Making it personal eats culture and strategy for breakfast

Technology Transformation isBullShit

“The only way I can get you to do anything is by giving you what you want." — Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

Business is 90% psychology, and those that succeed have self-awareness. Leaders are driven by personal motives. We are all selfish individuals. Why should leadership be any different? Particularly when the stakes are so high for a leader. There is massive money on the table along with ego gratification, self preservation, and the next rung on the corporate ladder beckoning. People are inextricably linked to the success or failure of a company.

The fastest and easiest, and I would argue the only way, to transform an organization is to not analyze the culture, processes, org chart, 10Ks, strategy, mission, programs, values, business objectives, KPIs, and advertised goals of the company. Find out what is motivating the top decision makers, and what are their KPIs. What are their desires, aspirations, motives, and how can you help them persevere, thrive, and mitigate risk. To be successful in business and technology transformation, you simply need to understand people’s motivates, what incentivizes them, and what inspires them. Take a listen to a (fictitious) investment mogul.

The pundits, muses, and pseudo business geniuses espouse the virtues of establishing a strategy, identifying business goals, understanding business objectives, documenting process flows, codifying leadership principles, defining tenets, and writing mission and vision statements. Digital transformation professionals will inundate you with a message that organizational design and change, culture metamorphosis, and a new business strategy guarantee that your company will reach the digital and AI promised land. The reality is decisions, daily actions, and execution are made and done by people.

Humans are moral animals. Individuals seek out pleasure, respond impulsively to outside stimuli, seek to thrive, and look out for their own best interests. Humans are fragile, avoid pain, seek safety, and look to mitigate risk. All of these things make us vulnerable, and imbue all of us with a me first temperament when decision making. We are all broken; “This is how the light gets in” — Leonard Cohen.

The story of an Oracle leadership session I attended while working as an Oracle Director is salient. The class commenced with the instructor asking, “What is the mission of Oracle ?”. There were the typical responses, “Provide superior customer satisfaction.”, “Bedazzle customers with innovative products.”, and “Be the worlds’ best employer.”. The instructor listened to ten responses before interjecting that everyone was not even close. The mission of Oracle was to make Larry Ellison the richest person in the world — nothing less, nothing more. It is personal (for Larry), plain and simple. It may seem selfish and greedy, perhaps a bit tragic. I thought it was open, honest, and truthful. Companies will fill you with platitudes, display DE&I placards on the conference room walls, and saturate you with corporate propaganda. They make you believe the company possesses transcendent, existential motives. Humbleness, compassion, and concern for the great good do not make companies the most valuable in the world.

Milton Friedman indicated, “Corporations have no obligations to society, including moral obligations, outside of their legal obligations.”. Their only obligation is to make money — for shareholders. I live in Northwest Arkansas. The birthplace of Walmart. The Walmart family and foundation is spending egregious sums of money on the arts, culture, restaurants, mountain bike trails, and building a relic of the past — downtown squares. It all sounds so altruistic. They would not be doing this if there was not an immediate benefit and a long term ROI, and benefits to the Walmart legacy and trust fund. The Walmart family and foundations community giving is Milton Friedman’s version of capitalism at its best. Altruism is a by-product of selfishness.

We know what Larry Ellison wants. What is it that transformation leaders want ? It is probably not as grandiose as being the richest person in the world. In fact, the drivers I have identified will appear simple and mundane. The diagram below contains my synopsis of the catalysts I have witnessed over the last four decades as a transformation Sherpa and therapist.

Individuals seek purpose, meaning, certainty, growth, learning, acceptance, understanding, and to be understood. They look to avoid pain, discomfort, conflict, and suffering. Individuals are motivated by the stick as easily as by the carrot. I am sure there are other characteristics.

For simplicity, I have bucketed the transformation leader motivations into three categories: Fear and uncertainty, purpose and growth, and altruism/pay it forward. It is the obligation of vendors, consultants, and partners involved in a technology transformation to understand these personal motivations, and resolve, support, or remove impediments for each of these personal priorities.

As Declan Morris says, “It is not culture, process, or organization structure. All (corporate) decisions are made because of people, politics, and posturing.”. The three Ps are the wild cards that trump all things.

Fear and uncertainty

1. Keeping a job — People want to keep their job as they need the money. They also want to keep their job because getting fired is demoralizing and a social faux pas. The imposter syndrome keeps individuals constantly vigilant to the potential of losing their job. KPIs, a favorite subject of mine, play a role here. “An employee’s KPIs drive their behavior and the decisions they make every day.”. — Declan Morris.
2. Pleasing my boss — The easiest and fastest path to riches, promotions, and reduced friction in your work life is to please your boss. Managing up is the best way to work your way up.
3. Make a decision — Data, stories of past experiences, benchmarks, anecdotal evidence, and empirical knowledge are crucial to making quick decisions. Transformation owners are looking to vendors, consultants, and partners is to first and foremost be storytellers. Tell a good story, and you will win hearts and minds.
4. Avoid the middle — Middle management is the most significant impediment to progress in a technology transformation. Find a way to appease them, work around them, or remove them. Learn more about the “disease of middle management” in this isBullShit blog post.
5. Build consensus — Leaders develop a strategy, put together a few slides, convey it to the organization, and expect everyone to embrace it / fall in line. This seems to be part of the “how to be a manager playbook”. It is the worst thing a leader can do. You must get employees to develop the plan and strategy you have in mind. This is the key to building consensus — make it their idea.
6. Certainty for the uncertain — People don’t fear change. They fear the uncertainty associated with change. Be specific in your expectations, plan, metrics, milestones, and objectives. Then communicate, communicate, and communicate.
7. Identify where you are going — People want to be led. They want someone who is decisive, has conviction, and is bold in words and action. Be specific regarding your vision, plan, and approach, and give people the tools and authority to help you get there.
8. Identify who you are taking along — “First decide where you are going in life, and who you are taking along.” — Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man. This book was recommended to me by an Oracle executive. I asked him what he most like about the book. He indicated, “I read the line First decide… on page 16, and stopped reading as it was all I needed to know.”. This quote summarizes one of the best pieces of advice I received from my mother, “You are who you hang around with, so pick your friends carefully.”. Pick the team for the transformation carefully! The people will be the ones to make or break you.

Purpose and growth

1. Get a raise — Money does talk. There are many intangibles that motivate leaders — who they report to, health benefits, autonomy, perks, flexible work schedule, time off, and meaningful toil. Money is still the baseline. Without money being equivalent to what other companies are offering, leaders don’t give a shit about the extra amenities like free lunches. Meeting or exceeding KPIs contribute to a raise; never forget the importance of KPIs. Know a person’s KPIs, and you will understand why an individual is behaving a certain way.
2. Personal values — The only way to have success with a leader is to understand their values — nothing else matters unless you know who they are, what they believe, what they value, and what motivates them. My values are passion, integrity, and fun. Do you know what yours are ? — you should. You should also know the values of the leader you are working with and for.
3. Attract recruiters / company — Every endeavor a leader partakes in is an opportunity to build their stature, enhance their pedigree, and boast about their greatness. Leaders are seeking results that produce an attractive Linkedin profile.
4. Grow career — Leaders are leaders because they aspire for more — more responsibility, more riches, and more span of control. A technology transformation can can be a seminal moment in a leader’s career.
5. Community recognition — Thinking bigger than career growth, the leader is compelled by boarding her network and receiving accolades from the CxO community.
6. Personal vision — Where is the person going in their career and life in general ? Understand the individual’s personal mission and vision. Help the person achieve this vision.
7. Take responsibility — Leaders may or may not want to actually take ownership. They do want to take responsibility. Be careful here, as they often want to take responsibility for things when they go well even when they didn’t make the decision or support the action at inception. When things go bad, they will distance themselves from having any ownership. Be hyper-aware of the proverbial bus that may run you and others over if things go poorly.
8. Make me a hero — Leaders want to be placed on a pedestal. Some leaders even want to be adored or worshiped — who doesn’t want to be a rock star, or king “if only just for a day”?

Altruistic / paying it forward — The by product of the above two.

1. Lifting up others — The influence leaders have over other peoples well-being is enormous. Leaders do find satisfaction and gratification by helping others do better.
2. Open doors for others — Mentor, coaching, and being a muse of employees is part of a leadership job. Mentors can open, or slam shut, opportunities for team members.

How do you find out which of these motivations are most pertinent to the leader you are working with? You can try to just ask them. Or better yet, ask them when they are drunk. This is why companies pay large sums of money for golf outings, box seats at sporting events, and tickets to Formula One racing. Get someone drunk and they will divulge secrets, and express inner daemons. You could do it the self-aware way - ask open ended questions, listen, and get to know them. “There is no compression algorithm for relationship building.”. - Tom Laszewski