southern continent and in fact, ice crushed the Endurance.
It took a long and painful journey to rescue the crew. The
interesting story here is that unlike many icy expeditions in
that era, everyone survived.
The key to survival, it seems, was the team, who were
recruited with a simple classified ad in the London Times:
Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages,
bitter cold, long months of complete darkness,
constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and
recognition in case of success.”
Sineck writes:
“The only people who applied for the job were those who
read the ad and though it sounded great. They loved
insurmountable odds. The only people who applied for the
job were survivors. Shackelton hired only people who
believed what he believed. Their ability to survive was
guaranteed. When employees belong, they will guarantee
your success. And they won’t be working hard and looking
for innovative solutions for you, they will be doing it (for)
themselves.” Passion and vision
Mission statements and corporate visions are common
cliches “which have been hijacked through the corporate
realization process,” writes Brad Thurman, principal and
CMO at Wallace Engineering, and a past SMPS national
president. “It becomes a matter of course for companies...
something you are supposed to do instead of want to do.”
Thurman describes how the late John Kennedy outlined
a goal in a speech to congress on May 25, 1961, “that was
unlike anything his predecessors had set.”
Kennedy said: “I believe that this nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to
Earth.” Of course, at that point, the United States hadn’t even
put a man in orbit. “But here was the president telling the
world that we’d travel the 480,000-mile round trip to the
moon in the next 3,200 days,” Thurman wrote.
“Thirty months later, on Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy
was assassinated. The entire space race effort could have
fallen apart. People could have used Kennedy’s death as a
reason to defund the program and change the country’s
goals. But Kennedy did more than just establish a goal –
he’d given passion a voice and that passion was heard and
felt by everyone with the Apollo program. And on July 20,
1969, with only 14 days left in the decade, Apollo 11
became the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon.”
“Churchill, Gandhi, King, Kennedy – history is full of
leaders who were more than simply eloquent at stating a
vision; they were passionate about seeing those visions
achieved. If you think about people who have inspired you
the most, I expect it was the passion that they brought to
their beliefs that defined them.”
Vulnerability However, Thurston goes on to say that “passion comes
with a price: vulnerability.”
“Vulnerability is an under appreciated characteristic of
leadership... in business and in life. To truly lay out what you
believe and how passionately you believe it, you have to
make yourself vulnerable. You have to understand that there
will be criticism and apathy and even derision. You have to
accept there will be people who can’t or won’t accept it, and
you have to have the will to move forward anyway.”
Listening Craig Galatti, the current SMPS president and a principal
of LGA, an architectural firm in Las Vegas, expresses this
idea succinctly. “To effectively lead, one must have a pulse
on the organization,” he writes. “Listening skills both verbal
and non-verbal are essential to the process.”
Galati describes where these listening skills served him
most dramatically – in helping his architectural practice
survive through the recent financial crisis and recession.
“The lessons I learned during that time will stick with me
forever,” he writes. “I learned that one must learn to use
multiple leadership styles and that leadership is not ‘one
size fits all.’ In times of crisis the spotlight is placed directly
on leadership and those in your charge look to you to guide
you through the issue.”
Strategic inclusiveness
Dana Birks, vice president business strategies at
Crossland Construction Company, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
says she believes strategic inclusiveness is the single most
effective quality for effective leadership.
6 – Summer 2017 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
“I use the word ‘strategic’ because inclusiveness must
be a calculated consideration in every leader’s actions,” she
writes. “An individual cannot adequately represent the
needs of this diverse population. Therefore, effective
leaders seek input from sources that reflect the diversity to
achieve a more holistic perspective. Research has proven
diverse teams are more effective.”
She observes some of the practical circumstances
reflecting this issue could include asking “why does this
program panel comprise a single demographic? Is our
leadership team too heavily weighted towards one type of
service? Is everyone being heard or is an individual or a
group monopolizing the discussion? Are there groups
excluded because of their level of experience or geographic
location?” Preparation
Birks also reminds us that it is important to be prepared.
“There are no short-cuts here,” she writes. “You can’t lead
without doing your homework and being organized. It is a
sign of your respect for your team’s time and assures
progress towards achieving objectives in an informed and
structured manner.”
The ability to say ‘no’
Frank Lippert, founder/partner at Go Strategies, LLC
Sacramento, California recalls being taught this lesson from
Dana Birks.
“That might sound simple, but when you are a nice guy,
a people pleaser, a helper - it’s a rough road,” Lippert says,
observing that Birks took him aside, telling him: “Listen,
Lippert, you aren’t so great at saying ‘no’ and you’re going
to need to get better at it fast. So, I’m going to call you once
a month and you’re going to tell me two good examples of
when you said ‘no’.”
“I thought it would be a piece of cake, two times saying
‘no’ sounded easy. Right? Well, I was wrong and Dana, as
usual, was right.”
Lippert has imparted the ability to say no to others,
including a friend who was working as much as 80 hours a
week, making her family cranky. “I suggested saying ‘no’
and drawing a line.”
“A day or so later, she texted that she’s said ‘no’ and she
was texting from home at 5:30 in the afternoon. She was
not a jerk about it, she stated her case for her well-being
and she drew the line. Her company understood and things
are getting better.”
“You can say ‘no’ too,” Lippert says. “It’s not too hard. It
reminds me a little of what Carol Doscher at Graceworks
teaches us, when you think you’re shouting on stage, you’re
probably talking loud enough for the audience to hear you.
When you, nice leaders, say ‘no’ it feels like you are being a
bad guy, but you are really just making good leadership
sense. Try it. Say ‘no’.”
Respecting others – The ‘servant leader’
As much as Dana Birks reminds us that it is important to
put things in balance and be prepared to say ‘no’, there are
times when you “have to make difficult decisions that cause
conflicts with interpersonal relationships.”
“Recognize as a leader you personify the brand of the
organization,” she writes. “Because as leader you are looked
up to and your behaviours can either positively or negatively
influence individuals in the organization and how the
organization is perceived by others. This may require
adjusting your personal needs and behaviours to support
the organization’s objectives.”
www.threadsoflife.ca The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Summer 2017 – 7