Purpose or Profit?

"We’re going to make chairs! The best chairs in the business!"

-William Holden as McDonald Walling
“Executive Suite"
1954

It's an old movie, with a contemporary theme. The question: Is it about shareholder value, office politics and competition, or vision?

John Houseman produced a movie that laid out the component parts of a company, and the people who symbolize them – in black and white... A little stark by current standards perhaps, but so clear – the tendency of people to cave in to politics, criticism and keeping their job, while they watch the extractors of momentary profit undermine the quality in the franchise to maximize ROI. We know that story. By the time the organization bottoms out, the greedy guys are long gone and the political players are left trying to upstage the job keepers for the spotlight on the dwindling stage.

In our mind, the fundamental thing that distinguishes winning companies is the clear and simple vision of providing a unique and special service. With Purpose. With Vision. People in such companies know why they're getting up every day. They’re going to beat the competition…to be the best. To serve with distinction. Of course they'll make money. And they’ll have fun doing it!

But only because they get the sequence correct. Purpose. Vision. Process. Practice. Profit. In that order.

It was true in the days of black and white movies. It’s true today. I'm betting it'll be the same tomorrow too.

Check it out; heavy handed, moralistic, black and white, what our parents taught us – or should have. It may be exactly what's missing in a country that pays its debts by inflating the currency. It may be what's missing in a housing market that sells mortgages by the bushel instead of keeping solid investments on the books to term. It may be what's missing in investment banks and hedge funds that make their profit by high velocity trading and not on honoring the underlying growth of the securities. What's missing is noble purpose – the real sense of why we're all here. And the sense of where we're gonna go together. We’re going to make chairs.

Look around, sniff it out. Would John Houseman respect what you're doing with your career? Would William Holden line up to help you live out your purpose? A fair question. A fair test.

Start this year by getting your head straight. Why are you here? Where are you going? The destination has to be clear, along with the reason and the path. Is it worth your time, your life? Will it sustain your dedication through a career? Get it right at the start. Now.

Corporations exist to serve a unique purpose, provide a service, create a quality product, to do something better than anyone else in such a way the customer, or hundreds of thousands, would be willing to pay a premium. It takes a leader’s vision to direct all those activities and to mold processes and practices that guide the day to day activity. Done right, and continuously, it makes a profit. And the shareholders benefit in their turn.

Are you working in such a place?

Enjoy the movie, and get on with your real life.

The "F" Word

"Today's discussion is brought to you by the letter F."

Then. It was a tough neighborhood. We were tough to teach, tough to love and tough on each other. We knew the limits. We knew just how much misbehavior was acceptable, and just how much softness was tolerable. We kept each other in line.

Now. Business. Also a tough neighborhood. Nicer surface, more polish, similar awareness of tolerable speech. Some things are never said, some words never used.

Of late, the larger culture has been shifting – and the limits are drifting – expanding. We've seen more of the vernacular find its way into daily discourse. All but the "F" word. Where that's concerned, we all observe the niceties.

During the holidays, our thoughts turn to the eternal – to the disciplines, customs and philosophies that elevate the human condition. In this, of all times, we think the "F" word deserves sustained and appreciative consideration.

Forgiveness.

Try it out on yourself.

Enjoy it with your family.

Put it to work at the office.

Employ it in the community and the nation.

Consider bringing it out of retirement in human affairs.

Forgiveness is divine.

Enjoy a peaceful and soulful season! See you next year!

Editor’s note: we’re taking a few weeks off from publication. See you back here in mid-January!

That Human Potential S&#*

“Fluff or Substance? That is the question!”

- Floating Social Question

We've been careful over the years not to push our clients too far out of their comfortable corporate envelopes – after all, this is about business and about how to be more effective at it! But after thirty years of deep appreciation for the people who get up every day and turn the wheels of democratic capitalism, we think it’s high time to acquaint you with why Fusion has always seemed to be so succesful! To be blunt, it's about the difficult marriage of the extremes, the eternal union of the practical and poetic – the daunting combination of the granular with the great.

It's not just about the practical stuff, like "Ready, Set, Go!®" and the internal structure and pattern recogniton that make presentations – stories – easier to recall and repeat. It's not merely about the pretty stuff like making a presentation stick in the mind by adding a dramatic picture, or about building your own signature.

What makes Fusion really sink into the DNA of a successful client and become part of the "skeleton under the skin" is that slippery human potential stuff... the big ideas – like service to one's clients, team, family and community. Human beings are not just packages, not just analytical thinking machines; but miraculous composites of body, mind and spirit. We're not selling a religious brand here, but a simple recognition that a human being is something really special all by themselves – a little piece of the infinite wrapped up in a package accompanied by an appearance, a style and a personality – driven by an individual personal desire to accomplish something special. While we all want to survive, we're more interested in thriving – and enjoying the process. This is a fundamental plank in our approach to training and personal development. The "secret sauce;" that slippery human potential stuff— is baked into the product at Fusion.

It’s a touchy thing though. The minute you introduce a big idea – like the transcendent human spirit – to a discussion; the entire human potential parade of crazies, nuts and politicos are not far behind. One has to be careful with big ideas, so they don't run away with the practical results we hope to achieve in training. That's why Fusion has always been careful to pair every big idea with a practical tool for applying it in daily activity. A big idea without an application is merely fluffy. A tactical tool without a larger context is merely a “trick.” For example: an eye contact exercise is not simply looking at someone, but combined with a sense of how to look and whom to address it becomes more than an exercise. Eye contact then is not empty, not mechanical, but the doorway to a deep conversation. Truth is, every Founding Idea at Fusion is big, and potentially scary, unless you manage the discussions and keep returning to our basic discipline – it's about results.

Of course none of the big ideas are worth much if you simply talk about them for days on end. You have to put them into practice. So one notices that we are pushy, aggressive and demanding about getting people up in front of their peers to prove their competence through demonstration.

More than a few clients have lost track of the big ideas in their rush to get practical and go after sales results. They've extracted the granular ideas in our mix, and put them to work with machinelike dedication — never noticing that they also removed the greatness. They are out there, many of them mindlessly breaking every story into three boring and soul-less parts. Sometimes criticizing Fusion for no longer being magical...Hmmm…maybe there is something to the idea of mind, body and spirit. Fusion – dealing as it does with the whole human being – allows one to emerge from the miasma of dogmatic cynicism that tends to characterize a merely ‘balance sheet’ approach to business.

Fusion. If it were that easy, anyone could do it. But the real path requires a dedication and attentiveness to getting a mix of lofty and low just right... day after day. That's the hardest task of all. This stuff works because it harnesses the power of the perennial wisdom to the day-in day-out discipline of getting practical results – in our estimation that's why we’re all here! We think getting results in a classy, elegant and lofty way is about as good as it gets!

Personal Best

"Eighty percent of life is showing up!"

-Woody Allen
American humorist, director

Roger Bannister - First person to break the 4 minute mile barrier

There's a tribe of runners in our town – I live with one actually.

There's much discussion at Starbucks of the right recovery drink, the correct stretch to set the muscle up for a run, many arguments about the best combination of Lycra and wicking fabrics for runs that begin at 6:00AM in 70° heat and conclude at 88°... forget about the humidity.

What strikes me though, about this interesting subculture of daily commitment, is the startling lack of concern with win, place or show. Sure, everyone knows who the "players" are. Shannon, Lucy, Gigi are a pretty good bet to bring home the brass, but they will all be trading places between themselves and the elite runners from other towns who show up to compete. What is so much more powerful about this tribe of achievers is that they are showing up – doing it – day after day – no matter who wins.

They are not so concerned about winning or relative standing, but about being outside putting one foot in front of the other. Their big focus when competing is how near they came to their personal best – or how much they moved the bar. Consider then, it's not merely about showing up, but to be fully present in this moment and to shave some time from last week’s performance.

Hold that thought! Now consider the ordinary business week. Are we focusing on improving our skills as speakers, managers, leaders or communicators? Or are many of us just focusing on crossing items off the to-do list? Take yourself momentarily to the end of your career: will it be enough to say, "I got through a lot of meetings." Or would you rather be thinking, "I was engaged, I had the ball, personally moved the company forward five yards, improved my skills dramatically, and left a lot of people better for my presence in their lives."

Some Personal Best suggestions:

1. For You. It's difficult to improve everything at once. Pick a skill or a previous record and give it a week or two of intense focus. Start by establishing a Personal Best, and then go about improving on it.

2. For the Family. Get the partner, spouse, kids, spouse's kids, parents and in-laws engaged in the process too. Everyone needs to be reminded that life isn’t so much about accumulating years, but about capturing moments as well. Get the kids running, the spouse managing the logistics and the parents playing the cowbells alongside the course. (As First Cowbell Player at our house, I can testify to the impact of a “personal cheerleader” on the performance and happiness of the team. Everyone does better when someone is pulling for them!) Teach and demonstrate the behavior you want your family to manifest!

3. Take the practice to the office as well. Don't keep this a secret; let everyone on your team become involved too. It might start by letting athletics into the office environment. But it might be better still if your team exchanged areas in which they want to improve their business performance. Imagine, instead of working in individual silos, we convert our colleagues into teammates, coaches and cowbell ringers.

It's one thing – and a good one – to show up. That’s 80%. But coming with the intention and preparation required to improve on the personal best – now that’s the other 20% that raises the performance – and perhaps one’s entire life – to a whole new standard. Yes this is partly about athletics, but also about family, professionalism and applying one high standard of expectation to all these life domains – Fusion!

Giving Thanks

grat·i·tude

noun gra-tə-tüd

: the state of being grateful : thankfulness

Thank you for your business and continued interest.

Our best wishes to you and your family for a
Happy Thanksgiving.

With gratitude,

The Fusion Group

Be Still

"Being still, and not doing anything are two very different things."

- Mr. Han - played by Jackie Chan
The Karate Kid
2010

"I never learned a damn thing while I was talking!"

- J.E. Morrow
American Social Commentator
1920-1996

"The native state of a rational mind is a profound stillness - looking out."

- J.R. St. John

Everyone is talking! In 5.1 surround sound, on blogs, on their own private networks, shouting in the dark, in the streets, on WiFi at Starbucks, texting at the office, at school and in the car. Broadcasting! Everyone's talking... at once. And all of them dying to be heard... Or better – understood.

Who's listening?

Perhaps a few politicians ... the Winners – getting elected by responding to what they hear people saying.

Maybe a few inventors... Creating the tools to connect people in unprecedented ways.

A few bankers, creating services that allow people more freedom with their investments and more access to their accounts.

A few employers, who have discovered and embraced all the diversity which can expand and strengthen the workforce.

A few sales people, who can deliver more service, and more satisfaction – only when they discover what people really require.

A few designers, listening to the rustling of new desires and currents, and bringing them to light as products and tools.

But these few are on to something. The tide has turned. When everyone else is talking, it's the listeners who distinguish themselves. In years past, it was enough to be the first one speaking, later the one with the most elegant message. Today the secret is an engaged receptivity – stillness.

You may be smart, brilliant even – armed with the best talent, and incredible resources. Yet, you cannot achieve anything without your colleagues, the market, the people, the nation on your side. Such alliances do not form between people who are always talking. The hardest, and most important thing one person can do for another is to listen to and truly understand them. While many claim to be listening, they are in fact appearing to listen while doing something else. To "hear someone out" and then "grant them standing" is to recognize their presence in a complete and profound way. It is the foundation of successful partnerships, marriages and relationships of all stripes – and of course – of business and national alliances.

Successful relationships begin not with talk, but with the willingness to listen – signified by being still.

What exactly does that mean?

Well, it isn't being quiet while you think of what to say next. It isn't waiting your turn...

Being still: means “allowing both the outer and the inner voices to fall silent while concentrating entirely on the other person - not merely on what they're saying, but on what they feel and intend." When you start from stillness, you have the best shot at effective listening – on getting a clear understanding of the content, the desires and the attitude of the speaker – and of being able to see the world from her vantage point. You might accomplish it without looking. But you can't do it while talking, thinking or indulging split focus. You begin by being still and looking.

Advice for rediscovering the lost art of listening:

1. Turn off the toys.

2. Aspire to unbroken eye contact.

3. Shut down the internal noise and criticism. Just get (even duplicate...) what they are saying / intending.

4. When they run down, leave a respectful silence to validate completion, then acknowledge.

5. Now, think about it. What did they mean? This? That? Ask them to verify. When they smile, you know you’re on first base.

Ultimately, there's more to listening than words, speaking and duplicating what was said – although that alone is an excellent start. Listening may not really be about words at all. We suggest that the entire exercise is less about content and more about contact. When resting on a foundation of stillness, your listening practice can often allow you to penetrate deeply into the mind, heart and spirit of your partner – apprehending what they actually think, feel and believe... The words are just a path to that more substantial connection. It borders on the psychic – but then, maybe that's what such people are actually doing, being still and allowing the other person's universe to "seep quietly in..."

Whether it’s a cranky all-knowing teenager, a frustrated spouse, a work-mate with an upset, a foreign colleague with a cultural question or a boss with an assignment, all human beings are hungry, bordering on desperate to be understood. Pay attention to the words as a start, but begin out of stillness and prepare to be amazed – and amazing!

Be still, and learn.