August 2012
Leadership Lessons ezine by Mark Sanborn
I just got a note of introduction from my long-time friend Howard Putnam about the newest member of our collegial group, The Speaking Eagles. We are a group of private, military and commercial pilots (and others) committed to aviation.
Our newest member is Capt. Denny Flanagan, a pilot for United Airlines.Denny lives in Ohio but flies out of Chicago.
I’ve admittedly been tough on United post merger, and for reasons I will stand by. But when I hear about employees like Capt. Flanagan, I want to share that positive news, too.
Here’s what Howard says about him:
“Captain Denny writes notes to all his first class passengers and he calls parents of unaccompanied children. He gets off to buy pizza for a needy passenger. He understands and practices customer service. He is a unique and welcome addition to our group of aviators and speakers.”
He sounds very much like a “Fred” (www.fredfactor.com) in the United system. And for employees like him and the many others who have taken responsibility for serving their customers, I say thank you.(And I look forward to meeting you, Denny. Welcome to Speaking Eagles.)
How Any Business Grows: A Case Study
By Mark Sanborn
Kenna and Russ Coltman opened City Center Garden Market in Conneaut, Ohio in the spring of 2006 after 9 months of planning. The market was a combination of Kenna’s passion for plants, and Russ’s passion for food, and the concept was a hit. The beauty of the perennial and annual plants on the outside drew people into the store and the smells and tastes of the fresh produce, cheeses and deli kept people coming back for more.
Russ and I grew up only a few miles apart on family farms, so we both benefited from learning the value of work and being of service. Russ explains how this translated to his business:
“We made sure that we hired only people with a passion for either food or plants and instilled not only our mission, but also our vision and values for running the market. We started with cleaning out a 1300 square foot abandoned building and built a farm market & deli that fed our family and had seasonal high employment of 8 people.”
Russ and Kenna were mission and values-driven. This is mission and values statement that hung on the wall for not only employees to see, but customers as well:
At City Center Garden Market, we will strive to provide a positive force and example for our children, employees, suppliers and our community, with the guiding principal of conducting business in a way that helps everyone to succeed and grow. This will be a successful business that promotes people first, is on the leading edge of redevelopment of our community, and serves as an example of how to implement solid business practices to the benefit of all involved.
The mission of City Center Garden Market is to successfully retail farm, garden and country artisan products from the local (Conneaut and Northeast Ohio) community in a family-oriented, friendly, relaxed atmosphere, where people come first.
The Science of Happiness and Success
By Mark Sanborn
For years, the scientific study of happiness focused mostly on the lack of it – unhappiness, depression, mood problems. The study of happiness – what truly makes people happy and how they benefit from it – was always considered “fuzzy” or “touchy-feely” and unscientific. However, in the last decade or so, scientists and researchers have finally turned some serious attention to happiness and positivity. What they’ve learned should shape the way we live and lead.
For starters, everyone can be happier. Scientists have learned that some part of our happiness is innate. Some are just naturally happier than others and we all have a happiness “set point,” kind of like a golfer’s “handicap.” But they also found that everyone can exceed their set point – everyone can beat their happiness “par.” In that respect, it’s within almost everyone’s power to “choose” to be happier. Almost everyone can improve happiness through what researchers like Sonja Lyubomirsky of Cal-Riverside call “intentional activity.” Her study for the National Institutes of Mental Health confirms some of the same strategies I’ve highlighted in books like the Fred Factor and Up, Down, and Sideways, namely that intentional behaviors and attitudes like kindness, gratitude, and optimism actually improve happiness. In other words, anyone can choose to act kindly, to practice gratitude, and to adopt an optimistic outlook and it will make them measurably happier.
According to the research, what does and doesn’t make us happy? Money? No, after you reach a $50-75K income or so, more money does not bring more happiness. Being attractive? No. Marriage? Yes. Social acceptance? Yes. Success? Not necessarily.
In fact, one of the most interesting findings in this research is that happiness leads to success more than success leads to happiness. As I shared in Up, Down, and Sideways, Shawn Achor’s Harvard research showed that 75% of the factors that predict career success are related to happiness and optimism. He found that optimists who see challenges as an opportunity to improve and who believe that their own behavior can make a difference were the most likely to succeed.
Leaders should take notice and many already have. Encouraging happiness among those you lead makes them more effective and successful. A recent Robert Half survey showed the number of executives who appreciate the importance of positive work environments and corporate culture has risen dramatically. Now, fully one-third of executives believe a positive work environment and a happy corporate culture are the top factors in employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. That’s up from just one-tenth when the survey was first taken.
A researcher at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas showed how that translates to the front lines of customer service. He surveyed consumers who were served after waiting in line. Those served by positive and upbeat employees estimated their wait time to be shorter than it actually was. They believed they’d gotten faster service than they actually had because the service was happy!
What success and happiness have in common, according to much of this research, is that they both require us to maintain our “intentional activity” to sustain them. We find the most success and happiness when we are actively pursuing both. That’s the main finding of Shimon Edelman’s The Happiness of Pursuit, a study of the neuroscience of happiness. When we stop working at it, the happiness and success can dissipate.
In part two, we’ll take a look at the pitfall of success – what happens when we reach goals, our happiness plateaus, and we stop our pursuit and our “intentional activity.”
On Growing Older Happily
By Mark Sanborn
The best small city is Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
That is according to The Milken Institute, a non-profit think tank in Santa Monica, California. They used 78 indicators of success for seniors like the cost of living, available doctors, and transportation.
These are interesting findings, but it seems to be the best way to grow older happily is to happily grow older. It is more about how you grow older (attitudes, experiences and choices) than where.
Environment helps, but it doesn’t determine happiness. Happiness is a choice, and attitude is a far better determinant of whether you enjoy your latter years than the city where you reside.
To help you keep a positive attitude about growing older, I’ll quote my grandfather Harold Sanborn who used to say:
“Enjoy getting older. It is a privilege denied to many.”
Mark Sanborn
Sanborn & Associates, Inc.
704-965-2339
