Lessons from 9/11 - Honor the Heroes all around us

There are few moments in time where life shifts into a whole new reality; where people we see day in and day out, or have never met attain a new role in our lives.  Heroes. 

9/11 was one of those moments where the world changed in an instant in many ways.  Somehow the events of that day left all of us a little stunned, realizing how fragile life is, hugging our family a bit more tightly and reminding us that tomorrow is promised to no one.

I remember holding my 9 month old first born son in my arms watching those events unfold, wondering what the world I brought him into would become.  It was surreal, to say the least and I know there are many who have deeper and more intimate experiences with that day.  But 9/11 was a day that forever changed me, and how I see the world.

This summer my family took and East Coast Vacation to visit the historic sites of our amazing country.  We saw the spots where all 3 of our Nations Capital Buildings were built, Wall Street, Congress, The Liberty Bell, Freedom Trail, Old North Church, etc.  But none of these historic sites compared with the 9/11 memorial and ground zero.  This place, once a thriving area filled with laughter, ambitions, and go-getters has become a hallowed ground and a place of deep sadness and reflection.  It was there, tracing our fingers over the names of people who lost their lives in this senseless tragedy that I encountered something profound.



9/11 Memorial with new Freedom Tower Reflected in it.

The memorial is designed as a reflecting pond - representing the tears of millions pouring forth, pounding in unison, relentless in their purpose to honor the fallen.  The names are laid out in order of the floors they died on, next to their co-workers, and people who gave their lives as first responders in each tower, pentagon, and the flights.  It was hard to take it all in, to think of the families affected by this tragedy and the magnitude of impact each person's life had.  My own tears fell like a river as I walked along the memorial, even now thinking about it, it evokes the same response.  Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, unborn children from all walks of life perished.  It was overwhelming.


Flight 93 Heroes led by Todd M. Beamer

I want to give honor to all who died, but there was one particular area of the memorial that impacted me the most.  It was the section dedicated to those on Flight 93 who led a charge against the terrorist to ground that plane to save countless others lives while losing their own.  On the wall, one name in particular is worn, Todd M. Beamer, the leader of that charge to take back the plane.  Above him, the name of a pregnant woman and her unborn child.  These men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving their lives to save others.  The same is true for the police officers, firemen, and co-workers who went back in to help others but never made it out.  Their courage, their desire to save others outweighed their own personal risk.  They are and always will be Heroes. 

There are probably many more names that should be worn, stories we are unaware of, of people who chose to help others vs. save themselves.  They are people who they worked with day to day.  It makes me think about how I do or don't honor, sacrifice, and give myself to my colleagues.  Am I too caught up in my efforts to give myself to others and their success? It's a question all of us should ask, as I'm sure I'm not alone in taking for granted the heroes that I work with everyday and failing to be a hero to them.  These are stories not yet told and those that I hope will never need to be immortalized due to tragedy.

This last week in our little community in Draper, Utah, I encountered another fallen hero, Sgt. Derek Johnson who was gunned down in the line of duty.  We take for granted those who put their lives on the line every day. 

So I just want to declare today that I am grateful for the heroess in my life and I aspire to be their's.  My husband, children, family, friends, Sgt. Pat Evans who is still morning the loss of his best friend, my bosses (current and former), my teammates, our security guards, cafeteria staff, etc. 

Perhaps my greatest takeaway from 9/11 is to not just to honor those that died, but to look around and see those still living that are right in front of us and pour into their lives,  and thank them.  Or to become their hero as well.

First Responder's Wall

 Who are the heroes in your life? How do you honor them? Love your comments below.

MEASURING IMPACT...The Holy Grail

The Holy Grail for learning programs is measuring the impact of training programs, especially when it comes to talent management.  It is a quest that many of us embark on and few achieve.  We invest countless hours of time in designing, developing, and delivering programs, yet how do we measure the impact of our work?

Throughout my career I have become increasingly more convinced and reminded that true impact of programs is measured not only by the changes in that leader, but also how those changes impact their direct reports.  At Adobe, our leadership programs have been designed to tap into a reservoir of amazing knowledge in order to increase the impact of development across our leadership community by learning from each other.  While many programs feature senior leaders coming in to teach on a topic, few require as extensive a commitment, of not only time, but vulnerability as Adobe's Management Essentials Program (ME).

I've been privileged to be a part of an amazing team to build a program that has greatly impacted  our organization.   This program had it's genesis in some of the best practices of our other leadership and management programs here.  After analyzing what worked and exploring the areas of opporutnity we set out to take leaders teaching leaders to a new level. The quest, convincing our leaders to come spend the entire time in the program to share their best practices and mistakes openly and purposely to help others grow.  Through this effort, we not only taught others, but saw great increases in engagement and management capability for the company.

Here are the summary findings (thanks to technology & a great survey by Culture Amp measuring employee engagement):

1. Managers who participate in ME and ME leaders who teach have significantly greater engagement with the organization.
2. Perhaps more importantly, their direct reports not only have higher engagement, but score their managers who participate significantly higher than non-participant managers in key areas of managerial effectiveness. 
3. Lastly, managers who participate and then come back to teach as ME leaders have nearly 3X the impact.

I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the team that conceived of and continues to deliver this great program.  It wouldn't have been possible without Justin Mass, Abby Hawkins, and Jason Franklin, our brilliant instructional designers, our internal and external facilitation network, as well as Laci Brandley who makes this program run flawlessly around the world.  But most importantly, I'd like to thank our leaders (ME Leaders) who have been willing to invest 40+ hours in helping make other leaders great!  While this book shows the impact you have had from a measurement perspective, your impact goes beyond measure and I hope you are proud of this revolution!  Your lives have impacted many in untold ways, especially mine, and I'm grateful for each of you. 

I wanted to share with you our full story in a new book that will be released on Thursday this week (September 5th) called Integrated Talent Management Scorecards. Lynn Schmidt and Toni DeTuncq, editors, gathered stories from global leaders, such as Adobe, on workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management, learning and development, succession management and engagement and retention initiatives.  If you want to learn more, I'd highly recommend all of these stories of best practices from other leaders around the globe.  For a limited time you can get 15% off before EOD tomorrow.

 

TO LEARN MORE:  Go to www.astd.org/scorecards and enter the limited time offer code ITMS15 at checkout to receive 15% off - this offer is valid through September 4, 2013.

I profit nothing from this, but merely wanted to pass the opportunity on to you to find that Holy Grail for you and your company in assessing your impact!