Teams and Trust
I’ve met with the executive teams of two CEOs in the past two weeks – CEOs being intentional about enhancing their teams’ effectiveness. Excellent teams don’t form by chance.
It may be time to evaluate your leadership team. Challenging times call for a gut-check on who’s in the foxhole with us. What grade would you give your team?
If you give them an “A” or better – what would you identify as the #1 ingredient? Conversely, if it’s “C” or lower, what would be the #1 cause? How many of us are tolerating ‘average?’
Leaders in the Middle of It
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
— From “Once in a Lifetime” by David Byrne & the Talking Heads
If you’re in your 30’s, it’s coming.
In your 40’s? You sense it or know you’re in the middle of it.
50’s – it’s either the best thing that ever happened to you, or you’re wondering if you missed an opportunity.
Mid-life. I’m having more conversations with Leaders lately about this particular time-zone.
What Certain Leaders Do in Uncertain Times
Uncertain times?
Let’s see . . a stock market that no one can forecast . . . a presidential race completely up for grabs . . . and a 31 year-old trader who just cost his company $7.2 billion.
What a great time for Leaders to step up.
I read a great story last week about one Leader whose company is thriving amidst a crisis that has tanked most of the rest of his industry.
When and Where Leaders Listen
There’s an article titled “Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership” in the latest issue of Leader to Leader magazine. Author C. Otto Scharmer writes about four different modes of listening for Leaders. I’ve provided excerpts below.
Those of you who have heard me speak know that I often frame the Leader in four dimensions – Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual. Along with Scharmer’s thoughts, I have added my own in the context of which dimensions a Leader listens from . . . .
Think about conversations you’ve already had today.
When Leaders Commit to Personal Learning
“Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch
How are you focused on changing and growing as a Leader over the next six months?
Top Five reasons to NOT be a Learning Leader in the coming months (pick yours):
__ “I have no time to focus on this.”
__ “Nothing comes to mind that I really need to learn.”
__ “I want to grow, but I don’t like to read business books and don’t know of any other resources.”
__ “This is great to think about the first week in January, but the demands of my job will overwhelm me by next week.”
__ “I don’t really need to learn anything new; instead, I need to be teaching my direct reports how to improve as leaders.”
When Leaders Speak
“I thought his press conference the other day was brilliant; though brilliant might be the wrong word to use at a time like this. I think you saw compassion and that first day you saw leadership. He was a strong presence. He had human interest stories and he had honesty when he said, ‘I’ve never dealt with this before.’ When you’re sitting there you’ve got a guy who is strong, compassionate and has a plan.”
– The Washington Post, 12.1.07
The Leader: Joe Gibbs, President and Head Coach.
The audience: players and coaches of the Washington Redskins football team.
The challenge: Leading the team in the aftermath of player Sean Taylor’s sudden death.
What talk have you given to the players in your organization in the past 30 days? What was the challenge? How would the reviews have read on your leadership performance?
The Leader's "Top Five" List
I’m always interested to see a list of “top leadership traits.” When I was still running a company, I would scan it and see how I measured up. Perhaps you do this.
On November 19th, the Wall Street Journal had this article:
“Tough CEOs Often Most Successful, a Study Finds.”
A week later, also in the WSJ, this title:
“Are You CEO Material? Find Out With This Test.”
Both articles referred to the same recent University of Chicago business school study. From the study, “here are five CEO traits that correlate most closely with business success . . . :” (Check yourself)
Lessons from a Fired CEO
A CEO getting fired is always an occasion for learning. Wall Street has given us two such occasions in the past two weeks.
What caught my attention were the observations about Stan O’Neal of Merrill Lynch. Note these descriptions from The Wall Street Journal in an article sub-titled ‘Startled Board Ditches a Famously Aloof CEO:’
“Mr. O’Neal’s talent and steely drive came with a tragic flaw:
Effective Leaders Cultivate Simplicity
I’m learning that effective leaders cultivate simplicity. Simplicity begets . . . Clarity begets . . . Focus begets . . . ACTION! When I first begin working with Leaders, here’s a sampling of questions we discuss: How clear are you on what your organization most needs from you as Leader today? How succinctly could […]
When Leaders Fudge Because They're Afraid
This past Spring I noticed a rash of reports (in less than one week!) about current and future leaders of all ages caught lying.
* April 27th ”The Dean of Admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was forced to resign after the school confirmed . . . that she had lied about graduating from college herself.” Marilee Jones is 55. (The Wall Street Journal)
* May 2nd Fifteen freshmen Air Force Academy cadets were expelled in a cheating scandal. The cadets “either confessed or were found guilty by an honor board of sharing answers to a test . . . .” (Louisville Courier-Journal) Assume their average age was 19.
* May 2nd (This right below the Academy cheating article . . . .) Duke University is threatening to expel or suspend 24 of 34 graduate students caught in “the largest cheating scandal ever in its Fuqua School of Business . . . . Similar answers to a take-home test led to an investigation of the final exam and other assignments . . . . The average age of students in the first-year class is 29.” (Louisville Courier-Journal)