The Bellwether Effect

By Lance Secretan

In his acclaimed 22nd book Lance Secretan calls out corporate America for continuing to use business practices that achieve opposite results from those intended.  Eighty percent of employees wish they didn't have to go to work on Monday mornings; more than 80% would change careers if they had a choice and 70% of employees are either disengaged or actively disengaged.

 

Lance Secretan proposes a disarmingly simple and provocative solution: remove eight demoralizing and ineffective business practices and replace them with eight inspiring alternatives.

 

As Sylvia B. Vogt, President of Carnegie Bosch Institute for International Management at Carnegie Mellon University puts it, "In The Bellwether Effect, Lance shows a compelling, inspiring, and visionary path for today's organizations to move forward and re-invent corporate life and leadership. Many of his suggestions can be put into place with immediate impact, not only doing the right things, but also doing them right. Start your journey as a better (inspiring) leader today. This book will help you create and sustain effective transformational change in your organization."

 

Gina Mazza, author of Everything Matters, Nothing Matters, puts it this way, "This may be one of the most consoling pieces of writing ever published on the subject of leadership. Secretan lays bare why the fear-based, dangling-carrot style that's been practiced since the dawn of the industrial revolution is failing us miserably, and what's to be done about it. He explores a holistic, values-centered approach based on love that inspires prosperous outcomes—for the individual, the organization, and the planet."

 

This is a book with fresh and practical ideas that offers a new approach to corporate leadership, and as Kenneth Bloom, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry International says, "The Bellwether Effect makes the most compelling case for change while offering a deeply researched analysis of how we arrived at this alarming state. Then, and this is of even greater value, Secretan outlines the steps that will get us back on an inspiring course. Doing so unlocks the high potential that is inside each of us and when potential is unlocked, we live better, we work better, and we love better. This is not a guidebook for the faint of heart, but the payoff is rich alignment (or harmony), the joy of authenticity, and the positive flow that comes with a sustained personal and professional balance. Read this book to quickly reach your greatest, most sustainable potential as a leader. 

 

If you have ever wondered, "Why are we doing this?", or "Is there a better way to do this?", then this is the book for you, because it offers crisp, insightful ways to propel organizations from "engaged" to "inspired".

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Secretan Center Inc.
• Release date: Apr 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9798224925681

Lance Secretan

As a business builder and successful former corporate executive, Lance Secretan knows firsthand the obstacles that lay in the path of achievement. His experiences have led him to develop new leadership and management techniques that inspire, motivate, and fulfill employees at every level of the organization. Lance's corporate clients include 30 of Fortune magazine's "Most Admired Companies" and 11 of Fortune's "Best Companies to Work for in America." As a speaker, retreat leader, and business advisor, Lance inspires executive teams with a new brand of motivation, showing them, in Lance's words, that "the key to leadership lies in timeless values that help us to be of service to others." Lance is an expert on leading organizational transformation. He helps leaders see their corporations as communities and their employees as whole people, leading to a greater understanding and knowledge of how to affect others in positive ways—resulting in inspired, loyal, hard-working employees and greater profits. Lance is the author of numerous highly-regarded books that inspire people and organizations to look at their work in new and invigorating ways including: * The Spark, the Flame, and the Torch: Inspire Self. Inspire Others. Inspire the World * ONE: The Art of Practice of Conscious Leadership * Inspire! What Great Leaders Do * Reclaiming Higher Ground: Creating Organizations that Inspire the Soul Lance is a dynamic and sought-after speaker who can provide exciting experiences for audiences of any size. His belief in the power of trust, courage, values, and community is palpable in his inspiring presentations. His talks on leadership will inspire what the best leaders in the world are working on next, and enable organizations to inspire the soul. His talks result in standing ovations and reinvigorated work environments all over the world.

Book preview

Foreword

I was fortuitous that I attended the Nebraska Hospital Association Annual Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was also scheduled to attend the Missouri Hospital Association Annual Convention just a couple of weeks later. Given the usual busyness of the fall season and several other commitments during this same period, I reflected on the wisdom of being out of the office for both of these conventions. Even though I was looking forward to attending both, I was particularly drawn to the Nebraska Convention. My premonition was soon to become obvious.

As one of nearly a thousand audience members for the first keynote address of the convention, presented by Lance Secretan, I found myself hanging on to every word he said—I had never before seen an audience so captivated. Secretan's focus was on the differences between motivation and inspiration.

The speaker's work and message confirmed my own accumulated beliefs and convictions—and I asked myself, Why have I not been more assertive and deliberate in teaching and modeling these leadership behaviors in a more loving and inspiring manner? Why had I missed so many opportunities during my career to make personal and professional lives more enjoyable for so many—and encourage them to dream more, personally and on behalf of the organizations I had been called to serve?

A short time later, I participated in the Higher Ground Leadership® Retreat at the Secretan Center in Ontario, Canada, personally hosted by Secretan, and soon after, two other members of our leadership team signed up for the retreat as well and a few months later, all seven of our leadership team members had shared this same experience, under Dr. Secretan’s personal tutelage.

As a result, we are transforming our organization through the application of Higher Ground Leadership® and implementing the innovative concepts put forward in The Bellwether Effect. This is a remarkable piece of literary work that advances the merits and power of inspiration versus motivation and dreams versus mission statements. Secretan teaches that "motivation consists of a combination of two pressure points: fear and material rewards (or punishments). Motivation is seldom about the other person, and usually more about me... Motivation is largely an attempt to alter or control the behavior of others, to raise performance standards, change attitudes or beliefs or exploit capacity. When we come from this position, we are working principally on the 'social self,' tapping into and exploiting the fears of the person we are trying to motivate, relying on shaming, bribing, rewarding, threatening, or pressuring—all of which trigger the primal instincts of fear." Secretan helps the reader understand how corporate America has come to develop and practice these behaviors and why we need to change from what I now see as archaic behaviors.

In contrasting motivation, Dr. Secretan reminds us that "Inspiration is intrinsic. Unlike motivation, it does not come from fear, but from love. It is not about me—it is almost exclusively about you. Great leaders and coaches want to inspire others to grow, to accomplish their objectives, to shine, to reach their potential and splendor. Any rewards for these inspiring coaches and leaders come from the joy they experience when helping others to reach their own goals or become larger as fully-realized human beings. Therefore, inspiration is an act of love and service to others, whereas motivation is self-centered...inspiration is aimed at the soul of another, and is most often generated from within—the inspirer is merely the facilitator of the inspired." 

For most of my years as a Hospital CEO, I have openly subscribed to and promoted servant leadership. As a reflection of our organization's commitment to servant leadership, we have even drawn our organizational chart upside down, with the patient on top and our leadership team at the bottom, to connote our responsibility to support and encourage all departments and staff in the delivery of high-quality patient care to those we have been called to serve.

I have also professed that even though we are in the business of providing health care, our very basic business is one of building collaborative relationships. I believe that it is one thing to cooperate, it is quite another to co-labor—and good things fall out of good relationships!

I am the same leader who in the past would openly and genuinely make these bold statements while also tolerating performance appraisal systems that rated and ranked individual performance through processes providing little, if any value, and that were often demoralizing, self-serving, created competitive relationships, and were rarely inspiring. Strangely, even though I tolerated such business processes, I never had a good feeling about any of them—and yet, like the copyfrog that Secretan writes about in the Afterword of this book, I did nothing to change them. I am reminded of a pastor friend’s comment several years ago, when he said, even a dog knows when he/she has done something wrong. 

I am humbled to say that, throughout my 45+ years in progressive leadership roles, Lance Secretan’s work has impacted me more, personally and professionally, than all of the many other leadership principles and programs combined. Most importantly, his work is now impacting our employees and organization through a more inspiring approach, which includes the realization of personal and organizational dreams, greater employee gratification and ownership, enhanced patient care, creativity in services and programs, reduction in turnover, and higher performance. This reaffirms a personal conviction that it is never too late to do the right thing—and for us, Higher Ground Leadership® is the right thing! 

I take strength in knowing that inspiration is genuine, lasting, and originates deeply from within each of us and is not just a temporal, topical solution found in many of the tactical, so-called motivational maneuvers we have inflicted on staff and organizations over time. None of these were designed for distance or duration—they are generally just a flash in the pan.

Lance Secretan has provided a license for me, and so many others, to do the right thing,  regardless of what some corporate voices (or Bellwethers) may advocate. He reminds us that the employee is now the new customer and that leadership is about inspiring people, and people—every one of us—are inspired by dreams. I am also struck by his statement, Over the last 50 years in corporate life, we have expanded our capacity to quantify, measure, and analyze, but we have stifled our capacity to dream. Equally powerful is, "A mission statement may be about you, but a dream is about serving others and how you will serve them."

Of all the riveting statements in The Bellwether Effect, this is my favorite: "Motivation is lighting a fire under someone; Inspiration is lighting a fire within someone."

This book is bound to light a fire within all who read it and apply its message to ignite positive differences in their lives and organizations—and thus in our world.

––––––––

Roger W. Steinkruger, CEO, Community Hospital—Fairfax, Fairfax, Missouri

Preface

I’ve been wandering around this planet for a while. After building a very successful company from scratch into a global enterprise of 72,000 full- and part-time employees, I retired. Then I wrote a book about our 14-year odyssey and taught budding entrepreneurs in an advanced university graduate program until I realized the university wasn’t the real world at all. I think Dr. Henry Kissinger knew this when he said, University politics make me long for the simplicity of the Middle East. Within the academic community, the book wasn’t a roaring success (because it tilted windmills), but it became a bestseller in the business community, and thus began my consulting career. In the 35 years since, I have worked with, mentored, and coached thousands of leaders in hundreds of organizations, and I’ve seen some truly brilliant things. I’ve also seen some really ineffective things. I have been astonished to watch discouraging things happening in organizations that cause poor morale, low performance, political intrigue, toxic cultures, and ineffectiveness.

The Bellwether Effect is written for all managers and leaders, the vast majority of whom are well intentioned, who strive daily to achieve good and successful outcomes—to create inspiring places to work and companies with whom to do business, that are respectful of people and the environment and are high-performing in all of the important metrics while making a useful and sustainable contribution to the planet. I call this Higher Ground Leadership®,[1] an overarching theory of leadership grounded in conscious behavior to which I will frequently refer in the pages that