Archive for July, 2009
Palin’s Poetry Interpreted by the Priceline Negotiator July 30 2009
It’s the end of July and I’m on vacation so let’s have a little fun today. Let me start out by saying that I love William Shatner. He was great as Captain James T. Kirk, hilarious as Denny Crane of Boston Legal and I never get tired of his Priceline Negotiator bits. The man completely knows how to walk the razor’s edge between maintaining his dignity and making a complete fool of himself. That takes a lot of self awareness.
Over the past couple of weeks, he’s shown up on Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show to offer interpretative poetic readings of Sarah Palin’s resignation speech as Governor of Alaska and, last night, to read verbatim selections from her Tweets. So, ladies and gentlemen, for your listening and viewing pleasure, Mr. William Shatner:
Priceless, no? Now you’re negotiating!
For Armstrong and Contador, the Leadership Wheels Come Off July 28 2009
For most Americans, cycling’s annual 15 minutes of fame has come and gone with Sunday’s conclusion of this year’s Tour de France. In case you missed it, this year’s winner was Spain’s Alberto Contador. Finishing third and making a comeback after a three and a half year retirement was the seven time winner Lance Armstrong. One thing that made the race more interesting than usual this year was that Contador and Armstrong were on the same team although you’d never have known that from the way they’re sniping at each other now.
In a post race press conference, Contador said, “My relationship with Lance is zero. He is a great rider and has completed a great race, but it is another thing on a personal level, where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will.”
Armstrong fired back on his Twitter account. Quoting the tweet, “Seeing these comments from AC (Alberto Contador). If I were him I’d drop this drivel and start thanking his team. Without them, he doesn’t win.”
Snap and double snap.
I’ll acknowledge that I know next to nothing about the sport of cycling. I do, however, find the leadership aspects of the sport pretty intriguing. As you probably know, guys like Armstrong and Contador win their races with the support of teammates who provide offense and defense for them throughout the event. It’s sort of amazing that Contador and Armstrong came in first and third as members of the same team. That seems like one heck of an achievement and one worth celebrating.
Instead, the post race attention is on a clash of egos and arguments about who should have been the designated leader of the team.
I think there are two broader lessons from this story that leaders in any field can apply. The first is drawn from Johan Bruyneel, the manager of their team. What should he have done to get Contador and Armstrong on the same page? From the press accounts, it sounds like the two superstars barely spoke to each other over the three weeks of the Tour. Shouldn’t the job of a manager (any manager) be to facilitate communication and cooperation among the stars on the team? I think so.
The second lesson is an illustration of one of the most common causes of conflict on a team. When the roles and responsibilities of the team members aren’t clear, you’re setting yourself up for a clash. That’s even more the case when big egos are at play. The manager’s job is to make sure that the roles and responsibilities are understood and everyone knows how they fit in. Over the course of the Tour, the daily drama was who going to cede to who – Contador or Armstrong? Shouldn’t they have figured this out ahead of time?
There’s more to it than that obviously, but I think those are two reasonable places to start on looking for leadership lessons in this year’s Tour. I’m sure that some of the Next Level readers are both serious fans of cycling and students of leadership. What’s your take on the way things played out between Contador and Armstrong?
Amygdala Hijacks, Professor Gates and the Cambridge Police July 24 2009
Let me say from the outset, that this is one of those posts that I’ve debated writing. Let me also say what I’m not writing about. I’m not writing about racial profiling or who was right or wrong in the situation of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates being handcuffed and arrested by Cambridge, Mass. police officer Crowley in his home last week. You’ve probably heard the story by now that after returning to his home from a trip, Gates and his cab driver were jimmying a stuck door to get into the house. A neighbor who observed them working on the door called the police. After Gates was in his house, Officer Crowley arrived and asked Gates for his ID. This is the point at which their stories diverge in terms of who did or said what. One thing that is clear, however, is that the situation escalated to the point that Gates was led out of his house in handcuffs.
The key phrase for me is that last sentence is “the situation escalated.” I’ve been doing a lot of reading on this case the past couple of days and have been surprised that I’ve seen nothing on the role that one or more amygdala hijacks likely played in the scene at Gates’ house. If you’re not familiar with this phrase, I believe it was first developed by Daniel Goleman the author of Emotional Intelligence
Given the tense situation at Gates’ house and the outcome that resulted, it’s not hard to imagine that one or probably both of the men involved suffered from some form of amygdala hijack. We’re all going to find ourselves in situations where we’re going to feel threatened from time to time so what can we do to prevent a reaction that leads us to say or do something that ends badly? Here are a few tips:
Even More Leadership Lessons from Rock and Roll July 22 2009
Last week, I sent out one of my periodic newsletters which featured my recent blog post on leadership lessons from the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. That article prompted a note from Rich Beach, a director at IT services provider CGI and an alumnus of our Next Level Leadership™ group coaching program. In addition to being a smart and interesting guy, it turns out that Rich is also a great writer and quite the rock and roll aficionado. In his note, he shared with me one more leadership story about Springsteen and a lesson from the Beatles about getting the right people on the bus.
So, with his permission, and in his own words, here’s Rich Beach with two really cool leadership lessons from the history of rock and roll. Thanks Rich!
Way Back Weekend: Astronauts, Cronkite and Watson July 20 2009
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. (I spent a lot of time watching TV, period.) They used to have a segment on the show called “Peabody’s Improbable History,” in which the highly intelligent talking dog, Mr. Peabody, and his boy, Sherman would use their WABAC machine to travel back in time. The events of this past weekend took me way back to my childhood in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In thinking about them, I learned a little bit about more about how some of the things that happened back then shaped me as an adult and a leader. In particular, I’m talking about the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, the death of TV anchorman Walter Cronkite and the completely improbable (Mr. Peabody would have loved it) performance of 59 year old Tom Watson at the British Open.
So, jump into the WABAC machine with me for a few minutes and let’s see what we can learn.
His Thoughts, My Tips on How to Be a Great Leader July 17 2009
For the past several months, the New York Times has been running interviews on leadership with the CEO’s of well known organizations. They’re almost always interesting. Sometimes I agree with the points they make, sometimes I learn something new and, honestly, sometimes I find myself wondering, “How did this person become a CEO?” The latest Times interview subject is Dave Novak, CEO of Yum Brands. I think it’s the best one in the series so far.
To counteract the karma of my last post about how terrible leadership helped blow up AIG, I thought I’d share seven thoughts from Dave Novak on how to be a great leader along with a tip from me on how to follow through on that thought. The bold face points are direct quotes from Novak, my accompanying tip is in plain face type:
How to Lead Your Team to a $182 Billion Loss July 15 2009
If you’re looking for a textbook example of how to be a dangerously ineffective leader, look no further than the great writer Michael Lewis’ article, “The Man Who Crashed the World,” in the current issue of Vanity Fair. It’s the story of a guy named Joseph Cassano who ran AIG Financial Products from the end of 2001 to 2008 when his unit helped crash the global economy. Based on reporting he undertook after receiving a few phone calls from a former AIG FP trader, Lewis details what can happen when what he calls a “cartoon despot” ends up running something important. It’s an amazing article and worth your time. If you want my Cliff Notes version of how to lead your team to a $182 billion loss, read on.
Leading a Turnaround? Focus on the Big Rocks July 13 2009
Any executive who has ever been charged with leading a turnaround has to empathize at some level with President Obama. How would you like to be accountable for two wars, a shaky economy, fixing the health care system and dealing with Iran and North Korea – all at once? If you’ve led a turnaround, you know that the flood of issues can overwhelm you and make you more than a little frantic. The image I have in mind is the little Dutch boy trying to plug his fingers into all the holes leaking water from the dike.
Regular readers know that I’m an Obama supporter, but I’m beginning to worry (as is Colin Powell) that he’s trying to plug too many holes at once. As he travelled to Russia, Italy and Ghana last week, Obama needed to take time out to walk back comments from Vice President Biden on the economy and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on health care reform. You just get the sense of someone who is trying to keep too many plates spinning.
Finger Painting as a Leadership Practice July 10 2009
One of the many fun things I get to do in my work is serving as a faculty member of the Leadership Coaching Certificate Program at Georgetown University. Last month, I had the pleasure of reading through some great papers by the current group of students offering their best ideas for developing the practice of leadership. I was particularly intrigued by a practice shared by Susan Palmer, an attorney and educator from Vermont whose next act will be centered on leadership coaching. It’s what she calls finger painting meditations. With her gracious consent, I want to share with you what that’s all about and a couple of her own creations that really grabbed me.
What Can Leaders Learn From the Life of Robert McNamara? July 8 2009
As a 48 year old, I am too young to have a first hand recollection of the role that former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara played in shaping the Vietnam War. As a student of leadership and history, I’ve been fascinated to read the many different obituaries, articles and editorials that have been written about the man since he died earlier this week. They range from sympathetic (as an example, see this interview with George McGovern on Politico ) to reflective (for instance, David Ignatius’ column in the Washington Post) to angry (Bob Herbert’s column in the New York Times is one example).
Of all the articles I’ve read on McNamara, the most comprehensive is the front page piece by Thomas Lippman in the Washington Post. With respect and acknowledgment to those who experienced Vietnam as young adults, here are a few lessons that I’ve picked up from the life of Robert McNamara that I think leaders should keep in mind.
Subjective Information Matters at Least as Much as Objective Data: McNamara established himself through his application of statistical process control techniques to the bombing of Japan in World War II and, later, to the manufacturing process at Ford Motor Co. After his first visit to Vietnam as Defense Secretary in 1962, he famously said, “every quantitative measurement we have shows we’re winning this war.” What the measurements didn’t account for was what McNamara himself later described as “large indigenous support” bound by “bonds of loyalty” among the Viet Cong. I think the lesson for leaders is to not be so wedded to a particular management system or methodology that you become blinded to the actual dynamics on the ground.
The Second Most Important Thing for a Leader to Say May Be, “I Made a Mistake.” In 1995, twenty years after the Vietnam War ended, McNamara wrote a book in which he said that he was “wrong, terribly wrong” in his prosecution of the war. There are different points of view as to whether or not he went far enough in acknowledging the depth of his errors. What does not seem debatable is that he waited far too long to acknowledge that his policies were flawed. The record shows that McNamara had private doubts about his strategies as early as 1964 and certainly by 1966. It’s beyond my realm of expertise to diagnose what kept McNamara from acting on this realization when it could have made a difference. Perhaps it’s best to leave it to the words of the late journalist David Halberstam who wrote that McNamara was “a prisoner of his own background… unable, as indeed was the country who sponsored him, to adapt his values and his terms to Vietnamese realities.” Perhaps a lesson for leaders here is to regularly question your assumptions and motivations when making decisions when the stakes are high.
The First Most Important Thing for a Leader to Say Might Be, “I’m Sorry.” As I read the first few articles to come out after McNamara died, my initial thought was that he did a lot to redeem himself through his leadership of The World Bank in the late 1960s and 1970’s. The more I read, however, the more I understood how many people are still enraged by what McNamara did on Vietnam (The Bob Herbert piece is the best example I’ve seen of this). I think I understand at least part of the source of the anger. As far as I can see from my reading, while McNamara eventually said he made a mistake, he never said, “I’m sorry for what I did.” Clearly, there’s a difference. As human beings, we can’t expect perfection from others but I think we do expect an apology when we’ve been hurt or wronged. I wonder how those who still feel aggrieved and enraged by the decisions McNamara made would feel if he had offered a clear apology for the mistakes he said he made. Sometimes leaders need to say, “I’m sorry.”
Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
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