Think!, LLC

Time to start thinking for ourselves December 24, 2010

Over the last several months I have develop quite a problem with Franklin Covey. Let me tell you a story.

Recently there have been discussing here about walking the talk. How important is it? The idea is we can just teach this material but don’t really have to live by it. We all know that’s insane.

If I’m going to deliver a workshop everything I teach must be material I believe is true, has scientific backing and also I have integrated it into my life. With this highly personal type of workshops, integrity is essential. If the participants sense you don’t believe what you are teaching and/or don’t live by it they will get nothing from your presentation.

We have to be committed body, mind and soul. Does that me we are perfect? No. Last time I check the only perfect man lived about two thousand years ago and we are about to celebrate His birth.

I find my stories of my failures and success make great material for the workshop. The participants learn I’m human just like them. I work hard, and get it right and get it wrong. These personal stories seem to touch people more than anything. I shows how I struggle but don’t give up. It shows I practice what I’m preaching warts and all.

Just to give a very short bio, I started teaching in 1994 when they were the Covey Leadership Center. Those were the days. I have lived through three major upgrades of the three day workshop. I lobbied endlessly for the creation of a one day workshop with one new stunning video. This would be aimed at frontline workers. I ran a large theatre chain at the time and turn over of frontline staff was common. Training dollars had to be spent well.

I beta tested the class and help fine tune it into its final form. McDonald’s was involved as well. A wonderful video was made. Legacy. How to Live, Learn, Love and Leave a Legacy. It was so good I worked with the Covey Leadership Center to transfer it to 35mm film and ran it before the show in all my theatres. No charge!

I won an award that was for employees of CLC only. It is the “Principle Centered Leadership Award from the Covey Leadership Center. It is a wonderful compass and I collect compasses so it was just wonderful. I was so glad my efforts were not going unacknowledged.

I was profiled for Stephen’s book Living the 7 Habits. My company was included as well with examples of how we used the material to improve relationships and create a better product.

In these days there was no Covey Planner. Franklin had that market. Their time management system was different so I’m sure Covey looked at them as a real roadblock to growth. I have no problem with growth but I have to ask, were the real ends in mind really thought out where this merger was concerned? Were all scenarios considered and the negative ones pushed very hard.

In business these kinds of moments are not for the faint of heart, wishful thinkers or those who “believe” it will work out. We all believed in Santa once didn’t we? Where was the empirical evidence.  All we had was anecdotal reports, vague answers from our parents and the pressure of a societal belief system. We would try and perform our own experiments. Leave notes, bake cookies, try to wait up; you know the drill. With all this I swear I heard the reindeer on the roof! Belief is a powerful elements behind our actions.

So needless to say I have a long and involved relationship with what is now called Franklin Covey (FC). I really though we had a truthful relationship. I believed FC walked the talk. When I sold my company I was granted a public license through my foundation that allowed me to continue teaching at will. I worked hard to get the program in public and Catholic schools. I tried to show how these principles could be used to solve public policy issues in city governments and was involved with the effort to turn Kansas City into a “Principle Centered Community.” Oh, and I’d meet Dr. Covey several times.

Recently I found all this doesn’t matter anymore. I also am a writer and producer of feature films for cable TV and direct to video sales. I have learned that it is impossible to make a feature film then get it released through Stars or Lionsgate but I’ve done it 4 times. Not bragging just making the point no dream is too big.

My problem with FC and the 7 Habits is the science. Current science doesn’t support the concept of stimulus and response. It dawned on me that proactivity only exists in our minds. We can’t be proactive except in the realm of remembering to change The car oil, set the home alarm, buy insurance, etc. and that all still reeks of simple control. If you are in an emotional conflict with someone finding a place to interject proactivity can be impossible. Determinism can’t be blamed because it has been discredited too. If you get made when Bill comes around bragging about all the new accounts he’s brought in and you want to stand up and break his nose, that’s driven by neuro-wiring. When the neurons follow a time worn path to the same conclution it is because we can’t help it. To override that programing is like hacking into Nasa. You can do it but it isn’t easy and unless you understand system architecture the access to Nasa will be blocked forever.

Now that I have your attention I want you to take a deep breath, calm yourself and just think about it. Change the wiring you change the reaction. It isn’t “Be Proactive” it is “Take Initiative.” You must want to change (like a smoker) then retrain your brain to truly respond differently because the new wiring works that way!

What got me to thinking about this is how FC has treated me lately. I was doing fine and then approached by a FC employee. He said they didn’t have a facilitator in the Kansas City (mid-west) area. Would I like to do that? I said yes if I can solicit and present public programs. That was OK. Now, I’m humming along getting re-certified on both the new 1 day and 3 day workshops. Things have come a long way since 1994. I got info up on my website. I used FC verbiage so as not to misrepresent anything. My biggest stumbling block was cost to participants. The American Management Association (AMA) now runs all of the FC public workshops. All of the facilitator work for FC but the AMA administers the programs.

Needless to say I set up m website with FC stuff and sent out mailings and all and what I got for my money and time was a nasty letter from the FC legal department telling me to “cease and desists” any use of 7 Habits. Now I could teach but I could tell anyone I could.

To cut a long story short, when I finally talked to the regional manager of FC I used my Dr. GRAC to start working toward a synergistic solution and FC would even talk about going there. Sure they kept saying win/win as long as I lost and they won. So I finally went for the lose/win to get it over with.

I truly was aghast. FC couldn’t even use the material they sell with in their own organization. That is very sad.

Well, this all made me mad and when I get mad I like to channel my energy into something productive and positive that might hurt the company I’m dealing with.  So I did. I’m still deep into the study and research but after a serious survey of the 7 Habits compared to current scientific facts (and I’m reading scholarly publications and books, no pop culture junk, there are some gaping wholes in Dr. Covey’s ideas. These are flaws I saw a long time ago but just passed it off as people being upset when they are told they are responsible for their lives.

That’s about all I’m going to say about this for right now but I have assembled a team of professionals that are helping me because they desperately need to be able to explain neuroscience in a simple and direct way. We’ll get there and you will be amazed.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year