imagine a world where all people
caregivers coaches moms dads policemen
politicians all people are more
effective in things they do I think
one thing I learned along the journey of
this research of trying to find out how
people are more effective is I learned
that people are more effective when you
seek in listen to wise counsel seek and
listen to wise counsel what does wise
counsel look like this is a picture a
fascinating photograph actually in
taking the White House in October 1962
it was taken during the Cuban Missile
Crisis these men in this room are trying
to figure out what to do
how dangerous was the Cuban Missile
Crisis most historians agree that it was
the most dangerous moment in human
history what caused the crisis the next
two slides I show you are actually maps
shown to these men in this room in the
photograph to get an idea of how how
serious the situation was this is an
island of Cuba 90 miles only 90 miles
off the coast of Florida and what
happens the Soviet Union abruptly
started placing nuclear missiles on the
island of Cuba this next map is even
more alarming it shows that the range of
these missiles could have hit any city
in the United States with a matter of
minutes with a very possible exception
of Seattle Washington these men now
understood the gravity of the situation
I don’t know if you recognize this man
John F Kennedy president United States
at the time JFK on his shoulders the
burden of a decision fell he didn’t know
what to do and he was asking these men
are on the table for their opinions the
first opinion he got was this it said
mr. president we need to go in there and
just do a an air strike take out those
missile sites
and what’s fascinating is all the
deliberations of these of these of the
members that what they talked about is
recorded at the end of the first day you
hear President Kennedy say this and I
quote that’s all we’re gonna do him to
take out those missile sites unquote
well we didn’t know then but we do know
now is this is Cuban military leaders
and Soviet military leaders were on the
ground at those missile sites and they
were under orders if there was any
attack on the island of Cuba by the
United States there to launch those
missiles against the cities in the
United States in other words if
President Kennedy had listened to that
council a cataclysmic event would have
been precipitated let me introduce you
this man George ball you probably never
heard of George ball he was a career
diplomat Undersecretary of State I’m not
a prominent player amongst the other
people in that room but he was in that
room you know I can’t find his
photograph but he was there and the
third day after everyone is talking
about it a missile a strength against
those misses an attack you hear George
ball say this and I quote we need to
consider the consequences of such an
attack unquote it changed the entire
direction of the conversation after that
they started talking about a softer
approach maybe maybe a blockade maybe a
quarantine of Cuba that’s exactly what
President Kennedy does it within ten
days the the crisis is it’s averted in
the Soviet Union start to display it
mantling those those missile sites in a
very dark time in in human history
President Kennedy had a momentous
decision to make and he listened to this
George ball and he listened to him and
he changed his direction
President Kennedy was more effective
because he listened to wise counsel
during my Navy career about 20 years
there my Navy career very bizarre
incident happened that made me
appreciate the value of wise counsel at
that point my career my career was on
the rise everything was looking good I
was a senior member of a board of
governors and at hospital we’re getting
ready for a big inspection you know
every other organization you get an
inspection comes a little anxious and
nervous about it it’s a routine
inspection it was a big deal nonetheless
and what are the other piece of it is
my boss at the time had this kind of bad
habit of getting anger angry at bad news
any kind of bad news Boone there be
anger so that caused everyone that me a
little more amped up about this this is
this inspection and myself included so
in preparation of this for this
inspection which was about four months
away and I was leaving that hospital
about five months I had received my
orders my next assignment but I was
gonna be there for this inspection we’re
getting ready for it and I would send
the junior officers out to the hospital
doing routine inspections of the
hospital and seeing what how it looked
so I’m working in my office on a
Thursday night I hear a knock at the
door and one of the junior officers
comes is it sir I just wanna let you
know I just did the inspection of the
blood bank the blood bank was all good
sir the temperature law was taken the
blood products raw wound date and think
I don’t came someone’s pretty routine
and he goes around he go sir I just
wanna let you know I went in the freezer
area where the blood the fresh frozen
plasma stored and rearranged some boxes
and ice and I’m thinking myself a what
and I asked them I remember it asked him
praying and hoping it wasn’t what I’m
thinking what kind of leg he goes sure
sir a human leg a human leg looks like a
below knee amputation it’s been there
about five years I had a little tag on
it five year date and loads of the
social security number of a patient
looks like probably the person’s leg
he’s telling me this stuff he’s says yes
sir a leg behind a behind the boxes or a
human leg and I’m he’s still talking and
I’m not listening
I’ve on my mind is racing the first
thought I had was okay the Navy sent me
it’s a great training but I missed the
class and what you do when you find a
body part in a building the second piece
was I had the pity party I’m thinking
man I’m out of here in four months that
darn legs been in there five years why
couldn’t they just not find it I didn’t
leave it from the next person but then
the third thing consumed me was oh man
I’m gonna tell the boss the next day and
this is this is not good news this is
bad news and there’s gonna be a lot of
anger so make sure we’re on the same
sheet of music and I think you get it
finding a body partner in a hospital is
not good news it’s not a normal thing so
I gotta tell the boss the next day well
the lieutenant who’s briefing mean I
started getting zero back in on him
again he knew about the anger thing with
the boss and he didn’t want anything to
do with this leg either he was sure one
other thing with the leg I said what’s
that he was sure we can get rid of it
tonight I said we may get rid of the
tonight he goes sir we have a contract
with the civilian incineration team I
run that contract and pretty routinely I
called him up have him come on the base
to get boxes they take the boxes off the
base they burn him I call him up tonight
and we got some boxes to burn they come
on the base burn the boxes except
tonight I slipped the leg in one of the
boxes I’m thinking I said sounds good
that’s interesting it sounds like an
interesting idea go search a great idea
let’s make it happen
I said wait a minute wait a minute wait
a minute I said this doesn’t make sense
I said how how long’s the leg been in
there five years for five years I said
wait a minute wait it can wait another
night I you I got to think this thing
through so he leaves my office and last
thing he says it sir you call me up on
my cell phone I’ll get rid of that thing
like that tonight call me up sir wait
wait then he leaves my office and it’s
all quiet in my office and I’m thinking
what the heck I’m look at my Inbox
I had a lot my schedules full the next
day I had a lot of work this leg came
out of nowhere I didn’t want to deal
with it I kept looking at my phone I
said man one phone call boom this is
taken care of but I said something
something said slow down something said
get someone else’s opinion something
said seek wise counsel and that’s why I
said that’s not really do I got
ask somebody I said all men who’d ask
all these men and women who have been
working with all these years and these
great wisdom great experience great
knowledge of hospital operations but who
to ask whose opinion do I value the most
who’s close to my heart who has helped
me get to that level of success that by
my opinion in my career I thought about
I said oh I know I never would have
asked I went home and told my wife Chris
Chris has always been my wise counsel to
this day she’s my wise counsel and I
told her the story she’s nothing gonna
burn that leg are ya
listen I said I said I’m thinking about
it she you can’t burn there like you
gotta man up and tell the boss the next
day you can’t you gotta do the right
thing man up go tell him I said I’m man
she’s right I it hit me like I’m like a
slap in the face it’s a good mark what
were you thinking I didn’t think of the
consequences my my reputation my
character my job maybe my career if we
had done that when the next day told the
boss and obviously a nuclear explosion
of anger but we got throwin we did all
the right things you didn’t cause
analysis we we worked through it and we
changed some processes and inspectors
came in we pass inspection all was good
but in a bizarre incident in my Navy
career I was so fortunate to get wise
counsel
you know I said Chris has always
provided that wise counsel for me I must
say to that I pray I pray to my higher
power my god I get high I get wise
counsel there I am more effective when I
seek and find and listen to wise counsel
it makes sense that if you slow down in
sequence counsel to be more effective
are we are there studies that show that
we are in fact there are and in closing
let me just share one with you this this
group called the great places of work
Institute every year is a nonprofit they
they surveys 2 million employees from
6,000 companies from around the world in
what they come up with is they call the
100 best companies to work in these
companies or people are fired up to come
to work every day their high employee
engagement scores high morale they’re
fired
to come to work they they fun coming to
work one of the key questions that is
asked of those 6000 companies to get to
this elite 100 is this they asked the
employees does your opinion matter do
your bosses ask for input before they
make decisions in other words do your
leaders seek wise counsel so every year
they companies 100 best companies work
for a list that’s all cool you got me
excited people but are the leaders of
these companies more effective than
other companies that are not on the list
good question this great companies the
great places to work Institute looked at
I said let’s look at market returns do
our companies of the hundred best
companies they beat the market average
seems like a reasonable approach so
that’s what they did in 18 year of study
they looked at this thing they want to
know if their companies beat the market
average do they beat the market average
100 best is the higher higher one they
not only beat it they crush it it’s
almost three times the market average
the leaders of the 100 best companies
are more effective because they seek in
listen from their employees wise counsel
this makes sense I guess in for
businesses but but more broadly
teenagers I had we brought up three
teenagers I was a teenager once I would
say that it’s reasonable to generally
think that with teenagers be more
effective if they seek wise counsel
before they act and I think I think
social media maybe some adults too John
F Kennedy was more effective in a very
dark time in human history because he
was able to seek and find and listen to
wise counsel I have been always been
more effective when I seek and listen to
wise counsel them the most effective
leaders in the world are the leaders of
the most powerful companies in the world
most highest performing companies that
were are more effective because they
seek and listen to wise counsel wise
counsel is about listening are we
seeking wise counsel word we’re at a
dangerous time
are we listening to one another are we
seeking wise counsel would you be more
effective if you seek wise counsel I
still imagine a world I think of the
possibilities where everyone before they
act before they take action they seek
find and listen to wise counsel thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
caregivers coaches moms dads policemen
politicians all people are more
effective in things they do I think
one thing I learned along the journey of
this research of trying to find out how
people are more effective is I learned
that people are more effective when you
seek in listen to wise counsel seek and
listen to wise counsel what does wise
counsel look like this is a picture a
fascinating photograph actually in
taking the White House in October 1962
it was taken during the Cuban Missile
Crisis these men in this room are trying
to figure out what to do
how dangerous was the Cuban Missile
Crisis most historians agree that it was
the most dangerous moment in human
history what caused the crisis the next
two slides I show you are actually maps
shown to these men in this room in the
photograph to get an idea of how how
serious the situation was this is an
island of Cuba 90 miles only 90 miles
off the coast of Florida and what
happens the Soviet Union abruptly
started placing nuclear missiles on the
island of Cuba this next map is even
more alarming it shows that the range of
these missiles could have hit any city
in the United States with a matter of
minutes with a very possible exception
of Seattle Washington these men now
understood the gravity of the situation
I don’t know if you recognize this man
John F Kennedy president United States
at the time JFK on his shoulders the
burden of a decision fell he didn’t know
what to do and he was asking these men
are on the table for their opinions the
first opinion he got was this it said
mr. president we need to go in there and
just do a an air strike take out those
missile sites
and what’s fascinating is all the
deliberations of these of these of the
members that what they talked about is
recorded at the end of the first day you
hear President Kennedy say this and I
quote that’s all we’re gonna do him to
take out those missile sites unquote
well we didn’t know then but we do know
now is this is Cuban military leaders
and Soviet military leaders were on the
ground at those missile sites and they
were under orders if there was any
attack on the island of Cuba by the
United States there to launch those
missiles against the cities in the
United States in other words if
President Kennedy had listened to that
council a cataclysmic event would have
been precipitated let me introduce you
this man George ball you probably never
heard of George ball he was a career
diplomat Undersecretary of State I’m not
a prominent player amongst the other
people in that room but he was in that
room you know I can’t find his
photograph but he was there and the
third day after everyone is talking
about it a missile a strength against
those misses an attack you hear George
ball say this and I quote we need to
consider the consequences of such an
attack unquote it changed the entire
direction of the conversation after that
they started talking about a softer
approach maybe maybe a blockade maybe a
quarantine of Cuba that’s exactly what
President Kennedy does it within ten
days the the crisis is it’s averted in
the Soviet Union start to display it
mantling those those missile sites in a
very dark time in in human history
President Kennedy had a momentous
decision to make and he listened to this
George ball and he listened to him and
he changed his direction
President Kennedy was more effective
because he listened to wise counsel
during my Navy career about 20 years
there my Navy career very bizarre
incident happened that made me
appreciate the value of wise counsel at
that point my career my career was on
the rise everything was looking good I
was a senior member of a board of
governors and at hospital we’re getting
ready for a big inspection you know
every other organization you get an
inspection comes a little anxious and
nervous about it it’s a routine
inspection it was a big deal nonetheless
and what are the other piece of it is
my boss at the time had this kind of bad
habit of getting anger angry at bad news
any kind of bad news Boone there be
anger so that caused everyone that me a
little more amped up about this this is
this inspection and myself included so
in preparation of this for this
inspection which was about four months
away and I was leaving that hospital
about five months I had received my
orders my next assignment but I was
gonna be there for this inspection we’re
getting ready for it and I would send
the junior officers out to the hospital
doing routine inspections of the
hospital and seeing what how it looked
so I’m working in my office on a
Thursday night I hear a knock at the
door and one of the junior officers
comes is it sir I just wanna let you
know I just did the inspection of the
blood bank the blood bank was all good
sir the temperature law was taken the
blood products raw wound date and think
I don’t came someone’s pretty routine
and he goes around he go sir I just
wanna let you know I went in the freezer
area where the blood the fresh frozen
plasma stored and rearranged some boxes
and ice and I’m thinking myself a what
and I asked them I remember it asked him
praying and hoping it wasn’t what I’m
thinking what kind of leg he goes sure
sir a human leg a human leg looks like a
below knee amputation it’s been there
about five years I had a little tag on
it five year date and loads of the
social security number of a patient
looks like probably the person’s leg
he’s telling me this stuff he’s says yes
sir a leg behind a behind the boxes or a
human leg and I’m he’s still talking and
I’m not listening
I’ve on my mind is racing the first
thought I had was okay the Navy sent me
it’s a great training but I missed the
class and what you do when you find a
body part in a building the second piece
was I had the pity party I’m thinking
man I’m out of here in four months that
darn legs been in there five years why
couldn’t they just not find it I didn’t
leave it from the next person but then
the third thing consumed me was oh man
I’m gonna tell the boss the next day and
this is this is not good news this is
bad news and there’s gonna be a lot of
anger so make sure we’re on the same
sheet of music and I think you get it
finding a body partner in a hospital is
not good news it’s not a normal thing so
I gotta tell the boss the next day well
the lieutenant who’s briefing mean I
started getting zero back in on him
again he knew about the anger thing with
the boss and he didn’t want anything to
do with this leg either he was sure one
other thing with the leg I said what’s
that he was sure we can get rid of it
tonight I said we may get rid of the
tonight he goes sir we have a contract
with the civilian incineration team I
run that contract and pretty routinely I
called him up have him come on the base
to get boxes they take the boxes off the
base they burn him I call him up tonight
and we got some boxes to burn they come
on the base burn the boxes except
tonight I slipped the leg in one of the
boxes I’m thinking I said sounds good
that’s interesting it sounds like an
interesting idea go search a great idea
let’s make it happen
I said wait a minute wait a minute wait
a minute I said this doesn’t make sense
I said how how long’s the leg been in
there five years for five years I said
wait a minute wait it can wait another
night I you I got to think this thing
through so he leaves my office and last
thing he says it sir you call me up on
my cell phone I’ll get rid of that thing
like that tonight call me up sir wait
wait then he leaves my office and it’s
all quiet in my office and I’m thinking
what the heck I’m look at my Inbox
I had a lot my schedules full the next
day I had a lot of work this leg came
out of nowhere I didn’t want to deal
with it I kept looking at my phone I
said man one phone call boom this is
taken care of but I said something
something said slow down something said
get someone else’s opinion something
said seek wise counsel and that’s why I
said that’s not really do I got
ask somebody I said all men who’d ask
all these men and women who have been
working with all these years and these
great wisdom great experience great
knowledge of hospital operations but who
to ask whose opinion do I value the most
who’s close to my heart who has helped
me get to that level of success that by
my opinion in my career I thought about
I said oh I know I never would have
asked I went home and told my wife Chris
Chris has always been my wise counsel to
this day she’s my wise counsel and I
told her the story she’s nothing gonna
burn that leg are ya
listen I said I said I’m thinking about
it she you can’t burn there like you
gotta man up and tell the boss the next
day you can’t you gotta do the right
thing man up go tell him I said I’m man
she’s right I it hit me like I’m like a
slap in the face it’s a good mark what
were you thinking I didn’t think of the
consequences my my reputation my
character my job maybe my career if we
had done that when the next day told the
boss and obviously a nuclear explosion
of anger but we got throwin we did all
the right things you didn’t cause
analysis we we worked through it and we
changed some processes and inspectors
came in we pass inspection all was good
but in a bizarre incident in my Navy
career I was so fortunate to get wise
counsel
you know I said Chris has always
provided that wise counsel for me I must
say to that I pray I pray to my higher
power my god I get high I get wise
counsel there I am more effective when I
seek and find and listen to wise counsel
it makes sense that if you slow down in
sequence counsel to be more effective
are we are there studies that show that
we are in fact there are and in closing
let me just share one with you this this
group called the great places of work
Institute every year is a nonprofit they
they surveys 2 million employees from
6,000 companies from around the world in
what they come up with is they call the
100 best companies to work in these
companies or people are fired up to come
to work every day their high employee
engagement scores high morale they’re
fired
to come to work they they fun coming to
work one of the key questions that is
asked of those 6000 companies to get to
this elite 100 is this they asked the
employees does your opinion matter do
your bosses ask for input before they
make decisions in other words do your
leaders seek wise counsel so every year
they companies 100 best companies work
for a list that’s all cool you got me
excited people but are the leaders of
these companies more effective than
other companies that are not on the list
good question this great companies the
great places to work Institute looked at
I said let’s look at market returns do
our companies of the hundred best
companies they beat the market average
seems like a reasonable approach so
that’s what they did in 18 year of study
they looked at this thing they want to
know if their companies beat the market
average do they beat the market average
100 best is the higher higher one they
not only beat it they crush it it’s
almost three times the market average
the leaders of the 100 best companies
are more effective because they seek in
listen from their employees wise counsel
this makes sense I guess in for
businesses but but more broadly
teenagers I had we brought up three
teenagers I was a teenager once I would
say that it’s reasonable to generally
think that with teenagers be more
effective if they seek wise counsel
before they act and I think I think
social media maybe some adults too John
F Kennedy was more effective in a very
dark time in human history because he
was able to seek and find and listen to
wise counsel I have been always been
more effective when I seek and listen to
wise counsel them the most effective
leaders in the world are the leaders of
the most powerful companies in the world
most highest performing companies that
were are more effective because they
seek and listen to wise counsel wise
counsel is about listening are we
seeking wise counsel word we’re at a
dangerous time
are we listening to one another are we
seeking wise counsel would you be more
effective if you seek wise counsel I
still imagine a world I think of the
possibilities where everyone before they
act before they take action they seek
find and listen to wise counsel thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
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