Martin Luther King–The Change Agent Lives On

Last week I was asked to give a talk on leadership inside Sapient. This challenge was given to me by the head of our People Strategy team (we don’t like the words: human resources). It was a wonderful assignment for which I had two months to prepare and think through what I would say. I devised a new framework,  focused on 7 elements of leadership, to provide some structure. The topic of leadership is so vast that in many ways, you can talk about anything and connect it subjectively, so these 7 elements helped to guide my thought process.

My brief lasted almost 3 hours and featured many supporting video clips. The later half of the presentation was focused on Vision- and the category I define as “Interpretive Skills.” The ability to frame a compelling vision of the future and then move others to join in that vision is at the heart of what leaders do. It is subtle, hard, and very rewarding to develop this skill. Some have it intuitively, others have to work to focus on a vision. Rest assured that those who don’t envision a future can and will be subsumed another’s vision. It happens every day to millions of people.

Steven Covey has an amazing exercise in his world famous 7 Habits book that continues to have a huge impact on me. Covey says that successful people do everything by, “beginning with the end in mind.” In order to do so, he has you envision your funeral and then write your own obituary. It is a humbling and very motivating exercise.

Someone who did not need a Steven Covey to explain successful habits was Dr. Martin Luther King. This week and month really belong to him. To call him a change agent is an understatement. His ability to forge a vision of the future drove his behavior and changed the history of our country and the world. King actually envisioned exactly what Covey discusses in terms of his funeral and obituary during a speech he gave in1968. I have this speech on CD and every time I hear it, a new part pops out to me. Aspiring change agents should consider writing your own obituary and ask if it is filled with the same bold vision that Dr. King puts forth here. Clear language, and his passion surrounds every stanza. Here are excerpts from a sermon he delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968, when Dr King was just 39 years of age. The comments in parenthesis are crowd reactions.

“Every now and then I guess we all think realistically (Yes, sir) about that day when we will be victimized with what is life’s final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it.And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don’t think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, “What is it that I would want said?” And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)

I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that’s all I want to say.

If I can help somebody as I pass along,

If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong,

Then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,

If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,

If I can spread the message as the master taught,

Then my living will not be in vain.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.”

A Manufacturing Look at Change Agents

This article from the manufacturing space caught my attention. The framework from Bain Consulting on successful change is solid and thoughtful.

“After reviewing many case studies of successful change, Bain codified a four-step formula for navigating the change process well. The steps are: plan, lead, operate, and track. They sound simple, but they aren’t.

Planning requires a robust self-assessment, a review of customer and product roadmaps, and the development of new opportunities, spelling out the business case, risk and investment requirements for each. Leading requires selecting and directing the right change team, with the right people in the right roles to achieve effective engagement in the process. Businesses should avoid the trap of underinvesting in the change process.

Operating demands treating the change itself like a business, with its own plan and decisions, sometimes requiring tradeoffs with other production or corporate targets. Under pressure from opposing goals, solid change plans can ebb away one decision, one day at a time, Senturia warns. The toughest calls to make are those vs. people, especially long-timers who undermine the plan and/or submit sloppy work, but tolerance of these backsliders conveys the message that the company isn’t serious about change, he adds.

Tracking is the fourth and final step in lasting change, which means finding the two or three key indicators that show change results in increased production, bigger market share, or fatter profits. Organized correctly, computer dashboards can help; otherwise, they, too, can overwhelm with too much data.”

Beyond the framework I especially liked this sentence:

Bain suggests manufacturers encourage departments to resolve conflicts among themselves instead of appealing them to management and visibly reward change agents with promotions and higher salaries.”

This is the type of thinking drives behavior, motivating not only change agents, but also their peers who observe such rewards and seek the same.

Gates the Change Agent Enters and The Clock Ticks

As the New Year begins, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is one to watch closely.   He posesses two attributes that are particularly likely to define his success as a change agent: strong listening skills and the ability to forge a vision - for the future of the US military.

Gates has already impressed many with his direct, yet humble confirmation hearing and a pre Christmas visit to Iraq where he spent days soaking in the situation and asking questions.  Directly following his swearing in, Gates stated:

“I intend to travel quite soon to Iraq and meet with our military leaders and other personnel there. I look forward to hearing their honest assessments of the situation on the ground and to having the benefit of their advice — unvarnished and straight from the shoulder — on how to proceed in the weeks and months ahead.”

Secretary Gates’ remarks to the DoD upon taking over the Department reveal a seasoned professional who understands that change does not begin and end with the political. It is clear that he is smart enough to take time to listen to the senior executives who will outlast his tenure as Secretary.

“Over the years of leading big institutions, I have learned something important: leaders come and go, but the professionals endure long after the appointees are gone. The key to successful leadership, in my view, is to involve in the decision making process, early and often, those who ultimately must carry out the decisions. I will do my best to do that.”

Regarding vision, there are several things to consider. Secretary Gates’ vision must be the President’s vision in regard to Iraq. Yet he promised during his confirmation hearing to be his own man. We will know more this week how the President sees the end state in Iraq, and we must assume that Gates is aligned with whatever plan the President roposes.  It will be how much truth to power Secretary Gates speaks in the weeks and months to follow that will define his credibility with the new Congress and the senior military leaders throughout DoD who must execute this complex and troubling war.

The larger vision for Gates will come through his ability to present a concept of the military’s evolution in the 21st century. His predecessor started many tracks that Gates must now abandon or make his own, including deeper collaboration with State Department. There is no doubt that Gates knows how to bring a bold vision to whatever he is working on.   As a university president, for example, Gates made significant progress in deploying his “Vision 2020″ plan, which, according to his write up in Wikipedia, involved “becoming one of the top 10 public universities by the year 2020.”  Let’s hope the he can add the same speed and specificity to military transformation, while at the same time addressing the moving target that is Iraq.