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Advance Praise

To me, The Great Engagement by Tom Willis and Brad Zimmerman is all about servant leadership in action. The leadership aspect of servant leadership is about aspiration: what is your vision for yourself and your people? Once that’s clear, you move to the servant aspect of servant leadership, which is about empowering your people: giving them the capacity to use their talents to make a difference. Reading this book will help you make a difference in the lives of the people you live with, work with, and care about!

—Ken Blanchard,

coauthor of The New One Minute Manager® and Simple Truths of Leadership, Amazon Hall of Fame Top 25 bestselling author with more than 28 million books sold in forty-seven languages

A must read for any CEO serious about culture.

—Josh Linkner,

New York Times bestselling author

Excellent book by genuine people.

—Gino Wickman,

author of Traction and The EOS Life

The Great Engagement is a must-read for leaders who want to retain talent, increase employee satisfaction, accelerate results, and transform their organization through servant leadership. This book provides a clear illustration of how a transformative CEO leads with a servant’s heart, empowering their employees to achieve greatness. This inspiring and practical guide offers valuable insights into creating a workplace culture that fosters collaboration, innovation, and value for everyone.

—Michael Hull,

President and CEO of Make-A-Wish® Michigan

This is a practical guide for any CEO who wants to create an outstanding culture!

—Katie Smith Sloan,

President and CEO of LeadingAge

Tom and Brad are authentic servant leaders. They masterfully ‘hold the space’ for conversations, and I always leave provoked, inspired, thoughtful, and with tools to make me a better leader and CEO.

—Dan Varner,

President and Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill Industries, Michigan

In The Great Engagement, Brad and Tom bring a deep understanding of organizational and CEO development into one place that sets themselves apart from others. They guide CEOs in leading their organization by declaring their own personal purpose that is directly tied to the ‘why’ their organization exists. Leading with personal purpose opens the door for everyone in the organization to examine their own purpose and evaluate whether their why is aligned to the work of the organization. This practice leads to personal and organizational engagement. When everyone is engaged, this is when transformation is able to occur, not only for the organization but for the individual employees. As a CEO this has been the foundational approach I’ve taken with my executive and leadership team to transform our agency to have results we work hard to achieve.

—Shauna Reitmeier,

CEO of Alluma, board member of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing

I’ve had the privilege of being in a coaching relationship with the authors for more than two decades. This engagement has been the single most impactful influence on my leadership growth, with benefits in my home life as well. More importantly, their work with our organization has been foundational in enabling us to achieve enormous growth and innovation. In this book, Tom and Brad dive directly into the fundamental challenge and opportunity of our time. Tapping into their many decades of study and work with organizations across the country, they lay out a framework for rethinking how to build a culture that harnesses both the passion and capabilities of our teams.

—David Guth,

CEO of Centerstone

I have tremendous respect for the character and integrity Brad and Tom demonstrate daily. I have long observed the love, care, and concern they have for others. They serve through their efforts to help leaders live their purpose and generate learning environments. I am excited Tom and Brad have decided to put their considerable knowledge into these pages. The methods they share will help you achieve your greatest potential as a leader and give the gift of great leadership to others.

—Kevin Schnieders,

Chief Servant Leader and CEO of EDSI

Partnering with Tom and Brad exceeded my expectations… The work we did enabled us to grow tenfold over the last five years, and we now have a significantly better team as a result.

—Rashod Johnson,

CEO of Ardmore Roderick

A practical and effective guide for leadership in the twenty-first century.

—Chad Newton, CEO of Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), ranked by J.D. Power as #1 in customer satisfaction for mega airports

The guidance Brad and Tom provide in this book has been invaluable to my executive leadership team and me on our journey to transform ourselves and our organization.

—Susan Harding,

PhD, CEO of OLHSA

Brad and Tom’s contribution to the post-COVID world of leadership is both timely and prescient. The concepts they offer and their ability to convey complex concepts with simplicity and elegance have the power to transform the individual, the team, and entire organizations. I’ve personally experienced the transformative power of their work and its impact on my organization.

—Dave Gehm,

CEO of Wellspring Lutheran Services

I am amazed at how this book provides an advanced understanding of how to replace resignation with engagement…producing better results.

—Lenora Hardy-Foster,

President and CEO of Judson Center

Though I’ve only known Tom and Brad for a few years, their guidance, mentorship, and friendship have had a profound impact on me and my growth as a CEO. Recognizing I will always be a work in progress, I am confident in my ability to lead and learn and grow with their support. The Great Engagement is an insightful, pragmatic guide for leadership, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is committed to creating and nurturing an inspired and empowered organization.

—Gene Boes,

President and CEO of Northwest Center

Congratulations on your book and your continued journey to spread the gospel of meaningful engagement and transformation, and for helping us connect the dots to an inspiring, envisioned future.

—Gerry Brisson,

CEO of Gleaners Community Food Bank

I love that this book provides practical, executable methods for creating transformational leadership.

—Melanie Brown Woofter,

President and CEO of FBHA

I’ve been at this a very long time, and the thing I wanted to avoid was a ‘vitamin shot’ for our culture. With Tom and Brad, I found a method that sticks and stays. And as much of a believer as I am in the process, my people are that much more. You know it’s working when your people are coming to you to say that it’s ‘profound.’

—Mike Simeck,

Superintendent of Deerfield Public Schools

The work we did with Tom and Brad implementing the methods outlined in this book was of huge value to me personally, to our leadership team, and ultimately to the kids we serve!

—Dennis McDavid,

Superintendent Emeritus of Berkley School District

Like capital, employee engagement is a critical resource to a company. Tom and Brad show how a leader can either create or snuff out engagement, so that you can do more of the former.

—Edwin Olson,

CEO of May Mobility Autonomous Vehicles

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Copyright © 2024 Tom Willis, Brad Zimmerman

All rights reserved.

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-5445-3967-6

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To Our Fathers in Heaven.

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Contents

From Resignation to Engagement

1. A Million-Dollar Theft

2. What Is Transformational Leadership?

3. Emotions: Servant or Master?

4. Learned Forgetfulness

5. The Possibility of Change

6. Commitment

7. Your Unconscious Purpose

8. The Coaching Relationship

9. Developing Conscious Purpose

10. The Transformational Choice

11. Engage!

12. Leadership: Spreading the Purpose

13. Management: A Culture of Integrity

14. Coaching: The Ultimate Competitive Advantage

15. A Diagnostic Tool

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

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From Resignation to Engagement

An Overview

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

—Henry David Thoreau

Employee engagement has come to the forefront in the last decade or so as one of the defining characteristics of great organizations. We all know and appreciate its importance…but what about the opposite?

In all the writing and surveys, the opposite of employee engagement is usually identified as disengagement. If we take a deeper look at what underlies disengagement, however, we believe that its root more accurately lies in resignation.

The dictionary defines resignation as an accepting, unresisting attitude, state, etc.; submission; acquiescence: to meet one’s fate with resignation.

This mental state, if allowed to persist, will result in the second definition of resignation: a formal statement or document, stating that one gives up an office or position.

The so-called Great Resignation was caused by years of pent-up resignation. People had a life-altering experience in the COVID-19 pandemic, reassessed their lives, and chose to walk away from jobs about which they felt resignation. So they resigned.

According to Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, all human beings strive for self-actualization—the fulfillment of one’s potential to make a difference or impact the world. This human impulse is why engagement is so important. When we feel that we are serving a purpose that doesn’t impact the world that’s important to us, or when we lack the authority or empowerment to make a difference, resignation sets in.

The Great Resignation may be in the rearview mirror, but there is a lesson to be learned from it:

When people feel resigned, if they have a choice, they will resign!

A Formula for Engagement

The two factors we described above, meaningless work and powerlessness, result in resignation. This premise leads us to a simple formula for engagement:

Engagement = Aspiration + Empowerment

People who possess a compelling, aspirational purpose are energized to make an impact. We use the term purpose as a general term to include what might be called a vision, mission, goal, and so on. All great leaders aspire to some purpose that compels them to action. This same energy is what fuels exceptional, engaged organizations.

To be empowered is to possess permission to use our talents, creativity, judgment; to utilize the full measure of our capabilities in the service of an aspirational purpose. Some people take this permission themselves, like entrepreneurs, while others need it to be granted, even encouraged to accept it. People who are empowered to unleash their creativity and exercise their judgment, and who are granted the authority to make decisions necessary to accomplish the purpose to which they aspire, experience fulfillment. Empowering people includes encouraging them, appreciating them for their contribution (including commensurate pay), supporting them to be accountable, and coaching them. If either aspiration or empowerment is missing, people will experience resignation.

Being on a compelling, aspirational mission is great, but if people don’t have the authority and permission to utilize their full capabilities, they are reduced to feeling like robots and are frustrated by their inability to produce the impact they are so excited about.

On the other hand, empowerment without a compelling aspirational purpose results in everyone pursuing their own personal agendas, doing whatever makes them feel comfortable.

In the wake of the pandemic, people in many organizations have emphasized self-care over the aspirational mission, and their organizations’ mission fulfillment has suffered. Like many things in life, balance is key. This book will show you, as the CEO, how you can grow your ability to foster greater levels of engagement in your organization by

energizing your people through aspiration and

empowering your people.

Ultimately, it will show you how to replace resignation with engagement so your organization can produce better results.

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Chapter 1

1. A Million-Dollar Theft

The most perilous risk during times of upheaval isn’t the turmoil itself—it’s clinging to yesterday’s reasoning.

—Maya Angelou

A few decades ago, while we were coaching the leadership team of a finance company, one of the executives confessed on a coaching call that he had stolen $1 million from his employers. This created quite the moral dilemma for us. For now, though, let’s concentrate on the real story, which is not how an organization lost money (it got it back, as it happened) but how it discovered its purpose, transformed its people and its culture, and turned their engagement into exceptional and lasting success, moving from being a failing startup to a high-performing powerhouse.

At the time, the firm was struggling to get established. The management team was at war, and the CEO was tearing his hair out. The firm was a startup that catered to small businesses that were too new to get conventional financing, and investors had poured in capital because they could see the growth and profit potential in this niche. It was a great business model, but a couple of years in, the investors were getting frustrated. The business wasn’t growing, and their projected ROI hadn’t materialized.

The head of sales, and the head of underwriting, who approved loans, had constant knock-down, drag-out arguments: You keep turning down all the great customers I bring in. Well, you keep bringing in customers with no creditworthiness. The CEO, who had been in the business for thirty years, told them, Cut this s*#t out and walked out of the room.

That didn’t help the two of them get along any better.

The rest of the management team kept their heads down to the point of disengaging from the team. Everyone was pretty frustrated and resigned about their ability to change the dynamic and their potential for success. Eventually, the CEO reached out and engaged us to run a program we call the Transformational Leadership Experience for his seven-member executive team, consisting of an intensive 2½ day workshop followed by five months of executive coaching and customized support.

As part