Bootstrap Leadership Blog

Explain the Why

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:25:00 GMT

Let’s pick up where our last column left off. When we last left Rocky and President Obama (an old cartoon reference for you over-50 types… remember Rocky & Bullwinkle?), we were talking about the power of critical incidents as learning opportunities. At issue was whether the President and his team have forgotten to “turn around and see if anyone’s following” – a common leadership mistake (especially if you feel you’ve been given a mandate for change).

Seems to me what the President needs to do more of is “explain the why.” Explaining the why is one of the leader’s most valuable tools in the citizen or employee engagement game. Explaining the why pulls people in, creates a common understanding of the situation or crisis, and helps everyone absorb how the change relates to them. Sometimes there’s no real need to explain the why – it’s either plainly obvious why we all need to pitch in (disaster in Haiti) or the call to action is logical and produces a “of course we’re with you” type of response (creating a set of core values for the company).

But President Obama (and you, perhaps) often face more cloudy motivational issues. Here’s just a few of the topics that the administration is dealing with that could use a health dose of “why” – Afghanistan, health care, the financial system bailout, and, coming soon (gulp), probable tax increases. Given his oratory skills, it’s surprising that Obama hasn’t taken his case for each of these changes directly to the American people in plain, easy to digest language (I’ll never understand why Presidents don’t literally hold a monthly “all hands meeting” with 300 million of their closest friends to say “here’s what we accomplished this month, here’s why we worked on that, and here’s what we’re going to work on next month” – why would that be so hard?). Seems like you become President and you forget Rule # 1 of being a leader – communicate, constantly!

Jack Welch used to talk about the need for leaders to be relentless and boring – to repeat, repeat, repeat the message until it resonated, helping people make sense of what was going on, how they fit in, and why it mattered. That’s it, really – here’s what we need to do, here’s why, and here’s what it means to you. How hard is that? Yet most leaders completely under-leverage this communication trifecta – they may be relatively clear about what needs to be done, but they definitely don’t stress the why or the “what’s in it for you” nearly enough.

It’s easy to see where Obama could be explaining the why more often, but what about you? What are you trying to rally your people around that could use more explanation? Why are you asking them to change, work harder, squeeze costs, etc.? What’s that getting you (and them)? It might even be 2 or 3 layers deep – we have to do this, to get to here, which is important for achieving this goal, etc.

Start thinking more about “explaining the why” – it’s a powerful communications technique that never goes out of style. Every time (yes, every time) you communicate something, add the why; notice the difference in how the message is received. You can do this – it takes a little extra preparation, but the returns are worth it. And if you can’t figure out the why, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it (which is part of the problem with health care reform – average American’s can’t tell why Washington wants to change the status quo).

Let me leave you with this – leading is a lot like parenting, yes? You explain the why to your kids when they’re young, right (don’t touch the stove, because…)? Same thing with your employees. Help them understand why you’re asking them to do certain things… it helps them understand. Just don’t fall back on that old parenting standby (“because I said so!”) – that won’t go over too well with your team!

The Mt. Rushmore of Amorphous Development Opportunities

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:16:00 GMT

In all my years of coaching executives, I’ve come across some consistent development themes and behavior patterns. Some of these challenges are easy to identify and craft development plans for, such as communications, developing talent, public speaking, conflict resolution, presentation skills, and listening more effectively. All of these opportunities have one thing in common: there exists a fairly broad understanding of what these deficiencies look like, and how to improve them. When my executive clients get this feedback, we roll up our sleeves and go to work.

Unfortunately, sometimes the opportunities are clear, but the feedback and the definition of the issues are vague. In particular, there are four very common development themes that it seems no one does a good job of describing: strategic thinking, executive presence, learning the business, and judgment. If my clients and I encounter these challenges, we know we have our work cut out for us.

I call these four the “Mt. Rushmore” of amorphous development opportunities. Every time I hear a CEO say: “I think so and so could be more strategic” I always ask: “what exactly do you mean by that?” It’s really important for me to pin down the CEO on specifics, so we know what to work on. Likewise, many leaders get the feedback that they “lack executive presence” – which has many different variants, and has to be carefully probed (is it posture, clothing, gravitas, charisma?). Sometimes, leaders are given feedback that they need to “learn the business” – but it’s never clear when they’ve “arrived” and learned it sufficiently, so that’s a tough one, too. Finally, my clients and I really have to explore the depth of this feedback: “I’m not sure about their judgment.” If we get this input, we have to really look for examples and dive into the nuances of what this might mean.

None of these development challenges are insurmountable, but they all require careful examination to get the feedback providers (or manager) to be clear about what needs work. If you leave it to others to define for themselves what presence or judgment looks like, you might make significant progress and still miss the mark of what they consider improvement.

The lesson that I’ve learned is this – all development opportunities are not created equal in terms of simple and consensus definition. Some of this feedback needs to be challenged, and carefully scrutinized. The lesson that I hope you take away from this? When giving feedback or offering an assessment, be very clear about what you mean, be prepared to share examples, and don’t rely on trite statements that can be hard to interpret or defend. If you feel someone needs to “learn the business” better – bring specifics and your own clear definition of what this will look like. It’s hard enough to find ways to improve in these four areas – the least we can do is help each other get a clear sense of how to improve.

How Do You Describe Yourself?

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:14:00 GMT

We attended a party this weekend where we knew only about half the guests. In the course of introducing ourselves to the other half, I found myself asking the common question – “what do you do?” Which means, of course, what do you do for a living? We’ve all asked and been asked this question hundreds of times, right? And what do we usually hear, or say?

The fact is, if you meet people who work in mid to large organizations, they generally respond with their title or role. Almost everyone I meet who is senior enough to have people reporting to them still answers this question with something like this:

I’m the SVP of Marketing for…

I work in Finance at…

I’m the head of IT at…

I run XYZ for…

I get it, of course – people identify with their title or role, and believe that’s the easiest way to help the listener “get” what they do. But just once, I’d love to hear someone say a version of this:

I lead a team of people in the X department at…

I’m responsible for leading a team at…

I have the privilege of managing a team of people for…

I’m the leader of…

Feels different, don’t you think? Wouldn’t that response likely prompt another question from your new friend? Here’s a suggestion - the next time you’re asked: “what do you do?” (assuming you do in fact lead others at work), try out a new way of answering that clearly stamps you as a leader. Make your job sound bigger than just your own role or title (because it is!). Bring your team into the answer, and see where the conversation goes from there…

Catalyst - A Champion for Women Leaders

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:37:00 GMT

You probably know Catalyst – the highly respected advocacy and research group devoted to the advancement of women in organizational leadership roles. If you don’t, here’s a quick summary of their history and what they provide in the way of products and services.

Catalyst was founded in 1962 by Felice N. Schwartz to help women enter the workforce. Five college presidents (from Lawrence, Mills, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, and Wellesley) endorsed the idea of an organization that would work to expand options for women, and formed Catalyst’s first board of directors.

By 1974, Catalyst was recognizing the need for data – and began building what is today the largest and most referenced data base in the world on the topic of women and work. Catalyst surveys and research projects serve as a trusted resource for corporate policy makers, scholars, and journalists, and often set the agenda for discussions on the topic of women in leadership roles.

The Catalyst website is a treasure trove of great facts and figures. From the famous “pyramid” charts that show where women stand today in corporate leadership levels to specific white papers on various research projects, the website is quite literally a living history of women’s leadership in organizations.

But Catalyst is more than just surveys and data; they provide advisory and benchmarking services, Corporate Board placement services, a Speaker’s Bureau, and tips and advice for women seeking answers to common leadership questions. They also bestow the prestigious Catalyst Awards – an annual recognition of the top companies in the world that are advancing women in leadership. Since 1987, Catalyst has recognized 74 initiatives at 69 organizations with the Catalyst Award.

Check out their website – it’s a good one to bookmark for a variety of reasons. For starters, it’s packed with terrific research, and secondly, it’s just a really smart site that role models a passion for an important, worthy initiative.

Follow the Leader

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:34:00 GMT

A few weeks ago I wrote about peer leadership; here’s another variant of the same idea, with a bit of a twist (and I admit, this one’s a little weird). Here’s the deal - I’m fascinated by movies where a bunch of people fall victim to some kind of natural disaster or freak accident, because the story inevitably revolves around a central question of leadership: “who are these people going to follow?” It’s fun to watch as candidates emerge for the leadership role; debates and arguments ensue, people take sides, etc. Usually the smartest, calmest and most positive voice emerges to lead folks out of harm’s way.

So for years, whenever I was on a team of about 8-10 people, I would start daydreaming during boring staff meetings – “if we were lost at sea, or shipwrecked on a desert island, which one of us would emerge as the leader?” Have you ever thought about this? (Please tell me I’m not alone in making up these crazy scenarios).

Here’s what I think is fascinating – only once (in all the teams I’ve been part of) did I ever think that the current “leader” (the boss) would get to keep his or her stature if all bets were off and we were in survival mode. Nine times out of ten, we’d have turned elsewhere for leadership. And it’s not just that we were tired of following these people and wanted a change of pace. It’s totally because they were the “leader” in name only – their position gave them the authority to call the shots at work, but if the organizational structure were to disappear, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell we would have followed these people.

What does that say about the quality of organizational leadership? Maybe nothing – there are a lot of reasons that people climb the corporate ladder and assume top leadership roles. But I’ve always found it to be an interesting fantasy – who in the group would emerge as the leader in a crisis, if all status were stripped away, and we all were equal? Would it be Susie, because she’s calm and logical? Would it be Joey? He seems to have everyone’s respect. Would it be you?

So here’s a fun little exercise for this week’s staff meeting. Look around the room, and daydream about the survival/crisis leadership question. Would the boss still be the leader on the desert island? If yes, you’re probably working for someone pretty special. If no, you may be looking at a leader in name only. And if it is someone else, think about why you’d gravitate to their wisdom and stewardship. Try to describe why you think they’d emerge as the natural leader.

What’s the lesson in all of this? I think it’s that leadership ultimately springs from a deep well of integrity, trust, and respect. Any of us can be leaders, even if we’re not the boss. Something to think about the next time your “leader” is driving you crazy - if you could just get the whole team to a desert island…

A Different Kind of Succession Planning

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:32:00 GMT

My friend Larry suggested an intriguing topic that has to do with succession planning – but not the type where organizations get thoughtful about their full slate of leadership talent. Larry recently retired from his senior marketing executive role in a large company, and now finds himself dabbling in about eight different ventures/hobbies.

Lately, he’s been inundated with questions from fellow “retiring boomers” who are unsure of how to handle their own personal succession planning as they conclude their current careers. What makes these folks different is that they work for themselves, or have unique jobs. Larry tells me that, regardless of the nature of their work, their challenges and questions are very immediate and real, and they lack any informed perspective on how to best approach them. For example, there is:

Tori - who started a non-profit organization 25 years ago. As she considers retirement, she faces past investors who are wondering why they should continue to contribute to the cause.

Bob - who is a CPA with a client base that is loyal to him. He feels he needs to provide a two year notice to his clients and partners and then phase himself out of the business, but doesn’t know where to start.

Karen - an independent contractor who sees her business on the wane and doesn't know if it is time to stop, how to stop, whether to close her business or attempt to sell it to someone else.

Bill - who is the founder of a small but successful advertising agency who wants it to continue to succeed but hesitates to give up control.

George - the first and only pastor for a church who doesn’t think he should be involved in identifying his successor, but also realizes that his lack of involvement may risk the future of the church and its membership.

As Larry points out, there are millions of other baby boomers starting to face similar challenges. What should they do? Unlike big companies, smaller organizations or self-run businesses don’t have a deep bench of talent. How do they identify a successor? When and how do they communicate their plans to retire? How do they effectively transition responsibility to others to ensure long term success?

They answers aren’t easy, and they’re probably unique for every situation. But some lessons from large companies probably do apply. First, they have to be honest with themselves about their situation (just as corporations have to be candid about their own leadership needs). Second, they need to consider alternative paths to the final answer. What are their options? It’s probably a good idea to plot at least 2-3 scenarios and solicit feedback from trusted friends or colleagues (companies often “horse race” several candidates for the same role). Third, they need a planful transition – an overlap with their successor (3-6 months is typical in some firms). Fourth, because their own passion for the job or organization is usually very strong, they might also make it clear to others that they’ll be staying involved as an advisor (retirees as mentors is popular in many organizations).

There’s no simple solution. But if retiring boomers brainstorm a few different courses of action and gather input from a variety of sources, chances are they’ll make the right decision, for themselves and their businesses or organizations. Larry’s right about one thing – this is something that’s going to gather steam over the next 10 years (I’m sure there are niche consultants gearing up as we speak to capture this very market). As for Larry and I – a tip of the hat to everyone who’s been successful enough to get to this square on the game board… good for you. Now, start applying the same smarts, guts and judgment to your succession planning that you brought to your careers. We’re confident you can do it!

Leading Clever People

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:28:00 GMT

What's it like to lead really smart, creative people? Well, somebody's written a book about that, of course. The book is called Clever (2009) and it’s by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (authors of Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?). It’s a quick and interesting read about those special people who make a disproportionate contribution to an organization. Every company has them; those vital few employees or leaders that really make the company go – the ones who combine skill & talent and are at the top of the employee value chain. There’s just one little problem – turns out clever people tend to be difficult to manage.

In describing “clevers”, the authors cite nine defining characteristics, as follows:

Their cleverness is central to their identity
Their skills are not easily replicated
They know their worth
They ask difficult questions
The are organizationally savvy
The are not impressed by corporate hierarchy (and don’t want to be led)
They expect instant access
They want to be connected to other clever people
They won’t thank you

That’s quite a list! Know anyone like that at work? Does this describe you, perhaps? I won’t give away the rest of the book (I’m sure the authors would prefer you buy a copy), but it contains some very good advice about how to manage these individuals. Needless to say, it involves being rather clever yourself – keeping an open mind and using nontraditional managerial methods.

Are they worth it? In most cases, yes. The products, sales or ideas they build and generate can take your company places it couldn’t go otherwise…so you definitely don’t want to be the narrow-minded manager who causes clevers to leave and join your competition. But they will challenge you (and maybe drive you crazy in the process). In the end, managing clever people requires you to look at leadership a little differently. Which is probably a good thing, don’t you think?

Who Matters in Your Organization?

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:27:00 GMT

If you work in a big company, it seems logical that Wall Street cares about your talent management practices. Or do they? According to a new study by DDI, 36 of 50 Wall Street analysts surveyed said they rarely, if ever, look beyond the succession plans for the CEO when evaluating the company’s prospects. In other words, the CEO is the only executive that matters to them. Given that performance requires the coordinated efforts of many leaders, it’s surprising how little Wall Street is paying attention to your broader leadership pipeline.

I used to ask my CEOs this question: “if I could magically pull out x number of leaders from our company, how many would I have to remove before we’d feel real (significant) pain?” Most of the CEOs I worked for loved this question – it got them thinking about specific people, and how much they really contributed to the success of the company. Some would answer with a very small number – say 10 or 15. One CEO told me: “If you removed them randomly, the number might be pretty high. But if you picked the right CRITICAL leaders, I’d get pretty worried after about 5 or 6 names.”

That seems right to me. Maybe Wall Street doesn’t need to know all you’re doing to develop a deep bench of leadership capability throughout the organization. But it seems like they ought to take an interest in the entire senior team, and maybe the high potential top talent that’s being groomed for that team.

If you’re responsible for talent management in your company, you probably should add this question to your list: “What are we doing to help the analysts that cover us know our top talent?” If they don’t care about anyone beyond your CEO, perhaps you need to give them a reason to!

Tell The Boss You're Bored

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:50:00 GMT

Let’s face it - you need your boss. Unless you work for yourself, the boss is still an organizational necessity, and a big part of your work experience. Your boss hands out work assignments, makes sure you get paid, keeps you from falling asleep in meetings, and hopefully protects you when you do something stupid. But sometimes the boss is the last to notice when you’re ready for something new. This is understandable. After all, they’re focused on making the team look good (not to mention themselves) and that can be a full-time job. No, it’s your job to manage your boss, and that includes telling her when you’re ready for something else. Like a new project or assignment, or even a new job somewhere else in the company.

Now, you have to bring a couple of things to this conversation. You can’t just walk in and say “I want to do something different”. First, you need to be on top of your current work – you better be knocking the ball out of the park, or asking for a better, cooler role is going to get you laughed out of her office. The one “must-have” for this discussion is a great performance record. It also helps to have a sense of the culture, and “how things work around here.” If you’ve only been in your role for a year, and the unwritten code is that managers need to “pay their dues”, well, you better factor that into your thinking. It’s probably going to be an issue.

Second, you have to bring a plan with you. You need to do your homework. You need to have an idea of what you want, and a few reasons why this is such a brilliant idea. You’re selling here, and you better be prepared to answer your boss’s questions. If you want to do more, why do you think you can take on more team members or responsibility? If you want to move to a new role, who will do your work? Who’s on the bench to replace you? Why do you need to make this move right now? What are your long-term career goals? Think through both sides of the conversation; anticipate what your boss is likely to say, feel and do – and be ready with your arguments. Prepare to defend your position, and try to steer the conversation toward why this is good for you and the company.

Lay out your ideal next job and the reasons why it makes sense. Maybe it’s expanding your current role or shedding some of what you do to focus on a specific task. Maybe it’s moving up in your current department, to a leadership position just above your current role. Or maybe it’s an entirely new job elsewhere in the company. Whatever it is, have your facts straight, and a strong rationale for your reasoning. Say: “here’s why I think this is good for me and the team/company.” Be firm, but don’t back her into a corner. The secret is to ask for her input and support in helping you achieve your goals. After telling her what you’d like to do, say: “I’d like to get your thoughts on this - what do you think?” And as the conversation goes along, don’t be afraid to ask for her support directly. Say: “can you help me make this happen?” or “is there anything else you need from me?”

Your immediate boss is probably the most important person in your work life, certainly as far as your career is concerned. Each boss you work for has the power to help you move forward, or put you in a box. They have the ability to accelerate your career, or frankly, derail it. Don’t be that manager who sits in the same job year after year waiting for the boss to offer a new and exciting role. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, and go out and make the case for yourself. If you don’t do it, who will? Do you really want to risk putting your career in someone else’s hands? Make your boss an offer, present it with passion and conviction, and appeal to her sense of pride in helping you move your career forward. If you’ve nailed your current role, chances are good that your boss will be there for you. Just don’t be afraid to have the conversation!

Speaking the Language of Business

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:28:00 GMT

As you know, business today is extremely competitive. In order to survive, you need to know the language of business, which is filled with unique terms and phrases that you need to learn if you want to join the conversation. So let's take a moment to work on your development, shall we? Let's spend some time helping you to continuously improve, and get creative about how you add value. What follows is my advice, my counsel, my mentoring around learning the language of business.

A word of caution though - I can explain this to you, but I can't understand it for you... you have to take responsibility, exude accountability and dedicate yourself to execution, or you'll fall short of the goal. And that would be bad, as you'd be missing the mark and under-performing, and we might have to have a difficult conversation, take action, put you on a plan, manage you out or help you transition out of your role. That is if we don't reassign you or put you into redeployment, or reassess your contribution. You have to understand, we're just managing our resources, so we can maximize our human capital and capitalize on our revenue and growth opportunities. So don't assume that you're not looking at this the right way. I'm just offering a competing point of view, looking through a different lens, and trying to work backwards from the answer.

At the end of the day, you need to get aligned on the language of your company. You need to capture the synergies and strive for outperformance when you engage in the dialog. Be sure to calibrate yourself, and manage expectations, because others are looking to streamline your feedback and achieve a paradigm shift. If you can offer alternatives, and provide some perspective, others can focus on results, think outside the box, and produce some early wins. Be sure to manage conflict, however, or people will lose work-life balance, and that will not be a measure of success that you'll cite as a best practice. How can you innovate, on time and on budget, to produce the strategic thinking that others will utilize to produce project outcomes that will have clear metrics that demonstrate a win-win for everyone?

Last time I checked, learning to talk "corporate" boosts your executive presence, demonstrates that you're buttoned up, and sends a clear message that you are looking for a competitive advantage. If we were to plot you on a nine-box, we'd see that you've been achieving your potential, and working off the side of your desk to create a deck that reveals a rigorous burning platform. You're in sync with the culture, and understand that how you speak has everything to do with motivating, empowering, and engaging your people. It's not just about coaching others to take their game to the next level, it's about extending your own mojo beyond your sphere of influence, so you can help others get out of their comfort zone and step up to operationalize their unique contribution.

There is a lot of synergy to be gained by collaborating with your teammates on a common language - who knows, you might even win the war for talent in the process. You'd better understand the international landscape, however, or you'll miss an opportunity to beat the competition with a business model that builds customer loyalty and increases your brand and global footprint. In the end, it's about bringing others with you and investing in your people, who, after all, are you most important asset. It's about building a pyramid of focus that is unmatched by those who might seek to copy your position or outflank you in the court of public opinion. It's about winning in the marketplace, being # 1 or # 2 in your industry, and making it all about the customer.

It's not about you, it's about the language. So get with the program, start driving for results, and be a team player. It's funny, because when it's all said and done, more is said than done. And what's not to like about that?

What Millennials Want

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:26:00 GMT

There was a great article in the Harvard Business Review recently on millennials (people born between 1977 and 1997) and what they want from an employer and a manager. In 2014, millennials will account for almost 50% of all employees in the world. Think about that for a minute… pretty amazing, huh? As the HBR article pointed out, in some companies they already constitute a majority. As a people manager, are you ready for this wave?

Millennials are famous for wanting a constant stream of feedback, and for being in a hurry to have success. They also view work as just a part of life, something to be balanced with the rest of their passions. As a result, they place a lot of value on finding work that is fulfilling. HBR polled 2,200 professionals across a wide range of industries to ask them about their values, their behavior at work, and what they want from their employers. Here are some of the results:

What millennials want from their boss:

Help me navigate my career path
Give me straight feedback
Mentor and coach me
Sponsor me for formal development programs
Be comfortable with flexible schedules

What millennials want from their company:

Develop my skills for the future
Demonstrate strong corporate values
Offer customizable options in my benefits/reward package
Allow me to blend work w/ the rest of my life
Offer a clear career path

What millennials most want to learn:

Technical skills in their area of expertise
Self-management and personal productivity
Leadership skills
Industry or functional knowledge
Creativity and innovation strategies

What do you make of these lists? I think the first two look a bit different than they probably did 30 years ago… but that last one seems pretty timeless. Maybe managing millennials isn’t that hard after all… I’m guessing the classic management tips still apply: 1) Get to know your people – find out what really motivates them; 2) provide lots of candid feedback about their performance; 3) challenge and stretch them; 4) engage them in the process – ask for their input, and 5) help them get exposure across the organization.

If you’re managing millennials, I’d love to hear from you – what’s it like? Are you finding these survey results to be true? Are they easier or more challenging to manage than other employees? Pretty soon, millennials will be the workforce. I wonder what that will mean for employers, and for the millennials themselves, when they become management?

Leadership Matters

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:53:00 GMT

This just in – leadership matters. It’s true in all walks of life, but especially true in the business world. You can’t browse the internet or pick up a paper or business magazine without reading about the power of positive leadership. And everyone wants more if it. Executive search firms have never been busier trying to fill the demand for leadership talent. Every year, the top consulting firms and Fortune 500 companies line up to grab MBA talent from the best business schools. Great leaders demand a premium on the open market, as they seek to find the right environment to apply their skills.

If you are a business executive, you face a number of critical challenges to building a successful organization. However, of all the variables that impact your company, one stands out as the single best indicator of your success – the quality of your leaders. By now, it’s accepted that a company’s human capital is its best single asset. If this is true, then leadership is certainly the key ingredient that powers this asset; you simply can’t become a great company without great leaders. And in today’s competitive environment, you need leaders at all levels of your organization to spark innovation, drive productivity, and motivate and empower employees. Having the right leaders also makes a substantial impact on key customers and business partners. In fact, great leaders have been proven to be significantly more effective than average leaders in every way – from producing revenue and profits to driving customer satisfaction and employee commitment (Zenger & Folkman, 2002).

As a business executive, leadership needs to be one of your top priorities. You need to insist upon and support the right processes. You need to make sure you’re being rigorous, fair, and well-grounded in your assessment of leadership talent. Finally, you need to demonstrate a passion for growing leaders, and make it known that you consider it every manager’s job to help develop the next generation of leaders.

In the weeks and months to come, we'll explore the characteristics that great leaders share, examine specific examples where leaders are making a difference, and offer suggestions for how you can take your leadership game to a new level. Leadership most definitely matters, and you owe it to yourself (and your team) to continuously improve as a leader. Make a commitment to your own development by book-marking and visiting this post on a regular basis. Its up to you to create your own leadership style and improve your impact as a leader.

Offramps for Female Leaders

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Here’s some recent data on the concept of women leaving (and returning to) the workforce. In the June edition of the Harvard Business Review, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Laura Sherbin and Diana Forster conducted a survey in 2009 using the same questionnaire they used in 2004 to examine the choices women make about their career paths. Interestingly, the results of the two surveys were quite similar, despite one of the worst recessions in recent memory.

In 2004, in a robust economy, 37% of highly qualified (top performing) women said they were “offramping” – voluntarily leaving their jobs for extended time periods. In 2009, the researchers found that, for the most part, off-ramps and on-ramps are here to stay; 31% said they had taken an off-ramp, and for those who did, they’re staying out of work longer – up to six months longer.

In the 2009 survey, the researchers found that, of the 31% of women who had off-ramped, 40% re-entered the workforce in full-time jobs, 23% came back for part-time roles, and 7% became self-employed. Perhaps most interesting, 30% had not returned at all to the workforce.

The authors hypothesize that the nonlinear path is not a luxury for boom times, but the way many women want to structure their careers, regardless of the economy. All of which left me wondering what these results might look like in another 5 years… of the choices, I’d bet on the self-employed number going higher and higher. What do you think?

The Business Book that Started It All

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:59:00 GMT

30 million people worldwide have read it. Your father or grandfather probably had a copy of it on their shelf. It was published in 1936, and yet, when released as an iPhone app in February, it immediately became the top-selling paid business app in the iTunes store. A new edition (only the second since the original publication) will hit stores next year. What is it? How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. Carnegie’s brainstorm of business advice has been translated into 47 languages, and is the most successful business book in history (by far). In 2009 alone, it sold 300,000 copies – this for a book that is 74 years old!

So who was this guy, and how did he tap into the mother lode of business counseling? Born in 1888, Carnegie had virtually no business background when he wrote the book. He was raised on a pig farm in Missouri, and moved east to become an actor in his early twenties. He didn’t make it as an actor, so he tried selling trucks and writing western novels (neither of those ventures worked, either). What did seem to stick was a class in effective business speaking that he began to teach at a Harlem YMCA in 1912 – a class that would form the basis for the book.

Carnegie knew a thing or two about marketing, for sure – in 1919 he changed the spelling of his name from Carnagey to Carnegie… probably to match the spelling of another pretty famous entrepreneur at the time. Carnegie just intuitively “got” the relationship between public speaking and business success (these days, we’d call that connection “executive presence”). Lots of prominent business people seem to have benefited from the connection. Warren Buffett, for one, says that the course “changed my life.”

The core elements of How to Win Friends and Influence People are Carnegie’s 30 principles of success, which are as applicable in one’s private life as they are in the business world. Essentially, it’s a book about self-confidence, and how self-assuredness and poise makes us effective as people. The 30 principles are all pretty basic themes: “let the other person do most of the talking” or “the only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.” But actually, that’s what makes the book so charming (and yes, so effective).

Sometimes the best advice really is the basic stuff. Carnegie himself used to tell audiences – “I’ve never claimed to have a new idea. I present the obvious – because the obvious is what people need to be told.” Sounds like good coaching to me (clearly, Carnegie would be an executive coach today – or maybe Dr. Phil).

Everyone who has ever written a business advice book owes a debt of gratitude to Dale Carnegie. Now, if they could only out-sell him! This tells you something about the power of his simple ideas… sound, basic advice never goes out of style – something we might all remember as we look for ways to influence in our own lives.

Leadership Lessons from Mt. Baker

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:57:00 GMT

Last year, I joined my brother Scott and three (new) friends – Doug, Paul and Rob – on a weekend climb of Mt. Baker, in northwest Washington. Aside from a great experience (we reached the 10,778 foot summit and returned safely), I took away several leadership lessons that reminded me of how often leadership translates to everyday life.

# 1 – Leadership starts with credibility. All of us have successful resumes in the real world, but when it comes to climbing, Rob had the most knowledge and experience, and therefore was the clear choice to be expedition leader. On all climbing related decisions, we followed his direction and deferred to his judgment. Without question, this made the climb easier and less stressful.

# 2 – The team needs shared goals and mutual accountability. While we were all focused on the same goal (reaching the summit), we clearly understood the main objective – getting back down the mountain safely. Every decision was made with the safety in mind, and we shared responsibility for each other’s well-being on the rope. Perhaps it was being literally roped together for 10 hours, but we were all keenly aware of the concept of “team” throughout the climb.

# 3 – Leaders need to be flexible, and listen to feedback. Rob did a wonderful job of making judgment calls as weather or snow conditions changed, and was receptive to feedback throughout the climb. At one point Doug and Scott made a route suggestion on our downhill trek that Rob quickly accepted, and at all times he “listened” to the tension on the rope from weary climbers (OK, that was mostly me) to take a breather at times. The rope, in fact, was a beautiful metaphor for feedback, teamwork, signals for assistance, and shared accountability. When you’re literally hooked together as a team, you don’t have much choice but to cooperate and support one another!

# 4 – It takes mental and physical energy to succeed. Leaders need to be in tune with their teams regarding both mental and physical energy. In this case, our task was mostly physical – waking at 12:30 am to head for the summit in the dark, climbing non-stop for nearly 10 hours, ascending and descending 14,200 total feet in 28 hours on little sleep, etc. But the real challenge was controlling emotions and staying focused mentally – in fact, it helped to make much of the final push in the dark with just our headlamps, as it kept us focused on “one step at a time” (another metaphor for short-term wins). Again, we all did a great job of keeping each other’s spirits and positive energy high.

# 5 – Nothing beats accomplishing a goal with others. Had one of the team not summitted, we wouldn’t have approached the excitement and satisfaction we felt that morning. The fact that we put everything aside for the team, sharing equipment, food and energy, and helping each other to the top made the experience one to remember for all of us. Accomplishing a challenging goal with others is what leadership is all about.

I’ll take away some awesome memories of this weekend – but the biggest is the power of teamwork. If you get a team of people together who really want to help each other succeed, there’s almost nothing you can’t do!