leadership j o u r n e y
Just Say Yes!
Negativity doesn’t promote change or inspire performance.
By William B. Locander and David L. Luechauer
This year our articles are focused on the leadership
lessons sales and marketing executives might glean
from commercials. Although it is not yet a classic, we
came across a Cadillac commercial at http://www.
splendad.com/ads/show/1215-Cadillac-DTS-NoTo-Yes. In the commercial, four friends are riding in a
Cadillac DTS, and the passenger seat guy controls the
music. He’s holding an iPod that’s hooked up to the
Caddy’s iPod adapter, and starts playing a song. After
an awkward moment, one of the friends in the back
seat asks curtly “What is this?”
iPod guy: We’re listening to Yes, man.
Driver: I vote “No” to Yes.
Backseat passenger: I second that “No” to Yes.
iPod guy: Well I think we’re going to say
“Yes” to Yes today.
The voice-over says “The Cadillac DTS with iPod
adapter. It’s a modern classic.” If that commercial
doesn’t ring a bell, you will probably remember a
commercial classic from Life breakfast cereal.
Life is made by the Quaker Oats Company, now
part of PepsiCo. It was introduced during the year
1961. Life was popularized during the 1970s by
an advertising campaign featuring “Mikey,” a finicky
four-year-old who “hates everything.” His brothers
and friends, who are used to more sugar-coated
cereals, tempt Mikey to eat Life fully expecting
that such nutritious fare will be summarily rejected.
Instead, Mikey digs in and the other children shout
“He Likes it! Hey, Mikey!” The ad campaign ran
from 1972 to 1985, becoming one of the longest
running and popular commercials of all time.
Interestingly, John Gilchrist, who played “Mikey,”
now works as an advertising account manager in
New York. Perhaps, life does imitate art or at least
commercials.
30 x MM September/October 2009
The first word of leadership is “yes.”
These two commercials remind us that it is easy
for leaders to say, “no” when they should be saying,
“yes” or at least “maybe.” Moreover, in these times of
accounting scandals; executives flying private jets to
ask for government bailouts; and, corporate leaders
receiving obscene bonuses while they downsize the
firm or go bankrupt, these commercials also remind
us that sometimes leaders need to say no especially
when issues of character, trust and personal/corpo-
Thomas Jefferson faced challenges,
roadblocks and paradigm shifts as
great if not exponentially greater
than those faced by leaders today.
rate reputation are on the line. The remainder of this
article will focus on the importance of saying, conveying and being “YES.” We will save “no”, “maybe”
and a very interesting word “nevertheless” for future
issues.
A leader who knew how to say, convey, be and
even do yes is Thomas Jefferson. Recently, Dr. Vincent
Kolb, the head pastor of South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church, sent out a Lenten devotional which
contained the following slightly edited story.
During his days as president, Thomas Jefferson
loved to travel. On one trip, Jefferson and his companions encountered a swollen river after a storm. The
only bridge across had been knocked out. The only
way across was on horseback. One by one, travelers
waded into the swirling water and tried to make it
to the other side, knowing there was a good chance
they might not make it and drown. One man was so
fearful of the rapids he would not cross. Finally, he
asked President Jefferson if he could ferry him across.
The man mounted Jefferson’s horse, wrapped his
arms around the president, and was carried safely to
the other side. When the man got off the horse, his
companions asked him, “Why did you choose the
President of the United States to ferry you across the
river?” The man was surprised and embarrassed,
because he had no idea that it was the president who
had helped him. “I just looked at all of your faces and
then I looked at the swirling waters,” the man said.
“On most of your faces I saw the word ‘no.’ I picked
President Jefferson because he had a ‘yes’ face.”
Do you have a yes face?
Ways to say no in organizational settings are
legion. Leaders say no via rules, procedure manuals,
S.O.P.’s, paradigms, giving people responsibility with
no authority, and allowing a “that’s not the way we
do things around here” culture to take root. It doesn’t
take long before conformity, tradition and perpetuation of the status quo creates a sort of organizational
rigor mortis that stifles creativity, innovation or even
basic adaptation to environmental change. The ways
a leader can say no are overt and covert, verbal and
non-verbal, cognitive and behavioral but they quickly
become institutionalized and ultimately crush the
morale of even the most stalwart agents of changes.
Indeed, many human resource professionals cite a
culture of “no” as being the leading cause of talent
drain. So, how can leaders say, yes?
• Practice, actually say yes.
•Consciously remove barriers and obstacles –
desks, tables, folded arms when interacting with
others.
• Smile.
•Frame requests in the positive – please, do this –
rather than the negative – don’t do that.
• Create SKUNK works or pockets of yes.
•Say “let’s try” or “we can” instead of “it won’t
work” or “we have tried it before.”
•Embrace the messenger – indeed, encourage bad
news and divergent thinking instead of shooting
the messenger.
•Surround yourself with upbeat, positive
and optimistic thinkers.
• Reward small victories.
• Read and study the lives of “yes” people.
The principal architect of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States,
Jefferson faced challenges, roadblocks and paradigm
shifts as great if not exponentially greater than those
faced by leaders today. He lead a disjointed group of
colonies to unity and nearly doubled the size of our
fledgling nation via the Louisiana purchase in 1803.
Jefferson is the only president who served two full
terms in office but vetoed no bill of Congress. He was
the principal architect of the University of Virginia.
Jefferson was a yes leader. Maybe we all need to be a
little more like “Mikey” and Jefferson and learn to just
say yes. n
About the Authors
Dr. William B. Locander is dean of the Joseph S. Butt,
S.J., College of Business at Loyola University New
Orleans. He can be reached at [email protected].
Dr. David L. Luechauer is the associate dean of the
Joseph S. Butt, S.J., College of Business at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at drdave@
loyno.edu. The authors have numerous scholarly
and practitioner publications in leadership, change
and marketing. They have won a variety of teaching
awards, and have consulted around the world.
MM September/October 2009 x 31