Mohan Nair, Transformation, and the Power of Ideas

Commentary on the September keynote presentation, by Jim Ure

(Note: If you missed the September Chapter meeting you can also view Mohan Nair’s TED talk on YouTube. It covers the same themes.)

Introduction–Mohan Nair’s presentation

The keynote presentation at the September Chapter meeting covered some unusual ground. It was dynamic, deeply engaging, and full of meaningful ideas that I did not expect to encounter at a Chapter meeting! Mohan Nair is a Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Cambia Health System. He has also been an entrepreneur and faculty member at the Kellogg School of Management.

Mohan’s topic was Business Transformation, but it wasn’t your standard MBA strategy discussion. He talked about how business today needs a human strategy, how we need to experience our connectedness and our humanity, and how we need to find our purpose at work. He spoke about how organizations need to focus on finding a deeper “cause” and not on their “mission” statements¹. He also talked about how we suffer at work, how we can find grace, and about business needing to think beyond itself to find greater meaning.

These are bold ideas that ask us to think in new ways. To illustrate his points, Mohan spoke about Starbucks, Les Schwab, and Southwest Airlines and how they are each able to find lasting human value in their customer experiences. He spoke about Mohandas Gandhi and Mother Teresa and how we can learn from their models of transformation. He even revealed to us the admonishment of his own mother, who reminded him: “Mohan, it’s not about YOU!”

What does this all mean for project management?

I came away from the evening feeling alive and energized. But as I pondered the insights and message of embracing our humanity, I found myself with more questions than answers. Talk of business transformation is inspiring, but how do I translate this to my daily life and my role at work? How can I incorporate this into something that I can act on?

As I pondered these questions, I realized that I had to find answers using these ideas as inspiration. Mohan operates at the level of business strategy, so I needed to extend these ideas into project terms. I needed to understand how this fits in the world of planning and schedules, communicating business objectives, and managing project stakeholders. To accomplish this, I decided to focus on three of Mohan’s core ideas:

1. Business needs to connect with our common humanity and create value around this.
2. To transform business, you first need to transform yourself.
3. One idea can change all ideas.
   
   

These ideas are deceptively simple, and on the surface don’t show all the nuance and meaning Mohan gives them. But this is a good starting point, and I’d like to take each point and reflect on how it can be used in a project context. Although he did not directly address projects and project management, almost everything Mohan spoke about can apply to projects if we look at it the right way.

Connect with our common humanity (idea #1)

Projects themselves are change agents, and many projects enable large changes or shifts in how work is accomplished. The theme of “Business Transformation” can also be thought of in terms projects. So, with this substitution, idea number one becomes:

1. Projects need to connect with our common humanity and create organizational value around this.

Once we accept this premise, how we lead projects really does matter…a lot. It’s not enough to solve a business problem. It’s not good enough to satisfy the business criteria of meeting a schedule or a budget. It’s not enough to deliver solutions that meet or exceed expectations. We need to dig deeper. We need projects to solve a human problem–to connect us with our human experience.

One way to do this is to focus on the people side of solutions–our customers, users, and clients. What do they really need and what do they value? Another way is to ask the question “Why?” and look for the human dimension behind the business objectives. Another means is to focus on a greater cause. If the organization is already oriented around a “human cause,” then projects need to be tied with that cause and focus value around it. If the organization does not already have a clear human cause, then we need to ask more of our stakeholders. We need to help them identify the human objectives and show them the power of driving project value that connects people to something larger.

Transform yourself first (idea #2)–A different vision of the project manager role

To engage or lead this type of transformation, Mohan tells us that we must first transform ourselves. For Mohan, business strategy is not about looking outward and asking (or requiring) others to adapt. He embraces the servant leadership model and calls for us to take a stance of serving others. But he also takes this a step further. To be an effective servant leader and to lead others, you have to first look inward and transform yourself. You have to understand that your own ideas and even your own leadership is not what matters. This is a simple idea, but doing it is not easy and it takes courage. You have to be willing to question yourself, accept a different role, and to make the most of those around you. Once you learn to let go, you see the common humanity pulsing throughout your organization and your customers and you can find ways to uncover and nurture it.

From a project perspective, the message of self-transformation says that we need to move beyond the conventional model of the project manager as the central authority.  As a servant leader, the project manager is more of a facilitator than someone managing all project resources and activity. Most importantly, Mohan is telling us that to get there, we have to first look inward in a way that may not be familiar or easy. We have to enable the project team and the broader organization to mobilize around a higher purpose rather than hand out assignments with due dates. We need to learn to pull instead of push.

Mohan is also telling us that to change anything, we must first change ourselves, our perspectives, our view of things - we must learn to see and act differently so that we are in tune with people at all levels. Examples of this would be how the project manager role changes into a team facilitator role with self-organizing teams, or how with Lean thinking, we learn to look for process improvement from those closest to the work. To put this more directly into project terms:

2. In order to manage change, you first need to change yourself. To manage transformative projects, you need to change your project perspective to enable the leaders all around you.

One idea can change all ideas (idea #3)

This is one of the most compelling thoughts that Mohan discussed. In his book on Business Transformation², he takes this simple concept several steps further:

• One idea can change all ideas.
• One person can change all people.
• One company can change communities.
• One community can change the world.
• One idea in one person can change the world.
  
  

When he refers to such luminary historical figures as Gandhi and Mother Theresa, he reminds us that they started out humble and unknown, and acted alone. He also wants to point out that companies can bring about vast change, particularly when they focus on humanity; when they find a purpose, a ‘northern star’ that allows them to create emotional and symbolic wealth instead of just financial wealth.

The reason I find this so compelling is that it means that powerful ideas can and do come from anywhere. Anyone can be the source of inspiration, so we need to treat everyone we work with as an equal player. Everyone has potent ideas and can contribute. We need to seek people out and engage them. We also don’t have to think about the phrase “change the world” from such a lofty or globally philanthropic perspective. It can also mean to change our own world, which can be our team, our project, our company, our customers, our vendor ecosphere, and so on. We are too often passive and accept the status quo. Finding deeper meaning is possible.

But this idea also cuts much deeper. To say that “One idea can change all ideas” speaks to the great power of ideas and their capacity to transform our collective thinking. Ideas connect us in very powerful ways and continue to teach us what it means to be human. Great ideas are gifts that inspire us.

To put all of this into project terms:

3. One idea from any source can transform a project, it can transform our work, and it can transform our organizations.  Ideas have power.

Final thoughts–The story of Gage

If you heard Mohan’s talk, you will remember the touching (and heartbreaking) story of his encounter with Gage, a young boy dying from cancer. They share a playful and meaningful encounter around root beer, which teaches us how everyday things can have great value in our lives. He then repeats the urgent message Gage gives to him near the end of his tragically shortened life:

“Give gifts. You need to keep giving gifts.”

Mohan Nair's gift to us is his deep insight into how organizations (and businesses) are truly about people, and how he ties business strategy and value to our deeper humanity. It is a powerful and lasting message. I urge everyone to open your heart and mind to what these ideas can mean for you and your teams. What common humanity can you find in the work you do? What ideas help you to transform? What sources of wisdom can you bring out in your organization? What gifts can you give and keep giving?

Other important Mohan Nair quotes

• In your interactions, bring out your humanity, it will energize others.
• We suffer when we have execution with no goals. People cannot work without meaning.
• There is a lot of suffering at work. We can't avoid this so we should embrace our own suffering, for it teaches us grace with others.
• Humanity is impatient with how business functions today and business is having trouble understanding where true north really is.
• Transformational servant leaders power the transformation of any organization. They are powered by a desire to serve others, and they forget themselves, and this is the source of their undying energy and success.
• We cannot judge anyone in our organizations to be inadequate, or not having ideas to transform the world around them.
• Coincidence visits the prepared mind. Prepare your mind and body - see yourself as a warrior and athlete, ready at all times for inspiration to appear.
• Find your cause, find your identity, reflect it in value, sell it, and transform the world.

¹  On the difference between missions and causes: “Missions are given and reflect short-term actions. Causes are everlasting and brings out the will of an organization. They reflect on your call to act.”

²  Strategic Business Transformation: The 7 Deadly Sins to Overcome, Mohan Nair, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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About the Author

James Ure, PhD, PMP, embraces the servant leadership model and eagerly pursues project management models that enable higher value.