Leadership Lessons from an Undercover Boss

The first episode of CBS’s new reality show “Undercover Boss” was broadcast in the USA recently. Each week the show features a CEO who goes “undercover” to find out what everyday life is really like within their own company.

What a perfect opportunity for leadership lessons and advice!

The first episode didn’t disappoint. It featured Larry O'Donnell, president and COO of Waste Management. O'Donnell, who has 45,000 employees, took on five entry-level jobs, which included: sorting rubbish at a recycling facility, collecting rubbish in a truck and by hand, working at a landfill and cleaning portable toilets.

Larry set out looking for more ways to increase productivity. “That’s what it’s all about”, he said at the beginning of the show. He ended up learning more than he bargained for.

Here are the lessons:

1. Don’t let yourself get isolated from reality

This seems pretty obvious! Nonetheless, it’s a common trap for leaders to fall into, and gets worse the higher your position. While you may really be a well-meaning, competent, good-hearted leader, if you’re clueless, many people will assume you’re ruthless. In other words, they won’t give you the benefit of the doubt of just being ignorant – they’ll assume you actually enjoy making their lives miserable.

2. Don’t just mandate: explain the “why”
This is a lesson that just about every senior leader needs to understand and embrace. How many times have you issued a company-wide edict to cut costs or improve productivity, but didn’t take the time to explain the “why” to everyone involved? Yes, it takes extra time, but its well worth the time and effort. Don’t underestimate the loyalty of your workforce or their capacity to grasp the big picture and numbers. They’ll be more on board if you treat them like adults and with respect by explaining the rationale behind your decisions.

3. Engage your workforce
Explaining the why is a great start. It’s even better if you can get your team involved in deciding how to achieve your objectives. Once you’ve explained the importance, they’ll be fired up to contribute. Some leaders don’t even give a target, or number – and their teams come back with even more aggressive goals. In addition to the buy-in and commitment, you’ll also get realistic, workable solutions. You won’t hear anybody saying “Yeah, it’s another one of those corporate things we have to do that don’t make any sense”.

4. Give managers the tools they need to achieve your objectives
If left to their own devices, your managers will figure out ways to meet your objectives. However, they may come up with ways that you wouldn’t approve of.

5. Get to know your employees
The employees that Larry worked with for a day all had amazing stories. Don’t we all? As a leader, your actions impact the lives of your employees and the communities in which they live in. It’s your obligation to embrace that awesome responsibility, to take a personal interest in the lives of each and every one of your employees. 

Leadership Lessons from an Undercover Boss

On Leadership: Giuliani's 9/11 'defiance'

The former NYC mayor's fresh insights on how 9/11 changed him and where he found the will to fight:

On Leadership: Giuliani's 9/11 'defiance'

Being a Great Coach

Did you watch the Winter Olympics recently? The most successful athletes seemed to share a common experience: the positive personal impact of one to one leadership with their coaches. These relationships are designed to guide athletes to the pinnacle of success. Olympic coach Michelle Leigh says, "Ultimately being a great coach is all about helping people to become more." 

The coach/athlete relationship illustrates dominant themes in successful one to one leader/follower relationships: mutual trust, authentic concern for others, and self awareness.

Although we may not aspire to Olympic fame, we can’t escape the one to one leadership relationship because it occurs naturally in family, work, school—it is inherent in life. When we interact with individuals, we may be leading or following. How do we measure up? Do we have the other person’s interest in mind when we lead? Are we gracious followers when someone else takes the lead?

Leadership author John Maxwell asserts that leadership is “influence—nothing more and nothing less.” This may appear over simplified; however, it highlights the crucial element of personal relationship in one to one leadership. In relationships, whether in the leader or follower role, we exert influence—on thoughts, attitudes and actions; good or bad—and we either build trust or tear it down. This influence has potential to unite people in purpose around common goals to culminate in great results. Even in one-time exchanges, for example in a check-out line, there is the opportunity to lead someone through the influence of a patient, kind attitude, honesty, and humble service.

Retreat from life’s business and look at your own one to one leadership relationships. Are they “gold medal” quality? Consider anew your influence through relating to others in your many roles in life. Wherever you are today—helping out at home, putting in a long day at work, or completing coursework for school—remember that one to one leadership is a skill worth honing. 

Your influence on another can be the catalyst to positive results. Be trustworthy, authentic, and aware of your personal challenges. As organisational consultant Don Brawley says, “To the world you are just somebody, but to somebody you are the world!”

Being a Great Coach

Building Consistent Leadership Competencies Throughout the Organisation

The overriding theme of what we have been hearing from clients recently is that they are surprised at how the leadership development programmes they had in place were not able to meet the needs of their business as we have gone through these tremendously disruptive economic changes over the past few years.

Companies faced with the prospect of reinventing their business or adapting to a radically changed environment -- as in the financial sector, for example, where government regulators are now playing a much greater role -- are finding themselves with a shortage of executives who are up to the task. Companies are now being forced to rethink what it means to have a comprehensive leadership development programme.

At least two recent surveys present concurring views. A survey of 1,313 US employers released late last year by Aon Consulting found that, while 84 percent ranked the ability to meet talent and skill needs for leadership roles as a top priority, only 38 percent said their organisations are very or extremely effective at meeting those needs. Meanwhile, the 2009/2010 Trends in Executive Development study, released late last year by Pearson and Executive Development Associates, found that many of the 70 leaders from the US’s largest private, non-profit and government organisations who were surveyed expressed concern that their organisations' up-and-comers were lacking in areas such as the ability to think strategically and manage change effectively.

Having a common set of leadership competencies that are shared throughout the organisation is the hallmark of companies that are good at producing leaders who can think strategically and manage change. Positive Leadership™ provides a basis for developing such leaders. 

Building Consistent Leadership Competencies Throughout the Organisation

How Positive Leadership Uses Sport To Help Develop Inspiring Leaders

In sport and in the business of sport, strong leaders and managers are needed to motivate and inspire their teams to achieve breakthrough performance. The challenge many of us have in business is defining what great looks like and creating the right high performance culture.

In sport the benchmark is really clear but the lines become blurred for many business organisations when it comes to developing their own people. At Positive Leadership, our leadership programmes learn from best practice in sport but then create clear links back to the challenges faced by people in business. 

Our approach is based on providing our clients with the tools to become inspirational leaders, engaging the hearts and minds of their teams and instilling a winning mindset. Our sessions are highly interactive and have an action-based approach to ensure that the key learnings are taken away and applied in the workplace.

For more information on how we use the lessons of elite sport to help our business clients, please contact:
gavin.hastings@positiveleadership.co.uk 

How Positive Leadership Uses Sport To Help Develop Inspiring Leaders

Leadership Involves Trust

An important value of Positive Leadership is honesty. Without honesty it is difficult for followers to trust their leader.


One dimension of trust has to do with expectations. Some people have very high expectations and thus are easily disappointed. Others have low expectations, and don't feel particularly bothered when their expectations aren't met.

How do these two dimensions work together for you?

•  You don't trust people and you have low expectations. People will  feel a lack of direction. Behind your back they'll say you are "ineffective."
• You trust people, but your expectations are low. People will enjoy  working for you but feel under-motivated. Behind your back they'll call you a "softie."
• You don't trust people and you have high expectations. People will  find it difficult to work for you. Behind your back people will say you should be fired.
• You trust people and you have high expectations. People will enjoy working for you. Behind your back people will say you are a "good leader."

Leadership Involves Trust

A Story About Motivation

Here is an interesting story about Motivation from Peter Bregman, writing recently in the Harvard Business Review:

'I was walking back to our apartment in Manhattan, the hood of my jacket pulled tight to keep the rain out, when I saw an older man with a walker struggle to descend the slippery stairs of his building. When he almost fell, I and several others went over to help. There was an Access-A-Ride van (a Metropolitan Transit Authority vehicle for people with disabilities) waiting for him. The driver was inside, warm and dry, as he watched us straining to help his passenger cross the sidewalk in the pouring rain. Then he opened the window and yelled over the sound of the rain coming down, "He might not be able to make it today."

"Hold on," we yelled (there were five of us now) as we helped the man move around the back of the van, "he can make it." Traffic on 84th street had stopped. We caught the man from falling a few times, hoisted him back up, and finally got him to the van door, which the driver then opened from the inside to reveal a set of stairs. The man with the walker would never make it. "What about your side door, the one with the electric lift?" I asked. "Oh yeah," the driver answered, "hold on." He put his coat over his head, came out in the rain with the rest of us, and operated the lift.Once the man with the walker was in safely, we all began to move away when the driver opened the window one more time and yelled, "Thanks for your help."

So, here's my question: Why will five strangers volunteer to help a man they don't know in the pouring rain — and think about the electric lift themselves — while the paid driver sat inside and waited? Perhaps the driver is simply a jerk? Perhaps. But I don't think so. Once we suggested the lift, he didn't resist or complain, he came outside and did it immediately. And he wasn't obnoxious either. When he thanked us for our help, he seemed sincere.

Maybe it's because the driver is not permitted to leave the vehicle? I checked the MTA website to see if there was policy against drivers assisting passengers. On the contrary, it states "As long as the driver doesn't lose sight of the vehicle and is not more than 100 feet away from it, the driver can assist you to and from the vehicle, help you up or down the curb or one step and assist you in boarding the vehicle."

So why didn't the driver help? Part of the answer is probably that for him, an old man struggling with a walker isn't a one-time thing, it's every day every stop, and the sight doesn't compel him to act. But that answer isn't good enough. After all, it's his job to help. That's when it suddenly hit me: The reason the driver didn't help might be precisely because he was paid to.

Dan Airley, a professor at Duke University, and James Heyman, a professor at the University of St. Thomas, explored this idea. They set up a computer with a circle on the left side of the screen and a square on the right side, and asked participants to use the mouse to drag the circle into the square. Once they did, a new circle appeared on the left. The task was to drag as many circles as they could within five minutes.

Some participants received five dollars, some fifty cents, and some were asked to do it as a favour. How hard did each group work? The five dollar group dragged, on average, 159 circles. The fifty cents group dragged 101 circles. And the group that was paid nothing but asked to do it as a favor? They dragged 168 circles.

Another example: The AARP asked some lawyers if they would reduce their fee to $30 an hour to help needy retirees. The lawyers' answer was no. Then AARP had a counterintuitive brainstorm: they asked the lawyers if they would do it for free. The answer was overwhelmingly yes.

Because when we consider whether to do something, we subconsciously ask ourselves a simple question: "Am I the kind of person who . . ?" And money changes the question. When the lawyers were offered $30 an hour their question was "Am I the kind of person who works for $30 an hour?" The answer was clearly no. But when they were asked to do it as a favour? Their new question was "Am I the kind of person who helps people in need?" And then their answer was yes.

So what does this mean? Should we stop paying people? That wouldn't work for most people. No, we need to pay people a fair amount, so they don't say to themselves, "I'm not getting paid enough to . . ." Then we need to tap into their deeper motivation. Ask them: Why are you doing this work? What moves you about it? What gives you the satisfaction of a job well done? What makes you feel good about yourself?

People tend to think of themselves as stories. When you interact with someone, you're playing a role in her story. And whatever you do, or whatever she does, or whatever you want her to do, needs to fit into that story in some satisfying way.

When you want something from someone, ask yourself what story that person is trying to tell about himself, and then make sure that your role and actions are enhancing that story in the right way. We can stoke another person's internal motivation not with more money, but by understanding, and supporting, his story. "Hey," the driver's boss could say, "I know you don't have to get out of the van to help people, but the fact that you do — and in the rain — that's a great thing. And it tells me something about you. And I appreciate it and I know that man with the walker does too." Which reinforces the driver's self-concept — his story — that he's the kind of guy who gets out, in the rain, to help a passenger in need.

Ultimately someone else's internal motivation is, well, her internal issue. But there are things we can do that will either discourage or augment her internal drive. And sometimes it's as simple as what we notice. It's not lost on me that I too have a story about myself — I'm the kind of guy who stops on a rainy day to help an old disabled man to his van — and that it makes me feel good to tell you about it too. That will make it more likely that I'll do it again in the future.

As we left the scene, I looked at the drivers of the cars who waited so patiently and waved, mouthing the words "thank you" as they passed. Every single one of them smiled back. Wow. New York City drivers smiling after being stuck in traffic for ten minutes? That's right. "Yeah," they were thinking behind their smiles, "I'm the kind of driver who waits patiently while people less fortunate than me struggle." ' 

A Story About Motivation

Creating Competitive Advantage through Strategic Leadership

Businesses that are focused on developing sustainable long term market share growth during tough economic times often have a longer time-horizon and a broader set of goals than companies that have not stayed current and relevant to their market place. Typically these companies being current and relevant are dissatisfied with the status quo and not only have developed contingency plans for the short term to deal with economic crisis but they have not abandoned their long term strategic vision for the company; albeit, they may adjust it according to current relevancy.

To succeed in today’s economic environment, leadership must build a foundation that allows the creative energy released by employees to actually work. You must leverage employee dedication and sacrifice that stems from ownership of the Vision-Values and Core Beliefs that have been engrained into the culture of the organisation. The CEO or owner of this type of company generally conveys a well-articulated set of principles that guide the business and helps to instil the same values in employees. By declaring their goals publicly this type of leader inspires trust and respect which is the baseline for employee commitment to success during tough economic times and long term growth.

This broader vision of success requires new business tools, practices and relationships. Being receptive to new ideas and suggestions opens the door to an array of business opportunities. That’s what being current and relevant is all about. You cannot afford to wallow in a pool of pessimism and past practice without opening your mind to new ideas and new options.

Be Open Minded

The internet revolution brought on many changes to the market place and presented enormous opportunity. Before this revolution took place, undertaking large projects, entering new markets or working globally was the exclusive privilege of large corporations and conglomerates. In this century, innovative use of 'virtual' corporations, strategic alliances and other partnerships and ventures means smaller companies can now compete and generate business outside their traditional markets. Communication technology allows global orientation for even the smallest business and the greater efficiencies that can be offered by a team of small players, enable these firms to perform on the global stage.

Dealing with economic crisis requires the application of sustainable business principles that are current and relevant. You must maintain a forward momentum regardless of circumstance. Realise that all the problems and challenges you face on a day to day basis as a result of the faltering economy are the same issues and challenges faced by your competitors. Ask yourself this question, “Can you outperform the competition?”

Improvements in your sustainable business practices must come from new ways of thinking about meeting customer needs, and redesigning operations with a priority focus on servicing your customer.  Prepare yourself and your management team to be forward thinking and open to new ideas.

Focusing on Qualitative Market Share Growth

One of the biggest challenges in creating a sustainable future and gaining market share in a tough economy is the ability to refocus policy and practices across a variety of functions.  The focus on revenue growth was appropriate prior to the current economic environment when “fish were jumping in the boat.” Today, however, focus must be on market share and net profit as opposed to top line growth. This is an important principle that everyone on your team must understand. High-performing organisations integrate market share focus and performance management best practices more than other organisations. Conversely, low-performing organisations consistently underutilise these best practices and lose focus on market share.

Execute the Plan

The inability of organisations to effectively execute their contingency or strategic plans is one of the major factors limiting success; success measured by market share growth and profitability. Recent management research and literature has thoroughly documented the importance of execution in creating success during tough economic times. Organisations execute their strategies through the creation of contingency plans and strategic initiatives, comprising any number of initiatives, programmes and projects that become the vehicles for realising the corporate vision --- a vision that is current and relevant. 

Whether a company ultimately succeeds or fails during these economic times depends on the effectiveness of the actions taken to deal with current challenges. Before these actions can be taken however, companies must recognise these challenges for what they are to take appropriate actions.

Creating Competitive Advantage through Strategic Leadership

HM Revenue & Customs criticised by MPs

The Treasury Select Committee has concluded "performance at HMRC remains mixed with considerable room for improvement." It added: that Britain's tax authority faced "considerable challenges" to make these improvements.... MPs said they were "deeply concerned about employee engagement at HMRC and its effect on performance."... The [Select Committee] report noted that Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, had said that "HMRC faces a huge transformation challenge which will take both time and leadership attention, in particular to rebuild staff confidence in HMRC's leadership and inspire staff to be a part of HMRC's future."

For more, see - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/7400369/HM-Revenue-and-Customs-criticised-by-MPs.html

HM Revenue & Customs criticised by MPs

How Not to Use a Coach!

Having a coach can put that mirror in front of you to help make that decision. It can also help to maintain motivation once a goal is achieved.

Having said that, coaches aren’t gods and they won’t always get things right — as Sven Kramer, the Dutch speed skater, discovered in the 10,000-metre event in Vancouver.

“I wanted to go on the outer lane,” he said. “Then [my coach] Gerard [Kemkers] shouted ‘inner lane’ and I thought to myself he’s probably right and went to the inner lane.”

Instead of winning another gold medal, however, Kramer was disqualified for skating in the wrong lane. He should have followed his own instincts, not his coach’s advice.

“I was on my way to making the right decision and just before the corner I changed my decision because of the advice from the coach,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it is my responsibility.”

How Not to Use a Coach!

The Essence of Leadership

When many people think of a leader, images of an army general charging up a hill with troops in tow come to mind. Or images of a CEO making a passionate speech extolling the virtues of a product or policy position are conjured. Of course those both represent a certain kind of leadership. But most real leadership happens in small chunks; small moments without the limelight, drama or intensity that these images represent. Leadership happens in small and large meetings, in one-on-one encounters, in group activities, cubicles and boardrooms, and by many varied people regardless of title or status.

While it is complex, leadership comes down to few simple things.

Modeling behaviour. Leaders have an opportunity to model appropriate behaviour everyday. An organisation’s culture may be stated in its brochure, but it is reflected in its actions. When people working in an organisation see how leaders act in various situations, they gain understanding and appreciation of the company, its values, and its leadership. Obviously, this behaviour can be positive and reinforce the organisational culture, or it can send mixed messages.

Understanding the situation. Shooting from the hip rarely works in most situations. As a leader, one must understand the situation clearly enough to be helpful. Many times, the process of understanding the issue uncovers the potential solutions without leadership driving the decision process. People generally know what to do in most situations and may only need to be encouraged to think the problem through by talking with those involved. A leader’s role is to use the understanding process to encourage dialogue and the thought process of all involved.

Using the appropriate style. All situations are different and therefore different leadership styles must be employed that fit each situation. For instance, in times of crisis, where time is of the essence, a directive style might be most appropriate. In another situation, a supportive or coaching style might work best. An effective leader develops the skills and know-how to use the appropriate style for the situation.

Being proactive. It is so much easier to see a situation or issue arise and do nothing, hoping that it will resolve itself. But leadership is not a spectator sport. Leadership happens in the moment, when one is paying attention and is present. Be proactive and follow your instinct. Being proactive doesn’t necessarily mean suggesting solutions. Many times it means getting those involved to to recognise the situation and talk it through. Remember, leadership doesn’t mean one has the answers, but it does mean that one has the ability to see the issues before they arise. That is a leadership moment! 

The Essence of Leadership

Leading With Values

Leading with values is important for the new generation of employees, for finding innovations in underserved markets, and for getting respect from the public and favourable treatment from government. Here are lessons for everyone:

1. Inspire employees to add their hearts to their heads.  People care more and work harder when values are tapped.

2. Add a third P to performance measurement: potential for impact. Measure how well you're doing not just by the past (better or worse than last year) or by peers (ahead or behind competition), but by potential. Which audiences, customers, clients, recipients are not being reached? What are the unsolved problems and unmet needs? Seeing untapped potential raises aspirations.

3. If purpose-inspired opportunities and commercial considerations seem to conflict, find another way.  As a result,  values will be enhanced, not diluted.

Of course, to lead by values requires having them in the first place. Perhaps that's why Lehman Brothers and the other financial failures fell — because they fell short. 

Leading With Values

Communicating for Impact

Most senior executives are experienced presenters. But even ‘pros’ who just want to put some polish on the silver may underestimate the opportunity–and the risk–in any given presentation. If you want to shine and avoid the tarnish, consider these four tips to help you be the best you can be at communicating with a crowd.

1. Can you give your presentation in 20 seconds even though you have 20 minutes to speak? Start your preparation by asking: What is the one thing I want them to remember if they remember nothing else? Studies show that by the end of the day, your audience will have forgotten half of what you said. And by the end of the week, 90% is forgotten. To make sure that the 10% that sticks is the 10% that you really want them to remember, say it early and clearly.

2. Do you look and sound like you do in a conversation? Think about your talk in terms of moods, not just information. Ask, “How should I feel when I deliver those three slides vs. the next three?…Am I giving marching orders, or am I sharing an example?” In delivering different parts of your presentation, you should look and sound different. Have someone videotape you (when you don’t know you’re being taped) to see the gestures and body movement that mark your personal style.

3. Are you mixing it up? Remember to hit the “Refresh” button. Whether you add a cartoon or image to your PowerPoint, ask real and rhetorical questions–or walk a few steps to the side to tell a story. We live in a BlackBerry world. Adding variety to your visuals will keep you and your audience more engaged.

4. Do you think your presentation begins at 9 a.m., or the moment you drive into the car park? Recognise that “communication” begins the moment you arrive. Thanks to social media, your actions (both good and bad) can wind up in print. So be kind to the receptionist, thank the people ‘backstage’, and hold your tongue until you leave the car park–no matter how clueless that chap in the front row was!

Communicating for Impact

Find a Good Mentor

This interview with Meridee A. Moore, founder of Watershed Asset Management, was conducted by The New York Times. Watershed is a $2 billion hedge fund based in San Francisco.

‘Q. How do you hire?

A. We look at grades and scores, of course. We want the person to be competitive. Also, if the person has had a rough patch in his or her past, that’s usually good.

Q. Why?

A. Well, if you’ve ever had a setback and come back from it, I think it helps you make better decisions. There’s nothing better for sharpening your ability to predict outcomes than living through some period when things went wrong. You learn that events aren’t in your control and no matter how smart you are and how hard you work you have to anticipate things that can go against you.

It’s also important to be a good communicator. Our strategy involves negotiation, and you have to understand management’s perspective, the judge’s idiosyncrasies, the different professionals and principals involved, and what they might do in a bankruptcy. When I screen for people, if they have a good sense of humour and are engaging communicators, they tend to be good negotiators and seem to be better at reading the qualitative side of human decision-making.

Q. What’s your best career advice to somebody just graduating from undergrad or B-school?

A. Find a mentor. And it doesn’t have to be a mentor who looks like you. They can be older, a different gender, younger, in a different business, but someone you admire and respect, and just attach yourself to that person and learn everything you can. I’ve done this my whole career. It is so valuable, especially if you choose a good one and they end up teaching you everything and then rejoicing in your success.’

For more, see - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/business/07corners.html?ref=business 

Find a Good Mentor

Top Obama Aide Reflects on Her Life and Leadership

'Riding down Embarcadero Road Thursday, Valerie Jarrett said she got butterflies in her stomach.

Jarrett, a 1978 Stanford graduate, senior White House advisor and longtime friend of Michelle and Barack Obama, said her return to campus this week to deliver a lecture recalled memories of her very first approach to the university as an entering freshman in 1974.

In a 45-minute talk in which she reflected on leadership and her personal experiences, Jarrett urged Stanford students to take chances, get outside their comfort zones and to commit themselves, in some fashion, to public service.

"You can really be an expert in your field and an extraordinary scholar, but it's credibility, authenticity and the ability to motivate people to work together for a common goal ... that is the mark of true leadership," she said.

"Trust, respect and credibility have to be earned every single day. Good leaders never rest on their laurels."

Jarrett said her early childhood as a light-skinned African-American growing up in an international community in Shiraz, Iran, "laid a kind of blueprint for me in my world view."

"Everybody around me was different, but we were working in one community.

"I saw how people are just the same the world over. And I also developed an appreciation for the United States and the freedoms and liberties we have here."

Jarrett said her father, an African-American physician, had moved the family to Iran to seek opportunities that were denied him in segregation-era America.

The family returned to the United States and enrolled Jarrett in a Chicago public school, where she began to grasp the reality of segregation and racism.

Citing her own father, Jarrett said ordinary people have opportunities to be leaders, even when they don't necessarily know it.

As a young, black medical resident, Jarrett's father had been told he could not live in the dormitory adjacent to the hospital and was not to enter the hospital by the front door.

Annoyed with the instructions, he decided to ignore them and go through the front door anyway. On the second morning, the hospital's orderlies and assistants were standing on the front steps waiting for him, and they all walked in together.

"He just got frustrated and angry, and others followed him," Jarrett said. "Just by taking chances and doing what you know is right, sometimes others will follow."

After Stanford, law school at the University of Michigan, and some years with a large law firm, Jarrett left law practice and "took a leap" to work for Harold Washington, the first African-American mayor of Chicago.

While in city government, she interviewed a fellow law-firm refugee, Michelle Robinson, to come join her.

"Michelle was engaged to this wonderful fellow, Barack Obama," Jarrett recalled. "I got to know her and her husband and we've had the great good fortune of being good friends."

Jarrett left her job as CEO of a large real estate development and management company to hit the campaign trail for Obama, taking what she said seemed at the time like another "leap of faith" (that a black man could be elected president).

"If we'd believed what everyone told us when he was down 30 points in the polls, we wouldn't have tried," she said.

"It's an enormous privilege to serve this great country," she said. "It's been an extraordinary 14 months.

"In the campaign he always said, 'It's time for change. It's going to be really hard, but we're going to do it together.'

"People sometimes forget the last part of the sentence, that it's going to be really, really hard. We've made an immense difference, and we still have an enormous way to go."

Jarrett spoke to the Stanford community in a mostly-full Memorial Auditorium in the annual St. Clair Drake Memorial Lecture. Drake, a sociologist who launched Stanford's African-American Studies Department in 1973, died in 1990.

Jarrett said Drake had been one of her favorite professors.

"He was a scholar, a magnificent researcher, engaging and also transformative," she said. "He took his research and he led, and improved the way African-Americans were perceived by his example.

"The kind of energy and enthusiasm he had -- it's hard to express to you how deeply he changed my life." '

From - http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=15995

Top Obama Aide Reflects on Her Life and Leadership

Andrew Carnegie's Science of Success

Napoleon Hill was born into poverty in Virginia and began his writing career at the age of 13 as a reporter for a small-town newspaper. He entered law school but had to withdraw because of finances.

In 1908, Hill's career reached a turning point when he interviewed Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world at the time. Carnegie commissioned Hill to interview over 500 of the most successful men and women, in order to discover and publish a formula for success that could be duplicated by the average person. For over twenty years Napoleon Hill continued this research. In 1928, the formula for success that Carnegie and Hill devised was published in The Law of Success In Sixteen Lessons (2 Volume Set). In 1937, Napoleon Hill condensed his law of success into his most famous work, Think and Grow Rich. 

Andrew Carnegie's Science of Success

What's the Difference Between a Leader and a Manager?

When the word leadership is discussed, the manager naturally comes to mind, but managers and leaders are not synonymous.

A manager isn’t necessarily an effective leader. By the same token, an effective leader doesn’t have to be a manager. Yet the most effective managers generally have good leadership skills. For a manager to create an atmosphere where employees will follow with blind devotion, the manager must first be an effective leader. 

Managers tend to have tunnel vision, with their main focus on the bottom line. Efficiency is what a manager is all about. A good leader that is also a manager, is naturally concerned about the bottom line but instead of concentrating on efficiency, a leader concentrates their efforts on Effectiveness. The manager focuses on systems and structure, the leader focuses on people. 

An effective leader will not “push” their people through coercion, but instead will “pull” their people together by attracting them to a common vision. We often hear about the team effort, but how can there be an effective team without an effective leader. 

When employees truly work as a team, rest assured they most likely work with a leader that has three of the main traits of Positive Leadership:

• Competency 

• Energy 

• Integrity

Competency as a Leadership Trait 

When someone is put into a management position, most employers look towards competency as the main factor. In order to be an effective leader, employees need to know without a doubt that their manager is competent at their position. It’s important when decisions are made that they are well thought out. The overall decision should be made with consideration to customers and employee alike.

Energy as a Leadership Trait 

Energy is a leadership trait that can rub off on employees. If employees feel their manager is being negative, they in turn will become negative. Having a positive outlook and exuding energy and enthusiasm is contagious and creates a positive attitude throughout the company.

Integrity as a Leadership Trait 

Naturally honesty is a major factor, but integrity is much more. Integrity also means to do what’s 'right'. An effective leader needs to be empathetic to others in every decision they make. They need to be able walk in someone else’s shoes and see things from other people’s perspective. When making a decision, a leader must consider the effect the decision has on their people and do what’s right. Trust is also an important component of integrity. Employee empowerment can’t be emphasised enough for employee satisfaction. Employee empowerment reinforces that the manager is an effective leader with integrity and trust in their employee’s abilities. 

What's the Difference Between a Leader and a Manager?

Leaders Must Display Courage

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." Ambrose Redmoon

Do you have the courage to lead? Successful leaders must possess a variety of skills and attributes to be effective - and courage is certainly a critical one.

What is courage? Courage is demonstrating faith, optimism, and action in an unknown, usually risky, and often scary situation. As Mark Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

Viewed in this way, leadership can be thought of as an ongoing series of decisions and actions that require large and small amounts of courage. Successful leaders must summon their own courage and that of their followers on a daily basis. 

Here are at least 5 different ways that leaders must demonstrate courage.

1. Courage to Put Yourself Out There

If you want to be a leader, you must be willing to stand for something. You must go out on a limb and profess and practice your belief in someone, something, and/or some cause. Rather than sitting idly by and doing nothing, leadership demands that you put yourself out there to be a passionate advocate for whatever it is you are supporting or defending. When you extend yourself, you must be prepared and courageous enough to take shots and criticism from those who do not support you or your cause.

"Leadership is a choice. It is the choice not to do nothing." Seth Godin

What are you willing to stand for?

2. Courage to Dream Big Dreams  

Not only must you have the courage to put yourself out there when you lead, you also must have the audacity and confidence to dream big dreams. Successful leaders have the courage to attempt (and hopefully achieve) big goals. As Erma Bombeck reminds us, "It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."

Author Jim Collins of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't found that great companies, organisations, and non-profits created what he called BHAGS - Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. Examples of BHAGs include putting a man on the moon, becoming #1 in the world, and ending world poverty. It's these challenging yet inspiring goals that cause people to dig deep and bring their best.

Do you have the courage to set some BHAGs for your team?

3. Courage to Try Something New

As a leader, you also must have the courage to forge ahead with no clear path, only your faith in the mission. Leaders are similar to ice breaking ships in that they must breakthrough challenges and obstacles in trying to lead their teams to explore unchartered territory.

Leaders must have the courage to deal with uncertainty. A phrase that many leaders can relate to is "building the bridge as you walk on it." Michigan professor Robert Quinn has a great book by the same title and says, "When we have a vision, it does not necessarily mean that we have a plan. We may know where we want to be, but we will seldom know the actual steps we must take to get there. We must trust in ourselves to learn the way, to build the bridge as we walk on it. When we pursue our vision, we must believe that we have enough courage and confidence in ourselves to reach our goal. We must leap into the chasm or uncertainty and strive bravely ahead... Trusting in our vision enough to start our journey into the chasm of uncertainty, believing that the resources will appear, can be very difficult. The fact that we have enough trust and belief in ourselves to pursue our vision is what signals to others that the vision is worth investing in."

Many times leaders must possess the courage to press on, even though they don't exactly know what is going to happen in the next minute, or if they will have the resources to do it. You must be willing and comfortable enough to venture into the unknown, trusting that you are heading in the right direction, making progress as you span the divide, and believe that the journey is worth it.

What new thing will you have the courage to try with your organisation?

4. Courage to Overcome the Doubts and Fears

When you try something new or attempt to do something that has never been done before, you will have many who will doubt you, dissuade you, and perhaps even chuckle at your naiveté. You too will have your doubts from time to time, but don't let them get you down. You must have the courage to overcome your doubters and detractors.

Social entrepreneur Bill Strickland writes in his great book Make the Impossible Possible: One Man's Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary , "I wanted to make a difference and change the world, starting with my neighbourhood. Just as important, I was trying as best I could to live a life that felt genuinely like my own, and to do that I had to own up to the passions that defined me. So I ignored the naysayers and found a way to reach higher. It was never easy, but the more I trusted my passions, the more I found reason to believe that following my dreams was the most practical thing I could do. Passion also forced me to develop the determination and perseverance I needed to keep those dreams alive when times got rough and the things I wanted seemed very far away. If my life has taught me anything, it's that no genuine success is possible without an intense, tireless, and focused sense of drive.

Do you have the courage to overcome all the naysayers?

5. Courage to Fail  

Leaders must have the courage to fail and fall short of their goals. When you put yourself out there as a leader, you take a risk that you might not achieve your ultimate goal. You must be willing to mentally, physically, and emotionally invest yourself fully. But you must also know that your intense effort is no guarantee that you will reach your destination.

Michael Jordan said, "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

And President Teddy Roosevelt reminds us, "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Do you have the courage to fail?

Leaders Must Display Courage

Leadership Lessons from the Movies

If you haven't seen the movie "The Blind Side" yet, you should go see it while it is still in cinemas. 

The story is about a Memphis, Tennessee family, Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy, who offer a lost, homeless teenager, Michael Oher, the opportunity to come into their home and become part of their family. Through Mrs. Touhy's nurturing, Michael becomes a standout high school football player, eventually earning a scholarship to the University of Mississippi and being selected as the National Football League's Baltimore Ravens' first round draft selection in the spring of 2009.

It's a touching and powerful real life story with one particular lesson all business leaders and coaches could learn from.

During Oher's early days on the gridiron his football coach was frustrated with his lack of comprehension of how to fulfil the offensive tackle role he had been assigned. The coach, applying his traditional coaching style of yelling louder and more forcefully with each frustrating play at practice, gets no results. Mrs. Touhy, watching her 'adopted' son from the practice sidelines, walks on to the field and addresses Oher, reminding him of his strong will and personal attribute of "protective instincts." In taking the "Student Career Aptitude Test" for admission to a private Christian school Oher scored in the 98th percentile in "Protective Instincts."

Knowing this was his personal strength she used herself as a metaphor for the quarterback, and her youngest son as the tailback, telling him to protect his teammates in those positions as if he were protecting his new family. In the movie Michael immediately "gets it" and transforms into a force on the team's offensive line, much to the amazement of his coach, standing bewildered on the sidelines.

Two leadership lessons in that story:

1) Leaders have to know what makes their people tick. They need to take the time to learn what motivates them and what their true strengths and interests are.

2) Leaders must then take that information and apply it to the role in which they assign to their team members so everyone is working in a role that reinforces their strengths.

To apply this in the most ridiculous way, above the high school level, a rugby team would not put its stand off into the scrum during a match. Yet, few businesses really assess the strengths of their employees and learn what they like to do and feel good doing before they assign a job to them. While in business, unlike sports, it may not be possible to have someone fill only the role they are the perfect fit for, it is possible to identify those strengths and have their role include more of that work than not. It benefits both the individual and the organisation.

Leadership Lessons from the Movies

Leading with Dignity

The Financial Times ran an excellent analysis on February 3rd by Edward Luce concerning the very tight inner circle—just four people—that President Obama relies on for advice. In 'America: A Fearsome Foursome', Luce advocates a broader circle of advisers and notes, “To be successful, presidents need to separate the stream of advice they get on policy from the stream of advice they get on politics.” 

Intellectually we know that we need to get their advice and information from a wide variety of sources. In practice, however, it doesn’t always happen. We like to talk to those with whom we are comfortable with and share our views. It’s very reassuring. But dangerous.

Dangerous because it clouds our vision and makes us less agile. More importantly, seeking the opinions of others helps to make them feel a part of a larger purpose, connected to the leader and a part of a community.  This points to a basic function of leadership: to make connections.  

The point is made well in a follow up letter to Luce’s article, published in the Financial Times, from Francis Bator, Harvard Kennedy School emeritus professor. Before coming to Harvard in 1967, he was for three years deputy national security advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He shared the following story with FT readers:

Treasury Secretary Henry Fowler, shrewd, effective, a superb negotiator, but somewhat shy of Lyndon Johnson, would occasionally feel in need of a presidential laying on of hands even when he had no serious presidential business. After one such occasion - it had ended with Fowler, sitting on the edge of the Oval Office loveseat, reading in monotone from his own memo on the floor in front of him, while the president was plucking yellow news tickers from the ticker machine at the opposite end of the Oval – LBJ turned on me, angrily: “What on earth did you bring him in here for, wasting my time ...” and so forth, but then stopped himself mid-sentence. “No, I’m wrong. Make me see him when he asks even if he has no real business! While you staff fellows are safe in the White House, these cabinet fellows are out there every day being shot at, on the Hill, in the papers, on TV. They are my field generals. Never forget that. They’ll be useless to me if they don’t feel connected to me. Always treat them with dignity.”

A leader’s position is in the middle; to share and connect. In a world bent on differentiation, leaders must make connections.

Leading with Dignity

Leading by Collaborating

Vineet Nayar is the chief executive of HCL Technologies, an I.T. services company based in India. To help bridge the gap between ceo and the rank and file, he once danced (awkwardly) to a famous Bollywood song at an employee event. Here is what he has to say about how his company handles business planning:

‘As my kids became teenagers, I started looking at Facebook a little more closely. It was a significant amount of collaboration. There was open understanding. They didn’t have a problem sharing their status. Nothing seemed to be secret, and they were living their lives very openly, and friends were commenting on each other and it was working.

Here is my generation, which is very security-conscious and privacy-conscious, and I thought, what are the differences? This is the generation coming to work for us. It’s not my generation.

So we started having people make their presentations and record them for our internal Web site. We open that for review to a 360-degree workshop, which means your subordinates will review it. Your managers will read it. Your peers will read it, and everybody will comment on it. I will be, or your manager will be, one of the many who read it. So, every presentation was reviewed by 300, 400 people.

What happened? There were two very interesting lessons that I learned. One, because your subordinates are going to see the plan, you cannot lie. You have to be honest. Two, because your peers are going to see it, you are going to put your best work into it. Third, you didn’t learn from me. You learned by reviewing somebody else’s presentation. You learned from the comments somebody else gave you. For the 8,000 people who participated, there was a massive collaborative learning that took place.’

For more, see - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/14cornerweb.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business

Leading by Collaborating

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods’ news conference recently revealed that he is a long way from completing his journey toward healing himself and his personal life.  There was a searing honesty in Tiger’s words that suggest a genuine desire to repair his personal life, even at the cost of his golf career achievements.  Tiger would not say when he would return to the golf course, and at age 34, the clock is ticking on his quest to eclipse Jack Nicklaus’s records.

If there is one thing we learned last week, it is that Tiger Woods is just as hungry to achieve the same success off the golf course as he has achieved on the golf course.   How many world-class athletes put their careers on hold until they get their personal houses in order?  Very few if any.  If Tiger fulfils his personal goals with the same relentless drive that he’s shown with his professional goals, we’ll be witness to a remarkable transformation. We wish him well.

Tiger Woods

'Shall Be Done'

'Shall Be Done'

Do you know what Greatness is?

It was watching Canada’s Joannie Rochette, win the Bronze medal in women’s skating in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Actually, it wasn’t just that she won the Bronze; it was that she did this less than a week after her mother’s sudden death.

Joannie was an only child. Her mother was her biggest fan and her closest friend. She could have crumbled. She should have fallen apart. Most people would have. Even elite athletes lose focus and self-destruct from time to time like Dan Jansen did in the 1988 Olympics in Calgary when he was heavily favoured to win Gold and tripped during the 500m speed skating race; earlier that day his sister Jane Beres died from leukaemia. No one blamed Dan for his failure to deliver his best when it mattered most. How could he have? The Olympics are just a game and his sister’s death was the tragic loss of someone he dearly loved. In a recent interview, Dan acknowledged that it was not until years later that he realized how much his sister’s death had impacted his ability to focus that day. A focus he regained eight years later when he won the Gold medal in the 1000 metres men’s speed skating at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

For Joannie, no one would have blamed her if she was unable to deliver her best over the past few days in Vancouver. She could have under-performed and been completely justified in doing so. But she didn’t. She focused. And she did it under extreme personal stress while competing against a group of skaters that could arguably be considered the greatest talents women’s ice skating has ever seen in Olympic competition at one time. Japan’s Mao Asada, who was the Silver medal winner and the first women in Olympic competition to do a triple axel in her routine. Except Mao didn’t just do one; she did two of them. And, of course Korea’s “ice queen,” Kim Yu-Na took the gold while setting a new world record score of 150.06.

What does it take to be a champion?

Effort? Yes.
Talent? Of course
Desire? Yes
Passion? Yes

But most of all, as Joannie showed us, it takes mental toughness.

Congratulations Joannie for showing us what winning Gold looks like even when you take home the Bronze.

Do you know what Greatness is?