You are critical of the values being practised in thebusiness world.Yes. We need a major values shift about whywe’re in business – which is to serve customersand create opportunities. Wall Street thinks it’sall about making money but we’re not here toserve our own agenda rather than to help others.There are too many self-serving agendas outthere among our leaders. At some point peopleneed to say enough.

There is a difference between earthly successand spiritual significance. How much money dothose people need? There is nothing wrong withwealth, recognition, power and status per se butthere is something wrong if you identify who youare by them, if you get up every day and your

The One Minute Manager virtually invented thebusiness book genre. Twenty-one years after itspublication it has sold 10 million copies – and isstill selling. Co-author Ken Blanchard has sincewritten countless other books – everything fromGung Ho! to his latest, Full Steam Ahead! – many ofwhich have also reached the best-seller lists.Blanchard is chief spiritual officer of BlanchardTraining and Development, which has officesworldwide and over 200 employees. He is alsofounder of the Golf University, which applies someof his theories to his favourite game. Blanchardtalked to Stuart Crainer.

How does a chief spiritual officer spendhis time?I think it is preferable to being called chairmanof the board. My job is the vision and energypart of the business. What do I do all day? Ileave a voice mail for everyone in the companyevery morning. I talk to people and find who weshould pray for and who we should praise, theunsung heroes. I then come up with amotivational thought for the day. I have beendoing this for five years and it is a wonderfulway to start the day. I got the idea from Max DePree, ex-CEO of Herman Miller, who identifiedhis main role as providing vision. He comparedhimself to a third-grade teacher continuallyrepeating a message.

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Upfrontinterview

Famous for one minuteSelf-improvement guru Ken Blanchard calls for new values in business.

We need a majorvalues shift aboutwhy we’re inbusiness

self-worth depends on them. The speed of lifeencourages people to be self-centred. We makemore decisions in a month than our grandparentsdid in their lifetimes.

I used to play Monopoly with my grandmother.When she played she was a mix of Donald Trumpand Martha Stewart and always won. Then Ipractised all summer and beat her. She smiledand said you can now play the game but it allgoes back in a box. The message is that it all goesback into a box. He who dies with most toys dies.

So we need different kinds of leaders?Most definitely. What we haven’t done inleadership training is to get into people’s hearts. We have tried to go through their headswith theories, beliefs and behaviours. But weshould ask every leader why they are leading. Isit to serve or be served? We should then holdthem accountable.

What are the characteristics of self-servingleaders?If you try to give feedback to self-serving leadersthey tend to kill the messenger. They think theyknow everything. If you give them feedback, theyinterpret this as questioning their position. Aserving leader values feedback. If anyone canhelp them they’re pleased and interested.

Another difference between the two lies inwhether leaders are willing to develop their ownleaders. Servant leaders develop leaders and ifother good leaders come along they are quiteable to share leadership.

I run an Egos Anonymous programme in whichpeople talk about their family, hobbies and so onrather than their status. Egos are shown by falsepride so we ask people to stand behind a chairand then tell them that they are free to leave iftheir egos have never got in the way or if theyhave held back from telling the truth. So far wehave done this with 5,000 people and none haveleft the room. They have a different relationshipby the end of the meeting.

What do people want from their leaders?Three things: integrity; a partnership relationshiprather than a superior/subordinate relationship;and affirmation. They want to be caught doingthings right and affirmed as a human being.

Recognition is a human need. How do you knowif you’re doing a good job? Most people say ifthey haven’t been shouted at recently thenthey’re doing a good job. People in organisationsare still getting beaten up for not doing what theydidn’t know they’re even supposed to do.

We are working with Yum! Brands, which ownsKentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Belland the Long John Silver seafood chain. It has850,000 employees worldwide in 100 nations. Itwants to create customer mania, to put a “yum”on everyone’s face. It has a clear vision andwants to take recognition to a new height. It’s ledby David Novak, who has commonsense and lowego needs. When he came in there were lawsuitsfrom some of the franchise holders, who own 80per cent of the company’s stores. He said whyare we fighting with them? If they win, we win;let’s listen to them.

Then, when people engaged in behaviour hewanted to see, he handed out floppy chickens withthe person’s name on it and what they’d done.Every manager now has to have some form ofpersonal recognition. The top franchisee in Chinadied and was buried with his floppy chicken. AJapanese manager won one and put it in hisfather’s house in a safe it was so important to him.

What separates great companies from theircompetitors?They have a clear vision and direction. Theyknow what their values are and key people keepstrengthening the values. There is a real joy inforgetting themselves, working together.

Vision inspires leadership and excites people inthe company. People do a great job when theyhave purpose. Walt Disney said he was in thehappiness business. He wanted people to have asmile on their face when they left his themeparks. I am working with a bank that says it is inthe financial services business. In reality, it is inthe peace of mind business. People want to knowthat their money is safe and that it will grow. To

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Vision inspiresleadership andexcites people inthe company. Peopledo a great job whenthey have purpose

do this you have to start with the benefit to thecustomer of your product or service. There is acharity called Give Kids the World that supportsterminally ill children. It takes them toDisneyland and so on and says that it makesmemories so that kids spend the last weeks oftheir lives smiling, with memories.

The other part to this is having a set of operatingvalues. You need to know how you want people tobehave when they are working on your vision.Disney’s key value is safety. At our company wethink we are in the human energy business,unleashing the power and potential of people inorganisations for the overall good. So greatcompanies have an enduring vision built aroundhaving a significant sense of purpose, clearvalues and a picture of the future.

How many values should any one organisationhave?Most companies have too many. You really can’thave more than three or four core values. ThePharisees said that there were too manycommandments – though if you wanted toprioritise you could say that the first two are thebig ones!

Has there been too much emphasis on the seniorechelons of management and not enough on thoseinteracting with customers?No-one gives a damn about top managementbut they do care about people near to thecustomer. Front-line people should be at the topof the organisation

At the airport this morning I wanted to check inearly. But they wouldn’t let me. No-one wantedto sort out the customer’s problems, there was no vision about the customer. Front-line peopleact as if rules and policies drive the organisation.Now, I’m not against policies, rules andregulations but great companies allow people to use their brains; people act as if they own the place.

Most organisations are run for top management.The sheep are there for the shepherd. People arebeing paid ridiculous amounts of money whilepeople are losing their jobs. It is an absurdegocentric thing.

There’s a company called Chick-fil-A, whichmakes chicken sandwiches and has over 1,000stores. Its staff turnover is around five per centlower than anyone else in the industry. Thefounder, Truett Cathy, said that they weren’tgoing to open on Sundays because families areimportant. It might be the biggest day of theweek commercially but you should be able to sellas much as you’re able in six days. Thecompany’s mission is to enable people to usetheir God-given talents.

Profit is the applause you get. People withhumility don’t think less of themselves but thinkof themselves less. They don’t believe their owngood press.

What do you say to people who suggest that it is allright for you to talk about spirituality but they’ve gotmore pressing financial needs?People can say you’re Ken Blanchard you can doit. They can act like a victim. But life is aboutchoices. There are four ways you get self-worth inlife: fate; early childhood experiences withadults; life experiences, successes and failures(they can be tremendous teachers if you letthem); and finally, there is the perception of thefirst three. The final one is the most important. ■

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Great companieshave an enduringvision built aroundhaving a significantsense of purpose,clear values and apicture of the future

Most organisationsare run for topmanagement

Stuart Craineris executive editorof BusinessStrategy Review.