Cultivating an Innovative Organization
The Power of Resilience in Leadership
Pat Christen, President & CEO, HopeLab
Hawai‘i Leadership ForumNovember 12, 2013 / Honolulu
What spurs innovation?
What spurs innovation?
• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance
What spurs innovation?
• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance
Curiosity
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”– Albert Einstein
Bette GrahamBad typst typist and inventor of Liquid PaperCuriosity
Curiosity
Mary AndersonKeen observer of streetcar operations,
inventor of the windshield wiper
What spurs innovation?
• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance
“I failed my way to success.” - Thomas Edison,
failure expert, inventorWillingness to fail & learn
Willingness to fail & learn
Tablet devicesMore than 20 years of flops before the iPad
iPad
Willingness to fail & learn Julia ChildChef, author, TV host, lifelong experimenter of culinary arts
What spurs innovation?
• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance
FutureCube brainstormHopeLab R&D team at MLOVE
Lots of ideas
Lots of ideas
Julie TaymorGroundbreaking theater and film director
Lots of ideas
Thomas JeffersonPioneering politician, philosopher, farmer and inventor
Lots of ideas
Leonardo da Vinci13,000 pages of notes on art, anatomy and engineering
What spurs innovation?
• Curiosity• Willingness to fail & learn• Lots of ideas• Perseverance
Diana NyadSuccessful 5th attempt to swim Cuba to Florida
Perseverance
Apollo 13 Moon MissionSuccessfully returned to Earth after disaster in space
Perseverance
J.K. RowlingWrote her first book while living out of her car,
more than 400 million books sold to date
Perseverance
Harriett “Moses” TubmanAbolitionist, Union spy, suffragette
Perseverance
How do we buildour capacity for
curiosity,failure and learning,
ideationand perseverance?
We each have a superpower.
Resilience noun. The ability to bounce back from adversity.
Resilience =
PurposeConnection
Control Capt. “Sully” SullenbergerHudson River crash landing, 2009
Purpose
A far-reaching steady goal; something personally
meaningful that reaches out into the world.
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how.’” – Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Purpose
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln
Purpose
Connection
Authentic relationship with others,
a sense of belonging, the opposite of loneliness.
Connection
“Although we like to think of ourselves as mythic individualists, we are fundamentally social organisms.”
– John Cacioppo, social neuroscientist
Connection“You have – within you – the fuel to thrive and to flourish, and to leave this world in better shape than you found it. You tap into it whenever you feel connected to others and loved.”
– Barbara Fredrickson, social psychologist
Control
Our belief in our power to affect our destinies, the engine
of motivation.
Malala YousafzaiStudent and girls’ rights activist, survivor of Taliban assassination attempt
Control
Aron RalstonOutdoorsmanControl
Derek RedmondOlympic sprinterView footage on YouTube
What is your unique role
as a leader in cultivating resilience?
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create
the experience of belonging in all the places where
people come together to get something done – our
meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes, all
those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and
decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
– Peter Block
What is belonging?Longing to be – to find our deeper purpose
“‘Being’ is to find our deeper purpose in all that we do.”
To be related and to be part of something “To belong is to know, even in the middle of the night, that I am among friends.”
A sense of being an owner “What I consider mine I will build and nurture.”
Belonging supports resilience
Resilience – the ability to bounce back from
adversity, injury or insult – is cultivated through a sense of:PURPOSE
CONNECTION
CONTROL
Cultivating belongingLonging to be – to find our deeper purpose
“‘Being’ is to find our deeper purpose in all that we do.”
To be related and to be part of something “To belong is to know, even in the middle of the night, that I am among friends.”
A sense of being an owner “What I consider mine I will build and nurture.”
PURPOSE
CONNECTION
CONTROL
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural
ways to create the experience of belonging in
all the places where people come together to get something
done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning
processes, all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect
on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
– Peter Block
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the experience of belonging …”
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the
experience of belonging in all the places where people
come together to get something done – our
meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning
processes, all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect
on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
– Peter Block
“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”
“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”
“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”
“… in all the places where people come together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues, conferences, planning processes … ”
“Our job as leaders is to provide structural ways to create the
experience of belonging in all the places where people come
together to get something done – our meetings, dialogues,
conferences, planning processes, all those gatherings
where we assemble to reflect on and decide
the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
– Peter Block
“… all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
“… all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
“… all those gatherings where we assemble to reflect on and decide the kind of future we want for ourselves.”
Warning!
Warning!
You can be innovative, resilient and create belonging – and be a terrorist, cult leader or virus.
Warning!
You can be innovative, resilient and create belonging – and be a terrorist, cult leader or virus.
Compassion
Recognizing suffering in others and
acting to alleviate that suffering.
Integrity
Keeping the promises you make
to yourself and others.
Innovative, generative leaders cultivate
resilience, create a sense of belonging
and act with compassion and
integrity.
This is not easy.
Two case studies for your considertation …
This is not easy.
Two case studies for your consideration …
Case Study #1
Hancock Bank
Hurricane Katrina, 2005
Hancock Bank
Hurricane Katrina, 200590 of 103 Hancock branches destroyed
No electricity, no computersNo account data
Hancock Bank: Back to PurposeCompany Values
• Honor & Integrity• Strength & Stability• Commitment to Service• Teamwork• Personal Responsibility
Hancock Bank: Back to Purpose
From ATMs to Card Tables
• Sign your name• Give your address• Give your SS#• Get $200
$42 Million$42 million given outAll but $200K returned13K new accounts in 5 months
Case Study #2
Re-MissionGames for young cancer patients, from HopeLab
Designing tech to unlock resilience
Re-MissionGames for young cancer patients, from HopeLab
Re-MissionBoosts players’ sense of control, shifts attitudes, boosts positive emotion and improves health behavior
Re-MissionMore than 250,000 games in 82 countries
Victory!
To recap ……
Resilience is key to innovation.
Resilience enhances a sense of belonging – a key attribute cultivated by great leaders.
Resilience nurtured with integrity and compassion is an unstoppable force for good.
Resilience is key to innovation.
Resilience enhances a sense of belonging, a key attribute cultivated by great leaders.
Resilience nurtured with integrity and compassion is an unstoppable force for good.
Resilience is key to innovation.
Resilience is enhanced by a sense of belonging, a key attribute cultivated by great leaders.
Resilience nurtured with compassion and integrityis an unstoppable force for good.
If you cultivate resilience with compassion and integrity,
you will transform the world.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy… I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
― Martin Luther King, Jr.
Resilience is your superpower.
Time to put on your cape.
Mahalo.Pat Christen, President & CEO, HopeLab