Authentic Leadership in the 21st Century

September 3, 2015

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Authentic leadership has been defined in a number of ways since Bill George explored it in his 2003 book, Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. This month, TEC speaker Dõv Baron gives us his take on the topic. In addition to being an author, radio host, and one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers, Dõv is an expert on developing Authentic Leadership, helping corporations and organizations generate exponential growth and fierce loyalty.

TEC Canada: What is corporate culture and how does it relate to engagement and retention?
Dõv Baron: This is a question that is not asked enough, because people assume they know what it means. Let’s take ‘leadership’ out of it and look at the word ‘authentic’. What does it mean to be ‘authentic’?

If we asked TEC members “Are you authentic?” my guess is almost all would answer yes. There’s an analogy I like to use to explain this. Imagine you’re blindfolded in the shallow end of a pool, facing the edge. Are you at maximum depth? You would likely say yes. If I take the blindfold off and you’re still facing the edge, you will still say yes, because based on your view, you are. Then you turn around and see that there’s a deeper end.

It’s the same with authenticity. Your level of authenticity is always based on your perception of the world and of yourself – and this is always evolving.

TEC Canada: What is the main trait of an authentic leader?
Dõv Baron: HBR did some research with several thousand C-suite individuals, asking what the most important characteristic of a leader was. According to this research, it was self-knowledge. Authenticity has its basis in self-knowledge. So how authentic you are depends on how well you know yourself and how willing you are to continue to get to know yourself. With self-knowledge and awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses, you develop the emotional intelligence to accept that you don’t have to trade who you are – you don’t have to trade authenticity for approval. When you’re an authentic leader you don’t do that.

TEC Canada: There is an idea that authenticity means being absolutely transparent. Is there such a thing as being too transparent? As an example, what about a new manager who doesn’t really know what they’re doing – don’t they risk losing the respect of those answering to them by being transparent with that information?
Dõv Baron: That is a fascinating question. It comes up all the time and it’s totally age-related! I would never get that question from a millennial, but people over 35 always ask it, because we’ve been brought up to ‘never let them see you sweat’ or ‘see a chink in the armour’. Millennials (today’s up-and-coming leaders!) don’t respect that and they won’t be loyal to that. They want transparency.

So where’s the line?

Stop and ask yourself if you’re being transparent and vulnerable (very powerful), or just whining. For example, someone who says “I don’t know everything yet, but I’m prepared to learn, with your help” is very different from someone who says “You have to forgive me, I don’t know this yet” again and again. The first is vulnerability with accountability; the second is just wallowing with no accountability. Vulnerability and accountability must go hand in hand in authentic leadership.

TEC Canada: We are hearing more lately about authentic brands, people selling the personas of such “authentic” leaders as Richard Branson and Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia. What would you say to leaders who are uncomfortable curating their personality in this way?
Dõv Baron: Start waving goodbye. Millennials are already 25% of the workforce – soon to be 50%. If you don’t do authenticity and transparency, you will soon be unemployed or without employees.

Secondly, I think we’ve all got to wake up – even to the things we don’t like. It’s like reality TV – I don’t like it, but it’s the #1 genre of television because everyone wants to ‘see behind the curtain’. Nowadays if you have a company with a CEO who is hiding in the background, we’re not likely to trust you.

Leaders who are uncomfortable with the limelight say “I’m just not the gregarious, out there, Richard Branson type of personality. I’m more quiet and subdued”, and that’s ok because authenticity is not a performance. It doesn’t require you to be an extrovert. It just requires you to be you – to step forward and reveal what matters to you.

As a CEO, it’s not your job is not to have people like you. It’s your job to get people off the fence – either side is fine. That will only happen when you are vulnerable and transparent. For example, the leader of Chick-Fil-A openly stated that he disagrees with gay marriage and promotes a Christian agenda within his company. We may not agree with it, but that’s not the point. It caused many people to abandon the brand, but it caused many who agree with him to embrace it out of loyalty. Loyalty only comes when leaders are purpose-driven and authentic.

TEC Canada: What are the areas that most leaders have problems mastering in their journey to becoming more authentic?
Dõv Baron: One of the main things I help CEOs do is remove mental blocks based on cultural norms they’ve been conditioned to accept. Baby Boomers and even Gen-Xers find it counter-intuitive to think that authenticity and vulnerability are going to garner respect, because we’ve been conditioned to believe we should be separating ourselves and placing ourselves apart and above, like a deity in a corner office. It used to work because it was part of the culture, but that culture has changed. I work with some groups in the military and even they’re moving toward transparency – and believe me, there is no one more conditioned to hiding their feelings than the military!

TEC Canada: How does authenticity trickle down through the organization?
Dõv Baron: You may have a policy, but it will never be an authentic organization if the leader is not authentic – “Do as I say, not as I do” does not work. Richard Branson said that once HR identifies the top three candidates for a particular role in his company, the next step is to take them down to the pub for a drink and for open conversation about the things they like and don’t like about the organization. This is HR! Branson has lead with transparency and it has been carried throughout the organization.

In my book, Fiercely Loyal, I discuss how the world has changed and we are on the brink of a catastrophe in employment, because training and developing people is incredibly expensive. And if they leave within a year, which is not unusual, you don’t even get your ROI because that takes two. Building a fiercely loyal corporate culture based on authentic leadership results in people staying around for longer.

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8 Traps Successful Leaders Must Avoid

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When an organization is performing well, investments in talent and innovation should be at full-throttle.   As recent history has shown, companies tend to get complacent when they are on top, instead of sustaining their momentum through strategic focus.   Great leaders know how to keep momentum alive by leveraging their distinct competitive advantages.   They remain hungry in their passionate pursuit of endless possibilities and continually push the envelope to assure the promise of the organization’s culture remains vibrant.  Unfortunately, many leaders stop taking initiative and the required risks to sustain their competitive edge. They fall into the trap of playing it too safe and become self-satisfied, while others get too greedy and lose their attention to detail.

It is more difficult to stay on top than it is to get there.  This is why successful leaders know the importance of “managing disruption” to stay in the lead.  Managing disruption is about finding new methods for how the organization can win, grow and elevate its relevancy.  It’s about  changing what got you to the top, and this means discovering untapped interconnection points amongst the organization’s talent pool, their capabilities, technologies, brands, vendors, the supply chain, etc. – to sustain cutting-edge success.  It means that as a leader, you must live with the entrepreneurial spirit.

Successful leaders know that the global marketplace is changing rapidly.  They recognize that the cause of one’s initial success may be difficult to repeat and sustain because the competition is so incredibly fierce.  As such, great leaders know they must continually look for new ways to strengthen their company’s value proposition and further develop their marketplace distinction.  More than ever before, leaders must manage disruption in ways that inspire hope, not fear – by helping the organization become more productive and forward-thinking, incentivizing performance, encouraging growth in its people, and improving operating standards.   This is why companies such as Apple, Nike, Amazon, Google, Target, Samsung and others like them are regarded as the most innovative and progressive-thinking organizations in the world.

Failure to effectively manage disruption leaves your organization vulnerable rather than fully prepared for and in better control of its future.   This is why CEOs are coming and going so frequently.   Perhaps this also explains why the cost of firing a CEO has grown so significantly.   Daniel Gross recently wrote a compelling story in The Daily Beast titled, Fast Times In The Corner Office, where he discusses why the impatience of investors and volatility of Wall Street is speeding up the inevitable doom of CEOs.    From CEO  to store manager, your ultimate responsibility is to continually and proactively put your organization  in a position of attainable and sustainable growth by creating a culture that never becomes complacent and is always being tasked to elevate its game.

To assure that you are able to effectively manage disruption and strengthen the value proposition of your organization along the way, here are eight traps you must avoid – especially when times are good and the profit and loss statement looks strong: 

1.  Overlooking or Ignoring Potential Problems

As a leader you are either in the midst of solving a problem, coming out of a problem or heading into a set of new problems.   Effective leaders know how to alleviate tension points throughout the various life cycles of business.   I’ve seen too many leaders ignore what is a new problem or threat on the horizon only to see their market share slip – thus creating a bigger more costly problem.

Great leaders know how to anticipate crisis and manage problems before circumstances force their hand.  The ones that do find more success as a result of the problems they’ve solved.   The key is not to wait for the potential problem to multiply.  Take the initiative and confront every problem head-on.    Discover the opportunities embedded within problems and you will be more comfortable dealing with them, regardless of the magnitude.  Leaders who ignore a potential problem do so because they approach it through a lens of negativity, expecting the worst and not wanting to be held accountable if they can’t solve it.

When you begin to associate problems as opportunity, you will make a powerful observation:  problems are all the same, just packaged differently. 

2.  Managing Tactics Versus Leading Growth and Improvements
Leaders have a tendency to get too tactical when they become risk adverse.  They begin to follow more than lead.  They forget what their teams need and expect from them and lose sight of the bigger picture.

Leaders should always be focused on growth and improvements – of people, sales, revenue, maturity of the corporate culture, customers and vendor relationships, etc.  As a leader, you must instinctually be focused on creating a high-performance work environment.
Don’t get caught off guard by your competitors because you got lost in the details and your vision became blurry in the process.  

3.  Allowing Employees to Become Complacent

Complacency is a common trap leaders fall into and it’s most noticeable in the performance of their employees.   You know when leaders have lost their edge when employees are losing theirs, too.   Employees who carefully observe their leaders, paying close attention to their behaviors and natural tendencies,   notice when their intensity, focus and expectations begin to wane – and they view this as permission to withdraw themselves.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to set the tone for your department, team and organization.   When you slip, it creates a domino effect.   This is why leaders are caught off guard when their top-performing employees leave the organization.
Top performers like to be in an environment of self-starters and they enjoy competition.  Keep the competition alive and don’t allow your employees to become complacent   or create unhealthy disruption that weakens the organization.  By focusing on your own performance, perhaps next time you can avoid top-talent from walking out the door. 

4.  Stop Selling Change

Change management is the new normal.  If you’re not selling change, you’re disabling the organization.  Change should be an embedded part of the company’s culture and as a leader you should demand it.    Change keeps your employees on their toes and allows you to filter out the talent that doesn’t belong in the organization.

For example, I am constantly challenging the organization I lead to “discover the next phase.”  They are tasked to identify the next wave in the company’s evolution and what that means from a product and service innovation, talent, brand, culture, thought leadership and client experience standpoint.  Everyone sells change in my organization.  It’s part of everyone’s job description and every quarter we select “one big idea” for the change pipeline.   A budget, timeline and project manager is assigned.   After the project is launched, we carefully measure the impact on our clients, our culture and our employees.

 We want our employees to be comfortable with change and the positive outcomes it can produce.

When leaders stop selling change, they not only become vulnerable but irresponsible to the clients and industries they serve. 

5.  Ineffective Use of Resources

Many times leaders forget about the abundance of direct and indirect resources (internal and external) that are available to the organization.  Whether it’s your employees, teams, colleagues, brands, relationships, vendors, industry partners, the media, government, local community, etc. – there are more resources available to leaders than they always know what to do with.   As a leader, be mindful of how you enable those resources to strengthen the organization’s value proposition.    Discover new ways to utilize resources and challenge the entire organization to do the same.

As leaders we are all being asked to do more with less, though many are unsure how to get the most out of fewer resources.   Learn how to optimize your resources, when and when not to use them.   Never abuse resources but know which ones exist and how they can be best put into action, enabled during a time of crisis, or used to support a strategy for growth.

For starters, ask each one of your team members to independently list their 5-10 most valuable resources that they think can help the business grow.   Request that each team member present in detail how each resource could be utilized, in what capacity, to save the company money and/or increase revenue.  If you have a team of 10 people, you will have 50 to 100 resources to choose from. More importantly, you will have taught and now wired your team members to value their resources and that of others for the betterment of a healthier whole. 

6.  Mismanagement of Corporate Culture
Many companies are being challenged to re-evaluate their corporate culture in search of new ways to increase productivity and cultivate a best-place-to-work atmosphere where people enjoy working with one another – and can grow in the process.   People want to trust one another and they seek transparency from their leaders.   Top-down leadership will never be fully extinct but more and more organizations are in search of leaders that can build a horizontal leadership environment – one that begins to minimize the importance of hierarchies and silos, which have been shown to cause reductions in productivity and unpleasant work environments (especially amongst the growing younger workforce).

Leaders must have a strong pulse on their corporate culture and not be afraid to test new dynamics and introduce them into the culture.   Running a business is a very fluid activity of evolving pieces and moving parts.  Nothing remains the same.  As such, you must be mindful enough to change the corporate culture to the needs of the business.   Swimming upstream is hard and further magnified when the corporate culture is mismanaged and not in alignment with the requirements to maintain and strengthen the organization’s competitive advantage. 

7.  Losing Passion  for the Mission
It’s easy to get comfortable with success.  And with success it’s even easier to lose passion for your company’s mission.   When you lose sight of the mission statement, you make the statement that you’re losing your passion for accomplishing the mission at hand.  This is what happens when greed gets in the way.  You think more about the money and success and less about the impact and significance of what you are ultimately striving to achieve.

Unleash your passion to  keep your leadership alive!

 Don’t ever fall into the trap of losing your passionate pursuit for the mission for this is what your company stands for.  You sold the mission to your people and they expect their leadership to live up to those expectations.   Great leaders are always asking themselves what they must keep doing, stop doing and start doing – in their pursuit of excellence as they seek to fulfill the mission.  They remain ever mindful and accountable for the mission, for they are ultimately responsible for achieving it.

Always remind yourself, your team(s) and the organization that you serve of  your mission statement and the progress being made towards it.  Don’t ever forget or lose your passion for it! 

8.  Ignoring the Management and Development of Talent
When you begin to ignore the management and development of talent, the organization is immediately put into a position of risk and vulnerability.   As we all know, the success and significance of an organization always lies within its people.    Yet, as fundamental as this is, it continues to be the first budget line-item that is either cut or eliminated.

Talent  shouldn’t be managed  as a commodity, but rather as a valuable gem.

My organization works with Fortune 500s to help their employees discover their leadership impact and influence.   Time and again, we identify untapped talent potential that is not being used because the organization’s leaders haven’t taken the time to discover it.    Every day is an opportunity to elevate the capabilities, competencies and know-how of your talent pool.  Don’t manage to the job description, but rather to the potential that lies within it.

Your employees and your organization deserve your full attention at all times.  Giving it to them will help you avoid the traps of success and the temptations of complacency.  Steer away from these traps and you will be able to manage any negative disruption and create and sustain unlimited momentum to grow and compete.


Glenn Llopis 

10 Things Every Leader Should Challenge

News Flash – innovation, growth and development cannot occur by pretending we live in a world that has long since passed us by. Leading in the 21st Century affords no safe haven for 20th Century thinkers. Old, static, institutionalized thinking will gate the pace of forward progress faster than just about anything. If you want to expose yourself as an out of touch, dated leader, keep trying to address today’s issues and opportunities with yesterday’s thinking.

Let’s get right to it – history is useful for many things, but the experience and wisdom acquired from days gone by should be a springboard to the future, not an excuse for living in the past.

Smart leaders simply don’t waste precious resources on refining initiatives – they invest in reimagination efforts. Leaders would be well served to apply reimagination to all aspects of their business, but particularly with regard to constantly reimagining how they lead. 

Examine any study on the rate of change, and you’ll find we’re living in an unprecedented time. The rate of change is clearly outpacing most leaders ability to learn and unlearn. Many leaders struggle to remain current, much less find a way to move ahead of the curve. Here’s the thing – if leaders are stuck in the past, their organizations will be forced to travel a very rough road to the future.

The best leaders understand the present is nothing more than a platform for the envisioning of, and positioning for, the future. If you want to lead more effectively, shorten the distance between the future and present. Inspiring innovation and leading change call for more than process– they require the adoption of a cultural mindset. Leaders who protect the status quo through control must surrender to change in order to secure the future for their organization. Don’t be the leader who rewards herd mentality, and me too thinking. Don’t be the leader who encourages people not to fail or not to take risks. Be the leader who both models and gives permission to do the exact opposite of the aforementioned – be a leader who leads.

Smart leaders challenge everything – especially conventional thought, best practices, and dominant logic. When I refer to dominant logic I’m referencing existing behaviors/practices, which lock companies into a pattern of once productive thinking that no longer is (false truths held as real). Anything in business can be improved, everything can be reimagined, and many things can flat out be eliminated. The trick is knowing what items to focus on. While the following list is clearly not exhaustive, it identifies 10 things all leaders should challenge:
 

1. Challenge The Foundation – Bad things happen when your foundation is shaky. If the core values, vision, and strategy aren’t sound and aligned, everything else will suffer. If you don’t have a clearly articulated direction and purpose, how can you expect to achieve the right outcomes? The best leaders stand for something bigger than themselves, and they’re driven by more than just profit motive. They understand the value of a purpose driven business. If what I’ve just said doesn’t make any sense, it’s time to start the reimagination process.


2. Challenge The Destination – Leadership isn’t destination based – it’s a continuum. Great leaders think beyond the outcome. They think about what if and what’s next. They don’t get trapped in the journey to a specific destination, but remain in constant search of discovery in order to seek new and better opportunities.

3. Challenge The Promise – Is your brand promise on target? Is it deliverable? Is it sustainable? If you cannot keep your promise to customers, you won’t have much of a business to worry about. Few things hinder the advance of a business like a brand in need of a refresh.

4. Challenge the Model - Not all business models are created equal. Furthermore, just because you have a business model doesn’t mean it’s the right one, or that it’s sustainable. Break the business model down from the revenue engine all the way down to the distribution model and delivery strategy. Does it afford you a competitive advantage moving forward, or does it need to be reimagined?

5. Challenge The Information – Not all inputs are created equal. Don’t think big data – think good data. Smart leaders understand there’s a difference between gut instincts, data, information and knowledge. Furthermore, as much as some don’t want to hear this, opinion and theory aren’t always synonymous with fact and reality. Agendas and bias often pervade the information flow, so trust and credibility must factor in when assessing information quality.

 Always challenge the information, but recognize there’s a difference between being a skeptic and being discerning. Lastly, it’s always worth reimagining how you process information to yield better decisions.

6. Challenge The Organization - I’ve been around long enough to see almost every type of organizational design come and go, only to come again. A great example of this would be Matrix organizations, or what I call the corporate version of the Matrix Trilogy. The Matrix model has been around for nearly 30 years. While many organizations have killed the Matrix, some have readopted it, others have remained trapped in the Matrix for decades, but virtually every large enterprise using it is over-matrixed. I can think of no better target for reimagination than the Matrix. Where’s Neo when you need him? For those of you not trapped in the Matrix, you’re not off the hook. Any organizational structure can be reimagined and improved.

7. Challenge The Culture - Every organization has a culture. Some are carefully created and curated by design, and others evolve by default. Some are toxic; some are barely surviving on life support, while others are healthy and vibrant. The bottom line is culture can be a significant asset or a tremendous liability. The thing about cultural dynamics is they can change very rapidly – either in your favor or against it. Leaders who fail to constantly challenge cultural norms and constructs are failing themselves and those they lead.

8. Challenge The Talent - Many things benefit from compromise, but talent is not one of them. If you settle for anything less than acquiring, deploying, developing, and retaining the best talent possible, shame on you. I’ve often said, leaders deserve the teams they build. If you cannot seamlessly mobilize and deploy the best talent to your greatest opportunities or your biggest risks you have a problem. If succession isn’t an enterprise wide concern there is trouble on the horizon. If leadership development is just a buzzword and not a point of emphasis you won’t remain competitive. The areas of leadership development, organizational development, and talent acquisition should constantly be challenged and re-imagined.

9. Challenge The Complex - Don’t fall into the trap of believing sophistication is synonymous with complexity – it’s not. Great leaders challenge all things complex, and if they’re smart, they look to simplify everything. Whether it’s strategy, organization, process, or execution, if it’s complex it needs to be reimagined.

10. Challenge Yourself - The truth is most leaders are skilled at challenging others, but are woefully inadequate when it comes to challenging themselves, or allowing others to challenge them. When leaders hold themselves to a higher standard of rigor, discipline, accountability, and transparency everyone wins.

 Mike Myatt
 

Culture Change and Leadership

Corporate Culture can make or break your business. Companies with an adaptive culture that is aligned to their business goals routinely outperform their competitors. To achieve success, you need to figure out what your culture is, decide what it should be, and move everyone toward the desired culture. But changing an organization’s culture is the most challenging task you’ll face as a CEO or senior executive.

Regardless of your industry, here are elements that will help change your company’s culture successfully:

• Change the Leaders or Change the Leaders. The CEO and senior team must be willing to change their individual and collective ways of working and their personal behaviors to match the new cultural behaviors required inside the company.

Companies with an adaptive culture that is aligned to their business goals routinely outperform their competitors.

• An aligned senior team that accepts the accountability and responsibility to lead the culture change. If any one individual, say the CFO, believes that he has real work to do and the rest of you can deal with the ‘soft stuff’, and chooses not to accept to actively support the culture change effort, the change won’t take hold. It’s all in or all out!

• Behaviors, Behaviors, Behaviors. Frame the new culture and your new requirements for work around observable behaviors, not values.

• Overcome the critical mass of inertia. Unless you get the critical mass of ‘undecided or cautious’ to change, the inertia of the old culture will bring the entire change process to a grinding halt. One way is to enroll those key influential employees in the organization who are most respected and enthusiastic about the culture change and train them to be internal facilitators, mentors, coaches and guides.

Corporate Culture can make or break your business.

• Redesign the daily business processes so that they promote the behaviors required of the new culture. And place a special emphasis on redesigning the HR processes to better match the new culture desired. Reevaluate your promotion and development policies; do they match the new culture desired?

• Measure, Readjust, and Measure Again. While measuring the overall impact of culture change is not an easy task, it is absolutely necessary to find those elements of the culture that can be measured and tracked on a relatively frequent basis. If your changes are taking hold, these indictors should move.

There is no shortcut to reshaping culture. Miss any one of these elements, or try to cut back on them, and you will definitely fail. And by the way, it’s going to take a lot more leadership time than you originally planned. How much? How about 40% of the time of senior executives devoted to reshaping the culture! If you can’t commit, don’t start.

Don’t forget to check out John’s awesome book!

 

 

John R. Childress

John R. Childress is a senior executive advisor with more than 35 years experience working with senior executive teams and global organizations on the role of culture, performance, leadership and strategy execution. An effective public speaker, Childress is the author of FASTBREAK: The CEO’s Guide to Strategy Execution. His writings bring best practices into a synthesis of sage advice for the CEO and business leader committed to improving culture and performance. His new book LEVERAGE: The CEO’s Guide to Corporate Culture will be released on 01 December 2013.

Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture

The benefits of a strong corporate culture are both intuitive and supported by social science. According to James L. Heskett, culture "can account for 20-30% of the differential in corporate performance when compared with 'culturally unremarkable' competitors." And HBR writers have offered advice on navigating different geographic cultures, selecting jobs based on culture, changing cultures, and offering feedback across cultures, among other topics. 

But what makes a culture? Each culture is unique and myriad factors go into creating one, but I've observed at least six common components of great cultures. Isolating those elements can be the first step to building a differentiated culture and a lasting organization.

1. Vision: A great culture starts with a vision or mission statement. These simple turns of phrase guide a company's values and provide it with purpose. That purpose, in turn, orients every decision employees make. When they are deeply authentic and prominently displayed, good vision statements can even help orient customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Nonprofits often excel at having compelling, simple vision statements. The Alzheimer's Association, for example, is dedicated to "a world without Alzheimer's." And Oxfam envisions "a just world without poverty." A vision statement is a simple but foundational element of culture.

2. Values: A company's values are the core of its culture. While a vision articulates a company's purpose, values offer a set of guidelines on the behaviors and mindsets needed to achieve that vision. McKinsey & Company, for example, has a clearly articulated set of values that are prominently communicated to all employees and involve the way that firm vows to serve clients, treat colleagues, and uphold professional standards. Google's values might be best articulated by their famous phrase, "Don't be evil." But they are also enshrined in their "ten things we know to be true." And while many companies find their values revolve around a few simple topics (employees, clients, professionalism, etc.), the originality of those values is less important than their authenticity.

3. Practices: Of course, values are of little importance unless they are enshrined in a company's practices. If an organization professes, "people are our greatest asset," it should also be ready to invest in people in visible ways. Wegman's, for example, heralds values like "caring" and "respect," promising prospects "a job [they'll] love." And it follows through in its company practices, ranked by Fortune as the fifth best company to work for. Similarly, if an organization values "flat" hierarchy, it must encourage more junior team members to dissent in discussions without fear or negative repercussions. And whatever an organization's values, they must be reinforced in review criteria and promotion policies, and baked into the operating principles of daily life in the firm. 
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4. People: No company can build a coherent culture without people who either share its core values or possess the willingness and ability to embrace those values. That's why the greatest firms in the world also have some of the most stringent recruiting policies. According to Charles Ellis, as noted in a recent review of his book What it Takes: Seven Secrets of Success from the World's Greatest Professional Firms, the best firms are "fanatical about recruiting new employees who are not just the most talented but also the best suited to a particular corporate culture." Ellis highlights that those firms often have 8-20 people interview each candidate. And as an added benefit, Steven Hunt notes at Monster.com that one study found applicants who were a cultural fit would accept a 7% lower salary, and departments with cultural alignment had 30% less turnover. People stick with cultures they like, and bringing on the right "culture carriers" reinforces the culture an organization already has.

5. Narrative: Marshall Ganz was once a key part of Caesar Chavez's United Farm Workers movement and helped structure the organizing platform for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Now a professor at Harvard, one of Ganz's core areas of research and teaching is the power of narrative. Any organization has a unique history — a unique story. And the ability to unearth that history and craft it into a narrative is a core element of culture creation. The elements of that narrative can be formal — like Coca-Cola, which dedicated an enormous resource to celebrating its heritage and even has a World of Coke museum in Atlanta — or informal, like those stories about how Steve Jobs' early fascination with calligraphy shaped the aesthetically oriented culture at Apple. But they are more powerful when identified, shaped, and retold as a part of a firm's ongoing culture. 

6. Place: Why does Pixar have a huge open atrium engineering an environment where firm members run into each other throughout the day and interact in informal, unplanned ways? Why does Mayor Michael Bloomberg prefer his staff sit in a "bullpen" environment, rather than one of separate offices with soundproof doors? And why do tech firms cluster in Silicon Valley and financial firms cluster in London and New York? There are obviously numerous answers to each of these questions, but one clear answer is that place shapes culture. Open architecture is more conducive to certain office behaviors, like collaboration. Certain cities and countries have local cultures that may reinforce or contradict the culture a firm is trying to create. Place — whether geography, architecture, or aesthetic design — impacts the values and behaviors of people in a workplace. 

There are other factors that influence culture. But these six components can provide a firm foundation for shaping a new organization's culture. And identifying and understanding them more fully in an existing organization can be the first step to revitalizing or reshaping culture in a company looking for change. 

 

John Coleman

John Coleman is a coauthor of the book, Passion & Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders. 

The One Skill Most Leaders Lack

Bruna Martinuzzi

A study reported in the Harvard Business Review shows that one of the skills most serial entrepreneurs lack is empathy. Empathy is a powerful antenna for understanding the experiences of those around us. It helps good leaders become great leaders and is a key to business success. 

As management guru Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” Empathy is an important component of keeping a customer.

In Wired To Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, Dave Patnaik illustrates how successful organizations practice empathy for the consumer in the way they do business. One such company is Herman Miller, which uses empathy to understand the customer and build better products. A company statement explains, “We gain empathy by engaging with nurses and other caregivers in multiple ways. Facility tours, focus groups, gaming sessions and job shadowing help us develop insight into the work of caregivers, to really understand what they do, what their workday is like.” The company then shares those experiences with product development teams through reports, hallway conversations and workshops.

 

Some people are gifted with a high empathy level while others struggle with the notion. If you or your business struggle, here are seven ways you can practice empathy on an organizational level:

1. Use outsight. Allot five to 10 minutes in your regularly scheduled meetings for everyone to quickly share what they have heard in the field about your product or service. It’s a good way to keep your ear to the ground to find out about customer issues that may otherwise not surface. Don’t wait until you hear a complaint to respond. Use all the knowledge you gain to engage with customers and let them know you care. Empathy engenders loyalty.

2. Build a culture of empathy. When empathy is not practiced within the organization—with all constituents—it’s impossible to expect it to happen with customers. Whitney Hess, a user experience consultant, talks about how designers, for example, focus their efforts on developing organizational empathy for the end-user, but neglect to do the same on their own home turf. As she put it, “They say you can’t truly love another before you learn to love yourself. Organizations are no different. If we don’t love and respect and admire the people we work with every day, we can’t collectively give our customers the love they deserve.” Empathy is an inside-out job.

RELATED: The Importance of Grace in the Workplace 

 

3. Know who you want to do business with. Entrepreneurs often start businesses without being fully aware of who they want to cater to. A company might start with a B2C model, only to find out in midstream that a B2B model is where they would have focused if they had done a proper analysis. Seth Godin writes, “… too often, we pick the product or service first, deciding that it’s perfect and then rushing to market, sure that the audience will sort itself out. Too often, though, we end up with nothing.” Whether you’re a real estate broker, a bowling alley investor, a yoga instructor or app developer, Godin adds, “in every case, first figure out who you’d like to do business with, then go make something just for them,” Are you targeting the right people? Do you fully understand their needs? If not, what can you do to change this?

4. Build empathy in your post-purchase policies. While everyone should be trained to use an empathetic approach at every touch point with the client, this is particularly important in your post-purchase policies. Make it easy for people to seek redress, if needed. How a customer is treated when things go wrong has an impact on whether or not the person continues to be your customer. For example, watch commission-based frontline employees who may treat a customer seeking a refund with less warmth than they did during the purchase. In Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management Is Over And Collaboration Is In, Peter Shankman shows how a focus on empathic service builds revenue. A customer-centric leader has a framework in place to quickly meet customer demands, puts a premium on what customers say and do, and changes what’s not working without looking back.

5. Write intelligible user manuals. We have all been through the annoyance and frustration of having to follow instruction booklets that tested our patience. Some are so badly written, in a rush to get the product out the door, that you would never know from the writing that the person actually followed the same instructions themselves. Putting yourself in the shoes of the manual reader is one small but impactful way to show empathy.

6. Take an empathy test. People generally know whether or not they have empathy. However, we often misjudge the extent of our empathy. If you need help to raise your self-awareness in this critical area, consider taking this free online Empathy Quotient test. To get feedback from your constituents on your empathy level, consider taking an emotional intelligence test. 

7. Empathy as a way of life. If you have children, there is probably no greater gift you can give them than to help them understand and practice empathy early on. Take an inspiration from this video showcasing how Japanese fourth grade students are taught empathy. Closer to home, we have Roots of Empathy, an organization that has been successful in developing empathy in children and decreasing aggression and bullying.

 
Bruna Martinuzzi is the founder of Clarion Enterprises Ltd., and the author of two books: Presenting with Credibility: Practical Tools and Techniques for Effective Presentations and The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow.

10 Things Every Leader Should Challenge

News Flash – innovation, growth and development cannot occur by pretending we live in a world that has long since passed us by. Leading in the 21st Century affords no safe haven for 20th Century thinkers. Old, static, institutionalized thinking will gate the pace of forward progress faster than just about anything. If you want to expose yourself as an out of touch, dated leader, keep trying to address today’s issues and opportunities with yesterday’s thinking.

Let’s get right to it – history is useful for many things, but the experience and wisdom acquired from days gone by should be a springboard to the future, not an excuse for living in the past. 

 

Smart leaders simply don’t waste precious resources on refining initiatives – they invest in reimagination efforts. Leaders would be well served to apply reimagination to all aspects of their business, but particularly with regard to constantly reimagining how they lead. 

Examine any study on the rate of change, and you’ll find we’re living in an unprecedented time. The rate of change is clearly outpacing most leaders ability to learn and unlearn. Many leaders struggle to remain current, much less find a way to move ahead of the curve. Here’s the thing – if leaders are stuck in the past, their organizations will be forced to travel a very rough road to the future.

The best leaders understand the present is nothing more than a platform for the envisioning of, and positioning for, the future. If you want to lead more effectively, shorten the distance between the future and present. Inspiring innovation and leading change call for more than process– they require the adoption of a cultural mindset. Leaders who protect the status quo through control must surrender to change in order to secure the future for their organization. Don’t be the leader who rewards herd mentality, and me too thinking. Don’t be the leader who encourages people not to fail or not to take risks. Be the leader who both models and gives permission to do the exact opposite of the aforementioned – be a leader who leads.

 

Smart leaders challenge everything – especially conventional thought, best practices, and dominant logic. When I refer to dominant logic I’m referencing existing behaviors/practices, which lock companies into a pattern of once productive thinking that no longer is (false truths held as real). Anything in business can be improved, everything can be reimagined, and many things can flat out be eliminated. The trick is knowing what items to focus on. While the following list is clearly not exhaustive, it identifies 10 things all leaders should challenge:
 

1. Challenge The Foundation – Bad things happen when your foundation is shaky. If the core values, vision, and strategy aren’t sound and aligned, everything else will suffer. If you don’t have a clearly articulated direction and purpose, how can you expect to achieve the right outcomes? The best leaders stand for something bigger than themselves, and they’re driven by more than just profit motive. They understand the value of a purpose driven business. If what I’ve just said doesn’t make any sense, it’s time to start the reimagination process.

2. Challenge The Destination – Leadership isn’t destination based – it’s a continuum. Great leaders think beyond the outcome. They think about what if and what’s next. They don’t get trapped in the journey to a specific destination, but remain in constant search of discovery in order to seek new and better opportunities.

3. Challenge The Promise – Is your brand promise on target? Is it deliverable? Is it sustainable? If you cannot keep your promise to customers, you won’t have much of a business to worry about. Few things hinder the advance of a business like a brand in need of a refresh.

4. Challenge the Model - Not all business models are created equal. Furthermore, just because you have a business model doesn’t mean it’s the right one, or that it’s sustainable. Break the business model down from the revenue engine all the way down to the distribution model and delivery strategy. Does it afford you a competitive advantage moving forward, or does it need to be reimagined?

 

5. Challenge The Information – Not all inputs are created equal. Don’t think big data – think good data. Smart leaders understand there’s a difference between gut instincts, data, information and knowledge. Furthermore, as much as some don’t want to hear this, opinion and theory aren’t always synonymous with fact and reality. Agendas and bias often pervade the information flow, so trust and credibility must factor in when assessing information quality.

 Always challenge the information, but recognize there’s a difference between being a skeptic and being discerning. Lastly, it’s always worth reimagining how you process information to yield better decisions.

6. Challenge The Organization - I’ve been around long enough to see almost every type of organizational design come and go, only to come again. A great example of this would be Matrix organizations, or what I call the corporate version of the Matrix Trilogy. The Matrix model has been around for nearly 30 years. While many organizations have killed the Matrix, some have readopted it, others have remained trapped in the Matrix for decades, but virtually every large enterprise using it is over-matrixed. I can think of no better target for reimagination than the Matrix. Where’s Neo when you need him? For those of you not trapped in the Matrix, you’re not off the hook. Any organizational structure can be reimagined and improved.

7. Challenge The Culture - Every organization has a culture. Some are carefully created and curated by design, and others evolve by default. Some are toxic; some are barely surviving on life support, while others are healthy and vibrant. The bottom line is culture can be a significant asset or a tremendous liability. The thing about cultural dynamics is they can change very rapidly – either in your favor or against it. Leaders who fail to constantly challenge cultural norms and constructs are failing themselves and those they lead.

 

8. Challenge The Talent - Many things benefit from compromise, but talent is not one of them. If you settle for anything less than acquiring, deploying, developing, and retaining the best talent possible, shame on you. I’ve often said, leaders deserve the teams they build. If you cannot seamlessly mobilize and deploy the best talent to your greatest opportunities or your biggest risks you have a problem. If succession isn’t an enterprise wide concern there is trouble on the horizon. If leadership development is just a buzzword and not a point of emphasis you won’t remain competitive. The areas of leadership development, organizational development, and talent acquisition should constantly be challenged and reimagined.



9. Challenge The Complex - Don’t fall into the trap of believing sophistication is synonymous with complexity – it’s not. Great leaders challenge all things complex, and if they’re smart, they look to simplify everything. Whether it’s strategy, organization, process, or execution, if it’s complex it needs to be reimagined.

10. Challenge Yourself - The truth is most leaders are skilled at challenging others, but are woefully inadequate when it comes to challenging themselves, or allowing others to challenge them. When leaders hold themselves to a higher standard of rigor, discipline, accountability, and transparency everyone wins.

 Mike Myatt
 

Individualism vs. Teamwork

"There is more to building a team than buying new uniforms."

- Bryce's Law

INTRODUCTION
As you travel around corporate America these days, you hear a lot about "teams";
that groups, departments or whole divisions are trying to behave more as a team
as opposed to a group of individuals. Its the latest catch phrase du jour. I guess
someone finally figured out the power of teamwork. But just how much of this
represents sincere efforts? My corporate contacts tell me its mostly facade. They
contend they get some nifty new corporate shirts and some great pep talks, but
aside from this, little else. As much as corporations tout the need for teamwork,
most still encourage rugged individualism.

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There is more to creating a team than simply saying you are one. New shirts and axioms are nice, but in order for this to work, people have to think and act as a team. In other
words, success hinges on it becoming a natural part of the corporate culture.

CORPORATE CULTURE
Teachers, coaches, and drill instructors have long understood the value of teamwork. The
intent is to turn a heterogeneous working environment into a homogeneous environment
whereby everyone is working in a concerted effort towards common goals. But do corporate
managers truly understand teamwork? Not necessarily. Many still create competitive
environments in the hope that the strongest will rise to the surface. Teamwork is more
about cooperation than it is about competition.

This brings up an important point: Teamwork is taught. It means developing a disciplined
work environment where the participants must conform to a specific set of rules. Inevitably,
it means breaking some work habits and creating new ones. This can be painful, yet
necessary if you want to achieve the desired results. Basically, you are teaching
people how to live and work together as opposed to apart.

In the United States there is more of a natural inclination to teach individualism
as opposed to teamwork; perhaps this is because we are a nation based on
freedoms. For example, our public school systems have minimal dress and hair codes;
each student is allowed to look and dress as they personally see fit, many with some
very questionable taste. This is permitted as it is believed the individual must be allowed to
freely express him/herself. This may be fine, but it certainly does not promote a spirit of
teamwork. Compare it to other countries, such as Japan, where students are required
to where school uniforms and are given group assignments, such as the preparation and
cleanup of their daily lunch. In Japan, students are taught the value of cooperation
at an early age which has the added benefit of improving their socialization skills.

As mentioned, teamwork requires the establishment of a working environment conducive
to teamwork. It doesn't happen simply by making some platitudinous statements. A manager
must do more, much more; some suggestions:

1. First and foremost: Lead. All teams need a leader who can articulate goals and
   give direction. The team must trust and believe in its leader. Without such confidence,
   the team will not likely follow the leader, particularly in times of difficulty. The leader
   should also be wary of leading by democratic rule. Soliciting input is one thing, as is
   having assistants, but there can only be one ultimate leader to guide the team.
2. Institute uniform operating practices that everyone will be expected to conform to,
   such as operating hours of work, dress code, office appearance, speech and conduct,
   etc. Such uniformity stresses the equality of the workers. As another suggestion,
   downplay job titles and put more emphasis on work assignments instead. Job titles
   tend to emphasize a person's stature in a company and can be disruptive in terms of
   equality.
3. Establish standard practices for executing work assignments, thereby everyone is
   following the same methods, and using the same tools and techniques in their work
   effort. This improves communications, provides for the interchangeability of workers,
   and promotes the development of quality work products.
4. Make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and assignments and understands
   their importance. Nobody wants to be regarded as the weakest link and, as such,
   the manager must be able to communicate their importance and carefully balance
   the workload. Yes, there will be those workers who will undoubtedly excel over others,
   but teamwork is a group effort. If a weaker worker needs additional training, either
   give it to him or replace him.
5. Routinely check progress. Whenever applicable, keep statistics on both team and
   individual performance. However, it is not important to publish such stats. It is
   important for the leader to know the team's strengths and weaknesses, but it is
   nobody else's business.
6. Be on the lookout for conflicts in working relationships. Some people will simply not
   get along and it is up to the manager to referee such conflicts. Either have the people
   work out their differences, keep them apart, or rid yourself of them. You want harmony,
   not contention, on your team.
7. Allow time for the team to meet and discuss issues as a group. This keeps everyone
   in tune with common goals, problems, and the team's general progress. It also allows the
   team to socialize and form a camaraderie (a bonding of unity).
8. Recognize individual achievement but reward on a team basis as opposed to
   an individual basis.

CONCLUSION
Are we really trying to promote teamwork or is this nothing more than the latest
corporate fad that is being implemented more for public relations than anything
else? Let's hope for the former and not the latter. Teamwork is a powerful concept,
particularly when there is anything of substance to be done.

Shrewd managers intuitively understand the need for teamwork. Let me give you
an example from the world of entertainment. Jack Benny, the famous comedian of
yesteryear had a great appreciation for teamwork. His radio and television shows were
consistently at the top of the rating charts for a number of years. When asked what his secret to
success was, Benny simply said teamwork. To Jack, it wasn't important that he personally
got the best lines and laughs week after week. In fact, he was often the butt of many of the
jokes. Instead, he made sure his cast, guests, and writers all received the accolades they
deserved. It was more important to Benny that people said they had tuned into
"The Show" as opposed to tuning in to see "Jack Benny." He was right.
I realize there are instances in business when it becomes necessary to exercise
individualism, but these are becoming a rarity. Instead companies can find greater
glory as a team as opposed to a group of individuals.

"Individual glory is insignificant when compared to achieving victory as a team."
- Dot Richardson, M.D.

U.S. Olympic Softball Team
Two time Gold Medal Champions

For more information on corporate culture, see:
No. 28 - "Understanding Corporate Culture" - June 13, 2005
http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ss050613.pdf

 

About the Author

Tim Bryce Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of
Palm Harbor, Florida and has 30 years of experience in the field. He
is available for training and consulting on an international basis.
He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com