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Are your employees engaged? Do you have a vision of the future? And a roadmap to get there?

Me Elias was seated in 1D during the US airways crash into the Hudson River. Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time.

This is interesting. What is important to you?

This is a very speech from Chip Conley, CEO of Jois de Vivre Hotels. He talks about the process of getting leaders to value the intangible, by taking Maslow’s Hiearchy of needs and transforming it to an actionable business tool.

Take 17 minutes to watch and consider how you can contribute to your company’s “GHP” (Gross Happiness Product).

About Chip

In 1987, at the age of 26 and seeking a little “joy of life,” Chip Conley founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality by transforming a small motel in San Francisco’s seedy Tenderloin district into the now-legendary Phoenix. Today, Joie de Vivre operates nearly 40 unique hotels across California, each built on an innovative design formula that inspires guests to experience an “identity refreshment” during their visits.

During the dotcom bust in 2001, Conley found himself in the self-help section of the bookstore, where he became reacquainted with one of the most famous theories of human behavior — Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which separates human desires into five ascending levels, from base needs such as eating to the highest goal of self-actualization, characterized by the full realization and achievement of one’s potential. Influenced by Maslow’s pyramid, Conley revamped his business model to focus on the intangible, higher needs of his company’s three main constituencies — employees, customers and investors. He credits this shift for helping Joie de Vivre triple its annual revenues between 2001 and 2008.

Conley has written three books, including his most recent, PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, and is at work on two new ones, Emotional Equations and PEAK Leadership. He consults widely on transformative enterprises, corporate social responsibility and creative business development. He traveled to Bhutan last year to study its Gross National Happiness index, the country’s unique method of measuring success and its citizens’ quality of life.

Last fall I posed a question to LinkedIn. “What are the best films for depicting lessons in leadership and management?” To date I have received hundreds of responses. One of the films that overwhelmingly was recommended was Dead Poets Society. Now I will be honest, it had been a long time since I had seen the film so I added to my growing que on Netflix. Last week was the week I received it and watched it again. Now I have to say that that doing anything for two hours in the house with a 6 week old baby is challenging, but as I watched this film I was glued to the set, much like I was years a go when I saw it for the first time. Keating (played by Robin Williams) is an amazing teacher. He (and people like him) are the reason that most people begin to teach and educate others. This film is filled with Lessons that Leaders can take home, but I wanted to focus on a few that resonated with me.

1. It is important to be yourself; individualism is a key to success.
2. In order for a student/employee to learn, they have to be inspired.
3. Changing perspective is important. Do it often.

Websites for your benefit.

• Dead Poets Society Movie Page
• 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Book
• Your Training Team Website
  

Please leave your comments below. If you have any comments about the show and how we can improve it please email tv@yourtrainingteam.com

Remember leadership lessons are everywhere, you just have to know where to look.

Enjoy,

Russ Faulkner

Since I started this project of looking movies for lessons in leadership I find myself watching a lot of serious movies. Dramas that are serious and for lack of a better term dramatic. But every once in a while I think that I like to cut loose and talk about a “Stupid” movie. A film that will never win any awards, but all of your friends can quote at the bar. This is one of those movies. Dodge ball is a story of right and wrong, corporate greed vs small business. It is the quintessential American story told with in the guise of some very funny moments. The story is of peter the proprietor of “Average Joes” a very unsuccessful gym that allows anyone to come in and work out. His nemesis is a guy who runs “Globo Gym” names white Goodman. A corporate conglomerate who is trying to take over average Joes to put in a parking structure. Average Joes is having some tax problems and decides to enter a national Dodge ball tournament to win the $50k needed to get them out of tax problems. They start playing dodge ball and the comedy ensues. Now some of the funniest moments have nothing to do with leadership, like the ESPN network is ESPN the OCHO that plays some obscure sports like tractor drag racing. Funny nonetheless. But the real lessons that are exhibited in this film are about teamwork.

• 1.) Each person on the team has an individual contribution to the success of the team.
• 2.) Focusing on each team members Strengths will help your team succeed

Websites for your benefit.

• Dodgeball Movie Page
• 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Book
• Your Training Team Website
  

Please leave your comments below. If you have any comments about the show and how we can improve it please email tv@yourtrainingteam.com

Remember leadership lessons are everywhere, you just have to know where to look.

Enjoy,

Russ Faulkner

Movies are the stories of our lives. Whether it be the tales of sadness or hope, the morality tales that from an early age help teach us right from wrong, the mindless comedies that help us understand how to keep levity in situations or the action packed films that taught us all about C-4 and detonator caps. Each of these films teaches. And for my purpose today each film we watch helps teach us a little more about being a great leader of people. Every so often a film comes along that really teaches I consider Remember the Titans to be a true story of inspiration and up there with the great films that help us as leaders.

In this inspirational Disney film based on true events about the integration of a Virginia High School football program. Denzel Washington plays the part of the teams head coach Coach Boone. This film is often on many critics’ best motivational films of all time. The Leadership Lessons I get from this film are easy.

• 1.) Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t popular. In the film his decision to play the best player regardless of race was not a popular one in the community, but as the story unfolds he gains the respect of the community and the players. AND they begin to and continue to WIN.
• 2.) Moving from a team to a great team is hinged upon trust and ensuring that the team has trust in you as a leader and the rest of the team itself.

Websites for your benefit.

• Remember the Titans Movie Page
• 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Book
• Coach Boone’s Speech at Gettysburg
• Your Training Team Website
  

Please leave your comments below. If you have any comments about the show and how we can improve it please email tv@yourtrainingteam.com

Remember leadership lessons are everywhere, you just have to know where to look.

Enjoy,

Russ Faulkner

This week we look at the TV Show Undercover Boss. This is an interesting TV show that airs on CBS on Sunday Evenings. If you have not seen it, the links below have the entire first 4 episodes.

The concept of this show is a leader of an organization goes undercover in his organization to see what it is really like. Now this concept is not new and many leaders should do this (or a variant) of this on a regular basis, CBS has given it a “touching” spin. Now in each one of these episodes the leaders struggles with different challenges that are apparent in their business. At the time of this post, four episodes have aired. Leaders in Waste Management, 7/11, Hooters and White Castle have been on the show.

I think that despite all of the challenges that each of these individuals had, I took away two consistent key lessons from the show:

• 1. As a leader you can’t get so far removed from the day to day that you loose touch of what goes on in the trenches.
• 2. You have to explain the “Why’s” behind what you do in order to have progress and ensure execution.

Websites for your benefit. (I think the episodes will only work in the US, sorry international viewers)

• Undercover Boss Episide 1 (Waste Managment)
• Undercover Boss Episide 2 (Hooters)
• Undercover Boss Episide 3 (7/11)
• Undercover Boss Episide 4 (White Castle)
• Your Training Team Website
  

Please leave your comments below. If you have any comments about the show and how we can improve it please email tv@yourtrainingteam.com

Remember leadership lessons are everywhere, you just have to know where to look.

Enjoy,

Russ Faulkner

This week we look at Monsters Inc. This is a great animated kid’s movie from 2001. The film won several awards. This is a fantastic movie to see again with a little one in your life if its been a while since you’ve last seen it.

In the film employees of Monsters Inc sneak into children’s bedrooms at night to scare them. The monsters then collect the screams and use them to generate their city’s power. Like any real world corporation, there are things that this utility company does well and things that could be improved.

I took away two leadership lessons from this film:

• 1. Employees perform at their best when they have measurable and trackable performance goals.
• 2. We need to ensure we don’t overlook our employee or resources in working to achieve our business goals.

Websites for your benefit.

• Monsters Inc Movie Page
• Book Managing Performance to Maximize Results
  
• Your Training Team Website
  

Please leave your comments below. If you have any comments about the show and how we can improve it please email tv@yourtrainingteam.com

Remember leadership lessons are everywhere, you just have to know where to look.

Enjoy,

Russ Faulkner