By Mitch Simon
San Diego Daily Transcript
August 25, 2004

I am working with a partner of a prominent law firm. He is perhaps one of the best attorneys in the state. He is the figurehead of the office. He is charismatic, aggressive and results-oriented. He is a rainmaker. He and his company are attracting great clients. Yet he is challenged by office politics, back stabbing and work product that is less than excellent.

He tells me that he would like to make his firm the No. 1 law firm in the state. He mentors, teaches and recruits the best and the brightest. There are many areas he says he would like to improve, but isn't. He wants to see greater integrity, greater discipline, and better follow-through.

I ask him if he is committed to No. 1. He says yes. I tell him he is lying.

He is surprised. I explain that his actions do not demonstrate that he is committed. They demonstrate that he has given up. I share with him that he does not make the requests that show commitment. He responds that such requests would cause conflict. I respond that this assumption robs him of power. His assumptions are killing his ability to declare his conviction, to confront and to make requests. He is not committed to No. 1. He is committed to silence.

I point out to my client that if he were committed to No. 1, he would request management to take bigger risks. He would declare to his office that he will take them to No. 1. He would confront those who are resigned to business as usual. I point out that he is not challenging, provoking, enrolling at the level of 100 percent commitment. He admits he is not committed.

Are you committed? Commitment is like pregnancy. You either are or you are not.

Commitment is the alignment of your actions to realistic promises. Extraordinary results arise from never ceasing to align your actions with your promises. Commitment ceases, or "breaks down," when one's discomfort, fear or inability to enroll others holds more power than the pursuit of one's commitment. When you allow breakdowns to prevent you from taking actions toward your commitment, you are "out of alignment."

Once you are out of alignment, you have two choices. You can pretend that you are still committed. This option works for a while, as long as you can fool everyone who is banking on your commitment. Most of the time, everyone can see that all you are doing is fooling yourself.

The other option is that you acknowledge your failure to act inside of your commitment. This acknowledgment, this "breaking of the code of silence," is the place where great leaders are born. Great leaders create large commitments knowing there will be breakdowns. Great leaders see breakdowns as an opportunity to learn. Great leaders strive to never be silent.

As a leader and a coach, my role is to demand that people make bold, unbridled commitments, and deliver on these commitments. As a coach, I provoke my clients to consistently achieve high profits, performance and productivity through commitment and accountability. Hungry, successful leaders articulate their commitments, act in integrity and acknowledge their inevitable breakdowns.

How can you tell if you are a committed to leadership?

You demonstrate your commitment by the promises, declarations and demands that you put on others to stretch their self-created limits. You challenge your team, your beliefs and your company's status quo. You make unreasonable requests. You focus your attention on results. You dedicate your efforts to hold others accountable to articulate and act on their commitments. You demonstrate leadership through the language of commitment and the act of holding others accountable.

The attorney with whom I am working is now fully committed to achieving the No. 1 position in the state. How do I know? He declares his commitment to No. 1 status. He enrolls others to have fierce conversations on what it will take to get there. He makes requests that provoke others to think and act differently. He challenges his assumptions about the desires, demands and direction of his management and his partners. His words and his actions demonstrate he is no longer committed to silence.

Are you publicly challenging internal assumptions, making bold requests and holding others accountable to their word? If you aren't, you are not committed to leadership; you are committed to silence. I invite you to create a loud culture. I invite you to bring in a coach to replace the silence with commitment and accountability. I invite you to create a culture that produces consistent, unimagined and extraordinary results.

Mitch Simon: (858) 449-9463;
msimon@simonalliance.com