Archive for February, 2011

Six Leadership Do’s and Don’ts From Oscar Night February 28 2011

There’s an old joke that my adopted hometown of Washington, DC is Hollywood for, well, um, not so attractive people.  So, of course, to see all the beautiful people in one place one watches the Academy Awards.  I’m a big movie buff (Witness my post from a few months ago on The King’s Speech.  You may want to bet with me in next year’s office Oscar pool.), so I usually watch the Oscars.  Last night was no exception.

One of my favorite parts of the broadcast  is seeing how people who spend their careers onstage respond when they have to get up to present or receive an award. Another aspect I enjoy is when the winners from the more minor categories give their speeches. Some of the most spontaneous remarks come in those moments. 

Since leaders find themselves “on stage” with regularity (actually, if you’re a leader you’re always on stage whether you realize it or not), let’s see what leadership do’s and don’ts we can mine from Oscar night.

Five Lessons in Leadership Communications from Governor Chris Christie February 25 2011

If you’re looking for a brilliant piece of analysis and reporting on a leader who’s making waves, check out Matt Bai’s feature article in The New York Times Magazine on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  No doubt, you’ve seen Christie on TV over the last year delivering “can’t believe he said that” zingers about what it’s going to take to solve the fiscal crisis in his state. As Bai explains in the article, the Governor’s basic message is that his state and its municipalities cannot fund the pensions and benefits of public employees and retirees at the current rates of commitment and remain solvent.   That position has put Christie in a battle royale with the New Jersey Education Association. It has also made him a rising star on the national political scene.

Bai’s article provides the background of the mechanics of the fiscal crisis in New Jersey but it main focus is on what Christie does that makes him an effective communicator. You can agree or disagree with the substance of Christie’s message. Either way, there are lots of leadership lessons to be gleaned from Bai’s reporting on Christie’s approach to delivering it. Here are five that stood out for me:

Five Ways to Avoid Being Fired in Five Months February 22 2011

The New York media world was abuzz last week with news of the termination of veteran publishing executive, Jack Griffin, from his job of CEO of Time, Inc. a little more than five months after he got there.  Just to make sure the situation was clear to all involved, Time-Warner CEO, Jeff Bewkes released a statement that said,  “Although Jack is an extremely accomplished executive, I concluded that his leadership style and approach did not mesh with Time Inc. and Time Warner.”  None of that leaving to pursue other opportunities and spend more time with his family stuff there.

If you’re interested in the back story, you can read all the details in the New York Times or Howard Kurtz’ column on The Daily Beast.  The quick summary is that Griffin quickly got himself cross-ways with an entrenched and proud culture at Time, Inc.  Julia Kirby of the Harvard Business Review offers six lessons from the Griffin episode. In the spirit of leadership learning, I’m offering my Five Ways to Avoid Being Fired in Five Months.  Here they are:

Would You Want to Work for You? February 18 2011

One of the regular features in the Financial Times is an interview with a business leader called Twenty Questions. The hook is that most of the twenty questions are asked in every interview so if you’re a regular reader of the FT (if you’re not, I recommend becoming one),  you can see how different CEOs answer the same questions. 

Today’s Twenty Questions segment is with the CEO of NCR, Bill Nuti.  I’ve known a number of people who have worked at NCR over the years and I’ve heard from them that it’s a pretty tough culture.  There was nothing in Bill Nuti’s answers that dissuaded me from that point of view. 

I mentioned the interview to my wife this morning (she’s very patient) and that I was thinking about writing a post about how leaders shape the culture of their organizations.  She said, “That’s nice.  How would you answer those same questions?”  I hate it when she comes up with stuff like that.  I started answering the questions for her and was a bit embarrassed that I didn’t like a lot of my own answers.

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  So, in the spirit of Socratic self discovery, here are the questions from the FT’s Twenty Questions approach that hit home with me. If you answer them honestly, you might come up with an answer to another question, “Would you want to work for you?”

An Army Colonel’s Three Simple Rules of Leadership February 16 2011

Last week, I had the opportunity to join a small group of leadership coaches for dinner with retired US Army Colonel Steve Dwyer. Colonel Dwyer is enjoying a second career in the private sector after spending thirty years as a soldier, most of it in Army Aviation.  He shared a lot of interesting stories and insights with us that night.  The one that really stuck with me was the years long process he went through to get his philosophy of leadership down to three simple rules.

Steve told us that when he was promoted to captain, he went from commanding around 45 soldiers in a platoon to about 150 in a company.  He decided that with the broader scope of command that he had as a captain that he needed to make his expectations clear.  He spent a lot of time writing up a three page, single space list of rules and expectations for his company.  He posted it on the bulletin board and nobody paid any attention to it, not even Steve. 

Learning his lesson when he was promoted to a major in charge of 1,000 soldiers in a battalion, Steve decided to get all his rules on one page. With the help of a very small font and dramatically reduced page margins, he managed to do it. He posted the rules and everyone ignored them including Steve. 

By the time he was promoted to colonel and commanding a brigade of 5,000, Steve told us he finally realized that another page length list of rules and expectations wasn’t going to do anyone any good.  Reflecting back on what had worked for him and others in his career as an Army leader, Steve boiled it all down to three simple rules of leadership. They don’t require a lot of memorization and with a little adaptation apply to leaders in any field. Here they are:

New Leader? Check Out From Bud to Boss February 15 2011

One of the more on target book titles I’ve heard lately is From Bud to Boss by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris. Kevin and Guy have put their finger on and bring their considerable expertise to bear on a very common challenge – how to go from being the buddy of your peers to being their boss.  In their new book, which launches February 15, Eikenberry and Harris provide practical advice for first time supervisors on the internal and external changes that have to be made to succeed as a new supervisor. 

The authors have been kind enough to share a preview copy with me so I can say from firsthand observation that it’s full of useful exercises, tools and approaches that new leaders can use for everyone’s benefit.  Kevin and Guy have also put a lot of thought and time into web-based resources that enhance the book.

If you’re a new leader or know someone who is, I encourage you to check out From Bud to Boss.

First World Problems February 14 2011

My college senior son and his friends have a phrase they use with each other when one of them starts griping about something that is really inconsequential. After one of them rants for a while, another one will call a stop by reminding the one who’s ranting, “First world problems.”  It’s a perspective reset. The recent events in Eqypt are such a reset. Last week, I got a reset of my own.

I was in Atlanta for a meeting with some coaching colleagues. On Friday night, we piled into a couple of taxi vans for a 30 minute ride to dinner at the home of one of our hosts. I sat up front with the cab driver, Ismail Akubar.  Ismail was a friendly guy and we quickly fell into a non-stop conversation that lasted the length of the ride. Here’s what I learned from Ismail.

He’s 41 years old (looks ten years younger) and grew up under a dictatorship in Somalia.  After years of civil war, he left Mogadishu in 1991 just before the Black Hawk Down incident.  From there, he spent seven years in a refugee camp in Kenya.  He came to Atlanta in 1998.  I asked him out of all the places in the world that he could have moved to after the refugee camp, why Atlanta?  He smiled, laughed softly and said, “I didn’t have a choice.  I was part of a refugee relocation program and Atlanta is where they sent me.” 

Ismail’s first year in Atlanta was challenging. He didn’t know anyone and didn’t have the credit history to sign a lease. After about a year, he found a Somali friend with credit who co-signed a lease for his first apartment. He got a job at the Hertz service counter at the Atlanta airport which he had until the 2008 recession. He’s been driving a taxi since then.  He told me that compared to working at Hertz, driving a taxi is a little like gambling because you never know when you’re going to get paid. It can be a long wait between fares.

Our conversation really took off when we started talking about the revolution in Egypt that had climaxed earlier in the day with the departure of Hosni Mubarak. The joy and excitement in Ismail’s face and voice were unrestrained. The two of us broke down the events that led to the victory in Tahrir Square like a couple of guys whose team had just won the Super Bowl (or the World Cup depending on your preferences). Ismail told me that he had been on Facebook throughout the day with his Somali friends in the States, in Africa and around the world and they were all saying, “We need to do in Somalia what they did in Egypt.”  Of course, that desire for freedom is not just limited to Somalia. The citizens’ uprisings that started in Tunisia and then moved to Egypt are, according to reporting in the Financial Times, spreading to Algeria, Yemen and, once again, Iran.

People want to be free. Late in our ride together, I asked Ismail what’s it like to suddenly end up in the United States after spending the first 28 years of your life under dictators and warlords in Somalia and a refugee camp in Kenya.  With a distant look in his eyes, he exhaled softly and said,

“Man, this country, you can’t believe it. You can do anything here. When you live in a dictatorship, your life is not your own. They tell you everything you can and can’t do.  My father used to tell the story of going to the bank to withdraw money for the weekend.  The manager would say, ‘You can only withdraw a hundred dollars today.  That’s the limit.’  You couldn’t even take your own money out of the bank because the government is skimming it.  If you complained, they put you in jail.”

Ismail and his wife, who is also Somali, have five young boys. They have their own home.  She drives a school bus to help make ends meet.  Her job allows her to be with the boys after they get out of school at the end of the day.  They have their challenges, but they’re happy.  They’re free.  They want the same freedom for their friends back in Somalia.  They’re encouraged and excited by what’s happened so far in Tunisia and Egypt.  Ismail and his wife have their problems, but, on a relative basis, they’re first world problems.

What inspiration do you take from Ismail’s story or what citizen leadership has accomplished in Tunisia and Egypt?  What kind of perspective shifts do these stories create on problems you’re facing?

Presenting with Passion February 11 2011

On my way to Atlanta this week for a series of meetings, I read a new book by presentation expert, Garr Reynolds called The Naked Presenter  (Reynolds lives in Japan and uses the public baths where everyone gets equal by getting naked as the main metaphor for his book.  Definitely an attention grabber!)

Reynolds mentions lots of speakers who he believes are great presenters.  One of his heroes is Swedish public health expert Hans Rosling. Since public health is a topic that involves lots of statistics and scientific studies one might conclude that it would be a tough challenge to present that information in a passionate and engaging way.  If that’s what you’re thinking, think again.

Last night, a colleague of mine shared a video of Rosling presenting that the BBC has posted to YouTube. In it, Rosling is visually demonstrating that the world is getting healthier and wealthier over time.  It’s only a few minutes long and I encourage you to take a look at it for two reasons – What he’s saying and How he’s saying it.

One of the big opportunities I frequently see for leaders I work with is to work more on their How.  They’re usually solid on the What, but because they present what they’re doing in a boring way they don’t make a connection. Apart from the snazzy graphics, what did you notice about how Rosling presents his information?   What did you pick up from his energy level, body language, facial expressions, tone of voice?  Did you believe him?  If you did, was it the data or the passion that swayed you?  What did you see Rosling doing that you might want to model in your next presentation?

Leaders and Readers, What Are You Highlighting? February 9 2011

Yesterday, I found out that the Kindle version of The Next Level is in the top 2% of the most highlighted books on Amazon’s Kindle.  In case you’re not familiar with the technology, you can highlight passages in a Kindle book just like you can in a physical book.  The only difference is the Kindle highlights get captured in the cloud.  That means you can get really cool lists like these top five highlighted passages from the Kindle edition of The Next Level:

1.    The difference between responsibility and accountability is the difference between doing and leading.

2.    She needs to restructure her time and perspective so she can more clearly see what is important to the business as a whole and how her function fits into that bigger picture.

3.    Who is the audience for my message? ·  Where are they now in terms of their thinking?  ·  What, if anything, do I need to do to change their thinking?

4.    When you’re operating as an executive, your accomplishments will be more about influencing outcomes than directly creating outcomes.

5.    Her job is to define what the results should be, not how to accomplish the results.

(By the way, the she and her in points 2 and 5 refer to Amy, the composite character in the opening case study in chapter one. )

So, of those five highlights which one speaks to you most directly and why?  If you’ve read The Next Level, what favorite passage have you highlighted that’s not on this list?  One of the great joys in my life is knowing that some of the ideas I share through my writing are making a difference for people.  If you have a story about The Next Level, please share it in the comments.  We’ll all learn in the process.

A Super Bowl Servant Leader February 7 2011

It’s Monday morning and time to break down the Super Bowl.  My main goal in this post is to share some Steelers coach Mike Tomlin-inspired thoughts on servant leadership.  Have to spend a little time first, though, on a few observations about this national holiday. (After all, is there anything else in America that draws 106 million viewers?)

First, congrats to the Packers.  Lots of great stories there.  The one I’m happiest about is summed up in the Tweet I sent as the seconds ticked down on a Packers victory, “Our long Favre nightmare is over. Thank you Packers.”   The leadership lessons from Favre about how to not leave gracefully are endless.

Next, there was the halftime show with the Black Eyed Peas.  I’ll say right now that I know less than nothing about hip-hop.  Loved their show though.  An enormous amount of energy and amazing production values.  My post show Tweet sums up my critique, “Man, Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl Halftime show rivaled opening ceremonies of Beijing Olympics. USA is back baby! Best HT show in memory.”

Then there were the commercials.  Thought they were generally underwhelming.  My favorite by a mile was the VW ad where a pint sized Darth Vader is surprised by his Force.  Funny and heartwarming.  Here’s the link.

Of course, since the game was in Dallas, there had to be a Jerry Jones angle.  In an effort to set a Super Bowl attendance record, the Cowboys owner had temporary seats installed in his brand new stadium.  As the New York Times reports, the only problem was the fire marshal deemed them not safe to sit in.  So, about a 1,000 fans found out 30 minutes before game time that they had no place to sit.  Nice.

And the ego displayed by Jones in the seating fiasco sets us up nicely for a lesson on servant leadership from Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.  At 37 years old and only four seasons as a head coach, Tomlin’s team has already won one Super Bowl and came very close to a second last night.  Standing outside the Steelers locker room after the loss, Chris Myers of Fox told Tomlin he was impressed by how he stood at the door as the players entered after the game and shook hands and thanked each of them individually for their effort.  Tomlin replied that it wasn’t really a big deal;  he does that after every game.  In a column for the New York Times earlier in the weekend, William C. Rhoden asked Tomlin about the impact another African American Super Bowl winning coach, Tony Dungy,  has had on his life.  Tomlin replied:

“I can give a really pointed answer because I am very conscious of Coach Dungy’s influence in terms of how I do my job.  He tries to lead through service, and I do the same. I learned that from him in providing the men what they need to be great. Every day when I go to work, I don’t think about things I have to do, I think about the things I can do to make my men successful. So I have a servant’s mentality in terms of how I approach my job, and I get that from Coach Dungy.” 

“I don’t think about the things I have to do, I think about the things I can do to make my men successful.”  There’s a lot of other things that one could say about servant leadership, but if you’re looking for a brief definition of how it works, I don’t think you can do much better than what Tomlin said.  Does servant leadership guarantee you win every game?  No, of course not.  Does it make a positive difference?  I think it does.

What do you think?  What’s the best example of servant leadership you’ve ever seen or experienced?  What difference did it make?