Social Cause Marketing - The Regis Group Inc

ness talent in your organization as
you possibly can. That is the ultimate
resource you will be converting
into value for customers in the future.
Steward, Donít Steal
Over the past 11 years Iíve written at
least one 1,500 word article each
month as well as three 70,000-word
books. So Iím up to something like
400,000 words on management effectiveness.
But if I had to narrow my advice
on how to be a great manager
down to three words, they would be:
steward, donít steal.
In the Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary, stewardship means ìthe
careful and responsible management of
something entrusted to oneís care.î In a
nutshell, thatís the job of a business
manager. Think of your main job as
stewarding resources in ways that will
enrich them and create more value for
customers. The greatest managers Iíve
ever witnessed embraced this concept
of stewardship, applied it skillfully,
and always worked to improve at it. A
magnificent new book on the idea of
being a great steward is Enough: True
Measures of Money, Business, and Life
by John Bogle. I encourage you to buy
this book and really study it carefully. It
is a beautiful explanation of old-time
values delivered by a person who has
truly lived them.
Of course, you want to, and you
should, be paid a reasonable fee for
guiding these resources to better results.
However, this is where the tricky
part comes in. What is a reasonable fee
for your efforts and how should you get
that fee? There are two ways to go about
it: earn them or steal them. Stealing is
on the other end of the management effectiveness
spectrum from stewardship.
Stealing can come in a variety of
forms of which some are legal and
some are illegal. You can simply take
what is not yours, or you can take what
is available to you for the taking. The
former is obviously stealing, and the
latter is where you have to decide on
what you think is the right thing to do. I
encourage you to ask yourself, ìAm I
being a good steward, or am I simply
taking as much from the organization
as I possibly can?î Stealing is not always
crystal clear, and many times you
will have to decide for yourself
whether youíre acting as a steward or a
thief. If your goal is to be a long-term
great manager, I encourage you to stay
on the side of stewardship every time.
My father passed away last week.
He was truly a great and humble person.
He and Mom taught me a great
deal about the concept of stewardship.
They guided everything they had to
help each of their six kids to do as well
as we could do in whatever we were
trying to do at that given moment. To
Great performers are patient beyond short-term results. They are
patient beyond great failures and great successes. They are patient
beyond being laughed at or being given false praise
me, they were absolutely perfect examples
of being great stewards. They
never stole the credit, the glory, or the
riches from another person. They carefully
and responsibly managed the resources
that were entrusted to them to
raise children who hopefully are delivering
strong value to other people.
Get Better
I havenít met every manager on the
planet, but of the ones Iíve met Iíve
never seen anyone be a perfect manager
on day one. The very best managers
Iíve ever seen simply started on
the road as a manager, and then
worked to get better each day. Hereís
an interesting quote from a new book
called, Genius 101: Creators, Leaders,
and Prodigies by Keith Simonton:
ìGeniuses are those who have the intelligence,
enthusiasm, and endurance
to acquire the needed expertise
in a broadly valued domain of
The Noble and Necessary Job of a Manager
achievement and who then make
contributions to that field that are
considered by peers to be both original
and highly exemplary.î
Iím not a big fan of the word ìgenius,î
but I do think that definition
applies to great managers. They always
had the ability to become great
managers, they had the passion to stay
the course long enough to hone their
craft as managers, and they applied
their skills in ways that made an exemplary
difference for their customers
and organizations.
You may or may not become famous
or fabulously wealthy as a business
manager, but always remember
that you perform the critically important
role in making our economy
strong and successful both over the
short term and the long term.
Great Performers are in the
Patience Industry
Shift your focus for the moment away
from the recession and other bad
news. In your mind, put a spotlight on
the greatest performers youíve ever
known. Visualize them. Take it all in.
Step back and look with a panoramic
view at how they got to where they
were able to deliver an amazing performance.
It doesnít matter their age
level or type of activity or industry or
title. Just step back in awe and let their
performance teach you the lessons for
your lifetime.
This is one of my favorite activities.
I just love, and have always loved,
studying extraordinary performers.
Iíve done it since I was eight years old.
Iím not nearly as interested in what
life is like at the top of the mountain,
but rather what happened on the way
up the mountain. One of the reasons I
do this is because for truly great performers
there is no mountaintop,
there is only the next mountain to
climb. Over the past nearly forty years
Iíve landed on a few common traits of
superior performers, and the most
common one, the one that every single
truly great performer has mastered, is
patience.
Great performers are patient beyond
short-term results. They are
patient beyond great failures and
great successes. They are patient be-
SEPTEMBER 2009
22
EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE