The Big Idea

Charles woke before the alarm sounded. His sleep patterns had become tenuous in the previous months. In the midst of it all, he had tried to establish a bit of a routine as part of his path back to normalcy.

After he showered and shaved, he went to a local diner for his usual: scrambled eggs and turkey bacon with wheat toast—no butter. While he was sitting at the counter, someone tapped him on this shoulder.

He turned around to see his mom, dad, and Samantha! He was speechless. He hadn’t seen Sam in weeks. This was not how he expected to start his day.

Stunned and a bit disoriented by the surprise, Charles regained his composure and said, “Hello! It’s so great to see you!”

Bending down on one knee, he gave Sam the biggest hug of her life. He didn’t want to let her go. The flood of emotions was overwhelming. Charles began to cry. Through his tears, he looked at Sam and said, “How are you?” She nodded and began to cry herself. She wasn’t sure why she was crying, maybe just because her daddy was crying. They hugged again as Charles scooped her up in his arms. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

“Well, Sam said she needed to see you, and so we called your office to see if we could surprise you. They put us through to a nice young man named Blake. He encouraged us to come here this morning,” Charles’s dad said.

“He did? Uh,” Charles stammered, “I have a trip today. I’m headed on a visit with some of my team.”

“Blake said he knew that and would cover for you—he said he cancelled your flight.”

“He did?”

“Yes, he seems like a nice young man,” his dad added.

“Blake is a great guy. Just let me call the team and tell them what has happened.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” Charles’s dad insisted. “Blake said he would take care of everything. He recommended several parks, a couple of restaurants, and a show tonight. He booked our hotel near where you’re staying, too. He was better than a travel agent.”

“Did we tell you we think he’s really nice?” Charles’s mom asked.

“You’re right—he is an amazing guy.” Charles squeezed Sam really tight and said, “Let’s go to the park!”

As Charles and his family were headed out on their unexpected day of fun, Blake, Kim, and Gary were about to head out on their own adventure.

The flight was scheduled to leave just after 10:00. Kim and Gary were already at the gate when Blake arrived.

“What are you doing here?” Kim asked. “Where’s Charles—is everything okay?”

“Yes, Charles is great. He had family show up unexpectedly, and I told him I would cover this trip for him.”

“Glad to have you,” Gary said.

Just before they boarded, Blake asked Kim to tell him about their destination.

“This company is very different from the first company,” she began.

“I guessed that, when I saw the email that said we should dress in business casual,” Gary said.

“Yes, business casual is the norm—you’ll find this place much less formal than the financial services environment of the first visit. But don’t let that deceive you. This, too, is a large global business that is very successful. They are also very serious about helping all their people grow. It’s actually part of their employment brand,” Kim said.

Gary said, “Explain what you mean by ‘employment brand.’”

“Gladly.” Kim continued, “An employment brand is similar to any other brand. In its simplest form, a brand is what you want people to think about when they hear your name. Some say a brand is a promise. As competition for high-caliber employees has increased in recent years, companies like the one we will visit today have decided they should offer more than a paycheck to attract and retain the brightest and best. Part of their employment brand, their promise, is growth and development opportunities for their employees.”

“Let’s probe this issue today,” Blake said. “Based on what I’ve heard, this approach has given many organizations a real advantage when recruiting top talent. People want more than a paycheck and basic benefits. As far as I am concerned, this is the new normal if you want to attract the brightest and best people.”

“Do you think the promise of personal growth can really entice people to work for a company?” Gary asked.

“I think so,” Blake said. “Most people do want to grow—especially leaders. Sometimes they may need a little encouragement to combat complacency, but the best leaders are always learners.”

When they arrived at their destination, they were planning to rent a car, but their host for the day, Chad Freeman, surprised them by meeting them as they came through the airport.

Chad was in his early 30s, young for a vice president of Operations. He was confident and casual in his jeans and a sweatshirt, redefining business casual for the team.

As they walked to the parking lot, Chad shared a little of his story. “After interviewing with half a dozen companies, I just felt I could grow the most here. I wanted to lead, and it was as if they had a sign hanging over the front door that said, ‘Leaders Made Here.’ That’s what clinched the deal for me.”

Hearing this, the team looked at each other all thinking the same thing: He is one of the people we just talked about!

“Do you feel the company delivered on its promise?” Blake asked.

“Absolutely! Coming here is a decision I’ve never regretted,” Chad said.

“Well, I hoped you would say yes, or we’d be headed back to the airport,” Gary said only half in jest.

The drive to the headquarters was short but long enough for each of the group members to share highlights from their own leadership journey.

They walked into the offices and found an environment that reflected their host or vice versa. It was clean and comfortable—but very casual. As they walked through the offices, Kim thought she saw a dog under someone’s desk. Just as she was about to ask, Chad interrupted her thought.

“Yes, you did see a dog under that desk. Well- behaved dogs are welcome!”

Gary’s facial expression revealed his disbelief. He had never been anywhere like this before. Kim and Blake didn’t seem to be as taken aback by the canine co-worker.

Blake said, “I know what you two are thinking, and no, I don’t think we can bring our dogs to work.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Gary said.

The group made their way out onto a patio. “Let’s meet out here,” Chad said. “It’s such a beautiful day. I can’t stand the thought of being inside.”

Everyone took a seat and a moment to acknowledge the splendor of the day. Chad broke the silence. “How can I help you today?”

Blake said, “As you know, we want to create a leadership culture, and based on our research, you have figured it out. We’re here to learn all we can.”

“You are very kind. I wouldn’t say we have figured it out, but we have learned a lot over the last twenty years. We have learned a few things that work in our industry and our culture, and we have learned some things that do not work.”

“Let’s start with some of the things that have worked,” Kim said.

“Then we want to hear some of the things that haven’t worked,” added Gary.

Before Chad could respond, Blake chimed in by saying, “And, I would like to know why: why do you think the things that worked, worked, and why do you think the things that didn’t work, didn’t?”

“That’s a mouthful!” Chad laughed.

“Please don’t ask me to say it again,” Blake smiled.

“I think I know what you mean. We have done so many different things to create the culture you see here today. We hold our strategies tightly and our tactics loosely. Virtually everything has a season, and during that time, we are constantly evaluating and tweaking—both programs and our processes. Sometimes we stop doing one thing and start doing another.”

We hold our strategies tightly
and our tactics loosely.

“Give us an example of something you have stopped doing,” Kim said.

“Well, let me think. . . . Here’s an easy one: we stopped requiring all our leadership training to be done face-to-face. I know that may seem to be a blinding flash of the obvious, but for us, it was a huge shift. We are a face-to-face, highly relational culture. Encouraging people to be trained via e-learning, webinars, and simulcasts was a big deal.

“That decision has helped with speed and reach and also reduced our cost significantly. It’s a simple thing, and some companies have been doing it for many years. We were late adopters, but we’ve had tremendous results.”

“Sounds simple enough,” said Gary.

“So your training model is decentralized?” Blake asked.

“Not really—nor is it centralized. It’s a hybrid. Some of it originates here and some in the field. And, we still offer many courses live, both here and in the field. We now just have more options. We’ve become very comfortable with this multifaceted approach.”

Kim had a follow-up question ready, “Okay, that was helpful. Can you tell us something you’ve always done?”

Without hesitation, Chad said, “That’s easy—our mentoring program.”

“What can you tell us about it?” Blake asked.

“We believe leaders can learn a lot from technology and classes, but there is no substitute for what can be learned from other leaders. Every leader is trained on how to be an effective mentor. Every leader is also encouraged to be a mentor and to have a mentor. We have been doing this for decades. I will be shocked if we ever stop our emphasis on mentoring.”

“Is it a formal program?” Gary was curious. He had never had a real mentor.

“The training is required for all leaders but beyond that it is not a structured or required program.”

“Do you know about how many of your leaders are mentoring someone?”

“Eighty-four percent as of year-end,” Chad said.

“That sounds really high for an ‘informal, unstructured program,’” Kim said.

“Don’t fall into the trap of thinking something has to be required to be part of your culture,” Chad responded. “Mentoring is certainly part of our culture.”

The next two hours were very helpful. Chad shared a lot of war stories. He talked about his experience with funding issues, senior leader involvement, return on investment, staffing, and more.

Blake knew their time was almost up. He said, “Chad, I have a final question for you. What has been the single-most important thing you have done to accelerate the growth of your leaders?”

“We don’t think leadership development is driven by any single factor—there are many things that are important. We’ve talked about most of them today. However, I think your question is still valid because all factors are not created equally. Some have had greater impact than others. I would say the one that has helped our leaders the most is what we call ‘The Opportunity.’”

Gary stopped taking notes and looked at Chad. “Can you tell us a little more?”

“In the early days, we thought the big deal was training—and we still think it is hugely important. But we realized training alone rarely accelerated the growth of a leader. What made it real, and made the training come alive, was the actual opportunity to lead.

“One of the questions we asked our leaders early on was ‘What are the things that have helped you grow the most as a leader?’ Many did mention training experiences of one sort or another, and some referenced books, classes, mentors, et cetera. But the vast majority said their greatest learning came as a result of actually leading something—The Opportunity.”

“So what did you do with that insight?” Kim asked.

“We work to give emerging leaders ample opportunities to lead—as early as possible in their career.”

“That’s it?” Kim expected a more complicated answer.

“That’s it—but don’t be deceived by the simplicity of it. We found it very hard to do.”

“Why?” Blake asked.

“We discovered that for most people—leaders included—the natural tendency is to avoid risk. So, when a new project would come along, the leader responsible would assign a seasoned leader regardless of the opportunity—a turnaround assignment, a new product team, a start-up venture, a merger or acquisition. It did not matter what was needed; our existing leaders rarely gave an emerging or inexperienced leader a shot. This did nothing to help young leaders grow and develop in a real-world setting.”

“That is exactly the type thing our emerging leaders need, too—real-world experience,” Kim said.

“We all do,” Chad said. “But let me be clear: This does not mean we always give the next opportunity to the emerging leader. Sometimes, the seasoned leader is the right choice. However, because we recognize the power of The Opportunity, we are consciously working to provide it more often. As a result, we have many young leaders doing significant work that their counterparts at other companies won’t have the chance to do for a decade or more.”

“That explains why you’re the number 2 guy in a multibillion-dollar business at such a young age.”

“You are partially correct, but opportunity is not everything. In isolation, it is rarely enough, but as part of a larger plan, it makes a big difference.”

“Thanks again for sharing your time and your story, “Blake said. “It is easy to see why your company is successful. Please let us know when you are in our town. We would love to show you around our place.”

“Can I bring my dog?” Chad asked with a big grin.

“Only if he stays in the car,” Gary responded.

As the team said their good-byes, Kim whispered to Chad, “Bring the dog; he can stay in my office.”