1.

Success in understanding between cultures

NEGOCIACIÓN INTERCULTURAL
Lic. Beatriz Díaz Reyna

The greatest leadership article I’ve ever read

U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS LORENZO J. BURLESON/RELEASED

Recently, my friend Carl got a new job with the task of quickly building a 600
person pharmaceutical sales team, and leading that team as the company enters a
new therapeutic market. He’s an industry veteran who excels at strategy, execution
and motivating his team. But he gave me a call because there was one leadership
area he wasn’t as comfortable with: diversity & inclusion.

“My CEO is big on culture and this place is very different than all the other
companies I’ve worked in,” Carl explained. “He told me that he expects me—from
day one—to walk the talk on inclusion and to create a strengths-based culture. How
do I do that? How should I start?”

We agreed to meet up for coffee to talk about it, and the first thing I did was hand
him a printout with my scribbled notes in the column.

“What’s this?” Carl asked.

“This,” I said, “is the greatest leadership article I have ever read.”

CTE COORDINACIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN

1. Success in understanding between cultures

The 5 Elements of Great Leadership

I originally found this article on the military leadership blog, From The Green
Notebook, and it’s called “The Map on the Wall.” I encourage you to click and read
it in full, then return here for my break down.

1. Tactics That Work In The Real World

Part of why I love this article so much is because of who didn’t write it. It seems
like popular leadership gurus today are the ones who repackage old concepts and
who write social media messages that could have been found inside a fortune
cookie. Yet these gurus have never built or led a team larger than their public
relations staff and video crew. I’ll admit it—I’m partial to leadership advice from
people who are actually doing it: leading large teams, day-in day-out, in the real
world.

The Map on the Wall was written by Jack “Farva” Curtis, a U.S. Navy aviator who is
currently the commanding officer of a Navy EA-18G squadron based at NAS
Whidbey Island, Washington. I personally have no affiliation with the U.S. Navy and
have never met Commander Curtis. I did reach out to him via email in the course of
writing this article.

2. Culture Comes First

Don’t make a new employee fill out paperwork on their first morning at work. Don’t
immediately jump into your quarterly town-hall meeting with a review of financials.
Instead use the power of first impressions, and the time when attention is at its
peak, to focus on what really matters, which is culture. The first priority of any great
team is actually the health of the team itself.

In the article, Commander Curtis explains that he has a large map of the United
States on the wall of his office, with dozens of push pins stuck in it. Each pin
represents the hometown of someone in the squadron. He explains:

“When a new member joins our team, regardless of rank or time in service, they go
through a standardized check-in process that culminates in a one-on-one
conversation with both the Executive Officer (XO) and the Commanding Officer
(CO).

When we sit down for our first conversation, the first thing I ask them to do is take
a pin out of the jar and place it on their hometown (or as near as they can get)...I
point out that we come from different cultures, different values, different

CTE COORDINACIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN

1. Success in understanding between cultures

educations, different family dynamics, different spiritual or faith traditions, and

many of us have different motivations to serve.”

Curtis chooses to use the valuable “first conversation” to focus on diversity &
inclusion. I’ve known CEOs who open every meeting with a comment about safety,
others always start by talking about a particular value, there is no one right answer.
The point is to put attention on culture from the very start.

3. More Conversations, Less Rules

In my book, Great Leaders Have No Rules, I explain that even the best rules
typically crowd out conversation. Rules imposed by others—rather than being co-
created—drive engagement down. Commander Curtis put a focus on inclusion, but
he could have still messed it up by pushing it through rules—the classic authority
model of leadership (which quite frankly emerged from the classic military
command and control system). He could have given a mini-lecture on the
consequences of harassment and discrimination; he could have had new team
members sign a personal conduct pledge.

Instead of dictating diversity, Curtis uses an interactive exercise. He kicks off the
conversation by making it about them. “Take a pin out of this jar and place it on
your hometown…” He then continues with a conversation about differences, in an
environment with high psychological safety. He writes:

“These conversations have proven humorous, enlightening, and more often than
not, encouraging. I recall one recent check-in with a Sailor who told me he’d never
worked with a black person before joining the Navy. Not alarming, he’s simply a
product of where he was born and raised — and there just weren’t many black
people where he grew up. Another Sailor I spoke with told me he’d never met a gay
person prior to joining the Navy. Now, chances are high that he had and just didn’t
know it, but the point was clear — he was in uncharted cultural waters.”

4. Focus on Strengths

Strengths comes into play in two powerful ways in Commander Curtis’ article. First,
he rightly frames his diversity conversation with the perspective that diversity and
inclusion are assets, they’re force multipliers. Inclusion isn’t just about being
ethical, fair or because it’s the law. He explains:

“I point out that we come from different cultures...But, and this is the key, now
we’re all here — at this squadron — which means we now have a shared purpose,
and all those differences…they’re features, not flaws...we’re better because we’re
different. We’re stronger because we come from everywhere. And, we’re much
more dangerous to any potential adversary because we don’t all approach difficult
problems the same way.”

CTE COORDINACIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN

1. Success in understanding between cultures

Additionally, outside of the domain of inclusion, leaders need to do more to

practice strengths-based leadership. In a large study conducted by Gallup, they
found that organizations that implemented a strengths-based approach to
employee development achieved:

• 10% to 19% increased sales

• 14% to 29% increased profit
• 3% to 7% higher customer engagement
• 6% to 16% lower turnover (low-turnover organizations)
• 26% to 72% lower turnover (high-turnover organizations)
• 9% to 15% increase in engaged employees
• 22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

The research is clear, high performing leaders individualize their approach to

management and focus on team members’ strengths.

5. Physical Objects As Cultural Reminders

The worst place to depict your company’s values, is in the list of values that hangs
in your lobby and conference rooms. The best way to remind people of values and
shared purpose, the best way to recognize examples of cultural excellence, is with
physical artifacts.

In The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle analyzes some of the world’s most successful
organizations—including Pixar, the San Antonio Spurs, and U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team
Six—and shares the common ingredients behind their success. In his “ideas for
action” he talks about using physical objects to make the statement: this is what
matters. At Navy SEAL headquarters you’ll see the gear of soldiers killed in action.
At Pixar you’ll see original hand drawn sketches next to Oscar trophies. Instead of
a list of generic words that people neither remember nor live, the right objects can
convey a powerful message without words.

In my favorite leadership article of all time, the pin-filled map on the wall is far more
than just a map. It’s a symbol to all who encounter it, and even serves as a
reminder to Commander Curtis himself.

“...It will always serve to remind me during my most frustrated and cynicism-filled
moments how those little pins came together from everywhere to accomplish
something seemingly unimaginable in today’s environment — unity of purpose,
unwavering commitment, and courageous service from, and for, Americans of
widely disparate backgrounds.”

The Final Lesson: Leadership, and Inclusion, Can Be Learned

CTE COORDINACIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN

1. Success in understanding between cultures

I reach out to Commander Curtis to ask whether he was always an inclusive leader;
I would have guessed something in his own upbringing enabled him to be more
aware of issues around belonging and privilege from the start. But that wasn’t the
case. He told me:

“Was I always so inclusive as a leader...? No. I came up in Naval Aviation (early

2000s) when there weren't many female aviators, this was also prior to the repeal
of don't ask don't tell, and the number of racial minorities in the officer ranks was
as small then as it remains now. A significant "assist" in my development was
marrying one of the few female aviators where I was stationed. We could go on for
days about how that shaped (and continues to shape) how I view things today.

Being in the Navy for the repeal of don't ask don't tell was formative. It was the
biggest non-event ever. We all just woke up the next day and came to work.

Where it all really came together for me was in the weeks prior to becoming the XO
of my current squadron, as I would walk around the hangar meeting people. We
really came from everywhere! That's something that we can embrace and
"weaponize" as an asset, or it's something that can divide and limit our
capabilities. My organization has one mission -to win in combat. That's it. If we
don't find a way to get the best out of everyone - truly everyone - then we're like a
football team taking the field with 10 players - it's gonna be hard to win. And, like I
said, our mission is to win.”

Kevin Kruse is the CEO of LEADx with “Coach Amanda,” an AI-powered executive
coach that sustains and scales leadership development.

Bibliography
Forbes. Kevin Kruse CEO of LEADx and author of Great Leaders Have No Rules. “The Greatest Leadership
Article I’ve Ever Read” Nov/05/2019. Consulted [Jun/05/2019]:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2019/11/05/the-greatest-leadership-article-ive-ever-
read/#7392bf1d31ed

CTE COORDINACIÓN DE TECNOLOGÍAS PARA LA EDUCACIÓN