Energy, Legacy Leadership, and Legacy Cultures

Jay Newman PhD, Founding Partner Culture By Choice

An idea that I picked up from my good friend Zeke Lopez is that business, and any organization for that matter, is all about energy. Money is nothing more than a representation of energy. From man’s earliest social and commercial endeavors, the goal has always been to acquire, conserve, and protect the energy needed to survive. Without energy life is impossible.

It is said that people have some fundamental needs; food, clothing, and shelter are usually mentioned as the top three of these needs. Each of these needs is tied to energy. Food is our source of energy. Clothing helps us conserve our energy. And our shelter helps us protect our energy. The earliest businesses created by humans was trade associated with food. Since that time all business can be tied to the acquisition, conservation, or protection of energy. It’s just that that in today’s world it’s not just the physical energy that we work for. Psychological, emotional, and social energy also enter the mix.

Our company, Culture By Choice, was created to help our clients be more efficient at the transfer of psychological and emotional energy. These energies are extensions of the physical energy associated with food. Modern medicine clearly connects psychological and emotional health with physical health. This connection has consequences for businesses and any business that ignores the connection will be faced with very real consequences. Workers whose psychological and emotional energy is drained by toxic cultures face very real health dangers. In turn, those businesses with toxic cultures create the conditions that result in many lost work hours due to avoidable illness and general malaise.

The best run companies understand the connection between energizing the workforce and productivity. Without an energy source no engine can run. In the same way without an energy source no business can operate. Leaders are the psychological and emotional energy source for their workforce. Every leader has a choice. Will the choice be to inject energy into the organization or will it be to suck energy out of the organization. Legacy Leaders are energizers. Legacy Leaders devote a great deal of their time to the energization of the organization. They also invest in efforts to conserve and protect their organization’s psychological and emotional energy. Research tells us that the best way to inject energy into an organization is to care.

The key to the psychological and emotional economy is caring. Legacy Leaders are masters of the psychological and emotional economy. They know how to read their people. They know how to assess their energy levels. They know when an infusion of energy is needed and they know when the fear of energy loss is getting in the way of productive work. Legacy Leaders understand that the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire organization hinges upon the physical, psychological and emotional energy of the workforce. Legacy Leaders understand that their number one job is to make sure that they acquire, conserve, and protect their organization’s physical, psychological and emotional energy. Without this energy all work will cease!

So how do you make sure that the energy needs of the workforce are met? This can only happen through intentionality. The culture of the organization must be designed to foster the efficient flow of energy from leaders to followers and between colleagues. Unlike physical energy, which when used is depleted, psychological and emotional energy are not diminished when used. In fact, psychological and emotional energy grow when shared. Since Legacy Leaders comprehend the organization’s energy economy, they realize how important their ability to read energy levels is. This is an important application of People Acumen. In fact, it is the foundation of People Acumen.

All human behavior stems from people’s need to either acquire, conserve, or protect their energy. Because we each experience the world in our own unique ways, how we go about acquiring, conserving, and protecting our energy will also be unique to our own reality. Some people will have found very effective and efficient ways to confront their energy needs. Other people will have very creative ways to meet their energy needs. Still others will struggle. Some people will conclude that the best way to meet their energy needs is to make sure that others have their needs met as well. Legacy Leaders understand that people are diverse in their approach. Legacy Leaders also realize that an important part of their role is to help people learn more about this energy economy and how their behaviors effect the system. The most important function of any Legacy Leader is to manage the energy flow through the organization.

The beauty of a Legacy Culture is that energy flow is not dependent upon the personality of the Legacy Leader. Legacy Cultures create energy flow systems that meet the needs of all people. Not everyone is energized by material gain. Some people will be energized through opportunities to learn or helpInt others or to create beauty in their world. Letting people find their own path to energization can be a challenge but the pay off is big. Legacy Leaders see this picture as a beautiful mosaic and not the mess that more rigid managers often see. When you really know the people you work with, you understand what motivates them. This understanding allows the Legacy Leader to connect on a level that most managers miss. In an effort to homogenize the team the average manager loses the opportunity to engage the power of diversity. By honoring that diversity in the team you open your organization up to more diverse relationships with those you do business with.

Now this discussion has come full circle. I began with the earliest human endeavors to acquire, conserve and protect energy. We have not really traveled so far. Today, our efforts all relate back to our ancient ancestors. Without energy we parish. So we engage in work to secure our energy needs. If we are fortunate we are part of a Legacy Culture and we are all working together to help one another meet our own energy needs.