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Thank God It's Monday!

A leader doesn't just get the message across - a leader is the message.

-Warren Bennis, authority on organizational development, leadership, and change

Things just felt different.

When I walked through the doors of O'Connell Consulting, a familiar face caught my eye. I approached her desk and noticed how the mahogany gleamed. The crisp sign on it read Christina Suarez, Executive Assistant.

Christina welcomed me: "Good morning, Bruce." She looked bright, relaxed. "You're here early. Can I get you anything?"

Of all the changes I had seen in this company, none could match the transformation Christina had made. Her hangdog expression I had encountered on my first visit had vanished and her air of resignation and "why bother?" was history. Even her workspace was different - the boxes of unfiled folders cluttering the entryway were gone and the old, scuffed reception desk had been replaced with one much more aesthetically pleasing and inviting.

Christina spoke animatedly, without a trace of the mumbling I experienced when I first met her. She made me feel welcome, the way someone would greet you at a casual party. It was delightful to see her new and improved demeanor - a powerful indicator of the revitalization that had taken place here.

"I don't need a thing, Christina. It's great to see you, though," I remarked, returning her warmth with my own. "You make it such a pleasure to be here," I said, and meant it from the bottom of my heart. There was that smile again as she briefly turned away from me to tell Richard O'Connell, the company's chief executive officer, that I'd arrived.

When Richard and I began our work together six months earlier, the company he had created, nurtured, and loved for 15 years was uncomfortably close to bankruptcy. The nerves of the staff were frayed, the management team was at each other's throats, the support staff whispered their contempt for the whole organization, and almost everything seemed lost.

Today, a mere six months later, everything was different.

Richard was waiting for me, Christina reported, so I made my way toward his office. In the hallway, a confident, upbeat, impeccably dressed woman strode in my direction. "Well, good morning, Bruce. You're looking dapper," Tonya Swanson said and extended her hand. Another remarkable change: When I'd first met her, Tonya had been the most negative member of Richard's inner circle, despite being a highly talented vice president in charge of operations. Now, she exuded creativity and positive energy in whatever she did. Instead of avoiding Tonya, people now flocked to her. Tonya's transformation from "drain to gain" was one of the most important reasons that O'Connell Consulting recorded its highest revenues ever the quarter following my work there.

I said good-bye to Tonya and continued down the corridor. Soon I passed Don Taylor's office, and there he was, diligently tapping on his keyboard. His expression was so different from the "old Don": He looked positively absorbed. When he glanced up and caught me staring at him, he winked and got back to what he was doing. I interpreted that to mean he was, indeed, fully engaged. As I stood there a few seconds longer, I remembered all too well having seen him "working" too hard and constantly frustrated with nearly everyone he was managing. Now, he was more efficient, effective, and finally enjoying his job, as if it was no longer drudgery. He also enjoyed leading the staff members who reported to him, whom he now referred to as his partners.

Only six months earlier, when Don's energy was incredibly volatile, no one would have believed that he would become the company's most inspirational figure and a driving force behind the company's success.

Almost at Richard's door, I was nearly trampled by Kyle Pennington, who was about to fling open the door to his boss's office.

"Sorry, Bruce. Didn't mean to cut in front of you," he said, as he continued to dash ahead of me. "But I've got some good news for Richard. Won't be but a minute."

While I waited outside the office, through all the commotion and "positive energy" welcoming me, I noticed Kyle's predecessor was nowhere to be seen. His wasn't among the many smiling faces greeting me today. That's about right, I thought. In my time there, I didn't recall ever seeing that man smile or get excited about anything.

Kyle zipped out of Richard's office almost as quickly as he entered, which meant it was my turn to see the boss.

My client sat at his desk, reading the first-quarter report that Kyle just handed him. Richard already knew the results, so the enthusiastic perusal I witnessed was an acknowledgment of the dramatic success his company had achieved.

"Grab your chair, my friend," he said.

For a moment, both of us remained quiet, each unwilling to interrupt with words what we both were now experiencing: an easy yet electrified silence filled with anticipation and no small amount of wonder.

"How does it look?" I finally asked Richard as I sat down, nodding at the report and grinning at him. But we both knew I meant much more than that.

Richard was visibly excited and half-ready to jump out of his chair. But his response was understated: "It looks really good, Bruce. In fact, I'm tempted to say it's almost perfect."

Today was the date we had decided on at our first meeting to review our progress and celebrate the company's dramatic turnaround; a day we hoped would come. It served as a testament to a few simple and important facts: Richard's company still existed, was still viable - and was prospering. From here on out, a whole new world of possibilities opened up for him, as well as for every one of his employees. And employees like Christina, Tonya, Don, and Kyle were clearly aware of it.

Now it was my turn to play: "So what else is new?" I asked rather casually.

"Very funny," Richard replied. He looked out his window, which opened on a lush green hilltop. But his gaze seemed to stretch much farther. "Where should I start?" he asked, as much to himself as to me.

Richard began by telling me that the past six months had been the most challenging, revealing, and intriguing of his career. O'Connell Consulting had gone from nearly having to close up shop to now making record profits. He reminded me that six months ago he'd thought he'd have to replace his management team or go under and lose the company and dream he had worked so hard to create. Instead, the management team had become a powerful force for guiding people and change. The fear of closing shop was not even an option. His team was now fully invested and engaged in helping him grow the business and consistently creating a work environment that was highly positive.

Richard paused, as if he needed a moment to fully take in what he had just shared. Then his review continued: "My support staff is not only productive, but they communicate and solve problems together. I'm not just guessing when I say that they're fully engaged and happy, too. I can see it on their faces and feel it in the air."

The fact that he mentioned this last observation demonstrated a significant transformation in his own level of awareness. In the past, Richard would have been so absorbed with his own "stuff" that he wouldn't have even put his feelers out or concerned himself with others' level of engagement. He would have just assumed that people were slacking off, taking him and the company for a ride, causing trouble, and making his job impossible.

Nowadays, he said, he was meeting with every one of his staff regularly. The staff had changed, too, of course. Instead of using him as a dumping bin for problems, his people now were proposing solutions, reviewing objectives achieved, and setting new goals for the future.

"Our entire organization is finely tuned. In fact, we're experiencing - no, we're creating new growth in a competitive marketplace," he said.

Richard wasn't finished. Looking me in the eye, he said that the most important change, however, was not within his company. It was within himself. He told me he now knew who he really was: "I'm an effective leader who's crafting a purposeful and powerful life."

Richard seemed almost surprised to hear himself say it. He then disclosed that he thoroughly enjoyed coming to work each and every morning these days.

"Oh, there's one more thing: My wife," he added, smiling, "says I should give you more money."

We both sat back, amused. Although it was a lovely sentiment, we both knew I was not the source of this company's turnaround or of the differences his wife was seeing at home.

What had happened in Richard's company to account for the changes he reported? Was it his coming into the office earlier, so that he didn't feel rushed to catch up right from the start of his day? Was it the individual attention he gave his employees each morning, or the weekly updates he was now receiving promptly from everyone? Was it his employees' "thank-God-it's-Monday" attitudes that seemed to...