Leaders at the Finish Line
Many are calling these events [in the financial markets] unprecedented. Leaders can be paralyzed by them; or they can “choose” to grow and respond accordingly.
Where Leaders Go for Guidance
A CEO in New York shared a conundrum with me a few weeks ago. It involved money – the CEO’s compensation, to be specific.
A member of the Board had approached him with a request. A major portion of this Leader’s compensation for the year would come in the form of a stock bonus tied to hitting annual budget targets. At the mid-year mark, it was clear to the Board that the company would not hit the targets. The Board wanted to reward the CEO with the bonus anyway, and they were asking him to provide new (i.e. ‘lower’) targets that he and the company would be sure to hit. The request did not sit well with the CEO.
What guides your significant leadership decisions?
Frustrated Leaders
A CEO frustrated with his board. A Board frustrated with its CEO. A Partner frustrated with his partner. A Partner frustrated with HIS partner. A CEO frustrated with her COO. A COO frustrated with his CEO. Boy, I run across these scenarios too often. I use the word “frustrated” because it represents the middle ground […]
18 Months in Crisis Mode
So here are some lessons from a Leader guiding his company through crisis for a little over a year now, and getting some traction.
A partial list of what Alan Mulally inherited when he took the CEO job at Ford in the Fall of 2006 – the “Brutal Facts:”
* A divided company, actually a lot of different companies under one roof, each with a leader going in a different direction
* Tight cash flow with a real risk of running out altogether
* A built-in $3,400 expense premium on every finished product based on onerous labor costs
* Complexity of business systems that predecessors had been unable to untangle
* Infighting and turf wars among his direct reports
* Lots of elaborate plans (marketing, manufacturing, sales, product) followed by poor execution
* A talented and dedicated team of workers (the problems lay mostly with management, not the workers!)
At lunch last week in Charlotte, home to big banks reporting record losses, my friend sat down and said, “Well, at least we can celebrate Ford’s good news.”
A Leader's Secrets
Elliot Spitzer is a role model for it. So is Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit. Bill Clinton. Jack Welch. Each of these leaders had a secret. When the secret was exposed it tainted or destroyed a promising or otherwise successful leadership legacy.
Why is it everyone shares their “secrets” of leadership success, but no one talks about the secrets of leadership destruction?
Leaders Making the Shift
The economic world as we knew it has shifted significantly over the past six months. How has your leadership shifted?
On Tuesday of this week, I met with the President of a 600-person company that finds itself right in the crosshairs of the current real estate – capital markets mess. The day before, Monday, he had let 10% of his employees go — a move that was emotionally difficult, but necessary. In the last three months, this Leader has seen the landscape of his industry shift radically.
What struck me as we talked was the peace and confidence he projected. Even more significant was the clarity he had about his company’s focus. “Everyone knows we are focused on two things between now and December,” he said, and pointed to the whiteboard behind me, opposite his desk, where the guidelines for the coming months were written. This Leader knows where he is steering the company as the landscape around him shifts.
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?’
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 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?