Profit and Leadership : January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

New Insights into the Correlation Between CSR and Brand Strength, SB’13

Cynthia Figge’s SB’13 Plenary speech “New Insights into the Correlation Between CSR and Brand Strength”

Hello! I’m so grateful to be meeting with all of you, and celebrating my 7^th year at SB sinceWhy are we all here? Because we believe that a company that invests in sustainability increases its brand value, right? I’m going to unveil some research that proves the relationship between brand and CSR is even more profound than we thought — around the world, across industry type, and company size.

Even more exciting, last year, that correlation more than doubled in strength.
My company, CSRHub, the world’s largest aggregator of global CSR information, ran five years of our data against the data of Brand Finance, the global brand analyst headquartered in London.

With our overlapping datasets, we analyzed over 1,000 companies, and for 2012 we got a .28 correlation between brand strength and CSR. This seemed extraordinary.

So we tested the data. My co-founder at CSRHub is a self-admitted geek with degrees in physics and astronomy, and a Harvard MBA (where we met) and he knows his regression. He looked at F values. He split the data in two groups. Tested the combined effect of outliers. He tested for spurious relationships. He ran regressions with third factors such as enterprise value and market cap. Over all these trials, the correlation holds. 28% of brand strength is related to CSR performance.

Let’s dig in and discover which CSR factors may be driving brand strength.

We looked at each of the twelve factors in CSRHub’s model. This chart is ranked by the four categories employees, environment, community and governance. Look closely at the subcategories in light blue. One of the highest correlations is between brand and Environment Policy and Reporting. This is not at all surprising given the environmental crisis – and companies tend to communicate about this in their sustainability reports. They also tend to communicate about products and leadership ethics, the two bottom blue stripes. But the highest correlated subcategories are all employee issues. Employee engagement and word of mouth seem to be extremely important in creating brand value.

Most astonishing to us was our analysis over time. When we looked back over five years of data, this is what we found:

Brand strength to CSR correlation has suddenly strengthened in the last year, doubling in 2012 over 2011. The relationship stayed relatively constant over the previous 4 years. Then in 2012 that correlation more than doubled.

Why? Perhaps we are reaching critical mass. Consumers are more aware of sustainability. It’s been in the press more. More sustainability websites like CSRHub are out there. NGOs are talking more about the role of corporations in their success. My son just graduated from college and he takes sustainability as a driver of business success for granted.
Why is this important?

You’re the one audience that really gets the implications of this data. CSRHub and Brand Finance have proved a deep link between CSR and brand strength. There is DRAMATIC ROI for sustainability. And that ROI is increasing rapidly. My take is that more companies see sustainability as the breakthrough platform for strategic advantage. After strategic sustainability consulting for 17 years I believe we may be at the edge of big shift.

Cynthia Figge is a forerunner, thought leader and speaker on the corporate sustainability movement. As the co-founder and COO of CSRHub, Cynthia’s team provides free corporate sustainability ratings on over 7,300 publicly-traded and private companies worldwide. In addition to CSRHub, Cynthia is the co-founder of EKOS International, one of the first consultancies to integrate sustainability and corporate strategy. She has crafted corporate sustainability strategies for a host of major organizations, including BNSF, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Dow Jones, and REI. Cynthia also serves as an advisor to SNS Future in Review, Board Director of Compassionate Action Network, and served as President of the Board of Sustainable Seattle. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Prior speaking engagements in corporate responsibility have included SRI Basecamp, Future in Review, Sustainable Brands, and SRI in the Rockies.

What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend

A Short Guide to Making the Most of Your Days Off

Laura Vanderkam

Time management expert Laura Vanderkam’s follow-up book to What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, aptly titled What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend, is crammed with advice from successful entrepreneurs and scientific studies to help you never waste another weekend again. As Vanderkam points out, all too often “our precious weekends are eaten up by unproductive work or leisure that fails to energize us, leaving us dragging Monday morning and asking where the weekend went.”

The key: making weekend plans in advance. “These days disappear into chores, errands, inefficient email checking, unconsciously chosen television marathons, or a death march of children’s activities that suck the energy out of chauffeuring adults,” Vanderkam says.
Her book includes lists of the weekend activities that make people happiest, why it’s important to unplug for at least a little while, and why Sunday nights may be the most important time of your entire weekend.

Below is an excerpt from her book on six ways to make your weekend successful.

Six secrets of successful weekends

Here are a few more tips to remember as you’re making your plans:

1. Dig deep. Maybe there are activities you haven’t done since childhood that could become a regular part of your weekends. One reader tells me that she and her husband decided to sign up for piano lessons on Saturday mornings. Now they and their teenage son all have lessons back to back. It’s easier to nudge a kid to practice when mom and dad are doing it, too. Sometimes we get so concerned about scheduling our kids’ lives that we forget to schedule our own.

2. Use your mornings. Weekend mornings tend to be wasted time, but they’re great for personal pursuits. If you’re training for a marathon, it’s less disruptive for your family if you get up early to do your four-hour run than if you try to do it in the middle of the day. To get up early, you’ll probably have to avoid staying up late the night before, but this is a good idea in general.

3. Create traditions. Happy families often have some special weekend activity that everyone loves but no one has to plan each time. Maybe it’s pancakes on Saturday mornings or a family walk to worship services, but whatever it is, make a ritual of it. These habits are what become memories—and comforting rituals boost happiness.

4. Schedule downtime. Jess Lahey, a New Hampshire-based teacher and writer, has official weekend naptime in her house that takes place each afternoon between one and three. Her kids—who are pre-teens, not toddlers who actually need to nap—know it’s coming, and they save up screen time for it. They play games together, watch a movie, or read. Everyone turns their phones off, and Lahey and her husband close the door to the upstairs, read for a bit, “then dive in for what always proves to be (amazing) sleep. That deep sleep that leaves you a little disoriented when you wake up,” she says. “Once I’ve figured out where I am and what day it is, I leap out of bed recharged and head out to weed the garden or get down to the business of making dinner.”

5. Make time to explore. A run, walk, or bike ride can turn into an adventure—with plenty of opportunities for that spontaneity people seem to think planning quashes—if you choose the right neighborhood. Use weekends to stretch your routine a bit.

6. Plan something fun for Sunday nights. This idea may be the most important tip in this book. Even if you love your job, it’s easy to feel a bit of trepidation on Sundays about the stresses waiting for you on Monday morning. And if you don’t like your job, Sunday trepidation can become a full-on case of the Sunday-night blues as time slides, inexorably, into the next day. You wonder what you’re doing with your life. You wonder if any of it is worthwhile.

If you’re asking such existential questions, it may be time to shake things up. But in the meantime, or even if you just feel weary when you think of your commute, you can combat the Sunday-night blues by scheduling something fun for Sunday evening. This extends the weekend and keeps you focused on the fun to come, rather than on Monday morning.

Caitlin Andrews, a librarian, calls it a “necessity” to end Sunday night on a high note. Her extended family gets together for dinner almost every Sunday, alternating houses. “The host house cooks the main meal but the others bring something to add—an appetizer, a bottle of wine, a side dish, or dessert. It’s a little stressful when I have to cook and clean for people coming over,” she reports, “but I don’t spend too much time on it and my husband helps.

Plus, we always end up with leftovers for the rest of the week when we cook. It’s just a couple of hours—everyone comes over about five thirty and we’re home by eight or nine.” That’s plenty of time to plan and decompress before bed, and she looks forward to this tradition all weekend. “It takes my mind off any Sunday-night blues that might be coming on.”

Aliza Rosen, a reality TV producer who’s dreamed up series like Farm Kingsand Curvy Girls, does Vinyasa (“hot”) yoga at 6 p.m. on Sundays. “It’s a great way for me to sweat out the toxins of the week and center myself for Monday,” she says. “I reset myself.” She admits that for her, the yoga is not particularly spiritual. “I’m making a mental list,” she says. But it gives her something to anticipate as she’s sliding toward each Monday firefight. That may be the same thing that Ina Garten, the chef otherwise known as the Barefoot Contessa, was thinking when she created her 6 p.m. Sunday ritual of getting a massage.

According to the June 29, 2012 “My Sunday Routine” New York Times profile of Garten, this twenty-seven-year tradition stemmed from a 1985 realization that “I was working really hard, and one day I told myself, ‘I’m not having enough fun.’ So I did two things: I got myself a red Mustang convertible and started having massages. I don’t have the Mustang anymore, but I still have the same masseuse!”

One equally great way to end the weekend is to volunteer. Nothing will take your mind off any problems associated with your decent-paying and steady job like serving people who aren’t so fortunate. Savvy volunteer coordinators know that it’s easier for most people to make Sunday night volunteering a part of their lives than other times. Jacob Lee runs the Orange County (Calif.) chapter of the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve (FOCUS). Every Sunday night, his volunteers serve a meal, restaurant style, to homeless families living in an area motel. Sunday is “generally kind of a dead night,” Lee says. “On Saturday night people have things to do. On Sunday…?” Miraculously, everyone is free. So you get a much more diverse group of volunteers than the retirees and homemakers who might volunteer during the week. After the volunteers serve the meal, as the evening starts to wind down, everyone sits together, telling their life stories and “learning about why people end up where they end up,” says Lee. It’s a way to connect with humanity before everyone goes their separate ways for the week.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Decoding leadership: What really matters

Article|McKinsey Quarterly

New research suggests that the secret to developing effective leaders is to encourage four types of behavior.

January 2015 | byClaudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

Telling CEOs these days that leadership drives performance is a bit like saying that oxygen is necessary to breathe. Over 90 percent of CEOs are already planning to increase investment in leadership development because they see it as the single most important human-capital issue their organizations face.¹ And they’re right to do so: earlier McKinsey research has consistently shown that good leadership is a critical part of organizational health, which is an important driver of shareholder returns.

A big, unresolved issue is what sort of leadership behavior organizations should encourage. Is leadership so contextual that it defies standard definitions or development approaches?³ Should companies now concentrate their efforts on priorities such as role modeling, making decisions quickly, defining visions, and shaping leaders who are good at adapting? Should they stress the virtues of enthusiastic communication? In the absence of any academic or practitioner consensus on the answers, leadership-development programs address an extraordinary range of issues, which may help explain why only 43 percent of CEOs are confident that their training investments will bear fruit.

Our most recent research, however, suggests that a small subset of leadership skills closely correlates with leadership success, particularly among frontline leaders. Using our own practical experience and searching the relevant academic literature, we came up with a comprehensive list of 20 distinct leadership traits. Next, we surveyed 189,000 people in 81 diverse organizations⁴ around the world to assess how frequently certain kinds of leadership behavior are applied within their organizations. Finally, we divided the sample into organizations whose leadership performance was strong (the top quartile of leadership effectiveness as measured by McKinsey’s Organizational Health Index) and those that were weak (bottom quartile).

What we found was that leaders in organizations with high-quality leadership teams typically displayed 4 of the 20 possible types of behavior; these 4, indeed, explained 89 percent of the variance between strong and weak organizations in terms of leadership effectiveness (exhibit).

Exhibit

Four kinds of behavior account for 89 percent of leadership effectiveness.

Solving problems effectively. The process that precedes decision making is problem solving, when information is gathered, analyzed, and considered. This is deceptively difficult to get right, yet it is a key input into decision making for major issues (such as M&A) as well as daily ones (such as how to handle a team dispute).
Operating with a strong results orientation. Leadership is about not only developing and communicating a vision and setting objectives but also following through to achieve results. Leaders with a strong results orientation tend to emphasize the importance of efficiency and productivity and to prioritize the highest-value work.
Seeking different perspectives. This trait is conspicuous in managers who monitor trends affecting organizations, grasp changes in the environment, encourage employees to contribute ideas that could improve performance, accurately differentiate between important and unimportant issues, and give the appropriate weight to stakeholder concerns. Leaders who do well on this dimension typically base their decisions on sound analysis and avoid the many biases to which decisions are prone.
Supporting others. Leaders who are supportive understand and sense how other people feel. By showing authenticity and a sincere interest in those around them, they build trust and inspire and help colleagues to overcome challenges. They intervene in group work to promote organizational efficiency, allaying unwarranted fears about external threats and preventing the energy of employees from dissipating into internal conflict.

We’re not saying that the centuries-old debate about what distinguishes great leaders is over or that context is unimportant. Experience shows that different business situations often require different styles of leadership. We do believe, however, that our research points to a kind of core leadership behavior that will be relevant to most companies today, notably on the front line. For organizations investing in the development of their future leaders, prioritizing these four areas is a good place to start.

About the authors

Claudio Feser is a director in McKinsey’s Zürich office, Fernanda Mayol is an associate principal in the Rio de Janeiro office, and Ramesh Srinivasan is a director in the New York office.

The authors wish to thank Michael Bazigos, Nate Boaz, Aaron De Smet, Lili Duan, Chris Gagnon, Bill Schaninger, and Ekaterina Titova for their contributions to this article.

The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits Of Women

It’s impossible to respect, value and admire great leadership if you can’t identify what makes a leader great. Because of this, the identity crisis I have written about that exists in today’s workplace is something that women leaders in particular have been facing for much too long. While the tide is changing and more women are being elevated into leadership roles, there is still much work to do. As of July 2013, there were only 19 female elected presidents and prime ministers in power around the globe. In the business world, women currently hold only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and the same percentage of Fortune 1000 CEO positions. As women continue their upward trajectory in the business world, they have yet to be fully appreciated for the unique qualities and abilities they bring to the workplace.

Like many who grow up with a Hispanic upbringing, I was surrounded by strong-willed, hardworking and purpose-driven women. It is through their leadership that the traditions, values and legacy of our family have been upheld. My grandmother, mother, wife, and sister-in-law all possess natural leadership skills and they are masters of opportunity management – seamlessly keeping us all in check while running the family household and at the same time supporting our family businesses. They have taught me that a woman’s instincts and emotional intelligence can be off the chart. They seamlessly manage crisis and change and are turnaround experts – sensing and neutralizing any signs of danger well before it invades our path. It is because of the women in our family that we are well-organized, full of love, spiritually aligned and well-balanced. We are by no means a perfect family, but we are a modern family who embraces traditions even as we adapt to changing times.

It can be difficult for a man to understand how women think, act and innovate unless he has been closely influenced by the women in his life.   I’ve learned that women may process things differently and in their own terms. Fortunately for me, I’ve been influenced by great women who made me appreciate their approach towards leadership. I’ve grown to understand their decision-making processes, the dynamics and subtleties of their personality and style, and other special character qualities that women possess.

The best women leaders I know have circular vision that enables them to be well-rounded people. For example, they have their finger on the pulse of the culture and can talk to you about the latest pop-culture news – but then easily switch gears to give you their perspective on what is taking place on Wall Street. Women leaders seeking a chance to be significant see the world through a lens of opportunity; they are especially in search of those opportunities previously unseen (perhaps this is why the women I know enjoy a good treasure hunt).   My experiences have taught me that great women make it a point to teach men about women.

I’ve seen women run the show for years both at home and in the workplace, which has enabled me to recognize behavior patterns and see the value behind their way of doing things. These women are master multi-taskers and highly collaborative (though not afraid to get territorial to protect their domain). They enjoy their own space to test themselves and find their own rhythm. These women leaders are like scientists: many of them want to make new discoveries or solve for problems where others have failed.   The women leaders I’ve been around don’t stop pursuing until the job gets done. This is why I believe they are good collaborative leaders – not afraid of trial and error as long as they continue to build the resource infrastructure around them that gets them closer towards accomplishing their goals.   As one of my women mentors told me, “Without enough of the right resources around me, I will not risk the outcome. I know the resources I need to get the job done right.

I’d rather be patient than foolish.”

The women leaders I know invest in themselves and become knowledge seekers. They are not afraid to ask questions when given a safe platform to express themselves. For example, during my keynote and conference appearances – more often than not – it is the women who ask me the most questions and they are also more inspired to adopt new ideas and ideals. Though extremely curious, it’s often balanced with a bit of skepticism   – after all, they don’t want to be fooled or taken advantage of.   My experiences have taught me that women leaders need to trust a person before they will endorse what they have to say.   Many just want to know that there is legitimacy behind the opportunity.

As I’ve learned from my women bosses and mentors, they want things to be authentic yet practical. These women leaders enjoy a good challenge – and seek to find meaning and purpose from each circumstance they face and opportunity they are given. They like to see and understand the connectivity of thoughts and how they work or why they don’t. They want all the facts and figures before making important decisions.

Competitiveness amongst themselves may really be about looking for validation — an identity that matters and a voice that is heard. Successful women leaders don’t rely on favors; they earn respect and truly believe they can influence their own advancement by serving others. Consummate team players, they also seek to prove their value and self-worth by exceeding performance expectations.. Looking for respect more than recognition, the most successful women leaders don’t seek to become the star of the show — but they enable others to create a great show. In other words,   being in the spotlight is not what drives them – but rather it’s the ability to influence positive outcomes with maximum impact.

One thing is certain: these women leaders understand survival, renewal and reinvention. They have grit and are not afraid to fight for what they believe in or an opportunity to achieve something of significance. They believe in what they stand for, but that doesn’t mean they won’t put their ideas and ideals to the test. For them, doing more with less is simply a matter of knowing how to strategically activate those around them.

While women leaders have their productivity secrets, it’s not secret where they come from: the leadership traits that women leaders naturally possess and – based on my personal and professional experiences – are the most undervalued.

1. Opportunity-driven
When confronted with a challenge, the women I know look for the opportunity within. They see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. They push the boundaries and, when faced with adverse circumstances, they learn all they can from it. Optimism is their mindset because they see opportunity in everything.

Estée Lauder, the child of Hungarian immigrant parents, was quite the opportunist in the cosmetics industry. During the postwar consumer boom, women wanted to start sampling cosmetic products before buying them. Lauder noticed and responded to this shifting dynamic by pioneering two marketing techniques that are commonly used today: the free gift and the gift-with-purchase. It’s exactly this type of inventiveness that other women use to pursue the opportunities in front of them.

2. Strategic
Women see what often times others don’t see. As one of my women mentors told me, “A woman’s lens of skepticism oftentimes forces them to see well beyond the most obvious details before them. They enjoy stretching their perspective to broaden their observations. Many women are not hesitant to peel the onion in order to get to the root of the matter.”

At times they “play the part” to test the intentions of others and to assure that they are solidly grounded and reliable. Successful women leaders know how to play the game when they have to – and can anticipate the unexpected.   They know what cards to play and keenly calculate the timing of each move they make.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn a woman leader made the word “organic” a business term.   I learned that women who enjoy the ebbs and flows of business activity also know that the best things are accomplished when they are done naturally – and unforced. When things are happening organically, this means that they are functioning within a natural rhythm and speed – that is safer and risk adverse.

This is not to say that women are uncomfortable with risk – in fact, they will often tackle risk head-on in order to get to the root cause of a problem and to solve for it (they value time and money). Women leaders who don’t allow their egos to stand in the way of good business are in the mindset of getting things done for the betterment of a healthier whole.

3. Passionate
While women in general were historically viewed and stereotyped as emotional leaders by men, I believe they are just passionate explorers in pursuit of excellence. When women leaders are not satisfied with the status quo, they will want to make things better. These women leaders get things done and avoid procrastination. As another one of my women mentors said, “They enjoy order and stability and a genuine sense of control. Many women have learned not to depend upon others for their advancement and thus have a tendency to be too independent. A woman’s independent nature is her way of finding her focus and dialing up her pursuits.”

When these women leaders are locked into what they are searching for – move out of the way. Their passionate pursuits allow them to become potent pioneers of new possibilities. No wonder minority women represent the largest growing segment of entrepreneurs.

According to a report by the Center for Women’s Business Research, U.S. Hispanic and African American women entrepreneurs grew at rates of 133.3% and 191.4% respectively from 1997 to 2007.

4. Entrepreneurial

Entrepreneurship is just a way of life for many women.   They can be extremely resourceful, connect the dots of opportunity and become expert in developing the relationships they need to get the job done.   Many women leaders also see through an entrepreneurial lens to best enable the opportunities before them.   They know that to create and sustain momentum requires 100% focus on the objective – and so they don’t enjoy being disrupted by unnecessary noise and distractions.

As one of my former women bosses told me, “Women can play into the politics of the workplace, and do so if it means adding value to the momentum they are attempting to create.”

Many women leaders find excitement and motivation by being extremely creative and resourceful when completing tasks and other duties and responsibilities –. They avoid falling too far behind on projects – knowing that if they do it will disrupt their focus and momentum.   That is why I learned never to disrupt a woman’s focus and concentration if I can avoid it.

My former female boss continued by saying, “This is why women like control. Not necessarily to be in charge, but to not lose the rhythm or compromise the momentum they need to accomplish their goals.”

5. Purposeful and Meaningful

I have found that many women leaders enjoy inspiring others to achieve. They know what it’s like to be the underdog and work hard not to disappoint themselves and others. Women leaders in particular often have high standards and their attention to detail makes it difficult for others to cut corners or abuse any special privileges.

Women leaders with a nurturing nature are good listeners and excellent networkers/connecters. They enjoy creating ecosystems and support a collaborative leadership style that melds the thinking and ideas of others; this is what multiplies the size of an opportunity and/or its speed in execution in order to create a larger sphere of influence and overall impact. Women who don’t have to be right all the time make good consensus builders and will more likely enjoy participating in a team environment.

6. Traditions and Family
Whether at home or at work, women are often the glue that keeps things together and that is why they represent great leadership for America’s future. When they sense growing tensions that can lead to potential problems or inefficiencies, the most successful women leaders enjoy taking charge before circumstances force their hand.   Women are usually the ones to secure the foundational roots of the family and to protect family and cultural traditions from wavering. They provide the leadership within the home and in the workplace to assure that legacies remain strong by being fed with the right nutrients and ingredients.

The most successful women leaders are big believers in team building and the enforcement of mission, goals and values to assure that everyone is on the same page with like intentions. This secures a sense of continuity making it easier for everyone to have each other’s backs. No wonder women are assuming more management and leadership roles in family owned businesses.

To the great women in my personal and professional life, thank you for the opportunity to be inspired and mentored by your leadership (you know who you are). I’ve read many things about women in the workplace and their lack of advancement into senior executive roles and in the boardroom. Rarely have I read something from a man who has been inspired and influenced by the wisdom of a woman’s leadership. Hopefully this perspective helps awaken more of us to the opportunity of learning about leadership from the women in our lives, whether in the home or at work.

Glenn Llopis,

Why CEOs Fail

by Vistage chair Glenn Waring

Since 1994 I’ve worked with many CEO clients, both privately and in groups. In two thousand individual conferences and nearly two hundred all-day group meetings, I’ve begun to recognize some patterns.

First, there is a positive side to failure - successful people almost have to fail more frequently than others because they’re making more attempts. Few of us were sent off to school by mothers who said, “Take Risks!” yet successful CEOs have to learn to do this, decisively. With this “systems view” of failure, successful CEOs take losses in stride, even if that stride includes an occasional kick at the cat. So - one answer to “why CEOs fail” is “Because they understand that calculated risks are necessary to succeed, and such ventures will involve failure.” Most of these CEOs recognize the status quo is not an option, and by “playing it safe” the

organization may actually be put at great risk.

Failures teach successful CEOs, and over time the following lessons seem to account for most of the learning:

1. An inability to see the bigger picture. If you’re being eaten by a lion, it’s tough to see the lion. Some pressures are industry-wide, even global, and the successful CEO may have to divest a core business to succeed (John Teets revamped Greyhound by selling the buses). This is difficult, and it is why so many successful CEOs surround themselves with good peers and mentors.

2. An aversion to using solid financial practices. A CEO I know once shared with me over dinner that he didn’t pay enough attention to financials until he put a publicly traded company into bankruptcy. The reason, he said, was that the numbers would simply “swim together,” overwhelming his discomfort with financial indicators. Although it’s not hard to remedy - I have seen hundreds of CEOs do it - a CEO first has to admit there’s a compelling need to learn how to avoid going broke.

3. A lack of clear vision: successful CEOs lead the organization to where it needs to be, and find ways to get buy-in at all levels. This is hard - otherwise, all organizations would do it well. Done right, clear vision can substitute for the field manual, empowering everyone to make crisp decisions in the company’s interest.

4. Lack of passion. Most organizations no longer need arms and legs (command and control); instead, they need hearts and minds (sell and enroll). People need to be led more than they need to be managed. Provided things are going well, a lack of passion is usually burnout, which comes from solving the same problem over and over. When things aren’t going well, avoidance may look the same as ‘lack of passion,’ but it’s not - CEOs may talk about packing it in when instead they really need to face the difficult task at hand. Some years ago Fortune magazine polled 500 of its more successful readers and learned their strategies for success: (1) know thyself (2) seize opportunity, and (3) pursue meaning. When I encounter a lack of passion in an otherwise successful CEO, I gently suggest a process to revisit personal core beliefs. The fundamental questions of Who am I? Why am I here? beg to be answered, and if urgent tasks continually pull me away from considering these important questions, depression may be the result. Passion matters, greatly.

5. Lack of clarity on the reasons for success. Great CEOs hold their associates accountable for knowing what activities cause results. CEOs focus on what to do, and let associates take care of the “how.” Then, on a regular basis, associates monitor the activities that lead to success. For a sales manager this might mean counting and publicly posting the number of cold calls and referrals every week, in addition to the actual sales results. The difference between champions and good performers isn’t terribly great sometimes, but champions win consistently because they understand what causes a win. Finally, successful CEOs foster (and insist on) the use of reliable, continuously improving, and innovative methods for getting work done before they let their associates take care of the “how.”

6. Distractions such as acquisitions (most of these fail), golf, and other anxiety management techniques. Successful CEOs pay attention to the central task, which is putting the organization in touch with reality, and leading.

7. Disconnecting from customers. Some of my most successful CEO clients are on the road over half the time, talking to customers.

8. Integrity outages. I’ve heard many MBA candidates complain about leadership that says one thing and does another. I don’t have hard data on this, but I suspect that associates will tolerate no more than about three inconsistencies before they start to tune out.

My CEO clients work hard, teaching me every day what it means to be decisive and fully engaged in life. I am certain of only two things: confusion is a precondition to learning, and losses accompany success.

For more information on making yourself and your organization more effective, go to www.effectiveorganization.com and login using password “ceo147”.

5 Surprising Things CEOs Love About the Job

CEOs all say they want to change the world but they also love these unusual aspects of their job.

Over the past two decades, I've interviewed at least 100 CEOs on topics ranging from strategy, to finance, to management style. The challenge with such interviews is always to get the CEO "off message" and talking human to human.

To do this, I usually ask: "What do you like best about your job?" While the answer isn't generally useful to whatever article I'm writing, it loosens up the conversation, because everyone like talking about what they love about their job.

The most common response is something along the lines of "making a difference" or "changing the world." However, I've gotten some responses that I didn't expect. Here are some of them:

1. Spirited Debates
Some successful CEOs feel frustrated when everyone agrees with them. They prefer working with a team of people executives who have the skills, perspectives and courage to question the CEO's ideas and fight for their own.

2. Beating the Other Guy
CEOs are by nature competitive. However, some CEOs seem motivated less by a need to win than by a need to make the other guy lose. Often this desire is expressed in surprisingly violent terms, like "nuke the competition."

3. The Social Status.
This one answer tends to pop up during the "open bar" portion of industry conferences. I've heard CEOs admit that "I like that people respect the title" and I once had a CEO quote Henry Kissinger's line that "power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." Which frankly was more insight into that CEOs character than I really wanted to have.

4. The Challenge
CEOs must set the company's strategic direction, manage the executive team, be the "public face" of the company, sell ideas to the board of directors, sell the company's future to investors, while also being a role model and inspiration to everyone in the company. It's a challenging job which is why some CEOs love doing it.

5. Mentoring
Finally, some CEOs say that they enjoy cultivating talent and helping people grow. However, such mentoring is entirely separate from the process of grooming another C-level exec to be the next CEO. I have never heard a CEO say that he or she enjoys that part of the job.

What may be the most surprising, however is that no CEO has ever told me that the best thing about the job was the compensation. For the most successful CEOs, money is just a way of keeping score; it's not what motivates them to do the job.

By Geoffrey James

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

TEC Canada Group 422 “2014 In Review”

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing interest in my TEC Group and give you a bit of an update.

2014 was an incredible year.

Over the past six months, I have had the privilege of bringing together and working with a remarkable group of business leaders. It is exciting and rewarding to lead a group of professionals with a passion for business and leadership excellence and enabling them, as a team, to share their drive and commitment to enrich each other’s ability to achieve their individual business, professional and personal goals.

Let me share some of the highlights:

Member organizations have combined revenues of over $1.3 billion and more than 3,000 employees.
This group comprises leaders representing broad industry backgrounds and experience including construction, business services, retail, manufacturing, distribution, franchising and technology.
Member companies pursue global market opportunities including Canada, US, EU, Middle East
The group holds monthly advisory board executive sessions during which the team has processed issues and opportunities involving leadership challenges, acquisition/divestiture strategies, new business launches, financial re-organization, US expansion, organizational development, board strategy and management, senior level staffing and reorganization, branding and marketing , retail strategy and manufacturing.
Monthly 1-2-1 mentoring sessions are held with each member focusing on business and personal growth.

In just a few months, I can see the positive effect this experience is having on the individual members and their organizations. The other day, one member told me that the group has had a huge positive impact on him and his business. Others have shared with me how the quality of their decisions, strategies and overall problem solving has noticeably improved.

Access to fresh thinking and challenging conversations with peers has enhanced their personal effectiveness. They comment on how “stress reducing” it is to be part of a group of liked-minded leaders with whom they can share and discuss matters that normally they would need to deal with in relative isolation.

2015 will be an exciting year. My goal is the expand the group to 16 members. If you (or anyone in your network) sees the value of being part of a high performing group and are willing to contribute to its continued growth and development please connect with me and lets discuss if being a TEC member is for you.