There's a man by the name of Captain William Swenson who recently was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on September 8, 2009.
Postoji čovjek imena satnik William Swenson koji je nedavno nagrađen Kongresnom medaljom časti za svoja djela 8. rujna 2009.
On that day, a column of American and Afghan troops were making their way through a part of Afghanistan to help protect a group of government officials, a group of Afghan government officials, who would be meeting with some local village elders. The column came under ambush, and was surrounded on three sides, and amongst many other things, Captain Swenson was recognized for running into live fire to rescue the wounded and pull out the dead. One of the people he rescued was a sergeant, and he and a comrade were making their way to a medevac helicopter.
Toga dana, kolona američkih i afganistanskih vojnika išla je kroz dio Afganistana kako bi štitila skupinu vladinih dužnosnika, skupinu afganistanskih vladinih dužnosnika koji su se trebali sastati s lokalnim seoskim starješinama. Kolona je upala u zasjedu i bila okružena s tri strane, a među mnogim drugim stvarima, satnik Swenson je uočen kako utrčava u vatru kako bi spasio ranjene i izvukao mrtve. Jedan od ljudi koje je spasio bio je narednik kojeg su satnik i njegov kolega ponijeli prema medicinskom helikopteru.
And what was remarkable about this day is, by sheer coincidence, one of the medevac medics happened to have a GoPro camera on his helmet and captured the whole scene on camera. It shows Captain Swenson and his comrade bringing this wounded soldier who had received a gunshot to the neck. They put him in the helicopter, and then you see Captain Swenson bend over and give him a kiss before he turns around to rescue more.
Ono što je značajno za taj dan je da je, pukom slučajnošću, jedan od medicinara na kacigi imao GoPro kameru i da je snimio cijelu stvar. Snimka pokazuje satnika Swensona i njegovog kolegu kako nose tog ranjenog vojnika koji je dobio pogodak u vrat. Stavili su ga u helikopter, a onda se satnik Swenson sagnuo i poljubio ga prije nego je otišao i nastavio spašavati.
I saw this, and I thought to myself, where do people like that come from? What is that? That is some deep, deep emotion, when you would want to do that. There's a love there, and I wanted to know why is it that I don't have people that I work with like that? You know, in the military, they give medals to people who are willing to sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. In business, we give bonuses to people who are willing to sacrifice others so that we may gain. We have it backwards. Right? So I asked myself, where do people like this come from? And my initial conclusion was that they're just better people. That's why they're attracted to the military. These better people are attracted to this concept of service. But that's completely wrong. What I learned was that it's the environment, and if you get the environment right, every single one of us has the capacity to do these remarkable things, and more importantly, others have that capacity too. I've had the great honor of getting to meet some of these, who we would call heroes, who have put themselves and put their lives at risk to save others, and I asked them, "Why would you do it? Why did you do it?" And they all say the same thing: "Because they would have done it for me." It's this deep sense of trust and cooperation. So trust and cooperation are really important here. The problem with concepts of trust and cooperation is that they are feelings, they are not instructions. I can't simply say to you, "Trust me," and you will. I can't simply instruct two people to cooperate, and they will. It's not how it works. It's a feeling.
Pogledao sam tu snimku i pomislio, odakle dolaze takvi ljudi? Što je to? Sigurno su u pitanju duboki, duboki osjećaji kad ste tako nešto u stanju. Tu ima ljubavi, i zanimalo me zašto ja ne radim s takvim ljudima? Vidite, u vojsci daju odlikovanja ljudima koji su se spremni žrtvovati u korist drugih. U poslu bonuse dajemo ljudima koji su spremni žrtvovati druge u našu korist. To je naopako, je li? Onda sam se upitao, pa odakle dolaze takvi ljudi? Moj prvi zaključak bio je da su oni jednostavno bolji ljudi. I zato ih privlači vojska. Te bolje ljudi privlači koncept služenja drugima. Međutim, to nije točno. Ono što sam saznao je da je u pitanju okolina i ako je okolina odgovarajuća, svatko od nas može činiti izvanredne stvari i, još bitnije, drugi to isto mogu. Imao sam veliku čast upoznavši neke od tih, kako bismo ih nazvali, heroja koji su sebe i svoje živote izložili riziku kako bi spasili druge pa sam ih upitao: "Zašto bi to netko učinio? Zašto ste to napravili?" I svi su rekli istu stvar: "Zato jer bi oni to učinili za mene." Radi se o dubokom osjećaju za povjerenje i suradnju. Prema tome, u ovom su slučaju povjerenje i suradnja iznimno važni. Problem s konceptom povjerenja i suradnje je da su to osjećaji, a ne naredbe. Ne mogu vam samo reći: "Vjerujte mi", pa da mi i povjerujete. Ne mogu samo narediti dvoma ljudima da surađuju, pa će i surađivati. To ne funkcionira tako. To je osjećaj.
So where does that feeling come from? If you go back 50,000 years to the Paleolithic era, to the early days of Homo sapiens, what we find is that the world was filled with danger, all of these forces working very, very hard to kill us. Nothing personal. Whether it was the weather, lack of resources, maybe a saber-toothed tiger, all of these things working to reduce our lifespan. And so we evolved into social animals, where we lived together and worked together in what I call a circle of safety, inside the tribe, where we felt like we belonged. And when we felt safe amongst our own, the natural reaction was trust and cooperation. There are inherent benefits to this. It means I can fall asleep at night and trust that someone from within my tribe will watch for danger. If we don't trust each other, if I don't trust you, that means you won't watch for danger. Bad system of survival.
Pa odakle taj osjećaj dolazi? Ako se vratimo 50.000 godina u paleolitik, u rane dane homo sapiensa, vidjet ćemo svijet ispunjen opasnostima i sve te sile koje se uporno trude da nas ubiju. Ništa osobno. Bilo da se radi o vremenskim prilikama, manjku resursa za život, možda o sabljastom tigru, sve te sile rade na tome da nam skrate životni vijek. I tako smo evoluirali u društvena bića koja rade i žive zajedno u onome što ja nazivam krugom sigurnosti, u plemenu u kojemu smo osjećali pripadnost. I kada smo se počeli osjećati sigurno među svojima, prirodna je reakcija bila povjerenje i suradnja. To sugerira logične benefite. To znači da noću mogu zaspati i vjerovati da će netko iz mog plemena paziti na opasnost. Ako si ne vjerujemo, ako vam ne vjerujem, to znači da vi nećete paziti na opasnost. A to je loš koncept preživljavanja.
The modern day is exactly the same thing. The world is filled with danger, things that are trying to frustrate our lives or reduce our success, reduce our opportunity for success. It could be the ups and downs in the economy, the uncertainty of the stock market. It could be a new technology that renders your business model obsolete overnight. Or it could be your competition that is sometimes trying to kill you. It's sometimes trying to put you out of business, but at the very minimum is working hard to frustrate your growth and steal your business from you. We have no control over these forces. These are a constant, and they're not going away.
Danas je potpuno isto. Svijet je prepun opasnosti, stvari koje pokušavaju osujetiti naše živote, smanjiti nam uspjeh, smanjiti nam prilike za uspjehom. To mogu biti gospodarski usponi i padovi, nesigurnost na burzi. Može biti nova tehnologija koja vam poslovni model učini zastarjelim preko noći. Može to biti i konkurencija koja vas ponekad pokušava ubiti. Ponekad vas pokušava izbaciti iz posla, ali, ako ništa, naporno radi da vam osujeti rast i ukrade vam posao. Te sile ne možemo kontrolirati. One su konstanta i neće nestati.
The only variable are the conditions inside the organization, and that's where leadership matters, because it's the leader that sets the tone. When a leader makes the choice to put the safety and lives of the people inside the organization first, to sacrifice their comforts and sacrifice the tangible results, so that the people remain and feel safe and feel like they belong, remarkable things happen.
Jedina varijabla su uvjeti unutar organizacije, a liderstvo je tu zbilja značajno zato jer je vođa taj koji određuje prizvuk. Kad vođa odluči na prvo mjesto staviti sigurnost i živote ljudi unutar organizacije, dok žrtvuje komfor i očekivane rezultate ne bi li ljudi ostali i osjećali se sigurnima, osjećali se da nekamo pripadaju, događaju se izvrsne stvari.
I was flying on a trip, and I was witness to an incident where a passenger attempted to board before their number was called, and I watched the gate agent treat this man like he had broken the law, like a criminal. He was yelled at for attempting to board one group too soon. So I said something. I said, "Why do you have treat us like cattle? Why can't you treat us like human beings?" And this is exactly what she said to me. She said, "Sir, if I don't follow the rules, I could get in trouble or lose my job." All she was telling me is that she doesn't feel safe. All she was telling me is that she doesn't trust her leaders. The reason we like flying Southwest Airlines is not because they necessarily hire better people. It's because they don't fear their leaders.
Putovao sam avionom i bio svjedokom događaja kad se putnik pokušao ukrcati prije nego je prozvan njegov broj pa sam vidio agenticu na ukrcaju putnika kako se prema tom čovjeku ponaša kao da je prekršio zakon, kao prema kriminalcu. Vikala je na njega jer se pokušao ukrcati u prethodnoj grupi. Pa sam joj nešto rekao. Rekao sam: "Morate li se prema nama ponašati kao prema stoci? Zašto se prema nama ne ponašate kao prema ljudskim bićima?" A ona mi je rekla baš ovako: "Gospodine, kad se ne bih pridržavala pravila, imala bih problema ili bih izgubila posao." Sve što mi je rekla bilo je da se ne osjeća sigurnom. Sve što mi je rekla bilo je da ne vjeruje svojim vođama. Razlog zbog kojeg volimo putovati Southwest Airlinesom nije u tome što oni nužno upošljavaju bolje ljude, već stoga što se ti ljudi ne boje vlastitih vođa.
You see, if the conditions are wrong, we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other, and that inherently weakens the organization. When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside and seize the opportunities.
Vidite, ako su uvjeti krivi, primorani smo trošiti svoje vrijeme i energiju kako bismo se zaštitili jedni od drugih i to samo po sebi slabi organizaciju. Kad se unutar organizacije osjećamo sigurnima automatski ćemo udružiti svoje talente i snage i neumorno raditi kako bismo se suočili s opasnostima izvan nje i iskoristili prilike.
The closest analogy I can give to what a great leader is, is like being a parent. If you think about what being a great parent is, what do you want? What makes a great parent? We want to give our child opportunities, education, discipline them when necessary, all so that they can grow up and achieve more than we could for ourselves. Great leaders want exactly the same thing. They want to provide their people opportunity, education, discipline when necessary, build their self-confidence, give them the opportunity to try and fail, all so that they could achieve more than we could ever imagine for ourselves.
Najbolja usporedba dobrog vođe jest ona s roditeljem. Ako razmislite o tome što to čini dobrog roditelja, što biste željeli vidjeti? Što čini dobrog roditelja? Svojem djetetu želimo dati prilike, obrazovanje, želimo ih disciplinirati onda kad je to potrebno, i sve to kako bi mogli odrasti i postići više nego što smo mogli mi. Dobri vođe žele tu istu stvar. Žele pružiti ljudima priliku, obrazovanje, disciplinu kad je to potrebno, žele im izgraditi vjeru u sebe, dati im priliku da pokušavaju i griješe, i sve to kako bi mogli postići više nego bismo sami mogli zamisliti.
Charlie Kim, who's the CEO of a company called Next Jump in New York City, a tech company, he makes the point that if you had hard times in your family, would you ever consider laying off one of your children? We would never do it. Then why do we consider laying off people inside our organization? Charlie implemented a policy of lifetime employment. If you get a job at Next Jump, you cannot get fired for performance issues. In fact, if you have issues, they will coach you and they will give you support, just like we would with one of our children who happens to come home with a C from school. It's the complete opposite.
Charlie Kim, direktor tvrtke Next Jump iz New Yorka, tehnološke kompanije, kaže da kada biste imali problema u svojoj obitelji, biste li ikad razmišljali o tome da se odreknete koga od svoje djece? Ne bismo to učinili. A zašto onda razmišljamo o odricanju od ljudi iz svoje organizacije? Charlie je uveo politiku doživotnog upošljavanja. Ako se zaposlite u Next Jumpu, ne može vas se otpustiti zbog problema s učinkom. Zapravo, ako imate problema, oni će vas poučavati i dati vam podršku, baš kao što bismo i mi učinili sa svojim djetetom koje se iz škole vrati s trojkom. To je sušta suprotnost.
This is the reason so many people have such a visceral hatred, anger, at some of these banking CEOs with their disproportionate salaries and bonus structures. It's not the numbers. It's that they have violated the very definition of leadership. They have violated this deep-seated social contract. We know that they allowed their people to be sacrificed so they could protect their own interests, or worse, they sacrificed their people to protect their own interests. This is what so offends us, not the numbers. Would anybody be offended if we gave a $150 million bonus to Gandhi? How about a $250 million bonus to Mother Teresa? Do we have an issue with that? None at all. None at all. Great leaders would never sacrifice the people to save the numbers. They would sooner sacrifice the numbers to save the people.
To je razlog zbog kojeg toliko ljudi gaji takvu organsku mržnju i bijes prema nekim od tih direktora banaka s njihovim nesrazmjernim plaćama i bonusnim režimima. Ne radi se o brojevima. Radi se o tome da su oni narušili samu definiciju liderstva. Narušili su taj duboko ukorijenjeni društveni ugovor. Znamo da su dopustili žrtvovanje svojih ljudi kako bi mogli zaštititi vlastite interese, ili još gore, sami su žrtvovali svoje ljude kako bi se zaštitili njihovi vlastiti interesi. To je ono što nas toliko vrijeđa, a ne brojevi. Bi li se itko uvrijedio ako bih dao 150 milijuna dolara bonusa Gandhiju? A 250 milijuna dolara Majci Terezi? Bi li nam to smetalo? Ni najmanje. Ni najmanje. Dobri vođe nikada ne bi žrtvovali ljude kako bi spasili brojeve. Prije bi žrtvovali brojeve kako bi spasili ljude.
Bob Chapman, who runs a large manufacturing company in the Midwest called Barry-Wehmiller, in 2008 was hit very hard by the recession, and they lost 30 percent of their orders overnight. Now in a large manufacturing company, this is a big deal, and they could no longer afford their labor pool. They needed to save 10 million dollars, so, like so many companies today, the board got together and discussed layoffs. And Bob refused. You see, Bob doesn't believe in head counts. Bob believes in heart counts, and it's much more difficult to simply reduce the heart count. And so they came up with a furlough program. Every employee, from secretary to CEO, was required to take four weeks of unpaid vacation. They could take it any time they wanted, and they did not have to take it consecutively. But it was how Bob announced the program that mattered so much. He said, it's better that we should all suffer a little than any of us should have to suffer a lot, and morale went up. They saved 20 million dollars, and most importantly, as would be expected, when the people feel safe and protected by the leadership in the organization, the natural reaction is to trust and cooperate. And quite spontaneously, nobody expected, people started trading with each other. Those who could afford it more would trade with those who could afford it less. People would take five weeks so that somebody else only had to take three.
Bob Chapman koji vodi veliku proizvodnu tvrtku na Srednjem Zapadu imena Barry-Wehmiller, 2008. bio je veoma pogođen recesijom. Preko noći izgubili su 30% narudžbi. E sad, u velikoj proizvodnoj tvrtki to nije mala stvar, tako da si nisu više mogli priuštiti sve radnike. Trebali su uštedjeti 10 milijuna dolara, pa su se, kao i tolike kompanije danas, sastali u upravi i razgovarali o otpuštanjima. A Bob je to odbio. Vidite, Bob ne vjeruje u brojanje glava. Bob vjeruje u brojanje srdaca, a puno je teže jednostavno srezati njihov broj. I tako su smislili program odsustva. Svaki zaposlenik, od tajnice do direktora, morao je uzeti četiri tjedna neplaćenog dopusta. Mogli su ga uzeti u bilo koji vrijeme, i nisu ga morali iskoristiti u komadu. Ali ono što je toliko značilo u svemu bilo je to kako je Bob predstavio program. Rekao je da je bolje da svi malo ispaštamo, nego da bilo tko od nas puno ispašta. I moral je narastao. Uštedjeli su 20 milijuna dolara, i što je najvažnije, kako je i očekivano, kad se ljudi osjećaju sigurnima i zaštićenima od strane vodstva organizacije, prirodna reakcija je povjerenje i suradnja. I potpuno spontano, nitko to nije očekivao, ljudi su počeli trgovati. Oni koji su si mogli priuštiti više trgovali su s onima koji su si to mogli priuštiti manje. Ljudi bi uzimali pet tjedana dopusta tako da netko drugi može uzeti samo tri.
Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank. I know many people at the seniormost levels of organizations who are absolutely not leaders. They are authorities, and we do what they say because they have authority over us, but we would not follow them. And I know many people who are at the bottoms of organizations who have no authority and they are absolutely leaders, and this is because they have chosen to look after the person to the left of them, and they have chosen to look after the person to the right of them. This is what a leader is.
Liderstvo je izbor, a ne status. Znam mnoge ljude na najodgovornijim mjestima u organizacijama koji apsolutno nisu vođe. Oni jesu autoriteti i mi radimo ono što nam kažu zato jer imaju vlast nad nama, ali mi ih ne bismo slijedili. Također znam mnoge ljude koji su na samom dnu organizacija koji nemaju nikakve ovlasti, ali su pravi vođe, a to je stoga što su odabrali čuvati osobu sebi slijeva i što su odabrali čuvati osobu sebi zdesna. To je ono što čini vođu.
I heard a story of some Marines who were out in theater, and as is the Marine custom, the officer ate last, and he let his men eat first, and when they were done, there was no food left for him. And when they went back out in the field, his men brought him some of their food so that he may eat, because that's what happens. We call them leaders because they go first. We call them leaders because they take the risk before anybody else does. We call them leaders because they will choose to sacrifice so that their people may be safe and protected and so their people may gain, and when we do, the natural response is that our people will sacrifice for us. They will give us their blood and sweat and tears to see that their leader's vision comes to life, and when we ask them, "Why would you do that? Why would you give your blood and sweat and tears for that person?" they all say the same thing: "Because they would have done it for me." And isn't that the organization we would all like to work in?
Čuo sam priču o nekim marincima koji su izašli u kinu i, kako običaji marinaca nalažu, zapovjednik je jeo posljednji pustivši svoje ljude da jedu prvi. Kad su završili njemu nije ostalo ništa. A kad su se vratili na teren, njegovi ljudi donijeli su mu nešto od svoje hrane kako bi mogao jesti, jer, eto, to se događa. Vođama ih zovemo zato jer idu prvi. Vođama ih zovemo jer preuzimaju rizik prije svih ostalih. Vođama ih zovemo zato što će se odlučiti žrtvovati kako bi njihovi ljudi bili sigurni i zaštićeni i kako bi njihovi ljudi imali koristi, i kad to činimo, prirodna reakcija je da će se naši ljudi žrtvovati za nas. Dat će nam krv, znoj i suze kako bi vidjeli rađanje vizije njihovog vođe i kad ih upitamo zašto bi to učinili, zašto bi svoju krv, znoj i suze dali za tu osobu, svi bi rekli istu stvar: "Zato jer bi i ona to isto učinila za mene." E pa, nije li to organizacija u kakvoj bismo svi željeli raditi?
Thank you very much.
Hvala vam lijepa.
Thank you. (Applause)
Hvala. (Pljesak)
Thank you. (Applause)
Hvala. (Pljesak)