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Chapter 2

THE PROBLEM

WE ARE WITNESSES TO one of the most significant shifts in human history. Peter Drucker, one of the greatest management thinkers of our time, puts it this way: “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time is written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event those historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time literally substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves.

“And society is totally unprepared for it.

TO UNDERSTAND THE CORE problem and the profound implications of Drucker’s prophetic statement, we must look first at the context of history namely, the five ages of civilization’s voice: first, the Hunter and Gatherer Age; second, the Agricultural Age; third, the Industrial Age; fourth, the Information/Knowledge Worker Age; and finally, an emerging Age of Wisdom.

Imagine for a moment that you take a step back in time and are a hunter and a gatherer of food. Each day you go out with a bow and arrow or stones and sticks to gather food for your family. That’s all you’ve ever known, seen and done to survive. Now imagine someone comes up to you and tries to persuade you to become what he calls a “farmer.” What do you think your response would be?

You see him go out and scratch the earth and throw little seeds into the ground and you see nothing; you see him watering the soil and removing weeds and still you see nothing. But eventually you see a great harvest. You notice his yield as a “farmer” is fifty times greater than yours as a hunter and gatherer, and you are considered one of the best. What would you do? You would likely say to yourself, “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do that. I don’t have the skills and I don’t have the tools.” You just wouldn’t know how to work that way.

Now the farmer is so productive that you see him making enough money to send his kids to school and give them great opportunities. You are barely surviving. Little by little, you’re drawn to go through the intense learning process of becoming a farmer. You raise your children and grandchildren as farmers. That’s exactly what happened in our early history. There was a downsizing of hunters and gatherers of over 90 percent; they lost their jobs.

Several generations pass, and along comes the Industrial Age. People build factories and learn specialization, delegation and scalability. They learn how to take raw materials through an assembly line with very high levels of efficiency. The productivity of the Industrial Age goes up fifty times over the family farm. Now if you were a farmer producing fifty times more than hunters and gatherers and all of a sudden you see an industrial factory rise up and start outproducing the family farm by fifty times, what would you say? You might be jealous, even threatened. But what would you need to be a player in the Industrial Age? You would need a completely new skill-set and tool-set. More importantly, you’d need a new mind-set—a new way of thinking. The fact is that the factory of the Industrial Age produced fifty times more than the family farm, and over time, 90 percent of the farmers were downsized. Those who survived in farming took the Industrial Age concept and created the industrialized farm. Today, only 3 percent of the people in the United States are farmers, who produce most of the food for the entire country and much of the world.

Do you believe that the Information/Knowledge Worker Age we’re moving into will outproduce the Industrial Age fifty times? I believe it will. We’re just barely beginning to see it. It will outproduce it fifty times—not twice, not three or ten times, but fifty. Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer at Microsoft, puts it this way: “The top software developers are more productive than average software developers not by a factor of 10X or 100X or even 1000X but by 10,000X.” Quality knowledge work is so valuable that unleashing its potential offers organizations an extraordinary opportunity for value creation. If that is true, just think of the value of unleashing the potential of your children. Knowledge work leverages all of the other investments that an organization or a family has already made. In fact, knowledge workers are the link to all of the organization’s other investments. They provide focus, creativity, and leverage in utilizing those investments to better achieve the organization’s objectives.

Do you believe the Knowledge Worker Age will eventually bring about a downsizing of up to 90 percent of the Industrial Age workforce? I believe it. Current outsourcing and unemployment trends are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, these trends have become a very hot political issue. But the reality is that much of our losses in Industrial Age jobs have less to do with government policy and free trade agreements than they do with the dramatic shift in our economy to the Knowledge Worker Age. Do you think it will be threatening to today’s workforce to learn the new mind-set, the new skill-set, and the new tool-set of this new age? Imagine what it will take. Imagine what it will take for you—what it will take to be a player in this new era. Imagine what it will require of your organization!

Drucker compares the Industrial Manual Worker Age with today’s Knowledge Worker Age this way:

The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the MANUAL WORKER in manufacturing.

The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of KNOWLEDGE WORK and the KNOWLEDGE WORKER.

The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity.3 The great historian Arnold Toynbee said that you could pretty well summarize the history of society and the institutions in it in four words: Nothing fails like success. In other words, when you have a challenge and the response is equal to the challenge, that’s called success. But once you have a new challenge, the old, once-successful response no longer works. That’s why it’s called a failure. We live in a Knowledge Worker Age but operate our organizations in a controlling Industrial Age model that absolutely suppresses the release of human potential. Voice is essentially irrelevant. This is an astounding finding. The mind-set of the Industrial Age that still dominates today’s workplace will simply not work in the Knowledge Worker Age and new economy. And the fact is, people have taken this same controlling mind-set home. So often it dominates the way we communicate and deal with our spouses and the way we try to manage, motivate and discipline our children.

THE THING MIND-SET OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE

The main assets and primary drivers of economic prosperity in the Industrial Age were machines and capital things. People were necessary but replaceable. You could control and churn through manual workers with little consequence supply exceeded demand. You just got more able bodies that would comply with strict procedures. People were like things you could be efficient with them. When all you want is a person’s body and you don’t really want their mind, heart or spirit (all inhibitors to the free-flowing processes of the machine age), you have reduced a person to a thing.

So many of our modern management practices come from the Industrial Age.

It gave us the belief that you have to control and manage people.

It gave us our view of accounting, which makes people an expense and machines assets. Think about it. People are put on the P&L statement as an expense; equipment is put on the balance sheet as an investment.

It gave us our carrot-and-stick motivational philosophy—the Great Jackass technique that motivates with a carrot in front (reward) and drives with a stick from behind (fear and punishment).

It gave us centralized budgeting where trends are extrapolated into the future and hierarchies and bureaucracies are formed to drive “getting the numbers” an obsolete reactive process that produces “kiss-up” cultures bent on “spending it so we won’t lose it next year” and protecting the backside of your department.

All these practices and many, many more came from the Industrial Age working with manual workers.

The problem is, managers today are still applying the Industrial Age control model to knowledge workers. Because many in positions of authority do not see the true worth and potential of their people and do not possess a complete, accurate understanding of human nature, they manage people as they do things. This lack of understanding also prevents them from tapping into the highest motivations, talents and genius of people. What happens when you treat people like things today? It insults and alienates them, depersonalizes work, and creates low-trust, unionized, litigious cultures. What happens when you treat your teenage children like things? It, too, insults and alienates, depersonalizes precious family relationships and creates low trust, contention and rebellion.

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF CODEPENDENCY

What happens when you manage people like things? They stop believing that leadership can become a choice. Most people think of leadership as a position and therefore don’t see themselves as leaders. Making personal leadership (influence) a choice is like having the freedom to play the piano. It is a freedom that has to be earned only then can leadership become a choice.

Until then, people think that only those in positions of authority should decide what must be done. They have consented, perhaps unconsciously, to being controlled like a thing. Even if they perceive a need, they don’t take the initiative to act. They wait to be told what to do by the person with the formal title, and then they respond as directed. Consequently, they blame the formal leader when things go wrong and give him or her the credit when things go well. And they are thanked for their “cooperation and support.” This widespread reluctance to take initiative, to act independently, only fuels formal leaders’ imperative to direct or manage their subordinates. This, they believe, is what they must do in order to get followers to act. And this cycle quickly escalates into codependency. Each party’s weakness reinforces and ultimately justifies the other’s behavior. The more a manager controls, the more he/she evokes behaviors that necessitate greater control or managing. The codependent culture that develops is eventually institutionalized to the point that no one takes responsibility. Over time, both leaders and followers confirm their roles in an unconscious pact. They disempower themselves by believing that others must change before their own circumstances can improve. The same cycle reappears in families between parents and children.

This silent conspiracy is everywhere. Not many people are brave enough to even recognize it in themselves. Whenever they hear the idea, they instinctively look outside themselves. When I teach this material to large audiences, I often pause after a couple of hours and ask the question, “How many like this material, but feel that the people who really need it aren’t here?” They usually explode in laughter, but most hands go up.

Perhaps you, too, are thinking that the people who really need a book like this aren’t reading it. That very thought reveals codependency. If you look at this material through the weaknesses of another, you disempower yourself and empower their weakness to continue to suck initiative, energy and excitement from your life.

FILM: Max & Max

Before moving deeper, I would like to illustrate the nature of the problem we’ve been discussing with a great little film called Max & Max. It’s the fictional story of Max the hunting dog and Max the customer service rep. It’s also a story about a boss by the name of Mr. Harold, who manages his employees, including his new hire Max, like he does his dog Max.

The setting of this short movie is the workplace. But remember, everyone has a workplace. For students, teachers and administrators, it is a school. For many it is a place of business, community or government service. For families it is the home. For yet others it is in the community, church, synagogue or mosque. So this is not just about work, it is about human relationships and interactions between people united in a common purpose. I challenge you to translate the setting of this film into every other area you give your life to with others.

People so relate and resonate with this film both organizationally and personally. I invite you to watch Max & Max now by going to www.The8thHabit.com/offers and selecting Max & Max from the Films menu.

NOW THINK ABOUT the film you just watched. Max, like most of us when we begin a new job, is full of passion, enthusiasm and fire. When he takes initiative to get and keep customers, Mr. Harold takes a piece of hide off him. Max is micromanaged and controlled to the point that his spirit is broken, he becomes gun-shy, and he loses his vision of his purpose, potential and freedom to choose. He’s lost his voice. He swears never to take initiative again. Max the person gets into a codependent mind-set with Mr. Harold, and you can see him gradually becoming like Max the dog—just waiting for his next command. You might be tempted to blame the problem on Mr. Harold, but notice that his boss treats him just the same way he treats Max. Such insulting micromanaging is endemic throughout the whole company. The whole culture is codependent. No one is exercising leadership (initiative and influence) because everyone assumes leadership is a function of position.

The truth is, most organizations are not too unlike Max and Mr. Harold’s. Even the best organizations I’ve worked with over the last forty years are absolutely filled with problems. The pain from these problems and challenges is becoming much more acute because of the changes taking place in the world. Just like with Max & Max, such challenges generally fall into three categories: organizational, relationship and personal.

At the organizational level, a controlling management philosophy drives performance, communication, compensation/reward, training, information and other core systems that suppress human talent and voice. This control philosophy has its roots in the Industrial Age and has become the dominant management mind-set of those in positions of authority across all industries and professions. Again, I call it the “Thing” Mind-set of the Industrial Age.

At the relationship level, again, most organizations are filled with codependency. There is a fundamental lack of trust, and many lack the skill and mind-set to work out their differences in authentic, creative ways. Though organizational systems and controlling management practices do much to foster this codependency, the problem is compounded by the fact that so many people have been raised being compared to others at home and competing against others in school, in athletics and in the workplace. These powerful influences cultivate a scarcity mentality, so that many people have a hard time being genuinely happy for the successes of others.

At the personal level, these organizations are filled with bright, talented, creative people at every level who feel straitjacketed, undervalued and uninspired. They are frustrated and don’t believe they have the power to change things.

THE POWER OF A PARADIGM

Author John Gardner once said, “Most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects. They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems, but because they cannot see their problems.” Einstein put it this way: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” These statements underscore one of the most profound learnings of my life: If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms. The word paradigm stems from the Greek word paradeigma, originally a scientific term but commonly used today to mean a perception, assumption, theory, frame of reference or lens through which you view the world. It’s like a map of a territory or city. If inaccurate, it will make no difference how hard you try to find your destination or how positively you think—you’ll stay lost. If accurate, then diligence and attitude matter. But not until.

For instance, how did they attempt to heal people in the Middle Ages? Bloodletting. What was the paradigm? The bad stuff is in the blood; get it out. Now if you did not question this paradigm, what would you do? Do more. Do it faster. Do it more painlessly. Go into TQM or Six Sigma on bloodletting. Do statistical quality controls, variance analysis. Do strategic feasibility studies and organize around brilliant marketing plans so that you can advertise, “We have the highest-quality, world-class bloodletting unit in the world!” Or you might take people into the mountains and let them do free falls off cliffs into each other’s arms so when they return to the bloodletting unit of the hospital they’ll work with more love and trust. Or you might let members of the bloodletting unit sit around in hot tubs and explore their psyches with each other so that they develop authenticity in their communication. You might even teach positive thinking to your patients, as well as your employees, so the positive energy is optimized when bloodletting takes place.

Can you imagine what happened when the germ theory was discovered when Semmelweis of Hungary, Pasteur of France, and other empirical scientists discovered that germs are a primary cause of disease? It immediately explained why women wanted to be delivered by midwives. The midwives were cleaner. They washed. It explained why more men on war’s battlefields were dying from staph infections than bullets. The disease was spread behind the front ranks through germs. The germ theory opened whole new fields of research. It guides health care practices to the present day.

That’s the power of an accurate paradigm. It explains, and then it guides. But the problem is that paradigms, like traditions, die hard. Flawed paradigms go on for centuries after a better one is discovered. For instance, though history books talk about George Washington dying of a throat infection, he probably died of bloodletting. The throat infection was the symptom of something else. Since the paradigm was that the bad stuff was in the blood, they took from him several pints of blood in a twenty-four-hour period. You and I are counseled not to give more than one pint every two months if we’re well.

The new Knowledge Worker Age is based on a new paradigm, one entirely different than the thing paradigm of the Industrial Age. Let’s call it the Whole-Person Paradigm.

THE WHOLE-PERSON PARADIGM

At the core, there is one simple, overarching reason why so many people remain unsatisfied in their work and why most organizations fail to draw out the greatest talent, ingenuity and creativity of their people and never become truly great, enduring organizations. It stems from an incomplete paradigm of who we are our fundamental view of human nature.

The fundamental reality is, human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled; they are four dimensional body, mind, heart and spirit.

If you study all philosophy and religion, both Western and Eastern, from the beginning of recorded history, you’ll basically find the same four dimensions: the physical/economic, the mental, the social/emotional and the spiritual. Different words are often used, but they reflect the same four universal dimensions of life. They also represent the four basic needs and motivations of all people illustrated in the film in the first chapter: to live (survival), to love (relationships), to learn (growth and development) and to leave a legacy (meaning and contribution)

PEOPLE HAVE CHOICES

So what’s the direct connection between the controlling “thing” (part-person) paradigm that dominates today’s workplace and the inability of managers and organizations to inspire their people to volunteer their highest talents and contributions? The answer is simple. People make choices. Consciously or subconsciously, people decide how much of themselves they will give to their work depending on how they are treated and on their opportunities to use all four parts of their nature. These choices range from rebelling or quitting to creative excitement.

Now consider for a moment which of these six choices listed in figure 2.4—rebel or quit, malicious obedience, willing compliance, cheerful cooperation, heartfelt commitment or creative excitement—you would make under the following five scenarios: First, you are not treated fairly. That is, there are a lot of politics at play in your organization; there is nepotism; the pay system doesn’t seem fair and just; your own pay does not accurately reflect the level of your contribution. What would your choice be?

Second, let’s say that you are treated fairly in terms of your pay, but you are not treated kindly. That is, you are not respected; your treatment is inconsistent, arbitrary, capricious, perhaps largely dictated by the mood of your boss. What would your choice be?

Third, let’s say that you are paid fairly and treated kindly, but when your opinion is wanted, it is given to you. In other words, your body and heart are valued, but not your mind. What would your choice be?

Fourth, now let’s say that you are paid fairly (body), treated kindly (heart), involved creatively (mind), but you are asked to dig a hole and fill it again, or to fill out reports that no one ever sees or uses. In other words, the work is meaningless (spirit). What would your choice be?

Fifth, now let’s say that you are paid fairly, treated kindly, and involved creatively in meaningful work, but that there is a lot of lying and cheating going on with customers and suppliers, including other employees (spirit). What would your choice be?

Now notice we went through all four parts of the whole-person paradigm—body, mind, heart and finally spirit (spirit being divided in two parts—the meaninglessness of the work and the unprincipled way that it was done). The point is, if you neglect any one of the four parts of human nature, you turn a person into a thing, and what do you do with things? You have to control, manage and carrot-and-stick them in order to motivate them.

I have asked these five questions all around the world in different settings, and almost inevitably, the answer falls into the bottom three categories—people would rebel or quit, maliciously obey (meaning they’ll do it but hope it doesn’t work), or at best willingly comply. But in today’s Information/Knowledge Worker Age, only one who is respected as a whole person in a whole job—one who is paid fairly, treated kindly, used creatively and given opportunities to serve human needs in principled ways makes one of the upper three choices of cheerful cooperation, heartfelt commitment or creative excitement.

Identity is destiny.

Can you begin to see the how the core problems in the workplace today and the core solution to those problems lie in our paradigm of human nature? Can you see how many of the solutions to the problems in our homes and communities lie in this same paradigm? This Industrial Age “thing” paradigm and all the practices that flow from it are the modern-day equivalent of bloodletting. A comprehensive description of the four chronic problems in organizations caused by neglecting the four parts of human nature and then the solution involves the four roles of leadership will begin in chapter 6. however we most first deal with the individual response and solution to the pain and problems we’ve discussed. In other words this is an inside out approach like the Pabul Flown into the palm.