Very simply, criterion behavior focuses on what you, as an individual, bring to the table. Your imagination, inventiveness, communication and cognitive skills, work ethic, character, personality, courage, self-respect, and respect for other people are crucial to success in life. Ultimately, they are much more important than what your father does for a living, your zip code, or the reputation/rating of your college. These factors can matter in terms of networking opportunities and social connections, but, they are like getting a driver’s license: you can get it online or at the DMV, you can stand in line or arrive before there is one, but at some point you will have to drive, and how well you drive depends on what you can do and what you know, not who you know.
In essence, what you actually do defines your value. Criterion behavior allows us to stand on our own, be self-sufficient, and own responsibility for our actions. It places the control of our life in our hands.
One Lionel Logue is a brilliant example of the criterion-behavior model. He was not university-trained, nor was he a certified speech therapist. He was, however, a professional actor and elocutionist who had invented and applied a number of techniques that worked for returning World War I veterans wanting to overcome shell shock and restore their voices, helping them become fully-functioning members of society. Hailing from Australia, Logue emigrated to London in the 1920s and set up shop on Harley Street, where Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, King George’s wife, found him. As detailed in the 2010 film The King’s Speech, Logue successfully applied his original and quite creative techniques to treat the king’s stutter. He restored England’s King George VI’s confidence and gave him the courage to lead his people during World War II. The rest is history!
In line with Logue, Steve Jobs (1955-2011) is another shining example of 21st century criterion behavior. He left Reed College after one semester, co-founding Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak at the age of twenty-one. Jobs had a burning desire to create and to achieve. He was born in San Francisco, where he was adopted at birth, and moved to Silicon Valley with his parents when he was five years old. His father was a machinist, his mother a payroll clerk. His birth parents were graduate students at the University of Wisconsin. His father was Syrian, and his mother an American of German descent. Apple delivered an elegant marriage of hardware and software to the masses, worldwide. The rest is history.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) once said: “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Formal education is very important, but passions are critical. They should be encouraged and supported. Passions are the emotional drivers for a sound and expansive education. Passions are the true stuff of dreams.
Shareholders expect criterion behavior from their boards, managers, and employees. They are less interested in their pedigree and significantly more invested in their integrity, brain power, and character. And, of course, they are interested in results from socially responsible investments. What a corporation brings to its shareholders – its co-owners and partners – is its criterion behavior. Proper stewardship feeds a company’s criterion behavior, which in turn drives the company’s mission. The key is for these to be in sync; to be solution-driven, and to operate in an aboveboard manner at all junctures.