Schumann Oct 9 2012
“The reason I support competitors becomes obvious if you think about the way yeast ferments beer. If enough yeast are working together, they can change the ecosystem for the mutual benefit of all. If we can create that environment, there will be plenty of business for all of us.”
So says Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams, in a recent Inc. magazine article. It’s an incredibly insightful perspective into problem solving from a ridiculously successful entrepreneur. And makes me think of Bernie Pitzel.
Bernie was the best boss I ever had. He was also the most selfless boss I ever had.
He loved to watch his people succeed and did whatever it took to make that happen. He would teach us the tricks of the trade, fight for our raises, and pull us out of work in the middle of the afternoon to play pool and have some drinks, to remind us that work doesn’t always have to be, well, work.
And he gave away his ideas.
He came up with several big campaign ideas over the years, and shared them with his creative teams so we could write the individual commercials. It helped vault countless people into successful careers.
The only idea he didn’t give away was a doozy.
It was called “Be Like Mike.” Ever hear of it?
Bernie Pitzel may or may not have written one the most influential commercials of the second half of the 20 century on a cocktail napkin in a bar. But before he sold it to the client, he really did write the words “Be Like Mike” on a cocktail napkin in a bar and showed it to me, and asked me what I thought. I said it was “Pretty cool.”
It’s a little better than that. It’s three of the most memorable words and one of the most iconic commercials in advertising history.
It’s evidence of the fact that the very best leaders are both genuinely selfless and impressively accomplished; the former a human trait that comes naturally, and the latter an actual result that follows close behind.
And it follows an insight that was consistently proven in the 50 interviews I conducted with people across professions and categories on the topic of problem solving:
To solve problems, great leaders focus on the Greater Good.
Why solve on behalf of the Greater Good in a dog-eat-dog world where you barely have time to get from meeting to meeting and sneak in an energy bar for lunch, and the average tenure for a C-suite executives is somewhere between 18 months and five seconds?
Because it brings a soulfulness to solving problems.
It removes biases and clears the way for objectivity, helps form meaningful alliances, and increases efficiency since everyone’s moving in the same direction.
Interestingly, people in large corporate organizations may flourish the most when they solve by focusing on the Greater Good. For the Presidents and C-Suiters I interviewed it wasn’t a conscious action. It was something they innately did and the fact that it helped propel them up the corporate ladder was a nice but not completely intentional byproduct.
They talked about it factually, not boastfully, as if there isn’t any other way to act. And they had an unspoken but obvious affection for solving on behalf of the Greater Good. Many of them got a twinkle in their eye when they talked about the programs and policies they installed and instilled in their companies, to gently encourage and sometimes not-so-subtly force people to solve with others in mind.
Like Robert Frueh, Director of Taxes at Anixter International.
“I used to be the “No” guy, the guy who people would say, “Shit, we have to go talk to Frueh about this?” If you’re the No guy it’s a safer answer; you’re not putting yourself out there. But now I’m open to change and embrace improvement, and I don’t care where it comes from.”
So many C-Suiters have such challenging jobs that they appreciate joy wherever they can get it. To make it possible for others to solve and still benefit from that solving frees them up to tend to other matters, offers them the joy of watching other people succeed, and cultivates a happy and productive workforce.
Generosity is the ultimate expression of confidence.
Not surprisingly, the Greater Good rules in non-profits. Resource challenges often make banding together a necessity. For leaders of non-profits, solving for the Greater Good isn’t just the best way but the only way. Ask Jenny Merdinger, Director of Development at Facing History and Ourselves.
“To make the process successful, you have to really and truly embrace the value of what others bring to the table. Consider that everyone is thoughtful, pay attention to all possibilities. The acknowledgement that all of our contributions lead up to solving the challenge is a requirement to reach the objective.”
How about service industries? Think the Greater Good is important there? When it comes to a kitchen firing on all cylinders, it’s everything.
Here’s Zoe Schorr, Executive Chef at Ada Street, a delicious and successful, but very small and out of the way, Chicago restaurant.
“We don’t have quite the same clout that some other restaurants have; we’re a smaller restaurant with a smaller name. So we look for humility, a genuine desire to work hard; this kitchen is more of a team than any I’ve ever worked in. Others were cut throat; you’d take a day off and someone would steal your station. My sous chef started as a cook when she was 20, couldn’t even drink with us when we went out, her only real cooking experience was working at a restaurant in a movie theatre. But as part of this team she became lead line cook, and now she’s the sous chef and a pretty extraordinary cook, especially for such a young person.”
In the newfangled, tech start-up, entrepreneurial Wild Wild West, the Greater Good is a fascinating concept to consider. Everything moves so fast and there are so many digital gold diggers trying to strike it rich.
People walk into rooms guns drawn and laptops blazing to establish themselves as the new sheriff in town, and the Greater Good is often left in their dust.
Entrepreneurs need, care about, and experience the Greater Good far less often than people who exist in corporate environments. They don't face the rigors of back to back meetings, internal politics, and highly structured tracks for promotions and raises.
But for anyone who works with other people in large or small groups, be they chefs in a kitchen or filmmakers on a set, accountants in a boardroom, lawyers in a courtroom, teachers in a classroom, and maybe most important, C-suite leaders up on the top floors, the best benefit of solving for the Greater Good is pretty obvious:
It helps you get to a place where you never could’ve gotten to by yourself.
And that’s a great reason to get together with your co-solvers and have a nice cold beer.
***
Danny Schuman is Founder and Head Twister at Twist, a marketing and innovation consultancy in Chicago. Back when he made TV spots, he lost a high stakes ($5) game of pool to Michael Jordan but got a pretty good commercial out of it. His book The Joy of Solving will be published in 2015.
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