1: Fred Kofman was writing. So was his wife. Who was sitting next to him.

She asked him if he wanted something to drink.

“Yes,” I told her, he recalls in his book The Meaning Revolution. “Some soda water, thank you.”

“Right away, as soon as I send this e-mail,” she responded.

As Fred waited for her to get him a drink, he “felt a deeper sense of thirst … continue reading

1: It was a bright, sunny November morning in 2010.

“Qantas Airways Flight 32 took off from Singapore en route to Sydney,” Fred Kofman writes in his book The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

As pilot Richard de Crespigny flew the plane to eight thousand feet, he heard a loud boom. Then, a crashing sound.

“One of the engines had caught fire,” Fred writes. “The ensuing … continue reading

1: “Sorry I’m late. My other meeting ran over.”

How many times have we heard these words?

How many times have we said these words?

The message we are sending is: “Don’t blame me. If my previous meeting had finished earlier, I would have been on time,” Fred Kofman writes in his book The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

There may be truth to our statement. And … continue reading

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: Michi, Fred Kofman‘s then seven-year-old daughter, saw him packing for a business trip.  

“Please, Daddy, don’t go,” she begged.

“I was tempted,” Fred recalls in his book The Meaning Revolution, “to give her a perfunctory and dismissive response like ‘I wish I could, sweetie, but Daddy has to work.'”

But that’s not what he said.  Fred paused for a moment.  He would be traveling to the headquarters … continue reading

1: “Eliciting people’s internal commitment to pursue a common goal is the job of every leader,” writes Fred Kofman in his terrific book The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

We seek “the internal commitment of our followers to pursue a common goal, giving the best of themselves because they want to, because they find it intrinsically valuable beyond external incentives.” 

So how do we do that? 

“By … continue reading

1: Management author Daniel Pink observes: “When it comes to motivation, the only reason to put money on the table is to take the issue of money off the table.”

What exactly does that mean?

Monetary and material rewards are “hygiene factors,” says management psychologist Frederick Herzberg.  Their “absence or unfairness can cause people to disengage, but their presence doesn’t make them feel engaged.”

Which is something most leaders … 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: Amy, a millennial, had just graduated from college.  She was hired as a telesales representative at a software firm.

Amy took the job, knowing it wasn’t a “career job.”  But she needed to pay her rent, Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution.

“Her job was to cold-call people who had previously used the company’s software to sell them a new product,” Fred writes. 

Her compensation?  $20 per … 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