Why do some companies make the leap to greatness while others don’t? This is what Jim Collins sought to address in his super-successful business book, Good to Great. Among the many powerful lessons in that book, he wonderfully illustrates the concept of the window and the mirror, which teaches a valuable lesson on taking responsibility. In this episode of Eye2Eye, Harbir Sian shares some thoughts on how this metaphor applies from a leadership perspective. Join in and learn how great leaders see things differently and how that allows them to leap into a place of greatness that others can’t access.
Eye2Eye segments are short solo episodes where Harbir shares some thoughts and insights from his personal experiences. May you find value in these musings and put them to use in your career as well.
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Eye2Eye: The Window And The Mirror
Thank you for taking the time to join me here to learn and grow. I like to bring on guests from different industries, businesses and walks of life to share their insights to help us all grow. I'm growing as much as anybody else who is reading this blog for sure. I'm trying to absorb as much of the information our amazing guests share with us. If you are a long-time reader of the show, you also know that a little while back, I started a new segment that I call Eye2Eye. It's me sitting here sharing some of my thoughts and experiences with you and lessons that I have learned from some of my guests or books that I have read or so on.
It has been a little while I wanted to bring you an Eye2Eye episode. It's a specific lesson that I have shared on social media and other ways in the past. Originally, it comes from the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. If you haven't read that book, I highly recommend it to anybody who is trying to grow. If you don't own a business from a personal or professional development perspective, it's a fantastic book. It's one of the most well-known books in the business world.
What Jim Collins did in that book is he did this retroactive research on previous leaders, CEOs and business people who are able to take companies from good to great. Who are those people who are able to take a company to be even better than where it was when they got there versus others who kept it the same? Even the companies didn't do as well when they were in their leadership roles. This has been in my mind for a while, but a couple of things happened that reminded me of this book.
The ability to take responsibility is a key aspect of good leadership.
Number one, I subscribed to Seth Godin's email list. I get his emails daily with his thoughts on his blog. A lot of his posts have been about leadership and responsibility. There was one talking about that a leader has got to be willing to say, "I got this or it's on me. It's one way or the other in taking that responsibility, which is a key aspect of a good leader." The other thing is that I happened to record a new episode with a wonderful colleague. His name is Dr. Jim Asuchak from Alberta.
You will learn in that episode that he has this super successful busy practice but also has been the President of the Alberta Association of Optometrists. He is the chair of another national organization. He is doing great things. Jim Asuchak happened to quote Jim Collins and this book specifically, Good to Great, in his conversation about how he has been able to grow his practice. It has come back to me a couple of times and I know I have shared it previously on social media, but I wanted to share it here.
The specific story that Jim Collins tells in his book or the parable, moral or whatever you want to call it, is what he calls the window and the mirror, and the differences between a good leader and a not-so-good leader. What he is saying is, "When we are confronted with challenges and successes, we either look out the window and attribute those challenges or successes to somebody outside other people, or we look in the mirror and we look at ourselves."
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't
A good leader should be one who, when things are going well, when there's a success, or when things have gone as planned or better, is that person looks out the window and attributes that success to the people around them or other people who are involved. On the flip side, when things are not going so well, that person looks in the mirror and looks at themselves and says, "What can I do better? What am I not doing well enough?"
The other side of that story is the person who is not as good of a leader, who is not willing to take on the responsibility. When things are going well, that person looks in the mirror and says, "You did a good job." The other side of it is, when things are not going well, that person looks out the window and blames everybody else other than themselves. That has been an ongoing lesson that I have been trying to learn. It's giving yourself credit where it's due but making sure you give other people credit when they deserve it and when things are going well. It's making sure you look at yourself in the mirror when things are not going well.
There's another business-minded person that I follow and listen to a fair amount. His name is Andy Frisella. He has got a big successful podcast. I don't listen to him as much for other reasons. I won't go into that. Business-wise and conversation-wise, he is a great person to listen to. He talks about this type of stuff as well. If things are not going well in an organization, you can always look to the person who is at the top. It always comes from the top-down.
In good times, give credit to the people who deserve it. In bad times, look in the mirror and ask yourself what you can do better.
You might say, "It's just one bad apple. It might be this one person who is a bad actor. It's one employee who doesn't like their job and that person is making it rough for everyone else." That is the owner, CEO or whoever leadership role person to take care of that. If that bad apple is ruining it for everybody else, it's the leader's responsibility to have fixed that. I personally face that at work in our offices. We try hard to bring on team members who are going to work well together.
It's important to me to have an environment that is cohesive and almost family-like in a lot of ways where people can get along. You want to come to work. You like coming to work. It's important to me to have that versus somebody coming on board with a high skillset. I have to weigh out those options sometimes. We have been in that position where somebody perhaps was not pulling their weight. It makes other people feel like, "If that person is not pulling their weight, then why should I?" They feel bad about the fact that they are working harder than that other person.
That person who is not pulling their weight is my responsibility as the leader or business owner to take care of that so that everybody feels like they are putting an equal effort. You can say, "That person is uninterested, but it's my responsibility to either get them interested or figure something else out so that everybody is on the same page and putting in the same amount of effort." We had people in the past who didn't like what they were doing. They had negative energy.
Taking Responsibility: If a bad apple is making it rough for everyone else, it’s the leader’s responsibility to have that fixed.
You think, "They will hash it out and figure it out." It's the leader's job to make sure we can make that situation better for everybody. Sometimes that means maybe letting someone go. That's always a difficult decision. It's easy to look out the window and be like, "Those people are not good at their job and they don't seem to care." You've got to look in the mirror and say, "What is it that I'm doing or could do to make this better?"
Staffing HR is probably the most difficult challenge for any business owner. I'm sure everybody who has to deal with staffing would agree. To go back to the story, you are either looking out the window or looking in the mirror. You have to think about when you are doing those things. In the good times, it's making sure we are giving credit to the people who deserve it. In the bad times, it's making sure you are looking in the mirror and asking yourself what you can do better.
That's the lesson for this Eye2Eye episode. I hope you found it valuable. If you find this episode or any of the other episodes valuable, please share them. Take a screenshot, throw it up on your Instagram, tag me and let me know what you think. Send it off to people that you know who you think might find value. Hit like and subscribe. Leave a comment and review. Thanks again, guys. We will be coming to you with a bunch more content in the near future. I'm excited to share it all with you. We will see you soon.