By George F. Brown, Jr.
Decisions on pricing are almost among the toughest ones facing business executives. Customers and competitors alike put tremendous pressure on firms that raise prices. At the same time, ongoing increases in the costs of health care benefits, energy, raw materials, wages, and other factors of production cannot be easily overcome without price increases. The question most often asked in discussions about pricing is “How real are those price pressures?” If they reflect fundamental market forces, price increases can translate into lost business and a serious erosion in market share. If they involve posturing and negotiation tactics alone, price increases can remove a lot of the pressure on the coming year’s annual plan.
Four fundamental indicators can help to determine if price pressures are real or not. Each of these can be measured, and provides solid insights into the characteristics of a firm’s business environment that impact on pricing decisions. These indicators are useful in multiple ways. In addition to helping to identify price pressures that must be taken seriously, they are useful when monitored over time and when evaluated from one product line to another or from one market segment to another. Monitoring these indicators over time can spotlight instances in which a product is evolving towards commodity status, with the obvious implications of such a migration in terms of future margins and the need to focus on ways of reducing the costs of such products. Evaluating these indicators across product lines and market segments can allow a firm to focus price increases appropriately, thereby avoiding a strategy that is on average right, but wrong for every product and market segment.
One executive commented that his sales team’s philosophy seems to be to respond to every price challenge that is encountered. That strategy might avoid an occasional loss of business to a competitor, but it has adverse long-term implications. In CoDestiny, we discuss the trap of falling unnecessarily into a vicious cycle of price-based competition. Firms that do so subsequently find themselves having to reduce investments in product development, high-value services, and other ways in which they respond to customer needs and differentiate their offering. As they do so, their products become more and more of a commodity, and price cuts become the only way in which they can win competitive battles.
The first indicator that defines the strength of pricing pressures is the capacity balance in the industry. Simply stated, the more excess capacity that exists in an industry relative to demand, the more real and intense pricing pressures will be. This indicator can change rapidly over time as demand moves with the business cycle. It also can change in a significant step-function way as firms build new plants or shutter older ones. To a significant extent, this indicator is one that is largely outside the control of the individual firm. It can make decisions on its own capacity, but except in a few unique industries, the overall capacity balance is determined by other industry participants. The capacity balance is a very significant indicator; in industries with a massive overhang of unused capacity, the pricing pressures will be incredibly intense, almost overshadowing any favorable implications that might be seen in the other three indicators.
The second indicator involves the degree of “protection” that exists for the business or product line being examined. Protection can be legal in the form of patents or copyrights, but it also can involve the degree of customization, engineering, design, or service embedded into the product. The evidence is strong that such value contributions place implicit barriers to competition and impose significant costs of change on customers that shift suppliers. The customers that elect to buy products which are customized or highly engineered do so because of the value they get from them; as a result, they are not likely to casually shift to another supplier with increased risk of disappointing results. In a common sense way, this indicator reflects the fact that when a supplier’s offering includes elements that are of high value to customers, that supplier should be able to capture some of that value in their pricing.
The third indicator focuses on the business environment into which the supplier is selling. In healthy business environments, pricing pressures are less intense and less real. The measures of health involve not only the supplier’s direct customer, but even more so the customers are later stages further along the customer chain. Every business has seen occasions when everyone is scrambling to keep up with demand. In those circumstances, price challenges are often the furthest thing from everyone’s mind. And every business has seen unhealthy markets, ones in which finding a customer is itself a challenge. In those situations, the tendency is to look back at the supply chain and battle for every dime. Pricing pressures travel along the customer chain. If a participant at any stage of the customer chain, from the lowest tier supplier to the final end customers that use the product, is facing a difficult business environment, the implications tend to ripple along the customer chain, another manifestation of the old saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
The fourth indicator focuses on the relationship between the supplier and the customer. There are two basic elements to this indicator. On the positive side, instances in which the parties consider each other a “strategic supplier” or a “strategic customer” are ones in which pricing pressures are likely to be less intense. This isn’t to suggest that buyers become soft in strategic relationships. Rather, the reality is that other elements to the relationship are far more important than price, and pricing rarely dominates the agenda of meetings between the two organizations. In strong relationships, the firms involved have largely solved the pricing issue, and can quickly reach agreement and move on to more important topics. On the negative side, our research indicates that the suppliers that rank among the customer’s largest, suppliers whose products are expensive, and suppliers whose products represent a significant portion of their customer’s product cost structure sit on the bulls-eye, attracting the attention of both purchasing managers and competitors.
In the context of various consulting projects, we’ve examined these indicators in many diverse industries and economic environments. Over and over, the result has shown significant variation from product line to product line and from one market segment to another. Such learning has allowed firms to make pricing decisions that were appropriate to the business environment in which they were operating, and to do so on a segment by segment basis. Occasionally, the process has spotlighted sharp shifts taking place from one time period to the next, allowing firms to make forward-looking pricing decisions. The process has also allowed firms to uncover quite a few surprises in the indicators and their implications – and these surprises have been in both directions, some positive ones where firms had inappropriately accepted pricing challenges as an ongoing reality and some negative ones in which firms had been unaware of the pressures that were sure to come. A real strength of this approach is the rigor that it brings to discussions of pricing, allowing firms to get beyond the latest “war story” and to discuss pricing options from a factual base.
George F. Brown, Jr., along with Atlee Valentine Pope, is the author of CoDestiny: Overcome Your Growth Challenges by Helping Your Customers Overcome Theirs, published by Greenleaf Book Group Press of Austin, TX.
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
10 most common mistakes leaders make
Posted by Mark Brousseau
There are people in every organization you know whose titles indicate they are leaders. Often, and unfortunately, their employees beg to differ. Oh, they don’t say it directly, not to the boss’s face, anyway. They say it with their ho-hum performance, their games of avoidance, their dearth of enthusiasm. Leaders—real leaders who have mastered their craft—don’t preside over such lackluster followers. If reading this makes you squirm with recognition, leadership expert John Hamm says you may have a problem lurking.
You’re really just masquerading. You haven’t yet earned the right to lead.
“When times are good, not-so-great leaders can get by,” says Hamm, author of Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, February 2011, ISBN: 978-0-47092843-1, $24.95, www.unusuallyexcellent.com). “They’re cushioned by a surplus of cash, and their missteps are covered up by the thrill of top-line growth, which hides a multitude of sins. But when the cloak of prosperity falls away, their mediocrity is ruthlessly exposed.
“Real leadership equity is only earned, not bestowed,” he adds. “Just because you have been granted authority doesn’t mean you’re getting the full, collaborative engagement of your employees. You may have their bodies and time forty or fifty hours a week, but until you earn the privilege, from their point of view, you’ll never have their hearts and minds.”
Hamm has spent his career studying the practitioners of great leadership via his work as a venture capitalist, board member, high-level consultant, and professor of leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. In his new book, he shares what he has learned and brings those lessons to life with real-world stories.
“These aren’t radically new ideas,” asserts Hamm. “Human nature hasn’t changed that much over the millennia, so neither have the core laws of leadership. It’s just that in the heat of the day-to-day battle, leaders inevitably lose their grip on the basic principles of leadership. In other cases, they never learned these fundamentals or mastered them earlier in their career. And finally, sad to say, some people just aren’t cut out to lead and need to understand why.”
“Normal” leadership is a complex system of behaviors that can tolerate a lot of little mistakes, explains Hamm. Extraordinary leadership cannot.
Think about it this way: Anyone can snap a photo that looks okay or cook a meal that satiates hunger. However, when an award-winning photographer takes the picture, or a five-star chef prepares dinner, anyone can tell a master has been at work. The same is true of leadership. The small deficiencies in how the novice leads, as opposed to the unusually excellent professional, create a radical difference in the outcome.
So how can you tell whether you really are a great leader in the minds of your employees—or whether, to paraphrase the old television commercial, you’re just playing one on TV? Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of the mistakes you make often tell the true tale.
Below, excerpted from Unusually Excellent, Hamm reveals ten of the most common, deeply destructive mistakes organizational leaders make:
MISTAKE #1: “Role playing” authenticity rather than living it. Authenticity is about owning your failures and shortcomings. It’s about allowing others to really know you, vulnerabilities, warts, and all. It’s about having the guts to seek feedback from others in a sincere and genuine fashion. And it’s about being able to maintain your authentic self in a situation of meaningful consequence—where your decisions affect others, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in very personal or dramatic ways.
Knowing who you really are and holding true to yourself in the most difficult moments is the “ground zero” of leadership credibility. It’s the only way to create the trusted connections you need to lead with real influence. Unfortunately, leaders stumble for a variety of reasons: They get scared and veer away at the last moment, or they sacrifice the truth on the altar of protecting other people’s feelings, or they simply seek to avoid the pain of conflict.
“When we make the decision to compromise our authenticity, we end up delivering a message that may feel ‘easier’ but that isn’t truly what we want or need to say,” explains Hamm. “Deception conspires with fear and seduces us down a dark road of believing we can ‘fake it,’ just this one time and it will all be okay.
“But the downstream impact of making such a choice in a moment of stress or carelessness can be devastating,” he adds. “For one thing, it compromises the integrity of that all-important communications channel between leader and follower by changing expectations about the behavior of both. Worse, it sets a precedent for this type of authentic behavior that over time can trap a leader into an expectation or pattern of always behaving that way—and over the course of years this is a soul-destroying situation.”
MISTAKE #2: Underestimating the impact of small acts of dishonesty. In his book, Hamm describes an incident that took place at a famous, fast-growing technology company. A young, inexperienced, but talented associate had what he thought was a plan for a powerful new marketing initiative. So he asked the CMO to broker a meeting with the CEO to make a presentation on the subject. The CMO agreed, and the meeting took place.
During the presentation the CEO was polite, if noncommittal. He gave the presenter a sort of passively accepting feedback—“Nice point,” “Interesting,” and so on—and wrapped up the meeting quickly, thanking the presenter for his initiative. But the CMO could sense a duplicity in the CEO’s behavior and attitude as the parties all headed back to their respective offices. Then, ten minutes after the meeting, the CEO called the CMO into his office and said, in essence, “That presentation was absolutely terrible. That guy’s an idiot. I want you to fire him, today.”
“The story of the firing spread (as it always does) throughout the company, morale slipped, and the CMO never completely trusted his boss again,” writes Hamm. “The CEO’s reputation for trustworthiness had been wounded forever. The wreckage from one seemingly small act of dishonesty was strewn all over the company and could never be completely cleaned up.”
MISTAKE #3: Being two-faced (and assuming others won’t notice). In another scenario from Hamm’s book, a CEO had one executive on his team whom he really trusted and in whom he could confide. One day, a couple of other members of that company’s executive team made a presentation at a board meeting that didn’t go so well. Later, as they were walking down a hallway, the CEO turned to his trusted executive and said, “We need to get rid of those guys. They were a disaster at the board meeting—they embarrassed me.”
But then nothing happened. Life at the company went on as before, and the targeted executives remained in their jobs. In the months that passed, the trusted executive found himself in meetings attended by both the CEO and the targeted executives. And it was as if the whole incident had never happened. The CEO joked with the men, complimented them on their work, and treated them as long-term team members.
As the trusted executive watched this, he asked himself: Did the boss mean what he said? Does he ever mean what he says? Did he change his mind—and when did that happen? Or is he too gutless to follow through with his plans? And if he’s willing to stab those guys in the back and then pretend to be their trusting partner, how do I know he hasn’t been doing the same thing with me? Just how duplicitous is this guy?
“Such are the dangers of shooting from the hip without realizing that a communication such as the one just described does not qualify as a ‘casual’ comment—once said, it must be resolved, and if it is not, there is a lingering odor that in one way or another, will remain smelly until fixed,” writes Hamm.
MISTAKE #4: Squelching the flow of bad news. Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger’s priority is not bringing you the information you need: It’s protecting her own hide. That’s why in most organizations good news zooms to the top, while bad news—data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats our strategy—flows uphill like molasses in January.
Unusually excellent leaders understand this reality, says Hamm. To combat it they work hard to build a primary and insatiable demand for the unvarnished facts, the raw data, the actual measurements, the honest feedback, the real information.
“We must install a confidence and a trust that leaders in the organization value the facts, the truth, and the speed of delivery, not the judgments or interpretations of ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and that messengers are valued, not shot,” writes Hamm. “If we can do this then the entire behavior pattern of performance information flow will change for the better…Very few efforts will yield the payback associated with improving the speed and accuracy of the information you need most to make difficult or complex decisions.”
MISTAKE #5: Punishing “good failures.” Great organizations encourage risk-taking. Why? Because innovation requires it. There can be no reward without risk. But if your employees take a risk and fail, and you come down on them like a hammer, guess what? They’ll never risk anything again. Unusually excellent leaders deliberately create high-risk, low-cost environments—a.k.a. cultures of trust—where people don’t live in fear of the consequences of failure.
Hamm says a digital camera is the perfect analogy to the kind of culture you want to create.
“There is no expense associated with a flawed digital photograph—financial or otherwise,” he explains. “You just hit the ‘delete’ button, and it disappears. No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn’t have if we were paying for all the mistakes.”
MISTAKE #6: Letting employee enthusiasm fizzle. A big part of a leader’s job is to be compelling. That means you must recruit “A players” through a big vision of the future and a personal commitment to a mission. But it’s not enough to recruit once and then move on. Never assume “once enrolled, always enrolled.” Even the best followers need to be reminded again and again how fun, rewarding, and meaningful their work is.
In other words, when people seem to be losing their spark, they need to become “born again” employees. (Time to put on your evangelist cloak!)
“Enthusiasm is a renewable resource,” says Hamm. “Part of being compelling is reminding yourself that people want and need to be reenrolled all the time. This message doesn’t have to be over the top to be compelling. It may just entail reminding your team, once per quarter, why you come to the office every day, and letting them reflect on the reason they do the same.”
MISTAKE #7: Refusing to deal with your “weakest links.” Chronic underperformers spoil things for everyone else. They create resentment among employees who are giving it their all, and they drag down productivity. Leaders must have a plan for getting these problem children off the playground—and they must act on that plan without procrastination.
“The worst scenario of all is to have a plan for dealing with underperformers, to identify who those individuals are, and then not pull the trigger on the announced consequences, for reasons of sentimentality, weakness, or favoritism—or worst of all, an attempt to preserve leadership popularity,” writes Hamm.
Nothing can be more damaging to the morale and esprit de corps of a team than that kind of leadership. It destroys your authenticity, your trustworthiness, and your ability to compel others to act. It is the end of you as a leader. Indeed, it is better to have no weakest-link plan at all than one with obvious liabilities.
MISTAKE #8: Allowing people to “fail elegantly.” There are two basic operating modes for organizations under high-stakes execution pressure, writes Hamm. One is the mentality of winning, which we know about; the other, less obvious to the untrained eye, the disease of failing elegantly, is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we’d prefer no one ever sees.
Essentially, when people stop believing they can win, some then devote their energy to how best to lose. This fancy losing often manifests as excuse-making, blaming, tolerating cut corners, and manipulating and editorializing data. Unusually excellent leaders know how to recognize these symptoms and intervene with urgency and strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road—a.k.a., the winner’s mindset.
“Passive acceptance of failure, and the rationalization that always goes with it, is a cancer that can begin anywhere in the organization, then metastasize to every office, including your own,” says Hamm. “You can prevent it by setting clear and precise standards of behavior for everyone on the team, as well as clear consequences for the violation of those standards. And you can control it through continuous and open communication with every member of your team (some who will spot the problem before you do) and, where necessary, redundant processes and systems.
“Most of all, you can cure the acceptance of failure by setting yourself as an example of zero tolerance (along with a welcome for honest admissions of error), of precision and care in all of your work, a clear-eyed focus on unvarnished results, and most of all, an unyielding and unwavering commitment to your success.”
MISTAKE #9: Delaying decisions until it’s too late. Not making a decision is almost always worse than making a bad decision, says Hamm. As long as they aren’t utterly ill-advised and catastrophic, bad decisions at least keep the organization moving in pace with changing events—and thus can often be rectified by a course correction.
Not making a decision at all, although it may seem the safe choice—because, intellectually, it positions you to make the right move when the reality of the situation is more revealed—actually strips your organization of its momentum, stalling it at the starting line, and makes it highly unlikely that you can ever get up to speed in time to be a serious player.
“Unusually excellent leaders don’t just make decisions; they pursue them,” writes Hamm. “Because the speed of the organization is often its destiny—and because that speed directly correlates with the speed with which its decisions are made or not made—these leaders are haunted by the fear that somewhere in the organization a critical decision is being left orphaned and unmade.”
MISTAKE #10: Underestimating the weight your words—and your moods—carry. Hamm tells the story of John Adler, who, prior to his CEO tenure at Adaptec, was a senior vice president at Amdahl, one of the pioneering computer companies of Silicon Valley. One morning as he was walking down the long hallway to his office, he encountered some maintenance guys who were doing repairs. He greeted them cheerfully and then, just to make conversation, mentioned how difficult it must be to work in such a dark hallway.
The next morning when Adler came to work, he was surprised to find five maintenance men all carefully replacing every light bulb in the hallway. When he questioned the flurry of activity, the men said, “We’re replacing the light bulbs, boss. You said it was too dark in here.” Hamm says this story illustrates why leaders need to think carefully about every word they say—because others certainly will.
“Every conversation with, and every communication from, a leader carries added weight because of the authority of the position behind it,” writes Hamm. “Have a bad day and snap at one of your subordinates, and that person may go back to a cramped cubicle and start updating his résumé, or go out and get drunk, or miss a night’s sleep. Your momentary bad day could be his nightmare—and something he will remember forever. Your mood matters; don’t make it your employees’ problem.”
So if you recognize any of these mistakes in yourself, are you forever doomed as a leader? Of course not, says Hamm. We’re all human, and we can all learn from our errors and redeem ourselves. And yet, he adds, there is no shame in realizing that leadership is not for everyone—or in declining to lead if it’s not for you. (In your heart you probably already know.)
“Leadership is a choice,” he says. “It is a deep, burning desire to engage with people and rally a community to achieve greatness. Leadership can be difficult, thankless, frustrating, maddening work at times. It is only the passion of leading on the field—the thrill of looking other human beings in the eyes and seeing their energy, willingness, trust, and commitment—that makes it all worthwhile, in a very quiet, private way.”
What do you think?
There are people in every organization you know whose titles indicate they are leaders. Often, and unfortunately, their employees beg to differ. Oh, they don’t say it directly, not to the boss’s face, anyway. They say it with their ho-hum performance, their games of avoidance, their dearth of enthusiasm. Leaders—real leaders who have mastered their craft—don’t preside over such lackluster followers. If reading this makes you squirm with recognition, leadership expert John Hamm says you may have a problem lurking.
You’re really just masquerading. You haven’t yet earned the right to lead.
“When times are good, not-so-great leaders can get by,” says Hamm, author of Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, February 2011, ISBN: 978-0-47092843-1, $24.95, www.unusuallyexcellent.com). “They’re cushioned by a surplus of cash, and their missteps are covered up by the thrill of top-line growth, which hides a multitude of sins. But when the cloak of prosperity falls away, their mediocrity is ruthlessly exposed.
“Real leadership equity is only earned, not bestowed,” he adds. “Just because you have been granted authority doesn’t mean you’re getting the full, collaborative engagement of your employees. You may have their bodies and time forty or fifty hours a week, but until you earn the privilege, from their point of view, you’ll never have their hearts and minds.”
Hamm has spent his career studying the practitioners of great leadership via his work as a venture capitalist, board member, high-level consultant, and professor of leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. In his new book, he shares what he has learned and brings those lessons to life with real-world stories.
“These aren’t radically new ideas,” asserts Hamm. “Human nature hasn’t changed that much over the millennia, so neither have the core laws of leadership. It’s just that in the heat of the day-to-day battle, leaders inevitably lose their grip on the basic principles of leadership. In other cases, they never learned these fundamentals or mastered them earlier in their career. And finally, sad to say, some people just aren’t cut out to lead and need to understand why.”
“Normal” leadership is a complex system of behaviors that can tolerate a lot of little mistakes, explains Hamm. Extraordinary leadership cannot.
Think about it this way: Anyone can snap a photo that looks okay or cook a meal that satiates hunger. However, when an award-winning photographer takes the picture, or a five-star chef prepares dinner, anyone can tell a master has been at work. The same is true of leadership. The small deficiencies in how the novice leads, as opposed to the unusually excellent professional, create a radical difference in the outcome.
So how can you tell whether you really are a great leader in the minds of your employees—or whether, to paraphrase the old television commercial, you’re just playing one on TV? Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of the mistakes you make often tell the true tale.
Below, excerpted from Unusually Excellent, Hamm reveals ten of the most common, deeply destructive mistakes organizational leaders make:
MISTAKE #1: “Role playing” authenticity rather than living it. Authenticity is about owning your failures and shortcomings. It’s about allowing others to really know you, vulnerabilities, warts, and all. It’s about having the guts to seek feedback from others in a sincere and genuine fashion. And it’s about being able to maintain your authentic self in a situation of meaningful consequence—where your decisions affect others, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in very personal or dramatic ways.
Knowing who you really are and holding true to yourself in the most difficult moments is the “ground zero” of leadership credibility. It’s the only way to create the trusted connections you need to lead with real influence. Unfortunately, leaders stumble for a variety of reasons: They get scared and veer away at the last moment, or they sacrifice the truth on the altar of protecting other people’s feelings, or they simply seek to avoid the pain of conflict.
“When we make the decision to compromise our authenticity, we end up delivering a message that may feel ‘easier’ but that isn’t truly what we want or need to say,” explains Hamm. “Deception conspires with fear and seduces us down a dark road of believing we can ‘fake it,’ just this one time and it will all be okay.
“But the downstream impact of making such a choice in a moment of stress or carelessness can be devastating,” he adds. “For one thing, it compromises the integrity of that all-important communications channel between leader and follower by changing expectations about the behavior of both. Worse, it sets a precedent for this type of authentic behavior that over time can trap a leader into an expectation or pattern of always behaving that way—and over the course of years this is a soul-destroying situation.”
MISTAKE #2: Underestimating the impact of small acts of dishonesty. In his book, Hamm describes an incident that took place at a famous, fast-growing technology company. A young, inexperienced, but talented associate had what he thought was a plan for a powerful new marketing initiative. So he asked the CMO to broker a meeting with the CEO to make a presentation on the subject. The CMO agreed, and the meeting took place.
During the presentation the CEO was polite, if noncommittal. He gave the presenter a sort of passively accepting feedback—“Nice point,” “Interesting,” and so on—and wrapped up the meeting quickly, thanking the presenter for his initiative. But the CMO could sense a duplicity in the CEO’s behavior and attitude as the parties all headed back to their respective offices. Then, ten minutes after the meeting, the CEO called the CMO into his office and said, in essence, “That presentation was absolutely terrible. That guy’s an idiot. I want you to fire him, today.”
“The story of the firing spread (as it always does) throughout the company, morale slipped, and the CMO never completely trusted his boss again,” writes Hamm. “The CEO’s reputation for trustworthiness had been wounded forever. The wreckage from one seemingly small act of dishonesty was strewn all over the company and could never be completely cleaned up.”
MISTAKE #3: Being two-faced (and assuming others won’t notice). In another scenario from Hamm’s book, a CEO had one executive on his team whom he really trusted and in whom he could confide. One day, a couple of other members of that company’s executive team made a presentation at a board meeting that didn’t go so well. Later, as they were walking down a hallway, the CEO turned to his trusted executive and said, “We need to get rid of those guys. They were a disaster at the board meeting—they embarrassed me.”
But then nothing happened. Life at the company went on as before, and the targeted executives remained in their jobs. In the months that passed, the trusted executive found himself in meetings attended by both the CEO and the targeted executives. And it was as if the whole incident had never happened. The CEO joked with the men, complimented them on their work, and treated them as long-term team members.
As the trusted executive watched this, he asked himself: Did the boss mean what he said? Does he ever mean what he says? Did he change his mind—and when did that happen? Or is he too gutless to follow through with his plans? And if he’s willing to stab those guys in the back and then pretend to be their trusting partner, how do I know he hasn’t been doing the same thing with me? Just how duplicitous is this guy?
“Such are the dangers of shooting from the hip without realizing that a communication such as the one just described does not qualify as a ‘casual’ comment—once said, it must be resolved, and if it is not, there is a lingering odor that in one way or another, will remain smelly until fixed,” writes Hamm.
MISTAKE #4: Squelching the flow of bad news. Do you (or others under you) shoot the messenger when she brings you bad news? If so, you can be certain that the messenger’s priority is not bringing you the information you need: It’s protecting her own hide. That’s why in most organizations good news zooms to the top, while bad news—data that reveals goals missed, problems lurking, or feedback that challenges or defeats our strategy—flows uphill like molasses in January.
Unusually excellent leaders understand this reality, says Hamm. To combat it they work hard to build a primary and insatiable demand for the unvarnished facts, the raw data, the actual measurements, the honest feedback, the real information.
“We must install a confidence and a trust that leaders in the organization value the facts, the truth, and the speed of delivery, not the judgments or interpretations of ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and that messengers are valued, not shot,” writes Hamm. “If we can do this then the entire behavior pattern of performance information flow will change for the better…Very few efforts will yield the payback associated with improving the speed and accuracy of the information you need most to make difficult or complex decisions.”
MISTAKE #5: Punishing “good failures.” Great organizations encourage risk-taking. Why? Because innovation requires it. There can be no reward without risk. But if your employees take a risk and fail, and you come down on them like a hammer, guess what? They’ll never risk anything again. Unusually excellent leaders deliberately create high-risk, low-cost environments—a.k.a. cultures of trust—where people don’t live in fear of the consequences of failure.
Hamm says a digital camera is the perfect analogy to the kind of culture you want to create.
“There is no expense associated with a flawed digital photograph—financial or otherwise,” he explains. “You just hit the ‘delete’ button, and it disappears. No wasted film, slides, or prints. And we are aware of this relationship between mistakes and consequences when we pick up the camera—so we click away, taking many more photos digitally than we would have in a world of costly film. Because we know failure is free, we take chances, and in that effort we often get that one amazing picture that we wouldn’t have if we were paying for all the mistakes.”
MISTAKE #6: Letting employee enthusiasm fizzle. A big part of a leader’s job is to be compelling. That means you must recruit “A players” through a big vision of the future and a personal commitment to a mission. But it’s not enough to recruit once and then move on. Never assume “once enrolled, always enrolled.” Even the best followers need to be reminded again and again how fun, rewarding, and meaningful their work is.
In other words, when people seem to be losing their spark, they need to become “born again” employees. (Time to put on your evangelist cloak!)
“Enthusiasm is a renewable resource,” says Hamm. “Part of being compelling is reminding yourself that people want and need to be reenrolled all the time. This message doesn’t have to be over the top to be compelling. It may just entail reminding your team, once per quarter, why you come to the office every day, and letting them reflect on the reason they do the same.”
MISTAKE #7: Refusing to deal with your “weakest links.” Chronic underperformers spoil things for everyone else. They create resentment among employees who are giving it their all, and they drag down productivity. Leaders must have a plan for getting these problem children off the playground—and they must act on that plan without procrastination.
“The worst scenario of all is to have a plan for dealing with underperformers, to identify who those individuals are, and then not pull the trigger on the announced consequences, for reasons of sentimentality, weakness, or favoritism—or worst of all, an attempt to preserve leadership popularity,” writes Hamm.
Nothing can be more damaging to the morale and esprit de corps of a team than that kind of leadership. It destroys your authenticity, your trustworthiness, and your ability to compel others to act. It is the end of you as a leader. Indeed, it is better to have no weakest-link plan at all than one with obvious liabilities.
MISTAKE #8: Allowing people to “fail elegantly.” There are two basic operating modes for organizations under high-stakes execution pressure, writes Hamm. One is the mentality of winning, which we know about; the other, less obvious to the untrained eye, the disease of failing elegantly, is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we’d prefer no one ever sees.
Essentially, when people stop believing they can win, some then devote their energy to how best to lose. This fancy losing often manifests as excuse-making, blaming, tolerating cut corners, and manipulating and editorializing data. Unusually excellent leaders know how to recognize these symptoms and intervene with urgency and strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road—a.k.a., the winner’s mindset.
“Passive acceptance of failure, and the rationalization that always goes with it, is a cancer that can begin anywhere in the organization, then metastasize to every office, including your own,” says Hamm. “You can prevent it by setting clear and precise standards of behavior for everyone on the team, as well as clear consequences for the violation of those standards. And you can control it through continuous and open communication with every member of your team (some who will spot the problem before you do) and, where necessary, redundant processes and systems.
“Most of all, you can cure the acceptance of failure by setting yourself as an example of zero tolerance (along with a welcome for honest admissions of error), of precision and care in all of your work, a clear-eyed focus on unvarnished results, and most of all, an unyielding and unwavering commitment to your success.”
MISTAKE #9: Delaying decisions until it’s too late. Not making a decision is almost always worse than making a bad decision, says Hamm. As long as they aren’t utterly ill-advised and catastrophic, bad decisions at least keep the organization moving in pace with changing events—and thus can often be rectified by a course correction.
Not making a decision at all, although it may seem the safe choice—because, intellectually, it positions you to make the right move when the reality of the situation is more revealed—actually strips your organization of its momentum, stalling it at the starting line, and makes it highly unlikely that you can ever get up to speed in time to be a serious player.
“Unusually excellent leaders don’t just make decisions; they pursue them,” writes Hamm. “Because the speed of the organization is often its destiny—and because that speed directly correlates with the speed with which its decisions are made or not made—these leaders are haunted by the fear that somewhere in the organization a critical decision is being left orphaned and unmade.”
MISTAKE #10: Underestimating the weight your words—and your moods—carry. Hamm tells the story of John Adler, who, prior to his CEO tenure at Adaptec, was a senior vice president at Amdahl, one of the pioneering computer companies of Silicon Valley. One morning as he was walking down the long hallway to his office, he encountered some maintenance guys who were doing repairs. He greeted them cheerfully and then, just to make conversation, mentioned how difficult it must be to work in such a dark hallway.
The next morning when Adler came to work, he was surprised to find five maintenance men all carefully replacing every light bulb in the hallway. When he questioned the flurry of activity, the men said, “We’re replacing the light bulbs, boss. You said it was too dark in here.” Hamm says this story illustrates why leaders need to think carefully about every word they say—because others certainly will.
“Every conversation with, and every communication from, a leader carries added weight because of the authority of the position behind it,” writes Hamm. “Have a bad day and snap at one of your subordinates, and that person may go back to a cramped cubicle and start updating his résumé, or go out and get drunk, or miss a night’s sleep. Your momentary bad day could be his nightmare—and something he will remember forever. Your mood matters; don’t make it your employees’ problem.”
So if you recognize any of these mistakes in yourself, are you forever doomed as a leader? Of course not, says Hamm. We’re all human, and we can all learn from our errors and redeem ourselves. And yet, he adds, there is no shame in realizing that leadership is not for everyone—or in declining to lead if it’s not for you. (In your heart you probably already know.)
“Leadership is a choice,” he says. “It is a deep, burning desire to engage with people and rally a community to achieve greatness. Leadership can be difficult, thankless, frustrating, maddening work at times. It is only the passion of leading on the field—the thrill of looking other human beings in the eyes and seeing their energy, willingness, trust, and commitment—that makes it all worthwhile, in a very quiet, private way.”
What do you think?
Monday, February 14, 2011
Lessons in leadership
Posted by Mark Brousseau
If strong leadership was important during the recession, it will be especially important as organizations try to distinguish themselves from their competitors during better economic times.
The good news is that anyone can make a difference and anyone can lead. But not everyone chooses to do so. That’s according to Steve Boehlke, author of a new book titled, “50 Lessons on Leading for those with Little Time for Reading.” The book, published by Lilja Press (www.liljapress.com), is a compilation of actionable leadership lessons from people of diverse and varied backgrounds who have helped Boehlke learn about leadership. Among some of the leadership lessons Boehlke shares:
… Leadership is more about value than success.
… Leadership is passing the ball when you want to take the shot.
… Leadership is having vision – even in the dark.
… Leadership is calling forth the best in others.
… Leadership is letting go but not giving up.
… Leadership is setting a good example.
… Leadership is acknowledging your limits in order to go beyond them.
Any leadership lessons you can share?
If strong leadership was important during the recession, it will be especially important as organizations try to distinguish themselves from their competitors during better economic times.
The good news is that anyone can make a difference and anyone can lead. But not everyone chooses to do so. That’s according to Steve Boehlke, author of a new book titled, “50 Lessons on Leading for those with Little Time for Reading.” The book, published by Lilja Press (www.liljapress.com), is a compilation of actionable leadership lessons from people of diverse and varied backgrounds who have helped Boehlke learn about leadership. Among some of the leadership lessons Boehlke shares:
… Leadership is more about value than success.
… Leadership is passing the ball when you want to take the shot.
… Leadership is having vision – even in the dark.
… Leadership is calling forth the best in others.
… Leadership is letting go but not giving up.
… Leadership is setting a good example.
… Leadership is acknowledging your limits in order to go beyond them.
Any leadership lessons you can share?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
7 Leadership Skills CIOs Need
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Technology is the single most powerful enabling force available in business today, but as executives and boards of directors recognize its potential, CIOs must have the right leadership skills in place to deliver on heightened expectations, warns Gartner, Inc. and Korn/Ferry.
There has never been a more energizing time to be a CIO, the analysts say. However, the flip side to this is that today’s most successful CIOs must deliver exceptional results.
In the recently published book “The CIO Edge – Seven Leadership Skills You Need To Drive Results”, (Harvard Business Review Press November, 2010, $29.95), Graham Waller vice president and executive partner with Gartner Executive Programs; George Hallenbeck director, intellectual property development, for Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting; and Karen Rubenstrunk, formerly with Korn/Ferry’s CIO practice, examine the key skills CIOs need and how to develop them.
“CIOs understand they need to manage IT processes in order to deliver results and to meet key expectations. They also understand the need to lead people in order to deliver on those goals. However, what many don’t understand is the incredibly important interplay between the two,” says Waller. “Focusing on leadership and people skills - the ‘soft’ things that many CIOs tend to minimize in their quest to keep up with their day-to-day responsibilities of managing IT - is in fact the biggest determinate of their success, or failure.”
IT executives who have the best relationships and can earn ‘followership’, not only with their employees, but more importantly with their business partners within and outside the organization, tend to make the most effective business technology executives.
“During the course of our research, we observed the CIOs with the best people skills used these soft skills to influence expectations well ahead of when priorities were set or a project began,” Hallenbeck says. “Before a dime was budgeted, or staff time allocated, they were meeting with their colleagues and engaging in candid two-way conversations that defined what success would look like. Then they delivered against the expectations they helped set and as a result, the organization felt the investment of time and money in IT was worth it. Soft skills produced hard results.”
Rubenstrunk says, “Cynics might argue that CIOs who excel at soft skills might deliver soft results. However, a clear pattern from our interviews showed that the best CIOs, the ones who excel at people leadership, also set the most aggressive goals and hold their people accountable to the highest performance standards.”
Following three years of data-driven research, Waller, Hallenbeck and Rubenstrunk distilled their findings down to the behavioral patterns and key skills they believe to be the most critical to success. Specifically, high-performing CIOs distinguish themselves by mastering the following seven skills:
1. Commit to Leadership First and Everything Else Second.
Gartner and Korn/Ferry’s research reveals that the highest performing CIOs are effective because they embrace the idea that everything they need to accomplish will be achieved through people, by people, and with people. They don’t pay lip service to that idea. They live it. They lead.
2. Lead Differently than You Think.
A high-performing CIO is an incredibly complex and creative thinker. Yet when the time comes to lead, they don’t rely on their superior ‘smarts’ and analytical skills to come up with the best possible solution. They act collaboratively.
3. Embrace Your Softer Side.
Effective CIOs manage the paradox of gaining more influence by letting go of control and allowing themselves to be vulnerable. In turn, that vulnerability enables them to create deep, personal connections — connections that provide the ability to inspire people both inside and outside their organization.
4. Forge the Right Relationships to Drive the Right Results.
This skill may not be surprising. High performing CIOs spend a greater percentage of their time and energy managing relationships that exist sideways: with internal peers, external suppliers, and customers. They purposely invest in horizontal relationships which form the foundation to drive extraordinary results.
5. Master Communication.
The best CIOs know that their colleagues - especially the people who work for them - are always watching. These executives understand they are always on stage. They take advantage of that situation by constantly reiterating core messages and values. Through their focus on clarity, consistency, authenticity, and passion, they make sure their message is not only understood but also felt. They want to communicate a feeling that compels people to take the right actions.
6. Inspire Others.
In exchange for a regular paycheck, most people will give an adequate performance. But they will only give their best work if they believe they are involved in something greater than themselves. The best CIOs provide a compelling vision that connects people to how their enterprise wins in the marketplace and that their contributions are meaningful and valued.
7. Build People, Not Systems.
By developing people all around them, these CIOs increase their capability and capacity to deliver results. They also know that leaving behind the next generation of leaders is the best thing they can do for the organization—it will be their lasting legacy.
The three authors warn CIOs that mastering soft skills can never be a replacement for the key management aspects of the job. It is instead a powerful enabler and an amplifying force that allows individuals to exceed expectations and maximize the value from IT.
“All CIOs must deliver results. What distinguishes the best is how they do it: through people, by people, and with people,” Waller concludes.
Technology is the single most powerful enabling force available in business today, but as executives and boards of directors recognize its potential, CIOs must have the right leadership skills in place to deliver on heightened expectations, warns Gartner, Inc. and Korn/Ferry.
There has never been a more energizing time to be a CIO, the analysts say. However, the flip side to this is that today’s most successful CIOs must deliver exceptional results.
In the recently published book “The CIO Edge – Seven Leadership Skills You Need To Drive Results”, (Harvard Business Review Press November, 2010, $29.95), Graham Waller vice president and executive partner with Gartner Executive Programs; George Hallenbeck director, intellectual property development, for Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting; and Karen Rubenstrunk, formerly with Korn/Ferry’s CIO practice, examine the key skills CIOs need and how to develop them.
“CIOs understand they need to manage IT processes in order to deliver results and to meet key expectations. They also understand the need to lead people in order to deliver on those goals. However, what many don’t understand is the incredibly important interplay between the two,” says Waller. “Focusing on leadership and people skills - the ‘soft’ things that many CIOs tend to minimize in their quest to keep up with their day-to-day responsibilities of managing IT - is in fact the biggest determinate of their success, or failure.”
IT executives who have the best relationships and can earn ‘followership’, not only with their employees, but more importantly with their business partners within and outside the organization, tend to make the most effective business technology executives.
“During the course of our research, we observed the CIOs with the best people skills used these soft skills to influence expectations well ahead of when priorities were set or a project began,” Hallenbeck says. “Before a dime was budgeted, or staff time allocated, they were meeting with their colleagues and engaging in candid two-way conversations that defined what success would look like. Then they delivered against the expectations they helped set and as a result, the organization felt the investment of time and money in IT was worth it. Soft skills produced hard results.”
Rubenstrunk says, “Cynics might argue that CIOs who excel at soft skills might deliver soft results. However, a clear pattern from our interviews showed that the best CIOs, the ones who excel at people leadership, also set the most aggressive goals and hold their people accountable to the highest performance standards.”
Following three years of data-driven research, Waller, Hallenbeck and Rubenstrunk distilled their findings down to the behavioral patterns and key skills they believe to be the most critical to success. Specifically, high-performing CIOs distinguish themselves by mastering the following seven skills:
1. Commit to Leadership First and Everything Else Second.
Gartner and Korn/Ferry’s research reveals that the highest performing CIOs are effective because they embrace the idea that everything they need to accomplish will be achieved through people, by people, and with people. They don’t pay lip service to that idea. They live it. They lead.
2. Lead Differently than You Think.
A high-performing CIO is an incredibly complex and creative thinker. Yet when the time comes to lead, they don’t rely on their superior ‘smarts’ and analytical skills to come up with the best possible solution. They act collaboratively.
3. Embrace Your Softer Side.
Effective CIOs manage the paradox of gaining more influence by letting go of control and allowing themselves to be vulnerable. In turn, that vulnerability enables them to create deep, personal connections — connections that provide the ability to inspire people both inside and outside their organization.
4. Forge the Right Relationships to Drive the Right Results.
This skill may not be surprising. High performing CIOs spend a greater percentage of their time and energy managing relationships that exist sideways: with internal peers, external suppliers, and customers. They purposely invest in horizontal relationships which form the foundation to drive extraordinary results.
5. Master Communication.
The best CIOs know that their colleagues - especially the people who work for them - are always watching. These executives understand they are always on stage. They take advantage of that situation by constantly reiterating core messages and values. Through their focus on clarity, consistency, authenticity, and passion, they make sure their message is not only understood but also felt. They want to communicate a feeling that compels people to take the right actions.
6. Inspire Others.
In exchange for a regular paycheck, most people will give an adequate performance. But they will only give their best work if they believe they are involved in something greater than themselves. The best CIOs provide a compelling vision that connects people to how their enterprise wins in the marketplace and that their contributions are meaningful and valued.
7. Build People, Not Systems.
By developing people all around them, these CIOs increase their capability and capacity to deliver results. They also know that leaving behind the next generation of leaders is the best thing they can do for the organization—it will be their lasting legacy.
The three authors warn CIOs that mastering soft skills can never be a replacement for the key management aspects of the job. It is instead a powerful enabler and an amplifying force that allows individuals to exceed expectations and maximize the value from IT.
“All CIOs must deliver results. What distinguishes the best is how they do it: through people, by people, and with people,” Waller concludes.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
It's True: The Best Never Rest
Posted by Mark Brousseau
Why Are Tiger Woods, Oprah, and Bill Gates Uncomfortable?
They have fame. Power. Influence. And more money than most of us could ever imagine. So why wouldn’t they live lives of blissful ease and endless fun? The answer is simple, says best-selling author Jon Gordon: It’s because they are the best at what they do—and the best are never comfortable with where they are.
“The best have a burning desire to improve, and this naturally creates a healthy discomfort,” says Gordon, author of the new book Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else, and a speaker at last summer's TAWPI Forum & Expo. “Winners like Woods, Oprah, and Gates are always seeking new ways to learn and grow, and the process is rarely fun and easy.”
The same is true in all realms of business. Highly successful professionals in every industry display a relentless drive toward constant improvement. And according to Gordon, this is just one of the eleven key traits and habits that separate “the best” from “the rest.”
There is a formula for success, he insists, and it’s a process anyone can follow—that is, as long as they possess the focus, initiative, dedication, and positive energy required to do so.
Gordon says people have preconceived ideas about what it takes to get to the top—much like the aforementioned notion that being the best is “fun”—and buying into those myths can hold you back from achieving your own brand of success. For example:
MYTH #1: The best know a secret formula that others simply don’t.
REALITY: Nope. There’s no secret recipe, insists Gordon. The art is in putting the recipe’s ingredients together. The best take action every day and do the common things with uncommon focus, dedication, and a commitment to excellence. They know what they want and they want it more. The best are willing to pay the price that greatness requires.
“To offer an example, great salespeople do the same things mediocre salespeople do,” notes Gordon. “They just do so with more focus and consistency. The principle also holds true for entire companies.”
MYTH #2: The best are “born that way.” They are chosen.
REALITY: The best become the best through their own actions. Many, many people have “potential”…but only a tiny few ever bring it to fruition. They do it through hard work and “zoom focusing” on the (often little and ordinary and boring) fundamentals of their particular jobs until they master them.
“In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell discusses a study done in the ’90s at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music where they found what separated the best violinists from the good and average performers was not talent but rather the amount of time they practiced throughout their lives,” says Gordon. By the age of 20 the best performers had practiced for a total of 10,000 hours, compared to 8,000 hours for good performers and only 4,000 hours for average ones.
“Some people call this the 10,000-hour rule,” he adds. “Others call it the 10-year rule because it is believed that it takes a decade of practice to become great at something. It’s clear the best aren’t born that way. The best must commit to a lifetime of practice to be their best.”
MYTH #3: There is a huge gap between the best and the rest.
REALITY: Actually, the gap is very small. In baseball, consider the difference between a .250 batter and a .350 batter. If you calculate 162 games a year, 4 or 5 bats a game, the difference between a .250 batter and a .350 batter is only 1.7 hits a week. It’s the little things that separate the best from the rest. Believe it or not the best are not that much better than their competition. They are just a little bit better at the important things.
“Do you know what makes Walmart so successful?” asks Gordon. “It’s not just the low prices. It’s the fact that they do a hundred things 10 percent better than everyone else. That 10 percent may not seem like much, but it puts Walmart miles ahead of the competition.”
MYTH #4: The best don’t have any fear.
REALITY: Yes, the best do feel fear. They simply learn to overcome it. Too many people allow their fear of failure to define them and their actions. (Consider the potential entrepreneur, unhappy in her job, who says, “I would start the company I’ve always dreamed of, but this economy is just too scary…I’d better not risk it.”) But the best face their fears, overcome them, and don’t allow the possibility of failure to define them. As a result they are able to seize the moment and move beyond their fear.
“When all eyes are watching, [the best] know this is the moment they have been preparing and waiting for,” writes Gordon. “Rather than hiding from pressure, they rise to the occasion. As a result, the best define the moment rather than letting the moment define them. …Don’t run from fear; face it and embrace it. Don’t let fear rob you of your love and joy for life; let it push you into the moment and beyond yourself. Let it inspire you to live and work each day as though it was your last.”
MYTH #5: The best focus on winning. REALITY: The best don’t focus on the outcome at all. They focus on the process that gets them there. Ironically, says Gordon, to create success you must not focus on success but rather on the process that produces it.
“A great example is Organic Valley, a provider of organic dairy products, produce, meats, and other natural foods,” says Gordon. “Each year they continue to grow dramatically and yet they don’t have an ‘outcome’ goal in mind. Rather they focus on their purpose and process and this fuels their growth.”
MYTH #6: Success breeds success.
REALITY: Actually, success breeds complacency. Gordon says coaches and business leaders often dread success far more than they dread failure. “Too often a team will have a successful season or a player will have a great year and when they come back the following season they think all they have to do is show up and they’ll enjoy the same results, forgetting it was the hard work, focus, and process that helped them create their success,” Gordon says.
“Well, that happens in business, too,” he adds. “The moment you think you have arrived at the door of greatness is the moment it gets slammed in your face. The key is to always be innovating, offering new products and services, improving customer service, and staying one step ahead of your competition. The solution is to stay humble and hungry.”
“If you want to be the best at what you do, never allow yourself to rest on your laurels,” he adds. “I always have to come back to the first point I made—that being the best is uncomfortable. If you want to be the best—to continue to be the best—forget past glories. Focus on growing, improving, and innovating today. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.”
Why Are Tiger Woods, Oprah, and Bill Gates Uncomfortable?
They have fame. Power. Influence. And more money than most of us could ever imagine. So why wouldn’t they live lives of blissful ease and endless fun? The answer is simple, says best-selling author Jon Gordon: It’s because they are the best at what they do—and the best are never comfortable with where they are.
“The best have a burning desire to improve, and this naturally creates a healthy discomfort,” says Gordon, author of the new book Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else, and a speaker at last summer's TAWPI Forum & Expo. “Winners like Woods, Oprah, and Gates are always seeking new ways to learn and grow, and the process is rarely fun and easy.”
The same is true in all realms of business. Highly successful professionals in every industry display a relentless drive toward constant improvement. And according to Gordon, this is just one of the eleven key traits and habits that separate “the best” from “the rest.”
There is a formula for success, he insists, and it’s a process anyone can follow—that is, as long as they possess the focus, initiative, dedication, and positive energy required to do so.
Gordon says people have preconceived ideas about what it takes to get to the top—much like the aforementioned notion that being the best is “fun”—and buying into those myths can hold you back from achieving your own brand of success. For example:
MYTH #1: The best know a secret formula that others simply don’t.
REALITY: Nope. There’s no secret recipe, insists Gordon. The art is in putting the recipe’s ingredients together. The best take action every day and do the common things with uncommon focus, dedication, and a commitment to excellence. They know what they want and they want it more. The best are willing to pay the price that greatness requires.
“To offer an example, great salespeople do the same things mediocre salespeople do,” notes Gordon. “They just do so with more focus and consistency. The principle also holds true for entire companies.”
MYTH #2: The best are “born that way.” They are chosen.
REALITY: The best become the best through their own actions. Many, many people have “potential”…but only a tiny few ever bring it to fruition. They do it through hard work and “zoom focusing” on the (often little and ordinary and boring) fundamentals of their particular jobs until they master them.
“In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell discusses a study done in the ’90s at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music where they found what separated the best violinists from the good and average performers was not talent but rather the amount of time they practiced throughout their lives,” says Gordon. By the age of 20 the best performers had practiced for a total of 10,000 hours, compared to 8,000 hours for good performers and only 4,000 hours for average ones.
“Some people call this the 10,000-hour rule,” he adds. “Others call it the 10-year rule because it is believed that it takes a decade of practice to become great at something. It’s clear the best aren’t born that way. The best must commit to a lifetime of practice to be their best.”
MYTH #3: There is a huge gap between the best and the rest.
REALITY: Actually, the gap is very small. In baseball, consider the difference between a .250 batter and a .350 batter. If you calculate 162 games a year, 4 or 5 bats a game, the difference between a .250 batter and a .350 batter is only 1.7 hits a week. It’s the little things that separate the best from the rest. Believe it or not the best are not that much better than their competition. They are just a little bit better at the important things.
“Do you know what makes Walmart so successful?” asks Gordon. “It’s not just the low prices. It’s the fact that they do a hundred things 10 percent better than everyone else. That 10 percent may not seem like much, but it puts Walmart miles ahead of the competition.”
MYTH #4: The best don’t have any fear.
REALITY: Yes, the best do feel fear. They simply learn to overcome it. Too many people allow their fear of failure to define them and their actions. (Consider the potential entrepreneur, unhappy in her job, who says, “I would start the company I’ve always dreamed of, but this economy is just too scary…I’d better not risk it.”) But the best face their fears, overcome them, and don’t allow the possibility of failure to define them. As a result they are able to seize the moment and move beyond their fear.
“When all eyes are watching, [the best] know this is the moment they have been preparing and waiting for,” writes Gordon. “Rather than hiding from pressure, they rise to the occasion. As a result, the best define the moment rather than letting the moment define them. …Don’t run from fear; face it and embrace it. Don’t let fear rob you of your love and joy for life; let it push you into the moment and beyond yourself. Let it inspire you to live and work each day as though it was your last.”
MYTH #5: The best focus on winning. REALITY: The best don’t focus on the outcome at all. They focus on the process that gets them there. Ironically, says Gordon, to create success you must not focus on success but rather on the process that produces it.
“A great example is Organic Valley, a provider of organic dairy products, produce, meats, and other natural foods,” says Gordon. “Each year they continue to grow dramatically and yet they don’t have an ‘outcome’ goal in mind. Rather they focus on their purpose and process and this fuels their growth.”
MYTH #6: Success breeds success.
REALITY: Actually, success breeds complacency. Gordon says coaches and business leaders often dread success far more than they dread failure. “Too often a team will have a successful season or a player will have a great year and when they come back the following season they think all they have to do is show up and they’ll enjoy the same results, forgetting it was the hard work, focus, and process that helped them create their success,” Gordon says.
“Well, that happens in business, too,” he adds. “The moment you think you have arrived at the door of greatness is the moment it gets slammed in your face. The key is to always be innovating, offering new products and services, improving customer service, and staying one step ahead of your competition. The solution is to stay humble and hungry.”
“If you want to be the best at what you do, never allow yourself to rest on your laurels,” he adds. “I always have to come back to the first point I made—that being the best is uncomfortable. If you want to be the best—to continue to be the best—forget past glories. Focus on growing, improving, and innovating today. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.”
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Leadership in Chaotic Times
Posted by Mark Brousseau
An interesting article from Monday's USA TODAY:
Chaotic economic times call for CEOs to show optimism
Management consultant Ram Charan has had the ear of dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs. A native of India, Charan received a Harvard MBA after getting an engineering degree from Banaras Hindu University. He is known for living in hotel rooms and without an apartment for much of his career, traveling from meeting to meeting with top executives. Charan, 67, spoke last week to USA TODAY corporate leadership reporter Del Jones. Following are excerpts, edited for clarity and space.
Q: Publicly, CEOs seem worried about the economy. Privately, are they frightened to death?
A: When somebody (such as Moody's or Standard & Poor's) calls the CEO and tells them their bond rating is on watch, it causes a huge anxiety. Most companies cannot escape a warning, and so they are anxious. They worry if their customers will pay, if their suppliers will go bust. They are watching accounts receivables daily and with intensity.
Q: Should they be expressing their fear to employees and shareholders, or is it best to put on an optimistic face?
A: Leadership is judged in times of crisis. They must be optimistic about weathering the storm, that solutions will be found. But don't sugarcoat. Figure out what the reality is, and communicate that reality. Give everyone the facts. Engage employees in defining problems and solutions.
Q: What steps are you telling them to take?
A: It's largely out of their hands. About 10 people in Washington need to come up with a coordinated plan. Everything is being done piecemeal. Unless these Washington guys deal with it, there's not much companies can do.
I just came back from India, and government action there is much more coordinated.
Q: There's nothing corporate leaders can do?
A: They must manage cash. Cash is king, and corporate boards should build in the incentives of cash and financial safety. Companies must raise cash so that when it's time to do refinancing they don't get shut out of the commercial markets. Companies that can't raise cash need to merge, and they need to do it before the 11th hour.
Q: Some companies, such as Intel, are well known for expanding into past downturns and being better positioned than competitors when the economy turned. Isn't this one of those moments in history to take a chance?
A: Under certain circumstances, but do not take risks with cash.
An interesting article from Monday's USA TODAY:
Chaotic economic times call for CEOs to show optimism
Management consultant Ram Charan has had the ear of dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs. A native of India, Charan received a Harvard MBA after getting an engineering degree from Banaras Hindu University. He is known for living in hotel rooms and without an apartment for much of his career, traveling from meeting to meeting with top executives. Charan, 67, spoke last week to USA TODAY corporate leadership reporter Del Jones. Following are excerpts, edited for clarity and space.
Q: Publicly, CEOs seem worried about the economy. Privately, are they frightened to death?
A: When somebody (such as Moody's or Standard & Poor's) calls the CEO and tells them their bond rating is on watch, it causes a huge anxiety. Most companies cannot escape a warning, and so they are anxious. They worry if their customers will pay, if their suppliers will go bust. They are watching accounts receivables daily and with intensity.
Q: Should they be expressing their fear to employees and shareholders, or is it best to put on an optimistic face?
A: Leadership is judged in times of crisis. They must be optimistic about weathering the storm, that solutions will be found. But don't sugarcoat. Figure out what the reality is, and communicate that reality. Give everyone the facts. Engage employees in defining problems and solutions.
Q: What steps are you telling them to take?
A: It's largely out of their hands. About 10 people in Washington need to come up with a coordinated plan. Everything is being done piecemeal. Unless these Washington guys deal with it, there's not much companies can do.
I just came back from India, and government action there is much more coordinated.
Q: There's nothing corporate leaders can do?
A: They must manage cash. Cash is king, and corporate boards should build in the incentives of cash and financial safety. Companies must raise cash so that when it's time to do refinancing they don't get shut out of the commercial markets. Companies that can't raise cash need to merge, and they need to do it before the 11th hour.
Q: Some companies, such as Intel, are well known for expanding into past downturns and being better positioned than competitors when the economy turned. Isn't this one of those moments in history to take a chance?
A: Under certain circumstances, but do not take risks with cash.
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