Bullet
sil·ver bul·let
noun
a bullet made of silver, used in fiction as a supposedly magical method of killing werewolves.
a simple and seemingly magical solution to a complicated problem.
I am sure that you would rather hear more about the first definition and werewolves, but we are going to focus on the second one. (But, If you like broad comedy and werewolves, stay tuned for Taika Waititi’s werewolf mockumentary, “We’re Wolves”.)
Almost every leader we encounter is looking for a silver bullet. Heck, I think I am sometimes holding out the false hope that they exist for me or my clients. We all hope that we could somehow…
get healthier without eating all that plant-based matter
become stronger without all that exercise
save more money without making hard choices
strengthen our marriages without all that conversation
etc.
And most of us wish there were some kind of healthy and successful organization wand we could wave and just fix everything. We meet a lot of leaders who are holding out hope for that kind of magic, but it just doesn’t exist. And whether it is our health, finances, relationships, or businesses, you can’t fix the problems overnight that you spend years or even decades creating.
A few years ago, we decided that it would be easier and more lucrative to just work with larger corporate clients. They had bigger budgets and we could integrate deeper and see a bigger impact and quicker change. The multiplier effect of working with leaders impacting hundreds and thousands felt right as well. It was working well for them and us, but God had other plans.
We surveyed about 125 of these more intentional leaders. They read books, attended conferences, and had a deep desire to mature their teams and businesses. We talked to executive board members of every brand. In summary, they loved the camaraderie and information they gained from all their efforts but had seen very little application or measurable change in their businesses as a result.
We coupled the survey with a lot of wise counsel and prayer. We landed in a place we didn’t expect and frankly weren’t very excited about initially. We were supposed to reverse engineer the process we were taking all our corporate clients through and make it available for smaller businesses and organizations in addition to the big ones we were working with.
To create a very simple to execute journey with high accountability that any size organization could accomplish over a couple of years. Camaraderie and information are a given at executive board gatherings and peer group meetings, but if we couldn’t solve the two challenges (application of the content and real measurable change), we weren’t interested in doing monthly meetings with smaller businesses.
Meetings and information where there is no meaningful change in the organizations involved, is a waste of their money and our time.
This September we are gathering business leaders at Hotel Emma as a step toward cultivating our next Executive Board to begin in January. We’ll begin taking applications soon after that event. If you have given up on hoping for a silver bullet and are interested in starting a journey toward real measurable change in your business, department, or division that you lead, we should talk.
Consider
Have you been investing in your leadership (peer group meetings, conferences, books, and podcasts)?
How is that working for you?
Could you honestly say that you could point to real measurable change in your organization and a good ROI on your investment of time and resources?
Are you ready to do something about it?