See What Leadership Looks Like

I won’t spoil this by saying much.  Seeing it is a more powerful lesson than any words I could come up with.

In a world where power tends to try to distance itself from the masses, this may be one of the most genuine realities of what executive management should be.

But don’t just watch this video. 

Merely watching would equate this to simple entertainment. Your time and opportunities for becoming extraordinary are too valuable for that.

Use this video to confront yourself and check your own thinking, values, paradigms and tendencies.

What would you do if you held this man’s position?  To what liberties would you treat yourself, by virtue of your position?

Fighting Lions Without Fighting At All

I’m always looking for those intrepid souls who will come along and pull the organization out of it’s funk. Those who, despite the odds, the nay-sayers, the BS and the crummy culture, have a sense of mission and destination and are going to “go there” no matter what.

And they are there – somewhere in your organization. I’m not yet sure how to find them, except I think I could hunt them down by following the tracks of the innovative, looking for the signs of the exemplary and by scouting for the pattern of the consistently extraordinary.

One day they will come walking out of the plains, approach the selfish, frenzied throng and quietly, calmly keeping themselves from the fray, will hold to their values and vision and walk away as heros.

The Secret to Making a ‘Magic’ Organization

Two Keys to Exceptional Performance

Some organizations simply seem to prosper without trying. They have the Midas touch. They just seem, well… Magic. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small business that has captured the market in your town, or a large multinational whose presence has swelled across the globe.

The roots of exceptional, sustainable success are usually the same from sports to business to personal achievement. Individuals wanting to build exceptional organizations follow the same principles of being exceptional that anything else does.

How do they do it?

The other day I was looking at the Magic Quadrant – a tool used by technology analyst Gartner. They use it to graphically depict a market at a certain period in time and size-up the technology vendors in that space. And even though I have seen this tool many times, for many different markets, for some reason, this time the principles of exceptional organizations – those principles of Performance, Aligned – jumped off the page.

The Two Keys

1. Completeness of vision
2. Ability to Execute

Now, those are deceptive little statements, but intentionally engineered. We would do well to pay attention.

Completeness of Vision

Yeah, I know there are many, many creative and visionary people out there. I’ve been in their organizations all over the world. I have heard them talk about what they are working on, what they are striving to accomplish and build – I have even read many of their vision statements (most of which are uninspiring and lame).

The number one difference between the exceptional organizations that I have interacted with and all the rest is not simply having a vision, but having a Complete Vision. And, at least I believe, it’s an iterative process.

There is plenty of material available on building visions, so I will just mention one thing that I think is important to note: Everything has two creations; once in the mind and then in the physical / social reality.

How COMPLETE is your organization’s vision? How about your personal one?

Ability to Execute

Quite a few years ago, Strategy+Business listed out the top management ideas that they thought would lead us into the new millennium, and one of the foremost of those was execution. I agreed then, and I still agree. In fact, I agree now more than ever.

With a seemingly limitless access to information, knowledge and ideas, the only thing holding us back is execution (…and maybe that ‘Completeness of Vision’ thing mentioned above).

I suppose to be fair, the ability to execute isn’t enough – actually pulling the trigger and getting it done is what counts. Ability, employed.

But the trick to building the ability to execute is simply to execute in the first place, and when you do, your organization muscle will stretch, tear and repair in a similar way the muscles do in our own bodies.

The ability to execute is found in execution itself.

image: iStockphoto

Top 10 Managers You Don’t Want to Be Like.

Hey, You Wanna Work for Me?

See this guy?  He was a manger of a fairly big operation.  Quite successful too (if you judge success on cajoling people into coughing up their dough and making shady deals… which some of you might).

The problem with his management style was the “success at all costs to everyone else” approach, which ultimately and ironically cost him everything.

Two questions every manager ought to consistently ask themselves:

1.       What is my motivation for doing what I’m about to do?

2.       What might the consequences be on everyone around me, and then back on myself?

I know, you think that you are no different than Al Capone.  But doing business with people has taught me that time and time again, we let the ends justify the means.

And when people get into tight situations, they tend to move towards short-term actions that save the career, the reputation, the finances, etc.

This is why we keep saying that clear purpose and values in organizations are so important. They give members a handrail to grab onto when decision-making gets stressed. They provide clarity where there may not otherwise be such.  They also provide a handrail for those moments when nobody is looking. They’ll never replace personal character, but they sure can help a soul with good intentions.

What this Means to You:

For managers of front-line staff, beware of shutting down contributions, imposing policies and constraining action in favor of maintaining your own semblance of control (i.e. satisfying your own internal needs and validations, making yourself look-good at the expense of organizational purpose, etc.).

For senior managers at the strategic apex, be careful of making the entire organization work for your personal gain (i.e. serving yourself at the expense of the entire organization. Think Enron, not just Capone).  Avoid the assumption that those below you are of less capacity or lower social structure.

If you are not careful, you will find yourself bereaved of organization and influence, and left with your head in your hands.  Let’s just hope it’s still attached to your neck.

So, here’s the list of the Top 10 Managers You Don’t Want to Be like.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

3 Simple Steps to a Prosperous Business

I read a great post by Steve Woodruff about businesses that get lost in the crowd.  It’s tongue-in-cheek, funny and sadly accurate. Here is my response:

Steve, great points. I think you nailed it. But you and I both know that for the myriads of businesses that fall underneath this sad banner that you have so simply illustrated, it’s not that simple.  Why?

Why is it that even though we know we should practice “opposite day” to everything you’ve mentioned, we still fall short?  What’s missing?  What’s the secret sauce?  What do I need to know?  Tell me! Ahhhhh! (read screaming, fingers in hair and running away while wiggling the elbows).

Too many businesses set “money” as their number one goal, and since there are so many ways to make money, it’s not enough to provide clear direction for management, decision-making and especially branding.  They need to rethink the core of the organization.  For the majority of small businesses in the United States, that means the core character or identity of the individual business owner.  For large firms, it’s the “Holy We” management team that serves as the core group of the organization.

Organizations that have lost sight of “who they are” cannot articulate their unique contribution to the world, let alone the target market.  Branding becomes a logo, sales fall into the price/promotion cycle, any business is good business and before they know it, they are commoditized and done.  In standing for everything, they have stood for nothing and become what they stood for.

The fact is: Many organizations fail. Most businesses that start in the U.S. fail. Many other types of organizations eventually fall out of favor with their members and are thus disbanded.  How do we find and keep our identity while prospering as a business or other organization?  Here are three thoughts:

1. Don’t let your product or service become your purpose. All great organizations have a purpose (and making money isn’t it).  Since a brand is a reflection of who you are and the relationships you have with stakeholders, GET CLEAR ON WHO YOU ARE and then figure out the products and services necessary to sustain it.  Don’t let the products define the organization.

2. Make everyone a brand manager.  That “who you are” determines the direction of your organization’s brand. Hiring people who ”don’t get what you’re about” only sets you up to have your products, and your brand, prostituted at the moment someone starts looking out for numero uno (themselves). Help people feel responsible for the brand and they will defend it from desperate decisions.

3. Don’t sell anything.  A “Man (person) convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”.  Chasing the ambulance and pushing product will get some sales, but it’s not going to build long-term, sustainable revenue generation.  In the information-rich and advocacy-intensive social networks that permeate today’s purchasing processes, the best thing you can do is build strong relationships. 

Do these three things and the relationships you build will reflect the brand you want and the products will sell themselves.

The Essence of Brand

I used this video in a recent keynote address.  I think it may be a failsafe: It is such a moving piece that all you need to do is tack it on to the end of any talk, and you’re an instant success.

But in this case, I had a legitimate reason to use it.  I have been communicating the need for an intentional effort to consider brand in the restructuring of an internal organization; to consider whether or not behaviors, words, appearance and presentation are conveying the things we’d like to have conveyed. And of course this is nothing more than a reverse approach into the ultimate question at the core of any organization: Who are we and why do we exist?

But in the midst of organizational existentialism is still the social structure whose brand is defined in the nature of relationships it maintains with its stakeholders – specifically the customers (which can be loosely defined).

So the sustainable organization is one whose relationships give the ‘other’ party what they are looking for, and also what they need.  They connect on an emotional level and generate mutual benefit.

So, even though I am sure that you have seen this before, watch this video from this point of view: The audience are customers, the judges are outspoken and often deeply critical and demanding customers, and the individual on stage is the company putting forth its product into the market.

In this case, there is a resonant connection, even felt nearly 5 years later.  Learn a little about branding and business and connection from this humble, mobile phone salesman.