertainment, a family-owned theme park company based in Missouri and Georgia; Gregory Inc., a privately-held graphics company in Kansas; and Harbor Retirement Associates, a senior living and assisted living company based in Florida.  Here’s what they each said about how they implement a set of values that honors all three constituencies.

From Joel Manby, president of Herschend Family Entertainment:

“The Herschends (owners) want us to focus on three constituencies equally and therefore they have a three pronged objective for management:

1.   Profit growth with a proper return on investment
2.   Exceed our customer's expectations
3.   Be a ‘great place to work for great people’ and lead as servants

I don’t think you can focus on only one of the three and have a great company over time.  There is a natural tension between all three objectives and that is what leadership is all about; figuring out how to navigate the tension and keep all three groups content.  I think that you need all three to be an enduring and successful company over the long term.  We are just lucky that we have owners who really believe that.”

David Wierengo, president of Gregory, from a speech he recently made to graduate students:

“The investor, the customer and the employee are all best served by the financial strength of the company.  The successful company understands the need to share this strength with all three.  Revenue, profits and cash are the expected and required return of investment by all three stakeholders.  If any one group fails to share the fruit of the proceeds, all three will be destined to lose.”

Addressing the employee and customer priorities, Tim Smick, co-owner of Harbor Retirement Associates of Vero Beach, Florida contributed:

“We invest significant moneys and energy into the inculcation of our core values into all 1,100 of our associates. One of those core values, respect, is central to all we do.  In fact, it is very difficult to expect our associates to fully value and foster the dignity and individuality of each of our residents if indeed they don’t feel respected themselves.  This core value of ‘respect’ is key to the way we go about motivating one another.  Too often in our industry, management attempts to overuse two tools, fear and rewards, to achieve the results for which they are aiming.  It is true that the fear of losing one’s job is a short-term motivator and so is the notion of cash bonuses for a job well done.  However, we don’t believe you can motivate the best people with fear and money over the long-term.  People are best motivated by passion.  If it doesn’t come from within, it doesn’t come.  If we have done our job right in the hiring process we have attracted those who are looking for a calling, not just a job.  We believe a greater sense of purpose and worth in our day-to-day working life will not change the nature of the work but it will certainly make the work more meaningful, satisfying, and as a result, more enjoyable.”

If we see as our “masters,” those who we are striving to serve and satisfy, as all three parties—the owners, customers and associates—only then can we maximize our organization’s potential.

We’ll welcome comments on this subject. 
Email Bruce@dingman.com.

Recently a CEO from a highly respected organization sought to be a candidate for one of our searches.  Listed after his two degrees from state universities was a PhD from a purported school in Amber, Alabama.  The online “school” was not accredited by the regional authority of higher education, nor did it list faculty.  After some research, we found that the cost for the PhD was less than $3,000.

While having my own opinion of such “paper mills,” I surveyed about twenty people including corporate CEOs, VP-human resources, university presidents and provosts, and a recruiter friend in the southeast for their reaction to an applicant having such a degree.  Their reactions were fairly uniform.

One university president said, “We have a faculty member with a valid PhD who also has a bogus degree from a grad school.  We asked him not to list the bogus degree on his credentials (which he agreed to).  My advice to a person with such a degree would be to NEVER mention it on a vita.  There is an immediate question raised by such a degree as to integrity and ability.  Sadly, some have done these quick and easy degrees with the assurance that they are acceptable.  They wasted their money and time, as well.”

A CEO said, “We look for degrees from regionally accredited institutions in the U.S. as well as reputable universities in other countries (there are guidelines for evaluating overseas degrees from unfamiliar institutions).  It does raise a major red flag when a person has a degree from a U.S. institution that is not regionally accredited.  We would not necessarily rule out a person because he/she has a degree from a for profit institution.  Degrees from ‘diploma mills’ would not be counted as acceptable. The questions raised by a person including such a degree on his or her resume are certainly valid and should be explored.”

A corporate CEO said, “When a seemingly accomplished person puts one of these ‘store bought degrees’ on a resume, it makes me suspicious.  It cheapens their resume and I wonder why they did it.”

From the recruiter in Atlanta: “In my opinion, anyone who lists a ‘diploma mill degree’ invalidates their candidacy.”

So…what do we think of the candidate when they list a degree from such a school?  We consider their judgment to be faulty and, if hired by our client, it is assumed that they will continue to have faulty judgment.  We have found that insecurity, needed credentials or ego can be a driving force behind including these degrees on a resume.  But whatever the reason, we’re not likely to present these candidates to our client.

Regarding the applicant initially mentioned, his track record was so substantial he did not need a PhD.  However, we doubted his wisdom in including this degree on his resume, which was further complicated by a note that he had been accepted for enrollment in another questionable institution.

Guest Contributor, Dr. Richard Biery, of The BroadBaker Group

The July/August (2008) issue of the Harvard Business Review has a short report on an unusual study that, in its very design is fascinating, but its conclusions are even more striking and run counter to traditional views of masculinity and its relationship to leadership….

…They learned that their macho behavior got in the way of their leadership effectiveness.  “The leaders who excelled were mission-driven people who cared about their fellow worker, were good listeners and willing to learn.”…

…This lesson in the power of an organizational culture that strives to combine the key virtues of truth-seeking (an attribute of integrity), excellence (another attribute of integrity) and respect (an attribute of compassion) with humility is deep.  Everything begins with core values, what we deem virtues, and profoundly affects organizational performance, including employee growth and sense of well-being.  As a friend of mine says, “Culture eats strategy for lunch.”

For the complete article: http://www.broadbaker.com/Newslttr%207-08.htm

Dr. Richard Biery, a long time friend of The Dingman Company, has a Board Governance and Leadership Consulting Practice.  He can be reached at RMBiery@BroadBaker.com.

It’s time for renewal.  Reflections from the Lamp is going to be renamed and gain a fresh style.  Our next newsletter, as well as our web site, will have a new look and feel, although it will still offer insights on management, the search industry and an occasional musing.

We invite you to offer a suggested name for the newsletter.  If your suggestion is chosen, we’ll send you as a thank you a $200 check.  Just email suggestions to Bruce@dingman.com.