Executive Coaching Guru

Charlie Duke Jr

On the 25th March 2009, Lords Cricket Ground, London I am in the audience of a conference with the topic of performance and leadership; the key note speaker we are all waiting for is Charlie Duke who in 1972 was the 10th man to walk on the moon (which pretty well trumps anything else I could pretty well think of).

Charlie’s speech wasn’t particular about anything in particular, it was in essence ‘just a story’; told with a level of honesty (about the errors), pride and selflessness that didn’t need any funny stories or the 10 Steps to Success are…moments.

Charlie told a story about people that believed in somethign that was greater than their own individual needs, something that they could all believe in, align to and aspire to represent. It was in fact a story not really about leadership, but a story about how sometimes it’s about the outcome, not the people; but interestingly it was also about the fact that the people often in hindsight become the story (think Neil Armstrong).

Working in FTSE businesses has enabled me to observe the motivators that exist for people and of course you have all the usual suspects: money, promotion, recognition. What I have come to recognise is that often it is the rather mundane reasons that are the foundation of a sustainable business platform: belonging, caring, teamwork.

Looking at the behaviours that have ushered in the credit crunch, you get to see that the need for leadership now is a simple one: “Create reasons to belong and to contribute” whilst at the same time creating a leadership culture that: “is directly rewarded for the development, demonstration and advocacy of a culture that enable the workforce to care and thus supports high levels of discretionary effort”

So Charlie Duke may not of spoken about leadership, but he spoke about incredibly motivated individuals, some joining the programme and waiting 19 years before they got their opportunity. So this sounds easy for something that is as sexy as putting a man on the moon, but maybe that’s what you are being paid for, not just adjusting the P&L, but finding that reason for people to believe.