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Alan Mulally: The Power Of Working Together

Nov 1, 2022 1h 16m 51 insights
Widely regarded as one of the top business leaders of his generation, Alan Mulally joins the show to discuss the formation of his leadership strategy and how you can apply his lessons to your life and business. On this episode Mulally breaks down the principles of how a team can work together toward a larger goal, creating a culture of love by design, the role of the leader, what happens when people opt out of working together, how to use the ideas of working together in your family life, and so much more.   Mulally is perhaps best known as the former President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, which was struggling during the late-2000s recession before Mulally used his teamwork-oriented philosophy to save the company. Under Mulally’s leadership from 2006-14, Ford was the only major car manufacturer to avoid a government bailout, and Mulally was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time. Prior to joining Ford, Mulally spent more than three decades at Boeing, where he eventually served as an Executive Vice President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. -- Want even more? Members get early access, hand-edited transcripts, member-only episodes, and so much more. Learn more here: https://fs.blog/membership/ Every Sunday our Brain Food newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/ Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish Support The Knowledge Project's
Actionable Insights

1. Develop an Integrated Life

Integrate all aspects of your life (work, family, spiritual, community, health) into ‘one life’ to deliver your ’life’s work’ (service), ensuring holistic well-being and purpose.

2. Review Calendar Daily

Identify what’s important in each life area and review your calendar daily (morning and night) to ensure activities are integrated and align with your values.

3. Integrate Family into Work

Schedule family commitments (like parent-teacher conferences) directly into your work calendar, ensuring transparency and reliability with your team.

4. Prioritize People First, Love Them

Always put people first by appreciating them as human beings, acknowledging their talent, thanking them, and including them in the process to demonstrate love and respect.

5. Include All Stakeholders

Ensure all relevant stakeholders are represented on the leadership team so their voices, thoughts, and suggestions are included in strategy, planning, and objective accomplishment.

6. Unite Around Compelling Vision

Rally everyone around a meaningful, purposeful, and compelling vision, supported by a comprehensive strategy and a relentless implementation plan for collective achievement.

7. Establish Clear Goals, One Plan

Ensure there are clear performance goals and a single, unified plan that everyone understands and works towards to avoid confusion and misdirection.

8. Base Decisions on Facts, Data

Ground discussions and conclusions in facts and data, even when sharing opinions, especially when addressing issues to collaboratively find effective solutions.

9. Embrace Reality, Expect Issues

Share the reality of the situation weekly, including opportunities and issues, expecting the unexpected and being prepared to deal with it transparently.

10. Celebrate and Support Red Issues

View ‘red’ (problematic) items as valuable ‘gems’ to be shared, and respond with applause and offers of collective support to turn them into yellows and greens.

11. Uphold Expected Behaviors

Maintain zero tolerance for violating expected behaviors such as proposing a plan, being positive, having a find-a-way attitude, respecting, listening, helping, and appreciating each other.

12. Cultivate Emotional Resilience

Develop emotional resilience, trusting the working together process to navigate issues in creative and innovative endeavors, and to turn ‘reds’ into ‘greens’.

13. Enjoy the Journey, Each Other

Make time to have fun, enjoy the journey of creating products and services, and appreciate the company of your colleagues to foster a positive environment.

14. Start Day with Gratitude, Help

Begin each day by expressing gratitude and offering help to business partners or colleagues, fostering a supportive and collaborative mindset.

15. Enforce Zero Tolerance

Maintain strict zero tolerance for any violations of the established operating process (e.g., business plan review, stakeholder inclusion) and expected behaviors.

16. Leaders: Model and Enforce System

Leaders must lead by example and hold themselves and the team accountable for consistently following all elements of the working together management system.

17. Adopt Coaching Leadership Style

As a leader, shift from telling people what to do to coaching and facilitating, focusing on aligning the team and leveraging their collective knowledge.

18. Lead with Core Virtues

Lead with humility, love, service, courage, discipline, resilience, civility, and authenticity, ensuring your behaviors align with your beliefs and values, and maintaining a positive mindset.

19. Protect Psychological Safety

Actively prevent behaviors that undermine psychological safety, such as attacking others or rhetorical questions, as these reduce commitment to transparency and open sharing.

20. Maintain Strict Discipline

Adhere to a strict, consistent discipline for regular meetings and processes (e.g., weekly 7-9 AM business reviews) to build reliability and trust within the team.

21. Dedicate Time to Explain Principles

When introducing new principles or cultural shifts, dedicate significant time (e.g., hours a day for weeks) to explain them and answer individual questions to ensure understanding and buy-in.

22. Offer Exit with Dignity

When someone cannot commit to core principles and behaviors, offer a respectful ‘it’s okay to move on’ option, emphasizing continued respect for them as a person.

23. Provide Behavioral Support

For those willing to commit to new behaviors, offer coaching and support to help them develop, acknowledging their existing knowledge and potential.

24. Encourage Reflection on Commitment

Give individuals time to reflect, discuss with trusted loved ones, and then make a conscious decision about their commitment to new principles.

25. Model Desired Behaviors

Recognize that behavioral change takes time; consistently model desired behaviors and provide a safe environment for others to observe, learn, and gradually adopt them.

26. Allow ‘Start Again’ Moments

Create a culture where individuals can acknowledge a misstep, apologize, and be given the chance to ‘start again’ with the correct behavior, fostering learning and forgiveness.

27. Include All Disciplines

Structure leadership teams to include representatives from every relevant discipline to ensure comprehensive understanding, avoid information silos, and foster collective ownership.

28. Ensure Full Organizational Coverage

Design leadership structures so that every person in the organization reports up through one of the leadership team members, ensuring no one is left out and communication flows effectively.

29. Maintain Tight Review Schedule

Conduct business plan reviews on a very tight schedule, focusing on changes and offers to help, knowing that the team will reconvene weekly for continuous updates.

30. Ban Devices for Presence

Enforce a strict no-device policy during meetings to ensure full presence, respect for the organization and colleagues, and active participation from everyone.

31. Prioritize Personal Character

Understand that your character and who you are as a person are more critical to your success than anything else you do.

32. Seek Understanding First

Prioritize understanding others’ perspectives before attempting to make your own understood, fostering better communication and empathy.

33. Prioritize Niceness Over Importance

Remember that being nice is more important than being important, guiding your interactions and character in all situations.

34. Embrace Service Mindset

Adopt ’to serve is to live’ as a personal strategy, finding fulfillment and opportunities through serving others.

35. Work Together for Impact

Collaborate with others to maximize positive contributions to the most people, leveraging collective effort for greater good.

36. Commit to Continuous Growth

Engage in lifelong learning and continuous improvement, and always respect everyone as worthy of love, fostering personal and collective development.

37. Reflect on Decisions

After thorough consideration and making a decision, pause to reflect on how you feel about it before fully committing and acting, to ensure alignment.

38. Assess Others with Three Questions

When meeting someone, ask yourself: 1) Who are they as a person (I vs. We, Me vs. Service)? 2) Where are we going (vision, strategy)? 3) Do they see me (respect, interest)?

39. Prioritize Love and Be Loved

Remember that the purpose of life is to love and then be loved, emphasizing giving love first.

40. Live Without Regrets

Make decisions now to avoid future regrets, focusing on contributing to something bigger than yourself and continuously striving for improvement.

41. Implement 360 Feedback

Annually conduct 360-degree feedback using all stakeholders and colleagues to identify one or two specific behaviors, character traits, or skills for improvement, fostering individual and team growth.

42. Foster Welcomed Feedback

Create an environment where feedback is desired and easily given because expectations are clear, and everyone knows what specific areas their colleagues are working to improve.

43. Prioritize Safety for Feedback

Recognize that genuine feedback (both receiving and giving) thrives only in an environment of psychological safety, where individuals feel respected and secure.

44. Hold Weekly Family Meetings

Implement a weekly family meeting, ideally on a consistent day (e.g., Sunday morning), with a clear agenda to discuss family matters.

45. Pre-Meeting House Tidy-Up

Before the family meeting, have everyone (including parents) participate in a collective tidy-up of the house, returning personal items to their designated places.

46. Collective Laundry Sorting

After tidying, everyone brings their laundry to a central location and collectively sorts it, making the task quicker and more equitable.

47. Weekly Calendar Review

During the family meeting, each family member (even young children) reviews their calendar for the upcoming week and identifies areas where they need help or support from others.

48. Review Family Behaviors

Regularly reflect on agreed-upon family behaviors and principles, inviting suggestions for improvement from all members to foster growth and contribution.

49. Share Impactful Actions

Establish a family principle that members must share in advance any actions that could either embarrass or make the family proud, fostering transparency.

50. Give Feedback Respectfully

When giving feedback, focus on sharing how you feel about a situation or behavior, rather than yelling or attacking, to maintain respect and facilitate understanding.

51. Incentivize Meeting Attendance

Link positive incentives, such as allowances, to attendance and participation in family meetings to ensure consistent engagement.