The U.S. and China: The Struggle for World Leadership

Author: Mark Sanborn

Mark is recognized globally as an expert on leadership, customer service and organizational performance.

A member of the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame, he is the author of 8 books including the international bestseller, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary
Into the Extraordinary.

Mark teaches his clients to BE EXTRAORDINARY.

Post navigation

I recently interacted with a senior business leader of a large organization. During our conversation he mentioned, “Our biggest enemy is not our competitors but our own complexity as an organization in form of organizational design, structures, processes, culture, systems, tools, scale and metrics.”

Throughout my career, I have consistently seen increasing level of internal pushback as an organization scales and grows. I have also seen leaders at both ends of the spectrum – ones who worked their way through complexity to create alignment and the ones whose grand strategies failed because of internal forces holding back. 

This complexity creates what Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao call Friction – forces that hamper workplace efficiency. In their new book, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make The Right Things Easier and The Wrong Things Harder, the authors explore what creates these operational obstacles in the workplace end what leaders can do about it.

The book delves into “friction fixing” and how leaders can eliminate bad friction that makes doing the right things easy and use good friction to make the wrong things harder to do. The book underlines the role of leader as a “friction fixers” and offers useful strategies for leaders to create and less miserable and more productive workplace.

Here is a short visual summary of how leaders can approach friction fixing:

Related Reading at QAspire.com

Updated: Visual Leadership Pack HD Sketchnotes

If you liked the sketchnote summary above, check out the Visual Leadership Pack of HD Sketchnotes – a compilation of high-resolution sketchnotes with 88+ powerful (and timeless) ideas to elevate your leadership and learning game.

In 2004 I wrote, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary. The 20th Anniversary Edition released June 1. 2004 I wrote, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary. The 20th Anniversary Edition released June 1.

The book is about real life (then) postal carrier, Fred Shea, who was a shining example of turning the ordinary in the extraordinary and the four principles I outlined in the book.

Many have read it and thought of it as a book about customer service, and it large part it is. But while The Fred Factor is always about service, Fred isn’t always in the customer service department.

While Fred was provided extraordinary service to the people on his postal route, other “Freds” who practice the same philosophy aren’t always in the customer service department.



And that is a challenge.

No matter how good the service rep may be, a technician at a job site can undo his or her best efforts. No matter how committed a bank teller may be, bad leadership can demoralize that individual or short-circuit best efforts by implementing bad policies.

Being a Fred isn’t about the job you hold but how you do the job. Freds can be in any department, and in the best organizations they are in every department.

Anyone can be a Fred, if they choose, and I believe everyone should aspire to be a Fred. It is important for their own success, and for the success of their organizations.

Scholastic Inc. has been in business for nearly 100 years. With $2 billion in revenue and more than 9,000 employees in 16 countries, one of their missions is to help keep books alive. Scholastic is clear about their commitment to a child’s best educational interests.

That mission informs and inspires employees throughout the organization.

Then President and CEO, the late Richard Robinson, visited a warehouse. He asked a forklift driver at a distribution center, “What is your job?” He didn’t mention his forklift or distribution. He said, “My job is to help children love to read.”

Great leaders and organizations know that forklifts and distribution centers are means to a greater end if you have the right mission.

Anyone can be a Fred. And the more people in more departments in your organization who are, the more extraordinary your organization will be.

Mark Sanborn is an award winning speaker, leadership strategist and Leadership Expert in Residence at High Point University, the Premier Life Skills University. He also advises executives and professional speakers on how to speak more powerfully. For more information about his work, visit www.marksanborn.com. 

Author: Mark Sanborn

Mark is recognized globally as an expert on leadership, customer service and organizational performance.

A member of the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame, he is the author of 8 books including the international bestseller, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary
Into the Extraordinary.

Mark teaches his clients to BE EXTRAORDINARY.

Ten Pivotal Tips to Boost Your Leadership Skills

My book, The Fred Factor, talks about how to turn ordinary into extraordinary by using the real life example of Fred Shea, my postal carrier when I first moved to Denver. To read the first chapter, The First Fred I Ever Met, go here.

What follows is a summary of what “Freds” do in their work and in their lives. I hope it stimulates your thinking about what you can do to turn ordinary into extraordinary.

1. Freds go beyond what is expected, doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.2. Freds love their work.3. Freds care about the people they work with and for.4. Freds go the extra mile in providing service.5. Freds have a signature difference they strive to make each day.
6. Freds work with passion.7. Freds are creative problem solvers.
8. Freds build and maintain positive relationships.
9. Freds stick to their values. 
10. Freds are team players. 
11. Freds pass on their values to the next generation. 
12. Freds make significant contributions on their community.13. Freds offer their best.

Mark Sanborn is an award winning speaker, leadership strategist and Leadership Expert in Residence at High Point University, the Premier Life Skills University. He also advises executives and professional speakers on how to speak more powerfully. For more information about his work, visit www.marksanborn.com. 

Author: Mark Sanborn

Mark is recognized globally as an expert on leadership, customer service and organizational performance.

A member of the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame, he is the author of 8 books including the international bestseller, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary
Into the Extraordinary.

Mark teaches his clients to BE EXTRAORDINARY.

In today’s world of work, being inclusive as a leader isn’t optional. In many companies I work with and consult, inclusion is used as a mere buzzword that doesn’t translate into any tangible behavioral change. The reason I feel leaders who preach inclusion and not practice it is because it is hard. Paying lip service to inclusion may give you some brownie points, but practicing inclusion leads to remarkable results. 

Practicing Inclusion is Transformative

When Satya Nadella took charge as Microsoft’s CEO, the company was struggling with fairly rigid culture and stagnation. Nadella emphasized the importance of being a learning leader, adopting a growth mindset and working collaboratively with empathy. He worked hard at breaking down silos, encouraged employees to learn from each other, be customer centric, embrace diverse perspectives and work as one team to accomplish common goals. He conducted regular town-halls, institutionalized mentoring programs, conducted open forums to elicit ideas and concerns.

“Inclusion is not a matter of political correctness. It is the key to growth.”– Jesse Jackson

The culture shifted over the years, so did the outcomes. Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was accomplished through a rigorous cross-functional collaboration. Under Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft transformed into a dynamic and forward-thinking organization resulting in growth and innovation.

Nadella’s story underlines what research from McKinsey & Co. suggests: That companies with diverse leadership are 33% more likely to achieve above-average profitability. 

The Boldly Inclusive Leader

In this context, I read Minette Norman’s book “The Boldly Inclusive Leader” with great interest. The book is a compelling guide for leaders to foster a more inclusive workplace. Norman provides actionable strategies and insights to build an inclusive culture through foundations of continuous learning, active listening, authentic communication, and creating psychologically safe environment for people to thrive. For me, Norman’s insights on being self-aware and being willing to embrace discomfort stood out. She reframes difficult experiences as “learning opportunities” and encourages leaders to reflect on their biases when dealing with people.

A Sketchnote on What Boldy Inclusive Leaders Do

The book is a must read if you are looking for a powerful and actionable guide to being more inclusive. Here is a sketchnote synthesizing some of the key ideas that truly stood out for me:

Updated: Visual Leadership Pack HD Sketchnotes

If you liked the sketchnote summary above, check out the Visual Leadership Pack of HD Sketchnotes – a compilation of high-resolution sketchnotes with 90+ powerful (and timeless) ideas to elevate your leadership and learning game.