The “protector of the corporate shield” is a trio comprised of the Board, the CEO and the Executive Team. I call it the Pivotal Leadership Trio™ — or PLT — and its members, who are all leaders, have responsibilities that go well beyond regulations.
The PLT is tasked with building a sustainable organization regardless of its future exit strategy, but the organization cannot be its only concern. It needs to build with a consciousness of how decisions, actions and communications affect the employees, the customers and partnerships it serves as well as the communities they impact. Once these leaders develop a purposeful commitment to “doing the right thing,” both personally and professionally, the concept of “business as usual” is elevated to a completely new level for the organization, its employees and everyone and everything it touches.
I support the PLT as it develops a future-facing vision, using the courage of their convictions, based on each individual team member’s core beliefs and values. Once the common vision, or harmony, is achieved, great things happen. The business becomes more efficient and effective — as everyone is not just on the same page, but on a page that everyone, from their very core, believes in, agrees with and can uncompromisingly be committed to.
The ensuing harmonization makes a huge impact: It gives leaders the courage to initiate the right change, it fosters dedication and pride for your business and community. And it makes bandaid solutions and back-pedalling distant memories, which is a relief for everyone.
About the PLT graphic:
Why the Circles?
I chose circles to represent the Pivotal Leadership Trio™ to demonstrate that the trio is core to the success of an organization. For each circle of the trio, there has to be balance in action and communication, clear accountability and harmony between all groups. Since a circle has no visible beginning nor an end, there are countless ways of tapping into the potential of each trio circle and restore balance.
A circle has power and energy. It represents a sphere for creation. It can be thought of a container where the center is not altered by external influences. I identify with its shape to help organizations sustain momentum with great resolve to align with one succinct vision and mission. The circles suggest that the trio needs to have constant awareness of its center and it benefits by examining its behaviors to see how they breakdown or increase the unity of an organization.
Additionally, circles are common-sense approach for both conducting meeting and facilitating less formal gatherings in a way that encourages high involvement of all stakeholders in assessing, planning and implementing culture change, engenders mutual respect among participants, builds a sense of community and facilitates both personal and organizational transformation.
When a critical number of people change how they think and behave, the culture will also. Jean Shinoda Bolen M.D.
Why the Parabola Shape through the three circles?
A parabola is one of the most elegant forms in nature. Every path made by a thrown ball, every sprout of water from a fountain, and every graceful arch of steel cables in a suspension bridge is a parabola.
The parabola represents the epitome of a quest. It is a curving line that sails outward and returns with a new expansion – and perhaps with a new content. It is the metaphorical journey to a particular point, and then back home, along a similar path perhaps, but in a different direction, after which the traveler is essentially, irrevocable changed.
Parabolas have an unusual and useful property: as in a satellite dish, all beams of energy (e.g. light or radio waves) reflect on the parabola’s face and gather at one point. That point is called the focus. Parabola Magazine, Fall 2006 Edition