1: “A lot of leaders are rowing a boat. They’re bringing everyone along with them, and saying, ‘Come follow me,'” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution.

“But the way I’ve seen Jeff Weiner (Executive Chairman of LinkedIn) and other great leaders do it, they’ll go and get on a surfboard. They don’t say, ‘Follow me.’ They say, ‘Come join us on this huge wave.'”

What’s the difference … 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: Question one: “How can we build a real, honest, human foundation for an enterprise—one that is so trustworthy that people will give just about anything to be part of it?” writes Fred Kofman in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership. 

Question two: “Then, when everyone is committed, how do we work together effectively to win as a team?”

Who is a real-life leader who not only … 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

“The wicked leader is he whom the people despise.  The good leader is he whom the people revere. The great leader is he of whom the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.'” —Lao Tzu 

1: Is there a difference between rowing and sailing?

You bet there is.

“A boat moved by mere muscle is no match for one moved by wind,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: … 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

1: What exactly is the “parenthood paradox”? 

Research shows that most parents of grown-up children are very happy they’ve had them, Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution.

Yet, parents still living with children in the home score low on happiness.

So what’s going on here?

“It seems that raising kids decreases happiness but increases meaning,” Fred observes.

Which suggests a higher-level insight: “Happiness and meaning often build on … continue reading

1: It’s a three-dimensional world.  However, many leaders lead in a single dimension.

Imagine an organization as a three-dimensional space.  We call the three dimensions “It,” “We,” and “I,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

The “It” dimension refers to the tasks, systems, and processes that make up the company. 

“It” is about increasing sales, reducing costs, gaining market share, and growing shareholder … continue reading

1: “Just as every object can be measured in length, width, and depth, every organization can be measured in terms of It, We, and I,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.

We begin by imagining a company as a three-dimensional space.  We call the three dimensions “It,” “We,” and “I,”

The “It” dimension refers to the tasks, systems, and processes that make up … continue reading

1: Life can change in a minute.

It was February 18, 2004.  Mark Bertolini, a senior executive at Aetna, the giant health insurance company, was skiing with his family in Killington, Vermont. 

Mark lost control of his skis, crashed into a tree, and then fell into a ravine, breaking his neck.

While Mark healed rapidly from the fall, he was in constant pain.

“His doctors prescribed traditional painkillers that … continue reading