Leadership Wisdom From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: The 8 Rituals of Visionary Leaders (7 page)

“With pleasure,” I responded, quickly signaling the waiter to come over once again and informing him of my unusually attired guest’s simple request. I had realized that Julian truly was a different man from the hard-living, stress-ridden corporate warrior he
once was. Gone was the affinity for alcohol, recklessness and profanity that had characterized his notorious lifestyle. He was a model of good health, good judgment and a testament to the principles he was sharing.

“You know, Peter, there are a lot of so-called management gurus. They travel from city to city giving seminar after seminar and write book after book. While many of them develop useless buzzwords and jargon to justify their existences, the best ones really do have valuable ideas that would help improve organizations. The problem lies in what I call the Performance Gap. That’s what prevents many businesses from reaching levels of greatness.”

“The Performance Gap?”

“It’s a theory that explains why knowledge generally doesn’t translate into results. You see, all too often we know what we should do but we don’t do what we know. We are human beings when what we really should be are humans
doing.
Many leaders know they should have a clear sense of their future vision and powerfully communicate it to the people they have the privilege to lead. They know they need to take steps to develop deeper connections with those under their leadership. The problem is that they have failed to develop the action habit. And, therefore, they put off doing what they intuitively know they should do. They spend their days majoring in minor things and slowly the weeks, months and years slip by them. These types of leaders never fully realize that 90 percent of leadership success comes in the follow-through, in the implementation and execution of the knowledge they have gathered. Everyone says we are so fortunate to live in this age of information. But what most people fail to appreciate is that information alone is not power. Power and competitive advantage come only when sound information is decisively acted upon.”

“That’s so true, Julian. Most of us in our company know at least a few dozen things we could probably implement in a week or so to at least improve the situation. And yet we are so busy with the daily emergencies that always seem to burden us that we end up putting off doing them until the next quarter and then the quarter after that.”

“Quite right. So remember, as I share Yogi Raman’s leadership wisdom with you, that the key to improving your leadership performance is to passionately act on it. Don’t squirrel it away hoping you will have time down the road to study it and put it into play. Recognize its power and deeply embed it into your daily routine so that you practice its principles daily. Make it a part of your leadership and your life right now. Only then will you see quantum improvements in your effectiveness as a leader of people and in the productivity and performance of GlobalView. As noted by Herodotus so many years ago, ‘This is the bitterest pain among men, to have much knowledge but no power.’”

“Any advice on how I might go about ‘making the wisdom a part of my leadership and my life today’ as you suggest?”

“Most important of all, you must begin to
ritualize
the wisdom you are about to discover,” Julian replied.

“Huh?”

“The best way to ensure these leadership lessons become a part of who you are is to create rituals around them. That is one of the most timeless and essential of all the leadership truths I will deliver to you.”

“Can you give me an example of a ritual, just so I’m clear about what you’re getting at?”

“Sure. One simple ritual the sages practiced with an almost obsessive sense of commitment was getting up at dawn. They felt
this gave them a tremendous head start on their days and fostered self-discipline. By engaging in this simple practice every single day, it became a part of who they were. A time came when they couldn’t have slept in even if they tried.”

“One of my managers is the same way, Julian. As a boy, his father forced him to get up at
5
:00
A.M
. every single day of the week. He told him he was doing it for his own good, ‘to build character.’ Now, even if he’s on vacation, he still gets up at that ungodly time of the day. Perhaps that’s why he’s one of the most productive people in our company.”

“Personal productivity is generated in many ways. Getting up early is certainly one of the best of them. But the point I’m making is that both the Great Sages of Sivana and your top manager
ritualized
the discipline of getting up early. Other people have ritualized the discipline of exercising every lunchtime and still others have ritualized the practice of reading every night. What I’m really trying to say, and this is so important for you to understand, is that the only way you will become a visionary leader and liberate the fullness of your leadership talents is by making the truths I’m about to reveal to you part of your daily routine. You need to make them iron-clad rituals, as all the visionary leaders before you have done. In this way you will move beyond simply knowing to doing.”

“Could brushing your teeth be considered a ritual?” I asked earnestly.

“Definitely. Would you ever dream of going into the office without brushing your teeth?”

“I wouldn’t dare inflict such pain on my staff, Julian,” I replied with a hearty laugh, my first in a long time. “Cruel and unusual punishment has been banned in this part of the world, in case you forgot!”

Julian chuckled but then quickly returned to the point he was making. “You brush your teeth every single morning and wouldn’t dream of not doing it. So it’s a perfect example of a ritual. If you can integrate the leadership truths from Yogi Raman’s system into your routine to the same degree, your success as a visionary leader will be guaranteed. This I promise you.”

“Great, I’m feeling excited already. So far you’ve explained that enlightened and effective leaders all have a vividly imagined future vision. They know precisely where they want to go and concentrate their energies on getting there. You’ve also taught me that the leadership truths that make up Yogi Raman’s timeless success system need to be made into rituals so that I practice them daily, almost unconsciously, in spite of how busy I get. Would it be possible for you to give me the elements of this ancient system now?” I asked, barely containing my curiosity.

Julian looked up to the sky, which had now grown dark and star-filled. He gazed for what seemed like an eternity at one star in particular, squinting his eyes in an effort to see it more clearly. Then he muttered something under his breath. While I couldn’t make out all that he said, I did hear, “So there you are, my friend. I’ve missed you for a while.”

Then, realizing that he had drifted off, he quickly caught himself and returned his attention to me, looking mildly embarrassed. “Sorry about that, Peter. When one spends as much time alone as I do, one’s social graces tend to diminish. I apologize for my mind wandering off like that. It’s just that I spotted something I haven’t been able to find all week.”

After a moment, he continued. “Yogi Raman taught me that there were a series of specific rituals practiced by visionary leaders, eight to be precise. These eight disciplines represented a
distillation of all the leadership wisdom that had been passed down through the ages and practiced by the world’s greatest leaders of people. These were not the quick-fix, flavor-of-the-month strategies that are so prevalent in today’s businessplace. Instead, they reflected the ageless truths about how to deeply stir men and women into action, how to cultivate tremendous loyalty and respect and how to bring out the very best in the people you lead. Yogi Raman, in all his brilliance, fashioned these eight rituals into the leadership system I’ve promised to share with you for some time now. You have been patient and sincere in your interest to learn a better way to lead. And so the time has come for me to teach the system to you.”

“Would it be fair to assume that the piece of the puzzle you left with me yesterday after your surprise visit to my office has something to do with the first ritual of Yogi Raman’s leadership system?”

“Indeed it does, Peter. The First Ritual of Visionary Leaders is Link Paycheck to Purpose. Simply put, this is the ritual of a compelling future focus. As I have already told you, all enlightened leaders have a richly imagined vision of their organization’s future. But having a vision is not enough. The vision must excite the minds and touch the hearts of the men and women of your organization. People will go far beyond the call of duty when their leader paints for them a future vision that is compelling and important.
Purpose is the most powerful motivator in the world.

“Yogi Raman told me that one of the greatest human hungers is the need we all have to make a difference in the lives of others. People have a deep inner need to be a part of something larger than themselves. Whether we are speaking of the CEO or the shipping clerk, every human being needs to feel that he or she is making some sort of contribution. Great leaders appreciate this
hunger and constantly communicate to their followers how what they do in their daily work positively affects the world at large. They also fan the flames of excitement within their organizations by continually showing their people that the work they are doing is moving them closer to a compelling cause. To put it simply, these leaders give their followers a reason to get up in the morning.”

“Very interesting. Any ideas on how I could apply this to my situation?”

“Earlier you said that low morale is stifling GlobalView’s growth.” “True.”

“Then remember this, Peter. There’s no such thing as an unmotivated person, only an unmotivated employee. You can take any member of your team whom you believe lacks motivation and initiative and scrutinize his or her personal life and guess what you’ll see?”

“Dare I guess?”

“You will see that that person has hobbies that he loves. You will see that he has interests that excite him. You will discover that he works late into the night on his stamp collection or spends hours learning new languages or passionately playing musical instruments. Every single person on this planet has the ability to get excited and motivated about something. The leader’s primary task is to get his team excited and motivated about the compelling cause that is his vision. Rather than constantly ordering your people to work toward the future goals you have developed, why not give them a reason to do so? And if you find that they are still unmotivated, understand that it is because you still have not given them enough reasons to buy into your picture of the future. Remember what the psychologists have known for many years:
human beings naturally move away from pain and toward pleasure. Visionary leaders find ways to associate pleasure with the daily work of their employees and the ultimate cause they are working toward.
They link paycheck to purpose.”

Julian continued. “What’s your current corporate mission statement?”

“C’mon, I’m tired of hearing about mission statements. I think that whole idea has been done to death, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

“I agree. But the fact remains that crafting a statement of your organization’s future can only serve to refocus the energies of your people on the things that count. So bear with me, please.”

“To be the preferred supplier of our customers, to create high-quality products and to grow into a five-billion-dollar company within five years,” I stated proudly.

“Do you truly think a mission statement like that will inspire people to give their best to the company? Do you seriously believe you have given your people a reason to get out of bed every morning? Have you really shown them a compelling cause they can work toward? Every company wants to be the customer’s preferred supplier. And about the five billion dollars, I’ll let you in on a secret. You’re probably the only one in the entire company who is excited about that one. It has no
emotional
impact on the average person within the organization, working hard to pay off the mortgage and to put her kids through school.”

Julian’s words stung me. I knew he wanted to challenge me to explore new pathways of thought. But he was hitting pretty close to home. I had drawn up that mission statement myself. And it meant a lot to me.

“Let’s look for ways to reframe your future vision to make it
more compelling to those you lead. What business are you in?”

“We make software.”

“And what is your primary market?”

“The health-care field. Our software is used primarily by major hospitals and health-care providers to better serve their patients.”

“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere,” Julian replied. “And what exactly does your software allow your customers to do?”

“Well, our bestselling program assists doctors and nurses in the monitoring of critical-care patients. Though it was only developed last year, our industry trade magazine recently reported that that piece of software alone has saved over
100,000
lives.”

“Now that’s what I mean by a compelling cause,” said Julian with great enthusiasm. “And what kind of revenue would GlobalView be generating if you were saving millions of lives?”

“That’s really hard to say. There are so many factors that I’d have to consider and —”

“For the purposes of the point I’m trying to make, let’s be very flexible with the numbers,” Julian interrupted. “Just tell me, is it possible that if the software program you are selling saved millions and millions of lives each year, the revenues of your company could rise to five billion?”

“Yes, it’s possible,” I admitted.

“Fine then. Imagine your mission statement was amended to read, ‘GlobalView is passionately committed to saving the lives of men, women and children by providing our respected customers with cutting-edge, high-value software that allows them to brilliantly serve their patients’ needs. Our five-year goal is to save the lives of over five million people and make a significant and lasting impact on the health-care industry.”

“Wow,” I replied, immediately understanding the power of the lesson Julian was presenting.