HOME | CATALOG | SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS | CONTACT US | VIEW CART

Table of Contents

Go for the Green: Leadership Secrets from the Golf Course

(The Front Nine)

Preface ................................................................................................................................................................ xvii

Forward ................................................................................................................................................................ xxi

Glossary of Essential Golf Terms ..................................................................................................................... xxxi

Hole #1 – Begin With the Flag: Secrets from the Golf Course on Vision ...................... 1

About Hole #1 ....................................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 1

Why We Need "The Pin" .................................................................................................................................. 2

Stepping Into the Tee Box ................................................................................................................................. 3

The Game Without a Target ................................................................................................................................ 5

Where’s the Goal? How Do We Achieve It? .................................................................................................... 7

Vision ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Creating a Vision – Begin With Values ............................................................................................................. 9

A Vision for All Companies ............................................................................................................................. 12

The Elements of a Vision Statement ............................................................................................................... 14

The Enemies of Articulating and Implementing a Vision ............................................................................ 15

Implementing the Vision .................................................................................................................................. 26

Aligning to Achieve the Vision ....................................................................................................................... 27

How to Play This Hole ....................................................................................................................................... 29

Hole #2 – Parallel Tracks: Secrets From the Golf Course on Aligning to Achieve the Vision ................ 33

About Hole #2 ..................................................................................................................................................... 33

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 34

Golf and Alignment ............................................................................................................................................ 35

Alignment in the Corporation: Seeing the Hazards, Assessing the Risks and Defining the Plan........... 37

Barriers to Achieving the Vision ....................................................................................................................... 38

Appoint the Guideline Team ............................................................................................................................... 46

Establish Corporate Goals ................................................................................................................................... 47

Setting Corporate Goals ....................................................................................................................................... 49

Setting Departmental Goals ................................................................................................................................. 50

The Role of Management in Attaining the Vision ............................................................................................ 55

Semi-Final Thoughts on Achieving the Vision ................................................................................................. 56

How to Play This Hole ........................................................................................................................................... 57

Hole #3 – Why We Play: Secrets from the Golf Course on Motivation ................................................... 59

About Hole #3 ......................................................................................................................................................... 59

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 59

Motivation – Touchy-Feely or Good Business? ................................................................................................. 60

The Question ............................................................................................................................................................ 61

The Demonstration ................................................................................................................................................. 62

The Great Motivational Myth .............................................................................................................................. 64

The Enthusiastic Novice ...................................................................................................................................... 64

High Enthusiasm, Low Competence in the Office ............................................................................................ 66

The Competent Professional .................................................................................................................................. 70

The Manager as Competent Professional ........................................................................................................... 71

Coaching from Jack to Tim..................................................................................................................................... 72

The Next Step ......................................................................................................................................................... 80

Why Do We Play? ................................................................................................................................................... 79

The Lesson From Why We Play .......................................................................................................................... 82

Compensation ........................................................................................................................................................ 82

Beyond Compensation.......................................................................................................................................... 83

The Profit Link .......................................................................................................................................................... 86

The Danger With Bonuses ..................................................................................................................................... 89

From Herzberg to Golf ............................................................................................................................................ 90

Why Leaders Care About Motivation ................................................................................................................ 92

The Skills You Need to Motivate ......................................................................................................................... 96

A Compelling Vision ............................................................................................................................................. 99

Implementing Motivational Strategies .............................................................................................................. 101

How to Play This Hole .......................................................................................................................................... 103

Hole #4 – Wedges, Irons, Drivers, and Putters: Secrets From the Golf Course on Leadership and Communication................... 105

About Hole #4 ......................................................................................................................................................... 105

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 105

Managers Talk, Leaders Communicate ................................................................................................................ 106

"They are all Like Me – And, If They Aren’t, They Should Be" ..................................................................... 107

"My People are Empowered" ................................................................................................................................ 109

Effective Behavior – "The Freedom of the And" .............................................................................................. 110

Encode, Send, Decode – A Brief History of Recent Communication Theory ............................................. 112

Challenging Your Personal Communication Style ............................................................................................ 113

Empathy – An Essential Skill of Leadership ...................................................................................................... 114

Beyond Empathy .................................................................................................................................................. 116

How Many Clubs Are In Your Bag? ................................................................................................................. 116

Hammers and Nails .............................................................................................................................................. 119

The Four Different Styles of Communication .................................................................................................. 120

Differentiating Questions for Leaders ............................................................................................................ 122

Why Do We Care About Communication Anyway? ..................................................................................... 122

The Repair Incident ............................................................................................................................................ 127

Synergistic Communication ................................................................................................................................. 126

Communication for Leadership ........................................................................................................................... 127

A Final Word on Communication ....................................................................................................................... 129

Summary .................................................................................................................................................................. 130

How to Play This Hole ............................................................................................................................................ 130

Hole #5 – You Can’t Improve a Random Process: Secrets from the Golf Course on Process Improvement ...... 133

About Hole #5 ........................................................................................................................................................ 133

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 133

End of One Career, Beginning of Another ........................................................................................................ 134

In the Beginning There Was Utter Unpredictability ....................................................................................... 135

The Day I Hit the Squirrel ...................................................................................................................................... 136

The Lesson of Lessons ......................................................................................................................................... 137

The Golf Swing and Benchmarking ...................................................................................................................... 138

Adapt Yes, Adopt No ........................................................................................................................................... 139

Standardizing the Swing ...................................................................................................................................... 140

Predictability Requires Structure ......................................................................................................................... 142

Standardizing a Business Process ....................................................................................................................... 143

Predictably Unpredictable ..................................................................................................................................... 145

"Structure" Without Description Breeds Variation ......................................................................................... 146

From the Real to the Ideal .................................................................................................................................... 147

Process Standardization ....................................................................................................................................... 148

The Need for Constant Attention to the Process ............................................................................................. 150

How to Play This Hole .......................................................................................................................................... 151

Hole #6 – The Key to Improvement: Secrets from the Golf Course on Keeping an Accurate Score........... 153

About Hole #6 ........................................................................................................................................................ 153

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 153

Golf is a Game of Number (So is Business) ........................................................................................................ 154

Not Just a Score, But an Accurate Score ............................................................................................................ 155

Situational Scoring – How We Often (or at least sometimes) Keep Score in Golf ........................................ 156

Situational Statistics – How We Often Keep Score in Business ..................................................................... 159

Situational Score Keeping in Practice ................................................................................................................... 160

How to Keep Score .................................................................................................................................................. 162

The Emphasis on "Lagging Indicators" ................................................................................................................ 163

Metrics to Improve by or "Why Am I Shooting a Ninety-Two?" .................................................................... 165

The Macro Metric ..................................................................................................................................................... 167

An Industry Scorecard ............................................................................................................................................. 168

Measurements Are As Measurements Do ............................................................................................................ 172

How to Play This Hole .............................................................................................................................................. 175

Hole #7 – In the Rough: Secrets from the Golf Course on Judgment, Emotional Intelligence, Power, and the Nature of Leadership .................................. 177

About Hole #7 ............................................................................................................................................................ 177

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 177

Judgement in Business – The Mike Benson Story ............................................................................................... 179

In the Rough ............................................................................................................................................................... 182

Leadership EQ:Nature or Nurture ........................................................................................................................... 183

Leadership "Course Management" ......................................................................................................................... 184

Emotional Intelligence ................................................................................................................................................ 185

Emotions in the Work Place ...................................................................................................................................... 185

How We Process Information ................................................................................................................................... 186

Leadership and Emotional Intelligence ..................................................................................................................... 187

Emotional Intelligence – What It Is and What It Isn’t ............................................................................................ 188

"I Don’t Have Time to Baby Sit" ................................................................................................................................ 191

Recent Developments in Emotional Intelligence .................................................................................................... 192

Influence and Emotional Intelligence ....................................................................................................................... 194

The "Why" – Lack of Wisdom .................................................................................................................................. 196

Wisdom and Emotional Intelligence ........................................................................................................................ 198

Wisdom in the Workplace ......................................................................................................................................... 199

Power ........................................................................................................................................................................... 201

Referent Power and Course Management.............................................................................................................. 204

The Nature of Leadership ........................................................................................................................................ 205

How to Play This Hole .............................................................................................................................................. 207

Hole #8 – Play It Where it Lies: Secrets from the Golf Course on Character ............................................................................... 211

About Hole #8 ............................................................................................................................................................. 211

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 211

"But I’m Not a Leader" ............................................................................................................................................... 213

The Character/Competence Debate ........................................................................................................................ 215

Personality Is Not Character ....................................................................................................................................... 215

Play It Where It Lies: Golf and Character ................................................................................................................ 217

Character is Golf ’s Greatest Lesson ......................................................................................................................... 219

Honesty ....................................................................................................................................................................... 220

Authenticity ................................................................................................................................................................. 222

Predictability ............................................................................................................................................................... 223

Tenacity and Persistence .......................................................................................................................................... 229

Courage ........................................................................................................................................................................ 231

Concentration.............................................................................................................................................................. 231

Will .............................................................................................................................................................................. 235

How to Play This Hole ............................................................................................................................................. 236

Hole #9 – Improving Your Game: Secrets from the Golf Course on Personal Change ................................................................. 239

About Hole #9 .......................................................................................................................................................... 239

So, You Want to Be a Leader .................................................................................................................................. 239

Mummies ...................................................................................................................................................................... 240

Breaking Out ................................................................................................................................................................. 243

The Transition to Leadership ..................................................................................................................................... 243

Golf, Fear and Personal Change ................................................................................................................................ 244

Golf and a Paradigm for Change ............................................................................................................................... 246

A Model for Change .................................................................................................................................................... 247

A Clarifier or Two ......................................................................................................................................................... 248

Why Positive, Purposeful Change is Such a Challenge ........................................................................................ 249

Half a Brain is Worse Than None When It Comes to Change .............................................................................. 250

The First Step Toward Change: Dissatisfaction ...................................................................................................... 250

The Leadership Commitment ....................................................................................................................................... 252

Aligning the Two Systems ........................................................................................................................................... 252

Breaking Out of the Comfort Zone .............................................................................................................................. 253

The Logic of Change – The Need for Autonomy ...................................................................................................... 255

The Emotion of Change – Accepting the Risk ........................................................................................................... 259

Commitment: Logic or Emotion? ................................................................................................................................... 262

A Model for Change ....................................................................................................................................................... 262

Review Your Current State ............................................................................................................................................. 264

Develop a Deep Personal Commitment to Change ..................................................................................................... 264

Create a Vision ................................................................................................................................................................... 264

Align Internal System Toward Achieving the Vision .................................................................................................. 265

Lead and/or Perfect New Skills ........................................................................................................................................ 266

Take Action ..................................................................................................................................................................... 268

Stay the Course Until the Vision Is Achieved ............................................................................................................ 268

A Final Lesson From Golf on Change .......................................................................................................................... 269

Summary .......................................................................................................................................................................... 269

How to Play This Hole .................................................................................................................................................. 270

At the Turn: Mulligans ................................................................................................................... 273

Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................................... 297
New Page 1