Tag: Leadership

Are You Ready?

These days many young leaders are promoted to greater positions of power quicker than ever.  It is not unusual for someone in their early forties to hold a senior leadership post in a major organization.  I've often wondered can they truly be ready for so much power.  Though some are, sadly many are not.  Why?  More than likely they've never had a constellation of advisers/mentors, and/or they've never had someone whose walked a few miles teach them about power, ethics and courage. 

As I've evaluated my own path, I've tried to remember that you must handle the small before you can handle the big.  In my past I once had an HR representative declare that they would teach a series of leadership classes (more management than anything).  I found that somewhat ironic since she couldn't handle returning phone calls in a timely manner. 

And so it goes, we crave power and all the trimmings, but we forget about the span and the impact.  

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Are You Restless?

I heard a "motivational coach" once say that people need quick coaching.  In a sound-bite world like ours, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe he thinks that if it takes longer than ten minutes, people won't move.  Is this true for you?  Are you restless? In some ways it is true, but I think its more a matter of leaders not giving people substance and candor. Clarity goes a long way in the creation of energy. People rise or fall on the expectations of the leader. And certainly he or she's time spent in helping a follower matters. 

In my experience, nothing has come easy or overnight…no matter how much I wished it would have.  The truth of what the term "long run" means, applies hear. You probably get that reality is far different than fantasy and we avoid the ugly truth of waiting like the plague. 

We claim we're too busy to spend more than ten minutes to grow ourselves.  It's as if life is lived half-empty. What a mistake!  I think most are just lost and not sure where to go.  They've given up on their dreams and are accepting a poor imitation.  Titles, money, power and the like won't fill up the vacuum inside you.  Human beings were not wired to be fulfilled by the titles, money and power.  Titles, money and power were designed to be used for the benefit of others…that's the only way they can be held in check.

Think about the following:

  1. Is what you're chasing really that important?
  2. Are your relationships suffering or growing because of what you're chasing?
  3. Why can't you give more than ten minutes (if that describes you) to the gift of life?
  4. Do you really know what your priorities are?
  5. Do you realise that its not all about you (see A Note from Bosses to Employees post from Execupundit)?
  6. Do you know that all of us are terminal?

Candor and Clarity

I've written before about the importance of clarity on the part of managers. Most of that was directed at mid-level managers who are often tasked with leading individual contributors.

This post is directed at those who are steering at the senior level. It may be an obvious, but candor and clarity is important. Consider the following:

  • Every organization should be willing to be clear and candid about the direction of the enterprise. If you are a publicly-held group, then you may have some disclosure issues to navigate. That said, legal limitations on what can and cannot be disclosed should not be an excuse for a lack of candor and clarity.
  • Every organization should let their employees know what the value system is based on, even if it means the employee is not at the top of the list. Avoiding this discussion/communication could be fatal. So many employers and employees operate under assumptions. Assumptions that go out the window when the storms come.
  • Every organization should be clear about how the organization makes money. This places a shared accountability and education.
  • Every organization must understand the life-cycle of and employee and give those employees the room to move on. So many organizations live in fear of employees leaving. Turn-over (internally or externally) due to terrible managers is bad (really bad), turn-over due to an employee completing the mission and moving onto a new dream is a great thing. By the way, the latter example might make your company a highly desired place to work.
  • Every organization should be able to communicate when the end is near. I know it sounds morbid, but don't tell an intelligent adult things are good when collapse is not far off. By giving them the tough reality upfront you give an opening to prepare. Every good employee deserves this kind of candor and clarity.

If you work for an organization that finds candor and clarity nearly impossible, I would consider moving on because a lack of candor and clarity is usually a sign of decline. The irreversible type of decline.

Leadership and the Social Media Frenzy

Wrote this a few years ago, regarding leadership and the social media frenzy, and it still has relevance today.

I'm all-in on the trends created by social media.  This is natural because of my involvement (passion and revenue) in it.  Lois Kelly reminds us though, of how some elements are timeless-leadership and change.  You can read her post here.

If were a poor leader before the social media frenzy, then you're probably still a poor leader.  The way that changes is when you do something relating to your heart.  Anything less is a waste of time, and you don't have as much of that as you think.

I am encouraged by quality leaders who went into the social media arena strong, but are now stronger for the tools (Twitter, blogs, etc.) found there.

Which category do you fall into?  The answer will be an awakening-either way.

Fear and Greed

This post was originally written in 2006, it was timely then and timely now. Is your organization paying attention?

I read today that Jeff Skilling of Enron fame wasn't in "it" for the money.  He just wanted to build a solid business.  I'm not here to judge him, but his comments are telling…as it relates to fear and greed.

Oh, how great it would be if every junior executive/manager got the workshop on fear and greed.  It wouldn't guarantee total bliss, but it might reduce the wrecks.  Sadly, corporations fail to talk about this due to their own addictions.  You see fear and greed can be habit forming.  They seem OK when you first taste, but leave behind ruined lives afterward.

If you're new to management or ownership, take some time to deal with the issues of fear and greed.  No matter how well you think things are going.  Your employees/subordinates will thank you for it.

Faith in Business

What level of faith (belief in something that is real, but unseen) do you have in your business? How about your people? Do you act on this faith even if the brilliance is not seen by many?

The answer to the three questions I posed will tell you a lot about the soul of your business and its true health.

This is the "hard" in hard work.

The Collision of Profit Motive and Meaningful Work

I'm all for profit, wished I had more.  And I'm very into meaningful work. The problem is found in the collision of profit motive and meaningful work.

The problem rears its ugly head when the profit motive starts taking greed steroids.  Meaningful work exits when this happens.  I wish this scenario was rare, but you and I know it's not.  The crazy part is profit and meaningful work can coexist and thrive.

In many ways we live in a tale of two cities.  One city is a place where management (entry to executive) is focused on profit, expenses, quarterly news, and the like.  The other city is a place where the employee is looking and longing for meaningful work.  They're not immature children or idealistic dreamers, just people who understand that life is a limited time offer and they desire to make the most of the time given.  This is the reality and the reason we're in such a mess, relating to how we do and live out our work.

So why are the two at odds?

  1. At some point we put a higher value on things (money, possessions, titles) versus people and the lives they lead.  And what is valued most, is what will get the lion-share of attention.
  2. Greed and power can be just as addicting as any drug.  The person is overtaken and refuses to give it up.
  3. We started telling our children to fit in a box.  See standardized testing as a measure of intelligence, for example.  We've all but poisoned their ability to recognize meaningful work.
  4. Wall Street (for those entities in the publically traded realm).
  5. The absence of courageous leadership inside the halls of management.

I've always been about people-for better or worse, so I'm not writing to offer solutions on how to fix corporate America.  In the spirit of giving you a place to start, a place to begin discovering where meaningful work may be found, I want you to take a look at the following video clip:

 

 

 

Your People Are Smarter Than You Think

If there is any statement I would want a manager/leader to understand, it would be the following:

    "Your people are smarter than you think."

I feel sorry for those organizations that promote, deify, and plain flatter the pants off of management candidates and new hires (including senior management).  I feel even sorrier for those individuals because most of the time they are not prepared to lead.  It's often a case of letting words on a resume or some performance metric around revenue generation that leads to this ride to hell.

On face of it, you might say congratulations are in order for the recently hired or promoted.  I wouldn't want to stop the celebration and I certainly applaud those who desire to lead people.  The problem rests in not taking time to explain some key and essential truths.  And one of those is:

    "Your People Are Smarter Than You Think."

So You may be wondering why the emphasis on that statement?  Here are the reasons why:

  1. People are tired of corporatese (a language that many organizations use to unknowingly frustrate) and false pretense.
  2. People are tired of managers who feel compelled to remind the world that they are the smartest guy or gal in the room.
  3. People often want to do their jobs with excellence, but they now know that Wall Street is often the prettiest girl in the room. And leaves them feeling the need to watch their back while the CEO gushes over the past quarters numbers. I think you get my point here.
  4. People know the world has changed, but often their leaders are vague on the subject and how it impacts them as an employee.
  5. People know that a title and position do not equal leadership. Thus, they won't really follow if they since an embrace of those two.

Leadership Starts with the Heart

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We've all encountered organizations who have systems that seem to work smoothly. For example, in banking, Chase will probably get 99% of their transactions right today. Accenture has a process that will react when a company puts out an RFP. But as great as their processes may be, if the leaders inside lack heart, there is something fundamentally wrong.

Leadership starts with the heart. Indeed, indeed.

Great organizations (small or large) begin from the heart. Their business models are full of art. That kind of art that solved a problem, made a customer smile or inspired a child to dream. No guarantees of success I know, and certainly you've got to have a business model that can make/raise money. But if you listen to music don't you want the melody along with the rhythm? If the organization only has one side of the equation and not both, then you're looking at a hollow endeavor.

The great warning goes out to organizations that abandon the heart, thinking the head can do it all. 

Adult Bullying Creates Child Bullying

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Adult bullying is not a place I've gone to very often-directly anyway. I usually leave that to Asher Adelman over at eBoss Watch. He's good at looking at bullying in the work place. However, this story from a couple of days ago got me thinking. As tragic as that story was and is, you can't help but think about the things children are doing these days.

My conclusion on the subject of bullying is; adult bullying creates child bullying.

Modeling over a consistent period of time is what I'm pointing to.  The influence that comes from our modeling is a guide book for our children. Our children learn and take their cues from our modeling. Since childhood is a significant period of development we are not surprised by this reality. No prescription for perfection here, but if we adults want to seriously impact bullying in our children, then we need to stop bullying too. We adults do the same shit as our children and we know better.

Scary when you think about what our modeling has done to our children.

Time to turn around…