The History of Tilt
A story that presents not only an evidence-based model for the theory of our leadership model, but also a story that will touch the hearts of leader’s of tomorrow…who want to live a balanced life, while performing radically well.
Background
In 1993, I was a young emergent leader, full of vim and vigor and determined to succeed. At age 30, I had managed to finagle a position as General Manager of a new brand of hotel that is well known now, but was barely known at all in the early 1990s. As GM of the Embassy Suites Hotel at Crabtree Valley in Raleigh, NC we had everything going for us. We were a beautifully designed hotel, open since 1988 and managed by a very forward thinking senior leadership team (at Headquarters in Memphis) that operated on the Service Profit Chain formula and promoted a participative leadership style.
Very ahead of their time, they emphasized employee satisfaction as the number one influencer of positive outcomes and it was under this umbrella of wisdom that I was able to practice completely out-of-the-box ideas in running this hotel. We were presented with the “deed” to the property and instructed to run it like it was our own business! So, I was the benefactor of my own not-so-little microcosm in which to play with ideas and that I did!
The first few years were hard work. We had a lean team and were working very long hours typical of the hotel business and in short order my team and I became burned out. I decided to be honest with them when I saw the fires dwindling and told them I thought there had to be a better way of getting results. If we were as smart as we thought we were, we should certainly figure out a strategy that would allow us to have balanced lives and still get great results.
Today, that kind of philosophy was unheard of and certainly not popular with my regional VP. But I was determined to find a way to have a life and still be the best. I read all of the pop psychology books on leadership and landed on a concept that became the differentiating factor that lead to years of sustainable success and top awards. All while we maintained reasonable work/life balance. If anyone tells you that this concept is a myth, just send them to visit some of the leaders who still work in that hotel today. The economy has impacted things without question, but a solid number of leaders who worked for me two decades ago are still there and keep that culture alive!
Analysis and Methodology
The situation was challenging the year we implemented the plan in 1993. We had a new senior leadership team that changed the focus to the bottom line and all but dropped the previous philosophy because we had grown to critical mass and were moving beyond the growth stage and into the maturation stage. The bonus plan that year called for cutting deep into the budget for 30% reductions in spending. When I posed the bonus plan to our team, we felt a collective disappointment in senior leadership and knew we were in for a tough year.
My prediction was that this drastic reward plan would cause a lot of unintended consequences that they were obviously not considering so I created a business case to my RVP to talk them out of the plan and revise it for a more reasonable reduction based on solid analysis of what can be removed without cutting into the preventive line items that kept our performance sustainable. I didn’t convince anyone, except my team, who collectively decided to forgo their bonuses that year to do the right thing and run the hotel responsibly. We reduced our spending plan by 10% and put our heads down to focus on our work. We had faith that the indicators would be rapid enough to convince our leaders to change direction by third quarter. We took our beatings from the Regional VP, and stayed grounded with a solid stance about our beliefs. I actually put my job on the line to prove a point. Crazy, but probably the best decision of my career.
The model and tools we used then were the genesis product of what is now the Tilt 360 Leadership Predictor. I called it the 14 Virtues of the Wise Leader at the time. It was the coaching tool I used to coach myself to become a better leader. And I used it to journal the collection of behaviors I had begun to document by observing behaviors regarding leadership of self.
As I collected these patterns of human behavior, I started noticing that sometimes good traits, if overdone, turn into bad traits. For example, being disciplined is good, but only if you don’t overdo it and become rigid. Likewise, being compassionate as a leader is good, but if you overdo it, you become permissive. I was fascinated with how I could coach leaders on my team to become more self-aware and utilize particular offsetting traits to balance them out. What I realized most, was that better leadership of my SELF, always predicted better performance by my team members. If I was growing and learning and teaching, then they would grow and learn and teach. This commitment to self-leadership of MYSELF, became the most influential differentiation factor and became a springboard positive outcomes.
The most distinguishing aspect of those outcomes? That that they were highly creative and spawned innovative productivity. Some of the best ideas of the decade came from our hotel and spread like wildfire throughout the brand once tested and proven in our hotel. We became a hotbed of creative ideas and many came from workers with very little formal education. I became a believer in SELF LEADERSHIP and developed a pattern of soliciting feedback and ideas everywhere I went. The culture that was created was collaborative, innovative, fast moving and productive.
The formula was not some new secret or some radical idea. It was a timeless idea that I leaned by studying history. All of the great cultures of time, had some things in common and I had studied the various approaches in my search of the right leadership formula. The Enlightenment, the Renaissance, and the establishment of the 13 colonies of our country all had one thing in common. The focused on the pursuit of behaviors that promoted citizenry and self leadership through the pursuit of “Virtues”. As Aristotle taught, we all have to balance between the extremes in order to work well together.
When one person leans to far in their temperament, others feel they must polarize in the opposing direction to maintain order. And this causes divided teams. To get along well and provide norms that work for everyone, the leader must strongly protect the virtues of good citizenry so that everyone can bring their creativity instead of wasting energy on getting their lower level needs met. In one word, each person is responsible for developing character and will regarding their own self leadership in order to enable productive group outcomes.
Results
In 1995, this team was presented with the top award possible in the company. We were the number one hotel in the world, outperforming even Hawaii and Hong Kong on every performance indicator. Our bonuses were minimal, but our pride was worth every penny we lost. And the best part is that we sustained that top hotel performance for over a decade after that, posting top quality, service, market share and EBIT performance year after year. The following year, in 1996, I was promoted to Regional Vice President and began the process of teaching self-leadership in multiple properties.
During those years, I was honored to serve as the leader for some of the best hotel leaders I have ever known. They continued to grow, to learn and most importantly to teach others how to lead. Most of them are still there. By learning how to listen and coach myself on my own character, I was privileged to grow to a point where I could create all of what is Tilt today and coach leaders all over the world to practice the Art of Transcendent Leadership.
Today at Tilt
“After coaching hundreds of executives in their quest to become great leaders, a unique pattern has emerged from our work through observation of the normal obstacles encountered by so many clients that we felt compelled to write about our learnings and ideas. The central question we have studied is how to become a leader who exceeds normal limits and capacity to make extraordinary contributions to their enterprise and the lives of those they lead. Our personal desire to understand what makes a leader great in terms of impact and influence comes not only from our work as executive coaches, but also from our own careers as we attempted to climb the ladder of success in a rapidly changing environment.
“I believe that leaders who will be the vanguards for the conceptual age will usher in a new way of thinking about business which includes a greater concern for the global issues of our time. This will require leaders who are whole brain thinkers, with integrated concern for balance with regard to how we work and live.
“It starts with the leader as a person. How do they live, think and relate? Do they understand how to get along with people of many cultures and personal styles? Do they have a vision for making the world a little better, at least in their own domain of influence? The four categories of leadership development we measure in order to help leaders become more balanced and whole brain are: Humanity (consideration of unintended consequences to our stakeholders),Wisdom (acquired perspective from a discipline mind), Courage (facing risk with a strong instinct for justice) and Resilience (adaptive influence in response to a changing environment). When a leader intentionally develops a balanced set of character traits in all four, the result is the positive sustainability of the enterprise or mission they lead.
“The topic of leadership development is rich with contribution from many great minds, from many fields of study. The majority of leadership models for development rely on the maturation of competencies, some including more advanced competency models as a leader moves up the ladder of responsibility. These models have enhanced the field of leadership development in practical ways that have undoubtedly raised public awareness about what it takes to be a leader, yet we believe there is something very fundamental that has been missing. That something is the topic of our research and is represented in a book we will publish in 2009 called ‘The Art of the Transcendent Leader’.
In it, you’ll find stories from our own careers and those from our clients—stories about the quest to rise above our own ego needs and attempt to become the kind of leader who lifts the hope and spirit of others in the interest of the greater good. Something that expresses our own unique leadership brand and mission for humanity, so that we leave the world a better place as a result of our efforts. Great leadership is where our great gift, meets the world’s great needs."
—Pam Boney
Founder & CEO
Copyright 2008-2010