Transform or cease to be relevant

I was recently reading one of Seth's great posts about what organizations can learn from Airports.

I think he's spot on. My own organization has a long way to go before it's truly "transformational". However I can attest to the fact that most of his observations are really not part of where I work.

A good thing.

But it got me reflecting on the lack of business travel for my role over the recent period. Budget constraints played a large part in the reduction of my business travel over the last 12 months - analogous to the patent expiry cliffs we've been dealing with, my drop in travel was much like a cliff - oodles of flights with over 70k miles per year down to ZERO.

Over the last 12 months I have several cases where I specifically avoided a plane ride and the airports because of the shear level of dissatisfaction, coupled with the non-value added extra travel time and exorbitant air fairs. I wish our rail system in the US was like that of Europe. Perhaps it would serve to transform airports and airlines to be about delivering delight and happy and relaxed business and leisure travelers. You know a boost to the US passenger rail capabilities could create a "transform or die" environment for the airlines and airports. The biggest losers with this possibility would be the aircraft suppliers and airlines, whom we could expect would expend serious lobbying funds to thwart a railway comeback rather than invest in a better passenger experience.

Rather than transform to remain relevant they would fight to keep things as is. Of course the optimist in me hopes for some disruptive innovator to come along and give the airline industry no choice but to transform or die.

Communicate like a Great Leader

Can you communicate effectively in that new role you just earned? George Anders provides some useful  thoughts in his recent blog post. I would make a habit of reflecting on your daily behaviors and ask yourself "have I been communicating with these ideas in mind?"

Mr. Anders ideas fit within Kouzes & Posner's 5 Leadership Practices which are Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Enable Others to Act and Encouraging the Heart. Their book, The Leadership Challenge, I highly recommend. It serves as a very effective framework for the transformational leader and is based on years of research and insight.

A recent epiphany...

One of Seth Godin's recent posts inspired me to share something with you. I was at a Track and Trace conference in Washington, DC last Fall and had one of those moments he is referring to - although mine was more personal in experience. I had that striking realization you would consider true to the definition of an epiphany. 

At this conference I suddenly recognized what was happening and how my extroverted approach resulted in what Seth would describe as the "exchange of gifts". To understand what Seth means by "gift" you should read one of his books, such as Linchpin. Or, perhaps faster would be to read some of his blog posts such as this one.

This approach has always worked for me. It's natural and often resulted in the creation of new relationships and some that have lasted a very long time. Attending conferences such as this in our current financial environment at my employer are a luxury. I made a point at this conference to get around and meet as many of the industry professionals as I could, exchange business cards, and then keep in touch to share ideas and stories after the conference.

The attendees included big-pharma (my employer) but also a lot of small and medium-size pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. It's quite predictable, as soon as you sit down at a table of attendees and introduce yourself, you can read the expressions and what they are asking themselves. "I have to watch what I say because here sits someone from my largest competitor." "Why is he sitting here and introducing himself?" "What is it he's trying find out that we should be cautious about discussing?"

How do you break the silence and get people to feel safe in opening up to you? Answer: You share! And don't start by sharing the successes you've had in an arrogant manner. Share the failures, your struggles with the environment, the hurdles you face or expect to face. Give gifts.

It works. People open up. You will be surprised by the results; the sharing of stories, active discussions about what the presenters were telling us and we learned from each other. Perhaps even more important, the colleagues I connected with left with an impression of me and my genuine desire to collaborate for the betterment of our industry. I was no longer "that guy" from the big giant pharma company who thinks everyone needs to listen to him...just because he's from the big giant pharma company.

They are now in my collective network as colleagues.