Scene 4:
Everybody Leads

Setting: Sam is greeted in the reception area by the vice president of Company 4. As they walk down the hall together, Sam notices a light atmosphere, people smiling and greeting them as they walk and begin their conversation.

NICK: Sam, it's great to finally meet you. Follow me and let me show you around a bit before we get started.

SAM: Thank you, itâs good to finally meet you in person, too.

NICK: We have a full day planned for you. Before you leave we want to make sure you have a really good overview of the company. Our goals. The way we work. I'd like you to have a chance to sit in on a couple of project discussions so you can get a flavor of the place. You will also be interviewing with a number of people from several parts of the company.

SAM: That sounds great. And a full day for sure. Do you always do this with candidates?

NICK: Absolutely. We want to get to know you and also let you have as much of a chance as possible to get to know us. Best way to do that is to meet people. See what we are working on. Feel free to ask folks what they do and why they choose to work here. (A salesman named Bob walks up)

NICK: Bob, this is Sam. Sam, this is Bob, one of our top sales people. Sam is going to be visiting the company today. I think we have her scheduled to sit in on the sponsorship discussion with you this afternoon.

BOB: Great! Welcome. Looking forward to it. Weâre likely to have a pretty lively debate, so if there is any background youâre missing, just ask.

SAM: Thanks. I will

BOB: I'll let you two continue on, and catch you later, Sam. Nick, I just wanted to thank you for your help in thinking through the right criteria for structuring that contract the other day. We got the business and they were most impressed. Your ideas helped a lot.

NICK: Glad I could be of service. Catch you later.

SAM: Does Bob work for you?

NICK: No, he's in another division, but the contract he was working on is big enough that it requires a lot of special support from other parts of the company. There was some controversy about whether we should even take the business. I just helped him sort out the criteria that he could use with others to guide the decisions we needed to make. And I think he led us to a great solution.

SAM: Sounds like you have some ownership of the decision.

NICK: I do. We can't afford to not take risks and there are some in this deal. But we also need to support people like Bob who want to do the right thing and are looking for guidance - not to make the decision for them, but so they can make better decisions themselves. If we do our jobs right, we're all invested in the same outcomes.

So, here we are at your first stop.

Fade to black.

If someone were meeting your company for the first time, which company would they likely meet? 1? 2? 3? Or 4?

Would the answer be different in one part of your company than another?

If they overheard your employees in casual conversation, what would they hear? People waiting for someone else to make a decision? People taking or avoiding responsibility? Acts of unsupported heroism? Flaming failures?

Or would they find people joyful about their work, committed to their co-workers, clear about the roles they play and the contributions they make to your companyâs success?

The answers lie in the clarity or alignment the organization has around shared values, operating principles, rules, and goals combined with the freedom-to-act that people within the company experience.

Which approach does your department or organization use? Autocracy, Abdication, Heroics, or Leadership.

What would your company sound like to someone new?