HELP THE HELPER

We often mistakenly give full credit for a company’s success to the presidents and CEOs. Those men and women at the help are a part of what is taught in business school as First and Secord Order Leadership. They are the faces we put to the names of the biggest companies in the world. However, what goes largely unnoticed are the day-to-day difference-making decisions performed not by those in charge, but everyday employees whose efforts go largely unnoticed except by consumers, clients and fans. They are the constituents of Third Order Leadership, and the key to real success is about helping the helper – acting to make others more valuable and successful.

“Help the helper” is a basketball phrase you hear referenced by longstanding greats like Coach K and the late John Wooden. It comes from optimum execution of the Shell Drill, a four-on-four exercise in which everyone is spread out on the floor. One person drives hard to the bucket. The closest man helps. Simple. All good teams can do that. The ability to win, time and again, regardless of personnel strengths and weakness, regardless of external obstacles, is explained by Pritchard and Eliot as a third order factor. Who is filling the gap left by the man going to support the dribbler? What initiative is taken, likely to go unrewarded or unnoticed, away from the ball or basket? At its essence: How is the helper being helped? Pritchard and Eliot teach their readers how to do the same, offering the simple tools they use to drive performance gains. But this isn’t just a sports book. A diversity of case studies, across many industries from oil and gas to IT to medicine to the restaurant business will showcase how helping the helper spans across all types of teamwork. A Help the Helper approach took Precor from being a little known manufacturing company in Woodinville, WA to the international gold standard in fitness equipment. It’s helped organizations as different as Cisco, Marathon Oil, Verizon, and the Texas Medical Center improve their bottom line by engaging all employees in Third Order Leadership. What the best do is help the helper. Kevin Pritchard is Director of Personnel for the Indiana Pacers. Prior to joining the Pacers, Pritchard was the general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers from 2007 – 10. The 44-year-old Pritchard was born in Bloominington, Indiana and played collegiate basketball as well as professionally with the NBA and internationally in Italy and Germany. After his playing career, Pritchard was the coach/general manager of the Kansas City Knights of the ABA, winning a championship in 2002 and scouted for the San Antonio Spurs. In the 2004-05 season he served as the Blazers’ interim coach for 27 games, then in 2006 became Portland’s assistant general manager before taking over the GM position in 2007. Consultant John Eliot is highly sought after by professional athletes and coaches, Fortune 500 companies, medical centers, and universities worldwide. In 20 years of practice, an unprecedented 100% of his clients have won pennants, championships, or gold medals. Dr. Eliot’s work focuses on the psychological variables impacting the health, culture, and bottom-line performance of organizations. He advises boards and C-level executives regarding both the evaluation and development of talent; he has consulted for NASA, the Shepherd School of Music (surpassing Julliard to become ranked #1 in the United States), M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Mayo Clinic, Adidas, Precor, Accenture, Deutsche Bank, Shell, BP, Sony, Cisco, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. His efforts in helping groups innovate in the pursuit of excellence has received considerable media attention, from ESPN, Fox Sports, MSNBC, Bloomberg Radio, NPR, the Harvard Business Review, and many others.