INTRODUCTION

If . . . worst comes to worst,

I want each one of you to do his utmost to destroy our enemies.

If there is only one plane left to make a final run-in,

I want that man to go in and get a hit.

May God be with us all.

Good luck, and give ’em hell.

R

EADING THOSE WORDS SENDS

a chill down the spine, particu-

larly when you realize that the man who wrote them died

the next morning doing exactly what he had urged his men

to do. He was Lt. Comdr. Jack Waldron of Torpedo Squadron 8 of

the USS

Hornet

. Leading his squadron of Devastator torpedo

bombers, an underpowered and dangerously slow plane, right

into the heart of the Japanese carrier force, Waldron and his men

we

re mercilessly shot down by the faster and more maneuverable

Zeroes and the ships’ antiaircraft power. An hour and a half later,

a subsequent wave of Dauntless dive bombers, led by Lt. Comdr.

Wade McCluskey, struck the carrier force when it was at its most

vulnerable—with some Zeroes returning from an attack low on

fuel, others on the carrier deck awaiting refueling, and fuel lines

looping across the deck. Within six minutes, three of the carriers

we

re on fire and would ultimately sink. A fourth was hit later that

afternoon and would also sink, but not before launching an

attack on the USS

Yorktown

. This was the Battle of Midway, and

it was won in part by what historian Victor Davis Hanson calls

“pilot initiative.” Inherent in this initiative was courage and brav-

ery in the cause of something greater than themselves.

1

Six decades later, a young competitive bicyclist was given the

wo

rst news of his young life: He had cancer, and it had spread

xi

Copyright © 2005 by John Baldoni

. Click here for ter

m

s of use.

from his testicles to his lungs and into his brain. He was in his

mid-twenties, with an ego as big as the world and a competitive

urge that was perhaps as big. His name was Lance Armstrong,

and he refused to give up. He ultimately beat back the cancer into

remission and relaunched his bicycling career. In 1999, he won

his first Tour de France title. The Tour de France is to bicycling

what the Super Bowl is to pee-wee football—infinitely more com-

petitive, grueling, and daunting. It has been called the most

demanding event in all of sports. It lasts for three weeks in the

middle of the French summer and covers 2,100 miles, up and

down mountains, through lowlands, and along the coast. In

2004, Armstrong became the first cyclist to win six Tours; he also

won them consecutively. Only four other men have ever won five

Tours, and only one, Miguel Indurain, had won five consecu-

tively. It is a testament to Armstrong’s relentless training, iron

will, and commitment to succeed.

These two scenarios, while dramatically different in key respects,

illustrate one compelling factor: that motivation, the will to go,

comes from within. No one forced Waldron and McCluskey and

their fellow pilots into the guns of the Japanese ships; no one

forced Armstrong to race, especially after a near-death experi-

ence. It was their inner drive, their will to persevere. The pilots

were fighting against a foe that had sneak-attacked them six

months previously and that until that moment had seemed almost

invincible. Armstrong was fighting the legacy of a disease as well

as competing against scores of other cyclists. Certainly the men

of Midway were heroes, and you can consider Armstrong one as

well. But it is equally certain that all of them would disclaim such

a title. They did what they did because it was the right thing for

them to do. And that is what motivation is all about: leading one-

self from within and creating those same conditions so that others

can follow suit. Motivation is a genuine leadership behavior. It is

essential to the leadership process because it is through the

xii

INTRODUCTION

efforts of others that leaders accomplish their goals. And leaders

can achieve their goals only when those goals have the support of

others, when those who will be involved in achieving them want

to do so.

Writing about motivation is challenging, even daunting. For

one thing, a great deal has been written about it already. But the

greater challenge is that some of what has been written about

motivation is wrongheaded. It is rooted in a type of thinking that

says that motivation can be imposed on someone. This is not cor-

rect. You can compel someone to do something, even against her

will, if you use enough force or threaten her with punishment or

deprivation or injuries to her loved ones. Tyrants and dictators are

prime executors of coercion. But this is short-lived; it will not

yield lasting or fulfilling results. Things will get done, but only

halfheartedly. Motivation, by contrast, must be internalized by

the individual.

It is therefore the leader’s responsibility to create conditions

that will enable individuals and teams to get things done in ways

that they find enriching and fulfilling. If the leader does this,

motivation can occur. This does not mean that leaders become

namby-pamby and softhearted; it demands that they strike a bal-

ance between individuals’ need for self-enrichment, literally and

figuratively, and the organization’s need for results. When moti-

vation occurs, individuals become transformed; they want to

achieve, they want to do well. Why? Because their work mat-

ters—to their boss, to their teams, and to themselves. The pur-

pose of this book, then, is to demonstrate ways in which leaders

can create an environment that allows people to succeed and

organizations to thrive.

The leader’s most powerful tool in the motivation process is

communication. Communication drives the action forward,

keeping leader and follower and leader and organization aligned

and focused on joint goals that are meaningful and worth achiev-

ing. Communication, by nature, is a two-way process; it ensures

that leader and follower understand each other, and understand-

ing is essential to building trust. Motivation can occur only in sit-

INTRODUCTION

xiii

uations in which followers trust their leaders and leaders trust

their followers.

STORY AND PRACTICE

Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders

blends management

principles and leadership stories. In the principles section, we

will explore how managers can communicate, exemplify, coach,

recognize, and sacrifice in order to create optimal conditions for

motivation to occur. Each chapter will also feature a profile or

two of a leader-motivator who articulates these principles

through his or her personal example. While not all of the people

profiled are motivators in a conventional sense, all of them moti-

vate through their leadership actions. As a result, their stories

radiate value and truth.

Among the leaders profiled in this book are the following:

●

Colleen Barrett,

a former legal secretary turned president

of Southwest Airlines, the most people-friendly carrier in

the air and on the ground because of its culture, which she

helped create and foster

●

Colonel David Hackworth,

a highly decorated colonel

whose tough actions in Vietnam transformed a group of

perceived losers into a hard-core fighting team

●

Frances Hesselbein,

former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the

USA and president of the Leader to Leader Institute, who

has been recognized by academics and government lead-

ers, including the president of the United States, as an

accomplished leader

●

Earvin “Magic” Johnson,

a collegiate and NBA Hall of

Fame basketball player who has built a very successful

business by reaching out to people in the urban commu-

nity, and has also established an educational foundation for

disadvantaged youth