In his best-selling book Drive, author Daniel H. Pink shares the story of Clare Booth Luce, playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador and one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Congress. Ms. Luce, sensing that then-president John F. Kennedy was tackling too many initiatives, was concerned that his presidency would be judged unremarkable by future generations unless he focused on a few big ideas.  She told him, “A great man is a sentence” and offered these examples:

Abraham Lincoln: “He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.”

Franklin Roosevelt:  “He lifted us out of a great depression and helped us win a world war.”

Mr. Pink asserts that personal sentences aren’t reserved for the politically powerful.  He suggests creating your own sentence (example: “She taught three generations of school children how to read”) and then asking yourself each night “Was I better today than yesterday.”  That’s personal motivation (for more ideas on creating your own personal sentence, go to:  http://www.danpink.com/archives/2010/10/whats-your-sentence-the-movie)

Organizations can have their “sentence” too – we know them as vision or mission statements or even a marketing tagline such as these memorable ones:

Nike:             “Just do it.”

Avis:             “We try harder.”

Apple:           “Think different.”

BMW:            “The ultimate driving machine.”

 

 

Putting the Ideas into Action

OK – so how can managers use the “sentence” (and the end-of-the-day question “Were we better today than yesterday?”) to engage associates and drive measurable results?

Here are a few thoughts and suggestions:

  1. Add a tagline specific to your work group that supports your organizational sentence
  2. Print laminated cards for everyone with the sentence on one side and question on the other
  3. Reference the sentence and question often when you meet individually and as a group
  4. Reinforce associates and teams on-the-spot when you see them “living” the sentence
  5. Recognize those associates and teams each quarter who best lived the sentence