Metaphors: The Language of Leadership

In her book, The Language of Leadership, Marlene Caroselli, Ph.D., cites metaphors as a significant technique that leaders in all facets of American life use. Whether a religious, political, corporate, or nonprofit leader, the effective communicator uses metaphors to create comfort and an image. A metaphor connects something familiar to the listener or reader to something that is unfamiliar, yet relevant to the discussion. To create comfort around an abstract idea, one might connect it to a concrete object or an action. Martin Luther King, Jr., did this when he likened the Civil Rights Movement to a checking account: one has to make deposits before writing a check on the account! The comfort, at an uncomfortable time in U.S. history, was made with the common experience with banking. This technique assisted understanding in recognizing that patience as well as action are required for significant change to result. Saying "The clouds are galloping across the sky" suggests a connection between clouds and horses moving quickly, and this connection establishes a memorable image.

Another author, Randy Voorhees, wrote The Little Book of Golf Slang. Using an extended metaphor of golf, I'd like to share 13 lessons about leadership I culled from this book.
1. Soar like an eagle, and play like an "albatross" (three under par).
2. Strike boldly so as not to land on the "amateur side" (low side) of the hole.
3. Make par despite the "barky" (hitting a tree), the "beach" (sand obstacles), and the cabbage (the rough). Obstacles embed themselves into the business fairway. Be ready to readjust and to advance toward the goal on schedule and with the remaining resources.
4. Be aware of the "cellophane bridge" (invisible barrier over the hole). Investigate and eliminate these internal and external obstacles to support your team in achieving the goal.
5. Lay a "carpet" (well-manicured fairway) to clear a pathway for success. Remove "fuzzy" areas (unmowed fairway) by clarifying objectives, identifying standards and expectation, and verifying efficient methods.
6. Follow the guideline of "plates" (yardage markers) on golf courses for attaining goals: note how far or close the success is in a visual display to motivate teams, employees, and customers.
7. "Drive for show, and putt for dough." Remember the revenue is often in winning the sale with the details and performing beyond expectations--par or under. Also, "long and wrong" (distance and direction, respectively) is inefficient and self-defeating, even though the effort was amazing!
8. Learn from others by "going to school" (observing putts and chips) getting professional development, and benchmarking. Be a role model for continuous learning.
9. Know your strengths and limitations: "Horses for courses" (one player--horse--may do best on a particular course). Keep this in mind when selecting, developing, and retaining human resources.
10. Cultivate an ethical culture void of "hunching" (illegally moving the ball closer to the hole) and "pencil hockey" (recording a more favorable score than actually earned). Internal audits and legitimate recognition for tasks done well will help in this process.
11. Be "in the pocket" (ending play by placing the ball in the pocket) by conceding in a timely fashion. This will conserve time, energy, and resources; it will also end the frustration of going in the wrong direction, having an unclear purpose, or missing an uncontrollable obstacle.
12. Avoid complainers who gripe about being "robbed" (not getting what they want even when their own performance keeps them from getting what they want) and "hackers" (a harsh term for those who do not perform well). They can drain the positive out of you and everyone within 100 feet. "Duffers" (a gentle term for those who do not perform well) may be having an off day or a short-term issue that is reversible with patience, empathy, coaching, or training.
13. Asking good performers to take a "victory lap" (the ball spins around the inside of the hole before coming to a rest) shows that you value reward and recognition for a job done well. People appreciate being appreciated! How cool would it be to organize an organization-wide, unit-wide, division-wide, department-wide, or team-wide victory lap around the building in celebration of something significant or simply fun!

Finally, remember that "going into the hole" is only good in golf!

Mind Tricks for Remembering

Leaders can use a technique that great teachers use: mnemonics, or memory devices. These mind tricks help people learn critical information and communicate it in an accessible way for others to remember. I can still remember my piano scale from decades ago: "Every Good Boy Does Fine" (EGBDF). Proof of the power of novel ways to impact memory function! Two pertinent examples for today's leaders follow: learning the nine protected classes and the five components that define culture.

Knowing the classes of people who are protected by law is essential for leaders to avoid lawsuits and to show respect for all people within an organization. "Get NASCAR-REV-D" is a simple way to remember National origin, Age of 40 and over, Sex meaning gender and not orientation, Color, And (a reminder there five are more), Race, Religion, Ethnicity, Veterans, and Disabled. Consider the image of this explanation: Both genders of many national origins and ethnic groups drive brightly colored cars in a race for the finish line where the disabled vehicles and aged veterans are celebrated like a religion on a holy day. "Get NASCAR-REV-D" helps interviewers and reviewers stay out of trouble!

When developing a national or regional culture or a corporate or nonprofit culture, five components require attention: Values, Appearance, Unique food, Language, and Traditions. Use the VAULT acrostic to remember that the people in your organization that you treasure are kept safe in your VAULT. Finding ways to differentiate your organization is a serious branding and marketing objective. Core values help leaders formulate mission and vision statements that keep everyone within the organization focused on common goals and clarify the purpose of the organization to customers and competitors.

One's skin color, hair color and texture, physique, and facial characteristics have been noted as differentiators for family, national, racial, and ethnic units for centuries. The resemblance is noted easily. Likewise costumes of heritage and wealth are easy to recognize as differentiators: kilts, Plains Indian headdress, cowboy hat and boots, denim jeans, Prada accessories,and any brand name garment. Appearance helps leaders develop a sense of belongingness to the organizational family with uniforms (Southwest Airlines), logos (branding such as golden double arches for McDonald's), identifying colors (brown for UPS), volumpuous female physique (Hooters), and any other attribute for bodies and clothing.

Unique food is obvious for a national or regional culture; for example, just think of Americans and hamburgers come to mind, Germans remind us of beer and brats, and Mexicans remind us of salsa and tortillas. Perhaps an on-site cafeteria or vending machines define your organization's "unique food." Maybe it's a 15-minute bag lunch at your desk or group jaunts to a local restaurant.

The language will address the jargon of your industry and the regionalisms of your geographical environment. Grammar becomes a part of this language component as well. You may also have special terms for products and services, some of which may be registered trademarks, copyrights, or pattens. In our global market, many telemarketers have accents from around the world and organizations are owned by managements located in other countries. These language differentiators become part of the organization's identity.

Finally, traditions may include award ceremonies, annual picnics, promotion from within, an organization song or cheer, innovative or conservative perspectives, quarterly performance appraisals, management by objectives, safety audits, regulatory compliance, Six Sigma, and/or official and unofficial codes of conduct. A treasured culture is kept in a VAULT!

Simple mind tricks can empower leaders, employees, and students with the knowledge they need to perform successfully. It's worth a few minutes to create a mnemonic for fast, complete retrieval of essential information. Afterall, "every good boy [and girl] does fine!"

Saying "I'm Sorry"

Corporate attorneys get nervous when managers or other agents offer apologies to internal or external customers. For good reason: an apology suggests guilt and a confession can cost a company a lot of dollars in a lawsuit settlement. Nonetheless, leaders make apologies!

Consider the Tylenol company that apologized to the nation when a crazy person altered products with death-producing results. The company was not responsible for the deaths, yet took full responsibility for the opportunity their products created. Tylenol recalled all of their products from America's shelves--a multimillion-dollar decision. Tylenol officials followed all the steps for an effective apology. Ultimately, hamper-proof caps and labels came out of the misfortunate situation, and American consumers had increasing respect for one company's board of directors. Their apology was "the right thing to do."

Also, consider Bill Clinton's apology to the nation for lying during his presidency.
The country was torn whether the broadcasted comments were really an an apolgy or just regret for getting caught in a lie. Clinton did not follow all of the steps for an effective apology. His apology was manipulative.

Steps for Making an Effective Apology:
• Thank the readers/listeners for their concern and willingness to bring the situation to your attention.
• Describe the situation as you understand it.
• State your regret and/or responsibility: "I am/We are sorry." "I was wrong."
• Optional: Explain why the situation occurred and what you will do to ensure it never happens again.
• State a suggestion for remedy or offer a choice for approval to correct the situation: refund, exchange, free upgrade, or something else of value to replace the loss.
• Offer a gesture of goodwill in addition to the remedy when possible: a coupon, gift certificate, or free service.
• Thank your reader/listener for the opportunity to mend the relationship and maintain trust.

According to research, if customer service representatives follow this procedure, 95%of disgruntled customers will remain loyal—even more committed to the organization than they were before the dissatisfaction!

Apology is strategic plan for damage control. Apology is also a sign of character. When a leader apologizes and explains a situation from his/her perspective, people listen and learn. The best leader I ever saw was my dad--a former US Navy pilot, American Airlines manager, and entrepreneur. When I had used poor judgment and dismissed my mom and dad's rules of conduct, I expected a spanking. (I was 12 when I was last diciplined with a spanking for jumping on the bed. Breaking a bed in a home with seven children or risking an emergency-room run was unacceptable.) Yet, after each spanking, within 15 minutes, Daddy would come to my room and apologize for being upset over my infraction, calmly teach me what I had done wrong, clarify his expectation for the future, hug me and say, "I love you." Not wanting to disappoint my dad, I rarely did anything that I thought would result in his displeasure. Still, he apologied to me and that always elicited tears and an apology from me!

How refreshing it would be for leaders in organizations to admit when and why they were wrong, disguided, misinformed, underinformed, or thoughtless in any way. No doubt, improving trust, relationships, loyalty, and retention would result!

What's in a Name?

People often ask me how to remember names in business settings. Making your name memorable for others is a way to help other people remember your name. My friend of many years, Anne Baber, says, "That's Anne with an E and Babe with an R." Clever of her to have such a fortunate name!

My name, Karen Lynne Anderson, means "Pure Waterfall Son of Andrew." Somehow it does not tickle the memory, and people often say, "What was your name again?" as if I changed it during the few moments of awkward conversation we just had. I have discovered that exchanging names best works for all parties after a brief dialog has revealed some character hook on which to hang the name in memory. For instance, "Karen is a caring person," and "Karen And-er-son own a construction company."

Lots of research regarding names is available on the Internet. One study that's emblazened on my mind stated that people with typical, common first names are more likely to be liked by teachers, so these students do well in school. In contrast, unusual names grab attention and lead to leadership opportunities, according to the same study. An interesting observation in another study determined Wayne is the most common name, either first or middle name, for people convicted of crimes, especially serial killers. Ouch!

During learning events, people like their names spoken and evaluate their presenters with high scores for pronouncing people's names correctly and for using them appropriately. in writing research, a correct and specific salutation is more likely rewarded with a reader taking time to read the message than an unpreferred name or title. In other words, "Dear Karen" works better than "Dear Valued Customer" or "Hi, Mr. Karen Anderson."

Another note on the courtesy title: be aware that "Mrs." means "married to," so the name that follows is traditionally the man's name: Mrs. Charles R. Anderson rather than Mrs. Betty L. Anderson. If a woman's last name is different from her husband's, she can be addressed as "Ms. Anderson" (her family name) instead of "Mrs. Langhofer" (his family name).

Finally, a point regarding proper introductions: The person with the higher status, such as a boss, is introduced to the person with the lower status, such as a new employee. For example, "Lee, I'd like you to meet Dr. Howard, the chair of our board of directors." If both parties are peers and one is female, the woman is introduced to the man as a matter of custom. "John, please meet Vicki Smith."

Name recognition and identity theft are topics of discussion at many networking events--and no wonder: names are pivot points in sales, arguments, and influence.