Systems make up a big part of living. Think of the different types of systems in life, and the careers available for those who study them.  Scientists study the systems available in nature, learning how the world works, developing similar systems to enhance life. Doctors study the systems in the human body, while veterinarians study animal’s body systems.  Engineers study product and process systems, even creating new systems when creating new products.  But, unless one is specifically in these fields, why take the time to learn about systems?  Mainly, because there is another type of system, one that all human beings are apart of from birth, it’s called the cultural system.  Every human being joins the culture of humanity when born, it’s not optional, and every culture – humanity, business organizations, faith organizations, charities, clubs, etc, have a cultural system that guides the behavior of its members.  The McKinsey organization teaches that culture is “how we do things around here”.  Culture matters, and the more one understands the culture of an organization, the better one can improve the culture, thus improving results.  Without an understanding of systems, it will be hard to study, let alone to change, the culture of organizations.  Just as scientist, doctors, veterinarians, and engineers study and create systems, leaders must study, change, and create cultures. In fact, majoring on culture is one of a leaders most important assignments.

Think of culture in an organization, as a riverbed, directing the flow of the river.  The riverbed set the boundaries of acceptable behaviors, controlling the flow of the water, helping new people move within the cultural river.  Riverbed cultures are fantastic systems to guide behaviors when the riverbed aligns with the behaviors needed within a culture, but imagine if the riverbed is guiding behavior in a direction opposed to the behaviors desired and professed by the organization.  This creates a riverbed cultural issue, where the culture is directing behavior that is opposed to the professed norms and values of the community, creating a misalignment between purpose and actions.  For example, suppose an organization desires to be the best company for service and support in the local market.  Advertisements trumpeting this message are shared throughout the marketplace, slogans are placed in the office, and sales meetings share the importance of follow up on existing customers, ensuring that customers are satisfied, focusing on long term business relationships.  This all sounds great, communicating clearly how important serving existing customers are in the company’s culture, but unless the reward system, for the salesforce, lines up with the culture, it will not change behaviors.  In other words, if rewards only pay for new sales, but not existing sales, then why would the salesmen take apply efforts to service an existing customer, when his pay is increased only when he makes a new sale to a new customer.  Can you see where the riverbed is guiding the behavior in one direction, even though the words and slogan are attempting to guide behaviors in another course?   No amount of slogans, meetings, or advertisements are going to change culture, until the leaders change the riverbed which lead to the actions.

Leaders must study the systematic riverbeds of their respective organizations, determining if the stated beliefs, values, and norms line up with the direction taken by the riverbed.  Leaders can get upset at a communities behavior, punish them, even fire them, but if the riverbed doesn’t align with desired behaviors, the fault isn’t with the people, but with the leadership team responsible for creating the culture and reward systems.  Let’s examine further the organizational cultures.  The reader might be thinking, but I don’t work at a big company, so this doesn’t apply to me.  But remember, cultural systems apply to every organization, everywhere.  Families, churches, clubs, workplaces, businesses, etc, all have cultures.  The sooner one becomes aware of the culture, learning the flow of the water through the riverbed, the quicker one can see if riverbed and behaviors are aligned or if changes are necessary.  Everyone in the community is responsible to help the leaders develop a proper riverbed, because everyone is affected when the riverbed is off course.  One of the best descriptions of the factors that make up the culture (riverbed) of an organization comes from Gerry Johnson, and is called Cultural Webs.  In his article, titled, “Rethinking Incrementalism”, in the 1988 Strategic Management Journal, Johnson defines the paradigm and six elements of the Cultural Web that create the culture of an organization.  One of the goals of a leader is to study the six factors independently and interdependently, learning how each factor can be improved individually, and how they can be improved where they interact with one another.  The leaders objective is to develop the culture by improving how each element ties into the overall message, forming a riverbed that aligns with the deepest beliefs, values, and norms of the organization.

The Paradigm defines what the organization is about, meaning what it does; what’s its mission; what it values. The Cultural Webs are the six factors or elements that combine to fulfill the paradigm.  Here are the six elements with a brief description:

1. Stories – The historical events and people that are talked about inside and outside of the company, creating part of the myths surrounding the company, telling a great deal about what the company’s beliefs, values, and norms are.
2. Rituals and Routines – The daily behaviors that signal actions within the riverbed and those outside of the riverbed.  This creates expectations upon each member of community to behave and act in certain acceptable ways valued by leaders.
3. Symbols – This includes company logos, the layout of offices, power positions at offices and meeting rooms, and formal or informal dress codes.
4. Organizational Structure – This involves the formally defined structures, like organizational charts, and the informally and unwritten power and influence, this is how most leaders get things done, even when structures are broken.
5. Control Systems – This is how the organization is controlled or influenced, including financial systems, quality systems, and rewards.  Rewards communicate what is valued in the company, and are extremely important to align with riverbed.
6. Power Structures – This is where the real power lies in a company, the law of E. F. Hutton – when they speak, people listen. Whether it is one or two key executives, a managing group of executives, or a department, the point is that these leaders have the greatest influence to change operations, strategies, and cultures.

Let’s simplify the idea of culture even further.  Before diving into how to improve each of the factors forming the culture, let’s develop a mental model to simplify how culture is viewed.  Do you remember the game that kids play in the pool, where everyone runs in the same direction, forming a current in the pool, so that the kids can lift their legs and float around the pool, carried by the current they created?  This is an excellent analogy for culture, since the current in the pool performs the same function as the culture does in an organization.  Culture, like the current, is created when people are aligned in beliefs, values, and norms, forming a current that carries people in the proper direction to success.  When people are aligned in a culture, they create a current that helps the new people adopt the cultural norms quickly, flowing with the current in the water.  But, when people aren’t aligned, there is little, if any, current created, forcing people to develop their own beliefs, values, and norms, leaving disunity if not chaos in the pool.  Since there isn’t current (culture) to align the community, the culture becomes a free for all, people showing up, not because they buy into the culture, but only because they buy into paying their bills.  Imagine each organization as a pool when studying the culture.  By studying the stated paradigm for its existence and the six elements that help form the cultural paradigm, one can determine whether the culture current is aligned with the paradigm and elements.  Are the elements creating the proper flow in the pool, or are they confusing, sending mixed messages, hindering the ability of the organization to achieve its stated paradigm?  A leader’s role is to align the elements with the operating paradigm, forming a cultural current that will lead people and the organization to success.

Convergent cultural currents, help explain why two successful cultures, from two successful companies, can combine to create an unsuccessful culture in a struggling company.  Two companies, both successful in their own right, when combined, typically struggle, because the cultural currents fight against one another, creating cognitive dissonance, paralyzing actions and results.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the mental model of the pool current. Combining separate cultures is one of the toughest leadership assignments, and shouldn’t be attempted, without a clear understanding of the cultures involved and the steps involved in aligning the cultures into one fast moving current.  There are many good cultures that do things differently, because there isn’t a clear cut right way to build a culture, but, just as in the pool example, everyone must be running in the same direction to create the cultural flow.  If half the people are running in one direction, the other half in another direction, the company is experiencing a cultural civil war, creating disunity, severely damaging the results produced by the organization.  It takes a leader, with tact, systems thinking, and patience to bring the diverse cultures together, uniting them in a common vision, forming common beliefs, values, and norms, which allows the company to thrive again. The leader creates the culture (riverbed), directing the behaviors, and the culture creates the long term results of the organization. Are you working on the culture in your organizations? God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Have you ever watched a team of mountain climbers scale a cliff?  I have watched with awe as the mountain climbers work together, as a team, to pull of this feat.  Imagine five climbers, all connected together by ropes and pulleys, ensuring the safety of all, scaling a cliff thousands of feet up.  The five climbers are a system, each action by one of the climbers affects the actions of the rest.  No climber could choose to scale the cliff if the others, were resting.  In fact, no four of the climbers could scale the cliff if just one chose to stop.  The ropes magnify the interdependence between the individuals, but with or without the ropes, people in communities are part of a system, being interdependent upon one another.  Each person in a community needs to understand systematic thinking as their actions will affect all others in the community.  Every leader must learn to think systematically in order to lead to his full potential.  Systems thinking is the process of understanding how individual parts influence one another within the entity as a whole. Both nature and organizations are filled with systems.  Nature is filled with ecosystems involving air, water, plants, animals and more in systems to sustain life, while organizational systems consist of people, structures, and processes that interact to produce results.  Whether the results are good or bad depends upon the system interactions orchestrated by the leader.

Remember the story of the elephant and the blind men?  This is an excellent example displaying systems thinking. Read it again, thinking through how portions of truth must be combined (like a system) to gain the entire truth.

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.” They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.

“Hey, the elephant is a pillar,” said the first man who touched his leg.

“Oh, no! it is like a rope,” said the second man who touched the tail.

“Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree,” said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant. 

“It is like a big hand fan” said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant. 

“It is like a huge wall,” said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant. 

“It is like a solid pipe,” Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant. 

They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated, each blind man wondering how the others could be so stupid. Each believing they had the truth, since he felt it with his own hands. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, “What is the matter?” They said, “We cannot agree to what the elephant is like.” Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, “All of you are right and all of you are wrong. The reason each of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched a different part of the elephant. Each of you has a partial truth.  The elephant has all the features that each of you described, but isn’t fully what you described unless you combine all of your answers.”

Each of the blind men has touched upon a truth of the elephant, but individually, none of them had the whole truth.  If they had spent their time arguing, insisting upon the truth of what they had felt with their own hands, the community would have broken down, forming individual perceptions and not gaining a system perspective of the truth.  Only when each individual learns that they are part of a system, touching upon truth at some point, but probably not touching upon the total systematic truth, will each teammate seek out alternative perspectives.  Many times, disagreements are not really disagreements at all, but just individuals seeing or feeling a different aspect of the system, revealing a portion of the truth, that only when combined yields the whole truth.  System thinking is essential for leaders to help everyone work as a team, gathering all of the facts to accurately model the system they are working on to improve. Without a systems perspective, the leader quickly takes sides with one of his personal favorites, forcing others to comply with his partial interpretation of the truth, killing his credibility, alienating many of his teammates, destroying the motivation to share alternative perspectives in the future.

I love the blind men analogy. If leaders will remember the lesson of the blind men, their ability to solve problems will greatly increase, no longer satisfied with portions of the truth, they will seek out all perspectives to gain a larger view of reality.  Let’s discuss another example of systems thinking.  I believe I heard a version of this story first from Stephen Covey.  Covey uses the example of a fishermen going to a river to enjoy a day of fishing, but just minutes after getting there, he sees a young boy flailing his arms in the middle of the river, screaming for help. The fishermen jumps in and save him.  The boy is healthy, so the fishermen starts fishing, but fifteen minutes later, a young girl is flailing her arms, yelling for help, in the middle of the river.  The fishermen saves her also.  At this point, he ponders what the odds are, that two people would need saving on the same day.  Fifteen minutes later, when a third child needs to be rescued, he is certain that there must be more to the picture (system), than he is touching upon.  At this point, he starts asking questions, no longer believing that the children who needed rescuing, are isolated events.  He believes there is more to this system than is meeting his eyes. The fishermen, deciding to solve the cause at its roots, not just continue to trim at the leaves, walks upstream, discovering a children’s camp.  The fishermen finds that the local bully, doing what bullies do, was throwing kids in the river every fifteen minutes, and would continue to do so, until everyone surrendered their money.  The fishermen, a true problem solver, took the bully by the ear, walked him into the camp office, solved the root cause of the problem (the bully), and enjoyed the remaining fishing time in peace.

I know the example is simplistic, but it does capture the main points in systematic thinking.  Many times in life, people run from emergency to emergency, never stopping to think if the emergencies are related systematically.  The simple system described above included the boys and girls, the bully, the river, and the fishermen downstream.  The fishermen would have had a busy day, if he hadn’t solved the problem at its root.  You can stay busy your entire life, but unless you are solving problems at the root, nothing of long-term consequence is being solved.  Busy is not the goal, but productivity is.  As Covey teaches, one can trim the leaves for life, but if you wish to eliminate a tree, one must attack the roots.  Toyota has a problem solving system that helps discover the root causes, called the Five Whys.  It teaches that most root causes are at least five questions removed from the issue that is being addressed at the moment.  The root cause is usually not the first why, but, if one will keep asking questions, the root cause will typically be revealed.

For example, if someone slips and falls on a slippery factory floor, breaking their arm in the process, the quick solution is to order a cleaning crew to work more hours, cleaning the floors daily to ensure a non-slippery surface.  A non-slippery floor is the right answer, but before hiring extra people, spending money and time on the problem, the Five Why’s would attempt to discover the root cause (like the bully in example above).  Leaders aren’t happy with just trimming the leaves, while the root cause remains unaddressed and will use the Five Why’s to help determine the root issues.  The Five Whys in this example would go something like this:

Q: Why did the man slip and fall?
A: Because the ground was slippery.
Q: Why was the ground slippery?
A: Because there was oil on the floor.
Q: Why was there oil on the floor?
A: Because one of the machines was leaking oil.
Q: Why was the machine leaking oil?
A: Because an oil pan bolt was loose.
Why was the oil pan bolt loose?
A: Because the machine vibrated the bolt loose.
Q: Why did the machine vibrate the bolt loose?
A:  Because the shaft bearing is worn out in the machine.
Q: Why is the shaft bearing worn out in the machine?
A: Because maintenance hasn’t changed it and it is past it’s useable life.
Q: Why haven’t they changed out the old bearing?
A: Because we cut all preventative maintenance in a cost cutting measure.

The Five Why’s has revealed the systematic issue in the factory system, not just the obvious answer of cleaning up the oil.  When the preventative maintenance program was eliminated, in an effort to save money, it brought upon other effects, not clearly understood at the time.  If another department has to hire more cleaning crews, or paying overtime to existing ones, then we have not really saved any money, but still have a maintenance issue.  This only compounds the factories problems further, having not understood the systematic effects of the choices made.  Trimming the leaves by cutting preventative maintenance, but causing a bigger root problem, by machines failing over time. Without the proper machine maintenance, further degradation is inevitable, leading to more trimming leaves behavior, while the root cause, the improper maintenance, ruins the productivity and safety of the entire factory.  Only when the leader thinks systematically, will the root cause be revealed.  Preventative maintenance will be reinstated; machines run with quality bearings; the bolts will stay tight; the oil remains in the pan; and people can walk the floor without endangering their safety.  The factory is a system, every action performed by one department will have effects on numerous others departments.  It’s only when the leader thinks of the entire system (elephant above), that the entire truth will be revealed, leading to decisions made upon the total systems, not just the partial truths that each department feels. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Here is the final audio from Art Jonak, Orjan Saele, and me discussing the mentoring process.  I hope you enjoyed this series. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvsss2KhK9U&w=640&h=385]

Here is video #5 in the mentoring series with Art Jonak and Orjan Saele.  It’s the scoreboard that reveals the truth of your personal performance.  Don’t run from the data, but learn from it.  In God we trust, all others must have data. Enjoy, Orrin Woodward

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKpcvpLnSik&w=640&h=385]

Here is the fourth video of the mentoring series with my friends Art Jonak and Orjan Saele.  Enjoy. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlFxM8A2r6A&w=640&h=385]

Here is the third installment of the mentoring series by Art Jonak, Orjan Saele, myself recorded while in Norway.  Enjoy. God Bless, Orrin Woodward
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNoRY9UgXlk&w=640&h=385]

Here is an audio recorded in Oslo, Norway.  Orjan Saele and I were interviewed by Art Jonak on mentoring.  This is the 2nd of a multiple part interview series, where we share some key nuggets to help you move on, in the success journey.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XknFxvd1b8&w=640&h=385]

How does a young man from a broken home, his parents having separated while he was in college, having no wealth or contacts, become one of the all time greats in his field?  Even more impressive, add on a lisp, an undersized physique, and low self-esteem, to make Lou Holtz’s rise to success in football, one of the most inspiring stories in America.  Proving, yet again, that it isn’t where you start, but where you (and your team) finish that counts.  I highly recommend Lou Holtz’s autobiography, Wins, Losses, and Lessons, a thought provoking read, teaching how to overcome life’s challenges through the power of goals and attitude. I will have Lou share in his own words many times in the foregoing article, as he explains the secrets of his lifetime success. Lou speaks to audiences across the country, sharing how goal setting and a positive attitude helped in transforming his life:

“I’ve been amazed at how many people have wanted to talk about my list over the years. I can’t believe more people don’t have a similar list of goals. Some of them are personal things-like ones pertaining to being a father or those of a financial nature. They’re just something to shoot for-to experience. That’s why I say to our athletes and my children – be a participant, don’t be a spectator. Do things. Just decide what you want to do and then ask the question, ‘What’s important now?’ Now what do I have to do to accomplish such and such? And that will tell you the action you have to take. It’s not a wish list, it’s a set of things I wanted to accomplish and it really hasn’t changed that much.”

Lou went from a fired assistant coach in 1967, to the College Football Hall of Fame, forty years later, but his success foundation was laid years earlier, as a young boy growing up on the Pennsylvania/Ohio border.  The Holtz family was poor, in fact, Lou said his family needed a raise to qualify as poor.  But, like the Biblical admonition, that money doesn’t answer all things, money cannot buy love. Many people, seeking a life of ease, want to avoid challenges, but young Lou learned early, from his challenges, growing to persevere and succeed, no matter what.  Lou discusses his childhood from his autobiography:

“Yes, we were poor, but we always had one another. Unlike some of today’s young people, I never suffered from depression, never needed therapy, never contemplated injuring myself or others, and never fretted over all the things I didn’t have.  I was a happy, normal kid, because I knew God and my family loved me.  That was all that mattered. Today, we live in an age and a place that makes the lost city of El Dorado look like a slum, but too many people’s riches leave them empty. They buy more and more things, attend more parties, eat at more fine restaurants, lease all the right cars, and max out credit cards in the hopes of filling some void.  Unfortunately, material goods are never a substitute for a family’s love.  I never had that problem. We never had any material goods, but I had lots of people who loved me.”

No one in the Holtz clan went to college, not his dad, who quit school in the third grade, nor his mom, even though she had graduated valedictorian of her high school class.  When Lou’s high school coach visited his parents, suggesting that Lou should attend college and become a coach, the Holtz family didn’t know how to respond.  Lacking the funds and the grades necessary to attend, Lou thought the idea ludicrous.  But thanks to a familial love, his mom accepted a night job to help in financing college, that, along with Lou signing up for the ROTC, allowed him to enroll at Kent State.  Many times, life seems to be a series of random events, but, after the passing of time, the events weave together, creating patterns out of the perceived chaos.  In Lou’s case, a key turning point, came shortly before leaving for college, transforming an unmotivated youth into a determined young man.  It occurred at a local grocery store, as Lou was picking up several items, he happened to hear two ladies in a conversation in the aisle one over from him.  Lou tells the story:

“Mrs Hoback said, “I can’t believe Anne Marie Holtz is wasting her money sending that boy, Lou, to college.”

Mrs Toft then said, “I know what you mean. She took a night job and everything. It’s such a waste.”

They didn’t know I’d overheard them, since I was one aisle over, but those comments cut me deeply and burned inside me throughout my freshman year.  I knew that my mother was sacrificing for me, but to have her friends, the people in my town, think that I was not worth the effort, that I was bound to fail, turned my wounded feelings into something quite different.  My ‘want’ to do well became a fiery determination. I would do whatever it took to pass, especially as a freshman, a year when the adjustment to college life can take its toll.”

Did you notice that Lou turned this rejection into energy?  This is a crucial point when setting goals, since many will laugh at you and your goals, at least if you set big goals.  The more they laugh, the more determined you need to become, to finish what you start.  Lou did complete college, moving into a coaching career, leading us up to another breakthrough moment in his life – being fired, in 1967, as an assistant coach at South Carolina.  When the head coach left for another post, all the assistant coaches were left in the lurch, losing their coaching positions. Since Lou had just bought a house, moving to South Carolina for the now lost job, the available funds were as low as his available opportunities.  Beth, his wife, in a gesture of confidence and goodwill, bought him the classic book, The Magic of Thinking Big, by David Schwarz.  Lou devoured the book, and, like every hungry student, followed the instructions explained, writing out his goals.  Lou captured 107 written goals, some of them crazy at the time, since fired assistant coaches don’t live in the same stratosphere as his list demanded.  But that’s exactly the point, a fired assistant coach cannot achieve this, but any man or woman with a dream, a goal and commitment can, simply because, they will develop into the person necessary to fulfill their goals and dreams.  Lou shares again:

“I’ve always felt it was extremely important to set goals for yourself. After the 1967 season, our entire staff was fired at South Carolina where I was an assistant. My wife bought me a book entitled The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. So I sat down and made a list of all the things I still wanted to accomplish in life, and there were 107 of them. Some of them involved traveling, some of them were a little crazy, some I’ll never reach – I don’t know if I’m ever going to learn a foreign language. I’m not going to be a scratch golfer. Some of them have happened, like appearing on The Tonight Show and being invited for dinner at the White House. But my life changed after I made that list. I think I’ve accomplished 95 of them. My wife disagreed about the list, though. She thought I should have added something about getting a job.”

Lou’s life is a model of the ups and downs that happen in everybody’s life, regardless of one’s goals and attitudes.  But, in order to accomplish goals, one must accept responsibility for the results, whether good and the bad in nature.  In fact, you only lose in life, when you blame someone else for your results.  Lou refused to make excuses, building his life around personal responsibility.  Lou teaches:

“Life provides all of us with a series of choices. The choices we make determine how successful we are.  When you acknowledge that you and only your are responsible and accountable for the choices you make, and when you refuse to blame others for the choices you have made, you have in your hands the blueprint for success. When you allow others to choose your path so that you can then blame someone else when things don’t go your way, you are fooling no one and cheating no one but yourself.  When you accept the fact that you are in your present condition, good or bad, because of the choices you have made, you will then find yourself capable of changing your situation by making better choices.  No one but you determines your success in life. Making the right choices paves your way.”

Think about all of the sports fans, who love watching successful coaches lead their teams, cheering them on when they win, exhorting them when the game is close, or even booing them when they fail, not living up to expectations.  I wonder how many of these fans, fans who expect nothing less than excellence from their favorite teams, have the same high expectations for their occupational teams, ie, their work or business teams?  High achievement requires disciplined thinking, thus the goal setting, personal responsibility and work ethic genre taught by Holtz and all other winning coaches.  But, why is it, that many of these same fans, fans that pay good money to see excellence during the sporting event, will, in their own professional lives, live with mediocrity, seeming to ignore the success standards and principles, that they demand of their favorite sports teams?  Have you ever thought about this paradox?   Why do fans, who love excellence in competitive sports, enough to pay for the right to experience it real time, will not apply the same excellence in their own competitive professions, even though others are paying for the right to experience it real time.  Don’t the customers or employers have the same right to witness excellence in the workplace that fans at the sporting event have?  As a leadership consultant, I have shared success principles across America for over eighteen years, with many in attendance taking the information and thriving; while others, believing that success principles are not for them, remain oblivious to their own dismal results. Imagine the quality of products and services across the world, if everyone took their professional excellence, as seriously, as they did their professional sports.  Success principles apply to all, regardless of race, creed, color or age, since all of us must compete to bring out the excellence within us, demanding more from ourselves to produce a personal best performance, satisfying the high demands of our customer and employers.  In the same way, professional sports teams must demand more from themselves, producing their personal best performances night after night, satisfying the high demands of their fans.

Lou Holtz went on to set many coaching records, some perhaps never to be broken.  For example, he helped four separate schools finish in the Top 10 rankings, a feat never before accomplished.  Sadly, even with achievments of this caliber, he still received his share of criticism.  All great achievers must have a thick skin, as most people view life as a huge game called King of the Hill.  Do you remember playing King of the Hill when you were a kid, a game where one person or group of people, battle to get to the top of the hill, by knocking off those currently on top?  The new King reaches the top, only to be knocked off by another group still climbing upward.  Since criticism is the easiest way to knock someone off the mountaintop, requiring no effort, no courage, and no results, most non-achievers try this method against the champions in life.  It’s a common fact, that the smallest minds with the smallest ideas will always criticize the biggest minds with the biggest ideas.  Here is Lou’s perspective on critics:

“The only people who aren’t going to be criticized are those who do absolutely nothing. And the critics, the people who just observe, are never on the inside, never really had to make decisions that affect people’s lives. It’s easy for people on the outside to stand back and constantly second guess. I welcome all the suggestions in the world from people who have been involved in doing something … but somebody who has never done anything except observe and criticize, I don’t weigh that at all. I think when you get near the end of your life, you don’t regret what you’ve done … and I don’t regret anything I’ve done. The things I regret are the things I didn’t do. Maybe I didn’t spend as much time with my family or wasn’t as patient with coaches and players as I’d like to. But the higher up you go and the more things you try to accomplish, the more people try to find fault. There are so many things in life that are not fair. You work all your life to do something and people try to tear you down. You can’t control it or do anything about it. When you look at the options of dealing with criticism, there’s really only one option – to pray to God that you have the courage and the strength that you won’t become bitter and move on with your life.”

Wise advice from a modern sage of success.  Lou’s life is an inspiration to anyone who is ready to make the success leap. Your life will change direction, only when, like the captain of a ship, you seize the helm by settting goals. Perhaps its time to take goal setting seriously.  Dust off that paper where you once wrote your goals.  Better yet, start with a fresh piece of paper, and dare to dream bigger. Goal setting works, reading Lou Holtz’s life story leaves no doubt about it, but until it’s applied to your life, it’s has no power to transform.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

It’s before 7 AM, on a foggy Saturday morning, and my mind is mulling over the personal development habits that produce champions.  Every person reading this blog, everyone, without exception, can become a champion by changing his daily habits.  One of the problems in life, probably due to the Biblical fall of man, is that bad habits are easy to develop, while good habits are hard to develop.  Think about it, no one ever creates a plan to get out of shape, but many have performed the task admirably, myself included.  On the other hand, there have been seasons in my life, where through discipline, I have been in great shape.  I know that I can do both, but one takes constant discipline, the other doesn’t.  How many things in life is this true of?  Do you pick whatever habits feel good at the moment, accepting whatever long term results that come with it, or contrarily, do you choose the habits that are inconvenient in the moment, but produce the long term results that you desire in life.  Today, as you read this, you stand at a fork in the road.  If you haven’t produced the results that you yearn for, look no further than your daily habits.  Look at your road.  Can you see the long term results developing from your habits?  Are you happy with these results in your life? If you are, then forge ahead, but if you aren’t, then perhaps today is the day, in which you take a different road.  

The champions road is available to all, and nearly all would love the results of a championship life, not just the monetary rewards, although that doesn’t hurt :), as much as the feeling of satisfaction created by a life well lived.  One may be thinking, if that is true, then why don’t more people choose the success path?  Simply put, the path is uninviting, having briars, thorns, and burrs scattered over the trail.  In fact, it’s hard to even recognize the fork in the roads, since the success road is loaded with painful reminders that it’s off the beaten trail.  Even the people who truly want to change, will suffer greatly from walking down the “road less traveled”, wondering if they made the right choice as they are poked again and again by the burrs, thorns and pickers.  This is the moment of truth in one’s life.  Do you turn back, yielding to the pain of the moment by surrendering your dreams for the comfort of the well traveled road to mediocrity?  Most people who start on the success road will not finish, turning back when the going gets tough, but that doesn’t have to be your destiny, because you don’t have to be like “most people”.

I have walked down both roads at different seasons in my life, learning many lesson along the way. I learned that the success road in life is hard, don’t let anyone mislead you on this point, requiring a pain tolerance beyond what most people are willing to endure in our pampered age, but, over time, the road will get progressively easier.  Conversely, the road to mediocrity is easy, requiring little upfront pain, with plenty of company to encourage you on your road to mediocrity, but, over time, the road will get progressively harder.  With each mile, the mediocrity path becomes more of a burden, drinking to its dregs from the ‘purposeless life’ cup. The road to mediocrity becomes littered with hurting people, dealing with the pain of their self centered lives.  By focusing only on their own challenges, having no time to serve the hurting people around them, suffering from the regret filled pain of a purposeless life, the road to mediocrity becomes a long walk of quiet desperation.  Don’t let the fabled ease and comfort of the road to mediocrity fool you as life has its price that must be paid in full, either a life full of discipline or full of regret, the choice is yours.

Winners choose the success road, enduring the hardships, knowing that success lies on the other side of the pain, while others choose the mediocrity road, seeing only the perceived comfort, believing the lie, that life can be lived successfully without paying a price.  Sadly, it’s only after many wasted years, that people realize, that from listening to the wrong people (the masses living in mediocrity), that they have sold God’s purpose filled plan for self’s pampered filled pretensions.  The good news is that it doesn’t have to end this way.  At any moment in time, one can get off the road of mediocrity and find the straight and narrow path, leading to success.

By finding a mentor, one who has walked further down the road of success, one finds, not only a friend, but a model, an example of someone who endured the pain to live a life of significance.  I learned from my mentors, that if they can journey down the success road, then I can too, leaving behind my habits of mediocrity and replacing with the habits of success.  Where are you on life’s journey?  What road are you traveling on?  Are you living with discipline or with regret?  Perhaps you are you ready to find a different road, discovering the fork that leads to purpose filled success?  It’s your life, it’s your choice, and it’s your pain, either discipline or regret. Choose wisely. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Chris Brady and I discuss the use of historical example in our Launching a Leadership Revolution book in this video.  So many people, exhausted by history teachers with little imagination, have grown to dislike history.  But history is an amazing field to study human behavior in action.  I can’t imagine where I would be if I could only learn from my own struggles, but thankfully, I learned the power of reading to live vicariously through the leadership challenges of others.  Both Chris and I read voraciously to continue growing in the field of leadership. What are you waiting for?  Start reading and learning on your own leadership journey.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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