Michael Jackson's Leadership Anthem

Michael Jackson, the pop star who passed away earlier this year, has been in the news again thanks to the release of the documentary "This Is It." Jackson was a controversial figure, but there's no doubt his music was indelible. As I was reflecting on Jackson's songbook, I remembered one of my favorites: Man in the Mirror. Performed by Jackson, but written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard, the song provides a powerful message about the responsibility each of us has towards a better world. It's a musical expression of the Ghandi quote "be the change you want to see in the world."

I see applications in big and small ways. If we are bothered by behaviors in the workplace, perhaps we need to think about how our own behaviors could be a cause. If we want to see more integrity in the world, we have to examine our own ethical shortcomings. Basically, we shouldn't advocate for choices that we aren't personally willing to make and we shouldn't whine about the state of society if we aren't actively ensuring that we're not part of the problem.

As a leader, if you want to create change in your organization, community, or anywhere else, you need to begin with yourself. It sounds very cliche', but like the song suggests, it is the only true way to work towards the change you desire.

The lyrics to the song are below. Below the lyrics is the video for the song, which shows images of activism and social change.

"Man In The Mirror"

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs

A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change

The Girl Effect

I stumbled upon this video thanks to the Made to Stick blog. The message is powerful, concrete, and clear. My takeaway from watching is that by putting the right people into situations where they can lead (i.e., a girl in a male-dominated culture), momentous change can happen.

The part that impacted me the most was the description of the girl gaining respect, getting into the leadership circle of the village, and once inside, convincing the males that girls can be extraordinary contributors and leaders as well.

Imagine Leadership

My friend Corey White found this video. I love the messages and the way in which the visuals tell the story. Here is the video's description from YouTube:

Nitin Nohria and Amanda Pepper of Harvard Business School's Leadership Initiative collaborated with XPLANE to create this video in order to generate a discussion of the value and importance of leadership to address some of societys most pressing problems.

"It is my desire to inspire people of all ages and social demographics to think about leadership on a broad level, contemplate what it means to them and what individual impact they can have when it comes to leading," says Nohria.

Enjoy!

Small Wins and Health Care Reform

Karl Weick, author of "Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems," an article that appeared in the January 1984 edition of American Psychologist, wrote:

"The massive scale on which social problems are conceived often precludes innovative action because the limits of bounded rationality are exceeded...People often define social problems in ways that overwhelm their ability to do anything about them."

In order to solve social problems, Weick argues that we define them as a series of smaller problems that can then be affected by small wins. He refers to small wins as a "series of concrete, complete outcomes of moderate importance [that] build a pattern that attracts allies and deters opponents."

Whenever I teach leadership to college students, especially those in fraternities or sororities, I introduce Weick's concepts and they are almost universally accepted. It makes sense to take a huge problem and break it down into manageable chunks.

And now, our nation is having a fevered debate on reforming health care and health insurance. Can Weick's ideas apply? From my view, they explain everything.

The President and congressional Democrats have been struggling in recent weeks, largely because the solution that has been proposed shows up as a 1000-page bill that tries to do everything at once. The problem is daunting, and the proposed solution has become equally so. If people cannot get a firm grasp of the problem and an even firmer grasp of the proposed solutions, they are much less likely to support the leader's proposals.

I am not a health-care expert, or a politician, but I wonder if the reform measures that are being lumped all together in once giant piece of legislation had instead been approached one step at a time, would this debate be different? What if congress first passed tort reform, then lifted the ban that disallows individuals from buying insurance out-of-state, then develop nonprofit co-0ps that strive to provide a low-cost alternative, and so on. Each step along the way, the effects on cost and coverage are evaluated. We can then see the plans work in pieces (or not work) and subsequently make better, more informed, decisions.

Perhaps health care reform is the latest example of what can happen when we ignore the power of small wins.