Leadership Done Right

Brandon W. Jones

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Podcast Episode #8 — The Lightbulb Catastrophe

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Hello and welcome to the Leadership Done Right podcast, Episode 8 – The Lightbulb Catastrophe.

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The Lightbulb Catastrophe

The Story of the Lightbulb Catastrophe

I recently heard the following story related by Dieter F. Uchtdorf who is a retired airline executive. On a dark December night 36 years ago, a Lockheed 1011 jumbo jet crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 people. This terrible accident was one of the deadliest crashes in the history of the United States.

A curious thing about this accident is that all vital parts and systems of the airplane were functioning perfectly—the plane could have easily landed safely at its destination in Miami, only 20 miles (32km) away.

During the final approach, however, the crew noticed that one green light had failed to illuminate—a light that indicates whether or not the nose landing gear has extended successfully. The pilots discontinued the approach, set the aircraft into a circling holding pattern over the pitch-black Everglades, and turned their attention toward investigating the problem. [Read more…] about Podcast Episode #8 — The Lightbulb Catastrophe

This Week’s Fav Five Leadership Posts

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Each week I have a hard time finding the fav five posts because their are so many good leadership blogs.  I feel I am only just beginning to see the number of good blogs out there.  Here are the top five leadership blog posts I found this week.

This Week's Fav Five Leadership Posts

Lessons From a Failure in Leadership by Gwyn Teatro

Burton Winters was a typical fourteen-year-old living with his parents in Makkovik, Labrador.  Winter weather makes snow mobile driving a necessity there and, like most of the boys in his community, Burton was an experienced driver.  One afternoon in February, he set out on his machine to visit his grandmother.

He didn’t make it home.

Somehow, in the dark and harsh weather, Burton missed a crucial turning and lost his bearings.   Instead of going towards home, he and his machine headed out many miles onto the sea ice.  Eventually, the machine became stuck and Burton continued on foot for another nineteen kilometres, all in the wrong direction.  More…

Brandon’s Thoughts
In order to get the full understanding of the post, you need to read it because Gwyn tells a story and then explains the leadership lessons that came from what occurred.  The post brings home the importance of making correct decisions as a leader.  In line with what Gwyn said, I agree that leaders need to be willing to make the tough decisions in the face of adversity.  They need to know and remember why they chose to be a leader.  For leadership to be done right you must stand on your principles even when it isn’t easy. [Read more…] about This Week’s Fav Five Leadership Posts

Use The Bell Curve To Your Advantage In Leadership

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The bell curve is a good indicator of where to expect performance from your employees. The bell curve is the normal curve used to show the average and standard deviation of a set of data points. With the bell curve, 95.4% of the data falls within two standard deviations.

Employee Performance – Bell Curve

When it comes to employee performance, how does the bell curve apply? Employee performance within a particular system should fall within the bell curve. Sometimes employees will perform a little above average while other times employees will perform a little below average, but their overall performance should all fall under the curve.

Use The Bell Curve To Your Advantage In Leadership

Learning from Outliers

The real learning comes from the outliers. When people underperform or overperform significantly, there is a factor that led to their performance. Sometimes they lack the proper training, while other times they may not understand the training they received. [Read more…] about Use The Bell Curve To Your Advantage In Leadership

Sins of Commission

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From the case study Sins of Commission, it is very evident that the correct compensation system is extremely important to the success of an organization. The case reviewed several instances where the compensation packages in use were set up to put a quick fix in place for a failed system.

Sins of Commission

Sins of Commission

The compensation system is extremely important because it is one of the main drivers for obtaining and keeping qualified employees. It cannot be the sole source of satisfaction for the employees, but it must function properly to serve the benefit of the system as a whole.

The compensation system will train the employees what is valued by the company. When a company drives for customer satisfaction, but compensates based on the number of sales of the individual employee, the employee will do whatever he or she can to obtain the sale.

He or she will not be encouraged to spend time with the customers that are just browsing. On the other hand, in order for the company to obtain customer satisfaction, they must create a system that values customer satisfaction. The system must reward the employees based on the customer satisfaction ratings.

Teamwork Systems

The companies must also set up a system that promotes teamwork within the organization. In the systems where the employees are rewarded based on their individual efforts and not as a team, the group loses unity and becomes several individuals with their own interests at stake.

In order for a company to reach its maximum level of success, all the individuals must work as a team. This must be promoted by team awards rather than individual awards.

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Lessons From Tony Dungy And Lovie Smith

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Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith

As was demonstrated by both Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, yelling at people isn’t the only way to get them to do what is expected. Both of these men have set up a system that sets expectations for individuals and then holds them responsible for reaching those expectations.

Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith

In these systems, there are specific consequences depending on whether or not the individuals meet the expectations. If the person does not live up to the expectation there is a negative consequence, but if they do live up to the expectation there is a positive consequence.

In reality, the success or failure of an individual or group is significantly determined by the way the system/environment is set up. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith have set up a system that helps those involved to succeed. The athletes in their systems know what they can and cannot do at all times and are able to act accordingly.

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Jesica’s Story – The Story Of A Failed System

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In the article Jesica’s Story: One Mistake Didn’t Kill Her – The Organ Donor System Was Fatally Flawed explained the story of Jesica Santillan. Jesica was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. As a child she didn’t have stamina and as she grew older, she would get tired more easily. Her parents noticed this change and sought medical attention. After tests and other medical investigation, the doctors determined she had a weak heart. They felt her best chance of survival was further medical treatment in the United States.

Jesica's Story - Jesica Santillan

Her parents took her to North Carolina because of family, the Mexican population, and nearby medical facilities. While Jesica Santillan was in school, the school officials found she was having health problems and sent her to Duke. Duke eventually decided to give her a heart and lungs transplant. Tragically, her heart-lung transplant went horribly wrong and Jesica died. Her blood type and the donor’s did not match. That small error cost Jesica Santillan her life.

The Aftermath

Immediately following the tragedy, the surgeon, Dr. James Jaggers, took responsibility for her death. He said that since he failed to notice the difference in blood type, it was his fault. This tragedy, however, led to investigations which found several checkpoints when people should’ve checked the blood type but didn’t. They determined that Dr. James Jaggers was just one person in a series of mishaps that led to Jesica’s death. Jesica died because of a systemic problem, not because of one person’s failure. [Read more…] about Jesica’s Story – The Story Of A Failed System