Tuesday, 21 May 2013
What Is Authentic Leadership?
It continues to surprise me how many leaders attempt to be one way at work, while their “true” personality emerges outside of work. Once a CEO reminded me, “Leadership is acting.” And it surprises me when these same leaders seem shocked or confused when their employees don’t trust them, don’t like them, and can’t really wait to work elsewhere.
Authenticity has been explored throughout history, from Greek philosophers to the work of Shakespeare (“To thy own self be true.” –Polonius, Hamlet). Authentic leadership has been explored sporadically as part of modern management science, but found its highest levels of acceptance since
But what is authentic leadership?
While different theorists have different slants on the concept, most agree that:
1. Authentic leaders are self-aware and genuine. Authentic leaders are self-actualized individuals who are aware of their strengths, their limitations, and their emotions. They also show their real selves to their followers. They do not act one way in private and another in public; they don’t hide their mistakes or weaknesses out of fear of looking weak. They also realize that being self-actualized is an endless journey, never complete.
2. Authentic leaders are mission driven and focused on results. They are able to put the mission and the goals of the organization ahead of their own self-interest. They do the job in pursuit of results, not for their own power, money or ego.
3. Authentic leaders lead with their heart, not just their minds. They are not afraid to show their emotions, their vulnerability and to connect with their employees. This does not mean authentic leaders are “soft.” In fact communicating in a direct manner is critical to successful outcomes, but it’s done with empathy; directness without empathy is cruel.
4. Authentic leaders focus on the long-term. A key tenet in Bill George’s model is the company leaders are focused on long-term shareholder value, not in just beating quarterly estimates. Just as George did as CEO of Medtronic, and as Bezos has done for years at Amazon, leaders realize that to nurture individuals and to nurture a company requires hard work and patience, but the approach pays large dividends over time.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/05/12/what-is-authentic-leadership/
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Self Esteem Improvement: Ways to Boost Your Confidence and Self Worth
We often encounter the word self esteem in psychology discussions but sometimes the meaning of the term is rather unclear to us. What we really know about self-esteem is that it has something to do with confidence. That is quite true, but confidence is just one aspect in self-esteem. What self-esteem really means is that it is an emotion or trait we exhibit when we have pride. Self-esteem is associated with how we value ourselves or how we see our overall self-worth.
We all experience this at certain periods in our lives. Remember the time when our action led to a mistake and people in our lives were disappointed and saddened by our deed. Remember the time when you were in an embarrassing situation and people around you were laughing until you felt mortified and humiliated. These scenarios are some examples where your self-esteem turns into a negative trait because you feel that your identity has been compromised and people no longer appreciate or accept you. This also leads to a feeling of depreciation or devaluation in your part.
Usually, improving self esteem can be challenging especially if the people, things, or events that put us down are still present in our lives. We can address the problem by confronting the source itself. For instance if you were constantly bullied, you can confront the person by yourself or with the help of a friend, family, or authority. If you feel underappreciated by your mom or dad, you can talk about it by arranging a meaningful discussion. Addressing the situation will help you achieve your goal towards an improved self esteem. Here are other techniques on how to value and feel good about you.
A positive self-esteem is what we truly need in our life. It is a very uplifting trait, which is why we should constantly strive to remain positive. Remember that there is nothing wrong with feeling down as long as we would never allow it to dictate our actions. We could always improve low self-esteem through acceptance and taking positive actions that would appreciate our self-worth.
http://selfhelptoday.org/61/self-esteem-improvement-ways-to-boost-your-confidence-and-self-worth
Self Esteem Further Defined
We all have a clear picture of ourselves in our head. The projection we make is based on how others perceive us according to our own belief. This includes how we are accepted, valued, and loved by the people in our surroundings like family, friends, and acquaintances. We also have a mental image of us as to how we accept, value, and love ourselves. If all of these elements are positive then one can say that you are happy and you feel very good because the response you get from other people and yourself are in harmony. This is the reason why a person who is accomplished in his own right and is well liked in the community exhibits a positive trait of confidence and pride.When can a Person have Low Self Esteem?
A person is said to have a low self esteem if he or she feels unwanted, underappreciated, and not loved by the people in his or her surroundings. The individual will also exhibit low self-esteem if he or she doesn’t feel good about his physical image and attitude. In addition, a person who doesn’t love himself and doesn’t know how to value his self worth is also said to possess a low self-esteem.We all experience this at certain periods in our lives. Remember the time when our action led to a mistake and people in our lives were disappointed and saddened by our deed. Remember the time when you were in an embarrassing situation and people around you were laughing until you felt mortified and humiliated. These scenarios are some examples where your self-esteem turns into a negative trait because you feel that your identity has been compromised and people no longer appreciate or accept you. This also leads to a feeling of depreciation or devaluation in your part.
How to Improve Self Esteem
Sure you have been humiliated in the past or you felt you were the unpopular kid in your school but the good thing is that self esteem improvement is possible and it is always aimed towards our advantage. The awkward situations we have been to are just phases which we could leave in the past. We could leave our bad experiences to be able to change our trait so that we can face the things that lie ahead of us with our heads held up high.Usually, improving self esteem can be challenging especially if the people, things, or events that put us down are still present in our lives. We can address the problem by confronting the source itself. For instance if you were constantly bullied, you can confront the person by yourself or with the help of a friend, family, or authority. If you feel underappreciated by your mom or dad, you can talk about it by arranging a meaningful discussion. Addressing the situation will help you achieve your goal towards an improved self esteem. Here are other techniques on how to value and feel good about you.
- Stop putting yourself down. One of the sources of our low self-esteem is how we poorly treat ourselves. You can be a contributor to your low self-image if you continue to perceive things around you in a negative manner. Over thinking and over criticizing can lead to poor appreciation. What you need to do is discard this negative outlook of yourself and start adapting a positive one. Instead of seeing the negative things, starts by listing down things, which make you, feel good about yourself.
- Mistakes are opportunities too. Mistakes can really put us down but there is no need to mull about it for months. Do not allow your mistakes to control you; instead view it as a learning opportunity so you can be a good person next time. Bounce back from your mistakes. Ponder about what happened but never allow it to control you.
- Set realistic goals and expectations and not perfections. It is okay to strive perfection but once the idea controls you, it will eventually ruin your life. Being perfect can sometimes ruin your self-image. For instance, you view yourself as obese when in fact you are just slightly chubby can lead to lost opportunities. Similarly if you set the bar too high, you will be depressed if you fail to achieve your goals. What you need to do is be real and learn to accept that you can set goals, which you think you can really achieve even if it is a small one.
- Make new friends. As discussed earlier, our self worth is also based on how people treat us or accept us. Making new friends can help boost our self-esteem. Befriending people who share your ideas, goals, interest, and likes will definitely leave you feeling wanted, appreciated, and loved. Stay away from people who know nothing but put you down. It is okay to be criticized as long as it is done in a good taste but being criticized because the person simply hates you for no reason at all is definitely a no-no. You can confront the person if you wish to or you can simply walk away. Instead surround yourself with people that genuinely care about you.
A positive self-esteem is what we truly need in our life. It is a very uplifting trait, which is why we should constantly strive to remain positive. Remember that there is nothing wrong with feeling down as long as we would never allow it to dictate our actions. We could always improve low self-esteem through acceptance and taking positive actions that would appreciate our self-worth.
http://selfhelptoday.org/61/self-esteem-improvement-ways-to-boost-your-confidence-and-self-worth
Monday, 6 May 2013
Is Your Job Driving You Nuts?
Be a team player but focus on your job.
Take risks but don´t fail.
Think out of the box but follow procedure.
Tell me the truth but don´t bring me problems.
Value employees but fire average performers.
Help customers but spend less time with them.
Work more hours but mind your home life.
Organizational contradictions can drive you crazy. To maintain your sanity you need to recognize and dissolve them. In this post, I will help you recognize them; in the next one, dissolve them.
Hard Choices
The contradictions arise from a denial of logical or material limitations.For a given technology and a given amount of resources, there is a limit to the number of goods that can be produced or goals that can be attained. In economics, this is called a “production possibilities frontier,” or PPF. Along the PPF it is impossible to produce more of one good without producing less of the other, since resources have to be transferred from the latter to the former.
For example, a person can devote her time to work on her project, or to help a colleague. The time used in one task is not available for the other. Thus, unless one is idle, or using her time inefficiently (as in point “C” in the graph below), there is a trade-off or “opportunity cost.”
When you spend some of your time on your project (X) and the rest of your time helping your colleague (Y), you will reach a certain progress (Xa,Ya) in each project. This is point “A” on the curve. You could spend less time helping your colleague, more time on your project, and reach point “B” (Xb, Yb). Any point on the PPF is a feasible combination of progress for both projects.
The problem is that the instruction, “Be a team player but focus on your job,” seems to require you to attain point D, which is out of the PPF, and therefore not feasible! Your manager seems to say, “Devote all your time to your project,” and at the same time, “Devote all your time to support your colleague.” This is clearly impossible. And that is why crazy-making managers hate clarity.
To get away with this, these managers use abstractions, innuendo, mixed messages and confusion. Like vampires, they loathe the light of reason. Telling them the truth, that is, that you don´t know how to attain their desired outcome with your skills and resources will produce a fit of rage.
Perhaps your manager thinks that you have free time or are working inefficiently (as in point C). Or perhaps he thinks that there is a way to expand the PPF through additional resources or an improvement in technology that would allow you to reach point D. It may be possible to make point D feasible, but you and your manager would have to rationally discuss how to make it so.
Going Crazy
When Harvard Business School professor Chris Argyris asked managers how they behave, they claimed to follow values such as humility, honesty and respect corresponding to the mutual learning model.Argyris's extensive research found that the way managers claimed to behave is quite different from the way they actually behaved. In real life, managers followed values such as control, manipulation and easing-in corresponding to the unilateral control model .
If your manager’s behavior as a controller contradicts his self-image as a learner he must keep the contradiction hidden. Once exposed, it becomes unsustainable.
When you combine unattainable goals with contradictory managers you get double binds, those emotionally distressing dilemmas that can cause schizophrenia. Argyris found double binds of the following kind in every organization he studied:
- The manager gives a contradictory order.
- The manager makes the contradiction un-discussable.
- The manager makes the un-discussibility un-discussable.
In a double bind not only you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. You are also damned if you tell your boss you are stuck!Individuals aren’t the only ones with un-discussable contradictions. Business scholars Manfred Kets de Vries and Danny Miller present some of the most common corporate ones. “We are good citizens of this community” (while we pollute the town’s lake). “Our workers have autonomy” (while we fire anyone who questions authority). “Quality is paramount” (while we sell defective products). “People are our most important asset” (while 50% of our employees leave every year).
Schi·zor·ga·ni·za·tion: The absence of organization, systematic arrangement, or unity. Condition characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions, and hallucinations, and accompanied in varying degrees by other emotional, behavioral, or intellectual disturbances. A situation that results from the coexistence of disparate or antagonistic qualities, identities, or activities. Organizational behavior motivated by contradictory or conflicting principles.
How to Avoid the Straight Jacket
Inconsistencies and misunderstandings are inevitable. Organizational life is too complex to avoid apparent contradictions. The good news is that inconsistencies are necessary, but not sufficient to create double binds. The condition for craziness is un-discussability.Consequently, the best strategy to dissolve double binds is to make them discussable. A culture of mutual learning, in which people are open to discussing dilemmas, is the best antidote.
In my next post, I will give you some practical suggestions on how to dissolve double binds. Till then, I hope that understanding their logical structure can keep you sane.
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130506143905-36052017-is-your-job-driving-you-nuts
EDIT: I will update this blog entry when the second article is published by the author
Curing the Common Cold of Leadership: Poor Listening
Leaders today are beset by overwhelming demands – scheduled every 15 minutes through the day, with an incoming barrage of messages via phone, email, texts, and knocks on the door. Who has time to pay full attention to the person you’re with?
And yet it is in the moments of total attention that interpersonal chemistry occurs. This is when what we say has the most impact, when we can come up with the most fruitful ideas and collaborations, when negotiations and brainstorms are most productive.
And it all starts with listening, turning our attention fully to the person we are with. It’s not just leaders, of course. We’re all besieged by distractions, falling behind on our to-do lists, multi-tasking.
A classic study of doctors and patients asked people in the physician’s waiting room how many questions they had for their doctor. The average was around four. The number of questions they actually asked during that visit with their doctor turned out to be about one-and-a-half. The reason? Once the patient started talking, an average of 16 seconds or so the doctor would cut them off and take over the conversation.
That’s a good analog for what happens in offices everywhere. We’re too busy (we think) to take the time to listen fully.
This leads to the common cold of the workplace: Tuning out of what that person is saying before we fully understand – and telling them what we think too soon. Real listening means hearing the person out and then responding, in a mutual dialogue.
So there you have a bad habit to replace – poor listening – and a positive alternative to practice instead.
People are notoriously poor at changing habits. Neuroscience findings make clear why: habits operate from the basal ganglia, in the unconscious part of the mind. They are automatic and most often invisible, even as they drive what we do.
This arrangement works well, for the most part. The basal ganglia’s repertoire of unconscious habits includes everything from how to operate your smartphone (once you’ve mastered the details) to how to brush your teeth. We don’t want to have to think about these routines – and our brain doesn’t want to waste on them the mental energy that would take.
But when it comes to our unhelpful habits, that arrangement creates a barrier to changing them for the better. We don’t notice them, and so have no control. We need to become consciously aware of the habit, which transfers control to the brain’s executive centers in the prefrontal area. This offers us a choice we did not have before.
The key is being mindful of those moments in your day when you have a naturally occurring opportunity to practice good listening. Most often those moments go by unnoticed and we launch into our old, bad habits.
Once you notice the moment is here, there’s another task for mindfulness: to remind you of the better habit. In this case, you would intentionally put aside what you’re doing, ignore your phone and email, stop your own train of thought – and pay full attention to the person in front of you.
Mindfulness is the secret ingredient in successful habit change. There are several resources to help you mindfully shift patterns:
- Mirabai Bush, a key contributor to Google’s Search Inside Yourself course, developed a new CD called Working with Mindfulness. It includes a guided exercise on how to be a more mindful listener.
- Tara Bennett-Goleman’s new book, Mind Whispering: A New Map to Freedom from Self-Defeating Emotional Habit, combines principles and practices from mindfulness and Buddhist psychology, the neuroscience of habit change, and cognitive therapy to offer a new lens on repatterning our emotional habits.
- Clear communication – and good listening skills – is key for managing virtual teams and connecting with long-distance clients. The CD Socially Intelligent Computing by professor and Internet theorist, Clay Shirky, offers ways to apply social intelligence for group interactions online.
Daniel Goleman
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130502140433-117825785-curing-the-common-cold-of-leadership-poor-listening
Succeed Now and in Any Economy: The 7 Forces of Business Mastery - Tony Robbins
While these are challenging times, they are also times of opportunity. In fact, the best companies have always excelled in the most difficult eras. More than half of the Fortune 500 were birthed in an “economic winter”—a recession or a depression. Companies like Disney, Apple, Exxon, Microsoft and FedEx were launched when the rest of the business world was licking its wounds.
If you can learn, as they did, not only to become more efficient, but to also optimize sales in this environment, you’ll be able to dominate in any economy. Whether you’re an army of one or a multi-billion dollar corporation, there are principles and strategies that you must understand and master to take your business to the next level. The 7 Forces of Business Mastery are about creating a system that improves your business by empowering you with the skills and tactics you need to gain an invincible advantage—in any environment.
1. An Effective Business Map
The only true competitive advantage in today’s changing market is not just having a business plan, but also a business map that can take you from where you are to where you want to be in the shortest amount of time.2. Constant & Strategic Innovation
As a leader in your industry, you have to strategically innovate. You must be constantly looking for ways to create something more, new or better than what currently exists. Consumers are no longer impressed with any one new feature or service for very long—they expect a constant evolution of improvement or they will go elsewhere.3. World-Class Marketing
Have you ever seen a business that has inferior quality products or services, and yet they dominated the market? It’s because the business knows who its customers are, what they want and need, and how to tell the business story in a way that compels prospective customers to buy.4. Sales Mastery Systems
Marketing makes people want to do business with you, but sales is what you get paid for. You must create multiple channels to capture, convert and close sales.5. Financial & Legal Analysis
Do you know where your company is spending its money? It’s easy to lose sight of the key measurements that can predict our progress or demise. Being able to measure where yourbusiness is, where it’s going, and being able to see the blind spots that could get you into trouble are factors that are paramount for any business.
6. Optimization
Sometimes, the biggest growth opportunities don’t come from new initiatives, but rather from taking the core processes the business is already doing and executing them more effectively. A small incremental improvement made in a few key areas can result in geometric growth to the business as a whole.7. Raving Fan Customers
You must understand, anticipate and consistently fulfill the deepest needs of your clients. The more value you are able to add to your customer, the more you’ll dominate the marketplace.https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130307230225-101706366-succeed-now-and-in-any-economy-the-7-forces-of-business-mastery?_mSplash=1&rs=false
Does Appreciation Make People Uncomfortable?
Here is an interesting blog post by Dr. Raymond Jewell that clearly illustrates the Power of Gratitude.
I recently met with a person who I sent a Gratitude greeting card to, and she said to me, " I want to share something with you, the card you sent made me uncomfortable." My comment to her was "I am sorry that it made you uncomfortable, that was not the intention." She was much older than I and she said "if I didn't know you I would have thought you were trying to pick me up."
I said to her, "The intention is to send gratitude and appreciation to people who are not expecting it. But sending out appreciation and gratitude to people is counter intuitive to our culture and sometimes it might make people uncomfortable. We are always expecting something in return from people so Giving to Give is many times a foreign thought. "
She said " Now that I know why you sent it, I will be open to when you do it again." WOW! She is expecting me to send more Gratitude cards to her. Amazing how that changed her way of looking at what I did. Feeling the power of Gratitude is something that everyone in the world should experience. YOU can experience it for yourselves by simply clicking on the video to right of this article. Go ahead and see for your self!
Gratitude and Appreciation to you,
Dr. Raymond Jewell
http://showgratitudechallenge.com/article/does-appreciation-make-people-uncomfortable?highview&goback=.mid_I488962029*417_*1.gmp_4621839
I recently met with a person who I sent a Gratitude greeting card to, and she said to me, " I want to share something with you, the card you sent made me uncomfortable." My comment to her was "I am sorry that it made you uncomfortable, that was not the intention." She was much older than I and she said "if I didn't know you I would have thought you were trying to pick me up."
I said to her, "The intention is to send gratitude and appreciation to people who are not expecting it. But sending out appreciation and gratitude to people is counter intuitive to our culture and sometimes it might make people uncomfortable. We are always expecting something in return from people so Giving to Give is many times a foreign thought. "
She said " Now that I know why you sent it, I will be open to when you do it again." WOW! She is expecting me to send more Gratitude cards to her. Amazing how that changed her way of looking at what I did. Feeling the power of Gratitude is something that everyone in the world should experience. YOU can experience it for yourselves by simply clicking on the video to right of this article. Go ahead and see for your self!
Gratitude and Appreciation to you,
Dr. Raymond Jewell
http://showgratitudechallenge.com/article/does-appreciation-make-people-uncomfortable?highview&goback=.mid_I488962029*417_*1.gmp_4621839
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Are You A Leader Who Can Be Led?
The other day I was having a conversation with a friend and we began to discuss the danger of being a leader who cannot be easily led. I have continued to ponder this.
My observation is that this is a trait that can go largely unnoticed-until someone loses their leadership position. In other words, as long as a leader is climbing the ladder and being lauded for their performance they can appear to be a pretty benevolent, well functioning leader. But once they lose their title to someone better or because of lethargy, the cracks begin to show. They can become really stubborn and defensive. They can become the toxic team member of the next group they are not leading.
Do I lead primarily for the sake of others or mainly for myself? I’m pretty sure that a leader focused solely on self will eventually lack compassion for those they lead, will constantly be creating their own agendas without regard for the organization, and will only raise up more leaders like themselves.
The prophet Zechariah in the Bible reveals some characteristics of these types of leaders. In Zechariah 7:11 we read that there are three things these leaders readily exhibit: they refuse to pay attention, they turn a stubborn shoulder, and they stop their ears. At first glance these terms may not seem to carry much meaning-but in context they are quite weighty. The prophet was referring to the religious leaders of Israel before the exile.
To “refuse to pay attention” meant that these religious leaders had lost their concentration on God above them and lost their focus of observant care for those beneath them.
To “turn a stubborn shoulder” was an agricultural image. It’s the picture of a pair of oxen being used to plow a field-but one of them “turns the shoulder” not willing to be under the harness of the master. An ox which refuses to be under the harness is of little benefit to the farmer. Literally they cannot be led for the purpose in which they had been employed.
To “stop their ears” meant that these religious leaders could no longer hear the warning cries of where they were headed as a result of their self centeredness. They were moving down their own path regardless of the consequences and could not be stopped. I think this has implications for all of us, whether we are leading spiritual entities or secular ones.
They do pay close attention to those above them and those they lead. They willingly put their shoulder to the harness for a greater purpose. And they listen, and even invite, the input of others who might be in a position to tell them where they may be off track.
Read all of Zechariah 7 for a fuller, more complete picture of what this type of leader looks like.
Let’s call these leaders “7-11 Leaders” and let’s make a commitment to not be one. Lead well!
http://garyrunn.com/2011/01/20/are-you-a-leader-who-can-be-led/
What does this leader look like? What is at risk? What is their legacy?
My observation is that this is a trait that can go largely unnoticed-until someone loses their leadership position. In other words, as long as a leader is climbing the ladder and being lauded for their performance they can appear to be a pretty benevolent, well functioning leader. But once they lose their title to someone better or because of lethargy, the cracks begin to show. They can become really stubborn and defensive. They can become the toxic team member of the next group they are not leading.
The leader who cannot be led is a leader who is focused solely on self.
The question a leader must constantly ask is, “Why do I lead?”
Do I lead primarily for the sake of others or mainly for myself? I’m pretty sure that a leader focused solely on self will eventually lack compassion for those they lead, will constantly be creating their own agendas without regard for the organization, and will only raise up more leaders like themselves.
The prophet Zechariah in the Bible reveals some characteristics of these types of leaders. In Zechariah 7:11 we read that there are three things these leaders readily exhibit: they refuse to pay attention, they turn a stubborn shoulder, and they stop their ears. At first glance these terms may not seem to carry much meaning-but in context they are quite weighty. The prophet was referring to the religious leaders of Israel before the exile.
To “refuse to pay attention” meant that these religious leaders had lost their concentration on God above them and lost their focus of observant care for those beneath them.
To “turn a stubborn shoulder” was an agricultural image. It’s the picture of a pair of oxen being used to plow a field-but one of them “turns the shoulder” not willing to be under the harness of the master. An ox which refuses to be under the harness is of little benefit to the farmer. Literally they cannot be led for the purpose in which they had been employed.
To “stop their ears” meant that these religious leaders could no longer hear the warning cries of where they were headed as a result of their self centeredness. They were moving down their own path regardless of the consequences and could not be stopped. I think this has implications for all of us, whether we are leading spiritual entities or secular ones.
The leader who can be led will exhibit the opposite of these traits.
They do pay close attention to those above them and those they lead. They willingly put their shoulder to the harness for a greater purpose. And they listen, and even invite, the input of others who might be in a position to tell them where they may be off track.
Read all of Zechariah 7 for a fuller, more complete picture of what this type of leader looks like.
Let’s call these leaders “7-11 Leaders” and let’s make a commitment to not be one. Lead well!
http://garyrunn.com/2011/01/20/are-you-a-leader-who-can-be-led/
Why Trust is the New Core of Leadership
Not long ago, most discussions of leadership were about leaders – their personality traits, how to identify and groom those with ‘leadership potential,’ and what were the skills that leaders employed.
Leadership theorists nowadays stress authenticity, EQ and relationships. This makes intuitive sense. But it isn’t just a fad; there is a solid reason behind the shift. It is driven by changes in the world. Above all, it reflects the growing importance of trust.
In such a world, vertical power-based leadership becomes less relevant. The key success factor becomes the ability to persuade someone over whom you have no power to collaborate with you in pursuit of a common mission.
Leaders can no longer trust in power; instead, they rely on the power of trust.
New Leaders. Those who can successfully persuade others to trust them will evidence certain behaviors:
Trusting and Trustworthiness. We too often talk about “trust” as if it were a singular thing; it’s not. Trust is a relationship established between a trustor and a trustee. It takes two to tango, and two to trust (this is true not only of interpersonal trust, but of trust between people and institutions).
The role of the trustor is to take risks; the role of the trustee is to be trustworthy. When each is good enough at their roles, a state of trust results. If either party falls down on the job, trust will disappear.
Finally, trust involves a frequent exchange of the two roles; if one party seeks only to be trusted but never to trust, the other eventually will stop taking all the risks and shut down the relationship.
This simple distinction is key to leadership development. Simply analyzing a state of trust doesn’t enable anyone to do anything. Leaders must be taught both how to trust, and how to be trusted.
Virtues and Values. Leadership development must begin using a vocabulary that’s been AWOL for half a century – the language of “virtues.” We have gotten accustomed to “values,” because those are easily described in organizational terms like “alignment.” We are less comfortable using words that sound moralistic, or judgmental – we fear being politically incorrect.
Yet “virtue” is the right word. Virtue is to the individual what values are to the organization: a personally-chosen, consistent set of principles, reflective of the person’s character. Aristotle saw ethics, virtue, character and excellence as intrinsically intertwined. We praise those we admire as exhibiting virtues. In a diffuse, horizontal world, virtue is a leadership trait that matters.
Risk. Notwithstanding Ronald Reagan’s attempt to combine trust and verification, there simply is no trust without risk. Trust without risk is an oxymoron. If you’re verifying, you’re not trusting. At the same time, trust is much more than card-counting, or doing clever probabilistic analyses of the odds.
The trust-based leader does manage risk, to be sure. But it’s relationship risk, long-term risk, not short-term or transactional risk. Managing relationship risk is less about analytics, and more about forging bonds with others.
Sending a leader into today’s world armed with only the vertical, power-based skills of the past is like sending a Civil War soldier into modern battle. The leadership weapon of the future is trust – a change so profound that it invalidates the “weapon” metaphor itself. Winning with trust is different; it’s not a zero-sum game. We all benefit from it.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/trustedadvisor/2012/04/03/why-trust-is-the-new-core-of-leadership/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=fda68c3c-3abc-4808-a3a3-bc07962dd95f
Leadership theorists nowadays stress authenticity, EQ and relationships. This makes intuitive sense. But it isn’t just a fad; there is a solid reason behind the shift. It is driven by changes in the world. Above all, it reflects the growing importance of trust.
Old Leadership: Old Business
Leadership used to be about leaders: the powerful people who had reached the top of their organizations. The rules of business were clear:- The essence of business was competition
- Shareholder value was the main goal, as well as the main measure
- Scale economies dictated being number one or two in your markets.
- Leaders were scarce and special; followers were many and common
- Leadership was a vertical function, related to power
- Horizontal relationships related to markets and contracts, and were the purview of strategy, not leadership.
New Business: New Leadership
Then things changed. The business world went from vertical to horizontal; flat, if you prefer. Or virtual. Business processes can be sliced and diced, reconfigured, contracted out. Businesses have become constantly morphing configurations of modular pieces. The boundaries separating them from their employees, their suppliers, and even their competitors have become porous; while the ties to their home nations, even to space and time, have become tenuous.In such a world, vertical power-based leadership becomes less relevant. The key success factor becomes the ability to persuade someone over whom you have no power to collaborate with you in pursuit of a common mission.
Leaders can no longer trust in power; instead, they rely on the power of trust.
New Leaders. Those who can successfully persuade others to trust them will evidence certain behaviors:
- They themselves will be skilled at trusting, because trusting and trustworthiness enhance each other
- They will be good at collaboration and the tools of influence
- They will operate from a clear set of values and principles, because opportunistic or selfish motives are clearly seen and rejected
- They are likely to be more intrinsically than extrinsically motivated, and more likely to use intrinsic motivations with others
- They will not be dependent on direct authority or political power.
Leading From Trust
Leadership development is not dead, but it does need reformulating. The scale is different, for one thing; the new world needs many more leadership-capable people than did the old world. And the teaching of trust needs to be defined. Three points in particular are key.Trusting and Trustworthiness. We too often talk about “trust” as if it were a singular thing; it’s not. Trust is a relationship established between a trustor and a trustee. It takes two to tango, and two to trust (this is true not only of interpersonal trust, but of trust between people and institutions).
The role of the trustor is to take risks; the role of the trustee is to be trustworthy. When each is good enough at their roles, a state of trust results. If either party falls down on the job, trust will disappear.
Finally, trust involves a frequent exchange of the two roles; if one party seeks only to be trusted but never to trust, the other eventually will stop taking all the risks and shut down the relationship.
This simple distinction is key to leadership development. Simply analyzing a state of trust doesn’t enable anyone to do anything. Leaders must be taught both how to trust, and how to be trusted.
Virtues and Values. Leadership development must begin using a vocabulary that’s been AWOL for half a century – the language of “virtues.” We have gotten accustomed to “values,” because those are easily described in organizational terms like “alignment.” We are less comfortable using words that sound moralistic, or judgmental – we fear being politically incorrect.
Yet “virtue” is the right word. Virtue is to the individual what values are to the organization: a personally-chosen, consistent set of principles, reflective of the person’s character. Aristotle saw ethics, virtue, character and excellence as intrinsically intertwined. We praise those we admire as exhibiting virtues. In a diffuse, horizontal world, virtue is a leadership trait that matters.
Risk. Notwithstanding Ronald Reagan’s attempt to combine trust and verification, there simply is no trust without risk. Trust without risk is an oxymoron. If you’re verifying, you’re not trusting. At the same time, trust is much more than card-counting, or doing clever probabilistic analyses of the odds.
The trust-based leader does manage risk, to be sure. But it’s relationship risk, long-term risk, not short-term or transactional risk. Managing relationship risk is less about analytics, and more about forging bonds with others.
Sending a leader into today’s world armed with only the vertical, power-based skills of the past is like sending a Civil War soldier into modern battle. The leadership weapon of the future is trust – a change so profound that it invalidates the “weapon” metaphor itself. Winning with trust is different; it’s not a zero-sum game. We all benefit from it.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/trustedadvisor/2012/04/03/why-trust-is-the-new-core-of-leadership/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=fda68c3c-3abc-4808-a3a3-bc07962dd95f
3 Ways to Improve Your Organization’s Culture
By Calvin Guyer
We have all heard the phrase “Culture eats strategy for lunch (or breakfast, or dinner).” But what exactly does it mean and what, as a business leader, can you do to improve your organization’s culture?
Every morning when I logged onto my system at Merrill Lynch I saw their well-known “bull” logo and the words “A Performance Driven Culture.” They are driven by performance. Big producers, wealthy clients, and large deals are all part of who they are and what they project. That culture can help and it can hurt. Their aggressive posture led to significant financial troubles in the market downturn of 2008; in bull markets, though, they tend to fare far better. Other companies, as I have witnessed, value consistency of service. The $500,000 mortgage client and the $2 million investment services client get the same touch as the newly opened savings account for the kid that mows lawns in the summer. Again, that culture can help and it can hurt. The high-value accounts may feel like they’re getting enough attention; on the other hand, small-value customers may be more inclined to recruit others or to stay longer. In both of the cases I’ve outlined here, the organization’s culture usually dictates its strategy. When it doesn’t (when strategy isn’t shaped by culture), customers and employees tend to get thrown by the bull.
So, what is your culture? How do you describe it to friends or acquaintances who have no stake in the matter? Is it clear and consistent to both customers and employees?
The following three tips will help you maintain a strong culture or improve one that seems inconsistent or lacking:
http://www.co2partners.com/blog/2013/04/culture/
We have all heard the phrase “Culture eats strategy for lunch (or breakfast, or dinner).” But what exactly does it mean and what, as a business leader, can you do to improve your organization’s culture?
Every morning when I logged onto my system at Merrill Lynch I saw their well-known “bull” logo and the words “A Performance Driven Culture.” They are driven by performance. Big producers, wealthy clients, and large deals are all part of who they are and what they project. That culture can help and it can hurt. Their aggressive posture led to significant financial troubles in the market downturn of 2008; in bull markets, though, they tend to fare far better. Other companies, as I have witnessed, value consistency of service. The $500,000 mortgage client and the $2 million investment services client get the same touch as the newly opened savings account for the kid that mows lawns in the summer. Again, that culture can help and it can hurt. The high-value accounts may feel like they’re getting enough attention; on the other hand, small-value customers may be more inclined to recruit others or to stay longer. In both of the cases I’ve outlined here, the organization’s culture usually dictates its strategy. When it doesn’t (when strategy isn’t shaped by culture), customers and employees tend to get thrown by the bull.
So, what is your culture? How do you describe it to friends or acquaintances who have no stake in the matter? Is it clear and consistent to both customers and employees?
The following three tips will help you maintain a strong culture or improve one that seems inconsistent or lacking:
1. Align employees’ core values with the organization’s
One of the first activities that we conduct with a new coaching client at CO2 Partners is a values assessment. Values are those things that you define to be non-negotiable. They are different for every person and every organization. When organizational values align with employees’ personal values then great things can happen. Misalignment will cause stress and conflict that consumes energy and holds you back from attaining goals–personal and organizational. In “Working without a Net: How to Survive & Thrive in Today’s High Risk Business World,” Morris Shechtman says that goals are where you are going and values are how you’re going to get there. He’s right. If employees’ values don’t align with the organization’s then begin moving them out and bringing in people whose values do align.2. Hire around your culture, not the technical needs of the position
CarterBaldwin has a process that they define as “The Five P’s: A Client Assessment for Matching Culture” (a PDF can be found here). Those five P’s are: Power, Push, Pace, Play, and Principles. The sales process at one company might be quite a bit different than the sales process at another company. As a matter of fact, the mere mention of the word “sales” or “sales training” may invoke a strong, negative leadership reaction–we don’t “sell” to our customers–even though a need is identified, a product is offered, and a purchase is made. Be very clear about the cultural fit that you seek not just the technical aspects of the position.3. Discover and address your cultural blind spots
One of your cultural strengths may lead to a blind spot or weakness. If your organization values respect and decorum highly, for instance, it may not be well-equipped to handle conflict or emergencies. The hierarchical nature of the Korean people meant that somebody of a lower status (the co-pilot) would always defer to the decisions of somebody of a higher status (the pilot) at Korean Air Lines. Further investigation showed that, at times, co-pilots were completely disengaged with the operations of the flight deck. This disengagement led to loss of life and equipment. Complex systems, like modern aircraft, require a team effort to operate. Align your organization around common values, but make sure you discover and address your cultural blind spots, so that you can avoid potential crashes.http://www.co2partners.com/blog/2013/04/culture/
Secrets of the Most Successful College Students
College-admission letters go out this month, and most recipients (and their parents) will place great importance on which universities said yes and which said no. A growing body of evidence, however, suggests that the most significant thing about college is not where you go, but what you do once you get there. Historian and educator Ken Bain has written a book on this subject, What the Best College Students Do, that draws a road map for how students can get the most out of college, no matter where they go.
(MORE: Does College Put Kids on a Party Pathway?)
As Bain details, there are three types of learners: surface, who do as little as possible to get by; strategic, who aim for top grades rather than true understanding; and deep learners, who leave college with a real, rich education. Bain then introduces us to a host of real-life deep learners: young and old, scientific and artistic, famous or still getting there. Although they each have their own insights, Bain identifies common patterns in their stories:
(MORE: Can Tough Competition Hinder Academic Performance?)
Pursue passion, not A’s. When he was in college, says the eminent astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, he was “moved by curiosity, interest and fascination, not by making the highest scores on a test.” As an adult, he points out, “no one ever asks you what your grades were. Grades become irrelevant.” In his experience as a student and a professor, says Tyson, “ambition and innovation trump grades every time.”
Get comfortable with failure. When he was still a college student, comedian Stephen Colbert began working with an improvisational theater in Chicago. “That really opened me up in ways I hadn’t expected,” he tells Bain. “You must be O.K. with bombing. You have to love it.” Colbert adds, “Improvisation is a great educator when it comes to failing. There’s no way you are going to get it right every time.”
Make a personal connection to your studies. In her sophomore year in college, Eliza Noh, now a professor of Asian-American studies at California State University at Fullerton, took a class on power in society: who has it, how it’s used. “It really opened my eyes. For the first time in my life, I realized that learning could be about me and my interests, about who I was,” Noh tells Bain. “I didn’t just listen to lectures, but began to use my own experiences as a jumping-off point for asking questions and wanting to pursue certain concepts.”
(MORE: Highlighting Is a Waste of Time: The Best and Worst Learning Techniques)
Read and think actively. Dean Baker, one of the few economists to predict the economic collapse of 2008, became fascinated in college by the way economic forces shape people’s lives. His studies led him to reflect on “what he believed and why, integrating and questioning,” Bain notes. Baker says: ”I was always looking for arguments in something I read, and then pinpointing the evidence to see how it was used.”
Ask big questions. Jeff Hawkins, an engineer who created the first mobile computing device, organized his college studies around four profound questions he wanted to explore: Why does anything exist? Given that a universe does exist, why do we have the particular laws of physics that we do? Why do we have life, and what is its nature? And given that life exists, what’s the nature of intelligence? For many of the subjects he pursued, Bain notes, “there was no place to ‘look it up,’ no simple answer.”
Cultivate empathy for others. Reyna Grande, author of the novels Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing with Butterflies, started writing seriously in her junior year in college. “Writing fiction taught Reyna to empathize with the people who populated her stories, an ability that she transferred to her life,” Bain notes: “As a writer, I have to understand what motivates a character, and I see other people as characters in the story of life,” Grande says. “When someone makes mistakes, I always look at what made them act the way they do.”
(MORE: The Biggest Barrier to Elite Education Isn’t Affordability. It’s Accessibility)
Set goals and make them real. Tia Fuller, who later became an accomplished saxophone player, began planning her future in college, envisioning the successful completion of her projects. ”I would keep focused on the light at the end of the tunnel, and what that accomplishment would mean,” she tells Bain. “That would help me develop a crystalized vision.”
Find a way to contribute. Joel Feinman, now a lawyer who provides legal services to the poor, was set on his career path by a book he read in college: The Massacre at El Mozote, an account of a 1981 slaughter of villagers in El Salvador. After writing and staging a campus play about the massacre, and traveling to El Salvador, Feinman “decided that I wanted to do something to help people and bring a little justice to the world.”
http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/13/secrets-of-the-most-successful-college-students/
(MORE: Does College Put Kids on a Party Pathway?)
As Bain details, there are three types of learners: surface, who do as little as possible to get by; strategic, who aim for top grades rather than true understanding; and deep learners, who leave college with a real, rich education. Bain then introduces us to a host of real-life deep learners: young and old, scientific and artistic, famous or still getting there. Although they each have their own insights, Bain identifies common patterns in their stories:
(MORE: Can Tough Competition Hinder Academic Performance?)
Pursue passion, not A’s. When he was in college, says the eminent astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, he was “moved by curiosity, interest and fascination, not by making the highest scores on a test.” As an adult, he points out, “no one ever asks you what your grades were. Grades become irrelevant.” In his experience as a student and a professor, says Tyson, “ambition and innovation trump grades every time.”
Get comfortable with failure. When he was still a college student, comedian Stephen Colbert began working with an improvisational theater in Chicago. “That really opened me up in ways I hadn’t expected,” he tells Bain. “You must be O.K. with bombing. You have to love it.” Colbert adds, “Improvisation is a great educator when it comes to failing. There’s no way you are going to get it right every time.”
Make a personal connection to your studies. In her sophomore year in college, Eliza Noh, now a professor of Asian-American studies at California State University at Fullerton, took a class on power in society: who has it, how it’s used. “It really opened my eyes. For the first time in my life, I realized that learning could be about me and my interests, about who I was,” Noh tells Bain. “I didn’t just listen to lectures, but began to use my own experiences as a jumping-off point for asking questions and wanting to pursue certain concepts.”
(MORE: Highlighting Is a Waste of Time: The Best and Worst Learning Techniques)
Read and think actively. Dean Baker, one of the few economists to predict the economic collapse of 2008, became fascinated in college by the way economic forces shape people’s lives. His studies led him to reflect on “what he believed and why, integrating and questioning,” Bain notes. Baker says: ”I was always looking for arguments in something I read, and then pinpointing the evidence to see how it was used.”
Ask big questions. Jeff Hawkins, an engineer who created the first mobile computing device, organized his college studies around four profound questions he wanted to explore: Why does anything exist? Given that a universe does exist, why do we have the particular laws of physics that we do? Why do we have life, and what is its nature? And given that life exists, what’s the nature of intelligence? For many of the subjects he pursued, Bain notes, “there was no place to ‘look it up,’ no simple answer.”
Cultivate empathy for others. Reyna Grande, author of the novels Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing with Butterflies, started writing seriously in her junior year in college. “Writing fiction taught Reyna to empathize with the people who populated her stories, an ability that she transferred to her life,” Bain notes: “As a writer, I have to understand what motivates a character, and I see other people as characters in the story of life,” Grande says. “When someone makes mistakes, I always look at what made them act the way they do.”
(MORE: The Biggest Barrier to Elite Education Isn’t Affordability. It’s Accessibility)
Set goals and make them real. Tia Fuller, who later became an accomplished saxophone player, began planning her future in college, envisioning the successful completion of her projects. ”I would keep focused on the light at the end of the tunnel, and what that accomplishment would mean,” she tells Bain. “That would help me develop a crystalized vision.”
Find a way to contribute. Joel Feinman, now a lawyer who provides legal services to the poor, was set on his career path by a book he read in college: The Massacre at El Mozote, an account of a 1981 slaughter of villagers in El Salvador. After writing and staging a campus play about the massacre, and traveling to El Salvador, Feinman “decided that I wanted to do something to help people and bring a little justice to the world.”
http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/13/secrets-of-the-most-successful-college-students/
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
What Makes a Good Leader Great?
No one is born a leader. You’ve heard people say he’s a natural born leader, but actually, leadership skills are learned and developed over years of practice. You don’t just wake up with all the skills to lead people or an organization to success. Some of the best leaders showed potential early on in life, but they also worked hard to harness their potential and become the leader they are now.
You may have also heard people say there is a leader in all of us. This may be true. Everyone has the capacity to lead; we all have some leadership skills ingrained in us from school and at home. Now it’s up to us to build on these potentials. There are training courses that help equip people to become better in leading and managing.
Leadership is not reserved for special people; anyone with the passion and desire to be a leader can be one. The skills can be learned and developed, and your potentials can be harnessed through continuous experience. In the same way, existing managers and supervisors need to keep learning new ways of effective leadership and people management. There is always something new to learn and there’s always room for improvement.
Below are some of the best and most essential leadership skills to master if you are to become a great leader:
- Honesty
- Sense of humor
- Confidence
- Commitment
- Positivity
- Learn to inspire
http://incedogroup.com/what-makes-a-good-leader-great/
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