Bootstrap Leadership Blog

What Can Your Mom Teach Wall Street?

Steve Arneson - Thursday, February 14, 2013

To say this has been a remarkable couple of years on Wall Street is an understatement.  Amid all the turmoil, one question comes up again and again – how could the stumbles, trials and tribulations keep happening?  One could frame this question another way – where was the leadership?  

Last night, I was talking with my mother, who was born during the Great Depression and grew up on a farm in rural South Dakota.  She was understandably worried about her retirement investments, and was more than a little upset by the current crisis.  “It just comes down to greed, plain and simple” she said.  It’s hard to argue with that explanation. 

Like many of her generation, Mom has lived her life by a few simple principles, which got me to thinking that we ought to require all corporate CEOs to read the “Mom Creed” each morning before they go to work.  If your Mom is like mine, it might include some of these simple rules:

Do the Right Thing.  Apply this litmus test – is this a decision that Mom would be proud of? 

  1. Save for a Rainy Day.  Save your money - you might need it one day.  You never know when bad times might come back around. 
  2. Pull Yourself Up by Your Own Bootstraps.  You are accountable for your actions, and for  making your own way in this world.  Don’t count on others to bail you out.
  3. Measure Twice, Cut Once.  Take your time and do the job right the first time.  Do your homework, plan and prepare.  Make sure you know all the angles on a job before proceeding.
  4. Learn from Your Mistakes.  Nobody’s perfect.  As you make mistakes in life, learn from them – there’s no reason to repeat them.    
  5. All You Have is Your Reputation.  Be honorable and tell the truth.  The respect of others is everything.  Your reputation is all you really have; build and nurture it – once it’s gone, you can’t get it back.
  6. Serve Others.  You’re not in this life just for yourself.  What did you do today to help others?  How did you contribute to the greater good?  

Could we have avoided this mess if everyone followed Mom’s advice?  Maybe not – maybe it’s more complicated than that.  But I have a suspicion that some of these “rules to live by” were severely violated over the past several years.   It seems we’re overdue for a dose of Mom’s simple wisdom.  What do you think?  

 

The 5 Essential Ingredients of Leadership Development

Steve Arneson - Thursday, January 17, 2013

This one’s for all you leadership development professionals out there – a true “LD geek” riff and commentary –although I hope the leaders that read this column can take something away from it, too.

In working with companies in my consulting practice, I often get asked about the key ingredients for leadership development – the question is generally something like:  “what do we have to have to make this work?”  Here are the 5 things I think you must have to really make significant progress with a leadership development effort in your company, in no particular order…

1) Senior executive commitment & support.  You could see that one coming, right?  This one needs no explanation, really.  The top players have to be involved, have to be bought in, etc.  Especially the CEO.  In fact, leadership development works best when the CEO is intimately involved in designing the programs, tools and processes that make up the LD portfolio.

2) Leadership competencies & values.  You need a blueprint to work from – something everyone has agreed on as a baseline of “what it means to be a leader in this company.”  Makes sense, yes?  Yet you’d be surprised how many companies don’t have this foundation.

3) Resources & budget.  Yes, a lot of leadership development doesn’t have to cost a ton of money, but some of it does.  You need the right level of budget to put against the flagship leadership development programs, and you need people to staff them.  Do 1 and 2 well, and then not provide the resources?  You’re not going anywhere with that scenario.

4) Clear long-term purpose.  This goes along with # 1, of course.  You need to know where you’re going with all of this development.  Is it to fill a pipeline?  Add new capabilities to existing leaders?  What are the goals, short term and long term… why are you doing all of this development?  You should be able to answer the “why” question.

5) An “anchor” department/facilitator.  Personally, I believe broad based, company wide leadership development efforts will only succeed if there is someone in charge of the key elements.  Someone in HR (or even working through the CEO’s office) needs to be accountable for all the levers – curriculum, programs, mentoring or coaching efforts, talent review & succession planning, even executive recruiting, perhaps.  Get an experienced LD professional, and give them the reins (just make sure they work well across the organization).

If you have all five of these essential ingredients, chances are you’ll have a successful leadership development story to share with others.  In my view, it takes all 5 working in concert to really make this work… hopefully, you have all 5, or are well on your way to making them happen.  Good luck!

What's Your New Year's Leadership Resolution?

Steve Arneson - Thursday, January 03, 2013

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  I love development, goal setting, and resolutions in general, so I get completely caught up in the New Year’s tradition.  Sometimes I get carried away, and make the list so long I can’t keep track of everything… maybe this describes you, too.  So this year I’m shooting for just three resolutions, and to keep it simple, I’m choosing three goals that apply to both my personal and work life:

Listen more, talk less.  The best way to do this is to ask more questions – something all of us could probably do more often (I know it’s true for me).  If you’re asking questions, you’re mostly listening.  Also, here’s a quote that probably applies to some of us and is worth remembering: “rarely have I gotten into trouble for things I didn’t say.” Enough said!

Learn something new every day.  With the ubiquitous nature of information these days, there’s little excuse for not accomplishing this goal.  I’ve spent some time this week organizing my recent book purchases and the articles I tear out of magazines (to read later) and plan to spend a few minutes each day working my way through the stack.  What about you?  What’s lying around your office or home, or sitting in your favorites files online?  Can you get organized and disciplined about pouring through this material to find useful information?  How about a system of keeping notes on what you’re reading?

Develop others.  The two goals above really set up this one.  If you’re focused on listening more and developing yourself, you’re halfway down the path of helping others to develop.  Try this simple conversation, with everyone in your life (direct reports, peers, spouses, partners, friends, children, etc.) – “what did you learn today?”  Then share what you learned.  It really is that easy to make a difference in people’s lives.    

I hope you find something motivating about these resolutions - whether they hold relevance for you, or just encourage you to set your own leadership resolutions. 

Happy New Year - and best wishes on your journey of self-development!

 

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