Start Something That Matters

This book was a fabulous read! Full or valuable content and rich with ideas. Mycoskie talks about the fact that everyone needs supporters and champions, and he was not referring to your clients as being the supporters. Of course that is great and necessary, but he means taking this to a whole new level.

Conscious capitalism as defined by Mycoskie is about making money AND creating a successful business that connects the supporters and champions to something that really matters.

 Mycoskie also talks about the importance of storytelling, reminding us that it is an important part of business success. The challenge is that you must first find your story. Then, you have to find a way to articulate and share the story with passion. Once you determine your story and being a project, you need to commit to telling that story  to everyone, wherever you go!  In the book, he gives the example of his company, Tom’s Shoes. Their story is “We make great shoes and give away a pair to a child in need, for every pair we sell.”

That story is compelling, short, easily remembered, and very easy to get behind and support!

McCoskie describes a 70 day tour they did across the country in a trailer to host events at Nordstroms. They created a film and another project from this tour. They actively used the ideas from their supporters and champions rather than the company doing all the brainstorming. Students came up with an idea to do a Day Without Shoes Event.  Two years later, this turned into a movement- 250,000 people around the world went a day without shoes, this is now an annual event.

Tips to spread your story:

•        List every group to which you have a connection, and who could help share the story and spread the word for you.
•        Social network (yes you must get on Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, You Tube, etc.) your alumni, sports teams, yoga class, church (everywhere you hang out)
•        Tell your story everywhere, to everyone. Let your passion show. This helps you refine the story, and inspires others to share it for you.
•        Find partners- explore ways to partner and merge stories. For example, AT&T and Ralph Lauren partnered with Toms’ Shoes
•        Manage Your Online Story Line – ensure your online persona is really WHO you are
•        Find the influencers who love your story
•        Face your fears- everyone has them, but this is the thing that no one talks about (but is always there)
•        Make what you have count!
•        Keep It Simple (always have a notebook or your cell phone to record your ideas, comments from others, etc))
•        Build Trust – talk openly (compliment publically and criticize privately
•        Remember, that giving is GOOD business

To learn more about this book, or to order a copy and get started on starting something matters in your business, follow:

What is an Authentic Leader?

David Irvine, author of The Authentic Leader, and I enjoyed a great conversation on my Conversations with Charmaine Radio Show on this very topic. David states that leadership is not a position, it’s a decision. His perspective really resonated with me. With many of the teams I work with as a speaker, consultant or facilitator, one of the discussions that comes up is about demonstrating leadership, even if you are not a leader by title.

The authentic leader, according to David, is about inspiring and engaging people to work toward a compelling vision – by seeing the gifts and potential of others more clearly than they see it in themselves and being able to communicate it in their own unique way. He also states that leadership is more about presence and not the position. Authentic leaders, states Irvine, aligns the interests, values, and goals of the organization with the interests, values, and goals of the employee.

We also talked extensively about the importance of trust in an organization, and changing the culture to be more trusting and trustworthy. This can be a significant challenge for even the high performing and healthy teams. One of the teams I worked with had a very moving conversation about trust, the importance of being vulnerable and taking risks. As the team talked about the discomfort with vulnerability, they discovered that this was blocking their ability to communicate courageously (having the conversations that matter most and are mostly avoided). This resulted in the team working pretty well together, but, in times of uncertainty, change and pressure, the sensitive issues were not discussed. In the teams’ desire “not to rock the boat” the boat ended up getting rocked because the little issues became big issues.  The team discovered that little things grow bigger and while discomfort and vulnerability can be a challenge, it is much more uncomfortable to deal with the issue when it has become a crisis.

Some of the ideas the group brainstormed together to build and sustain trust in the organization were:

•        To communicate regularly, openly and intentionally
•        To refrain from gossip
•        To acknowledge one another, individual and team accomplishments
•        To raise issues earlier on
•        To set time aside on each weekly staff meeting for open dialogue
•        Regular team building opportunities
•       Exposure to one another’s roles

They also developed a charter, which is something I always enjoy facilitating. Their team charter set forth agreements about how the team would work together, communicate together, and succeed together. The team established “norms” and expectations around communication, conflict resolution, staff meeting structure, sharing of knowledge. Their charter has become an important document in their team, has provided them with “permission” to hold one another accountable, and most importantly, it was what they used to design their team. I have lots of faith that this team will be highly successful, their investment in team will impact them positively now and in time to come.

And in the words of David Irvine, this team really demonstrated leadership not by position, but by a decision and their presence in the team.

You can listen to the interview with David Irvine and Seanna Collins here.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/02/15/guests-david-irvine-and-seanna-collins

To find out more about David’s book Authentic Leadership, click here: