Discover How Ken Blanchard Changed The Way The World Leads

I would be hard pressed to find a leader, someone who studies leadership, or an aspiring leader who during the past 43 years hasn’t read the iconic and business classic The One Minute Manager (1982) or the updated new addition, The New One Minute Manager (2015). 

For decades, these two books, both co-authored by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, have helped millions achieve more successful professional and personal lives.
 
Now, in Chapter 9 of the new biography of Ken Blanchard, you’ll discover the story behind the idea and ultimate launch of the original The One Minute Manager.
 
Chapter 9 is in the insightful and intimate biography, Catch People Doing Things Right, authored by Martha C. Lawrence. In it and through extensive access to personal papers, letters, and interviews spanning six decades, she reveals how Blanchard became a leadership guru and bestselling author of more than 70 books.
 
Lawrence shares insights and intimate details about Blanchard from his childhood to today. You’ll follow along as she shares particulars about the origins of Blanchard’s "Situational Leadership" and the impactful concept of "Catching People Doing Things Right," and how Blanchard revolutionized leadership worldwide.

Ken Blanchard

 
Few people have influenced the day-to-day management of people and companies more than Blanchard. He is a prominent, sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, widely quoted leadership expert, and has been inducted into Amazon's Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 best-selling authors of all time.
 
Blanchard transformed modern leadership theory through unlikely means—by catching people doing things right – something I whole-heartedly endorse, whether you are a leader of a new team or leading employees at a newly acquired company.
 
Two of my favorite books that Blanchard co-authored are:
 
One Minute Mentoring (2017)
Servant Leadership In Action (2018)
 
That’s because I am a firm believer in both being a mentor and being mentored and being a servant leader.
 
Finally, this new business biography reveals how Blanchard revolutionized management by leading with love and service.
 

Martha C. Lawrence

 
Today, Lawrence shares these additional insights with us:
 
Question: Why do you think the iconic The One Minute Manager continues to be so popular among budding leaders four decades after it was first published?
 
Lawrence: Until The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson came along in 1982, business books tended to be long, dry, and boring. Suddenly here comes this fun-to-read, skinny little business book, and everybody wanted to have a copy.
 
It was written as a parable about a young man looking for an effective manager. The three secrets the young man learned—One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praising, and One Minute Re-Directs—are timeless.
 
Because the book is easy to read and its concepts are simple yet powerful, The One Minute Manager remains the guidebook of choice for millions of managers. “Someone handed me The One Minute Manager after my first promotion at AT&T in the early ’90s. The idea of catching someone doing something right shaped how I lead, live, and parent,” says the influential author and podcaster Brené Brown.
 
Question: What does Ken want his legacy to be?
 
Lawrence: Believing that a vision and picture of the future can inspire people to live their best lives, Ken encourages people to write their own obituary, so that they can think about the legacy they want to leave.
 
He wrote his own obituary and offered it as an example. It begins, “Ken Blanchard was a loving teacher and example of simple truths whose books and speeches on leadership and management helped him and others to awaken to the presence of God in their lives and realize that we’re here to serve, not to be served.”
 
A few years ago, Ken was asked, “Out of all the leadership principles you’ve taught over the years, what is your favorite—the one thing you would hold onto?” His answer was, “Catch people doing things right.” Sincere praise is a powerful motivator of people. Ken often says, “Who needs acknowledgment? Everybody who’s breathing.”
 
Ultimately, Ken wants to leave a legacy of love. He quotes his wife, Margie, “Leadership is love. It’s loving your mission, it’s loving your people and customers, and it’s loving yourself enough to get out of the way so that other people can be magnificent.” Or, as Ken likes to say, “What is the question? Love is the answer.”
 
Question: What is Ken's favorite book that he wrote or co-authored and why?
 
Lawrence: For an author, picking a favorite book is like picking a favorite child. You love them all, for different reasons. But when forced to answer your question, Ken’s response was, “Out of the 70 books I’ve authored or co-authored, my favorite would have to be The One Minute Manager. Spencer Johnson was such a brilliant and creative coauthor, and our book continues to help millions of people around the world.”
 
Question: What did you learn about Ken and his career that impressed you the most that you didn't know before authoring the new biography book?
 
Lawrence: As Ken Blanchard’s authorized biographer, I had access to thousands of documents, including manuscripts, photos, letters, journals, and private papers. Reviewing those documents, I was blown away by how early Ken’s interest in leadership began.
 
He was a popular kid and served in leadership roles all through school. The book includes a great story about when he ran for president of his seventh-grade class. He won in a landslide and came racing home to tell his mom and dad. That’s when his dad, who retired as a rear admiral in the Navy, taught him one of his first leadership lessons. His dad said, “That’s great, Ken, we’re proud of you. But now that you have the title of president, don’t ever use it. People don’t follow leaders because they have a fancy title, they follow them because they trust and respect them.”
 
Another insight was that Ken was an eyewitness to the civil rights era in American history. He went to an all-white elementary school in New Rochelle, New York, because schools were still segregated. But as a kid, he played in a lot of city basketball leagues, so he had a lot of Black friends. After the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Ken went to a desegregated high school. But the kids still tended to hang out in their own separate groups, so he and a good friend of his who was Black, Bobby Bradshaw, started something called the Youth Fellowship to encourage students to come together. There’s a wonderful newspaper clipping in the photo section of the biography book featuring Ken and Bobby.
 
When Ken was a freshman at Cornell University, he met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who came to speak at Sage Chapel. Later, when Ken was a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he served on the doctoral committee of Malcom X’s wife, Betty Shabazz. People who know Ken always describe him as gregarious and inclusive. I was impressed that Ken had those qualities from a very early age.
___
 
Martha C. Lawrence, a former editor for Simon & Schuster and Harcourt Publishers, and an executive editor at Blanchard, has worked closely Blanchard for over twenty years. Her deep understanding of his work and legacy makes her uniquely positioned to tell this compelling story.
 
Her editing credits include multimillion-copy bestsellers and #1 New York Times titles. She is also the author of an Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, and Shamus-nominated mystery series featuring private investigator Elizabeth Chase.
 
Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.