What a leadership story is and is not

- Just because you can give a good speech or make a good presentation, doesn't mean you can tell a good story. You know, not every compelling set of words that comes out of your mouth is a story. A story is something special. Now, stated simply, a story is a narrative about something interesting that happened to someone. Now, what that means is a real story will have these six attributes. A time, a place, a main character, that main character will have a goal, there'll be an obstacle getting in the way of that goal, and there should be events that transpire along the way and resolve themselves nicely in the end. Now, to help you tell the difference between an actual leadership story and other kinds of communication, I put a short quiz in the exercise files for this course. Now, it has three short narratives, and your job is to identify which ones are actual stories and which ones are not. And it's not as easy as you might think. Until you can tell the difference between a real leadership story and something posing as one, you'll never be able to craft one yourself. So, try the quizzes out, and see how you do. But before then, let me give you an example of one of my favorite leadership stories so you can see what I'm talking about. In 1971, Bob McDonald was a first year cadet at the US Military Academy in West Point. And he learned pretty quickly that there were only four acceptable answers to any question asked by a superior officer. Yes sir, no sir, I don't understand sir, and no excuse sir. Now, the example he gives is, imagine I've shined my shoes, and my trousers are pressed, and I go out to formation. Now, while I'm standing there in line, one of my classmates runs past and steps in a puddle and splashes mud all over my shoes and trousers. And then an upperclassman walks by and notices, and says, McDonald, why are you in formation with mud all over your shoes and trousers? Now, I've got to go through all four possible answers in my head. Now, I could say yes sir, but that would just restate the obvious. I could say no sir, but that's not even true, and I'd get thrown out of the academy for lying. Now, I could say I don't understand sir, but that would just make me look stupid, and I was doing a good enough job of that already. So, the only answer I had left was the fourth one. And it's the most powerful one of all. No excuse sir. Now, even when something happened to me that was outside of my control, I wasn't supposed to make any excuses. I was supposed to say, no excuse sir. It won't happen again. That's how a West Point cadet takes responsibility, which is an important part of character. Well, Bob was reminded that lesson 13 years later when he and his wife were discussing what to do about their six-year-old daughter, Jenny. Now, they just couldn't see to get her to clean her room. And so at one point, they marched into Jenny's room to give her a good reprimand. And now, Bob said, Jenny, we'd like to talk to you about the condition of your room. But before he could even get to his second sentence, Jenny looked up at him, and with all the seriousness of a West Point cadet said, "No excuse, Dad. "It won't happen again." She'd obviously been listening to him tell his West Point stories. Now, Bob and his wife just stood there in awkward silence. Dumbfounded, really. Trying to figure out what to say next. With those seven simple words, Jenny had acknowledged the state of her room, taken responsibility for it, and promised not to let it happen again. There was really nothing left to say, so they kissed their little girl on the cheek, and left her to clean her room. Now, for decades after that, Bob shared that story with his leaders to teach them the same lesson, including in his tenure as the CEO and chairman of the largest consumer products company in the world, Procter and Gamble. Now, in that role, one of his primary responsibilities was to set stretching goals and objectives for the company, and to get all 127,000 employees committed to delivering them You know, truly committing to a goal means that if it isn't met, you take responsibility for it, and promise to get it done. The no excuse sir response is a clear indication of commitment and responsibility. And it works just as well in the business world as it does in the military academy, or in parenting a six-year-old. And it works for the boss just as much as it does for the subordinate. When the boss hears, no excuse, however it's articulated, she can be certain that her subordinate is taking responsibility, and is still committed to the goal. For the direct report, the disarming no excuse response spares him a lengthy reprimand from the boss. Just like it spared Jenny. So, when I say a leadership story, I really do mean a story about something that happened to someone that other people can learn from. It's not just a clever speech or a great presentation.