October 7th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn
By Wes Ball. Wes is a strategic innovation consultant and author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success (Westlyn Publishing, 2008) and writes for Leadership Turn every Tuesday. See all his posts here. Wes can be reached at www.ballgroup.com.
Diana Ross’s old hit song saying that the world just needs “love” may not be the answer, but there is indeed a universal need out there that would help us overcome our current economic dilemma. What the world really needs now is a little honest leadership. And I mean that literally.
The “con games” that have been played upon investors (and the American public) in this current financial debacle are just the latest in thousands of years of dishonest dealing in order to gain something. In the mortgage fiasco, the potential losses from giving mortgages to high-risk individuals was supposedly “spread around” by selling them as part of larger packages of mortgages to unsuspecting investors. The idea was to pass along the risk to others (in other words: be able to put the blame and consequences on someone else). But the dishonesty of this caught up to everyone involved, including both the innocent and the guilty.
One of the things I learned in researching for my book, The Alpha Factor, was that Alpha companies don’t have to market themselves with such dishonesty. That’s not to say that they don’t have selfish humans working in the company who make bad and occasionally dishonest decisions, but their sales are not based upon such dishonesty. Their longevity and sustainability is only possible because of the honesty of what they offer and provide.
Leadership by its definition requires honesty. Without honesty a leader cannot last long, because the trust that will sustain him will evaporate as soon as the lies are discovered. Without honesty, the foundation of the organization being led will be compromised and everything built upon it will be vulnerable. A few may be able to maintain their leadership for some time through sheer effort, but that effort must increase over time to overcome the increasing resistance that will naturally occur due to the false foundation upon which it is built. Much like an aircraft where air resistance increases at the square of speed (which is the limitation to top speed), an organization built upon faulty, dishonest leadership must work geometrically harder to maintain itself when built upon dishonest foundations.
Here are five simple tests that we all learned in grade school, but that have largely been forgotten:
- If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is. (This is probably the oldest one, but how often have we all slipped on that, believing that the “easy” way we believe so many people make money is true and possible for us?)
- If it contradicts what mom said, it is probably a lie. (Now I know there are many untrustworthy moms out there, but I got into far more trouble by not believing my mom than I ever did by trusting her.)
- Everything will cost you something. (Nothing comes without cost — especially, when we are told that someone else will have the burden of all the cost or risk, and we will only get the gain.)
- If it’s a “favor,” it probably isn’t. (The person who offers “favors” usually has more to gain than you do; you just can’t see it until it is too late.)
- Two faces are one too many. (If the person making the offer has a history of contradicting himself or of doing things that don’t match with his words, then don’t believe him – no matter how sincere he sounds).
I’ve been around long enough to have been caught in far too many crazy schemes for me to admit. But in each case, when I looked back at it, the warning signs were there. If I had used the five tests above, I would have said “no.” Instead, I wanted to believe that perhaps I had been wrong in how I thought things worked. Perhaps I could actually get that thing that seemed too good to be true, that contradicted what my mom had told me, that had no cost to me and only gain, that was being offered by someone who was doing me a big “favor” or who had suddenly changed the way he operates. I never won any of those.
As the CEO of a company, there have been many times I was tempted to “push the truth,” but I was lucky enough to learn that every time I did, I paid a terrible price. I always saw that honest leadership led to far greater gains than any shortcuts I momentarily thought might get me there quicker. I also learned that the people I led were far more willing to give their respect and loyalty to me when we were being honest, no matter what the short-term consequences were of that choice.
As long as humans are on this planet, there will be a need for leadership. But the secret to leadership is that it can only exist with the consent of those being led. If we refuse to accept dishonest leadership, then it cannot be leadership. But, if we choose to believe that we can gain something that contradicts those five tests, we deserve everything we lose.
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Tags: honest leadership, Wes Ball
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 6th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: sofa CC license
“You don’t report to your BlackBerry.
Schedule inviolate white space.” — Jim Collins
This is the fastest, simplest way to juice innovation, productivity and have a better life—I guarantee it.
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Tags: Blackberry, Jim Collins, white space
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 5th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: digitalemu CC license
Yesterday I shared three stupidities with you, so today it seemed appropriate to pass on some great commentary on stupidity from some truly brilliant minds.
“Stubborn and ardent clinging to one’s opinion is the best proof of stupidity” –Michel de Montaigne (Yup, and proof is in the Wall Street pudding.)
“It would be easier to pay off the national debt overnight than to neutralize the long-range effects of our national stupidity” Frank Zappa (Very true—but why do we need to keep proving it over and over?)
“It is occasionally possible to charge Hell with a bucket of water, but against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain” –Doris Fleeson (Damn! We don’t stand a chance with stupidity in charge of the asylum.) 
And two brilliant minds with but one thought that says it all…
“Earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is limitless” –Gustave Flaubert
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” –Albert Einstein
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Tags: Quotable quotes
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 4th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: sofijab CC license
Dan McCarthy, a very cool guy who is head of leadership and management development at Paychex and writes a great blog on leadership issues, included me in his current edition of the Leadership Development Carnival. It’s not just about leadership, but includes management and the content can be applied to all parts of life.
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Tags: Dan McCarthy, leadership development carnival
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 4th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn
The economic meltdown and political action has pushed other stupidities to the bottom of the page, so I thought I’d offer up three that I’ve found over the last month or so.
First up is a sad story about a guy who has been forced out of his normal ride because of high gas prices—familiar enough that you feel his pain?
Don’t. Because the guy is Sean “Diddy” Combs and the ride is his private plane.
Poor Sean. It used to cost only $200,000 to use that plane, but when gas prices escalated this summer he was forced to fly commercial—first class, of course. (See his video plea “for free oil from his “Saudi Arabia) brothers and sisters”"
Next up is another little gem about what sets the rich off from the rest of us when it come to gas.
In an effort to be green Cadillac has built an Escalade Hybrid that, according to a print ad in Business Week, gets a whopping 20 city/21 highway. Whoo hoo—but it’s all relative. The non-hybrid version gets 12city/19 highway.
The the stupidity I’ll leave you with will, hopefully, encourage changes in you and those you care for—especially your kids.
The cause of the tragic train crash September 12th that killed 25 people and injured 130 more has been traced to texting.
“The engineer of a commuter train that collided last month with a freight train here, killing 25 people and injuring more than 130, was sending text messages on his cellphone seconds before the crash, federal investigators said Wednesday. …the final one he sent was at 4:22:01, just 22 seconds before the trains, traveling at about 40 miles an hour, collided.” The engineer never applied his brakes.
This should be a seminal lesson to all of you who text while walking, driving, working with machinery, whatever. You wouldn’t read a book while doing any of those things, so why would you text?
Show the story to you kids and friends that text, talk to them (and yourself) and choose not to be stupid.
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 3rd, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: greyman CC license
Leadership, oh leadership. Wherefore art thou, oh leadership?
What does this list have in common?
Leadership. Each person on this list has been held up as an example of leadership; lauded by the gurus of leadership for their vision, skill at articulating it and ability to attract followers.
- Alan Fishman, Washington Mutual
- Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide
- Bruce Karatz, KB Homes
- Chuck Prince Citigroup
- Douglas Ivester, Coca-Cola
- Frank Newman, Bankers Trust
- Franklin Raines Fannie Mae
- Gregory Parseghian, Freddie Mac
- Hank McKinnell, Pfizer
- James Cayne, Bear Stearns
- John Mack, Morgan Stanley
- Ken Thompson, Wachovia
- Kerry Killiger, Washington Mututal
- Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman
- Michael Ovitz, Disney
- Philip Purcell, Morgan Stanley
- Richard Fuld, Lehman
- Richard Grasso, New York Stock Exchange
- Robert Nardelli, Home Depot
- Stanley O’Neal, Merril Lynch
- Stephen Hilbert, Conseco
What else does this list have in common? Over the last 5 years every one of them has been ousted from their role.
The majority of their visions helped architect the current financial mess.
Oh yeah, and their parachutes ranged from gold to diamond-encrusted platinum. (Payouts listed here and here)
Take me to your leader.
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Tags: financial crisis, leadership, vision
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 2nd, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: rt1352 CC license
By CandidProf, who teaches physics and astronomy at a state university. He shares his thoughts and experiences teaching today’s students anonymously every Thursday—anonymously because that’s the only way he can be truly candid. Read all of CandidProf here.
“If I don’t make a good grade on this test, I am going to hurt myself. If you understood my background, you’d be worried about me.”
This is a statement made last week to one of my colleagues by a student who had already been identified as being unstable.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing is something that faculty face from time to time. All sorts of people go to college and many are not mentally as stable as others.
Also, we have students come to college who have been coddled all their lives. They’ve never been allowed to fail. But, when they get to college, suddenly things change. They are no longer the star student. No one is there to make sure that they don’t fail. They have to take responsibility for their missteps. And for many that is hard to do.
For many students this is a very difficult time. I feel that what we’ve done is, in part, move some of the awkwardness of growing up from the early to mid teenage years into the late teens early twenties.
The problem with that is that many of these students are no longer living at home, and parents can’t do as much to help (assuming that the parents are not too busy with their own lives to worry about the kids).
Now, the higher education doctrine of “in loco parentis” applies. We wind up being the counselors and parents for these young adults. The problem is that faculty are not trained for this. Colleges have support staff for the students. This includes counselors trained in dealing with these sorts of issues.
The student support service staff often have some training in how to look out for these problems. Faculty, though, are trained primarily in only their fields. Physics faculty learn about how to do physics. History faculty learn all about history. Psychology faculty may know what is going on, but not necessarily Business faculty. We learn what we need to about how the college works, how to submit grades, etc. Sometimes colleges offer seminars on effective teaching. I never hear about seminars on dealing with suicidal students. Yet, I’ve had to deal with three of them in my years teaching, one being a quite serious case.
But this raises another question. Was this student that I mentioned at the beginning of this post really suicidal or was this a very childish attempt to manipulate her professor into giving her a higher grade? Do we forward the matter on to higher ups? Do we refer the student to the counseling center? Do we need to call the police to report a possible suicidal student? Or do we just tell the student to grow up?
If we refer the matter on to student services, then this incident becomes part of the student’s permanent record at the college. If we notify the police, then it becomes a permanent police record, which are not as protected by confidentiality as student records. How do we know what to do? After all, faculty are not trained in dealing with these sorts of things.
The matter is not as easy as simply saying that it is better to be safe and report it than to be sorry and not report it. Students have sued faculty for forwarding on disturbing papers and writings. Our campus attorneys have trouble keeping up with current legal interpretations.
- Before Virginia Tech, we were advised not to report students who have disturbing writings. After all, if we report a student for writing an essay about going around shooting people, the student can sue saying that the essay was nothing but his freedom of speech and artistic license.
- Before Virginia Tech, that may have been upheld. But the shooting incident at Virginia Tech changed things. Faculty there got into trouble for not reporting the shooter’s troubling works. Those faculty that did report it found that nothing was done because the administrators were afraid of doing something that would get them into trouble.
Now we can get in trouble for not reporting such things. Unfortunately, we can still get in trouble for reporting things too quickly. That puts us into a difficult position. And, again, we are not trained to deal with these sorts of things.
Do you see a pattern? We are continually put into positions of dealing with issues that we have never been trained to deal with.
That is not unique to college faculty, though. Anyone in a leadership position will have to adapt to new situations that he or she has never seen before or even contemplated. It is how we respond to these situations that separate good leaders from those who simply happen to have a supervisory job.
So what was our solution to the situation with this student? (I say “our” since I am serving in a temporary administrative roll at the college.) Since we already knew that this student has been seen at the counseling office, we called them to have an informal consultation. They did not seem too concerned. We also knew the department in which the student is actively pursuing a program of study (psychology!), so we called the department chair to inquire about the student. It turns out that this particular student is seeing a psychologist, has done this sort of thing to instructors on a regular basis and the people with the training feel that the student is not really a risk for suicide, but rather has learned that some professors yield to this sort of pressure.
The head of the psychology department tells the student to simply grow up when the student does this sort of thing. So that is what my colleague did when the student began crying after the test was passed back. The student quit crying and began to pay attention for the rest of the class.
There have been times when we’ve had to deal with actual serious mental health issues. And, of course, most of the time we don’t know whether or not a situation like this is serious. In this case, the student was known, and the behavior had been identified by professionals in the mental health field as manipulative not suicidal, so we went on their recommendations.
But what would we have done in the event that this student were not already known to be one who pulls this sort of thing on a regular basis? Well, at this point, we would have had to make a judgment call and either passed it on to the police if we deemed it an imminent threat of safety to the student or to the counseling center otherwise.
These are the things that make the job tough.
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Tags: , CandidProf, education, manipulation, mental health
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
October 1st, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: iLoveButter CC license
Check out my other WW: evolve or die
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Tags: innovation, success, wordlesswednesday, ww
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
September 30th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: CraigPJ CC license
It’s a sad commentary on the business world, but thousands of times a day, day after day, bosses in every industry, in companies large and small, issue “or else” ultimatums to their subordinates—whether intentionally or not—and ultimatums are threats.
The threats are rarely direct (Do it or start looking.), more often, they are subtle (I expect employees who work here to be team players.), but the threat is there: Do X if you want to keep your job.
Obviously, this is atrocious management, since
- threats are tremendously debilitating to those receiving them, often costing them the confidence to do their job; but
- it is the manger who threatens who loses the most—the credibility to run the organization.
Beyond the direct effect of the threats, there is a ripple effect that is far worse—the seeding of a self-propagating culture of intimidation, i.e., I’ll do it to you because the person above does it to me [and I want to get even].
It kills creativity, innovation, motivation, engagement, caring, ownership, in fact, everything that it takes to compete in today’s economy.
The good news is that, as with most management practices, the choice of using or not using ultimatums, no matter the form, is yours, and yours alone.
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By Miki Saxon -- 4 comments
September 29th, 2008
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: claumart CC license
Last year I wrote about the pros and cons of AMS (assumption, manipulation and self-fulfilling prophesy). As I said then, although there are positive aspects AMS usually surfaces in a negative way.
A client who agrees with how important it is to avoid AMS asked me to come up with a simple, memorable way to present why assuming isn’t a good thing to do. He wanted something that would really sink in, not in a preachy way, but a fun way to which all his people could relate in all parts of their lives.
So I was staring at the word on the screen and that’s when I realized that we could use an oldie to put the idea across in just 13 words.
Now, scattered around the offices are signs that read
Think before you assume—don’t make an ass out of u and me!
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Tags: ass out of u and me, assume
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By Miki Saxon -- 0 comments
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