What’s
Tandem Flying got to do
with business?
There was a time that many of us were taught to “go
it alone” and “be self sufficient”.
I should know—I learned the virtues of Yankee ingenuity
from top-notch business school experiences. My, how times
have changed.
Today, I believe it’s nearly impossible
and too time-consuming to find dream jobs, create new
product offerings, retain great customers, and exceed
personal goals through these virtues. I find that leaders
are looking for ways to build deeper connections and collaborative
experiences with their employees, partners, and customers.
Much like tandem flying, collaboration is really “taking
off” in today’s progressive organizations.
When Napoleon Hill published Think and
Grow Rich in 1937, who would have thought that his idea
around building MasterMind groups would still be so powerful?
He defines collaboration, or “masterminding”,
as “Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit
of harmony, between 2 or more people, for the attainment
of a definite purpose.” For over 20 years, he studied
the best-kept success secrets from legendary figures such
as Andrew Carnegie, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, and
Charles Schwab, to name a few.
For the past decade, savvy purchasing
executives have created more frictionless, collaborative,
one-stop buying models. Frank Cespedes, author of Concurrent
Marketing, studied that trend for five years. He found
that across industries, the average number of suppliers
per procurement category declined by an average of 8%
per year from 1988 to 1993. Half of the entities on the
proverbial “vendor lists” surveyed were eliminated
within five years. The concept behind supplier reduction
and supply chain management are excellent examples of
the ROI companies can achieve through collaborative thinking,
mutual support, and differentiation.
Look at how collaboration has helped—or
harmed—aviation pioneers. On one end of the spectrum,
behold the Wright Brothers. Wilbur and Orville put their
airplane inventions on hold for 5 years until they had
solid patents in place. They were notorious for their
monopolistic, litigious thinking and proceeded with a
lawsuit against anyone’s unauthorized use of lateral
control on their airplanes—including inventor Glenn
Curtiss.
Conversely, Glenn Curtiss believed in
collaboration and shared his information with other inventors.
Once he chose to contest the Wrights' suit, Curtiss found
himself in a four-year legal battle, draining the financial
and emotional resources of both parties. Lawyers attempted
unsuccessfully to bring Curtiss and the Wrights together
for an amicable settlement, but they chose to slug it
out. The onset of World War I delayed the litigation and
global impact of this patent dogfight.
What's the lesson here?
In retrospect, historians believe the Curtiss v. Wright
legal imbroglio may have delayed the United States’
market leadership in aerospace. The ultimate irony is
that the two mighty names eventually merged to form Curtiss-Wright
Corporation!
As I work with clients and attend business
conferences, I find very few companies successfully creating
collaborative groups that foster team growth and drive
market leadership. One seasoned “second in command”
executive from a $150M technology firm recently told me
that most companies, including his, have cut expenses
so deeply that they now leave professional development
in the hands of their employees. Sadly, he’s forced
to deal with the aftermath of those decisions. He often
finds himself dragged into petty behavioral infractions
that his own managers don’t know how to address!
In our own business and personal endeavors,
we all have the choice of flying solo or tandem.
I recently researched the business benefits
of tandem flying. Of the 10 consultants and coaches I
surveyed, EIGHT were members of a MasterMind/Tandem group
at one time or another, and shared very positive breakthroughs
with their business. I quickly learned that the intentions
behind these groups are not about sharing leads. Plenty
of groups exist for that purpose (Le Tip, Rotary, trade
associations, etc.). That’s what convinced me to
launch my own Tandem Flying/MasterMind group.
What's in it for me when I fly
tandem--What's possible?
Here are the immediate benefits I’m experiencing
through the two groups I’ve created or joined. Test
yourself to see if you realize these benefits in your
own current business community:
