Several months have gone by since I have written here and I'd like to tell you about what I've been up to. In the late summer, I began working with someone who I believe has the potential to be an extraordinary leader. I am speaking of  Reilly Finn, the VP of Corporate Communications for a Tier 1 Defense Company. I started executive coaching with her on her first 100 days in her new job with a mandate from her boss to make “Comms” a more strategic organization.

I asked Reilly what her Impossible Future was. Her response: A world without war! Given she was employed by a defense firm, I was really wowed. (She related it back to her five-year-old son, whom she wanted to keep out of harm’s way.)

"Imagine a world without war," she said, later adding that we would not only have to address the defense and security issues related to failed states like Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the billion or so people in the world who have been left out of the global economy and who live on less than $2 per day… I knew this was going to be a fascinating and intriguing assignment.

Though part of me thought Reilly’s Impossible Future was pie in the sky, I was determined to help her to fine a path forward to realize it. It would be one thing if she were the CEO of the company who had contacts with the White House, the Secretary of Defense, and Joint Chiefs, but how could she do it as the head of Comms, which is not usually thought of as a power house function in a big corporation?

The stuff that most Comms chiefs work on are press releases, promotion announcements, and brand compliance (getting the logo right) and so on. Mainly transactional stuff which could be classified under Reilly’s day job. However, I could see early on that Reilly, a natural leader with the desire to make a difference, was destined to turn this job into a transformational assignment for herself and the company. In short order, we were both involved in a project that at least had the potential to impact her company in the USA and world wide.

I read an interesting column by NYT Columnist Thomas Friedman.

According to conventional wisdom, says Friedman, Barack Obama would need to choose a hard-core national-security type as his vice presidential running mate to compensate for his lack of military experience and John McCain would need a running mate who is young and sprightly to compensate for his age.

Come August, the “World is Flat” author goes on, “I predict both men will be looking for a financial wizard as their running mate to help them steer America out of what could become a serious economic tailspin.”

Friedman says that anyone who plays the “terrorism card” in order to win the next election is seriously deluded. Things have changed. The issue that has people’s attention is not Pentagon policy, but rather high gas prices, high food prices, and falling house prices, all lowering consumer confidence.

There used to be a saying that, as GM goes, so goes the country. If that is the case, America has some real problems ahead of it. General Motors’s stock-market value now stands at just $6.47 billion, compared with Toyota’s $162.6 billion. On top of it, GM shares sank to a 34-year low last week.

I stopped at a gas station last week and, like the woman at the next gas pump, put in a mere $25. “I can’t bear the psychological strain of filling up my gas-sipping Honda,” she said, “and seeing the total go up to $65. I keep putting in only  $25.”

At a local grocery store in Maine, a woman told me, “Well, they have found a tricky way to avoid raising the cost of Tropicana orange juice. They have reduced what used to be a half gallon by six ounces.”

The focus in the next election is not going to be on nation-building in Iraq, but rather nation-building in America, which is in one of its most serious economic lulls in recent decades. Says Freedman, “We are the ones who need a better-functioning democracy — more than the Iraqis and Afghans. We are the ones in need of nation-building.”

It is our political system that is not working. It seems that Congress seems incapable of producing a critical mass to support any kind of serious long-term reform. Compared to the governments of China, India, Singapore and other countries, all of which have performed economic miracles in recent decades, the American government can point at few noteworthy collective achievements.

The leadership challenge the next president of the United States will have to face is transforming our often deadlocked political system so that it can better respond to possibilities and problems. We need nation-building at home, and we cannot wait another year to get started.

Vote for the candidate who you think will do that best.

A few days ago in this blog I talked about the difficulties President Lee of South Korea was experiencing in part due to selecting a cabinet whose backgrounds reflected an abundance of self interest vs. public service.

During my stay in Seoul I was amazed by the massive protests rallies again President Lee not only for his cabinet selections but lifting the ban on USA beef—feared to possess Mad Cow Disease (Mad Cow Disease?!!!! Huh????)

During my last nights in Seoul the crowds on the street were chanting for President Lee’s impeachment (or resignation) due to these and other issues that made him appear tone deaf in the eyes of the people.

When asked by a reporter for a Seoul newspaper what President Lee could do to get his administration back on track, I said something to the effect that his fate depends on “The Speed of Trust,” how fast he can get the Korean people to trust him again.

I suggested that a big cabinet shakeup was in order. Today looking at the NYTs, I found a fascinating quote by President Lee, “I intend to start anew.” He announced today that he was replacing 9 out of 10 senior presidential aids.

Somebody out there might be listening.

A Letter to My Korean Partner Dr. Edward Choi

Edward, I guess I missed your call last night. It’s ok for now. On another topic, I have been thinking about my own Impossible Future. The mother of one of my daughter's friends, Myriemme, a woman of French/ Moroccan descent who is a European coach had a dream in which I was coaching country leaders.

This was in part why I spoke up about President Lee when I was in Korea and have also blogged about this. When you told me that I should contact the King of Dubai, it got my attention, and I have been reading about this country where an amazing transformation is happening.

You know for so many years I have been helping business leaders succeed. Yet their motivation is usually more often than not power and money. (Of course I love business.) Working with the Pentagon has opened my eyes to a different kind of individual.

Government executives may unabashedly seek power and money to some degree, but they have another dimension which allows them to transcend the abundance of self-interest seen in the corporation. I would call it patriotism, servant leadership, or public service.

Let’s see if we can expand on this conversation and make it a conversation for action.

I was sitting at Under Sec of Defense John Young’s Tri-Annual Offsite last Friday listening to a presentation and was a bit mind-numb from hearing so many Department of Defense acronyms I didn’t understand.

Sitting next to me was Young’s bright and personable speechwriter who used to work at the White House. She was thumbing through her Blackberry, perhaps also a bit mind numb from the acronyms, thought she confided “I look them up on Google.”

Suddenly she turned to me and showed me a news story on her Blackberry. NBC Washington correspondent Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, had died of a heart attack in the studio.

Like most Americans I was saddened and shocked by this news. Tim Russert was immensely likeable, not only because of the work that he did, but he was a great human being in many respects. Russert had written a book that was a touching tribute to his father, a former garbage man, called “Big Russ and Me.”

It’s fair to say that almost everyone in America admired Russert because his questions to the high and mighty politicians were both tough and fair. At the same time, they lacked any trace of meanness.

I remember one Sunday morning he asked President Bush if the War on Iraq was “a war of choice or a war of necessity,” The President said it was an interesting question and then asked to “elaborate” on it a bit before starting to stammer.

On the way to the airport that day, it hit me. I was brought back to a prediction I had made many years earlier that Tim Russert would die an early death either due to an accident or heart attack.

How did I know this? In my early years, I studied Oriental physiognomy with the great teacher, Michio Kushi. This study allows people to assess an individual’s original constitution, as well as their present biological condition.

Tim Russert had two signs on his face that spelled an early demise. The first was that he was very badly sanpaku—(three whites)–with whites showing between the bottom of his iris and eyelid.

According to my studies, this was a sign of an imbalance of the nervous system, one that could lead to physical and mental disorders even attracting accidents. I must add that no scientific evidence validates this, though JFK was also badly sanpaku.

The second sign was that Russert had a somewhat bulbous, swollen nose, which indicates a weak heart. It was this aspect of Tim Russert’s physiognomy that signaled to me that he would meet the demise that he did, sooner rather than later. I only wish that I had written to him about it.

The Boston Celtics are in the NBA Finals for the first time in 20 years. One of the people making an impact in the series is Leon Powe, whose father left home before the age of seven and whose family became homeless the same year when a fire burned their house down.

Powe, the oldest of 7 children, spent a considerable amount of his childhood at the flea market helping his mother, Connie Landry, sell trinkets, toys, and used clothing from the back of a van. That was how the single mother supported the children after the fire and before Alameda County Child Protective Services placed Powe and his siblings in foster care.

At the time the agency knocked on the door, the family lived in a crowded, one-bedroom apartment in East Oakland, struggling to pay rent with unpredictable earnings from the flea market. No money meant another move. Sometimes Powe spent nights in motels, cars, and homeless shelters.

When food ran low, Powe went without dinner so everyone else could eat, pushing food onto his mother’s plate and then grabbing breakfast at a friend’s house the next morning. Powe missed large portions of elementary school when he needed to stay home to watch his younger siblings.

Powe’s magical transformation into an NBA star, however, is one that shows what can happen when the life of a person with character and talent intersects with a mentor who takes him or her under their wing.

The mentor turns out to be John Ward, the half brother of one of Powe’s best friends, Sharmare Freeman, who stole something and ended up going to jail. A former Oakland Tech high school basketball standout, Ward spent time in prison before turning his life around and taking a job as a probation counselor. He saw a chance to make a difference with Powe and make up for a missed opportunity with his half-brother, Freeman.

“My little brother had gotten in trouble, so I took Leon under my wing,” said Ward, who is now Powe’s legal guardian. “I was trying to teach him about life. I wanted to make sure he didn’t make the mistakes my little brother and myself made. It was about showing a young man how to be a good citizen growing up in the community.”

When a 13-year-old Powe asked Ward for help with his game, Ward decided to test Powe. Ward hears a lot of people ask for help, but few demonstrate the drive necessary to change. Ward wanted to see how much work Powe was willing to do. So he asked Powe to run 20 laps around a nearby schoolyard and then practice his shot until sunset. Ward waited 20 minutes, then hid across the street from the schoolyard and watched Powe.

“The kid ran 20 laps,” said Ward. “He shot till the sun came down. I was like, ‘Wow, he’s serious. He really wants to get his life together.’ Once I saw that, I knew he had the discipline. He just needed guidance and to be pushed, a big-brother, father-figure thing. I just wanted to show support because you knew deep down the kid had been scarred by life.”

Ward first made sure Powe improved his grades, seeking out Oakland Tech teacher Jonas Zuckerman as a tutor. Powe spent long days with Zuckerman, raising the 1.5 grade-point average that made him ineligible for six weeks of his high school freshman season to 3.2 by graduation. Powe would need good grades and good board scores when he decided to attend Berkeley, a university that did not honor scholarships to partial academic qualifiers.

While Powe became a basketball star in high school, for him it was never just about basketball. It was about being a good person and creating a stable situation for his family. It was Powe’s dedication, hard work and ability to deal with adversity that landed him in a Boston Celtics uniform in 2008, a year the Celtics would go to the finals.

When Celtics coach Doc Rivers and star player Paul Pierce heard about Powe’s story and saw his tremendous work ethic at the beginning of his rookie year with the Celtics, they both started to cheer for him at games and practices. Pierce and Powe formulated a natural big brother/ younger brother relationship.

Pierce, who also took Powe under his wing so he could make his mark at the NBA level, had himself been mentored by a man named Scott Collins, a LA police detective, and to whom he attributes turning his own life around.

In the second game of the series, Powe, a rookie who barely played 36 minutes in all the playoff games leading up to the Finals and three DNP’s, seemed to rise to the occasion and take over the game, bringing down big rebounds, dishing off assists and scoring 23 points, the game of his life.

Now Powe says it’s time to give something back, spending scads of time mentoring younger kids in the community and supporting the Big Brother Association.

I am sitting in my room at on the 18th floor of the Seoul Plaza Hotel in South Korea around 10 pm watching about 3000 Koreans stage a protest rally in front of City Hall below with shouts to impeach Korea’s President Lee.

Seoul reverberats with antigovernment slogans. While people march by candlelight, loudspeakers blare the songs South Koreans sang during their struggle against the military dictators of the 1970s and 1980s.

One of the reasons? President Lee lifted a ban on importing USA beef which people in Korea believe is rank with Mad Cow disease. The fact that this Mad Cow epidemic is such a red hot issue in Korea and virtually unknown in the USA fascinates and intrigues me to no end, especially as the chanting from the street floor prevents me from sleeping.

I had been invited to Korea by Dr. Edward Choi of CMOE, the largest executive coaching firm in the world. Dr. Choi had arranged several speeches, press conferences and newspaper interviews to spread the word about me and Masterful Coaching.

Before coming to Korea, I read up on Korean politics and particularly about President Lee, former Mayor of Seoul. He was elected by a huge landslide in November based on his election promise of raising all Koreans to all round middle class prosperity of $50,000 a year. To me this was a good example of an Impossible Future, a cause worth signing up for.

Unfortunately today, Mr. Lee’s approval rating is around 20% due to getting out of synch with the public will. Protesters here say that Mr. Lee is out of touch with the common people and “tone deaf” to popular sentiment.

It didn’t help that Mr. Lee is seen as having put cronies in charge of his cabinet who in the past had demonstrated greater commitment to self-interest than servant leadership. As a result of this and other mistakes, people do not trust what Mr. Lee says or does.

For example, in an attempt to reinvigorate the sagging growth of the Korean economy, President Lee sought to bring about a Free Trade Agreement with the USA by lifting the ban on beef imports, but the catch 22 is that he unwittingly ignited the fear of also importing Mad Cow disease. Many feel that President Lee is being too soft when it comes to standing up to America and too hard-line on his policies toward North Korea.

He is also in trouble with the environmentalists for wanting to build a canal that would connect rivers and span the length of South Korea. Then there is an issue of selling off state owned companies, in part to foreign investors.

Everything I read about Mr. Lee (who before undertaking a political career was Chairman of Hyundai) tells me the man is a decision maker used to having his hands on the levers and controls of power and having everyone line up behind him unquestionably.

I shared during a speech I made at Yonsei University when asked about Mr. Lee that I had observed that while the winning strategy Mr. Lee used to get him here (to the presidency) probably would not get him there (to his vision)

He has been nicknamed “the bulldozer” by those who oppose him, a name frequently chanted in the protests outside my window. The key for Mr. Lee is recognizing that mastering the political chessboard is essential for getting anything done in government, much more so than in business.

I told a reporter at my press conference when asked about the President that, if Mr. Lee was to succeed with his vision, he had to learn to broaden his base of support. This starts with putting less attention on bulldozing one’s programs and more on building broad based coalitions amongst many different special interests groups.

When asked what Mr. Lee could do to get his administration back on track, I said the one thing that could make a difference was the “speed of trust.” He has to do something dramatic to re-establish trust and fast, perhaps through a cabinet shake up.

The next day the biggest daily newspaper in Seoul ran a big article on me saying that I had suggested the possibility of coaching Mr. Lee. Why not? As most leaders at the top tend to only get advice from powerful “insiders” with their own political agenda (Bush/ Cheney), a coach that is an “outsider” without a political agenda might be just what the doctor ordered.

I mentioned in my newspaper interviews that, while President Lee had done some good things on the macro-economic level to transform the economic relationship with the USA and China (Lee was visiting China during my visit), something had to be done to transform the Korean corporations…something with his business background Lee has earned the right to talk about.

Most Americans don’t know it, but Korea is the 10th largest economy in the world. The economy got to where it is today from the Korean War years with a combination of sheer leadership drive (hard work) and doing things better, faster, and cheaper.

With its GDP and labor costs closer to that of western countries than eastern ones, Korea has to find its next act and develop a high-growth, innovation-driven economy. And therein lies the rub.

Companies like Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and others tend to have very hierarchal cultures where bowing respectfully to the boss and the need for people to fit their job descriptions tends to enforce conformity rather than creativity and innovation.

In an era where growth depends on “creative intellectual capital added,” this presents Korea with a real issue, one that will require transformational leadership (not mere transactional leadership) and, to be sure, Masterful Coaching and Mentoring.

According to Dr. Choi, the issue starts right in the Korean school system which is also hierarchal, highly regimented, and curriculum driven. Dr. Choi and I are starting a new joint venture based on the concept of “Study Coaching.” The aim is to connect students to their Impossible Dreams, talents and interests, and then use that to create a pull for life-long learning.

Letter about my China trip to my nephew Will Hargrove who is serving as a Midshipman on board ship at the Maine Maritime Academy and is currently on a large vessel, somewhere off the Canary Islands.

Hello Will, great to hear from you. I very much enjoy your ship board blogs and thus let me return the favor. I am in China now. Last week there was a huge earthquake in China. The Chinese President, Hu Jintao, unlike Bush went to the earthquake area right away and sat on the bare ground in his suit and talked to the people like he was having a real dialogue.

 You could see his compassion in the way he put his arms around people and listened. Then he got up and started personally directing the relief effort—“searching for survivors" being the number one priority. There was a telethon the next day to pull the Chinese people together and raise money. We watched it on TV and it was nothing short of a spectacular Chinese Opera, except of course a very serious tragedy.

The Chinese really know how to bring all the notables in the country together to speak in a passionate way about something that matters. The short speeches were interlaced with inspiring background music and documentary scenes that elicited heart-throbbing emotion and drama. Children who were earthquake survivors, but who lost parents, spoke with heart wrenching vulnerability and three star generals stood with their arms around them in tears. Present count 60,000 dead.

I also visited the city of Jiataix, an old city that looked like a Venice in China with canals surrounded by classical buildings, the roofs with eaves sloping upwards. We stopped along the way and had a country lunch of 14 dishes for 6 people—spicy fish Szechuan style, lobster, frogs legs, crab, vegetables, and of course watermelon. Very good. They served a heavy local wine, and glasses were raised every few minutes. Gambai, bottoms up!

I was so inspired by the trip that the next day I went to Souchow in search of more back roads. Souchow is where some Taipings (nobles) lived during the Ching Dynasty (last one) and who built some truly beautiful gardens with tea houses, ponds, and rock sculptures that almost instantly create a serene state of mind. China's Middle Kingdom, though hotly political, was a place where worldly adventure was less important than inner tranquility.

The train trip there was great, but the trip back, starting at the rail station, was a horrible nightmare. I was chased by a one-arm taxi driver, one legged beggars, shouting tour guides all looking to eke out a fast RMB (Chinese dollars). They were so desperate and aggressive that it was scary. I escaped the station like I was running away from swarming bees and took a taxi back to Shanghai.

China is a strange brew of wealth rising quickly, like the huge skyscrapers in the city, and earth bound poverty like I saw in Souchow, evidenced not only by the street people, but by the presence of rubble and debris in front of many house lots and roadsides.

I am staying in a suburb, maybe 30 minutes from the Shanghai downtown area, where I am experiencing four star luxury for about $80. I noticed how the people here in the outskirts of the city are so friendly, actually going out of there way to stop me on the street, smile and say hello.

In contrast to the warmth and outgoing nature of the people in the outskirts of Shanghai, people in the upscale areas of the main part of the city, such as Nanjing Road are much more face down and self absorbed. There are many big BMWs and VW Passats on the streets. The Chinese, who are highly patriotic, still prefer German to Japanese cars due to lingering resentment caused by the brutal Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1939.

One of the tough parts of the trip is that I was not able to find a cup of hot latte coffee for breakfast to relieve my jet lag. Yes, in the Nanking Road area there are lots of Starbucks, but beyond it, people drink green tea for the most part. I searched in a taxi one morning for 45 minutes for a Barista and no luck. Addiction be gone.

I settled for some street food in a home made noodle shop, where some Moslem Chinese knead dough, then stretch it until it miraculously differentiates itself into perfectly shaped round noodles that, because they are fresh, take only minutes to cook. They add about 27 different meat and vegetable toppings. An absolutely delicious meal. Price $2.

This is what must have got Marco Polo to bring spaghetti back to Italy. More on China to come.

Keep up your writing. You have a talent for it. You never know what skills you will need in the future

Welcome to the Experience Economy

After a day at the Pentagon and fighting my way through the dense DC traffic to catch my flight to Boston I was told that, even though I had a confirmed ticket with United, I was unlikely to get a seat on the plane. Three trips in a row… the same thing had happened.

When I asked the person at the counter if I could get on the plane, I was basically told to shut up. “Just take a seat in the waiting area,” she said smiling with thinly disguised contempt.

The flights on the United aircraft themselves are also awful. Three hour delays are the standard, a tiny drink offered, and not even the usual miniscule bag of pretzels.

Oh, and don’t delay in turning off your phone, or you will have to answer to the prison camp warden who has total disdain for the inmates. On top of that, the bathrooms stink to high heaven.

Now I love my clients at the Pentagon, but after this last experience, I started to resist making any further business trips to Washington. “Couldn’t I go there next month or the month after?” I would beg.

The next trip, I was booked on Jet Blue. Same airport and same planes…but what a difference. The company’s promise: “Dedicated to bringing humanity back to air travel. We strive to make every part of your experience as simple and as pleasant as possible,” and they really do.

The people at the counter gave me the requested aisle seat with the graciousness of southern hospitality and the plane departed and arrived almost exactly on schedule.

The flight crew treated me like a rock star; the seats in coach were as big and fat as most first class seats; there were 27 channels of TV from take off to landing (no boredom), and to top it off, great snacks and drinks.

As the maitre de cabine made the announcements, she said, “Welcome to the Jet Blue experience.” They delivered on their promise of a great flight, and it transformed my attitude around making a business trip to Washington DC.

I am not just talking about the flight there and back, but everything that happened in between. I am ready to hop a Jet Blue flight in a heartbeat and continue with my mission helping the patriotic people in the federal government provide peace and security. The positive Jet Blue experience had a halo affect on my entire trip.

How does Jet Blue pay for providing the customer such a great experience? They do it with imagination and a bit of innovative thinking. Jet Blue flights are scheduled to take five minutes longer than United Airlines, saving them many millions a year on jet fuel.

So welcome to the “Experience Economy.” Those of you who are CEOs, front line supervisors, customer services people, or professional coaches, can take a powerful lesson from this story.

Brooke White after Being Eliminated

This year my family and I have gotten into the American Idol show. I never realized it before but the show is basically all about coaching and mentoring people around an ambitious aspiration—becoming a Pop Star.

I enjoy getting to know both the performers like David Archuletta, David Cook, Brooke White, Jason Castro, Syesha Mercado, and so on as well as the judges, Simon Cowel, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

If you define coaching as interacting with people in such a way that expands people’s capacity to perform with a view towards an Impossible Future, I think this show is a great example.

The performers, all beautiful, charming, and super talented people clearly see their participation on Idol as the ultimate self-development and growth experience.

If coaching is about observing and making assessments, the judges do just that after each song. Yet it’s only when America votes that it is decided on who stays and who is eliminated, and I think that’s part of what makes the show have real integrity.

Simon’s near brutal candor and constantly challenging people to “reach down” into themselves and go to the next level is balanced by Randy and Paula’s loving and supportive attitude. If Simon says that performance was “totally forgettable,” “old hat,” “a nightmare,” either Randy or Paula, are bound to jump in and come to the person’s defense: “No, No, No! It wasn’t a nightmare.”

I have really enjoyed the host of the show, Ryan Seacrest, who I think is a person of high emotional intelligence. If Simon gets too acerbic, Randy or Paula may appeal directly to Ryan to basically shut Simon up.

Seacrest’s way of being is described by his actions—a kind word after the judging, a pat on the back, or as he said to one to contestant, “We are not going to let you go away with tears streaming down your face,” as he invites her to sing her final song.

I have often asked myself, why is it that the executives who are coached often don’t take the coaching as seriously as the contestants on this show? I think there are several reasons.

 1) On the show the coaching is connected to a personal goals and aspiration that, if achieved, could totally change a person’s life, while many executive coaches just work with people on some remedial behaviors.

2) Idol takes place in the process of people making an all out effort to expand their capacity to perform at a world-class level, whereas most executive coaching takes place around taking a list of leadership competencies and trying to get them into people by merely talking about them.

3) On Idol, the factors of time and pressure have a big impact—perform at a higher level or you go home. With most executive coaching there is no consequence to whether the person learns the lesson or not.

The bottom line? There is a lot anyone interested in coaching and mentoring can learn from this show.