SHARING: Ken Blanchard and Phyllis Hendry during the interview with Phyllis Wong.Accentuate the positive
in up and down times
Ken Blanchard’s co-authored book, “One Minute Manager”, is an enduring classic on the humane leadership of people and companies. Phyllis Wong encountered the management guru at a “Lead Like Jesus” Conference in Singapore, and grabbed the chance for a “one minute face-to-face”
Writing his own “obituary”, Ken Blanchard would like to be seen as “a loving teacher and example of simple truths whose books and speeches on leadership, management and life helped and motivated himself and others to awaken to the presence of God in their lives.”
In our interview, he proceeded to show why millions have responded to his approach.
BALD FACT: A much-loved quote from Blanchard for those who look as “bald” as he: “God only made a few perfect heads, the rest He covers with hair.”
With warmth and humour, he shared his views about the changes in the theory and practice of management he has seen in the past four decades, and what they mean for us now amidst the train wreck of a global economy.
The first thing we need is positivity, Blanchard said. If there was only one thing he could be remembered for, he would want it to be: “Catch people doing something right, accentuate the positive.”
So he leaves a morning message everyday for everybody in the company and he does three things.
He tells people who to pray for because people call him to say their mom or dad or their dog or cat need prayers, adding: “We have got in over 10 years an amazing amount of data on the power of prayer – and then I praise people.”
Then, he leaves a motivational message – whether it’s from his own experience or he has read it somewhere. In short, start each day on a positive note.
Blanchard’s second pointer for leaders is treating people as business partners.
“Trust, respect and involve people. You have to continue to be servant leader. Not just during good times but at all times.
“Employees want a partnership relationship rather than a superior-subordinate relationship. People want to be recognised for what they contribute. They want to be partners with their managers in accomplishing business goals.”
According to him, leadership is love.
Start from your heart -- are you there as leader to serve or be served?
The “heart” matter is the third pointer to leadership. With a personal faith in Jesus Christ, Blanchard recognises and lifts up Jesus as the greatest leadership role model of all times.
“H is for His -- that is God. E for every opportunity. A for Action, R for Remember and T for Thanksgiving,” he said.
LLJ CONFAB: Participants of the Lead Like Jesus (LLJ) Conference – (from left) CEO-principal of Methodist Pilley Institute, Ms Judy Wong, and Phyllis Wong and Tay Choon Neo, both of Girls’ Brigade Malaysia.
In 1999, Blanchard co-founded “Lead Like Jesus”. How did Jesus lead?
He said Jesus’ philosophy is servant leadership.
“That’s why when He washed the feet of the disciples. He wasn’t saying: Go out and help people do anything they want. He was saying I want you to go out and make disciples. To do that, you need to serve; just as I have done, you need to do.”
Blanchard added that there were a lot of management techniques people could use that helped them serve better.
In his book, One Minute Manager, the first secret is one-minute goal setting, the second, one minute praising and the third, one minute reprimand.
Blanchard said he was a late comer to the Lord. And it was at 48 years old that he had a personal encounter with Jesus -- after he had written One Minute Manager.
He recalled that when he decided to follow Jesus, he was on the ‘Hour of Power’ show with Bob Schuler. Bob Schuler is an American televangelist, pastor, and author known around the world through his weekly Hour of Power television broadcast.
He had not read the Bible and was not into it. Bob said to him the greatest One Minute Manager of all times is Jesus.
“I said, really? Bob said yeah, Jesus was clear on goals. He wandered around, healing people and praising people. And he was not afraid to reprimand and redirect,” Blanchard remembered.
He started writing a book with Bill Hybels and Joe Hodgeson titled “Leadership by the Book: Looking at Jesus as a Leader.”
When people said “wow, that’s a really good book -- can you do any training on that,” Blanchard started developing some training around the concepts (as expounded in the book) and coming up with facilitator materials.
In the US, over 300 people have been trained by his company while tens of thousands have at-tended LLJ Conference.
These 300 are trainers themselves providing training in their own churches and organisations. LLJ Conferences and training courses have also been conducted in over 20 other countries.
“Lead Like Jesus” for Asia Pacific Region was launched in Singapore on October 5, 2009 jointly with Girls’ Brigade Singapore.
PROGRESSIVE: Lighting of candles to symbolise the launching of “Lead Like Jesus” Asia-Pacific Region. (From left) Bob Pike, founder and chairman of The Bob Pike Company, Phyllis Hendry, Ken Blanchard, Brigade Commissioner Hee Piang Chin and Girls’ Brigade Singapore president Mrs Sally Chew.
Blanchard noted: “We have a wonderful relationship with Girls’ Brigade Singapore. They are fabulous people and passionate about the message of leading like Jesus.”
The other reason for choosing Singapore is that 80 percent of the world’s population is a six-hour flight from the island state. That constitutes a major representation for this part of the world.
“Our mission is 6.8 billion souls saved daily by the impact of people living like Jesus,” Blanchard revealed.
LIKE FAMILY: Members of Girls’ Brigade Malaysia with Mr & Mrs Ken Blanchard -- (from left) Tay Choon Neo, Lum Choy Ying, Phyllis Wong and Arvil Soon
What impact have he and his team made on individuals and organisations?
Phyllis Hendry, president and CEO of “Lead Like Jesus”, said: “One of the exciting things for us is business people coming out of our seminars saying “I never thought of leadership that way,” and likewise, pastors saying “I never thought of Jesus that way.”
Some pastors said because of LLJ, they had become different pastors, their hearts were changed and they came to lead the church with a different attitude. They had the opportunity to be transformed and be part of the transformation of churches.
On leadership at this time of economic doom and gloom and a huge meltdown in business ethics, Blanchard’s formula is: Focus on the right target and vision. Treat your customers right. Decide, discover and deliver. Treat your people right. If you don’t treat your people right, they won’t take care of your customers.
He added: “Help everybody get A’s, teach them the answers to get the A’s. Have the right kind of leadership. Effective leadership starts on the inside. You don’t own the position, it’s on loan. Be a servant leader over a self-serving leader.”
Blanchard pointed out that the biggest challenge that organisations face is change.
In business, as in life, one thing is a given: nothing ever remains the same forever. Whether you are staying ahead of the curve to provide innovation and solutions to meet your clients’ and customers’ needs or if the world is simply changing around you, your business, just like any other, has to deal with change.
And in the face of change, leaders need both patience and persistence. Patience is realising that it can’t always happen on your timetable. Persistence is to keep moving.
THE GURU HIMSELF: Blanchard speaking at the Lead Like Jesus Conference
Of all Blanchard’s profound remarks, my favourite came as the interview drew to a close. "At the end of the game, it all goes back in the box,” he said. So separate work, money and material success from the forever stuff like family and friends.
Quoting Patrick Swayze’s Sam in the movie, “Ghost”, Blanchard added: "The remarkable thing is you get to take the love with you."
Writing his own “obituary”, Ken Blanchard would like to be seen as “a loving teacher and example of simple truths whose books and speeches on leadership, management and life helped and motivated himself and others to awaken to the presence of God in their lives.”
In our interview, he proceeded to show why millions have responded to his approach.
BALD FACT: A much-loved quote from Blanchard for those who look as “bald” as he: “God only made a few perfect heads, the rest He covers with hair.”With warmth and humour, he shared his views about the changes in the theory and practice of management he has seen in the past four decades, and what they mean for us now amidst the train wreck of a global economy.
The first thing we need is positivity, Blanchard said. If there was only one thing he could be remembered for, he would want it to be: “Catch people doing something right, accentuate the positive.”
So he leaves a morning message everyday for everybody in the company and he does three things.
He tells people who to pray for because people call him to say their mom or dad or their dog or cat need prayers, adding: “We have got in over 10 years an amazing amount of data on the power of prayer – and then I praise people.”
Then, he leaves a motivational message – whether it’s from his own experience or he has read it somewhere. In short, start each day on a positive note.
Blanchard’s second pointer for leaders is treating people as business partners.
“Trust, respect and involve people. You have to continue to be servant leader. Not just during good times but at all times.
“Employees want a partnership relationship rather than a superior-subordinate relationship. People want to be recognised for what they contribute. They want to be partners with their managers in accomplishing business goals.”
According to him, leadership is love.
Start from your heart -- are you there as leader to serve or be served?
The “heart” matter is the third pointer to leadership. With a personal faith in Jesus Christ, Blanchard recognises and lifts up Jesus as the greatest leadership role model of all times.
“H is for His -- that is God. E for every opportunity. A for Action, R for Remember and T for Thanksgiving,” he said.
LLJ CONFAB: Participants of the Lead Like Jesus (LLJ) Conference – (from left) CEO-principal of Methodist Pilley Institute, Ms Judy Wong, and Phyllis Wong and Tay Choon Neo, both of Girls’ Brigade Malaysia.He said Jesus’ philosophy is servant leadership.
“That’s why when He washed the feet of the disciples. He wasn’t saying: Go out and help people do anything they want. He was saying I want you to go out and make disciples. To do that, you need to serve; just as I have done, you need to do.”
Blanchard added that there were a lot of management techniques people could use that helped them serve better.
In his book, One Minute Manager, the first secret is one-minute goal setting, the second, one minute praising and the third, one minute reprimand.
Blanchard said he was a late comer to the Lord. And it was at 48 years old that he had a personal encounter with Jesus -- after he had written One Minute Manager.
He recalled that when he decided to follow Jesus, he was on the ‘Hour of Power’ show with Bob Schuler. Bob Schuler is an American televangelist, pastor, and author known around the world through his weekly Hour of Power television broadcast.
He had not read the Bible and was not into it. Bob said to him the greatest One Minute Manager of all times is Jesus.
“I said, really? Bob said yeah, Jesus was clear on goals. He wandered around, healing people and praising people. And he was not afraid to reprimand and redirect,” Blanchard remembered.
He started writing a book with Bill Hybels and Joe Hodgeson titled “Leadership by the Book: Looking at Jesus as a Leader.”
When people said “wow, that’s a really good book -- can you do any training on that,” Blanchard started developing some training around the concepts (as expounded in the book) and coming up with facilitator materials.
In the US, over 300 people have been trained by his company while tens of thousands have at-tended LLJ Conference.
These 300 are trainers themselves providing training in their own churches and organisations. LLJ Conferences and training courses have also been conducted in over 20 other countries.
“Lead Like Jesus” for Asia Pacific Region was launched in Singapore on October 5, 2009 jointly with Girls’ Brigade Singapore.
PROGRESSIVE: Lighting of candles to symbolise the launching of “Lead Like Jesus” Asia-Pacific Region. (From left) Bob Pike, founder and chairman of The Bob Pike Company, Phyllis Hendry, Ken Blanchard, Brigade Commissioner Hee Piang Chin and Girls’ Brigade Singapore president Mrs Sally Chew.Blanchard noted: “We have a wonderful relationship with Girls’ Brigade Singapore. They are fabulous people and passionate about the message of leading like Jesus.”
The other reason for choosing Singapore is that 80 percent of the world’s population is a six-hour flight from the island state. That constitutes a major representation for this part of the world.
“Our mission is 6.8 billion souls saved daily by the impact of people living like Jesus,” Blanchard revealed.
LIKE FAMILY: Members of Girls’ Brigade Malaysia with Mr & Mrs Ken Blanchard -- (from left) Tay Choon Neo, Lum Choy Ying, Phyllis Wong and Arvil SoonWhat impact have he and his team made on individuals and organisations?
Phyllis Hendry, president and CEO of “Lead Like Jesus”, said: “One of the exciting things for us is business people coming out of our seminars saying “I never thought of leadership that way,” and likewise, pastors saying “I never thought of Jesus that way.”
Some pastors said because of LLJ, they had become different pastors, their hearts were changed and they came to lead the church with a different attitude. They had the opportunity to be transformed and be part of the transformation of churches.
On leadership at this time of economic doom and gloom and a huge meltdown in business ethics, Blanchard’s formula is: Focus on the right target and vision. Treat your customers right. Decide, discover and deliver. Treat your people right. If you don’t treat your people right, they won’t take care of your customers.
He added: “Help everybody get A’s, teach them the answers to get the A’s. Have the right kind of leadership. Effective leadership starts on the inside. You don’t own the position, it’s on loan. Be a servant leader over a self-serving leader.”
Blanchard pointed out that the biggest challenge that organisations face is change.
In business, as in life, one thing is a given: nothing ever remains the same forever. Whether you are staying ahead of the curve to provide innovation and solutions to meet your clients’ and customers’ needs or if the world is simply changing around you, your business, just like any other, has to deal with change.
And in the face of change, leaders need both patience and persistence. Patience is realising that it can’t always happen on your timetable. Persistence is to keep moving.
THE GURU HIMSELF: Blanchard speaking at the Lead Like Jesus ConferenceOf all Blanchard’s profound remarks, my favourite came as the interview drew to a close. "At the end of the game, it all goes back in the box,” he said. So separate work, money and material success from the forever stuff like family and friends.
Quoting Patrick Swayze’s Sam in the movie, “Ghost”, Blanchard added: "The remarkable thing is you get to take the love with you."
10 comments:
Awesome!
My eyes teared at the last sentence... :)
fishtail,
Glad you like it!
JoMel,
Yes, at the end of the game - it's the love that we take home that matters!
Hugs..
what a great article u wrote there, Yan, thanks for sharing it here and i hope it blesses everyone who read it in the papers!
the love yes, is the forever stuff, and trying to start and end my day on a positive note, tho' easier said than done esp on the more chaotic days, but thank God, for his love that's new every morning!
You are so slim and young now!!! 0.0!!! I couldn't recognize you at first in the photo. So Arthur was right. Hahaha!!!
bp,
Yes, it did. Received some SMSes from friends saying they are "converted" and wish to lead like Jesus! That's the beauty of words!
Someone says the final quote leaves a lingering taste in his mouth! Hope that goes a long way...
I always feel blessed to be that little pen in God's hands!
Clare,
That's not much of a pain to go from size 18 to 10. I am enjoying the gym every day. You have been patronizing Kenny Sia's gym?
Yan, how do I find out who the Lead Like Jesus facilitators are in this part of the world. Email me on mark.ferguson99@gmail.com. TQ
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