In this month’s video newsletter, David goes in depth explaining the true power of vision.  He shows how one’s genius can be unleashed through the power of vision and makes a compelling case for vision being the antidote to many of today’s business challenges.  If you like the video then sign up for this month’s webinar entitled “What Does it Take to Be a Visionary Leader?” by following this link.

Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.

Are You Ready to Evolve Your Impact?

Take Your First Step Toward True Evolution of Your Impact!

Ever wonder why you repeat the same negative thoughts in your head? Why you keep coming back for more from hurtful family members, friends, or significant others? Why you keep falling into the same detrimental habits or limiting attitudes—even when you know that they are going to make you feel bad?

Dr. Joe Dispenza has spent decades studying the human mind—how it works, how it stores information, and why it perpetuates the same behavioral patterns over and over. In the acclaimed film What the Bleep Do We Know!? he began to explain how the brain evolves—by learning new skills, developing the ability to concentrate in the midst of chaos, and even healing the body and the psyche.

Evolve Your Brain presents this information in depth, while helping you take control of your mind, explaining how thoughts can create chemical reactions that keep you addicted to patterns and feelings—including ones that make you unhappy. And when you know how these bad habits are created, it’s possible to not only break these patterns, but also reprogram and evolve your brain, so that new, positive, and beneficial habits can take over.

This is something you can start to do right now. You and only you have the power to change your mind and evolve your brain for a better life—for good.  This book is also written in common sense language and the principles are explained in common sense ways.

You Control Much More Than You Think!

By Bruce H. Lipton, PhD

The revelations in Dr Bruce Lipton’s research is a major breakthrough that will change the way we think about what influences our personal success and fulfillment .  For years we have considered DNA and our genes as major determinants of our destiny – mentally, physically and emotionally.    With the revelations from his and many other biologists research, Dr. Lipton turns this major hypothesis on its ear.

Lipton shows that genes and DNA do not control our biology, that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our thoughts. Using simple language, illustrations, humor, and everyday examples, he demonstrates how the new science of Epigenetics is revolutionizing our understanding of the link between mind and matter and the profound effects it has on our personal lives and the collective life of our species.

This research aligns with the findings of quantum physics and indicates that the world forms around us according to how we perceive it.  For example, if we expect success and hold positive internal beliefs about our ability to achieve – we do.   When we expect less of ourselves or buy into the fact that because our father had heart decease – we significantly increase the likelihood that we will live up to those expectations. According the Dr Lipton – genes merely set up possibilities for us that may or may not be activated based on how we structure our internal (belief structure) and external (what surrounds us) environment.

This research has major implications for organizations and leaders because it makes a powerful case for challenging the assumptions that run our cultures and that orient our leaders.   The book calls on each of us to become more conscious of our belief systems so that we can mold them to be consistent with our desired outcomes.  Not because it is a good thing to do but because it has major implications on how successful and happy we will become.  This is one of those books that is a must for any leader interested in realizing their vision!

To Order: Follow This Link or Click Book Cover Above

Women In the Power Mix

• Collaboration and inclusion
• Teamwork
• More authenticity and transparency
• Building a culture the fosters creativity and innovation
• Coaching and mentoring high potentials
• Showing concern for how the organization impacts the community surrounding it

Yet even more impressive is that I have found women also have a strong drive to succeed and more importantly have the ability to achieve great results for their organizations.  This is not to say that women leaders have no Achilles Heels – they do and I will discuss three major ones a bit later.  That being said, my overall experience has been that women are more willing to acknowledge and accept their short comings which allows them to grow faster and increase impact faster than their male counter parts.  For the most part, they are stellar at taking in feedback.  It would be interesting to see a study on ROI with women versus men who leverage executive coaching.  My guess would be that while both would see strong growth – women may have the edge because they are more naturally open to the learning process.

As more women enter the work force and prove their meddle – they are also transforming the work place. Women business executives with families are dogged about protecting their family time.  On top of this they seem to have the ability to manage their work load so that they can make it to their kids softball game, to be home in time to make dinner, to be there if their kid calls, etc. Many organizations and most male executives have a challenging time appreciating the flexibility that many women executives require for job fulfuillment.  Even when a woman is clearly one of the best producers – men seem to wonder why they are leaving work at 3:30 to attend to family needs.  In short, high powered women executives with families have two jobs yet they have the ability to attend to both with a high level of quality.  Let’s take a look at some powerful statistics.

In Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success published recently, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, ¹ provide some very compelling research.  For example, did you know that:

• Women’ representation in the senior ranks of Fortune 500 companies grew from 10 percent in 1996 to 16 percent in 2002 ²
• 57% of women in the US hold a bachelors degree, account for over 58% of all those receiving graduate degrees and will soon be in the majority over men in the workforce (current women hold 46% of all positions). ³
• At the University of California at Davis, the graduate school of management concluded in 2005 that companies with women in top leadership positions have stronger relationships with customers and shareholders and a more diverse and profitable business.⁴
• In Norway the government has become so convinced of the value of women in business that the minister of trade has demanded that 40 percent of any company board be women‚ not to appear politically correct, but to make their firms more competitive internationally.⁵

Strong Leadership = Powerful Results!

If you really get your arms around  all of this, it quickly dawns on you that:

1. It is essential to be consciously focusing on the development of stronger leadership in organizations through hiring and active development strategies.
2. If you have a pool of talented highly educated women available who naturally embody key leadership competencies then it makes sense to leverage this and promote women to senior positions – especially if you want to add velocity to strengthening your leadership culture.

All of this points to the value of diversity and hopefully moves us away from trying to strike a balance by using quotas and recognizing how diversity strengthens our ability to be profitable and high performing.  On top of this, everyone has to start to realize that women’s efforts to create greater flexibility in the work force has generated something positive for both men and women.  For example, I have had a number of male clients who have taken time off of work when a child is born – taking advantage of new policies supporting maternity leave.  Similarly, men have greater latitude to attend events their children participate in and have the ability to leave work early to take care of a sick child.

What Women Must Learn

While many women have natural leadership instincts – there are at least three development areas that they must examine – these areas can be boiled down to:

• Generating greater confidence
• Not sweating the small stuff
• Reduce the drama

Again, these are generalities and like men – each individual woman will have their unique development journey.  That being said – let’s briefly take a look at each of the items mentioned above.

Achieving Greater Confidence:

Because many women are relational they tend to be concerned about how others are viewing a problem and can see great value in taking into account another’s opinions when making decisions. This is certainly a strength.  The problem comes in when women begin to discount their inner power and natural abilities when it seems others are taking actions that seem to undermine their own sense of value.  Many of my woman clients, and all the rest of us, tend to desire validation from the outside and create rules that this validation must exist for them to be confident.  Yet, ultimately, confidence is controlled by us – not through another’s opinions.   It is an inside out experience that collapses when we start using external opinions as the main basis for validation.  This is a central learning territory for most women.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

I have found that women, like all of us, can get stuck in small issues.  For example, they might fixate on a particular interaction and how they felt leaving that interaction losing site of the purpose of that relationship and the results they are trying to generate with the other person.  At the extreme, this can be perceived as “petty” and hurt their image.  The key to overcoming this is to hold laser focus on key priorities and engage others around the most important outcomes they are aiming to achieve.  This is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater either.  There are times when others are rude, insensitive or just plainly ineffective in an interaction.  The key is to bring this up in the context of the outcomes that are found mutually valuable and provide feedback that the approach they took to the interaction gets in the way of achieving those results.

Reduce the Drama

This trap door builds a bit off the last one.  And again, this can be an issue faced by both men and women.  Reducing drama is not about cutting off emotions.  One of the great things the growing population of women in organizations brings is emotional intelligence.  Yet, when we become overly dramatic when addressing an issue – it takes away from a woman’s impact.  Again, the key is to remain focused – on your personal purpose and vision for impact as well as the key priorities you are accountable for attending to.  Also, taking up something that helps center you whether it be meditation, Hatha Yoga, Thai Chi or some other proven method for finding focus can assist in smoothing out any habit to generate drama.

Certainly the items mentioned above can reduce a female executives power yet no matter how ineffective a strategy or habit is – all of us develop them for some reason.  Yet all habits have a shelf life based on the time in life we developed them.  This is a key understanding in development – how to let go of old habits that no longer have the same effectiveness.  The good news is that I find when a trusting environment is built in the coaching relationship – most women are more than wiling to acknowledge if one of these is getting in her way.

As I have mentioned before – a key to competitive advantage in today’s global market place is enhancing leadership.  Today organizations have a rich pool of talented women leaders ready to answer the call and help your organization move forward towards greater success.

Additional Resource LInks:

• More research on “Womanomics” by Cristian Dezső is assistant professor in the Logistics, Business and Public Policy department at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.
• Harvard Business Review – Women in Business Series
• Top 10 Companies for Executive Women
• Fast Company Magazine – The Most Influential Women In Technology
• National Association of Female Executives
• Network of Executive Women
• Executive Women – LinkedIn Group
• Women in The Professional Services Industry – LinkedIn Group
  
• The Multinational Development of Women in Technology
• American Society of Women in Accounting

It's Not Just About Climbing - You Must Develop!

That being said, the understanding offered here points the executive development approach into the right direction by pointing out specific ways the three orientations (Achiever, Intellectual and Relater) can strengthen their impact in leadership.  The issue here is not about forcing people to learn specific competencies.  It is about helping each individual leader navigate to their natural leadership development journey – which is unique for each person.  In addition, there are several points of understanding that must be brought front and center when we speak about strengthening leadership in today’s executives.

1. Most executives are really trying to do their best in their leadership roles with what they have been given through their life and work experiences and training.  They may be ineffective at leadership yet at their core they are not control freaks, critics or wishy-washy.
2. Many executives – especially those new in the role – have not developed much of leadership mindset because they have not had to.  When we expect them to become leaders just because they were promoted into an executive position – we are living in la la land.
3. EVERY leader – no matter how seasoned has room to develop and with each step in this journey they will have more impact on profitability, performance and overall success for the organization.
4. Developing a leadership mindset takes effort and some level discomfort as one let’s go of old habits and embraces new more effective ones.
5. It is also important to remember that in most cases the executives out dated habits have served them in their success.  So it makes sense there is resistance in letting go of them to embrace what appears to be foreign new habits that support leadership.  In many cases the new behaviors they are being asked to embrace actually seem counter to success from the stand point of the outdated mindset.
6. As noted in my entry “The Last Obstacle to Executive Development = The Executive” – our field is gaining clear methods for developing leadership.  Yet, the executive must come into the process with a willingness if not a desire to expand their impact.  If you combine a willing executive with a proven practitione r and process – you are guaranteed success and therefore more effective leadership.

Finally it is important to point out that the organization also must play a part in helping its leaders embrace a developmental path.  This starts in the C-Suite who must ultimately be accountable for building a high performing leadership culture.  If the C-Suite is truly dedicated to building a great company they must make a strong statement to those entering the executive ranks as follows:

Entry into the partnership or management ranks is not the promise land!  Achieving results and improving performance requires those who reach such heights to embrace their own personal development journey into leadership.   Organizations who are expecting leadership must help their emerging executives to embrace development as part of their job description!  Not doing so adds unnecessary stress for the one taking on the role and in most cases leads to mediocre results for the organization.

David Utts, CEO – Executive Skillworks

To be honest such commitment is lacking in most organizations and because of this few executives take their development seriously.  Given this – it is truly amazing we are as productive and successful as we are in US Corporations given the tremendous leadership gap.  Now imagine what would happen if more organizations put some teeth in requiring their managers and executives to fully tap into their capacity as human beings and fully commit to their development journey.  While it is highly unlikely this will happen in the short term – developing a stronger base of leadership in Corporate America may just be the competitive edge we have when competing in today’s growing global economy.  Others may be catching up with us or even surpassing us technically yet we do have the upper hand, technology and thought leaders who could help us make a giant leap in leadership. In the end, it is this development of leadership in US companies that may well wart off the impending competition coming from Europe, China and India. Something to think about as the competition continues to heat up.

• The Truth About Leadership Development
• The Last Obstacle to Executive Development = The Executive

At the root of all this innovation is the confirmation that as adults we continue to develop our mindset and consciousness as we move through life.  The work of Robert Kegan, Lawrence Kohlberg, Ken Wilber, Sara N. Ross, William R. Torbert and Bob Anderson and others has shown the strong connection between a particular stage of adult development and the competencies of leadership.  In short, it has strengthened the concept that leadership develop is really about human development.

All of this furthers the case that leaders are not born but rather are developed as they increase their awareness and move to a stage of development that contains a leadership mindset/operating system.  Once this “upgrade” in the operating system occurs – leadership competencies naturally boot up.  Therefore the executive development process is not primarily about skill development but rather the focus is on the expansion of awareness.

Bob Anderson’s research at The Leadership Circle has shown that the stage of development prior to leadership is far more reactive than the leadership stage.  In addition, the behaviors and mind sets found in this reactive stage closely mirrors those that executive coaches and development experts must deal with in order to support the development process of most leaders.

When you think about it, every executive leader has been an individual contributor at some time in their career.   For the most part, the strong accomplishments made as an individual contributor usually leads to a series of promotions that ultimately has brought the individual to the executive level.  Unfortunately, the approach that supported the executive’s success at the individual contributor level do not smoothly translate to success at the leadership level.  The biggest quandary executives face in the leadership development process is having to let go of out dated strategies and approaches that have worked for them while they work to take on new ways of thinking and approaching work that they do not have full confidence in and that may fly in the face of their previous views.

Yet, the old adage of “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” is true for executive development.  This is because the seeds of great leadership ultimately lie in the unique nature of each leader and their reactive tendencies provide pathways for development into leadership.  Therefore the goal of executive development is to help the leader embrace their own natural ways while transmuting their mindset and approach to a more powerful level of expression.

The rest of this series will focus on three fundamental reactive approaches that most adults find themselves utilizing as they move into adulthood and ultimately the work force.  These fundamental types are ¹:

• The Achiever
• The Intellectual
• The Relater

Each of these come with their own unique set of fundamental desires and beliefs as well as approaches to working with people and getting things done.  Yet, while it is useful to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves – what is most important is learning what supports your orientation grow in their impact as a leader.  In my next entry, I will begin by focusing on The Achiever.

References:

Articles by Bob Anderson

Seven Transformations of Leadership by David Rooke and William R. Torbert

• Recent research has shown compelling evidence that an evolved executive leader can make a huge difference in expanding profitability, performance, employee loyalty, etc.
• There is strong alignment amongst the many leadership models on the competencies an executive leader must embody to strengthen their impact.
• Based on this clarity as well as the ground breaking work of many – processes and methods have been created that are proven to add velocity onto the development process.

“The study was a real eye opener. Even after adopting the most conservative approach to determining the return on investment, we showed 700% in ROI for the coaching initiative (at Booz Allen Hamilton)”
Ed Cohen
Former Senior Director
Center for Performance Excellence
Booz Allen Hamilton

While executive coaching is only one piece to the puzzle – it is an approach that has proven we can build programs that work.  Given all of this plus the recognition that we find ourselves in challenging times that are crying for more leadership – you have to wonder why organizations and their senior leadership teams are not fully embracing the journey towards greater development of their leadership?

Maybe it is because organizations and senior leadership are not aware of the evolution of the executive development profession.  Yet, I believe there is a more fundamental reason. In short, the main reason is the lack of willingness or even fear on the part of leaders to enter the development journey.  I have heard a number of excuses that point to this – yet most boil down to this one:

“I have worked hard to get to where I am and there is no reason for me to change at this point – anyway I have always been able to figure out what I need to do to be successful“

And there is strong validity in this statement.  It is important to honor the hard work and habits that supported a senior executive to succeed.  There is no doubt that continued success can be achieved without further development.  But, that’s not the point.  The point is human beings have tremendous capacity to expand their impact well beyond where it is today.  If you get your head around that statement – what self-motivated executive would shy away from enhancing their influence?  For an executive to tap into this increased capacity – they must be willing to challenge and transform many of their beliefs about themselves, their approach, and their purpose for being a leader.  While a large part of the development process is exhilarating – there are times of discomfort.

Engaging in the development process requires one to take risks in trying new ways of thinking and acting so that you can expand your effectiveness.  While one can be encouraged – it comes down to the willingness of the individual leader to expand their impact and embrace the risks.  Many executives are rebuffed by this process.  Usually this is not conscious resistance – it is unconscious based on where the person is at in their own adult development journey.  In other words, they would much rather remain in the comfort zone of their current habits – even if some of them cause problems – than take a risk to shift their way of thinking and acting out of fear they may become less effective and ultimately fail.

Recent and extremely compelling research done by Bob Anderson of The Leadership Circle has revealed a strong link between leadership competency research and stages of adult development research.  For those who have not heard about the later – stages of adult development research has shown that human beings continue to grow to higher orders of awareness over their lifetime.  Anderson’s research has shown that there is a strong link between one of those stages of adult development and leadership competencies.  In short this shows, while some may have natural inclinations towards leadership – there is a capacity for all of us to develop a leadership mindset.  Whether we are ready or not for this step is another question.

When one begins to enter this leadership stage of development it is literally an upgrade in the operating system of that individual.  When this natural development process unfolds – one begins to view the world differently.  With this shift – the known leadership competencies begin to naturally “boot up” from the new operating system.  This is a profound breakthrough in the executive development field!  It shifts the focus away from skills training to experiential training that escalates the natural development process.

Anderson’s research also seems to quantify the resistance to development mentioned earlier.  He found that the stage of adult development preceding growth into the leadership mindset is far more reactive.  Individuals at this stage are primarily focused on how they can control the external world through key strategies they have developed over their lives.  Further, individuals at this level tend not to appreciate the full value of leadership competencies seeing them as “soft”, “ineffective” or “a gift of the few (i.e. leaders are born)”

This leads us back to the quandry we began this entry with – what is the real obstacle to executive development.  Bottom line, not everyone is ready or willing for the development journey.  It is important for organizations to realize this in their succession strategies.  Look for people with a balance of strong techical understanding and the willingness to engage in the learning necessary to succeed as a leader.  To help this along it is important that the CEO also sets clear expectations that leadership development is part of an executive’s priorities.  The more CEOs set such expectations and back this up with leadership development support the more likely that they will be to boost the performance and profitability of their organizations.

Phoenix Rising

His first lesson is really about how to embrace one’s passion and purpose.  The second lesson is illustrative of what happens when we lose touch with them.  As with many, I have revisited Michael’s work – his music and videos.  I admit I have been a fan of his artistry yet as I watched his performances recently I saw something that I missed before.  As I watched I could clearly see that the Michael on stage seemed at peace, free, and in charge!  He was in his element and his greatness beamed forth.  I encourage to go back and watch him in this light – I guarantee you will see it too.  Listening to his music  – you can also sense there was a purpose in it. Let’s take a look at a few lines in “Man in the Mirror”

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
(If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

Michael Jackson – Lyrics from “Man in the Mirror”

Michael’s struggle to follow these words was clearly cut short.  Given his life – devoid of childhood, overwhelmed by fame, full of bad choices – he had a lot to overcome.  Yet, Michael, like us, was human and while he had his challenges – we are all the same in that we all have our own demons and struggles.

While I am saddened by what seems like a premature death – there is a second lesson that is equally clear.  When we are not true to ourselves, lack crystal clarity around our purpose, and are unwilling to do anything to uplift ourselves to authentically deliver on this purpose -  Life can feel like we are struggling through a fog – trying to find our way.  Without purpose – it does not matter how much talent we have, how high our IQ is, or how wealthy we are – we are lost.

Michael Jackson had tremendous resources at his disposal.  He had access to life’s greatest teachers and coaches yet he still struggled.  I can not say how Michael took advantage of them – if at all.  Equally, we can not say what would have happened if Michael approached his self-care with as much passion and purpose as his work.  Yet, it seems clear that Michael’s legal struggles drained him.  The video of him showing up sick at trial one day in his pajamas – leaning on his attorney as he walked in – was a sad moment.  You could see that Michael was lost and devastated by the judgment coming his way.  Few would have been able to not have been impacted by such scrutiny and the truth is we all have moments in life when we face the edges of our capacity to cope.  Counter to this – the video of his rehearsal for his upcoming world tour taken the day before his death – showed a man back in his element and passion.

I am the first to admit – I have no clue what was going on inside Michael and what he was doing to reconnect with something deeper inside himself.  Yet, what I do know is on one level this king was facing the human experience in a very intense way.  With all that talent – there was clearly tremendous suffering going on and it seems he lost his rudder in it all.  Maybe his come back tour was a way to reconnect to his soul – yet his demons would not have it.

There are really two ways to deal with suffering.  The first one is to go into a deep experience of resentment, resignation, feeling misunderstood, that life is treating you unfair, etc.  While this is the easier path – it eats us up – mainly because we disempower ourselves and give too much credence to outside forces and our inner self-talk.  The second way to deal with such suffering comes from our willingness to be with the struggle, make friends with it and understand how our relationship with it can strengthen us as well as help others.  This one is a much tougher journey but one that breaths life back into us and unlike the first approach this path strengthens us from the inside out.  The later is driven from passion – the former from a sense that something outside us will save us.

Many with powerful talent and/or tremendous power have taught us this lesson.  I am the first to admit I don’t know what it’s like to be in the spot light – where at times there is no where to hide. It may take even more strength to overcome this challenge yet there are many other cases when digging deep has resulted in great breakthroughs and rebirths.  There are countless stories of people overcoming addiction, dire life circumstances, illness, and the loss of everything to rise to a new level of awareness and impact.  Many express similar principles that helped them to regain their inner strength and have a positive impact on themselves and others.  Here are just a few:

Victor Frankl – who found joy and gratitude during his time in a concentration camp and who became very successful as a psychologist and writer after he left those dire circumstances.

Lance Armstrong, who went from rising cycling star, to victim of testicular cancer, to record 7-time winner of the Tour De France and there may be more given he is back.

Nelson Mandela, who survived 27 years in prison and years of struggle to lead the end of aparteid and became South Africa’s first black president.

Robert Kiyosaki, who became rich, lost the lot, and ended up sleeping in his car before emerging to write Rich Dad, Poor Dad and building an information publishing empire.

Michael Oher who was recently drafted by the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL after rising from homelessness. He is the subject of Michael Lewis‘s 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, and a movie entitled The Blind Side, scheduled to be released in November 2009.

Now those listed who are still living may yet face other challenges and it is possible they may fall prey to them as Michael did.  Yet, Michael’s gift beyond his musical legacy is the story of his humanity and what happens when we don’t leverage everything we have available to us to transmute both the darkness and light that is within us to strenghten ourselves and support others to do the same around us.  To leverage this support – we must ask and be open to it.  To be sure many tried to come to Michael’s aid but you must be willing to ask for the support and know what result you are seeking from accepting it.

Ultimately, this is part of the journey to leadership and why it is important not to get mesmerized by the position but rather to embrace it as an opportunity to engage it through a deeper purpose.

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.”

Robert F. Kennedy

Many of us wished Michael would have found a way to tap this power.  It was there with him on stage – the question is was it clear to him off stage?  This is in no way a judgment of him – many people stronger have succumbed as well.  Yet, some questions emerge from Michael’s death that are essential questions for us all to answer:

1. How deeply have you thought about your purpose for being and what your are most passionate about?
2. Once you are clear – what are you going to do about it?
3. As you face your own demons and darkness – especially those things that seem to hold you back from expressing your purpose and passion – can you embrace them while allowing those demons to be transmuted in order to support our passion and purpose?
4. What are you willing to do to forward your purpose each day?
5. Are you willing to ask for help so that we can more fully embrace our greatness and forward what is most important?  If the answer is yes – can you fully accept that help?

We find ourselves in a time that is calling for more passion and purpose.  The more people that tap into it the better.  Because there is nothing more powerful than these to transform ourselves and the world around us.  It takes in Michael’s words the willingness to “Take a look at ourselves and make a change.”  That’s because we don’t change for the sake of change – we change when we are compelled to because something more powerful than our weaknesses calls us forward.

In closing – I want to express my gratitude for Michael.  Thank you for all you gave through your talent as well as for what you taught us through your life – both the triumphs and struggles. You were one of the greatest entertainers ever to live and that is your legacy.  Yet, I also hope all of us can embrace your humanity for what it taught us about our own light and the darkness.

Jim Collins does it again!  Picking up where Good to Great and Built to Last left off, bestselling author Jim Collins introduces a framework for diagnosing and correcting companies on the decline in his latest installment, How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In. A playbook for overcoming critical management challenges, Collins’ new release is a sure-to-be bestseller that provides a timely resource for business leaders and their companies.  This book will be released – Monday May 19, 2009.

How the Mighty Fall shows that every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline, but recovery is possible. In some cases, companies emerge stronger — even after having crashed into the depths of a near-catastrophic fall. Collins presents a framework that will help business leaders and companies identify the “silent creep of impending doom” and swiftly set a correction course. Rigorous in its analysis, surprising in its findings, How the Mighty Fall is an in-depth look at the decline of some of our nation’s greatest companies and a useful tool for companies and individuals seeking to avoid such a fate. Themes from How the Mighty Fall:

• Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.
• An institution can look strong on the outside but already be sick on the inside, dangerously on the cusp of a precipitous fall.
• The signature of the truly great versus the merely successful is not the absence of difficulty, but the ability to come back from setbacks, even cataclysmic catastrophes, stronger than before…As long as you never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains.

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