There are three elements to effective leadership.
Everyone has his or her own individual style—no one brand of
leadership works all the time for everyone. But, I’ve found there are
three key elements to effective leadership. The first is authenticity.
Organizations have finely tuned BS meters and can tell when a leader
isn’t being authentic. When you are at the podium, you should be—at
most—one degree of separation from the real you.
,
The second element is self-awareness. When a leader—any type of
leader, not just a CEO—walks into a room, the dynamic of the room
changes. You need acute self-awareness and need to know when your
message is veering off course. For example, I like to use humor and
sarcasm in my conversations with people. Occasionally I’ll say something
that gets a laugh from the room, but the person I directed it at feels a
little uncomfortable even though it was intended to be good-natured. At
that point, I try to find a way to send a signal that I regard that
individual highly. Self-awareness can be exhausting if you do it right!
The third element is vulnerability. You need to show it. Too many
people think that leaders can’t show weakness. But people need to know
you’re human and they can relate to you. I get the best responses when I
tell stories about me not as the hero, but as fallible.
Avoid talent gaps: build a pipeline.
Years ago at our company, I set up a talent review process. This
involves bringing our most senior staff together and discussing the
broader management team. We spend half the day reviewing the people,
their positives, negatives, and where they need to grow. We then spend
the second half of the day talking about key roles in the organization
and identifying the three best candidates for each. We have rules—for
example, no one person can be listed for more than three jobs. Then we
look at the list from a diversity perspective and seek a balance. We
also identify what each person needs to succeed in that potential
role. Do they require some coaching, mentoring, public speaking
training, or something else? Before we started doing this, we had talent
gaps in the organization. But with this process, we now have a talent
pipeline.
Leadership advice for young professionals: Mind your Qs.
I love talking to young people about leadership. A lot of people
believe that if they come into an organization and do a great job for
their boss, they’ll be magically lifted up and promoted. But the reality
is that some bosses don’t advocate for their people. Others are selfish
and don’t want to lose good people to promotions. So I always tell
young people that the first thing you need to do is network. The second
thing is what I call “three Qs”: IQ, EQ, and PQ. IQ is about
intelligence, and we like to think that we hire intelligent people. But
I’ve noticed that a lot of young people who are really intelligent
believe that it trumps everything. They think that if they just show how
smart they are, they’ll be whisked to the top.
Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Because how
effective you are is a matter of how you combine that intelligence with
emotional intelligence or EQ. You need EQ to help people feel that you
are working with them. And finally, you need to be able to read the
room. You need to know the reaction you are creating. You need to be
aware when you are in political territory. That’s political
intelligence—PQ. It’s not about being a backstabber. It’s about
understanding the political dynamic of the organization. You need to
find the balance between IQ, EQ, and PQ—you can’t expect just one of
those to skyrocket you to the top.
Do the leaders in your organization share George’s passion for developing talent? How does that affect the culture?
George Borst, CEO of Toyota Financial Services (TFS), received the “Outstanding CEO Award” at our 2013 Women in Leadership Institute™. In September, he retired after 16 years at the helm of TFS. George recently shared what he has learned
about leadership and employee engagement throughout the course of his
career.
"Keeping employees engaged means enabling them to “see themselves in the room.”
For people to stay at an organization and feel engaged, they have to
“see themselves in the room.” If you have bright young people who don’t
see themselves at the top, they’ll punch their time cards and then move
on—and that’s a shame. There are a couple of things you need to do to
keep that from happening.
First, you need to identify the key people who, with a little
mentoring, coaching or outside training, could be promoted quicker than
most. Then you make the differential investment to get those people
ready. The worst thing you can do is promote a diverse candidate who’s
not ready. That sets the individual up to fail and it sets the
organization’s diversity efforts back as the naysayers and skeptics say
“I told you so.”
The second thing you need to do is take care of the people who have
long-term potential. How do you keep them satisfied? The key is to
identify who is really great versus who is average. Again, make a
differential investment in the great ones so they can continue to move
up. For those who are above average, offer them some of the
opportunities to improve so they can move from above average to very
good. You don’t necessarily need to promote this group to keep them
happy—they need to earn it.
Find out what’s really going on at the front lines.
I started having ice cream socials where I would bring 15 people
into a room and give them the freedom to speak “anonymously.” To make it
work, I made up my mind never to appear insulted or offended. And I had
a rule that the only person who could be quoted outside of that room
was me. This really helped to promote a safe-to-speak-up environment.
I would also go to our call centers and hold focus groups by myself
with the people who answer the phones. It’s amazing what you find out
from the people who are doing the day-to-day work when you create a safe
environment. HQ has great intentions when policies are created, but
sometimes those don’t work out when the rubber meets the road.
For
example: the call center folks were evaluated on certain metrics—and one
was whether they used the caller’s name six times in a conversation.
That’s fine in a two- to three-minute call. But when it’s a simple
inquiry, using the caller’s name six times within the 20-second call
sounds unfriendly and forced—which completely defeats the purpose. Those
moments make you realize that you really need to listen to what’s going
on at the ground level.
BPGs are a tremendous resource.
Toyota does a great job with business partnering groups (BPGs) and
they host a variety of events throughout the year. I still vividly
recall the time I went to an African-American Collaborative (AAC)
luncheon. The speaker had me spellbound and it was a huge “aha!” moment
for me. Previously, I thought that these groups were more like clubs
than working groups. But once I went, I realized how important they can
be to the success of the organization.
Since then, I’ve encouraged BPG engagement from the top. The people
that run the BPGs meet with key leaders to inform them of their
objectives. We also dispel the notion that you have to have a certain
background to join a BPG. In other words, you don’t need to be black to
get involved with the African-American Collaborative. Anyone can learn a
tremendous amount by going. We started with two BPGs in the
organization and we now have nine, all of which work together
collaboratively.
Show people it’s important to be present by being present.
The other lesson I learned from attending BPG events is that the
simple act of showing up has a huge impact. I was stunned by the
reaction of others to my being there. They were thrilled that someone at
my level would go, and I was thanked time and again. Normally, no one
ever thanks me for going to meetings! So I started talking about it. I
didn’t mandate that people go, but I talked about the events I went to
and what I learned. People think that if it’s important to the boss then
maybe they should go, too.
Does your organization have employee resource groups like TFS’ BPGs? Do they get executive-level engagement?
George Borst, CEO of Toyota Financial Services (TFS), was named the winner of the “Outstanding CEO Award” at our 2013 Women in Leadership Institute™.
In September, he retired after 16 years at the helm of TFS. George
recently shared what he has learned about leadership and employee
engagement throughout the course of his career.
http://www.slideshare.net/jwtintelligence/13-mobile-trends-for-2013-and-beyond
The
mobile is moving well beyond its role as a communication device,
becoming an enabler for a wide range of experiences from TV viewing to
shopping to banking. And mobile connectivity is disrupting industries
from retail to auto to finance and beyond. The consensus is that change
is occurring at an astonishing scale and speed.
In this report, JWTIntelligence outlines key trends in evidence at
the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress, held in Barcelona in late February,
along with examples that illustrate these developments and implications
for brands. The report also incorporates insights from interviews with
several mobile experts and influencers.
