Take a Stand & State Your Position
the power of a position paper

In high school, I loved math and science. I loved being given information and having to figure out how to piece it together to come up with the desired solution. Back then I thought American History was BORING with a capital B, and wondered why in the world we were studying the past.

Today I'm bored by math and science, and am fascinated with American History. I suppose I'm just getting old, although some call that maturing. In my case, old sounds more appropriate.

For many years, I've said the greatest leader in U.S. history was Martin Luther King, Jr., and the second greatest leader was Abraham Lincoln. Certainly few people would have predicted either of these two to have a massive impact on the country. When Lincoln was elected, half of the states were trying to get out of the union and many said Lincoln would be the last president of the United States of America. They felt he had zero chance of holding the country together. King was a pastor, and had no real authority in terms of being an elected official. He was named president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, but that was basically an organization built in response to Rosa Parks' refusal to sit in the back of a bus. He had no real power or authority, but he did have a remarkable ability to communicate clearly on controversial topics.

These two men changed the course of America through their ability to clarify their stand on slavery and civil rights, respectively, explain the rationale for their position, and communicate their stance over and over again in the midst of ridiculous violence. This capacity to simply state their opinions influenced millions of people to rethink their perspectives.

Recently I came across a person whom I would now rank as the greatest leader in the history of the U.S. His name was Thomas Paine, and he wrote four extraordinary books: Common Sense, The American Crisis, Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason. His first book, Common Sense, was published in January 1776 and played a major role in galvanizing the British colonies in America to form their own country, the United States of America. His second book, Rights of Man, was written during the early phases of the French Revolution and helped to galvanize a democratic government in France. An argument could be made that he played a major role in changing the world from largely being dominated by aristocrats and monarchs to democratic governments. He literally influenced millions of people around the world through his ability to clarify his stand on democracies and equal rights and effectively state his position.

What does this have to do with you?

One of the most effective ways you can provide leadership in your organization is to take a stand and state your position in a position paper. A position paper is simply a two to six page document where you outline your position on a specific topic and support your position with stories, visuals, statistics, analogies, case studies, and so on.

Say, for example, you feel your organization is creating too many unrelated products for the marketplace that are diluting the organization's brand and hurting its long-term viability. Rather than just raising your hand at a meeting and making your point, or worse, talking about it behind your boss's back, take a stand and state your position in a position paper. Maybe you call this position paper, "Brand Dilution: The Downside of Trying Too Hard." Then you can clearly state your position and build your argument with historical perspectives from other companies that tried too many things and ultimately hurt their business results. Perhaps you could use an analogy of a symphony that tried to be all things musical for every audience until no one knew what they were trying to be.

Conversely, if you think your organization should offer more product offerings under a clear statement of purpose, you might call your position paper, "The Power of Synergy: The Exponential Effect of Expanding Brand Offerings." Then you would support your argument for offering customers value in more ways than is being done currently.

When your paper is written, give a copy to the few key people involved in determining the future of the issue. Don't post it on your company's website or send a copy to everyone in your organization. The point of a position paper is that you are clarifying a particular point of view, which key people can consider as they move toward making a decision. That's basically what Thomas Paine did 230 years ago. He wasn't the final decision-maker, or even the first decision-maker. He was merely a citizen who clarified his position on democracy, let other people read it, and allowed them to develop their own perspective on the topic.

You might be thinking, "Dan, if I take a position and my boss disagrees with me, I might get fired." You're right. If you take a position and your boss disagrees with you, you might get fired. On the other hand, if you don't ever take a position, your boss might think you add no value and have no opinions and consequently he or she might fire you for that. Since being fired is always a possibility, why not take a stand and state your position in a way that might help your organization be better than it's ever been before?

What important issue is being discussed in your organization right now?

What is your stance on that issue?

How can you effectively communicate your position in a professional manner?

Stating your position doesn't guarantee that things will go the way you want them to, but it may very well increase the chances of a meaningful dialogue on the topic and that might lead to a better decision than if you had never stated your position.

Be a leader and clearly articulate your position in a written format on an important topic.

Resource Recommendations

• Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson

• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Clayborne Carson

• Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips

Dan Coughlin

Accelerate Update This section is always current to the current month

I suppose every book changes an author's life to a certain degree. My first book, which was self-published in 1995, was called Inside Out: A Catalyst for Conscious Living. It's out of print now for a number of good reasons. The layout, which yours truly did, looks like something a first grader could do today. And the ideas are very theoretical, which doesn't fit my approach anymore. However, I read the book a few months ago, and I was pleased by how clearly I had explained my early thoughts on improving performance.

My second book, Corporate Catalysts: How to Make Your Company More Successful, Whatever Your Title, Income, or Authority was published in 2005 by Career Press. That book was a step forward in clarifying my ideas on improving performance and understanding how to write a whole book. It's one thing to dream about getting a book contract and another thing to write a 70,000 word manuscript.

My third book, ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Momentum, which was published in May 2007 by Kaplan Publishing, has changed my business dramatically. Up until that book was published, I mostly did projects for four companies: McDonald's, Marriott, GSD&M, and Toyota. In the past 12 months, I've worked with business owners, executives, and managers within dozens of small, medium, and massive organizations in more than 20 industries ranging from boats to banks to software to financial services to trucking to lighting to home healthcare to hospitals to optometrists. It's been an exciting adventure.

If you want to see my speaking calendar for 2008, which we'll try to update every two weeks, please click here.

Currently, I have 66 speeches scheduled for 2008. If you would like for me to speak at one of your events in 2008 or 2009, feel free to contact me at dan@thecoughlincompany.com and I will be glad to see if we can make it work.

If you want to see my speaking topics and a video of footage from some of my keynote speeches, please click here.

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