Frances Hesselbein, Hesselbein on Leadership (pp 13-17.). Jossey-Bass, 2002
CHAPTER 2
A Reason to Believe
I SPOKE RECENTLY to an audience of university students, faculty, and community leaders. We had a vigorous question and answer period, and when people came up to talk afterward, one young man lingered on the sidelines. When everyone else had moved on, this college freshman said to me, “I wanted to ask you a question during the question and answer period, but I didn’t want to embarrass you.” I smiled and said, “Please, ask it now.” He asked, “Why should I not be cynical?”
He went on to talk about a corporate leader who had donated a large amount of money (but a small fraction of his net worth) to charity. In the student’s view, the leader had given to receive a big tax deduction and to get his name in the paper. “Why should I not be cynical?” he asked again. I told him, first, “I am never cynical. Even my blood type is B positive.” He smiled, but his serious question deserved a serious answer.
I told him that I didn’t know enough about that particular case to comment, but I asked if I could describe some corporate leaders I know who have made a difference. One is Bill Pollard, chairman of ServiceMaster, one of the most admired corporations in the world and the most successful service corporation in our country for twenty-five years. Bill Pollard devotes enormous energy and commitment to the development of his 240,000 employees. They mop floors in hospitals, serve food in college cafeterias, eliminate termites, take care of lawns and trees, and clean houses. He believes that every one of them is a person of great worth and dignity and that each deserves career development and learning opportunities. That is why some men and women who begin in basic cleaning services end up managing ServiceMaster business units.
Bill’s investment in career development has nothing to do with tax breaks; it has everything to do with a belief that people truly are his organization’s greatest asset, and he acts on that belief. He is forthright about his company’s mission, which, appropriately enough, is inscribed on the wall of his headquarters: “To honor God in all we do, to help people develop, to pursue excellence, and to grow profitably.” These aims can mean different things to different people. But it is a statement that cannot be taken lightly, and Pollard holds himself and his managers accountable to it. He mobilizes people around it.
I also told the young man about Tom Moran, president and CEO of Mutual of America. His company’s community involvement—which includes investments of time, money, and management support to local community projects and nonprofit organizations—is an essential part of Mutual of America’s culture. It has little to do with money because the return on investment, while highly significant in social terms, has little financial impact on a $10 billion corporation. But the impact on the company’s 1,100 employees—over 97 percent of whom participate—and on the people of the community is tremendous. Tom’s predecessor and current chairman of the board, William Flynn, made a statement I have heard from very few corporate leaders. He told employees, “The day we have to downsize, the day we have to eliminate jobs, my name will be the first on the list.”
Finally, I talked about Lew Platt, former chairman of Hewlett-Packard. He was intent on reinventing and reener-gizing a great corporation. Yet he remained passionate about building a richly diverse organization worldwide and promot-ing a healthy balance between work and life for employees. He saw that while a viable organization must be financially sound, it can grow in partnership with employees and communities, not at their expense.
Those of us in leadership positions must be able to answer the questions of skeptics—not with homilies but with real and positive examples of leaders in all three sectors who are building healthy, cohesive organizations and communities. Those of us who have a forum for addressing constituents need to identify what Peter Drucker calls “islands of health and strength” in this country. There are thousands of them, and they matter to the eighteen-year-old students who ask the tough questions.
Young people are looking for evidence of values-driven leadership because they see too many examples of people in positions of authority who are self-serving, focused only on financial lines, or simply indifferent to others.
We cannot afford to have young people answering for themselves, on the basis of a few negative examples, the question, “Why should I not be cynical?” We owe it to them to articulate real examples of principled, effective leaders who understand and value the contributions of others.
We also have to be clear about our own principles and values, grounded in everyday practice.
Young people reflect a society, a world, that is hungry for heroes. We need to look with new eyes and identify for ourselves the heroes around us. Heroes can be found throughout society—not in the person of the man on the white horse, but among men and women who know that the future is going to be different and who are themselves making a difference as they help to shape tomorrow.
Today’s heroes move beyond the walls of their enterprise and help build a better world. They provide an alternative to today’s sober realities. They hold a vision before us, a vision beyond what is, to what could be.
By the time we finished our conversation, the auditorium had emptied. I wanted to stay connected, and we agreed to keep in touch. I told him, “You are asking the right question. And your question is far more significant than my answer.” He thanked me and walked slowly away, modest, quiet, and clearly weighing the evidence. I hope to hear how he answers his question for himself in the coming years. I know that his question was a great gift. It taught me much, and yet his question still haunts me.
[1999]
Frances Hesselbein. Hesselbein on Leadership