Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”

— Henry Kissinger*

This is a great quote, one of many that speaks to a simple aspect of Leadership.  It is hardest for leaders who must lead themselves to a place they’ve never been, as well as those who follow.

Consider two basic circumstances.  As a new manager, hired from outside the organization, it can be easier to see ‘where’ their new team(s) should head.  A view from outside brings new perspective to an organization.  Those new, unexplored ideas can often be the new injection of life a team or organization may need to get moving again.

The challenge for the new manager is to build relationships, develop trusts, and describe a new path.  Only with solid relationships, albeit new, in place can the leader hope to lead an organization forward.  Carrot and Stick approaches, regardless of positional authority, can last only for very short periods.

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“Open Leadership”
by: Charlene Li
ISBN: 978-0-470-59726-2

Every once in a while you come across a new book that just knocks the ball out of the park.  And, so it is with Charlene Li’s Open Leadership.  As an active proponent of social media I’ve read a number of books on the topic.  Yet Open Leadership is the first that has a presented a practical, pragmatic, and far-reaching discussion about how to integrate it into the fabric of existing companies.  Not only how, but why, and why now!

Someone looking to do a ‘power-reading’ of the book might tend to dismiss it as a social media ‘how-to’ manual after the first couple chapters.  There’s much more to it though.

Social media is the book’s consistent thread and is pervasive throughout. Yet it’s not about social media itself.  Social media is the contemporary reference to a broad sea change involving how we communicate.  This communication has made it as easy for the CEO to interact directly with customers as it is for the individual employee, and that employee with the CEO his or herself.  When it seems everyone can communicate with everyone else, how can you effectively lead anything? This is the crux of Open Leadership.

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Anna Miller maintains a post over at www.onlinedegree.net.  Of particular note, is her blog post, 100 Blog Posts That Will Make You a Better Leader.  Anna’s taken the time to gather together 100 articles on the topic of Leadership.  And, I’ll admit, I’m very flattered to have been included in the list.  You’ll find my own article highlighted, “2 Keys for Moving into an Executive Role.”

Even if you don’t make it down to my article (somebody has to take the 92nd position<g>), I encourage you to take a look at the list.  I find it very convenient myself when someone takes the time to put together a useful collection like Anna has.

Thank you, Anna!

Recently I came across a fellow, Simon Sinek, whose mission in life is to find, nurture, and inspire leaders.  What I came across, was his presentation at TED.  In this particular discussion, he highlights why some companies, some leaders, are so much more effective than others in building loyalty, drive, motivation.

To borrow from some of his thunder, he posits that most organizations—most people for that matter—know what they do, they know how they do it, but never even stop to think about Why they do it.

I have spoken on the topic of Why, The Power of Why!, before.  In some ways, while the focus is different, the value of asking (or being able to answer) ‘why’ is important.

The The Power of Why!, I take a look at Mr. Ohno’s drive toward asking the question Why to drive toward true understanding.  After all, we can discuss the symptomatic issues surrounding an oil pump’s failure.  But not until you drill into the matter might you find true reasoning.

And, like layers of an onion, this is the same concept Simon’s talking to.  At the end of the day, why we join hands with someone is very closely tied to why they are doing something.

What Simon is highlighting, without so directly stating it, is that to be an effective leader you must be willing to bare your soul.  If you really want people to follow you, to adopt your beliefs, to go the extra mile, you must be willing to boldly, brightly, clearly state: I believe…

If you’re aspiring to move beyond your current role, you’re likely looking for ways to be seen as innovative, progressive, and ‘fresh.’  Which means, odds are, if you’re a business leader, event planner, meeting facilitator, or similar, you’re always watching for new ways to make them better.

If your life revolves around using PowerPoint or Keynote, how can you do better? Yes, you can add snazzy graphics, spinning tops, and whiz-bang animation.  And if you do, you’ll likely just come across as someone using distracting, confusing, dizzying images.  One way to avoid this latter problem, is to take a look at Garr Reynold’s book, Presentation Zen.

You’ve likely heard of this thing called social media.  You’ve also likely noticed it’s just about ‘everywhere.’  Even if the majority of the country still doesn’t understand it (Fast Company found, ’…69% of U.S. adults still have no idea what it is.’), they’ve likely been exposed.

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So much of what we consume today is fast-paced, hectic, sketchy, even frantically created information.  Worse, much of the information is simply thrown together requiring the consumer, perhaps with a bit of narration, to figure its meaning out for themselves.

Sound like some of the corporate presentations you’ve received? How about the general nature of communication between you, your boss, colleagues, and customers?  Like many of you, I’ve been there too. Corporate cultures, as they grow bigger and less personal, seem drawn toward impersonal tools supporting bulk interaction.

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Had the opportunity to attend the April CEO Connect meeting, here in Ann Arbor.  The guest speaker was Ted Dacko, former CEO of Healthmedia.  A serial entrepreneur, he has led five start ups. As he describes it, 3 had good exits, one so-so, and one….  Healthmedia was most recent, and quite successful.  Ted provided a very enjoyable, engaging discussion on his entrepreneurial experiences, preferring to live in the ‘launch’ phase of a new business.

One of the key points he made, which I wanted to share, is that businesses fail because of only two reasons.  They are opportunity pool and win rate.

Too many businesses focus on the product, on it’s features, and trying to demonstrate them to you, in maniacal fashion.  Ask them about who the customer is, what their problems are, and as he say’s, “…they look at you like you’ve grown three heads.”

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Two thumbtacks and a piece of string are all you need to do basic planning.

On a regular basis, I have the opportunity to speak with new entrepreneurs thinking of starting their own businesses.  One of my key topics is how to successfully evolve an ‘idea’ into an actual deliverable, regardless of whether it is a tangible product or a service.

A basic product plan needs to clearly define your offering:

• What must it do?
• How must it do it?
• Where is it done?
• When is it done?
• Why?

Just as important, arguably more so, is what it is not:

• What must it not do (if only for now)?
• How should it not be done?
• Why not?

How you will get there:

• What resources are needed?
• How long will it take?

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Here in the U.S. we’re a competitive, creative people.  Not claiming that we have the corner on the market, but it is core to who we are.  Unfortunately that also comes across as arrogance (ask folks internationally).  Generally, being competitive is a good thing.  In some regards though, how we compete needs to change ASAP.

For a very long time, here in the U.S., we spent a lot of time competing amongst ourselves.  There is the State level:

And then, within a State, we have counties.

And, if that weren’t enough, we can add on a stack of other, lesser, but no-less-self-important municipalities at the City, Town, Township, Village, or other levels.

Before you know it, you have hundreds, thousands, of individual governmental and societal entities that feel it is in their best interest to compete directly with their adjacent neighbor(s) on everything from who has the best high school football team, to economic concerns.

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This is the final piece of a four-part series asking, “Do you have it in you, to be an Entrepreneur?”  There are four key strengths that are must haves for an entrepreneur to be successful.  Previously, I discussed the Passion, Guts, and Team.  Here, we’ll discuss Cash Flow.

What is cash flow?  Wikipedia’s definition is fairly straight-forward: “Cash flow refers to the movement of cash into or out of a business, a project, or a financial product. It is usually measured during a specified, finite period of time.”

There are entire courses available on studying cash flow delving into whatever depth of detail you desire.  As an entrepreneur it is really simple.

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