Review: Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have
February 29, 2008 by Miki Saxon
Justin Menkes’ Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have
Menkes makes a case that it is intelligence and the resulting cognitive skills that underlie the brilliance seen in executives such as Andrea Jung (Avon Products Inc.), Van Johnson (Sutter Health) and Jack Welch, as opposed to so-called emotional intelligence or charisma.
Menkes idea that it is intelligence that makes the difference is based on eight years of research on intelligence tests and cognitive skills and reveals the set of aptitudes that all brilliant leaders share.
Although 50% of an individual’s intellectual capacity is genetically influenced, Menkes makes the point that the remaining half offers fertile ground for teaching and improving Executive Intelligence. (He cites several studies showing the difference in test scores between students participating in interactive classes that stress critical thinking vs. more typical teaching methods that do well regurgitating information for standardized tests.)
Menkes breaks managerial work down into three areas—accomplishing tasks, working with other people, and self-evaluation—then identifies the cognitive skills that determine how well an executive performs.
- Tasks – to correctly define a problem, identify the highest-priority issues, assess what is known and determine needs to be known in order to render a sound decision.
- Others – to recognize underlying agendas, understand multiple perspectives, and anticipate likely emotional reactions throughout the organization.
- Self – to objectively identify one’s own mistakes, encourage and seek out constructive criticism, and adjust one’s own behavior.
Much of the book relates to how important evaluating intelligence is when hiring and includes discussions with CEOs on their approach to recognizing its presence.
Menkes believes the best way evaluate a candidate’s talent and cognitive skills is found in a set of question that discuss hypothetical business problems, since this most closely mimics the way most business decisions are actually made.
Additionally, that the best tests in hiring measure the ability to accomplish tasks, work with and through others, evaluate oneself and adapt accordingly and he defines 17 critical skills that the best managers use to think their way through problems.
There is much food for thought in Executive Intelligence, but I was sadly disappointed at the lack of concrete how-to’s.
I realize that Menkes heads Executive Intelligence Group, a consulting firm whose revenues are based on providing the questions and other how-to information for it’s clients, but the lack of practical help in applying his excellent research left me with the feeling that the only solution was to hire his company—something completely our of reach to many companies and most startups.
What roll do you think intelligence plays in running a business?
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Bank needs leadership – leaders need not apply
February 28, 2008 by Miki Saxon
I don’t follow Canadian business, but I came across a hilarious commentary by columnist Barry Critchley in the National Post on Canada.com.
He starts by informing you that “Bank of Montreal [Canada's oldest bank dating to 1817] announced a series of management changes in its capital-markets operation this week,” explaining that all of the executive changes were internal moves as opposed to being advertised externally.
Critchley goes on to describe what an ad might look like if the position had been open to outsiders.
“The position is ideally suited for a senior banker who loves to tell lots of stories over lunch because you will be doing lots of lunches over the next couple of years…a person who is prepared to go big, indeed, an executive who will bet the farm…must have shown a demonstrated competence to manage upwards…extra consideration will be given to those bankers whose group has lost more than $1.5-billion over the past year…We will pay a generous compensation package consisting of salary, bonus, stock, stock options and other perks…We are proud of the corporate culture we have developed over the past 191 years…we don’t toss our CEOs overboard at the first sign of trouble…we stick by you despite the mess.”
Great satire, but also, assuming the one-and-a-half billion dollar loss and 1000 person layoffs are accurate, an excellent encapsulation of a company yearning for real leadership, not just old executives in new positions or new executives cut from the current cloth.
Is this a company in which you’d want to own stock?
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Wordless Wednesday: authenticity – mean what you say
February 27, 2008 by Miki Saxon
The greatest leadership WOW ever told
February 26, 2008 by Miki Saxon
Finding and identifying WOW in anything is exciting, fun and always a two-edged sword—which is the most useful kind as well as the most dangerous. When the talk turns to leadership WOW, the adjectives that you hear most frequently these days are “authentic,” meaning real or genuine, and “servant” meaning it’s all about them—as opposed to you.
And while those should be the WOW, they’re upstaged every time by what I call the believability factor, BF for short.
WOW—for better or worse—is found in believability.
The better is obvious. A strong BF draws people to you; it helps them hear what you have to say; see the vision that you present; and underscores their willingness to follow your lead. Without it, even the straightest shooters may be casually dismissed.
The flip side is definitely worse, because con people, crooks and even murderers often have BF in abundance.
For that reason, followers as well as other leaders need to look first for BF, because without it nothing will happen, and then beyond it to be sure that it’s grounded in values that are at least synergistic to their own.
Values are subjective and are part of your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™). To assume that another person’s values are parallel to your own because you like them, work with/for them, even go to church with them, is naïve—but people do it all the time.
Choosing whom to follow is a responsibility not to be taken lightly or handed off to others. Sure, your choices won’t always be correct, but you will be able to say that you made the best decision possible based on who you were and what you knew at that time—which is the most we can expect of ourselves.
If you’d like to learn more about how to evaluate your own BF and change it if you so desire, read MAP your BF—at work, at home, even in the bedroom!
Want more WOW factors? Visit Common Sense PR for links to all the WOW today on the Business Channel.
How do you assess BF in those around you?
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Strength and grace: Vanessa Williams
February 25, 2008 by Miki Saxon
I have to confess that I’m as far from a pop culture vulture as you can get and movies aren’t my thing, so normally I don’t watch the Academy Awards. But tonight I was working and left the TV on for background noise. There wasn’t much choice so I had on the Academy Awards and they segued into an hour of Barbara Walters’ interviews when I wasn’t looking.
The interview with Vanessa Williams caught my interest.
Hard to believe that 20 years have past since she was forced to give up her Miss America crown because of nude pictures taken several years before she won.
Williams was devastated, but chose to focus forward instead of backward.
“Today, Vanessa has not only has 14 Grammy Nominations, won over 30 awards from things such as Soul Train awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and the Billboard Music Awards (to name a few), but she has also conquered “The Big Screen” with movies such as Soul Food, Eraser and Dance With Me. She has overcome the TV screen with made-for-tv-movies such as Bye Bye Birdie and The Courage to Love. Lastly, she has made her life long dream come true and performed on none other than Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
Williams currently plays one of the most delicious bitches ever to grace the small screen in the hit comedy Ugly Betty.
She’s a philanthropist, “embracing and supporting such issues as education, homelessness, abuse, women’s issues and health concerns, AIDS and anything having to do with children.”
Her intelligence and wit show clearly in numerous interviews—as when asked what she thought about being a sex-symbol she replied, “Oh well, I’m happy how my parents’ genes have worked out.”
Tonight, Walters asked if she would have done things differently in 1989 and Williams responded that she wouldn’t have entered the pageant. Nothing about not taking the pictures, just that she would have avoided the conflict.
Williams has displayed strength and grace under fire in all her efforts and is proof that even a traumatic setback doesn’t have to stop you unless you allow it to.
Do you have a strength and grace story to share?
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Stupid quote day: past politics 3
February 24, 2008 by Miki Saxon
“What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.” — Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President
Now it’s your turn!
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Stupid quote day: past politics 2
February 24, 2008 by Miki Saxon
“Facts are stupid things.” — Ronald Reagan, Former U.S. President
Now it’s your turn!
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Stupid quote day: past politics 1
February 24, 2008 by Miki Saxon
Every Sunday I post three off-beat quotes (6 AM, noon, and 4 PM Eastern Time) from famous people or media and you respond with another strange quote either from the same person or on a similar or connected topic—the further out or more outrageous the quote the better.If the connection isn’t fairly obvious it’s up to you to explain it.
“Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, “Thank God, I’m still alive.” But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again.” — Barbara Boxer, Senator
Now it’s your turn!
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Leader + manager = leadager (part 3)
February 23, 2008 by Miki Saxon
In the first post in this series Casey Ross’ comment “I’ve been around too many visionary “leaders” who could inspire the heck out of you but could never get one thing accomplished.” got me to thinking.
There may be something else going on along with the “play it safe” mentality engendered by the bean counters (some, not all).
Call it the ‘armchair leader’, who, much like the Monday morning quarterback or armchair philosopher, is a person who knows all about leadership without actually doing it.
These are the people who read leadership books, attend leadership classes and can discuss leadership philosophy and approaches intelligently and convincingly. They can create enormously compelling visions, produce the collateral information to implement them and even inspire those around them—but nothing happens.
As Casey says, they just can’t DO it. Something is missing.
I believe that ’something’ starts in doing, in stepping forward and saying, “I’ve got an idea.”
Or not saying anything and just taking the initiative to do/fix/create/whatever without a lot of thought about visions and inspiration, but with so much enthusiasm and willingness to listen and include others that they jump on the wagon because it’s where the action is and looks like so much fun.
How many armchair leaders do you know?
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Leader + manager = leadager (part 2)
February 22, 2008 by Miki Saxon
Yesterday KG said, “Good managers have processes and techniques that they implement to get people to work. Leaders inspire.
“I replied “inspiring means taking chances and requires a culture that doesn’t just tolerate stumbles and failures, but actually encourages them. Without that safety people won’t take chances with a vision but will stick to the status quo.”
What makes that culture so hard to come by?
At least part of the answer is found in comments by Tony Palazzo in a post from Steve Roesler.
Palazzo thinks that “leadership is demonstrated when someone stands up and says, “We can do this better. Here’s how. Let’s go!”
That’s called vision—outside the status quo.
Palazzo continues, “The gods of Finance are setting the rules for how business will be done. Shareholder value is now the end product. Standing up and taking the lead in your area of discipline is a risk that is not only not rewarded, it may get you into trouble if the “Finance Guy” doesn’t like it–or doesn’t understand it.”
I’ve always told my clients that corporate success is like a 3-legged stool—customers, equity-holders, employees—and that if one leg grows too long from over-indulgence the stool will tip over.
Great philosophy, but the reality today in most public companies is that Wall Street and quarterly results are what really matters.
And that reality is driving a risk-adverse, color-inside-the-lines mentality in which vision and leadership have no place. Worse is the vicious circle that forms—the person brought in to lead has a vision, but the vision isn’t fast enough so the person is dumped and another brought in and each successive round plays it safer and safer.
Please join me tomorrow for the final part of Leader + manager = leadager.
How can more companies be encouraged to take the risks that lead to innovation?
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