Clarify Your Cause

Walt Disney

For Christmas, my wife, Barb, gave me the book, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. I'm a huge fan of Walt Disney and had assumed that I had read everything there was to read about him. As usual, I assumed wrong. This book is at least five times better than anything else I've read on him.

At 19, Walt started his own animation studio in his father's garage. He desperately wanted to work for himself and thought making animated ads for film companies was his way to do so. Over the next 28 years he moved from ads to short films to full-length animated features. His whole world was making animated films. But by the age of 46, he fell into an elongated slump. World War II had caused the military, and the banks, to take over his animated studio. He had not had a hit in several years. His dreams were quickly falling apart.

At his lowest point, he said, "Our purpose as a company is to provide quality family entertainment." That clarifying moment caused him to stop focusing on just making better animated films. It opened his mind to new possibilities such as live action films, television programs, and theme parks. From 1950 to 1959, his business grew revenues by 800% and profits by 600%.

What cause beyond just making money is big enough to transform your business?

Abraham Lincoln

What is the deal with Abraham Lincoln? I've often wondered why Lincoln is so immensely popular and revered. He only served as president for slightly over four years and he died 142 years ago. And yet each year several immense volumes are written about him. What generates that kind of staying power? After listening to Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" I decided to visit the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, IL. In the end, I found what I was looking for. Lincoln's greatness can be summed up in one sentence:

From 1853 - 1865, he clarified and communicated his singular cause of keeping the United Stated as one united nation in order to prove that democracy could be a sustainable method of government over the long-term.

In order to fulfill that purpose he fought the Civil War and wrote the Emancipation Proclamation that ultimately led to the freeing of all slaves throughout the country. He realized that it would be impossible to have a true democracy while maintaining the hideous concept of slavery.

Are there any old ways of doing business that you must let go of in order to take your business to a higher level?

Paul Farmer

Faithful reader and good friend, Burnill Clark, recommended that I read a book called, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World. Burnill and I have a neat working relationship. When he recommends a book, I don't even ask what it's about. I simply drive to Barnes & Noble, purchase the book, and then read it.

More than Walt Disney or Abraham Lincoln, Paul Farmer clarified his cause at a very early age and simply set out to fulfill it. His cause is to cure infectious diseases and bring lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. At the age of 28, while a medical student at Harvard Medical School, Farmer established Partners In Health, a non-profit organization to support medical efforts in the poorest parts of one of the world's poorest countries, Haiti. For the previous six years, Farmer had spent several months a year in Haiti serving the poor and taking care of their medical and nutrition needs. That all started back in 1983. For the past 24 years Farmer has expanded his impact and influence in serving the medical needs of poor people all over the world. I greatly encourage you to read this book. In doing so, I think you will reflect even more deeply on your particular cause.

Youth Sports

I have a friend who volunteers hundreds of hours a year to coaching youth sports. He has a full-time job that he is very successful at, but another of his great passions and strengths is coaching kids between 5 and 14.

Now I'm the first to admit there are some big problems with youth sports. Obsessive parents and coaches scream at kids in the name of "they need to get better to get a college scholarship." I was a Division I college head soccer coach for three years. I know some of the best college coaches in the country. If parents only knew how much coaches don't care how many goals a 10-year-old soccer players scores, they probably wouldn't obsess over scholarships.

However, my friend doesn't worry about winning or scholarships. To see him in action is to watch someone provide self-esteem building environments for dozens of kids. He cares about honest effort, teamwork, acting with class, and having fun. He teaches the kids how to be winners, but he doesn't put winning ahead of making sure every kid gets to play the same amount of time. He uses sports as a medium for making a difference in the lives of kids.

He got on the board of his athletic association, which has more than 16,000 kids in it. He then wrote a Code of Conduct for players, parents, coaches, and referees. His name is not on it, and he won't get credit for it, but through that Code of Conduct he is impacting the athletic experience of thousands of families. He launched an initiative to limit pitch counts for 14 and under baseball pitchers. That's another act that will protect young athletes. Now he's working to find ways to involve kids with special needs into the overall sports environment.

He found his cause through youth sports and is living up to it every week of every year.

Girl Scouts

On my dining room table there are about 30 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that my seven-year-old daughter, Sarah, has sold to neighbors, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends. Selling Girl Scout Cookies must be the easiest direct-selling, revenune-generating activity in history. Who can say no when a little girl asks you to buy something? But those cookies support a wonderful cause. The Girl Scouts of America provides one of the great leadership development experiences in the world. Now those are cookies for a cause.

Oprah Winfrey

Recently I watched an amazing program about Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy for Girls. She created a school for girls in 7th - 12th grade. She poured an enormous amount of resources into creating a sustainable school for girls in South Africa who have leadership and academic potential but who have also been living in indescribably difficult situations. Will this academy be perfect? Of course not. There's no such thing as a perfect school or country. The girls have already started to complain about not getting candy between meals and not getting to use their cell phones except on weekends. Hey, what kids don't complain about something? But I believe if the school stays true to its cause of developing young women into leaders that it will ultimately be successful. I'm excited for the future of that academy and those girls.

What is the cause you will base your career and/or life on?

Uncovering Your Cause

I found mine in a dorm room my senior year in college. I was taking a course in Thermodynamics, which was a required course for my degree in mechanical engineering. I can't even begin to tell you how much I don't care about thermodynamics or mechanical engineering. However, I didn't want to change majors again and prolong the agony of being in school. So I stuck it out. There was one particular section of Thermodynamics that I actually understood better than my good friend, Jeff, who lived next door to me. So the night before the test I went over that section with Jeff several times in his dorm room.

He ended up getting a higher grade on the test and in the course than I did. But I received something much bigger and better. I learned about myself and what makes me tick. I realized that the greater thrill for me was helping another person succeed. I was able to clarify my cause, which is simply to help other people to achieve better results in whatever they want to achieve. That cause led me into college coaching and high school teaching, and then ultimately into consulting and executive coaching and business speaking. I don't really care what industry the other person is in or what their title is. What trips my trigger is working with other people to improve their desired results. That cause has stayed with me for a long time, and I have a long, long way to go to fulfill it.

Book Recommendations

Ignited: Managers, Light Up Your Company and Career for More Power More Purpose and More Success by Vince Thompson (Prentice Hall)

This is a brand new book that is packed with practical insights on how to dramatically improve business results as a mid-level manager. It makes topics like relationship-building, leadership, purpose, and achievement very pragmatic. I think Vince Thompson's book supports what I'm saying about clarifying your cause very well. It lives up to its title as a source for igniting managers to find their purpose. I think Ignited provides great value, whether you're a mid-level manager or not.

Bonus: Thirty Days and Counting to ACCELERATE

My second book, Accelerate: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum (279-pages, Hardcover, Kaplan Publishing, New York) is coming to stores everywhere books are available on May 1st. In this book I've distilled 3,000 hours of on-site executive coaching over a ten-year period at places like Toyota, McDonald's, Marriott, St. Louis Cardinals, and Coca-Cola into 20 management lessons to propel your business and your career forward.

Learn more about Accelerate and to read the Introduction and the Table of Contents.

Republishing Articles

Each month my e-newsletter gets republished in approximately 20 blogs, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with "Republishing Article" in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document. All I ask is that you include my name as the author of the article and a short paragraph at the end of the article about me with a link to my website.

Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

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