The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in (19 page)

“This all makes so much sense. And yet it’s interesting to me how this philosophy is so uncommon in the world today.”

“Common sense isn’t very common anymore, Blake. But it’s all changing. And it’s all changing quickly. And people who don’t understand this new way of doing business will be left behind. The old values that people once operated under are broken. They just don’t work in these completely different conditions we find ourselves in now. Technology, globalization, and the massive upheaval going in society have created a new business universe. It would be sheer madness to think you can get by using the same old tactics in a completely new world. And those who resist changing and fearfully hang on to tradition will become extinct, like other dinosaurs who just couldn’t evolve as conditions shifted millions of years ago. The organizations that will own their industries and build globally beloved brands will be those who grow Leaders Without Title through every level of the enterprise and those who put people and their relationships with them first.”

I looked around at the garden and reflected on Jackson’s teaching.

“Anyway, what I’m really suggesting is that you really must treat people exceptionally well if you are really serious about reaching your highest potential in business. Go to the wall for your customers. And do your part to develop the abilities of your teammates.”

“Isn’t employee development my manager’s job, Jackson? Or for the gang up at human resources?” I asked sincerely.

“Not under the new model of leadership you’ve been learning today, my friend. Not if you want to Lead Without a Title. If you want to win, you need to help others win. And part of that is doing all you can do to build a high-performance culture within your organization. One where everyone understands how excellent they
can be. And so
part of your job now becomes unleashing the greatness in people who’ve never seen the greatness within themselves
,” Jackson said inspiringly.

He paused and smelled a rose. He then continued. “Don’t be a dinosaur! You’ll get killed,” he added with a raised yet still respectful voice. “Lead Without a Title! You now know so well you don’t need a title to be a leader. You’d don’t have to be a manager to awaken the best in your teammates and to have a wonderful influence on your organization’s culture. You do not need to be an executive to build tremendous relationships with every stakeholder such that they evangelize the products and rave about the services that you offer. You only need to dedicate each day to expressing your absolute best and making a fantastic difference in other human lives. That’s the only thing required, Blake. And if you are surrounded by engaged, excited, and superb people working at the greatest level of their abilities, your organization will do splendidly well—not only in times of prosperity but also during days of difficulty. If you look at the best companies in America, every single one of them not only had teams of human beings who performed at their peak—they had teams of people who had the most impressive of relationships. You see, Blake, business really is nothing more than a conversation of sorts. And if the culture of the place where you work forgets to grow that conversation and nurture the human connections between each one of you, the conversation will soon end. And the business will soon fall.”

Jackson walked over to a small toolbox and opened a drawer. He pulled out a package and then walked back to me. Tommy was off admiring the towering skyscrapers and staring at some of the exotic flowers in the garden.

“Here, open this up,” Jackson politely instructed.

I followed his request and opened up the package. In it were a bunch of seeds.

“My whole life now revolves around gardening, Blake. It never ceases to amaze me how I can take these sterile-looking little seeds and with some nurturing and patience, grow them into some of the most wonderful plants your eyes have ever seen. And the same idea lies behind the principle I’m now sharing with you. If you make growing great relationships with people—whether with workers at the bookstore or with the customers whose lives you touch each day—your number-one priority, you will have all the success and happiness in your career that you can handle. But like gardening, it takes lots of effort and a huge amount of patience. You need to be constantly watering people and your connections with them, if you know what I mean. But the exceptional rewards you’ll begin to see will make it all worth-while. As the smartest gardeners always say: ‘As you sow, so shall you reap.’ ”

“Very interesting, Jackson. I now understand that I’ve been making excuses these past years. I’d say that because I didn’t have a title, I had no power or authority to build our team and shape my organization’s culture. I’d complain I was too busy to be helping those around me express their leadership best by awakening their inner leader. I just blamed all sorts of things instead of getting up and doing all I could do. I was just this sad, unsuccessful, and stuck victim.”

“And did the people you work with encourage and support you as you went through your workdays?”

I paused. “No, not really. I actually don’t really feel I fit in. I don’t feel like I’m a part of the team. I don’t really have the sensation of being connected with anyone.”

“No wonder. You aren’t putting in the effort to grow your relationship with them. Before today you might have argued that you simply couldn’t afford the time to build better bonds with your teammates. My encouragement would always be that you can’t afford
not
to be spending the time relating with the people
you spend most of your waking hours with. Think about it, Blake: You spend the best hours of the best days of the best years of your life among those you work with. Doesn’t it make sense to really get to know them and have superb relationships with them? You’ll make friends. You’ll feel a sense of belonging. You’ll have a feeling of an encouraging community all around you. And once your teammates see you starting to support them, they will reciprocate. The law of reciprocity is one of the most powerful of all the laws that run human relationships. When you genuinely help others, they will do anything to genuinely help you. When you show up fully for a teammate, that teammate will show up fully for you. It’s just human nature at play. Make others successful, and they’ll make you successful.
But before someone will lend you a hand, you must touch their heart
. Oh, and please remember that Leaders Without a Title help people achieve more as a team than they could have achieved alone. Key point there. Also remember, though, that Leaders Without a Title always make the first move. Don’t wait for someone else to reach out to you before you start the connection process. You lead the way.”

“Become the change I most want to see,” I asked, paraphrasing the Gandhi quote Tommy shared with me when we first met at the bookstore.

“Exactly.
Give away that which you most wish to receive
. That’s one of the most valuable learning points I can give to you. If you want more support, give more support. If you want more appreciation, give away more appreciation. If you want more respect, you need to be giving respect
first
. And then it will all come back to you in a river. Giving starts the receiving process.”

“Cool,” was my first thought and reply.

“Also keep front and center the big idea that
the single best way to inspire your teammates to become the natural leaders they are meant to be is to model leadership mastery yourself
. I’m sure you’ve heard that a bunch of times today, but I need to repeat it
because it is essential.
Leading by example is one of the most powerful tools for positively influencing change in other people
. No one likes to be told to transform. It’s our nature to resist being controlled. That’s why forcing people to become all you know they can be just shuts them down and makes them feel you’re stifling their personal freedom. But when
you
stand in the blazing white light of
your
absolute best, you paint for others to see a vision of what’s possible for them. The moment you step up to extraordinary leadership in each move that you make, your example easily inspires your teammates to step into their power to shine as brightly. Giving everything you have to rewriting your story of how great you can be motivates every single person you work with to rewrite their own stories of who they can become as leaders. And as human beings.”

Jackson continued speaking passionately as he began to clip around some of the flowers, shifting some of the soil and stopping from time to time to inhale their fragrances. I saw the smile on his face. He clearly loved nature.

“You’re really happy up here, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Nirvana,” he replied. “I was really happy being in business all those years. I never imagined I could take my career so far Amazing what small, steady improvements each day will do for you over the passage of time. Most of us can get to world class in our careers. Too few of us stay committed to being excellent long enough. I’m sure Tommy told you some of my story and the company I grew with the help of the extraordinary men and women I worked alongside.”

“But I thought you were the CEO?” I questioned, a little confused given that Jackson was suggesting he was just one of the many employees at the technology enterprise he worked for.

“I was. But I never lost sight of the fact that
the humblest is the greatest
. ‘Only the humble improve,’ said jazz great Wynton Marsalis. Nothing special ever gets done alone. And the bigger
the goal, the more teammates whose help you’ll need to reach your mission.
The larger the dream, the more important the team
. It reminds me what the mathematician Isaac Newton once said: ‘If I have seen more than others, it’s because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.’ I am all I am because of the people who worked with me as we climbed the mountaintop together and built out that great company. I never lost sight of the fact that every morning, they’d leave the comfort of their families and the security of their homes and come to work for me, giving me the best they had to give. So when I reflect on the explosive success we experienced and when anyone from the media, for example, tries to give me all the credit, I let them in on the secret: it was because of powerful community relationships that we achieved all we did. In other words, we accomplished our remarkable victories because we worked hand in hand. We realized our success because of tremendous collaboration and our feeling that we were in it together. See, an unbeatable organization is really nothing more than a series of great relationships cascading throughout the entire enterprise all singlehandedly focused on some inspirational outcome.”

Jackson then walked over to a pool of water that had some beautiful white lilies growing in it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.

Jackson leaned over a flower, sniffing the smell. He then handed me the money.

“Here, please throw this coin into the pool. But first make a wish. This is your lucky day.”

I threw the coin into the water. Tommy was watching me from the other end of the terrace. He still looked as scruffy as when I first met him at the bookstore only a few days ago. He still wore the odd vest, the tattered pants, and the SpongeBob SquarePants watch. But I now saw him for what he truly was beyond his eccentric exterior: a genuine leader and a generous
human being. And I couldn’t help but appreciate the giant gift this man had given to me. The gift of learning that I could lead masterfully, regardless of where I worked and the events of my past. I began to worry a little, though. I began to notice more clearly that Tommy was an old man. I wondered how much longer he’d live. I felt a bit sad.

“See how the water ripples throughout the pool, just because you threw that single coin in it, Blake?” Jackson noted.

“I can see,” I replied easily.

“Well, that’s what relationships within an organization are like.
Everyone
does matter. And
every
teammate’s actions count. And
each
relationship sort of cascades throughout the entire company. One superb relationship inspires the next conversation, which moves on to the next one. And the ripple effect ultimately determines what the culture of the entire place will be like and the quality of the results the enterprise will achieve. When I was a young intern at the first company I ever worked for, we did a training course that I’ve never forgotten.”

“What was so special about it?” I asked.

“It was special because of what I learned about the importance of building deep, high-trust, and spectacularly strong relationships at the end of the workshop. We were given a test to see if we remembered the main ideas taught. The last question was this one: ‘Write the name of our company’s janitor, the elderly man who cleans our offices every night.’ I honestly had no idea. I’d seen him vacuuming and carrying garbage on the nights I’d work late, but I’d never taken the time to get to know him. I just didn’t think it mattered. He was just the cleaner. Well, I failed the test. No one could pass without answering that question perfectly. And I received a lesson that day that I still carry with me to this day: If you truly want your business to lead the field,
everyone
within an organization matters.
Everyone
within an enterprise is important.
Everyone
within a business needs to be
engaged and connected. That’s because the quality of an organization comes down to the quality of the relationships between its individual teammates. Good relationships give you a good company. Extraordinary relationships give you an extraordinary company.”

“So what was the janitor’s name?” I had to ask.

“Tim,” Jackson replied instantly. “Tim Turner. I got to know him after that. And the human being I thought was a nobody turned out to be a man who gave most of his free time to work with disadvantaged children, had read more books on philosophy than I could ever get through in a lifetime, and was one of the most polished conversationalists I’ve ever known. Everyone you meet—regardless of their title and the way they appear—is someone’s son or daughter. Everyone has a story that’s worth hearing. And knows some lesson worth learning.”