One disturbing finding that led to these conversations is that only 17 percent of the 35-64 year old “informed publics” trust information given by a CEO about his or her company.  This was six-year low.

For better or for worse, my understanding is that, in terms of influence, it only takes about 15% of people agreeing to anything (a philosophy, a code of behavior, a belief) to change the tide and move the masses.  Robert Porter Lynch, who has done considerable research in the area of trust and leaders, posits that trust is the bedrock of democracy, and when our trust is damaged, we are doing damage to the very principles upon which this country is founded.  We are precipitously close to that tipping point.

Since I coach CEOs and their executive teams, I was personally appalled.  But more appalling than the sense that our business leaders have behaved badly and deserve this reputation — some do and most don’t — is my concern that all CEOs have been painted with the same brush as those who deserve to be penalized and put away for a very long time, damaging others’ reputations by association.  There are leaders who do wrong intentionally, and others who are simply careless.  In a Financial Times some months ago, for example, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward admitted that they were not prepared for a category disaster he called “low probability, high risk.” Indeed.

BP, after an estimated $20 bn leak with costs to our environment and the human psyche that are unconscionable and immeasurable finally began looking into their strategy and tools to resolve such risks.  Tony Hayward is not a bad person, but inadequate thinking and planning has exacted an extraordinarily high toll.  Regardless, whether they make a mistake of wrongful thinking, or they are out to get us as was the case with Bernie Madoff, bad decisions of those in power cost us trust in leaders inclusively.

A MUST READ for every executive is Herb Baum’s The Transparent Leader, in which Baum said, “A lot of executives who made headlines (because of a scandal) were just plain white-collar thieves who deserved to do time.  And there were others who were basically good people who made compromises when they shouldn’t have.  They stretched the truth because they thought they had to, and they made some business decisions that were short on integrity. They had risen to leadership positions, but they failed because they didn’t understand how to be open with various constituents and they were unable to build a culture base on trust in the organizations they led.”

Let’s assume leaders should do more to warrant our trust.  BP’s Hayward has admitted the criticism of the oil spill and subsequent inability to stop the damage was ‘entirely fair.”  Ok, it was an event, a mishap.  Let’s look at an ordinary, reoccurring factor.  Who is culpable, for instance, for extraordinarily high CEO wages?   Considerable finger wagging has been going on in the press at CEOs about this.  It isn’t the CEO who sets his or her own salary; it is the board of directors.  Yet they are invisible to the press in these stories.  So often our assumptions lead us to conclusions that malign others without full consideration for the facts.  This disturbs me greatly but I know I have done it, too.  Why is that?

Walking with a friend, I mentioned a situation that was just this kind of wrongful maligning, and she asked me, “How long does it take to find a witch?”  She was alluding to the days in Europe from 1480 to 1700 when legally sanctioned and official witchcraft trials resulted in from 40,000 to 100,000 executions. It was decided someone was a witch, and next thing you know that person was burned at the stake.

While we’ve moved beyond flagrantly burning people at the stake, we still do character assassinations every day, in the form of judgment and gossip.   Some of these finger wagging and witch-hunting and broad-brush painting are projections — making someone else responsible for what we, ourselves, don’t want to be responsible.

I enjoyed a day of creating the space for my entrepreneurial buddies to create their futures. Here we are collaging away.

I enjoyed the preparation and the creative expression of cooking, generating a fun, playful, yet intentional several hours. We collaged, we chatted, we laughed.

We enjoyed the camaraderie, the creative space and yes, the food. We are a small group of women who are expressing our creativity through art and looking forward into our futures together.

We think our marketing is so clever these days. Here these ducks have been drawing a crowd in this hotel lobby twice a day for over 50 years! The ducks come down, the ducks go up.

I watched the parade three times in two days, fascinated as much by the crowd as by the ducks (once I got over the ducks!).

It isn’t so surprising to know that people who aren’t suited to their jobs aren’t going to perform as well as those who sought out work that matched their interests, their desires, their values, who they are. It is surprising, however, that they stay miserable in their jobs, under-performing. Equally surprising to me is the fact that CEOs or senior executives or department, division heads allow/enable/tolerate “B” player behavior.

Why is that? What are they seeing, or not seeing? If you ask an “A” player — someone who performs extraordinary accomplishments on a regular basis — they will tell you it is discouraging to work along side a “B” player. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I didn’t make that up.

In the February 28 Forbes magazine, I in “Ten Tips: Great Restructuring Winners,” talent was one of the ten tips. It said, “Bill Gates once said that a great programmer is worth ten thousand times the price of a good programmer.” In other words, be sure you are garnering talent evolution versus talent deterioration because people are your key leverage point and “B” players hide inside the organization and take up time, energy, resources.

Too often “B” players are tolerated because leaders don’t measure what matters. “A” players LIKE to be measured. If you don’t measure them, they are very likely measuring themselves! “A” players have an internal yardstic against which they perform that “B” players lack.

I like Leonardo da Vinci’s statement on self-mastery. “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

Ask yourself, are you measuring what matters regarding your own performance? The performance of those who report to you? To really get mileage on the conversation however, I suggest sharing it with others in your workplace. See if, by shining a light on what matters, you will effectively raise the bar on your own performance and those around you.

This video came from a website called “Big Government.” I think my siblings, who were raised with me in the home of my very democrat father, think because I’m a republican I’m anti-social reform. Nothing could be further from the truth. In Oregon I voted Independent because there, Independents could vote in the primary election. Not so California.

Regardless, I am all for social reform and I put money where my mouth is. I pay for it in my volunteering efforts for local not for profits. I pay for it in my voluntary contributions to organizations such as the Salvation Army, which feeds the hunger on Christmas (in my downtown San Diego neighborhood). (The CEO of the Salvation Army is not extracting huge sums of money for his phenomenal work as a CEO. He makes, relatively speaking, a living wage and no more.) Our material contributions to the local Salvation Army store count thousands of dollars this year alone. And yes, I could do more, and I feel that all the time. My own work focus is in generating leaders who are interested in values, integrity, trust… accountability.

Over the years I have stayed away from politics — and certainly have never opined about it — because it’s so confusing and I doubt we’re very well informed as a public, and I certainly know I don’t follow politics like some people follow parties and their stands. However, I’ve paid a lot of attention recently and I think both parties are screwed up and have forgotten who they work for — the American population. I also believe that politics should NOT be a “profession,” which it has sadly become. There is so much posturing and feigning truth I have a hard time believing anyone. With Republicans picking up seats nationally, one would think they would stop bickering and find a platform. But no….

What I do know is that our California state budget is a mess, the San Diego city budget is a mess, and the federal government is throwing money at solving problems that money won’t solve, and that worries me. This is a mess.

What I also know is that the federal government (never mind the political party in charge) has a lousy record of solving our nation’s problems and we certainly have paid a handsome bill for lack of performance. This video is worth a listen regardless of the side of the political fence you sit on. Perhaps it will raise a few questions, which is a good thing. It certainly doesn’t answer any!

So, sticking my toe in the proverbial political waters here, I posit (pontificate, opine) that what we need is more caring, less judging, and more inquiry into what really is occurring in Washingon DC that has long-term implications. Join me in caring and inquiry, will you?

In that same weekend I heard Dick Bruso talk about the importance of the congruence of your brand with your authentic self (Heard Above the Noise), and Carol Desmond talk about the Alphabet Soup of Trademarks (see my prior blog), and Steve Cohen, author of Mess Management; Lessons from a Corporate Hit Man talk about what he does as a corporate hit man, which is extract businesses from their messy people problems.  I got to see Tom Hill interview Peter Strople, a powerful force for good.  Peter and his wife have started a foster care agency for children, Refuge House Foster Care and Adoption Agency.  At our November gathering, Larry and I had dinner with Peter — what a delightful man with a very big heart.

Tom Hill, the magician who created these great gatherings of people, is a magnet for the likes of Peter, Dick, Steve, Carol and Laurie, and fortunately for me — me!  As I continue to be privileged to garner his support and this group’s support in growing myself and my business, I will continue to share their insights from time to time.

What strikes me is that these committed, educated, outstanding presenters are all leaders in their lives who have stepped forward to help leaders be better leaders.  Laurie’s experience and insights combined with building on the work of James Fisher is valuable for the perspective that it can bring anyone trying to lead today.  It answers the questions, “What stage are we at in our business growth process?” and “How should I, as the leader, act now?”

A focus of mine with leaders is bench strength, which partners well with Laurie’s focus on growth stages and appropriate actions as a leader, because if you do not have the right people in the right seat on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus (Good to Great, Jim Collins) you (leader) are not going to take that bus too darned far or fast! I will have the pleasure of pleasure of presenting that emphasis at the next conference in February. Can’t wait!

This (almost audible) video is Carol’s presentation of the alphabet soup of trademarks. I found it FASCINATING that every single letter of the 26 letters in the alphabet has become recognizable — at least by many of the 75 or so of us in the room — as signifying one famous brand or another. There isn’t a letter left for picking!

If you are in business and have not worked on your brand or protected your intellectual property, please do so! I am now revisiting all my assumptions about mine. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, enjoy this minute and a half trip through the alphabet. Turn up your speakers!

Without some troops I would not tackle a project like shifting the locus of my business from my computer to another system so that others could share it.  Having that locus of control shifted makes many things possible that weren’t possible before.

While I have them (before they move on with their REAL lives), Ipek (on the left) and Semih (on the right) are making possible this transition to Cooler Email and other great tools of productivity.

On a related topic, I attended a business gathering last evening where we talked about execution of strategy.  The overarching theme of the evening was that for there to be a shift in the collective consciousness of bringing our heart to the business world, and not just our head, we all need to work for the common good and make decisions with the common good in mind, not just our selfish interests.

This is a theme of mine, and fortunately not JUST mine!  Working for the common good means that as we go about our regular work, we bring in the fine art of considering how what WE do will impact others.

I have helped Semih find a school where he will get his MBA, and I will help Ipek get a job.  I met these two young adults through an earlier intern, Orcun, whom I helped find a job and in doing so I lost him as an intern.  He replaced himself by introducing me to his two friends who needed internships.  THAT, my friends, is the FINE art of getting things done!  When I released my need for Orcun to be my intern, little did I know that I would end up doubling my workforce of interns!  My deciding based on the common good turned out to be good for me, good for Orcun, and good for Ipek and Semih.

I think that’s the way the world REALLY works, and it is NOT intuitive any more than leaning into the curve on a motorcycle is intuitive.  It is a choice, and in the end things get done that should get done, even though in the beginning we don’t see the whole picture.

Fairmont Chateau Le Montebello, tucked between Ottawa and Montreal Canada, is a beautiful place to be, never mind the beautiful people who found their way there to be together for the last Vy Summit.  I was privileged to speak, as well as be an audience member.  Thank you to Tom, Mike and Mikka, for generating yourselves. Thank you to all of you who extended yourselves authentically to be an “adult,” (Fred Pryor), manage your thoughts — your ands, your buts, your I’s and you’s etcetera (Mary Lore), and and to be a stand, with me, for the highest good of all INCLUDING yourselves and your organizations.  And thank you Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga for showing us the template of how to take the high ground, even when it’s hard.

We live downtown on Market Street in the Marina District, where most runs pass below our patio and windows, but none as large or impressive as the Rock and Roll Marathon with 30,000 runners today. For those 30,000 runners it is a strenuous event, for us it is a parade.

If I were hiring, I would be at the finish line of the Rock and Roll Marathon.  I would interview those who came in early to learn about their motivation and where else are they motivated to excel like they just have.  I would interview the middle of the pack runners to see where they got their staying power for 26 miles.  Not the premier athletes that the first group are, what drives them?  For what cause or reason would they subject their bodies to 26 miles of hard labor?

I would look at their costumes — did they go all out to present themselves in keeping with the rock and roll theme, as some did?  You would not BELIEVE some of the tu tu’s I saw running by me.  One woman had stretch-on fabric tattoo arms that she could conveniently remove after the race but in the moment she was WITH it!

And I would interview the laggards.  It was clear, at some point there were fewer young, virile runners and more gray hairs and paunches.  This clip is taken of a laggard group.  Look at them!  They have spirit, they have determination, they are going to go as long as they can go, regardless of the rubber tires around the middle, the scrawny arms or legs, the leg in a cast.  They are going to be part of the party for as long as they are, and they are not to be discounted!

Consider, for a moment what it would take to don a Superman outfit and strike out afoot for 26 miles with 29,999 of your favorite strangers. Superman, wherever you are, I salute you.

The lessons of the human spirit abound in this event.  If I were hiring I would definitely ask if someone has ever run a marathon or taken on a marathon kind of event, and how they viewed the experience.  Myself, although I prefer to avoid physical risk — my risks are in other areas of life — I have traversed a number of treacherous rivers, once with an older friend who had Multiple Sclerosis.  Without his medicine he would have been in a wheelchair.  I doubt, if the river guides had had a clue, they would have allowed him onto the raft.  At one point we capsized and he was thrown over.  Getting his stiff, aging body back onto the boat was not easy, and he did it without complaint.  It took sheer grit, a character quality that I knew about him before we started this journey.

I knew about him, from this experience, that he had grist for the mill.  How about the folks you hire?  Do they have character?  I don’t mean ARE they a character, I mean do they HAVE character — that abiding quality that gets one through difficulties in life that seem to come ready or not, at work or in life.

It is character that has us exhibit the discernment skills that make us good collaborators and team players.  Character eschews gossip, pettiness and being small in the face of the challenges that come with being human.

I was proud of the 30,000 starters of today’s Rock and Roll Marathon.  Regardless of how far their bodies got them, they put themselves in the race, and that is what makes life rich and full.  Way to go!  From watching you at mile six, I would have appreciated any one of you on a team with me.