CEO Coaching: The Power of Repetition
I’m currently reading War by Bob Woodward. In it, he describes how Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin begins each meeting on the war in Ukraine by emphasizing their “North Stars” — the key objectives. Each meeting.
Great leaders know how to stay focused on key objectives.
I “grew up” (sort of!) as a member of the management team at Kinko’s. Back in 1985, one of our key advisors, Dr. John Davis, urged us to formalize our guiding principles. Our founder, Paul Orfalea, shares this story in his book, Copy This. We ended up with a guiding document that was more of a manifesto than a simple statement — wordy, yes, but deeply meaningful to those of us who created it. I’ve included the text below.
What Paul insisted upon was that we start every meeting by reciting this philosophy. We all carried plastic cards with the printed principles, and eventually, most of us knew it by heart. I haven’t looked at it in years, but I can still recite most of it by memory.
These stories illustrate the power of repetition. Repetition creates alignment and focus. As a leader, if you’re not getting a little tired of hearing your own stories and mantras, it’s a sign you’re not repeating them enough!
Get the message right — then keep saying it.
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Kinko’s Philosophy, circa 1985
Our primary objective is to take care of our customers. We are proud of our ability to serve him or her in a timely and helpful manner, and to provide high quality at a reasonable price. We develop long-term relationships that promote mutual growth and prosperity. We value creativity, productivity, and loyalty, and we encourage independent thinking and teamwork.
Our co-workers are the foundation of our success. We consider ourselves part of the Kinko’s family. We trust and care for each other and treat everyone with respect. We openly communicate our accomplishments and mistakes so we can learn from each other. We strive to live balances lives in work, love, and play. We are confident of our future and point with pride to the way we run our business and treat each other.
coaches CEOs to higher levels of success. He is a former CEO and has led teams as large as 7,000 people. Todd is the author of, Never Kick a Cow Chip On A Hot Day: Real Lessons for Real CEOs and Those Who Want To Be (Morgan James Publishing).
Connect with Todd on LinkedIn, Twitter, call 303-527-0417 or email [email protected].
