Introduction to Core Polaris Principle™ of True-North Strategic Team Alignment

The Principles, Power and Promise of Strategic Team Alignment

the marketing store worldwide, L.P. | Ken Hicks, SVP, Client Service Director

701 East 22nd Street | Lombard, Illinois 60148 | Friday 16 September 2011

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Copyright © 2005-2011 Hillview Partners Network LLC | hillviewpartners.com | johnrdallasjr.com | 312.643.8000 | jrdallasjr@hillviewpartners.com

John R. Dallas, Jr. Introducing
Founder and Chief Alignment Officer (CAO)
Hillview Partners Network LLC
Consultants | Coaches | Speakers
jrdallasjr@hillviewpartners.com
John Dallas
hillviewpartners.com
weneedtohaveaword.com Today’s Guide for Our
johnrdallasjr.com HILL-Climbing Expedition
A Vantage Point to Your Advantage™

 Since 2005 leading Hillview, a network of independent professionals in fields of strategic alignment
 President since 1974 of five prior technology-based B2B and B2C service companies:
1. Chicago Title Credit Services, Inc., Chicago / consumer and commercial credit data services
2. CreditComm Services LLC, Fairfax, VA (DC area) / consumer credit data services
3. Market Access Resources Corp., New York / consumer credit data services
4. Group Concepts Capital Corp., New York / consumer credit data services
5. National Business Intelligence Corp., New York / editorial services and electronic publishing
 Chairman, Advisory Board, UrbanPonics LLC, a hydroponics (soil-less) grower of produce and flowers
 Moderator, Greater Chicago Thought Leadership Forum (ThoughtForum) at Gleacher Center
 Leader in inclusive multicultural education and leadership development initiatives for business owners
 Keynote speaker, meeting moderator, workshop facilitator, interviewer, and panelist
 Guest lecturer at universities, colleges, and other schools
 Volunteer leadership in economic development, civic affairs, arts, education, and churches
 Majored in Journalism and Mass Communications, Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University,
continued studies in New York at Columbia University
2

22 years ago . . .

Inaugural meeting of All-Chapter Steering Committee for LEADS-Plus Network,
Tuesday 26 September 1989 at HQ of Market Access Resources Corp.
(MARCOR), Two Park Avenue, Manhattan. Left to right Rich Oren, Ken Hicks,
John Dallas, John Spiliotis, George-Louis Sotomayor, and Carolyn Reed. Note
that 22 years later four of us are happily connected via Facebook.
3

The Principles, Power and Promise of Strategic Team Alignment

John Dallas, Founder and Chief Alignment Office (CAO)
Hillview Partners Network LLC
Strategic Alignment Consulting, Coaching and Speaking

In the business of . . .

Reversing Risk of Misalignment
Since 2005 Hillview is a collaborative network of independent consulting, coaching and
speaking specialists; individuals preeminent in various fields related to facilitating strategic
alignment of people, money, technology, and other mission-critical resources.

Alignment Consulting to Align Team Views toward Greater Productivity:

1. Focusing on what buyers truly value and sellers truthfully sell
Consulting 2. Focusing on team engagement, efficiency, and measurable results
3. Focusing on where minds are moving during planning, execution and measurement

Alignment Coaching to Align Leader Views toward Higher Performance:

1. Professional development and organizational growth (dual-track coaching)
Coaching 2. Career validation, enrichment, acceleration or stabilization
3. Career transition (internal or external) — value exceeds “outplacement” services

Alignment Speaking to Align Audience Views toward Broader Perspective:

1. Building buyer-centric cultures, plans, operations, and sustainable revenue streams
Speaking 2. Igniting fully responsible leaders to maximize their Return on Leadership (ROL)
3. Digging, drilling and thinking a bit deeper — to reach, climb and stand a lot higher

Copyright © 2005-2011 Hillview Partners Network LLC

Reversing risk in our common patterns of “In-and-Out Listening”
Today please listen more “hearingly” − and with a “third ear.”

In In In In In In

Out Out Out Out Out


6

Committees City Hall Diversity Life!

Economic Reality
Boards

Past, Current and Federal YOU Family
Future Employees
Ad Agencies Social Media
Credit
V
PR
Outsourcing E
Q&R N
D
Schools & O
IT/MIS Teams Universities R
Prospective Buyers
S
Law Networking

WHO?
The HILL Model™

IRS
Competition
Public

Global Needs
& Realities Strategically Aligned?

Strategic
Politics Alliances Quality Control &
Associations &
Foundations Best Practices
E-Commerce
HR
Regulatory
Seller Authorities
The Media
Faith Buyer 7

Sustaining All-Important Focus on Your Engagement

││││ Crosshatch marks for “first-time-heard” items
P Pivots you identify as you turn toward new views
? Question marks if you “need more information”
O “O” for moments you were Out Listening ( + or -)
T “T” for takeaways for you to use/share TODAY


8

Medical Alignment Acronym Borrowed from Traditional Emergency Room Triage

ER triage professionals will ask
if you are alert and oriented (A&O) to:
1. Your Name?
2. This Place (i.e., a hospital’s ER)?
3. Today’s Date?
4. Your Purpose for being in the ER?


9

To achieve strategic alignment of people and things, you must remain . . .

Fully responsible leaders will ask if you are
alert and oriented (A&O) to each situation’s:
1. Strengths (first and foremost!)
2. Weaknesses
3. Opportunities
4. Threats


10

Asking yourself or others,
“Where do things stand?” is
rarely the right question.
Change is ceaseless. Views
toward where people and
things are moving will focus
your thoughts and vision to
identify direction and
velocity of momentum.
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or
present are certain to miss the future.” —John F Kennedy

15 September 2011 News about a Machine to Manufacture Your Ideas for You

The MakerBot
3-D “Printer”
Forms, Colors,
and Produces
Small “Happy
Meal”-Like
Objects that
come to your
mind and you
enter on your
PC in a rather
simple fashion.

Starting at
$1,300 for a
do-it-yourself
kit and $2,500
to have it
assembled.
Source: The New York Times 12

The task of leadership is to create
an alignment of strengths, making
our weaknesses irrelevant.”
− Peter Drucker


Fully Responsible Leaders:

1. Lead people

2. Manage things

3. Align people and things

The purpose, promise, passion,
pull, push, potential and
performance in one key word:

Strategic Alignment does not require 100% agreement.

Strategic Alignment does not suggest 100% confinement.

Strategic Alignment does not indicate 100% perfection.

15

Strategic Alignment is about the
forward movement of teams
toward worthy destinations.

Strategic Alignment does require 100% understanding.

Strategic Alignment does mandate 100% engagement.

Strategic Alignment does succeed with 110%+ effort.

16

17

Hillview Presents The HILL Model™ for Fully Responsible Leaders to Focus on Views of Strategic Team Alignment
Based on Hillview’s High-Impact Leader Lens™ (HILL) for Realistically Viewing − and Positively Influencing − Movement of People and Things

In Your Mind’s Eye You are Standing on this HILL to Focus, Align and Balance Your and Others’ Views toward Vision and Viability

From this just-right HILL-height ask: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? And what’s “the Wow?”

Viability Vision

Left Brain for Viability: Right Brain for Vision:

Uses logic Uses feeling
Detail-oriented Big-picture oriented
Defines “it” Describes “it”
Knows object’s name Knows object’s function
Facts rule Imagination rules
Words and language Symbols and images
Present and past Present and future
Math and science Philosophy and religion
Comprehends Senses intrinsic value
Knowing Believing
Acknowledges Appreciates
Order/pattern perception Spatial perception
Reality-based Imagination-based
Forms strategies Presents possibilities
Practical Impetuous
Safe (risk-averse?) Risk-taking
Humble by deduction Hubris-prone (a risk)

Viability

Vision

18

Hillview’s High-Impact Leader Lens (HILL) Model for
Viewing and Influencing Alignment of People and Things
(The HILL Model™) supports clear views, definitions,
descriptions, requirements, and metrics for IMPERATIVES:

 Economic imperatives
 Performance imperatives
 Compliance imperatives
 Ethical, moral and trust imperatives
 Cultural imperatives
 Diversity and Inclusion imperatives
 Quality imperatives
 Technology imperatives
 Safety imperatives
 Wellness imperatives
 Branding and Messaging imperatives
 Political imperatives
 Other imperatives for success

Copyright © 2005-2010 Hillview Partners Network LLC 19

Applying to Strategic Team Alignment
Coach Vince Lombardi’s Annual “Fundamentals”

“This is a Football.” This also is a Football.

“Put people first.
Put people second.
Put people third.
Success follows
focus on people,
people, people.”
− JRDjr


“Value is ultimately determined by the buyer,
and never (ultimately) by the seller.

Price is ultimately determined by the seller,
and never (ultimately) by the buyer.

Strategically aligning what buyers truly value
with what sellers truthfully offer ultimately
creates an ethical win/win-plus exchange.

When sellers accurately address what buyers
ultimately value, price matters less than
sustainable benefits for both parties.” −JRDjr


What Do Your External Buyers Truly Value in Your Work?

How deep and how wide is your understanding of this one word you
chose? What does this one word REALLY mean? How might you lead
in supporting others and yourself to deepen and broaden grasp of the
upside potential within this one word? If they and you prioritize this
word in assessing your value to them in the present and future, it is in
your and their best interest for everyone involved to REALLY “get it.”

“Dig, drill and think deeper so you will reach, climb and stand higher.” — JRDjr

Think
It’s all about
how we think!
Our mind’s attitude and altitude determine how we hear responses to:
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? And − what’s “the Wow?”

“Our thoughts, words and actions align our past present and future.” —JRDjr

Strategic Team Alignment Puts and Keeps People First;
Always Focusing on Core Beliefs and Commensurate Behaviors
What do we know about ourselves?
What can we know about others?

Character

Values

Ethics Morals


Fresh Thinking for Envisioning
Value in Strategic Team Alignment

“You cannot solve a problem from the
same consciousness that created it. You
must learn to see the world anew.”
− Albert Einstein


Retrain Your Brain JULY 20, 2011

“Every leader faces a share of irritating screw-ups and minor setbacks.
In response to those annoyances, some leaders get irritable and
stressed out. Others keep on moving. To be in that enviable latter
category, you need resilience. Train your brain to bounce back from
hassles rather than get snagged by them. Find a quiet place where you
won't be interrupted. Sit comfortably and focus on your breath. Notice
yourself inhale and exhale. Don't try to change your breathing, just be
attentive to it. As thoughts, sounds, or other distractions come up, let
them go and return your attention to your breath. By doing this 30
minutes a day you will teach your brain to go to a quiet calm place
when it is stressed, rather than triggering your fight or flight response.”

President John F. Kennedy is to have said,
“There’s always at least one [S.O.B.] at the
table who doesn’t get it.”

Kennedy Cabinet seated around the Cabinet
Room Table in 1962, the day after the Cuban
Missile Crisis ended. Imagine “not getting it.”

If it happens in
The White House…

Pause to imagine the times every day we hear, read, see
or sense that someone just does not get it. This is risk.

Articulate, articulate, articulate:

 Key words (defined and described)
 Core understandings
 Strategic alignment imperatives

Who really “gets it” at your table?
Do you? (Dare you ask yourself?)

How certain are you that you are
seeing enough of the whole picture for
other key players and you to succeed?


One word can make the difference . . .

A rather impertinent reporter
from The Wall Street Journal
asked Mikhail Gorbachev for one
word to summarize the state of
the Russian economy. One word.
One word: Good

Then two: NOT Good
30
30

A single word’s Full-Year of 52 Word Chapters

value to others Acronym Innovation
and you is Acumen
Alignment
Inquisitiveness
Intentionality
influenced by Appreciation Mentor
Ascendancy Mission
your depth of Aspiration Momentum
definition, Assertiveness
Authenticity
Passion
Patience
breadth of Civility
Clarity
Peace
Perspective
description, and Collaboration Persuasiveness
Commitment Pride
scope of view Confluence Randomness
for its desired Courage
Crucible
Reach
Rejuvenation
impact . . . Delineate Resistance
Dignity Respect
Diligence Response
Diversity Restoration
Edification Result
Emergence Success
Empathy Team
Engagement Trial
Esteem Trust
Imperative Vision
Influence Wisdom

Chapter on Team Inspired by
and Dedicated to Ken Hicks

Now in PDF for e-readers
Hardcover 4th Quarter 2011
Digital Press
31

Single Words and Concepts as Pivots toward
New or Clearer Points-of-View toward Where
People and Things are Moving

As you stand atop hills in your alert mind, allow your attention to
pivot toward new views that may validate or change the
direction you and your team members are heading. Focus!


A Mission-Critical Three-Letter
Word for Strategic Team Alignment

33

Think about the Power of
Love as a Stand-Alone Word:

"The meaning of love is not to be confused with some sentimental outpouring. Love
is something much deeper than emotional bosh.” − Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yes, I what I do for a living. Yes, I love the favorable impact I have on lives
of the people my work touches. Yes, I love __________________________ . . .

34

Differentiating Views
From Opinions
Views from hills in your mind can change with
the direction you are looking, the height from
where you are looking, and how long you focus
for clarity. Opinions are less flexible than views.
If someone or something points your head or
heart in a different direction, your view changes.
Opinions you and others pronounce have much
less inherent flexibility than “sharing adjustable
views seen from just-right hill-height.”

Choose to express your views over imposing
your opinions. Share views and expect change.

Help is a Four-Letter
Word to Try to Avoid

Choose to offer,
provide and sustain
support.

Differentiating “with”
from “to” and “on…”
One-with-one exceeds in leadership value:

One-on-one . . .
One-to-one . . .

One for all, all for one!


Pause to Ponder Perils of Pride
Pronounce at Your Own Risk
Hillview encourages fully responsible leaders
to avoid thought, words and actions that
trade on the less-than-productive emotions
of pride. Choose instead the thrill of “being
deeply pleased” with positive outcomes
accomplished by others and yourself. Pride
has no place whatsoever in The HILL Model.
Pride is considered a major risk to strategic
team alignment. Resisting pride allows self-
awareness that leads to selfless teamwork.

Questions and Responses


“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look
around once in a while, you could miss it.” —Ferris Bueller


Sir Winston Churchill’s
Commencement Address

Persist
Persist
Persist

This Aligned Team’s
Commencement Address

Persist with wisdom
Persist with courage
Persist with patience

For a complimentary e-reader version of We Need to Have a
Word, please send a note to share one or more things you
valued from today’s meeting, and we will e-mail you a
version that can be opened with i-Books or other e-readers.

John R. Dallas, Jr. Twitter: JohnRDallasJr
Chief Alignment Officer (CAO) Facebook: John R. Dallas, Jr.
Hillview Partners Network LLC LinkedIn: John R. Dallas, Jr.

1133 North Dearborn Street
Suite 3201
Chicago, Illinois 60610-7197
312.643.8000 Skype: JRDallasJr

jrdallasjr@hillviewpartners.com

Introduction to Core Polaris Principle™ of True-North Strategic Team Alignment

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