The H3S symbol is excellently summarising what is the 9,9 in Grid. I feel one aspect to be missing however, that is the teamwork. Naturally, if all these traits are present in one’s behaviour the teamwork flows automatically out of the guy’s attitude towards coporate, team and individual objectives.
Alas, the workforce in general lacks H3S or 9,9 qualities, let them be CEOs, mid-level managers or field workers. In principle each agrees with these qualities, in parctice a rare few can live them only.
How to obtain these traits is a question many counselling services make themselves quick to give the best answer. What they tend to shun however is that CEOs, mid-level managers or field workers are all fallable without their teams’ support.
Individual excellence has a drop effect only which soon gets vaporized if left alone in any environment. Individuals and their environment pulse together mutually demanding a dual focus and care.
A critical balance is the key otherwise H3S or 9,9 qualities suffer losses immediatelly.
Why have I written all these down commenting on you blog? Practically, since in Hungary the CEOs I meet all strive to have a 9,9 type workforce. But they get stiff when I suggest to have a 360 degree company survey with the CEO included. As if they knew something about themselves…
It seems to be hard to believe that they shape their own corporate culture by their own behaviour.

Think of it. All of these “warm bodies” and “friends from church” yet we have been and for that matter still are number one.

Humm…..

There are some ideas / concepts that can be learned and integrated into our personal actions easily, but, it has been my experience that as the world drifts away from divine truth, it is dificult to learn and maintain not only our belief system, but our ability to act according to that system.

I found your posting very informative. It reminds me of what I hold of great worth and in thinking about H3S, what kind of course corrections might be necessary in how I act so that I act in accordance to my beliefs. It is far too easy to walk amongst the populous and forget what we are.

I am not involved in the publishing industry and came across your other blog while I was researching tablet PC’s. I have both sites bookmarked and checkup on what you have to say on a regular basis.

Thank you for sharing your insight.

What a wonderful post to articulate exactly what you are looking for. It is also something that employees can strive towards, because not everyone is born or brought up with these traits, but can certainly work on them through personal improvement.

Wouldn’t it be excellent if everyone in the business world lived by these standards? I found it a hard adjustment right after college (now a long time ago) to go from the “ideal management theory” to what actually exists in the real world – politics, “me-me-me”, etc. Not all companies are like that, and it’s refreshing to hear that Thomas Nelson is not among that bunch.

Here is a challenge – what do you think your employees would say about it? Would you consider a survey that asks them how they think the company’s employees as a group rate on the 4 characteristics? It would certainly be interesting to see if your philosophy held up to your employees’ feelings about their coworkers.

I have worked with a handful of smart and talented executives at the highest level within Nelson but from the VP level down to acquisitions, editing and design the positions often seem to be filled with “friends from church” and other non-qualified people. This may sound harsh but after pondering the problems I see with your organization it is the one that really stands out as a possible root. Other Christian publishers I have worked with have savvy, driven and educated people in similar positions that really contrast a majority of the people I have seen at Nelson. They are good people that I love dearly but too often they are operating above their abilities and education.

As I think more about it I wonder if this is partly due to promotion within instead of hiring externally to fill middle management positions. You have a lot of churn like many organizations and the people leaving seem to often be the high performance, driven people moving on to other opportunities. It is often the “warm bodies” that are left that somehow find their way into a promotion because they have been there 2 years, 5 years, etc. I am not saying I disagree with this in general but the result in Nelson’s situation seems to be negative.

I apologize if these comments are negative. I do see great improvement in the organization since you have moved into the position of CEO but I was hoping that the changes would come more swiftly. But these things take time and I encourage you to continue using this blog to personally mentor your organization like you have been doing.

I agree; I don’t think there’s anything original here. These are universal principles. In fact, Patrick Lencioni mentions three of the four in his book, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. However, common sense is often uncommon in practice. I really wrote this as a reminder to myself. I wanted to establish a baseline for hiring new employees.

Thanks for your input!

Mike