Creating and Sustaining Positive Organizations

By Robert E. Quinn

I met with an old friend.  He runs a business in an industry that is shrinking.  He recently encountered a rare opportunity to move his business in an entirely new direction, and he was excited to talk about it.  As we did we worked hard to think about how to help his people change.  Towards the end, he made an interesting observation.

He said that for years he has been fighting for the survival of his business.  He has been struggling along in a 90-day time perspective, meaning he has been constantly searching for ways to make cuts, to squeeze out enough savings to stay in business for another 90 days.  When you’re working in this manner it is difficult and depressing. 

But since the new opportunity emerged, he has been a different person.  He is thinking more long term and he gets up every morning with new ideas.  Instead of focusing on survival, he is focusing on growth and has visions of his business flourishing.  He said he is happier than he has been in years.   And his people are working with a new enthusiasm and sense of purpose as well.

I could feel how authentic the statement was.  I was deeply impressed by the implications in the statement, not only for business, but for individuals as well. Read more »

By Schon Beechler

My week is filled with stories of leadership from the 29 participants in the global leadership course I am directing for an NGO in Washington. These high potential employees have been identified by top leaders as the future global leaders of the organization. Our job is to help them realize the potential that management sees. 

These participants, from all over the world, share a deep passion for the mission of the organization to help people escape poverty and improve their lives. They are smart, educated in the best schools in the world, and have often left extremely well-paying jobs in the private sector to come here and make a difference. Read more »

By Shawn E. Quinn

Can you name the last 5 Nobel Laureates in Economics (or literature or any other area)?

Can you name the last 5 Academy Award winners for actress in a leading role?

Can you name the 5 richest people in the world?

I have a colleague who does an exercise where he asks 5 questions like the ones above.  20 people in a room can sometimes come up with one or two of the names for each question.  Sometimes they can’t think of any names for one or two of the questions.  He then asks 5 of the following kinds of questions to the group:

Can you name 5 people who have helped you out when you were going through a difficult time?

Can you name the 5 people who have had the greatest impact on your life? Read more »

By Ryan W. Quinn

I have used a heavy hand this week by labeling personality as our enemy and by cataloguing all of the problems it causes. I suspect that some of our readers may not like the stance I have taken. That is fine. This is a blog where we share what we have come to believe based on the research and based on our experiences. Readers’ comments are always welcome, and we invite you to agree or disagree. As my week of discussing personality comes to a close, however, I think a few general comments are in order. Read more »

By Ryan W. Quinn

Almost immediately after our MBA students arrive at the Darden School of Business and begin taking classes, my colleagues and I in the Leadership and Organizational Behavior area teach our students about moving from being self-focused to being other-focused (see chapters 7 and 8 of Lift, Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute, or Bonds that Make us Free by Terry Warner). It tends to be a powerful, culture setting experience for our students. (We have discussed these concepts on this blog before, with regards to succeeding by focusing on the positive and finding peace .) The core idea is empathy: when we can truly feel how others feel about a situation, then their dreams, fears, needs, and desires matter as much to us as our own dreams, fears, needs and desires. We cease to worry about living in our self-created worlds of blame and rationalization (which all of us do), and instead see the world openly and freely, spontaneously acting in ways that seek to benefit others and benefit ourselves.

One day, I was talking to one of my colleagues, Martin Davidson, about these ideas, and he made a comment that was stunning to me. He said: “I am an introvert. I generally like to be alone. Being with other people tends to drain me, while being alone re-energizes me. But I find that when I am other-focused, my introversion—my need to be alone—ceases to matter.” Read more »

By Ryan W. Quinn

Two of my colleagues once sat down to design an executive education program. It was an exciting new concept. One of the classes in the program, however, required the teaching of some analysis that required exquisite attention to detail. When my colleagues reached this part of the design, one colleague, whom I will call Phil, declared that he could not teach that class because, “I am a big picture person.”

The power behind Phil’s statement is that it was true. Phil is a “big picture person,” and he is a master at seeing the big picture and capturing its opportunities. If you were to ask Phil’s wife if you should give Phil any work that required attention to detail, she would tell you, “Definitely not!” So would his colleagues, his administrative assistant, or anyone who knows him well.

Everyone would agree…except the colleague that Phil was designing this new executive education program with. Read more »

By Ryan W. Quinn

I once sat in a meeting with a group of colleagues who were discussing a serious work issue. At one point in the conversation, the discussion got heated, between two of the colleagues in particular. After two or three minutes of vigorous discussion about the issue, one of the two colleagues, referencing the famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), said, “Well, that is because you are a ‘P’ and I am a ‘J.’” (A ‘P’ in the MBTI means that a person’s style is to think about things, deliberate, collect all the data, and not rush to decisions. A ‘J’ on the other hand, indicates that a person is decisive, quick to judgment, with a bias for action.) To my surprise, when the first colleague finished saying this, the second colleague agreed, the heated discussion ended, and the conversation moved on to another topic.

The reason I was shocked by this interchange was because even though the two colleagues were able to move on peaceably, the work issue they had been discussing was not resolved. It was simply ignored as if nothing had happened. We were no better off as an organization, but everyone seemed to think that this was okay because the fight had ended—almost as if the personality type solved their issue for them! Read more »

By Ryan W. Quinn

I have learned, over the years, that when people in organizations make attributions about problems in their organizations, it is easy to point to personality flaws—or shall I say, perceived personality flaws. This became apparent again as I was working with a boss and one of her direct reports, helping them uncover the reason for their difficult working relationship. My conversations happened with each of them individually—they were never in the same room when I talked to them. I have gotten to know these two people quite well, and I am convinced that both of them are wonderful, hard-working, committed, and ethical people. And, the two of them were having repeated and frustrating conflicts with each other. Each of them was convinced that the other one’s personality was the reason why they could not work together productively. Each of them claimed that there was some flaw in the other person’s character that prevented that. In each case, I did not see the flaw that the other person saw. In fact, I saw the opposite. Read more »

By Robert E. Quinn

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to places around the world teaching the principles of positive leadership, and with each new place I visit, I gain a new perspective. As I walked along an Australian shoreline with a friend during one of these international trips, we noticed an aboriginal fishing with a throw net.  We stood and watched for a time—it was beautiful.  We felt compelled to approach him and start talking to him.  He met our greeting with a very distant and guarded response.  It was a response I have often seen when a white man approaches an aboriginal.  The interface between the white culture and the aboriginal culture had been less than ideal.

Instead of reacting to his caution, we asked about the fish in his bucket.  He said a few words explaining that they were bait fish.  He used them to catch bigger fish and he pointed to two lines in the water.  He cast his net and we expressed genuine appreciation for his skill.  He seemed touched by that.  Just then one of his lines started to move, he had a bite.  He ran to it but the fish was gone.  Then the other line started to move he ran to that one but again the fish was gone.  We expected some disappointment.  Instead there was enthusiasm.  He said, “Those are the first two bites I have had all day. You fellas brought me good luck!”  We continued to talk and he began to light up like a Christmas tree.   He began to teach us about his fishing.  We were fully engaged and so was he.  As that relationship became more trusting, we all started to grow.

When trust goes up the quality of interaction elevates and learning follows.  The involved people are pulled into the growth mindset.   Consider another example. Read more »

By Robert E. Quinn

I met with a young woman who worked with us last year and is now in a doctoral program in another state.  She had much she wanted to tell me.  At one point, she spoke about some negative things that happened to her.  Later she told me she was keeping a gratitude journal.  When she told me this she returned to the negative events and said, “It is so amazing, I look at those negative things and I see the value in them and I feel like everything that happens to me is part of one big whole.  I have never experienced anything like it before.” Read more »