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!
 

SPARKING REVOLTUTIONS THROUGH OPEN LEADERSHIP

I've had the opportunity to be a part of something great...a major revolution at our company to blow up our annual review process and transform the culture to be a place where people can do and be their best through open, frequent dialogue.

Over the last few weeks, I've been sharing that journey with some industry leaders who are all contemplating how to embark on a similar path of leaving the old behind and creating a new future. Reflecting on these conversations, what I have come to realize is there are a few key elements required to spark revolutions and while all of us want them, we also fear them. The power lies in the platform to share vision, build courage, and have open conversations that promote change.

We saw that clearly with the Arab spring in 2012 and its dramatic impact on that region of the world. Social media has accelerated the power of that conversation and the ability to share a vision more broadly and quickly. One man or woman's vision paired with this social platform to engage other dissenters in shaping the future has truly changed our world. Vision catches fire, courage is gained as others voice their support, and the conversations flow that lead to action.

So if we all see how powerful this is, why are not willing to engage the population we need to have these discussions with, employees? I think we fear losing power by doing so; however I believe our greatest power is actually in unleashing these conversations, entering the danger, and helping co-create a new future. Charlene Li, author of Open Leadership, came in to our HR team a few years before our own revolution and challenged us to engage in the conversation with employees to have open and transparent leadership in changing things. While all of us had some trepidation in doing it, we did end up opening the conversation with the employees globally, crowd sourced solutions to our annual review, asked for the good, the bad, and the ugly feedback and I'm convinced that it was a huge part of why it succeeded.

Employees want to shape the future, we need to give their voice a place to be heard and united with others vision so we don't become irrelevant. Revolutions are burgeoning below the surface of our companies as people are realizing the power they have to create the future. We can either sit in our ivory towers and watch them fall, or join the flow of the conversation and be forever transformed by it.

 

TO WIN OR TO LEARN? THAT IS THE QUESTION

I have a mirror in my house. It's slightly off and a bit taller than me, but a fairly accurate representation. It is my 12 year old son, Grant. Grant is a funny child. I guess that makes me funny too. He likes to WIN. He expects to WIN, even when it is his first time doing something. Yes, I must admit, that reflection is pretty true of me as well.

Grant is in a school program that affords him some opportunities to participate in some amazing things. Science Fairs, Plays, and most recently a Debate Tournament. He is a first year debater. No experience, unless you count arguing with me a lot :-). I think debate just gives him a sanctioned reason to argue.

He had a tournament this last week and was preparing hard for it. He even donned my husband's blue suit, shirt, and a nice tie and ASKED me for a haircut. (I about fell over on that one.) He was doing everything he knew to win. He wanted to win and He expected to win. He didn't even place. Well, he did, just 1 slot shy of the "trophy round". So he came in #8 out of 60 kids - first time around (the first 7 were recognized). Needless to say Grant didn't take this very well.

Oh, how I have felt that pain of disappointment. There is no doubt, not winning hurts. Especially when you see others around you win. I've been there many times, but I've also had a few more years on him. Which I guess means, I've lost more. I tried to help him understand that winning isn't the most important thing. I've heard people say, "Winning doesn't matter." But is does. And it's not that we should strive to win, but in my mind, there is something EVEN MORE IMPORTANT... LEARNING. What you learn doing things is more valuable than any trophy you collect along the way.

Being someone who promotes Learning & Development for a living, I had a few thoughts on this, and wanted to share them with him. Begrudgingly he listened. I thought I'd share them with you as well:

1. Winning feels good, but if you don't know what you did specifically to win, you might not be able to repeat that success. So LEARNING WHY YOU WON is more important than winning.

2. FEEDBACK ON WHY YOU DIDN'T WIN is probably more valuable than even #1. Now you know what you need to do next time, and there is always a next time.

3. APPLAUD YOUR RISK. No one is going to stand there and give you an ovation for not winning, but you know what you risked, and how much that risk propelled you forward, and gave you the ability to learn.

4. You might not win, but experience it anyway. LEARN FROM IT. That experience is something you never lose.

So I asked him, "What did you learn?" "Enough, he said." Well, he's 12 and I know that parent's aren't so smart at this age, but I hope he'll learn from this and think about it next time.

What about you? How do you see Winning or Learning? Which would you chose?


 

THE POWER OF CHOICE

I am wrapping up my time in India and had the amazing priviledge of talking to the brilliant women at Adobe here about the power of choice.   To frame this discussion I chose a quote from George Elliot.

"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice."

 

What's mildly ironic, is that this quote was actually written by a woman.  Mary Ann Evans was one of the most prolific and well beloved authors of the Victorian Era.  She chose however to use the power of a man's name to release her work to ensure it was taken seriously. 

How powerful our choices are.  The choices made by our mothers and grandmothers to redefine societal expectations have created a better life for women.  I am not a big "women's lib girl" but I've found myself swept up this week in realizing we all have a role to play in making the world a better place for ourselves, our daughters, and our granddaughters.

As I was preparing my talk for these lovely women here, I realized that this land is at a simliar transformation point as the US was in the late 1950's as more and more women began aspiring for something beyond the role of housewife.  Given the backdrop of International Women's Day and the big release of Sheryl Sandberg's #Lean In initiative this week, the meeting seemed a poingnant moment in time to inspire this generation to chose to pursue their dreams, despite the challenges ahead.

I began my journey here in India visiting a school Adobe sponsors called Parikrama which provides an English first education to about 350 underpriviliged kids in Bangalore.  At this school, a young girl - Divya, 16 years old, came up excitedly as she shared the newpaper article detailing the success of her film, 'Bicycle' in being chosen as one of the 25 finalists for the Adobe Youth Voices Film festival.  Her dreams were being realized, and as I looked back on this, I was excited for this girl and her future, as this was the beginning of a new day for her...a day where possibilities become reality.

India has a lot of cultural and societal customs regarding women.  Add to that lately, some huge issues over even the saftey of women in cities like Delhi after the December incident of a young girl who eventually died after being raped on a bus.  These are things no one likes to talk about.  These are things that have to change. But those changes have to be chosen.

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Airlines this week, committed to being one of one million men pledging to make one million promises to end domestic violence against women.  The president of IndiGo airlines in India is another.  One by one, there are voices stepping forward to commit to changing the lives of women.  These are choices, public choices that will help make choices for women easier in the future.  Believe it or not, men probably have a bigger role to play in this change than women.  I'm happy to see such prominent figures standing up for change.

I have been so blessed to have been surounded by such eager, brilliant women this last few weeks.  We are connected.  We share the same hopes, fears, and guilt over our choices.  We dream for more, yet sometimes take the safer roads because we fear failure.  We apologize for our greatness, downplay our capabilities, and are so busy making sure everyone else has an oxygen mask on we are left without a lot of air to breathe ourselves.

This doesn't change overnight, but there are choices we can make to change, every day.  Recently, I've been inspired, moved, and encouraged by another brilliant woman, Tara Mohr.  I'm just getting to know Tara but I am already grateful for the way our lives intersected and her bravely calling out the things we need to do more of to help ourselves.  Tara has 10 Rules for Brilliant Women that I think are SO practical, so spot on, and so powerful I made them the centerpiece of my talk today.   Thank you Tara for your brilliance.  Thank you beautiful women of India for sharing your vulnerability, hopes, and dreams with me today.  I hope you chose to embrace all that you are and change the world around you, one choice at a time.

The future belongs to use, each and every choice we make.  Let's chose to help each other succeed and to acknowledge that though the road is long... it's worth it.

CHAOS OR SYMPHONY?

I'm in India on business. My daily commute to the office is an amazing symphony of chaos that is  fascinating to see. Notes spring from horns all around me; short bursts, loud blares, they emerge and subside, rise and fall. Each note plays a part in an orchestrated movement that just seems to flow.

These notes, this feedback to each other, has a meaning that surpases my understanding as an outsider to this culture.  Every note I hear and the actions that follow make me cognizant that they are indeed communicating something very important to my driver.  Something that helps ensure we achieve our goal...get to the office without getting into an accident.  I don't know the language, but I imagine its things like: "Hey, I'm here." "Too close, move right." "Coming through." It is a method of feedback that quietly (or not) facilitates this process.

I've been here meeting with managers on our new Check-In approach to performance after eliminating our annual review process last year. The Check-In is an approach requiring employees and managers to share ownership for setting clear goals, giving and receiving ongoing feedback, and  supporting employee's growth and development. It was designed to be free flowing - much like the traffic here, not rigid, and constant.

Our operations in India previously had a very elaborate grading and ranking system. It was a highly complex, formal structure that calibrated individuals against each other across the business, much like the lines drawn on the pavement separating rows of traffic.  Moving to this more free-flowing, loosely structured approach where methods and timing for goal setting and feedback were to be jointly agreed on between manager and employees was a shocking change. However, what I've realized as I've met with employees and leaders here is that this change is really not any different or more difficult than their morning commute.  In fact, it follows much of the same principles and mechanisms that get me to work safely each day.

Much like the timing and duration of the horns keep cars, bicycles, rickshaws, and pedestrians safe in the morning commute here, I'm seeing a natural flow and order emerging in this system.  Employees and managers are moving together in the same direction, communicating with differing tones and frequencies helping each other understand how to best achieve their goals. And it is working.

It takes time for new drivers to figure out this language and there is a watchfulness that is required.  However, as I listen and observe I am aware of a beautiful symphony emerging. Each instrument playing it's part. Each note is contributing to the score. It's quite fascinating to see. 

Just like my driver, each morning, I'm gaining increased confidence that despite the seeming chaos in flow of the system, we are all moving in the right direction and will arrive there safely together.  I am confident in this journey and am excited to witness the evolution.  I feel comfortable navigating this process at work, but I'm still not quite sure I'm ready to drive here.

What's the flow of communication in your organization or team that enables you to succeed?  How do you help new drivers (people) understand these methods?


 

THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS (And it's not English...)

There is always something that surprises me when I travel. I am caught up between feeling a bit uneasy in my skin in a new country and in rapture of the beauty, culture, and people.

I am on business travel in India for a few weeks. I am ambushed by the stark contrasts of living and the luxuries I am afforded traveling here on business. I often find myself in a little deeper reflection when I'm away, as I watch people more, and listen in deeper ways than I normally do at home in my busy day to day reality.

Two things collided on this trip for me and have left me pondering a universal language that we all need to be more fluent in to be successful.

I've had very engaging meetings with managers and employees on our new "Check-In" framework and it’s exciting to see how removing some structure and labels around performance reviews has freed people to have better, richer, more frequent conversations about performance. This was exactly what we had designed for. However, there are always unintended consequences when launching a major change initiative. One of those consequences seems to be that some of our higher performers are actually not feeling as "special" or as successful as before, when they "knew" they were great, because we attached a label to that success. The thought bothered me as I realized I too, really like that external validation and probably focus on that more than what I learned along the way.

We are so used to grading our success. We spend years in school achieving and being graded on our performance. We spend years competing against others to get the best grades, the best job, and vying for bigger responsibilities and our leader's favor. Some of us along the way focus more on the outcome versus the great learning we have on the way. This seems especially heightened here in India, where the population is so vast, and opportunities limited.

Just after these meetings I had the opportunity to visit a school we sponsor called Parikrima. We arrived mid/late afternoon to big smiles on little faces, glowing with excitement at what they were learning. "Hi Accra" (big sister) they shouted with joy. I saw such a hunger and excitement in their eyes. A hunger to know, to be known, to share what they know, to love and be loved. I visited classes from 10th grade to Kindergarten and the same spark, desire, hunger was there. These kids were sponges. Diligent. Listening intently and when asked a question - hands shot up eager to answer. There were no labels here, no competition, just a room full of bright little minds yearning to learn. What is most interesting about this school, is that its students are from the poorest communities in the city. In just 7 short months, these Kindergartners who were learning English for the first time were singing, greeting me with confidence, and doing math with such quick speed. I was in awe and thought how wonderful it is that an organization like this is changing their lives, and their family's lives.

I thought back to my earlier meeting as I was leaving. I wish that same excitement and joy over what we are learning was enough. Sometimes we've become so focused on achieving, we've forgotten what is most important... The journey. The learning...not the outcome.

One of my leaders I met with that day had shared this statement with me, "There is only success and learning...no such thing as failure." This resonated deeply within me. But as I thought about a bit more, I concluded, there is only learning...and failure to learn. Success just means we learned well.

I'd encourage you to check out Parikrima and learn more...

(http://www.parikrmafoundation.org/html/background.html)