In the spring of 2006, my aunt, Charlene Norris, was dying of cancer. She lived out her final days being cared for by her son Robin, his wife Cindy and his loving family. They made her last days as pain-free as possible, and we all got the rare opportunity to visit her and have a last, meaningful experience of sharing the love that she gave us throughout her life.
During that time, I bought her what was probably the last movie she ever watched – “Walk the Line,” the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. As most people know, Johnny Cash lived a tempestuous live—one that included heavy drug use, depression and even suicide attempts. It was a life of darkness that only abated when June Carter entered his life. Her love and patience stanched his rush to self-destruction, and they ultimately carved out a long and loving relationship.
Reese Witherspoon, who played June Carter in the movie, said that late in her life someone asked June how she was doing, to which she replied, “I’m just trying to matter.”
Relevance – mattering – we all struggle with the concept. As a person who has spent much of his adult life being regarded as much (or more) for my comedy than my content, I can say that being irreverent is much easier to excel at than relevance. In the short run the comic, the cynic or the critic often garners more attention than the sincere practitioner, but over time is generally forgotten.
Of the six “Rs” we have named as necessary components of the excellent organization, relevance is first for a reason, and the reason is this: If the work you do is not relevant to the job you are trying to complete, your actions represent, to paraphrase Shakespeare, the actions of an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
What does the relevant leader need to do to make certain that his or her actions, as well as his organization’s actions, are relevant?
Gain a complete knowledge of the products you sell or the organization you serve, and an equally complete understanding of the role your products or department play within that organization.
Develop an understanding of the world outside your products or operational function and be able to articulate where the products or functions fit within the greater realm. This means not just knowing what you do but also what that means in the bigger picture. You need to be able to name what you do by its purpose and not just its features.
Acquire as much knowledge as you can about what pressures are present and what situations are developing that will affect your product line or operational department.
Be ahead of the curve. Be a thought leader, yet make sure to carefully bring those around you along so that all the people you work with can make the best decisions they can for the product line or organization.
Never relax. Things change, sometimes at lightning speed, and the relevant organization must be able to quickly adapt to whatever changes that occur in the larger sphere that impact it.
Stay in communication with your customers. Their needs, too, change over time, and the relevant leader needs to know what’s happening in real time. Customers – be they the people purchasing your products or the departments your function serves – experience change also. Many times this is nuanced change, and true relevance services nuanced change as well as dramatic change.
If you follow these steps, you will be seen by your organization as a true leader, not just a Steady Eddie who gets the job done, but as someone who can very often see what needs to be done well before others and one who marshals the resources to make and implement necessary changes.
Do these things well and you and your company can avoid the fate of the company mentioned by the sales guru Zig Ziglar at a talk I attended. Zig walked behind a curtain and came out with a wooden bucket used to bring beer home from a tavern. “The company who makes these things went out of business last year,” he said. “You know why? Because they thought they were in the bucket business. They didn’t realize they were in the distribution business.”
The moral?
Relevance will keep your company from kicking the bucket.
I couldn’t resist.
