CHAPTER 1

A Transformational Power

While there have been many proud moments in my career, one of the most memorablewas a three-month period in 1987. I was in the second quarter of a two-terminternship with the Bendix Heavy Vehicle division of AlliedSignal Corporation. Iwas fortunate to report to a man named Larry Taylor, who remains one of the bestmanagers I can ever remember having. What made Larry special as a manager wasthat he never treated me as anything other than a fully competent associate,even though I was still a college student. His management style was to probe theouter edges of my intelligence, problem-solving skills, and creativity on acontinual basis.

One particular assignment still makes me smile every time I think back to it.One day, Larry said that he had an important project for me. The company wasconsidering an acquisition, and he wanted me to prepare a full strategicanalysis of the companies being considered. More importantly, he asked that Icome back to him with a recommendation once my analysis was complete. I rememberfeeling both excited and frightened. For a kid still in college, this was thekind of project that would require me to pull from every business discipline Ihad been exposed to up until that point.

The project took almost two months to complete. In the end, I presented a fullanalysis of three potential acquisition targets, including their financialstrength, market position, reputation within our industry, and range of productsand services. While all three companies were attractive candidates, there wasone that stood out to me as clearly being the best target. My analysis andrecommendations, including multiple graphs and charts, took the form of a 60-page report with my name squarely on the cover page. I still remember walkinginto Larry's office, handing it to him, and proudly saying, "Here you go." Atthat time, it represented not only a meaningful departure from term papers andcase studies, but it was also the best work I was capable of producing.

Later that afternoon, my desk phone rang, and Larry asked me to come to hisoffice. He said, "I have reviewed your report and recommendation, and it isexcellent. It's so good that I have already sent it to Dave and would like youto present it to him in person tomorrow." Dave was Larry's boss and responsiblefor all aftermarket strategy and marketing for our group.

This level of recognition for my work, and its implied confidence in me, wassomewhat unexpected. What an impact it had. The euphoria and motivation itinstilled in me lasted for years. It set the stage for me to accept thecompany's offer to work for it as a fulltime employee once I graduated fromcollege even though I had two offers at slightly higher starting salaries.

Looking back through the 25-year lens of my experiences, it's only now that Ifully appreciate the complex and powerful forces put into play that year. Morethan anything, Larry primed my emotional pump by treating me in a manner thatmade me feel smart, capable, and important. He also helped me feel like I waspart of the team and see how my contributions played an integral part in thelong-term strategic and financial success of the business. While he probablydidn't realize it at the time, his intentional and consistent demonstration ofrespect for me as a person and young professional helped set in motion theproductive and rewarding trajectory for the first 10 years of my professionalcareer. Because of his communication of confidence in me, I developed a powerfulemotional tie to both my boss and the company. Whether it's a project,acquisition, or purchase of equipment, either mentally or physically businessesmap their return on investment (ROI). In this case, the investment was in me,and the return was the maximum engagement of my skills for the betterment of thecompany. What can a company do to maximize the return on investment it's made inits employees? A good starting place is to make respect an integral part of thecompany's corporate culture.

CHAPTER 2

Connected Through Evolution

One of the most illuminating perspectives on human interaction that I've readrecently was in Daniel Goleman's book, Primal Leadership. Goleman refers tohuman beings as "open loop systems." From an evolutionary perspective, ourspecies is more connected to each other than most people realize. Over thecourse of millions of years, our ancestors developed highly specialized braincircuitry that constantly monitored other people when we were in their presence.In psychology, there's a concept called theory of mind which refers to theability to identify mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions, perspectives,etc.) in ourselves and others, and to realize that the two states are oftendifferent. Grasping this basic difference in orientations was a remarkable anduniquely human adaptation. In a world of limited resources, it was theequivalent of developing our own personal threat detection systems.

From an evolutionary perspective, this makes complete sense. The ability topredict accurately the peaceful or hostile intentions of new people or animalsliterally promoted the longevity of our species. What is fascinating about thiscircuitry is that it's forever in the "on" mode. What this means is that we'realways monitoring other people around us, and they're doing the same. Ourconclusions about the intentions of others have a profound effect on how therest of our brain functions. Informed by inputs from our five senses, our brainsperform a delicate and instinctual dance every day in the name of self-preservation.

Armed with this complex warning system, the human brain is the world's mostsophisticated survival computer ever developed. Whenever our senses pick up cuesthat could indicate that we are or could be in the presence of danger, ancientneural pathways become activated to get us out of harm's way as quickly andeffectively as possible. This is the realm of fight or flight. So powerful arethese...