Lead Where You Are

In my first blog post, I said I would tell you the Phil K story. Here it is…

It was the worst class I have had in my 25 years of teaching. It was a small class of about 17 or so…usually a good number. And I was teaching one of my favorite subjects - organizational behavior. But, many of these students were employed at a local defense manufacturer and they were the most negative, most cynical group of students I have ever encountered. This group was a major downer. We were only a few weeks into the term when I got to where I dreaded Tuesday nights.

Every week we would discuss the topics and as usual I always peppered the discussion with stories from my days with the “Bohicans” ("bend over, here it comes again") or some insight from one of my consulting projects. But every practical application I shared was met with an attitude and some form of “That’s great, but that would never work at our place.”

The second to the last week of class Phil K said, “You’ve worked in and with lots of organizations, done lots of research, and have been teaching this stuff for a while. Tell us what works.” Well, I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, “I’ve been telling you what works all semester, but y’all don’t want hear it.” Instead, I said to myself, “OK, one more time, maybe they’ll get it this time.”

So I started in with transformational leadership, goal-setting, job enrichment. All the “stuff that works” that had solid research support and techniques I had often used myself. As soon as I began, Phil started shaking his head, as did several others in the class.

And I lost it.

I had never done this before, and haven’t done it since then, but I came totally unglued. I walked right up to the closest desk (lucky for Phil he was on the second row) and yelled,

“You guys have told me all semester long about how miserable your situation is, how bad it is. And every time I make a suggestion, you tell me all the reasons why my suggestion won’t work in your organization. Well, let me tell you something, IF IT’S AS BAD AS YOU SAY IT IS YOU HAVE THREE CHOICES: 1)DO WHAT I'VE SUGGESTED, 2)LEAVE AND GO WORK SOME PLACE ELSE, OR 3) SHUT UP!

I know you’re not the CEO and you may not be able to change the entire organization, but dad gummit, you can make a difference in your sphere of influence. So, either do this stuff, leave, or shut up!”

Well, I was pretty sure that would be my last semester. I wasn’t tenured and just knew the students would be complaining to the dean the next day. So, I made a preemptive strike and told the dean what had happened. He was actually proud of me and told me not to worry about it. The last week of class passed uneventfully ... after all, what else could I say?

The next semester I ran into Phil K in the stairwell on my way to class. I couldn’t avoid him or pretend I didn’t see him. We were face to face. I said rather sheepishly, “Hey, Phil.”

He responded with “It’s good to see you. As a matter of fact, I have a long email I have been working on to send to you.” I said, “Yeah, I bet you do.” He said, “No, it’s not like that at all…remember that night you kind of, well, went off on us?” “Yeah I remember,” I said even more sheepishly.

“Well,” continued Phil, “when I saw how passionate you were about what you were saying, I decided to take you up on it. I bought that book we used (A Company of Leaders) for every member of my team and we started reading and discussing one chapter every Thursday afternoon. The team thought it was kind of hokey at first, but I stuck with it – allowed myself the discomfort, as you had taught us. And you know what – it changed our organization! We have VP’s coming to observe my team, and when there are openings in other parts of the plant, managers ask my people to apply. It has changed everything!”

I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe it. Phil took another class with me before he graduated. On the first day of class, I told our story. A friend of Phil’s spoke up when I finished and said, “That’s not the whole story. The rest of the story is that Phil won a corporate-wide award for his leadership.”

Wow, all because I kind of went off.

I run into a lot of people who hide behind the fact that they don’t have a title that gives them some formal authority base. And frankly, that stuff makes me tired. Just like Phil K did, we all can make a difference in our sphere of influence.

So, allow yourself the discomfort and lead where you are.