The event was broadcast via Internet from the main stage in Atlanta to locations in 27 states for some 85,000 participants like me. The main stage presentations were punctuated by local speakers, local musical performers, and free food provided by Chic-fil-a.

The first speaker, a Leadercast regular, was John C. Maxwell. Maxwell’s title: Leadership is Influence.

In summary, Maxwell’s five stages of leadership are:

1. Position. This is the most basic stage of leadership. People must follow us because we have the power. With positional leadership, our people give us the minimum they can get away with.
2. Permission. This is the next step up from Position. People follow us because they want to. We have made connections with people and developed relationships that are the foundations of the rest of the stages. It’s listening, observing, and learning.
3. Production. This is where we build momentum into our team. Maxwell said, “Managers look for solutions. Leaders build momentum.” It’s really all about enabling the team to act on its own. It’s about leading by example and never sending someone to do what you haven’t done yourself. A team with momentum will solve 80% of the problems all by itself without “help” from us.
4. People. At this stage, it’s all about talent. Recruit the right people, put them in the right seats, and give them what they need to succeed. We grow an organization by growing the people.
5. Pinnacle. Building through the previous 4 steps, the Pinnacle describes the leader who “has arrived.” We become the recognized expert and our influence goes beyond that of a single organization. Very few leaders achieve this stage, but those that do have wide-ranging influence.

Note that we can potentially be at a different stage with every individual in our lives. People will react differently to us based on which stage we are with them. For example, a call to work an extra Saturday is going to be perceived differently by someone who looks at us as a stage 1 leader verses someone who looks at us as a stage 3 leader.

The key is to analyze where we are with each person in our lives and then to work on the things required to get to the next stage with each individual we lead.

An island. All to yourself. That was the experience of New York Times columnist David Carr. He and his wife rented an uninhabited, mostly unpowered island for a week. (Read about it here.) Although he carried a bag full of electronic gadgets (Blackberry, iPad, iPod, and lots of batteries), he found that he not only went “off-gird,” but he forgot there even was a grid! After 6 days, his conclusion:

These are the things I needed: My wife.

To say that Mrs. Carr occupies a “key seat” (see below) in the author’s world would be a grand understatement.

We’re continuing a series about this year’s Leadercast event. In the last post, we talked about stage 1 of Jim Collins’ “5 Stages of Falling From Grace”: The Undiciplined Pursuit of More. Companies do not fail overnight. Collins’ list documents what he believes are the common, telltale stages all failing companies follow in their plunge to the bottom.

Stage 2 is Hubris Born of Success, overreaching, and going too far. Collins sights “Parker’s Law”:

If your growth exceeds your capacity for having the best people in your key seats, don’t settle.

Key seats are those positions in our organizations that are critical to our success. Parker’s Law tells us not to simply fill the openings. Instead, fill them with the right people, the best people for the organization. Collins put it this way:

Get the right people, then figure out the right path. It’s first who, not first what.

People are critical to our success. It’s better to not fill a key seat than to fill it with a person who doesn’t fit. We shouldn’t let the pressure of success push us to move too quickly.

As for a lesson learned, consider David Carr. Of course he thought his wife was valuable–he married her, after all! But it took living on an uninhabited island for a week to open his eyes to just how valuable she was to him. The other things that were competing for his attention grew dim. If we don’t have plans to visit an island in the near future (I wish!), let’s consider ways that we can go “off-grid” for just a day for some deep contemplation about the people around us. A few times I have taken a vacation day in the middle of the week and spent it hiking in a nearby state park. Open air–even if it’s not an island–has a way of helping with our perspective.

Let’s go off-grid. My money says we’ll be surprised by what we find.

We have almost 6000 years of business data!

That’s a quote from Jim Collins, spoken during the Leadercast that I attended earlier this year. Collins went on to say that we have many examples throughout history of businesses that succeeded or failed even though they were operating under the same kinds of circumstances. Why? Collins asserts:

Greatness is a conscious choice. We are not imprisoned by our past, by our mistakes, or by our circumstances.

In other words, greatness can be independent of the environment. Of course, a lousy economy or a natural disaster can spell the end of many that might otherwise be successful, but over the long haul it isn’t circumstance that determines our fate. It’s our choice, our leadership that makes the difference.

The first of Collins’ “5 stages of falling from grace” is Hubris born of success: Arrogance as the precursor to a fall. The implication is that success without arrogance is sustainable. Anything else won’t last.

According to the data, the difference between the great and not great companies–even when both had good leaders–is that the great companies had good leaders that also had humility.  Those leaders had the humility to channel their ambition, passion, and drive into a cause or into their people. This type of leader understood that it isn’t all about them.

The big Question: What are we in it for?

My take is that we can ask this same question of ourselves for any area of our lives. As we work to make our lives a congruent whole of work, family, faith, and society, it’s good practice to take inventory frequently. Here’s an idea: Let’s go on an arrogance fast!

The book? The 2010 Chic-fil-A Leadercast Journal. On May 7th, I spent the day in a satellite simulcast location drinking in good teaching beamed in from outer space (or through buried fiber optic cables… The outer space piece sounds much more exotic…).

One of the first speakers was Jim Collins (Check out http://jimcollins.com). Collins outlined for us The Five Stages of Falling from Grace. That is, no good company goes out of business overnight. The stages are:

• Hubris born of success
• Undisciplined pursuit of more
• Denial of risk and peril
• Grasp for salvation
• Capitulation

Although Collins was speaking specifically about business, I think there are important lessons for us to learn about the way we live our lives. In subsequent posts I’ll be discussing these stages and how we can learn from them.

Catching him wasn’t easy. As I slowly caught up to him I could see the steady, practiced cadence of a life-long runner. Probably 10 years my senior, this guy was not going to slow down. Before I got close enough for him to notice me, I matched his pace for a time–hoping to not be so out-of-breath from my chase when I spoke to him.

“Great day for a run,” I huffed as I pulled up next to him. We exchanged pleasantries and I asked him if I could run with him for a while. (Truth: I was tired!) I stuck out my hand as we ran and introduced myself. He told me his name was Tom.

For the next 20 minutes, Tom and I ran and talked. Tom is an economist for the National Forest Service. Yeah. I know. Who would have thought the Forest Service has economists on the payroll?!!? But Tom was real. A Forest Service Economist.

Tom’s job is about data. Intangible data at that. As an economist, Tom does things like quantify the value of Omstead State Park in Raleigh, NC. Not the value of the land. He looks at the value to the community of having access to the venues, events, and services the park offers.

Tom’s job isn’t limited to domestic parks. He told me that he recently worked to analyze the value of developing a relationship between the Forest Service and the country of Brazil. Brazil!

I was once again surprised by what I learned when I chose to Speak Up!

Nervousness always comes. No matter how many presentations I make I think I will always be nervous right before I speak. The key is to have a strategy to deal with the nervousness.

My strategy for dealing with my nervousness at this conference was to attend the session that immediately preceded mine. This would give me a chance to:

1. Find the room well in advance of my time slot
2. Observe the room layout, sound setup, and so on
3. Learn from the way the previous presenter “used” the room

As I watched the previous session, I watched the sound man, dressed from head to toe in black, as he quietly, with few words, did his job. When it was my turn to be mic’ed, he strode toward me and asked, “Are you my next speaker?” I acknowledged my role and followed his instructions as we tested the equipment. After everything was hooked up, he looked up at my title slide emblazoned across the big screen at the front of the room. “Impromptu speaking, huh?” He asked, “Are you a Toastmaster?”

The man’s name was Manuel. He had a strong, smooth voice. He was a Toastmaster. In fact, he was in the process of forming a new club. We chatted for a few minutes about our shared connection through Toastmasters. I gave him a 30-second overview of my talk. I thanked him and began the last-minute preparation for my talk.

As the talk began, I noticed Manuel working the sound equipment. I could tell he was making live adjustments to the sound. When he was done, instead of leaving as he had done for the previous session, he walked to the back of the room and sat down. He granted me the honor of teaching him–Toastmaster to Toastmaster.

Manuel honored me with his words and with his presence. He encouraged me by just being my friend.

George took over. He dominated the conversation. I attempted to steer the conversation back to the table’s original two occupants, but somehow George always took the floor back. George said kind things about my company’s products, but he said many amazing things about his company’s products. George bragged about his personal accomplishments working for the competitor. (At one point I remarked that with all those accomplishments I thought he should be CEO by now. He paused for a moment, gave me a very serious look, and said, “Yeah. I should!”) George went on to tell us about the restaurants and clubs in his home town, about how he’s a frequent customer at the same club where the local NBA team parties, and how he’s on a first-name basis with the club staff and several well-known NBA stars.

My table mates had become very quiet. They laughed on cue, but there was a lack of sincerity to their laughter. When George started talking about the girls at the club, claiming that he’d take us down there that evening if he didn’t already have another commitment, my new friends had heard enough. They seemed uncomfortable and started talking about how they were tired and needed to get up early the next morning.

My take on this is pretty simple. George was over-the-top. He was too much for his audience. He failed to follow the simple rule of tailoring your communication style to the people you are communicating with. George was so engaged in telling his story that he forgot all about us. He forgot all about his potential customers.

George Spoke Up, but he did so in a way that pushed people away instead of drawing them in. There’s an important lesson for all of us.

But i was still thinking about my wife–the woman who never met a stranger and who enhanced our experiences by making friends wherever we go. I was flying Southwest, but I drew a B boarding pass. That meant that all the window and aisle seats were occupied by the time I made my way down the aisle. (Looking from the front of the plane all the open seats were in the middle. Why do people do that?) Picking a seat in this situation is weird. I don’t want to pick a seat between two women for fear of looking like I’m a flirt. Even choosing an open seat between a man and a woman could be incorrectly construed. My preference is to find an open seat between two men. I scanned the faces as I walked down the aisle toward the back. Fear struck. Would I get all the way to the back without making a choice? *That* would be embarrassing. A few rows beyond the exit rows, I spotted a couple of guys who didn’t look too settled in. I excused myself and asked for clearance to take the middle seat. Granted.

I have fast-forwarded to the plane ride home at the end of the conference. Both of my seat-mates immediately pulled out books to read. It seemed like it was going to be a quiet flight home. Safe at last!

I noticed that the man to my right, John, a middle-aged sales guy of medium height, short tousled hair, and broad shoulders, was reading a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success. Being enamored with Gladwell’s previous work, Outliers is on my to-read list. I couldn’t help myself. I asked John about the book. He said:

My company is going through a lot of changes right now. I was told that this book might help us get through them.

I asked about the company, his job, and the changes. It turns out that John is the perfect bookend opposite Reggie the IT guy from a wine manufacturer. John told me that his company produces pallets–the portable platforms used for storing or moving cargo or freight. They have more than 70 million pallets out there. Yeah. Millions. Reggie’s company is one of their customers. Those million+ cases of wine go out on John’s pallets.The changes are innovation and technology. Business is good, and they are hoping changes will make it better.

Here’s the thing that intrigued me: The pallets are marked with RFID chips. These chips are used to track product and location information. John told me that these RFID chips are eventually going to mark the cases and the bottles such that they will know exactly when and where each bottle of wine is sold. They will be able to predict with amazing accuracy when the local grocery store will run out of wine and speed up or delay the next shipment.

Reggie’s 32 million daily transactions plus John’s 70 million RFID-enabled pallets mean lots and lots and lots of data.

People really can be quite fascinating.

I filled my plate from the vendor-supplied buffet and looked for an open seat. I saw a man sitting alone at one of the small tables. I fought down my natural tendency to leave him–and everyone else–alone and approached, asking him if I could join him. Of course. He seemed happy to have me join him.

I introduced myself, shook his hand, and spotted his name and his company’s name on the badge hanging from his conference-supplied lanyard. Reggie, an IT guy for a major wine bottler. As we ate, I asked him many questions about his job and his company. What I learned is priceless.

Reggie told me that his company ships more than 1 million cases of wine per day. That’s cases. As in cases of 12 or 24 bottles. That is a bunch of product! Reggie’s worked for the company for 22 years–all of it in IT. He wrote their first inventory database. He wrote the database–still running on 1990′s vintage DEC hardware–that tracks the company’s brandy supply. He is also in charge of a database that takes in 32 million (yes, million) transactions per night. Each transaction details a single sale and includes where the wine was purchased, the age and sex of the purchaser, and what else was purchased on the receipt. The company uses this information to decide what, where, when, and how to advertise. They understand what’s selling and what’s not. They understand who is buying and who is not.

When I asked about the economy’s effect on his business, he said, “When times are good, people drink. When times are hard, people drink but they spend less on it.”

Sometimes speaking up yields an interesting story.

Old habits die hard. This week I found myself at a conference without my lovely wife. Without her influence, I lapsed into my old habit of just leaving other people alone. For the most part. In a few cases I invited myself to sit with others during conference meals. The results were interesting and entertaining. Most people seem genuinely pleased to engage in conversation. I was, once again, surprised.

It would seem that my wife is right: It pays to Speak Up!