Part 7 (1/2)

Recently our firm worked with a very impressive organization. It was probably number two or three in a field that is technical enough that I'm not sure I completely understand what the company does-but I know they do it really well.

The teams were made up of an interesting mix of globalyoung adults. As they went around the table introducing themselves, it went something like this: ”I'm twenty-six, was born in the Azores, and lived between there and Portugal as a child. Since then, I have worked in India and the U.K., and now I run the Sydney office.”

It didn't seem like it was a good time to let them know I grew up in the same house in Whittier, California, that my mother just moved out of a few years ago. Yup, the world is flat.

Anyway, we spent two days with this dynamic group, and the one thing we never heard was fear. This fast growing company (which is a bit of an understatement), with offices in six different countries and linking global communication, was made up of the most curious lot I've ever worked with-and I don't mean to imply that they were odd, but rather full of curiosity.

The questions they asked, both about organizational direction and personal leaders.h.i.+p behaviors, were not tinged with protectiveness, hesitancy, or apprehension. With an abandon we rarely see, they threw themselves into the offsite work we gave them.

Midmorning of our second day, the company's CEO stood up and gave a quick update on an acquisition that had the potential to ignite an already catalytic company. He spoke for only seven or eight minutes, but I could see where the team got their confidence. Or at least why, as confident people, they were attracted to this organization and this leader.

In just a short time, he reminded the group of the courage that had gotten them to this point, the opportunity that this acquisition provided, and his confidence in this direction for the company. His demeanor and tone were kind and poised. He had an air of curiosity that demonstrated itself in the wonder he communicated about the future.

There it was again, that inverse relations.h.i.+p between curiosity and fear. This was a culture of curiosity. There was little fear.

Sometimes it is is the leader who incites the fear. And not always in fire-breathing, angry, or obvious ways. We are currently working with a team that is at a critical juncture. If they cannot stand up to their leader, I am not convinced they will make it. They are afraid of him. At meetings they shut down, nod their heads even when they don't agree, and in general, have given up. the leader who incites the fear. And not always in fire-breathing, angry, or obvious ways. We are currently working with a team that is at a critical juncture. If they cannot stand up to their leader, I am not convinced they will make it. They are afraid of him. At meetings they shut down, nod their heads even when they don't agree, and in general, have given up.

Their very strong sense is that the leader weighs every decision they make against what he he would have decided. And to the degree that their decisions and opinions don't line up with his, he says they are wrong and that he can't trust them. The team members are tired and worn out. would have decided. And to the degree that their decisions and opinions don't line up with his, he says they are wrong and that he can't trust them. The team members are tired and worn out.

The leader is charming and charismatic, and perhaps that is why it has taken them so long to figure out they're afraidof him. But the entire team is almost completely disengaged at this point, always trying to second-guess whatthe leader would choose rather than using that energy to research and debate fresh, new directions.

Fear deteriorates our high-level thinking capacities.

Fear, even just biologically, causes a fight-or-flight response from us. When we sense or antic.i.p.ate the presence of danger, our adrenal glands and autonomic nervous systems respond in unconscious ways that propel us to either engage in a power struggle of attacking and blaming or to avoid and withdraw into resulting apathy.

Fear deteriorates our high-level thinking capacities lodged in our cerebral cortex (where logic and collaboration reside) and forces our reactions to emerge from our lower-level midbrain. Our cerebral cortex is our Ph.D. uncle, the one who is wise, reasonable, and dresses smartly. Our midbrain is our second cousin once removed who is missing two of his front teeth and drinks heavily.

Fear guarantees that second cousin Jethro will determine the culture of your organization.

Whatever you can do to recognize the level of fear that permeates your organization is a good thing. Moving from fear to curiosity has the potential to unlock all kinds of good things.

When people are released from anxiety and dread, they are freed up to create, innovate, and learn. Rather thanbeing guarded, they openly consider what mistakes they may have made, how they can grow and be different, and what new ideas may emerge over time as their teams becomefertile ground for new levels of creativity.

Moving from fear to curiosity has the potential to unlock all kinds of good things.

Curiosity diminishes apprehension and trepidation. It fuels connections and understanding. It asks questions before it makes statements. It carries with it a sense of wonder and possibility and power that is deeply motivating and attractive. People like to be around genuinely curious people. There is a sense that although these people don't yet have the final answer, they would love it if you joined them in the journey of discovery. Who wouldn't want to work with someone like that?

Curiosity allows us to autopsy results that were less than we antic.i.p.ated. Defensiveness and rationalization give way to learning and truth and growth. Risk taking is encouraged in curious climates, as is imagining and celebrating successes. Curiosity makes way for collabora- tion and antic.i.p.ation of remarkable outcomes that we have only dreamed of before.

Perhaps the invitation to collaborate is one of the most powerful things that emerges from curiosity. Wondering what others would think, how they would solve this problem, what their contribution might be, and how that might add to a better outcome.

This is a very simple example. One of many. Early on at our time at Willow Creek, our senior pastor designed a ten-week series called ”Yeah, G.o.d! Thanks for being ________.” For ten weeks Bill wanted to unpack some of the key attributes of G.o.d in this creative format. But rather than sit in his office determining by himself what those ten attributes would be, he asked a bunch of us for ideas.

Instead of worrying he might not get the answers he wanted, he just invited people to respond to the t.i.tle statement.

Curiosity diminishes apprehension and trepidation.

One of my suggestions-”Yeah, G.o.d! Thanks for being an equal opportunity employer”-was selected for the series. Each week, a banner was hung on the stage listing a different attribute of G.o.d. By the end of the series, ten different banners, all declaring the goodness of G.o.d, hung from the auditorium ceiling.

Here's why this is a very simple example. This was not a huge deal. No one knew that was my contribution. I wasn't asked to preach that sermon. As I recall, they asked some guy named John Ortberg to do that. I didn't tell anyone it had been my idea.

But I'll tell you what did happen. Every week after that sermon, when I looked up and saw that banner hanging there, I welled up a bit inside. I was so proud and happy that I was able to contribute. I got to help. I got to be a part of creating and designing something that had an impact on people and showed them G.o.d more clearly. I know, it was just a t.i.tle.

But it was also a message. This was a place, an organization, a community, where the curiosity of the leader and of the culture would make room for me. I could play here. I didn't need or want to be the only one doing it, I just wanted to be an active part. Curiosity is pretty powerful stuff. Perhaps not for cats, but definitely for mongooses.

As we talked about in the last chapter, Scot McKnight writes that people basically are open to change in two cir-c.u.mstances: on a quest or in a crisis. When self-motivated people go on a quest, they are open to new information. The journey presumes adventure and learning. In leaders.h.i.+p development, we are looking for people like this. As leaders, we want to be people on a quest. The journey in vokes a kind of inquisitiveness that causes a person to be full of questions and thoughtfulness.

A crisis is a bit of a different animal. How we respond in one is a sort of barometer of our internal cores. In addition to that, if we respond to crisis with curiosity, we begin to ask the important questions: Where is G.o.d in this? What will G.o.d do? What will I learn about G.o.d that I do not already know?

These are questions that deepen our faith and shape our leaders.h.i.+p. Of course, some crises are so intense that our only response is a dark night of the soul that reflects our despair. And sometimes our best response is that quiet humility that asks no questions, the painful crying out to G.o.d, and stillness.

But there are other times, when the crisis is just under the threshold of hopelessness, that the curiosity factor can kick in and transform our responses. Over time, a leader who responds to crises with curiosity will begin to infuse a confidence in the organization. Obstacles are not as formidable when one is calmly asking questions and considering what an appropriate response ought to be. This confidence is necessary and contagious.

This is another thing that Max DePree has taught me. (If you are not already sick of that phrase, you will be by the end of this book. Actually, come to think of it, I should probably give Max a percentage of every book sold. Note to self: As soon as my last kid graduates from college, I will do that.) Max taught me that asking questions is one of the most important tasks of a leader, but more importantly, a good leader must start by figuring out the right questions. It's not good enough just to ask questions. The right right questions are necessary in order to guarantee the right answers. So it becomes the necessary work of a leader to spend time thinking: Are we asking the right questions? questions are necessary in order to guarantee the right answers. So it becomes the necessary work of a leader to spend time thinking: Are we asking the right questions?

Recently one of my partners and I were working with a potential client. Their team was encountering problems in the areas of decision making and accountability. They wanted to schedule a one-day session focusing on goal setting, and they sent us some team testing they had done the year prior.

We talked with the team leaders for a while, listening to their stories and asking some salient questions. Then we told them that just setting goals was not their main problem.

”I don't think that whether you make this event a one-day or a two-day experience is the most important question,” said my partner, David. ”I think the most important question here is 'What will you do with whatever results and information we give you?'”

Clearly after they had done the team a.s.sessments a yearprior, those beautifully colored and charted pages had found their way into a notebook and had sat there for the year. They already had information that had the potential to transform their team, and they had done nothing with it. Now they were calling us, a different consulting firm, to ask for help.

And even more than just getting paid, we want to work with motivated teams that are bent on transformation. Just a little s.h.i.+ft in the question turns the thinking around 180 degrees.

what's Barcelona Got to Do with It?

FOR MANY YEARS, BARCELONA was rarely a first-stop tourist destination. Instead, it was the kind of place that usually got added onto the end of a trip when travelers had a few extra days to spare or needed a place to spend the night before catching a plane. was rarely a first-stop tourist destination. Instead, it was the kind of place that usually got added onto the end of a trip when travelers had a few extra days to spare or needed a place to spend the night before catching a plane.

But recently, Barcelona's reputation has been changing. In 2000, approximately twenty million travelers crisscrossed the Barcelona airport. A mere six years later that number grew to thirty million. Today, Barcelona is the number-two tourist destination in Europe.

So what happened?

The 1992 Summer Olympics. I find it very interesting that something that happened in 1992 could have such stunning repercussions fourteen years later.1 Let's start there. Let's start there.

Leaders, we are an impatient lot. Faster is better, quick is good, speed is our constant companion. Isn't it funny how something so necessary can also be so detrimental? And here we are, back to managing tensions. Leaders need impatience. Living with a sense of urgency is part of our wiring; it's also a very appropriate response to both creating momentum and reacting to a hurt and damaged world.

However, impatience and urgency can wound people, elicit second-rate decisions, and cause us to cut corners in ways that subst.i.tute short-term wins for long-term change. The best way to overcome these issues is not to slow down to a turtle's pace, but rather to add to our leader's repertoire the beauty and strength of perseverance, patience, and endurance. And to know what to use when.

Everyone I worked with in the emergency room understood this ch.o.r.eographed dance of urgency and patience. In that department, there was this almost explosive sense of speed, alongside methodical, ordered precision that, when fused together, yielded life. That is the dance of the leader.

1 Information about Barcelona in this chapter is taken from Christine Spolar, ”Barcelona Shows What Olympics Can Mean,” Chicago Tribune, August 12, 2007. Information about Barcelona in this chapter is taken from Christine Spolar, ”Barcelona Shows What Olympics Can Mean,” Chicago Tribune, August 12, 2007.

Okay, back to Barcelona.

Getting the city ready to host the Summer Games was all about the Olympics. But it ended up becoming the springboard for the city's future. I don't think anyone on the planning committee was thinking, And while we're at it, let's leverage this preparation to create a Barcelona that will move into the future as one of the top cities in Europe! And while we're at it, let's leverage this preparation to create a Barcelona that will move into the future as one of the top cities in Europe!

But often, that's what happens when you revitalize something. It has ripple effects far beyond what you were expecting. In Bible times, especially in the Old Testament, the reinvigorating of a city was cause for celebration in the people and in the country. It was a sign of the life of G.o.d breathed fresh.