{"id":1875,"date":"2012-12-02T13:15:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-02T21:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/markccrowley.com\/?p=1875"},"modified":"2014-01-02T17:13:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-03T01:13:05","slug":"ken-blanchard-a-premier-leadership-mind-turns-to-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-wmplo.xyz\/mark-c-divi5\/ken-blanchard-a-premier-leadership-mind-turns-to-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Blanchard: A Premier Leadership Mind Turns To The Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leadership

Leadership Sage, Ken Blanchard<\/p><\/div>\n

On a crisp and sunny afternoon at his cabin on Skaneateles Lake in upstate New York, internationally-renown business leadership expert, Ken Blanchard, surprises me by taking frequent and sudden breaks in the midst of the interview we\u2019ve just begun.<\/p>\n

He affectionately acknowledges his grandkids who randomly pop their heads into the room, patiently calms a barking dog, and fully excuses himself to greet the mail lady who delivers him packages every day by boat.<\/p>\n

To judge him in this moment, unmistakably relaxed and easy-going, the 73 year-old author, thought leader, and management sage appears to be knee deep in retirement.<\/p>\n

And Blanchard certainly has earned some R & R.\u00a0 He\u2019s written 55 books \u2013 selling a remarkable 20 million copies \u2013 and for the past three decades, has been the spiritual head of an eponymous training and consulting firm that serves clients in over 30 countries around the globe.\u00a0 Along the way, he co-created Situational Leadership<\/em>\u00ae theory and co-authored The One-Minute Manager<\/em> \u2013 a modern day classic that celebrates its 30th<\/sup> anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

But winding down his career is the last thing on his mind.\u00a0 Inspired by his friends, Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking<\/em> author who worked well into his nineties, and motivational legend, Zig Ziglar, who told him directly to \u201cre-fire, not retire,\u201d Blanchard has no interest in calling it quits.\u00a0 Instead, he\u2019s on a two-month sabbatical for the explicit purpose of gearing up for the next chapter of his life.<\/p>\n

Clearly vibrant in both heart and mind, Blanchard remains passionate about making a difference in the world \u2013 most especially in business.\u00a0 Tied to his conviction that there remains a \u201cdesperate need for positive leadership role modeling\u201d today, he\u2019s eager to write more, speak more, and essentially live the brand of management and stewardship he\u2019s grown to believe is requisite for the 21st<\/sup> Century workplace.<\/p>\n

Downplaying an already luminous resume, Blanchard intentionally skirts away from questions related to his personal legacy.\u00a0 Emphatically life affirming, he\u2019s hired a nutritionist, a physical trainer \u2013 and has lost 35 pounds \u2013 all to ensure his body holds up as long as his spirit does.\u00a0 After five decades of dedicated study, he\u2019s now absolutely certain he\u2019s acquired the wisdom about how to most successfully manage and inspire people in their jobs; and he appears unwilling to leave the planet until he\u2019s shared it with all of us.<\/p>\n

Character Building At An Early Age
\n<\/span><\/strong>Blanchard grew up in Westchester County, New York with parents who instinctively seemed to know they were grooming a future philosopher and teacher.<\/p>\n

His mother, daughter of German emigrants and the only one of five children to earn a high school diploma, met her future husband \u2013 a Naval Academy and Harvard Business School graduate \u2013 on a commuter train heading into New York City.\u00a0 According to Blanchard, their wide difference in educational backgrounds mattered little to his father.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019d never met anyone with such incredible energy and positive views on life,\u201d and immediately was swept away.<\/p>\n

Radiant positivity is characteristic of Blanchard\u2019s own personality, apparently imbued in his DNA.\u00a0 And his mother\u2019s lessons on the importance of being a generous person would establish the foundation for his life\u2019s philosophy.\u00a0 \u201cShe taught me to give and be charitable with people insisting I never expect anything in return.\u00a0 But she also told me to never be surprised by all the good that inevitably would come my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanchard\u2019s father graduated from Annapolis right after World War I.\u00a0 With a reduced need for officers, the Navy released him to pursue an MBA and begin a career on Wall Street.\u00a0 But when the prospects of a second world war later became imminent, he eagerly re-upped.<\/p>\n

When Blanchard was just seven-years-old, his dad took him to the old Polo Grounds to see his first major league baseball game.\u00a0 The St. Louis Cardinals were playing the hometown New York Giants, and the trip to the stadium was motivated by much more than introducing his young boy to the national pastime.\u00a0 \u201cThere are two guys on the Cardinals who have values I think it would be good you looked at,\u201d he told his son.<\/p>\n

Vividly and nostalgically recalling the experience, Blanchard said one of the players was Enos Slaughter, who \u201cran to first on every hit as if his life depended on it.\u00a0 After we saw Slaughter play, Dad told me \u2018if you\u2019re going to do anything in life, hustle.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The other player was Stan Musial, a 24-time All-Star considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.\u00a0 \u201cThat Musial could hit well wasn\u2019t really the point.\u00a0 Musial was a perfect gentleman and my father was always focused on teaching me values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Synchronicity And The Evolution Of His Career
\n<\/span><\/strong>Blanchard\u2019s greatest accomplishments seem to almost always be tied to chance meetings or other serendipitous events \u2013 and to his seizing these moments.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Cornell with an undergraduate degree in Government and Philosophy, he applied to the best graduate schools in the country and was accepted at none of them.\u00a0 A self-confessed average student, he struggled to matriculate anywhere until Colgate University admitted him provisionally.<\/em><\/p>\n

With plans of becoming a college administrator, Blanchard enrolled in the school\u2019s education program, a curriculum he quickly found both tedious and boring.<\/p>\n

While having a beer at the Colgate Inn one afternoon, he struck up a conversation with a bar mate, someone who happened to be a new Sociology professor just joining the faculty.\u00a0 Revealing a sober distress, Blanchard told his new friend how unhappy he was with his course work and how dispassionate he\u2019d become about pursuing it.\u00a0 Who knows what motivated the professor, but he not only persuaded his drinking companion to instantly change his major to Sociology \u2013 where Blanchard would first study Leadership \u2013 he personally<\/em> ensured the transfer.<\/p>\n

After receiving his Masters degree, Blanchard returned to Cornell and earned a PhD in Education and Leadership.\u00a0 His first career assignment came at Ohio University where he was named Assistant to the Dean.<\/p>\n

Blanchard\u2019s reasoning for seeking an administrative position had been driven entirely by feedback he\u2019d repeatedly received from his professors.\u00a0 Almost all had told him he was a lousy writer.\u00a0 Fully aware that there existed a \u201cpublish or perish\u201d ethos in most universities, Blanchard deliberately steered away from teaching, specifically to avoid ever having to write.\u00a0\u00a0 But these best laid plans seemed to backfire when his boss came and asked him to teach a class.<\/p>\n

Fearing his career had just been placed on the road to ruin, Blanchard felt unnerved when setting foot in the classroom for the first time.\u00a0 But after just a few days, he realized he actually loved being a teacher \u2013 and had found his calling.<\/em>\u00a0 Rejecting his fears of writing, he returned home to tell his wife, Margie, \u201cThis is what I want to do with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now saddled with managing all his original administrative duties, in addition to teaching his new class, Blanchard sought permission from Paul Hersey, Ohio University\u2019s world-class leadership expert, to audit his bread and butter undergraduate course.\u00a0 Blanchard fully expected Hersey would be sensitive to his workload and permit him to sit in on his highly regarded lectures.\u00a0 Instead, the professor summarily rejected the idea telling Blanchard, \u201cNo one audits my course. \u00a0You can enroll only as long as you\u2019re willing to write the papers and do all the work like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The devil on Blanchard\u2019s shoulder insisted that taking the class under these conditions was beneath the dignity of an Assistant Dean who already had earned his PhD.\u00a0 But the wise counsel of Margie, who strongly suggested her husband put his ego aside, influenced him to register.<\/p>\n

When the semester was over, Hersey stopped by Blanchard\u2019s office and closed the door.\u00a0\u00a0 He looked at his hybrid student-peer and said, \u201cKen, I\u2019ve been teaching leadership classes for over a decade and I think I\u2019m better than just about anyone.\u00a0 But I just can\u2019t write.\u00a0 I\u2019m a nervous wreck because I\u2019ve been asked to write a textbook.\u201d\u00a0 Hersey told Blanchard that he couldn\u2019t produce the book alone and was looking for a good writer to help him.\u00a0\u00a0 Having read all the papers Blanchard had submitted for his class, the professor then blurted out, \u201cWould you write the book with me, Ken?\u201d<\/p>\n

While initially shocked, Blanchard wasted no time agreeing to the partnership telling Hersey, \u201cLet\u2019s do it! \u00a0We\u2019ll make a great team.\u00a0 You can\u2019t write; and I\u2019m not supposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end product of this collaboration was a book called Management of Organization Behavior<\/em>, a text that sells more today than when it was originally published four decades ago.\u00a0 Its tenth edition will be released this fall.<\/p>\n

The cornerstone of the work is the idea that effective leadership varies, and that there is no one \u2018best\u2019 way to manage people.\u00a0 The groundbreaking model, now widely known as Situational Leadership<\/em>\u00ae II<\/em>, is anchored to Blanchard\u2019s assertion that the most successful workplace leaders are those who match their leadership styles to the skill and development level of each employee \u2013 for every<\/em> task or job they are assigned.\u00a0\u00a0 Today, Situational Leadership<\/em>\u00ae II<\/em> remains a staple offering of Blanchard\u2019s training organization and long ago became a foundational management discipline in organizations all over the world.<\/p>\n

Co-Creating<\/span><\/strong> A Phenomenon: The One-Minute Manager
\n<\/em><\/span><\/strong>While on sabbatical in San Diego a few years later, Blanchard attended a cocktail party where every invitee was a published author.\u00a0 Earning him inclusion in the elite affair was the one textbook he\u2019d written at Ohio University.<\/p>\n

During the event,\u00a0Margie struck up a conversation with the writer of a highly successful children\u2019s\u00a0series called, Value Tales.\u00a0<\/em> A physician by training, the author recently had switched genres and completed another manuscript for a book he was calling\u00a0The One Minute Parent.\u00a0 <\/em>Immediately impressed by her new acquaintance,\u00a0Margie tracked down her husband and literally dragged him by the arm to meet Spencer Johnson.<\/p>\n

As Margie, a Cornell PhD herself, had anticipated, the two men made an instant connection. \u00a0While it soon became evident that they differed in certain methodologies, their beliefs and philosophies on managing people were almost identical.\u00a0 Very soon after that first meeting, they agreed to team up in writing a book; it was Blanchard who specifically suggested they adapt Johnson\u2019s \u201cOne-Minute\u201d<\/em> approach to workplace management.<\/p>\n

As the foundation for what they were about to create, Johnson presciently recognized that the old paradigm of \u201cbig business books with a lot of charts no longer matched up to most business people\u2019s needs.\u201d\u00a0 Noting that people already were \u201cvery, very busy doing their jobs,\u201d he drew upon the wisdom of 18th<\/sup> Century author, Charles Caleb Colton, who advised writers of that era \u201cto give readers the most information \u2013 and take from them the least time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consequently, what Blanchard and Johnson set out to accomplish was to write a short, readable, and very practical book that would convey the most indispensable and impactful of all management practices \u2013 the significant few.\u00a0 According to Johnson, the toughest part of the project was ensuring the book was brief (it\u2019s barely 100 pages) while still containing highly useful content.<\/p>\n

When writing his Value Tales<\/em> books, <\/em>Johnson began the practice of giving his early drafts to teachers to read to their classes.\u00a0 Tied to the children\u2019s reactions, he re-worked the stories over and over until he was absolutely certain kids everywhere would love them.\u00a0 In creating The One-Minute Manager, <\/em>the authors utilized the identical process.\u00a0 Once Blanchard put his \u201cmanagerial touch\u201d on the manuscript, it was distributed to several reviewers for feedback.\u00a0 Blanchard said this was one of the great things Johnson taught him.\u00a0 \u201cWe kept producing drafts until we knew people would pay $15 for a photocopy <\/em>of the book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leveraging both authors\u2019 gifts for storytelling, The One-Minute Manager<\/em> lays out three essential practices proven to have the greatest influence on maximizing employee engagement, effectiveness and achievement.\u00a0 These include: setting and communicating clear goals and expectations; acknowledging good work and effort whenever a manager observes it; and thoughtfully re-directing people when their work is off target.<\/p>\n

Very early on in their work, Blanchard and Johnson were guests on a radio talk-show program discussing ways for businesses to improve workplace productivity.\u00a0 Despite their best intentions, nothing in their remarks prompted listeners to call in with questions. The studio had 16 open lines and not one of them was ringing.<\/p>\n

Seconds into their first commercial break, the host looked at his guests and said, \u201cGentleman, we\u2019re really dying here.\u00a0 If it\u2019s alright with you, I\u2019m going to take my own shot at this.\u201d\u00a0 And, just as soon as they returned to the air, he said to his audience, \u201cTell me people, when was the last time you were caught doing something right<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 According to Johnson, who still marvels at the experience, \u201cwithin a short time, all 16 lines were lit up.\u00a0 Ken and I looked at each other and said, \u2018I think we just found a hot button.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That people were not being consistently recognized for their efforts and achievements at work became a very important insight needing a remedy.\u00a0 Thirty years later, both authors believe that the single most powerful idea of the book was \u201ccatch people doing something right<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long before the practice became more common, Blanchard and Johnson elected to self<\/em>-publish The One-Minute Manager <\/em>\u2013 principally because they doubted any traditional publishers would take the book seriously.\u00a0 According to Johnson, \u201cA small business book that included aphorisms, and was written as a parable, just had never been done before.\u201d\u00a0 But clients to whom Blanchard now was consulting immediately purchased 25,000 copies.\u00a0 From there, the book was re-published traditionally and sales soared.\u00a0 To date, over 13 million copies of The One-Minute Manager<\/em> have been sold, and it\u2019s been translated into 37 languages.\u00a0 While both Blanchard and Johnson once considered producing a modernized 30th<\/sup> year re-issue, the ongoing demand for the book convinced them the content as originally written has stood the test of time.<\/p>\n

Getting The Heart Right
\n<\/span><\/strong>When Blanchard and Johnson completed the manuscript for the One-Minute<\/em> Manager,<\/em> they both believed the idea of \u201ccatching someone doing something right\u201d was profound knowledge.<\/em><\/p>\n

Their key insight was that expressions of appreciation and acknowledgment have an extremely powerful effect on human performance; when people are made to know their work is valued, they will do more of it \u2013 and do it well.<\/p>\n

Over the next 15 years, Blanchard wrote many more books, almost always reinforcing this fundamental and essential idea along the way.\u00a0 With everything he published, his intention was to have a significant influence on shaping workplace leadership and, more specifically, on helping managers become increasingly more effective at motivating employee achievement.<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade ago, Blanchard was having a conversation with Bill Hybels, leadership author and head of one of the nation\u2019s largest churches, when the extent of his true impact to date came into question.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I ask you Ken, what\u2019s been your biggest disappointment in your work?\u201d\u00a0 Hybels\u2019 question pierced Blanchard, but he immediately had the answer:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat more people don\u2019t use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanchard told Hybels, \u201cPeople tell me all the time that they love my books.\u00a0 But when I go into organizations and chat with employees, I ask them, \u2018How do you know when you are doing a good job?\u2019\u00a0 And the answer I most consistently hear is \u2018Nobody\u2019s hit me yet.\u00a0 No news is good news.\u2019\u00a0 So my conclusion was that managers weren\u2019t catching people doing things right, and that organizations and employees both were suffering because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hybels\u2019 question proved fortuitous even if it initially elicited Blanchard\u2019s disappointment.\u00a0\u00a0 His analysis and subsequent guidance helped Blanchard to reframe his understanding of leadership, and to see the importance of certain qualities he\u2019d never fully given consideration to before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you made the same mistake I made,\u201d Hybels said, \u201cwhich is you\u2019ve been trying to change people from the outside.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been trying to teach the golden rule.\u201d\u00a0 Hybels\u2019 point was that you can\u2019t teach people to be honest, caring or supportive to the people they manage.\u00a0 For a person to succeed in leadership, these traits must be authentic.\u00a0 \u201cPeople have to have it in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to Hybels, Blanchard intuited that there\u2019s nothing he can put into a leader\u2019s head that will make much difference if the desire to be an advocate \u2013 and even nurturing\u00a0 \u2013 to others isn\u2019t there.\u00a0 \u201cIf it\u2019s not in your heart to care for and value the people you manage,\u201d Blanchard now believes, \u201cit\u2019s pretty hard to get anything else right.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s virtually impossible for them to genuinely act on the practices we know lead to great human performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanchard\u2019s epiphany was that an organization\u2019s first charge is to ensure they\u2019re putting the right people into leadership roles, and as a departure from longstanding management theory, they had to be capable of leading with both mind and heart.<\/p>\n

On The Cutting Edge \u2013 And Not Alone
\n<\/span><\/strong>The idea of leading with any degree of heart long has been met with suspicion and even derision in business.\u00a0 Widely seen as soft, sentimental, and intrinsically undermining to workplace productivity, the common belief is that the heart acts like kryptonite and weakens a manager\u2019s effectiveness.\u00a0 But Blanchard is not alone in asserting this is entirely archaic thinking that\u2019s harming business achievement and profitability.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusiness hasn\u2019t yet discovered the power of the heart,\u201c says Spencer Johnson.\u00a0 \u201cBut more and more people are becoming aware, and they\u2019re addressing the deeper level of leadership.\u00a0 They\u2019re looking beyond the superficial to discover what really drives people.\u00a0 What motivates them?\u00a0 What inspires them to do better? \u00a0\u00a0Very often, these concern feelings not just thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson points to the work of Harvard Business School professor, John Kotter, whose landmark book, Leading Change, <\/em>proved that organizations attempting major cultural change only succeeded when leaders focused on helping employees feel<\/em> differently \u2013 not just think differently.\u00a0\u00a0 In the most successful examples of change he ever observed, Kotter says, the companies \u201cdevoted 60% of their efforts to influencing hearts and only 40% to intellects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simply because most leaders never have been taught to concern themselves with how people are affected by change \u2013 and how employee feelings influence adoption or resistance to new methods \u2013 only 5% of the firms Kotter studied fully succeeded and achieved all their original aspirations.\u00a0\u00a0 And as an inherent rebuke to traditional management theory, which insists having a job and a paycheck is fully sufficient motivation for people to perform, Kotter found that 70% of the organizations failed to implement any <\/em>meaningful change.<\/p>\n

Along with the One-Minute Manager<\/em> and Johnson\u2019s later book, Who Moved My Cheese, <\/em>Kotter\u2019s Leading Change <\/em>has been named one of Time Magazine\u2019s<\/em> \u201c25 Most Influential Business Books of All-Time.\u201d\u00a0 This recognition, at least in part, is due to the author\u2019s paradigm-breaking leadership advice: \u201cThe more you focus on hearts and minds, the better it will work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practicing All He Teaches
\n<\/span><\/strong>John Kotter believes the curriculums at most MBA programs \u2013 including at Harvard \u2013 almost exclusively are focused on the rational aspects of management, and widely ignore teaching future leaders how to influence and even inspire human performance in the workplace.\u00a0 After making that same observation, Ken Blanchard took action to change it.<\/p>\n

For the past several years, Blanchard has invested significant time and resources to help endow graduate and undergraduate leadership programs at both the University of San Diego and Arizona\u2019s Grand Canyon University (where the School of Business bears his name).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered most schools weren\u2019t teaching anything about leadership,\u201d said Blanchard, \u201cand all any of them were trying to do was impact student thinking.\u00a0 <\/em>They didn\u2019t do anything about the heart. \u201c<\/p>\n

At both USD and Grand Canyon, business students are required to take rigorous and traditional management course-work including financial analysis, organizational behavior, calculus, statistics and accounting.\u00a0 While Blanchard believes all these classes remain essential, the gap he sees is that none of them prepares future leaders to be effective stewards of human resources.\u00a0 What\u2019s inherently missing are the experiences that will help students become more fully secure in themselves and thereby more influential leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in our programs, we take them through a transformational journey,\u201d says Blanchard.\u00a0 \u201cWe start with the self<\/em> because I think one of the biggest reasons many leaders aren\u2019t very good is they don\u2019t know who they are.\u00a0 That, again, is the heart issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

To initiate the students\u2019 self-discovery, Blanchard pushes them to develop a personal mission statement and write their own obituary.\u00a0 To ensure they feel the full impact of what they\u2019ve produced, they\u2019re asked to read their work to everyone else in class.\u00a0 \u201cThen, we have an entire course on leadership point-of-view, which requires students to look back on who and what life events shaped their beliefs about leading and motivating people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over a period of many months, students are given numerous diagnostics tools like Myers Briggs and DISC \u2013 all intended to provide them with greater insight into their values, personal disposition, and whether, deep-down, they have a true predilection for leading people.<\/p>\n

Blanchard also is convinced that \u201cego\u201d is the biggest obstacle that gets in the way of people, and prevents them from becoming effective leaders.\u00a0 To bring home the point, he conducts an \u201cEgo Anonymous\u201d meeting where students must stand up and publicly admit to some ego-driven \u2013 and thereby limiting \u2013 behavior.<\/p>\n

After hearing the confessions of their peers, and by expressing some of their own, it invariably becomes clear to students that there are two traits that predominantly take leaders out of their hearts.\u00a0 The first is \u201cfalse pride,\u201d characteristic of someone who thinks more of themselves than they should and is self-promoting.\u00a0 The second is \u201cself-doubt\u201d or fear, where they think less of themselves than they should and are motivated by self-protection.<\/p>\n

The kernel of truth Blanchard most wants to impart to students is that leaders cannot and will not succeed when their primary inclination is to be self-focused.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSo I ask each of them directly, \u2018Are you here to serve, or be served?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The night before graduation, both schools host a dinner for students and their families.\u00a0 Never missing these, Blanchard routinely asks all the future leaders, \u201cWhat has this class meant to you?\u201d\u00a0 Invariably, half of the students end up crying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President of USD attended one dinner and asked me, \u201c\u2019what kind of class are you running?\u2019\u00a0 She\u2019d never seen students get so emotional about what an impact one program had on who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanchard knows his training is \u201cnot typical business school type stuff\u201d and that\u2019s just the point.\u00a0 \u201cWe spend way too much time teaching leadership theory without placing emphasis on what\u2019s really going to work.\u00a0\u00a0 What I\u2019ve learned is that great leadership is tied to service.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t there to serve, how will you ever be someone who will develop people, maximize their human potential and take steps to ensure they know their work is valued?\u00a0\u00a0 These are the things that drive the greatest performance for organizations and all come out of a leader\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fire, Monopoly And Reaffirming Values
\n<\/span><\/strong>In 2007, Blanchard was out of town when word came that his family\u2019s home of 25 years had burned to the ground.<\/p>\n

Because both he and Margie were thousands of miles away, they were unable to preserve any of their most valuable, or even most sentimental, possessions.\u00a0\u00a0 Everything was gone and they were devastated.\u00a0 Reflecting on his profound loss, Blanchard found it curious that a story he\u2019d read just a few days before the blaze would prove so invaluable in helping him to heal.<\/p>\n

As told by author, John Ortberg, a young boy\u2019s grandmother comes for a visit and suggests the pair play a game of Monopoly.\u00a0 Entirely inexperienced, the kid watches helplessly as his once favorite Nana mercilessly wipes him out.\u00a0 Feeling aggrieved and humiliated, he privately vows his revenge.<\/p>\n

For weeks leading up to his relative\u2019s next visit, the boy plays Monopoly with a friend almost non-stop. Growing increasingly more skilled and knowledgeable, he eagerly awaits the re-match.\u00a0 And things are very different the second time around.\u00a0\u00a0 The youngster goes on a property-buying spree, relishes every time his opponent lands on one of his hotels, and proceeds to bleed grandma of all her cash.\u00a0 In declaring victory, he stands up and exclaims, \u201cThis is the greatest day of my life!\u201d<\/p>\n

Not at all impressed, the grandmother orders the boy to sit back down.\u00a0 \u201cNow that you know how to play the game,\u201d she tells him, \u201clet me teach you a lesson about life.\u00a0\u00a0 Never forget that, at the end of the game, all the pieces go back in the box. All you bought, all you accumulated \u2013 it all goes back.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaffirming that all the \u201cstuff\u201d any of us ever acquire inherently is transitory in nature, Blanchard quickly got over his loss, and re-focused on what\u2019s most important to him in his life \u2013 teaching.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a desperate need for positive leadership modeling, and I\u2019ve got to get out there!\u201d<\/p>\n

We’re pretty certain that an angel gets their wings every time someone shares one of Mark’s articles with friends and colleagues. \u00a0So, we thank you in advance for sharing them on social media! \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Please also\u00a0sign up here<\/a>\u00a0if you’d like to receive them directly!\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS: All social media counters for this site crashed after the article was posted. \u00a0Sharing now works, but the original share counts were unfortunately lost.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a crisp and sunny afternoon at his cabin on Skaneateles Lake in upstate New York, internationally-renown business leadership expert, Ken Blanchard, surprises me by taking frequent and sudden breaks in the midst of the interview we\u2019ve just begun. He affectionately acknowledges his grandkids who randomly pop their heads into the room, patiently calms a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,14,15,16],"tags":[34,121,123,134,191,211],"class_list":["post-1875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifeaffairs","category-heartleadershipinpractice","category-leadership","category-lifelessons","category-wisdomefromotherauthors","tag-bill-hybels","tag-john-kotter","tag-ken-blanchard","tag-leading-change","tag-spencer-johnson","tag-the-one-minute-manager"],"yoast_head":"\nKen Blanchard: A Premier Leadership Mind Turns To The Heart - Mark C. 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