Building Unity
July 2007

Announcing  a self-published book by Paul Werder coming out in Autumn 2007!     

Building Unity: Experiencing Love, Peace and Wisdom in Business and Daily Life
   
This book begins where Scott Peck left off with his groundbreaking work on in The Different Drum.  Scott Peck gave us a model that showed us the way to genuine community.  In Building Unity we expand on his model and add a spiritual healing component that can help people of all faiths and walks of life accelerate their journey toward what he was pointing to: world peace on a global level and personal effectiveness and group harmony in your immediate experience with others.  To whet your appetite for this book we hope you enjoy the following business parable:

The Leader's Gift  

This is a true story that illustrates the need for transformation in the way we work together in organizations and groups. It also shows that this transformational time is already here.

A long time ago, just before the twenty-first century, there was a very wise and experienced vice president of engineering in a global company who could tolerate nothing less than being number one in everything. To say that the company had a competitive culture would be an understatement. However, this vice president, John, had created a collaborative environment among his five engineering managers, who were all very talented and accomplished.

John could see that he would be moving up the career ladder and would be asked to choose his successor. Word of his eventual transfer was impossible to keep from his five ambitious managers. He was concerned that the competitive opportunity could damage their collaborative culture, since it existed inside the company shark tank. He also had a hunch that the group would not readily accept whichever person he chose, so he came up with a novel idea. He brought all five managers into a session and simply said, “You all know I will be leaving this position in about two years, and some of you may want my job. I will likely have a lot of say about who is selected. All of you are potentially qualified, and you all know what my values are. There is only one criterion that I will use to make my recommendation when the time comes. I have written it down and placed it in this sealed envelope. I will only tell you that the last thing we need around here is a free-for-all competition for this promotion at the expense of others. We will open this envelope after the eventual selection is made, and I am asking you not to discuss it until then.” With that he asked all five of them to sign the envelope to obtain their commitment [to what?] and ended the meeting.

The five managers were annoyed, amused, and engaged all at once. They talked about it among themselves, of course, speculating about that one single criterion. They debated that it might be customer service or contribution to the bottom line, innovation or the ability to bring new products to market in a hurry. But after awhile the speculation became a distraction. They shrugged it off as just another challenge from their quirky boss.

A little over a year later, John announced to his team that a huge new customer opportunity was coming to them. Executives from the prospect organization would be coming in for a presentation in thirty days. If the deal came to fruition, it would be the single biggest sale in the division’s history and would have ripple effects throughout the company. The organization began to exhibit the nervous excitement that always came about when big opportunities surfaced. But this time it was different. The five managers started to sense that this was their big chance to make an impression and set themselves up for the eventual promotion, and they went into their “let’s get it done” mode.The envelope had been mostly forgotten. Meetings became a bit tense, and conversations were more and more abbreviated as the big day approached.

By the morning of the presentation, everything was set to score the big win. The least experienced of the group and the youngest by almost a decade was Tim. He was scheduled to make the last part of the presentation because it involved the maintenance of their product, which was his arena. But Tim never got a chance to make his presentation because the client quickly threw the team a curve ball with a new requirement that no one was prepared to speak to. [vague; spell out, or make up, actual requirement] Confusion reigned as the team floundered and backpedaled, unable to respond skillfully. Tim sat quietly for a while and observed the prospect team becoming more and more removed from the conversation. When a quiet moment presented itself, Tim made eye contact with the leader of the prospect team and said, “Now you’ll see how our creative process really works. We love to do the impossible with no notice around here, and you have just given us a great opportunity to practice what sets us apart.”

Tim’s comment settled everyone down, and the team went into problem-solving mode. Within twenty minutes the prospect was asking all the right questions again, and it was clear that the game was on. When everyone stood up and shook hands, the prospect leader looked at Tim and made a special point of thanking him for his contribution to the meeting: “You didn’t say much but what you did say counted.”

Tim smiled and said, “These guys are the best mentors in the world. They’ve all taught me a lot.” Everyone left the meeting with the feeling that all was right with the world.

A week later, John called his group together on short notice. “I have decided it’s time to announce my successor, even though I won’t be leaving for another four months,” he said. He pulled out the envelope and read the statement everyone was waiting for: “Leadership is given to the one who brings out the best from others and makes everyone else successful.”

John waited to see their reactions and finally said, “I hope it won’t come as too big a surprise that I’ve asked Tim to be the new vice president.”

One of the older guys sent Tim a grudging compliment, saying, “It was that comment to the client that saved our bacon, wasn’t it?”

John jumped in before Tim could respond. “No,it was something subtle that I can always count on from Tim. When the prospect complimented him, Tim passed the credit on to you guys. Yes, he was smart enough to turn that meeting around, but he was also wise enough to have the team get the win. Tim is the most selfless leader we have here.”

After a quiet pause, Tim spoke up. “I didn’t really have my eye on this job, but I’ll be happy to do whatever is asked of me. I trust you will all teach me to be a good leader.” This happened in a company known for being a shark tank.