Will Your Bicycle Reach the Moon?

Powerful. When faced with Inc. magazine's picture of Jordan Zimmerman, founder of the eponymously named advertising agency, forcefully propelling his bike into the dark, early hours of the day, you can't help but think this is a powerful, motivated and productive human being. In fact, their entire feature on "Secrets of the Highly Productive" is densely populated with powerful, accomplished, productive people. The idea was to highlight tips that we mere mortals can embrace to boost our own output.

Our Take

Four hours of sleep, which is Zimmerman's nightly allotment, may work for the pathologically energetic, but what about for the general masses wishing the end of daylight savings time would come every night? For those of us who are not naturally endowed with a surfeit of personal power, how can we step up? If not into the rarefied air of Inc.'s productivity Olympians, at least into the foothills. For those of us who lead others, how do we boost their motivation? That's the real trick, of course: not getting ourselves out of bed but creating the energy that gets our employees hitting the floor focused, cooperative and singing the company tune.

Roland Smith, CEO of Wendy's/Arby's recently told me it's not possible to motivate other people; that the drive must come from within. Many smart, successful leaders share Smith's views and I do not disagree; however, I also believe there is a four-part framework for galvanizing ourselves and others into sustained action even if we like our solid eight hours (plus maybe a nap at lunch time). Zimmerman's photo in Inc. provides a handy metaphor.

1-Inspiration is the burst of energy - the motive force. It gets us on the bike and gives us the initial push. Whether our goal is putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, or becoming number one in our industry, it is some goal, some audacious B distant from our A, which exhilarates our self and others.

2-Resources are the chain, sprockets and gears which translate the energy of inspiration into movement. Without it you just have dreams and visions or you have legs pumping frenetically while the bike wobbles in place. Unless we empower our teams with the necessary resources - personnel, finances, skills, tools and authority - our inspiring speeches result only in passionate people going nowhere.

3-Clear Path is the road which allows us to travel quickly and efficiently toward our goal. Without a clear path, our bike may be cruising along, but whether we are making progress toward B and get there any time soon is up for grabs. The shorter, flatter, and more obvious we make that path, using detailed road maps and processes, the more likely it is our hard work and activity gets us to our destination.

These three factors create the bicycle speeding in the right direction. These are the three elements that many of us try to provide for ourselves and our companies to impel us toward our goals. Together they look like motivation, but they're not. Because forward motion stops as soon we hit an obstacle - a hill, if you will - that takes more energy to get over than we got from the inspiration that set us in motion. When projects, initiatives, teams, drives, and companies hit obstacles they fizzle out. Therefore, one more element is needed:

Transformation is the metamorphosis from wanting to get from A to B, to being a person or company that gets from A to B. It brings the energy of inspiration from the outside to the inside in a way that is sustaining. There is an aspect of self-interest to transformation: the realization that it is in our own best interest to achieve the goal. This is why many leaders focus on creating self interest (incentives) and explaining why it is in employees' best interest to get to B. I think, however, the true dynamo set ablaze by transformation is wrapped in self-definition. Zimmerman gets up at 3:30am to start his 20 mile ride because that's who he is. Sure, he tells the reporter there's time to sleep when he dies. At this point, though, self-interest has become ex post facto justification to other people. Inside, he is a person who gets up when sane people are communing with their pillows simply because that's who he has defined himself as being.