I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do it. - Leonardo da Vinci
Physicists theorize that the universe forms only 20 percent visible and 80 percent dark matter. Dark matter refers to hypothetical matter particles of unknown composition, which do not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be detected directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter such as stars and galaxies.
When I read about dark matter, I thought about the organizations I have met in my last 21 years of bringing my leadership methodologies to thousands of leaders worldwide. I have found that most leaders focus on 20 percent surface issues, such as sales and marketing undertakings, logistical dynamics, organizational strategy and tactics, financial activities, human resource efforts, and the like.
The leaders neglect the most profound and most important realm of all, the realm which decides to a considerable extent the success or failure of the organization. That is the 80 percent being human relationships. Organizations fail, but the people of those organizations are people whose activities manifest their relationships with one another. And because of the neglect, organizations do not achieve the results they are capable of.
Mind you; they do not ignore the 80 percent completely. They give passing recognition to it. For instance, they often bring in motivational speakers to pump up employees. But that misses the point. The point is that to indeed come to grips with the motivational dimensions of the 80 percent; organizations need to focus on implementing motivation comprehensively and systematically, which goes beyond simply getting people motivated. People who are just motivated are useless to an organization. The valuable people are encouraged to take proper action for correct results.
This means driving motivational imperatives into the very DNA of the organization's culture. That activity has challenged leaders from time immemorial. Libraries of books have been written on the subject, and I will not rehash what is already out there. Let me cut through it all with this simple imperative: cultivate an organization in which people are defined not by what they must do but by what they get to do.
That is all you know about great relationships and all you need to know.
This shift from relating to people so they must do things to relating to people so they get to do them, can be one of the most profound shifts any organization undergoes.
Yet few leaders are aware of the shift or how to make it happen -- especially in a comprehensive, systematic way.
The analogy with the universe stops here. We do not know what dark matter and dark energy are. However, everyone knows this 80 percent because everyone lives this 80 percent daily. What people do not know is how to harness it to get results.
There is only one way to make it happen consistently. Have the people in the organization give Leadership Talks -- lots of them.
I have described the Leadership Talk in many books and hundreds of articles. It has been working for hundreds of leaders in top companies worldwide for the past 21 years.
The Leadership Talk is not simply communicating information the way speeches and presentations do, but setting up deep, human, emotional connections with the people ñ then translating those connections into having the people take action that gets impressive results.
Only Leadership Talks can move your relationship with them from ordering them to do a job to having them want to do the job. That "want to" -- that getting to do things rather than having to do something -- is the crux of delving into the 80 percent realm, which is the very heart of your job and career success.