To become a transcendent leader, we must understand what truly motivates people.

Author and leadership expert Fred Kofman believes there are four levers leaders must utilize to capture the hearts and minds of their team members.  

Yesterday, we looked at the power of purpose.  Today, we detail three other powerful tools transcendent leaders tap into to build inspired organizations: Principles, People, and Autonomy.

First up: Principles.  

“As a culture architect,” … continue reading

1: A daycare center in Israel wanted to encourage parents to pick up their kids on time.  Teachers were upset because they were regularly late getting home to their families.

“More and more of the parents,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution, “were coming late to pick up their kids, regardless of the appeals of the woman who ran the center.”

Imagine being the daycare center director.  What … continue reading

1: Imagine working for an organization with a strong and deep workplace culture. We love our job and our company. Our work has purpose and meaning. Leaders walk the talk regarding integrity and doing the right thing. We feel a sense of belonging and connection with our colleagues and have autonomy in our work.

“How much more would another firm, known for its toxic culture, dysfunctional employees, soul-crushing work, obsessive … continue reading

1: “Germans are extremely proud of their engineers—particularly those in the car industry, which is home to stellar high-export brands like Daimler, BMW, and Porsche,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

Martin Winterkorn, the future and now former CEO of Volkswagen, is an “intelligent, ambitious overachiever,” Fred notes, earning a PhD in physics from Germany’s acclaimed Max Planck Institute.

Martin got … continue reading

1: Author Fred Kofman was leading a leadership seminar at a chemical company.

“I love molecules!” Boris (not his real name) exclaimed with humorous exasperation.   “Molecules are so well behaved. You apply a certain amount of heat and a certain amount of pressure to them, and you know exactly what they are going to do.” 

Everyone laughed.  

“The problem,” he went on, “is that I did so well managing molecules … continue reading

1: McKinsey consultants asked a CEO how much time he spent managing other people’s egos. 

Probably 20 to 30 percent of the time, he answered.

Then, they asked him what percent of time people spent managing his ego.

Silence.  

“Beyond the anecdote,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence, “the research is clear: When CEOs are asked if they act as a … continue reading

1: To change workplace culture, the best CEOs survey team members to understand how engaged they are and how well they know the organization’s vision and strategy.

The first metric to measure? Will associates fill out the survey?

At Eaton Corporation, the power management technology company, former CEO Sandy Cutler and his team achieved a spectacular 96 percent participation rate on their voluntary survey across 175 countries and in 37 … continue reading

1: “Culture can be a hard topic to get one’s head around,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.

Perhaps the best definition comes from Marvin Bower, McKinsey & Company‘s former managing director, who said culture is “the way we do things around here.” 

Which is why the world’s best … continue reading

1: The year was 2012.  DBS, a large Asian bank headquartered in Singapore, had a problem.  Card skimmers had hacked into their ATMs.  Money was being stolen. 

CEO Piyush Gupta moved quickly to identify how the breach had happened.  

“The problem was traced to a decision made by a junior operations colleague,” Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra write in CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That … continue reading

1: Not as much as we might think.

“Like an iceberg, salary and benefits are the visible part,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

“But they comprise less than 15 percent of our motivation,” he notes.

The research shows that 85 percent of the reasons we are engaged at work lie below the surface.  

“And that part,” Fred notes, “is composed of respect, … continue reading