Doing What Matters
August 28, 2009
I was helping my mom clean out her office over the weekend and I found some books that she had stashed in a box labeled “Work”. While I was pulling out the books from the box to place on her bookshelf a book fell to the floor. The book was titled, “Doing What Matters: How to Get Results That Make a Difference” by James M. Kilts. Of course this sparked my interest and I asked my mom if I could borrow it. What I found out is that James Kilts is the former chairman & CEO of Gillette Company, and prior to that, CEO of Nabisco and Kraft. In the book, James Kilts talks about developing people. The story that stood out for me was:
“One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is to create the right environment and then give the employees development opportunities that enable them to realize their full potential. I like to use an analogy that I heard some years ago of the Japanese carp, known as the koi, to make the point.
![KOI2[1]](http://thefuturevalueofbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/KOI21.jpg)
The fascinating thing about the koi is that if you keep it in a small fish bowl, it will grow to be only about two to three inches long. Place the koi in a larger tank or small pond and it will reach six to ten inches. Put it in a large pond, and it may get as long as a foot and a half. However, if you put it in a huge lake where it can really stretch out, it has the potential to reach sizes up to three feet.
People, like the koi, will grow to the dimensions of their boundaries. Fortunately, unlike koi, we have the advantage of helping our people select their boundaries. And it is the leader’s job to set the kind of boundaries that allow people to reach their full potential.”
After reading, I thought that is what we do at LÛCRUM! We give our employees ample development opportunities to realize their full potential. Some of the opportunities are: project management, Lunch and Learn workshops, Resource Lead opportunities, Initiative Team Leads, Newsletter contributions, continuous training, etc. I could go on and on.
I think our employees are fortunate to be koi in the LÛCRUM Lake.