“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”
– Helen Keller
One of the truly remarkable tours of duty I had during my Navy career was with a small group of highly motivated doctors and pharmacists from all 3 services – Army, Navy, and Air Force. These professionals were all hand-picked to join a newly formed team which was directed to reduce the escalating cost of prescription medications provided for all Department of Defense (DOD) active duty (Army, Navy and Air Force) and family members without decreasing quality of care. At that time there were over 8 million men, women and children eligible for prescription medications throughout DOD. The annual cost was over $5 billion and climbing.
Our boss, Tom, was a brilliant, hard-working, and extremely passionate leader who was highly respected by all. Tom cared for us and we cared for him. We were a tight group – we treated each other as family. His passion was contagious and a culture of caring and hard work was quickly established. We were poised for success. Because I was senior to other members of the team, Tom selected me to be his deputy.
The idea of creating a team to bend the cost curve for the entire DOD pharmacy benefit was novel. While the team shared a genuine passion for this noble and ambitious undertaking, short term wins were far and few between.
Pessimism creeps in…
Within a few weeks there was an increasing sense of frustration among the group. Every morning we’d meet with Tom to share the progress or, more accurately, lack of progress with our respective projects. There were an increasing number of sarcastic comments. All joined in, including Tom and me. While many provided a quick laugh, one could feel the energy and passion dissipate like air slowing leaking from a balloon.
Then frustration creeps in!
Tom’s level of frustration could be easily read on his face. As days and weeks passed, the morning meeting would start with Tom entering the room with an increasingly worried and scowling look on his face. We’d grind through the morning meeting and return to our desks drained of any temporary energy the morning cups of coffee mercifully offered.
Fortunately, another of Tom’s remarkable attributes as a leader was his humility. Despite being brilliant on a number of topics, Tom was humble. He would listen. Knowing this, I decided to talk to Tom about reversing the spiraling situation.
We talked the next day about the culture of pessimism that we were creating. More importantly, we discussed how the pessimism and sarcasm were sucking the creative juices from the team. Over a hand shake we agreed to help each other curb our negativity and find and focus more on the good things that were happening. We weren’t going to ignore the challenges we faced. We also weren’t going to continue to mire in them.
The culture turns…and success followed. We saved DOD $100 million annually!
The culture slowly improved. Success came slower but, when it came, it was stunning. Within 18 months, the team was saving DoD over $100 million annually with no decrements in quality. The unit became a center of excellence within the pharmaceutical industry.
Tom and I remain very close friends to this day. While our paths don’t cross as often as we’d like, when they do, we fondly reminisce about that tour of duty. While we agree there were many reasons for the team’s overwhelming success, we unequivocally agree that the primary reason was our resolution and handshake to be more optimistic. We both stuck to our agreement and great things happened.
The ability to maintain an optimistic demeanor regardless of what life throws at us takes a lot energy and discipline. I believe that when we as leaders appreciate the profound impact our attitudes have on others, and more importantly overall team performance, we will more likely maintain an optimistic demeanor during those crucible moments. We’ll never be perfect – the goal is to lower the likelihood of going down the wrong path when we’re at our weakest and susceptible to pessimism.
The leader sets the tone…
Bottom line: in meetings, the leader needs to finesse the “flow” of the meeting to ensure the language stays somewhat positive. It’s easy for people to focus on the negative. While it is imperative that challenges/issues/problems get addressed, it is equally imperative that mention is made of those things that are going well.
My suggestion is to start and end all meetings with a bit of a review of things that are going well. The middle of the meeting is a good time to address the tough challenges. The objective for a leader in running meetings is to address the issues without crushing morale. If your staff is coming out of meetings more motivated than when they went in – you’re winning as a leader.
Be a great leader and lead with optimism!
Enjoy the journey!
Mark