Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise

What will you become?

The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, and this you will become.

James Allen.

Many times we read quotes such as this and we think, good quote but it's not for me, other people should get this, it would be good for them.

It amazes me at times, just how low some people shoot. They sometimes appear to be aiming at nothing at all. Sadly that's just what they hit.....nothing.
Expect little, get little.

Last night I attended the Christmas production at Calvary Christian Church here in Townsville and I must say what a great production it was.
The thing is, it was just a bunch of ordinary people who had an extraordinary vision for what they could do.
And do it they did. Exceptional!!

Over time I have met many people who have done extraordinary things in the business world. I'm not talking about corporate high fliers who ride on the success of huge companies, I'm talking about individuals who have achieved great things.
They all have two things in common, firstly they have a vision for great things and secondly, they are very ordinary people.

You see, great things are achieved by great people, though it should be remembered these great people are simply someone's brother, sister, mother or father.

They're just ordinary people who have an extraordinary dream, this ideal that is enthroned in their heart. That which they build their life by.

No comment.

Dixon in the $10m high club
Author: Matt O'Sullivan
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 7 October 2008

QANTAS'S departing boss, Geoff Dixon, has almost beaten the Americans at their own game - by mastering the fine art of securing the best pay.

Mr Dixon will step down next month as the second-highest-paid airline boss in the world, beaten only by the head of America's second-largest airline, United Airlines.

Analysis by the Herald shows Mr Dixon's package of almost $12 million this year dwarfs the salaries of his European counterparts and all but one of those in the US - where massive executive salaries are par for the course - even though Qantas ranks as only 10th-largest airline in the world.

The revelations galled Qantas staff, who have argued against a management plan to cap staff wage rises at 3 per cent a year. The airline also decided to lay off 1500 workers by Christmas.

Mr Dixon's package is beaten only by that of Glenn Tilton, the boss of UAL Corp, whose largest subsidiary is United Airlines. Mr Tilton took home $US10.3 million ($13.69 million) last year, including a base salary of $US850,000 and $US4.7 million in share awards.

UAL's board has been under pressure from United Airlines pilots to reduce Mr Tilton's pay at the same time as the carrier slashes its workforce and grounds a fifth of its planes.

Mr Dixon's total package of $11.92 million for the year to June included a cash bonus of $3 million and almost $6.4 million in share-based payments, the Qantas annual report shows.

It is a significant rise on the previous year, when he was awarded $6.5 million. Three months before the $11.1 billion private equity raid on Qantas was made public in November 2006, Mr Dixon had close to $8 million tipped into his super account when he renewed his contract.

Qantas declared in May 2008 it was freezing senior executive pay in response to the high fuel prices, just two months before it announced the job cuts.

Mr Dixon's latest salary beats even the pay packet of Gerard Arpey, the boss of AMR Corporation, which runs the largest commercial carrier, American Airlines. Mr Arpey's total pay was $US4.6 million last year, including a base of $US656,000 and stock awards of $US3.1 million.

The Australian also trumps the $US7.73 million ($10.3 million) Northwest Airlines paid its boss, Douglas Steenland, last year, and the $US7.31 million Continental gave its chief executive, Larry Kellner. US Airways, the fifth-largest airline in the US, paid its chief executive and chairman, Douglas Parker, a total package of $US5.4 million, including a base salary of $US550,000.

The pay of European airline executives is modest in comparison with that of Mr Dixon or the Americans.

"It is an absolute double standard. How shareholders and the board let this happen, you have to wonder," the assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union, Linda White, said yesterday.

"Rewarding one of those at the top doesn't mean you have the best airline in the world."

The boss of British Airways, Willie Walsh, pocketed £701,000 ($1.6 million) for the year to March. He turned down a £700,000 bonus after a disastrous opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 in London.

Air France-KLM paid its chief executive and chairman, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, a total package of €1.39 million ($2.5 million) for the year to March, which included fixed pay of €750,000.

Europe's second-largest airline, Lufthansa, gave its boss, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, €2.4 million last year, including a base salary of €700,000 and a bonus of €1.4 million.

In Asia, Singapore Airlines paid its boss, Chew Choon Seng, up to $S3.5 million ($3.1 million) for the year to March 31.

Mr Dixon steps down as chief executive on November 28 but will remain as a consultant until March. Qantas declined to comment yesterday.

I know the title of this story was "No comment" but I just can't resist.

I believe in paying people what they're worth but when times are tough, and they are, just ask Geoff Dixon, we should all tighten our belts. Asking the rank and file to do more for less I have no problem with. Where I get bewildered is when these so called leaders ask their staff, who in today's economy struggle to make ends meet, to do without while they accept these huge salaries and bonuses.
Maybe Mr Dixon should've taken a leaf out of Mr Walsh's book and not accepted the bonus payment.

Good Generals will fight side by side with their men. That's how victories are won.
Poor Generals will sit behind the lines and expect their men to do what they themselves are not prepared to do.
This is just as true and relevant in the corporate world as it is in the military.

If these so called leaders were worth even a tenth of what they are being paid they would realise this.
If you get your workforce behind you and your vision then you and your company will be unstoppable.

Dare to be you.

My advice to you is this: Learn to be you, learn to go with your passion and your vision. Yes, listen to people. Yes, read books. But learn to make your own decisions and do not allow other people to set your vision. This is what Peter Ivrine, C0-Founder of Gloria Jean's Coffees, had to say about being an individual.
He goes on to say; Another principal I have learned is that as you grow and develop, you need to take the high road. By this I mean that you and I should always look to take the innovative road, the road of excellence. People with large vision find that their road is less congested. On the other hand it's extremely busy and congested on the low road. Everyone expects to operate there. It's the expected route. It's the route that often presents fewer obstacles, although I believe that on the low road you are going to face obstacles. Whether you take the high road or the low road, you cannot actually avoid problems and difficulties in life.

Benjamin Franklin described insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Author John Maxwell says he has met people who tell him that they've had ten years experience, and yet he discovers they've actually had one years experience ten times. They have been doing the same things the same way for ten years.

Look around you. Look at people who are successful. Odds are they are the ones who have dared to be different. They will be the ones who stopped doing it the way everyone else was doing it. They will be the ones who took the high road. They knew that in order to be successful they were going to face obstacles, they just wanted to face different obstacles in order to reach a higher level. These people took the innovative road, the road of excellence.

They took their vision, took a route of innovation and excellence and they achieved higher levels of success than their competitors even thought possible.

Do you have a vision? Do you have goals? What are you doing about it?

Learn to be you. Dare to be you.

Vision

In his latest book, For this I was Born, Brian Houston states: 

"On its own a vision has limitations, but when linked to the cause of Christ, it has supernatural power and purpose. When you surrender your vision and future into Gods hands and align them with his will, your life is a miracle waiting to happen. The cause of Christ will take your personal vision, your passion, dreams and goals to levels you could never have imagined. 

Vision is essential, but the cause is powerful. The cause of the King is the impetus that keeps the church moving forward as a united force on the earth. Your vision tied to mine and that of other believers and underpinned by the cause brings great power and momentum. Together we have an incredible opportunity to bring positive and eternal change."

A powerful and accurate statement. When we understand that Christ came so that we may have life in abundance. When we understand that we have been set free. When we understand that it is finished, that the enemy has been defeated, only then, when we turn and concentrate our focus on a cause which greater than us will we see the miraculous happen. It is then that we will be able to effect positive change in our neighbourhood, city, nation and planet.