Archive for category: David Griffith

A Paper by David Griffith

I have been thinking lately about the connection between an organization’s Mission, Vision, and Values, and its Leadership. One reads and hears a variety of views on the subject these days, and the current political environment in the country only sharpens the discussions. Muddy Boots has always been about these topics, and what does it look like when it is “right,” and how does one practice and participate in and on the best practices of Mission, Vision, Values, and the corresponding leadership?

Mission, as I define it, is what an organization does. At its core, what is it that you do? For all your stakeholders. I view stakeholders as customers, employees, employee families, alumni, vendors, suppliers, the community, and shareholders.

Vision, as I define it, is what it looks like when it is right, as in right for all your stakeholders.

What are the three to five core values that every decision and strategy is filtered through? Do all your stakeholders know your values and where you stand?

At ECS, a nonprofit that I led for 10 years in Philadelphia, we serve as an example. Our mission is to challenge poverty. Our vision is a world where access to opportunity is available for all. Our values are Dignity, Justice, Community, and Impact.

The critical link between Mission, Vision, and Values is the organization’s leadership. Not just the CEO, but also the board and senior management.

Where I have seen leaders excel is when the focus and behavior are on the following:

• A clear understanding and agreement with Mission, Vision, and Values. Connection with all the stakeholders.
• A commitment to Muddy Boots, as in they go into the field and listen to customers, employees, stakeholders, and industry leaders.
• The creation of a 3–5-year strategy to move the organization forward and a toolbox that looks at data and adjusts the plan in the face of change. Adjust the strategy, but not the mission, vision, or values.
• Is relentless on talent.
• Is a coach with their team. Asks great questions, gives credit, and listens. Speaks last in meetings. Creates accountabilities for all.
• Represents the organization.
• Give credit when it goes well and own it when it does not.
• Lives by the Values of the organization.
• Understands that the real skill is to see ahead and react, what I call Radar.
• Have a board/advisor/stakeholder group that can problem-solve and bring value to any challenge.

The link is where the magic happens. An organization I now work with, Delaware Valley Family Business Center, focuses on family businesses, and they describe that link using a 5 MOUNTAIN® model.

The mountains are comprised of Family, Management, Advisors, Board, and Shareholders. The leadership team and senior leaders must serve as the link between the organization, its stakeholders, and its mission, vision, and values.

When I see it work, the links are clear. Conditions can change, strategies can be adjusted, but the relentless focus on what we do, how we do it, and what lines we won’t cross, combined with building a talented team that can execute and respond, is both the simple and complex work of any successful organization.

So, look in the mirror. This is what good organizations and good leaders do every day. Is their clarity linked to all that you do? What is your purpose? What is your strategy? What is your mission, vision, and values? Do you have the talent? How do you stack up to an honest and transparent scorecard?

Be the link.

The Interview is part of guest writer David Griffith’s Muddy Boots blogs series.

When I graduated from college and started interviewing for my first job, I was fortunate to get an interview with IBM. One of the meetings was with a branch manager in New York City. I walked into his office, and he was sitting behind his desk. I sat in front. Early on in the interview, he pulled out of his desk a set of wooden-handled, rubber-tubed stretching exercisers called a pull-apart. While he asked questions, he pulled the handles apart, perhaps 30 or 40 times. Near the end of the interview, he tossed them into his desk drawer.

“I have one more question.”

“OK”

“Can you use these?” Tossing me the pull-apart.

“Sure”

As much as I pulled and tugged, I could not get them apart. Not an inch. I asked him what I was missing.

“Nothing, thank you for coming in. We will call you.”

I was sure I had blown the interview.

Two days later, I was hired.

Fast forward 20 years, and I’m sitting down with my family at our new church as I start a new job at Modern. In the back, a familiar voice asks, “Dave, good to see you, what brings you here?” My retired branch manager was now a fellow member of our new church. We became good friends and collaborated on several volunteer projects together.

One day over coffee, I asked him about the pull-apart interview. He laughed.

You did fine. I had two pairs in my desk — one with rubber that stretched, and one made out of a fan belt. You couldn’t have pulled those apart with a pull-along.

I must have looked confused. He went on, and I wanted to see how you handled the pull-apart. Most folks busted a gut trying to pull it apart. Most people get frustrated. What I look for is how people dealt with adversity. Almost no one asks for help. We wanted folks who would try, make an assessment, and not be afraid to ask for help. Our work is intricate, and we wanted people who would be willing to ask for the how and keep moving forward. The background is essential, chemistry even more.

It is not individual talent, but the talent of the team. Those of you who read muddy boots will recognize the message: talent matters. Every time I interview, I look for that chemistry.

Years later, I visited with him days before he passed away from cancer. We talked, remembered, and laughed.

The day after he died, a package arrived in my mailbox. It was the pull-apart with a note.

He was still being my mentor.

They sit in my office.

 

In October, I turned 70, retired from ECS, became an independent consultant and senior advisor to Delaware Valley Family Business Center, and decided to continue my board work with the for-profit and nonprofit world. 

 

I also committed to my partner and spouse of 45 years that we would travel more, walk more, and I would go to the gym. The dog and I are working out that I am home for lunch. I’m not quite there with Jacqui yet, but we are figuring it out. I also plan to fish more as I have learned that fishing is not about the fish. 

 

I am the youngest of three brothers and have seen what lies ahead through them. For the record, I am not a fan of “retirement.” I am a fan of staying active, staying involved in causes that interest me, and answering the call to service in ways that bring value.

 

I am looking forward to Jacqui and I doing more of this together. Retirement means we have the time to focus on what matters. 

 

I am also learning that sharing our experiences and lessons with the younger folks entering the system is the best gift. To convey that your vote, your voice in the political process, and how you spend your time, treasure, and talent matters. That why we face many challenges; it is not an option to sit on the sidelines. Teddy Roosevelt was right. It is the man (or woman) in the Arena that counts. We need everyone in the Arena. Otherwise, the individuals on the far right and left will decide our future. Make no mistake: freedom around the world is at risk. 

 

What matters is that we put Grandchildren over greed. That we look beyond our own backyard and see that poverty, freedom, and the environment are forces we ignore at not only our peril but that of future generations. Greed is a nasty word as it hits both at home and away. One would hope that the nation founded almost 250 years ago could look to our founding documents, live into its call to action, and give current credence. 

 

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” And “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

 

Establish Justice, promote the general welfare, free speech and press, redress of grievances. Quite a punch list, but not if we don’t all get in the Arena and we hold ourselves and our leaders accountable. That would put Grandchildren over Greed. If we do not, go to Arlington or Gettysburg National Cemetery and see the cost.

 

So much for retirement. 

Making a Difference is a new installment in the Muddy Boots series by David Griffith.

“All that evil needs is for a few good men and women to remain silent, inactive, or look the other way.” In our tradition and those of most others, we are asked to respect the dignity of every human being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our founding documents cite that all men (people) are created equal and have the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

So, how are we doing, folks?

In my work at ECS we defined the path out of poverty as three things. 

1. A living wage full-time job. 
2. A reasonable level of benefits. 
3. Assets in the bank at a level to cover emergencies. 

Living well is about having access to opportunity and the ability to take that opportunity and thrive. Indeed, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why is our public/private policy so contrary to the above? Why would we not want 30% more consumers in America?

Also, I note that unless you are a native American, we are all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Our diversity has been and is a core American attribute that has grown our country and allowed the nation to thrive. I note we need three million immigrants a year to balance our demand for labor.

Finally, the big picture here, folks, is that our planet is rapidly changing. Most of the scientific community tells us we are at the tipping point with climate change. Ask the folks who live in Kentucky these days about climate change.

Given the above, why is there silence or denial among many of our political leadership on these issues, and indeed among many good men and women?

Why is there a lack of support for those who do speak the truth and call for thoughtful and necessary change? Where is the long-term vision and leadership on a national and, I can argue, international level? 

Could it be that we only “speak” our baptismal covenants and the equivalent in other traditions? Could it be that we only “read” the words of our founding documents? 

My life’s work, be it at Modern, an employee-owned company, or ECS, a regional nonprofit challenging poverty, or as Chairman of the Academy of Natural Sciences, a leader in the study of our natural world, and in particular the issues of clean and safe water through the Patrick Center, has been and is about putting Grandchildren over greed. 

I would be the first to say I/we could do more. I think we would all say that. My question is, are we part of the silence that lets evil thrive? I note we need to do more than speak, more than read the good works, or fail to look at our legacy to our children and grandchildren. 

I do not view this as a red or blue issue. I view it as a citizen, a son, a father, a husband, a grandfather, a trustee, and a business owner, calling for long-term leadership across the board. Just look at the trends and the real facts. Time is not our friend.

Let us look at the data and make the words of our traditions and founders real. A hundred years from now, let them say we spoke up, we were accountable, and we made a real difference. 

No more silence.

 

Guest writer David Griffith returns with another blog post from his Muddy Boots series: The Dog Fence.

We have had three dogs since moving to New Hope in 1993: Duncan, Piper, and our current Clover. We installed a Dog Fence with Duncan to allow him to roam the property without a leash, chase the deer and squirrels on an even footing, and give us peace of mind when outside. 

It is remarkable how well they work once the dog is trained. A beep goes off a few feet from the wire that marks the perimeter, and the dog stops, not wanting to have the mild reminder from the collar shock. 

It works well unless it is cut. Over the 30 years I must have spliced the wire 75 times. Sometimes, a lawn mower would catch the ground, sometimes edging the plant beds, sometimes a tree roots, to the point where a rainstorm could short the wire, sending a beeping signal to the panel. The challenge is finding the break first, repair, and test. The process sometimes would take 20 minutes, sometimes 20 hours.

Last week was one of the 20-hour sessions, and I had had enough. I called Invisible Fence, and we scheduled to replace the old wire field with a new one. Today, it is getting installed. OK, so where am I going with this?

Sometimes, we repair a broken system; while it works, it is still broken. Any rational person would have replaced the fence years ago. We hang on to our old way more than we like to admit. As I step away from the Episcopal Community Service ( ECS) and look at the systems designed to address poverty throughout the City of Philadelphia, I see many spliced wires and systems that break or don’t really change lives or, worse still, put people at risk.

This is why ECS took on a brain science-based coaching methodology to address long-term intergenerational poverty, which we call MindSet, and social and emotional learning with our Out of School Time ( OST) children. To do the best job of helping people gain economic mobility, you need to fix broken systems, and sometimes that is a replacement. We continue to use a broken system for many built-in reasons, but none warrant continuation if they don’t drive long-term change. 

I am proud of ECS and our partners who have decided to take on the heavy lift and drive transformation rather than keep repairing the broken fences. We work through direct programs and services and advocate for public policy to change where it impacts people adversely. 

Sometimes, you have to say “enough” and fix the fence. 

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