Today we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna be talking about creating heroes
and how to create heroes and the power of making people feel like what they do
matters and let them be seen for what they do. This is truly next-level
leadership. So how I learned this was when we were running our K-8 school. We
became one of the top academic schools in the country and it was the culture
that helped create that. Now one of the things we did to help shape that culture
is we asked ourselves the question, what if we inverted the normal thing where
teachers are catching students doing things wrong? What if teachers caught
students doing things right? So we came up with the Latin captaboni, caught doing
good. Captaboni. And then every Friday at the general meeting, general
assembly, we'd read out the names the teachers had given us. And you
could watch these kids light up. My name, I was, it was amazing. Because the message
it sent is, you're appreciated. This is normal in our culture. This is how we are
together. This is normative. And so we made that positive thing normative. So
this is the opposite of a toxic culture. This is a culture that inspires people
who look forward to being part of this team. And so what is this? What do we mean
by making someone the hero of the story? Look, here's the thing. Life is short, right?
And we need, as leaders, give people their moment in the spotlight. And by the way,
I'm not talking about trivial stuff like great job, awesome, whatever. That's
trivial. I'm not interested in that. What I'm interested in is detailed, specific,
with a kind tone, telling people that what they did not only mattered, but they
were the hero of the story. You know, a few years ago, I was leading an
organization. And we were installing some AI to reduce our customer service
tickets that we had. This was before chat GPT. And those days putting
installing AI was a lot of work. It's a lot of manual work. And I called the
person who head up our customer service team. And she was self taught. She had
never, she just loved people. She worked super hard. And I said, Hey, Natalie, we
need to install a new AI program. And I would love to make you the year of the
story. Here's what I'm suggesting. I'm going to give you some support. There's a
CIO technology person who's really good, who's volunteered to help you. We're
going to give you the resources you need to get this done. There's a catch. We
only got six weeks to do it in. And we need to install this and make this
happen. Then when we're done, I'm going to get up in front of the company and
announce Natalie was the year of the story. I'm going to tell them why. And
sure enough, six, you know, six weeks later, we installed it. And with
literally within days, we were seeing a difference. So I got up and did not say
we installed a new AI program. I said, Natalie installed the new AI program
called Ada in our customer service department. She's had no prior knowledge
of AI or any programming experience. And yet in six weeks, Natalie pulled this
off. She implemented a brand new technology and it's already reduced our
call volume by 50%. Natalie is the true hero of this story. Now, it wasn't just
Natalie that felt uplifted and have a moment in the spotlight. The message to
the whole team is you can be next. This is available to everyone. So how it
builds leaders and why this is sort of next level leadership, because as we go
beyond the good, you know, great, good job thing, you know, which to me is really
lazy compliments. What we really can do is make someone the hero of the story.
And here's three steps I've learned helps. Number one, tell them your
intentions to make them the hero of the story. Just like I told Natalie, I'm going to
make you, Natalie, the hero of the story. Two, write the narrative before you share
with with the team once they've done. And so I'm going to send it and share it with
them. Tell them this is what I'm going to say. Them having it in writing, I think is
a huge thing. They will keep that. I think they may print it off, maybe, you
know, frame it even. And the concept, number three, is the concept of giving
people an A before they do the work. Ben Zander, in his book, The Odd
Possibility, you know, as the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, they
ran a very advanced program, a very tough program to get into, sort of as a
postgrad program. And so musicians from all over the world, classical musicians,
would come there. And the stress and the competition and the just the fearsome
pressure on these students was incredible. He and his wife sat down to
think about, and she's an industrial psychologist, and they thought how can we
make this, you know, how can we take that pressure off? They need to be enjoying
this and do well. So he got up and so this became his norm. Start a year, get up
in front of the students and say, you've already got an A. Everybody gets an A.
It's the highest grade we give. Everybody gets an A. But here's what you're gonna
do. You're gonna go home, write a letter, and you're gonna postdate it one year
from today and tell me why you got an A. The power of this idea is it says to
people, I believe you're A material. You're the person who gets
an A. I believe you're fully capable. I'm not quite sure of the details so why don't
you write me a letter and tell me the details. This calls people up into a new
place. It's a very powerful leadership idea. And you know, it's not our job to be
the heroic leader for our team. Honestly, that's so outdated and so when you're
the heroic leader and you're the hero of every story, you know, there's only
one spotlight and that is you. And then on occasion it might, you know, bounce
here or there, but basically it's the main leader. But here's the thing. True
leaders are not the heroes. True leaders create heroes. The more heroes you create,
the better your organization can pivot when things get tough, when you face
tough challenges or difficult times. I'm telling you, develop the heroes in calm
times so that in rough times they can shine. You know, it's a huge relief
for leaders to buck this trend. Not to feel like I have to. It's exhausting being the
hero of the story all the time and trying to be a hero to your team where
you have to know everything, where you have to be sort of the, you know, in this
ever-expanding complex world where people have access to information like
never before. How can we possibly keep that up? So relax as a leader and make
your members of your team heroes. So let's talk about how do we do this.
Making someone the hero of the story. The way I first learned this actually, I was
15 years old. I was on a young man's camp and even then I was really
interested in leadership, which has been my life study and my life's work. And so
I was with a great youth leader and I noticed that all the boys on the youth
camp, all these teenage boys, all felt like they were on this leader's team.
You know, they were all on John's team. John liked them. They were in. And I was
like, how is he doing this? So in one of the breaks, I asked him, how are you doing
this? And he said, you see Pete over there? Well, most of the boys would look
down on Pete, sort of see him as the, you know, the lowest in the group, so to
speak, you know, teenage boys. And so what I did is I made Pete my friend. And I
keep using his name, you know, like anything Pete does, you know, I
highlight it. And so the message then is if Pete is in, we're all in. So that was
such an eye-opener to me, because it sends a message to everyone. Everybody
can excel in this environment. And it encourages people to go past their
limits and boundaries. Look, who of us know what our actual limits and
boundaries are, right? Not just when things get tough. At the end of the day,
you know, it's how much pain are you willing to endure as to how far you can
go in life. And, you know, I learned this in the military when I was an officer's
course doing two years military service, which is compulsory. In that specific
training, I remember one day feeling like I'm a feel like I was gonna drop dead. I
was so exhausted, so tired, full kit, rifle, all the stuff, running. And I thought
there's no way I can go. I've reached my limit. This is, I'm done. And then the
military taught me I'm at 10%. I had no idea, you know, because that was gonna go
on for the rest of the day and get a whole lot worse. Hills and other
challenges I never thought I was vaguely capable of doing. And that's the point.
None of us know our limits. None of us know our boundaries. So why don't we
allow our team to explore? And that's what good leadership does, is it allows
new leadership to arise in the organization and where you give people a
profile. You know, it's easy for people in your team to be overlooked and to be
underestimated. People will not create a profile for themselves. Most will not.
Some will. I want to say a moment here. For the quiet leaders, watch for them
because they're often the one not creating the profile for themselves.
They're just quietly competent and get on with it.
it. And often we overlook these leaders. It might be one of the biggest mistakes we make in modern
leadership is we speak, we always see the person who's verbal, who's expressing themselves and
sometimes very good at creating a profile for themselves. They're the ones that get promoted
and emerged. Be careful of that. Sometimes some of the most competent, capable leaders
in your organization are the ones who are quietly competent. Watch for them.
So, when we set this up, it sets up a place for innovation and growth. I want to deal with one
of the hardest things that leaders have to learn in creating heroes and that is the willingness
to let them make their own mistakes. You know, many leaders try to create strict systems,
you know, to stop their team from failure. But the problem is what creates a leader? Think of
it for a minute. It's when you fall down and get up, fall down and get up. It's that muscle growth
in leadership how you learn. So, if nobody can ever fall down and I'm not talking about
put no boundaries in place, just broad ones. We're not going to put the business at risk.
But people must have the opportunity to fail. Because without that in a strict we cannot make
mistakes thing, that's a terrible way to train people. It's a terrible place to live and very
tough to fulfill a mission under those conditions. And here's the thing, heroes are actually born
out of the courage that comes from being knocked down again and again. And so, if we give them that
opportunity, we also give them the opportunity for courageous leadership. You know, and I love that.
So, great leaders aren't the heroes but they inspire and empower their team members to become
heroes. They create such a clear sense of mission, allowing people to make their own mistakes, help
them get up and cheer them on. Way to go! So, we're living in an age of huge disruption, especially
with the introduction of AI. Heroes are needed more than ever. But we as leaders, we have, even
whether you're a team leader, whether you lead just yourself or a team. Again, we're a team of leaders.
We have the power to inspire and develop individuals who really can embrace challenges,
who really can transform themselves and take on opportunities for greatness. Opportunities they
never knew they were capable of doing. That is the great gift and the great joy of being a leader.
So, we can break through from the whole trying to fit people into a tight system.
And honestly, let's let people rise to the occasion and let them bring about positive
change. It is time for us to unleash the power and the full potential of our teams.
And it's all upside from here. So, let's go and create heroes. I hope you enjoyed that.