Every Monday, my ex-boss Antonio Gonzalez Barros He sends a small excerpt from a book he particularly liked via a mailing list. I am lucky and privileged to be one of the people who receives his emails, so that every Monday I start the week with inspiration and renewed energy.
This week, Antonio sent us a paragraph from the recent book of Álvaro González – Alorda: “The Talking Manager” (www.thetalkingmanager.com), which talks about leadership and how to positively influence the lives of your employees. In this small excerpt from the book, he tells us an anecdote that has particularly struck me and that I thought was worth sharing on this blog.
Here is the paragraph, I hope you enjoy it and find it useful:
Months ago I had the opportunity to listen to Brian Bacon, Founder of the Oxford Leadership Academy, in a one-on-one seminar with IESE professor Luis Huete. At the end of the day, Brian Bacon told the following story:
A few years ago, I was at a conference in San Francisco. I was a second-class speaker at a big event where giants like Peter Drucker, Peter Senge and Michael Hammer were speaking: the Who's Who leadership and change in organizations. In fact, I was more in the category Who's He?…
The conference was held around the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. For two days, the speakers had displayed scientific wisdom on how to lead organizations. They talked about everything from reengineering human resources to changing structures, including the best leadership tips. The attendees had paid $5,000 to spend two days there, listening to great figures.
At the end of these congresses, the organizers usually distribute a questionnaire to evaluate the speakers and the impact of their messages. To everyone's surprise, Mother Teresa of Calcutta—whom they managed to convince to participate in the event—came first in the ranking. ranking, and far from second. Curiously, she was not part of the panel of speakers, but had been invited to give a short message at the end. In fact, she did not speak for more than thirty seconds. She went up to the podium, remained silent for a moment, and in a very soft voice said:
—So you want to change people. But do you know your people? And do you love them? Because if you don't know people, there will be no understanding, and if there is no understanding, there will be no trust, and if there is no trust, there will be no change.
»And do you love your people? Because if there is no love in what you do, there will be no passion, and if there is no passion, you will not be prepared to take risks, and if you are not prepared to take risks, nothing will change.
»So if you want your people to change, think: Do I know my people? And do I love my people?
Mother Teresa's message hung in the auditorium, and it was clear that it had hit home. As hard as when someone hears the truth.
This story by Brian Bacon leads me to the following conclusion: To get a person to change, the most promising way is to inspire him, after having accepted him as he is.And you are inspiring when others see in you not only professional qualities, but also some personal qualities worthy of imitation. When there is consistency between what you think and what you say and also between what you say and what you do. In short, when you transmit authenticity, a quality that is achieved with many small efforts and that often requires swimming against the current.
I hope it inspires you too.
Have a good day.
A big hug.
Montse.
5 responses
I'm looking forward to reading Alvaro Gonzalez's new book. The previous one, The Next 30 Years, which you also recommended, was tremendously instructive. Thank you.
Dear Montse, first of all, thank you very much for sharing this valuable information that personally encourages me to put such an interesting lesson into practice. I share your ideas in the beautiful conclusion you make, “consistency between what you think and what you say and also between what you say and what you do…” I also feel blessed and privileged to be able to receive from time to time what you publish on your blog. Once again, thank you very much!
Truly great and inspiring Montse.
Thanks for sharing!
I have been meaning to write an article about a quote that a friend and colleague passed on to me:
"A company has no values: the values are held by the people who make it up."
In the end, honesty pays dividends, and we can see this in many areas. One example is team management, another is customer management. All telephone companies have large and expensive CRM applications, but how many of their customers feel well treated?
Greetings.
Short, concise and enormously inspiring post, Montse. Authenticity is what it is all about, it doesn't need any more verbiage or embellishments to show itself forcefully as it is. Many times, in the eagerness to find the magic wand to lead teams, we get tangled up in the erudite texts of a thousand gurus when, in reality, what is needed is as basic as a genuine interest in the people with whom we collaborate on a daily basis. Thank you very much for your excellent post.