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?

Values Based Leadership

"Humility is the one indispensable trait of truly values-based leaders,” explains leadership expert George Greenfield in Davis H. Taylor’s book, THE IMPERFECT LEADER: A Story About Discovering the Not-So-Secret Secrets of Transformational Leadership. Values-based leadership has, at its core, basic human traits such as integrity, humility, compassion and gratitude. These values are not so secret, but codifying them into a leadership philosophy is.

“I wrote ‘The Imperfect Leader’ to explore the ‘not-so-secret’ secrets of transformational leadership,” Taylor writes in his introduction. “It takes a leader who embraces a worthy mission, envisions a compelling, preferred future, and then leads from personally-held core values to engage and motivate employees to exceptional performance through values-based leadership.”

The book is appropriate for anyone who finds themselves in a leadership position, be it the upper echelons of corporate management or a small subcommittee, school, church or even at home.

The elegantly-written narrative acquaints the reader with Josh McCall’s plight: he is drawn to leadership positions and does reasonably well in them. Unexpectedly, he finds himself unemployed, humiliated and unable to provide for his family. At first he is insulted by leadership-expert George’s questions: “What are you trying to do, and what about you is standing in the way?” It does not take long before the two men are meeting weekly in a coffee shop to discuss values-based leadership. Through their discussions, George’s presentation and a meeting with a local business owner who successfully puts the values into practice, the reader gains an understanding of this common-sense leadership philosophy.

Interspersed throughout the book are the main tenets of values-based leadership to aid the reader in examining the framework of the philosophy. “Humility is the one indispensable trait of truly values-based leaders.” Humility is also almost impossible for the characters to define.

Nonetheless, the message here is that a good leader is not after personal gain and status but a positive, satisfying, encouraging environment for those they lead and clients they serve. Everyone must share the organisation’s values to achieve superior and transformational results.

Values Based Leadership

A Spectacular Failure of Political Leadership

'The events of the past week have raised urgent questions about the quality of political leadership in Britain, on the verge of a historic general election. The controversy about Gordon Brown’s alleged bullying is undignified: it has not only further lowered his reputation among the electorate, but it has also damaged Britain’s standing internationally. Yet there has been no sudden transformation of the Conservatives’ position in the polls; on the contrary, their lead is still showing up as a single digit. This apparent failure of leadership is perhaps the hottest single topic of discussion in Westminster, thanks in large part to malcontent Tory MPs who, as one commentator put it this week, are “torn between Schadenfreude and panic” and increasingly wringing their hands in public.'

For more, see - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7327012/A-spectacular-failure-ofpolitical-leadership.html

A Spectacular Failure of Political Leadership

Corporate Role Models Re-Emphasise Values and Ethics

It's hard to find many bright spots in the increasingly gloomy economy, but they're out there.

Among big companies, IBM and Procter & Gamble are bright spots. IBM's earnings have beaten forecasts; P&G has a robust business and has already integrated its huge Gillette acquisition relatively seamlessly. Why are these and select other companies faring well today? Because they made important changes well before the recession hit full force. This includes, for these two companies, a re-emphasis on values and ethics. This downturn's survivors will be the role models for a new kind of business practice that is more socially responsible, not as an add-on or after-thought but as a first thought at the core of its business operations.

Seeking role models - not just benchmarks - is one way to find an upside in the downturn. It's counterintuitive, because downward spirals or losing streaks tend to push people and companies to withdraw and become insular - like individual depression that might cause people to stay in bed rather than face the world. With a little extra time, or as a pause between bouts of hard work, we can look at positive models, current or historical, to find inspiration.

A time of cynicism and mistrust can be made brighter by focusing on heroes. And because every story of success is also a story about persistence despite obstacles, the lessons can be applied to one's own situation, as a source of inspiration and practical tips. One of the things that most heroes, both top leaders and individuals, have in common is their feeling of obligation to leave a positive mark on the world. They do not stop feeling it just because the going suddenly got tough. This stimulates their creativity, produces innovations that turn out to be valuable in downturns, and motivates effort, no matter what. Their work matters. Think about how Nelson Mandela survived twenty seven years in prison before emerging to become South Africa's first democratically elected president. He never forgot that he was the leader of a movement, and that others depended on him.

The way companies like IBM and P&G emphasise their social mission and get real work done can help build the foundations for a stronger economy.

Corporate Role Models Re-Emphasise Values and Ethics

Ten Rules of Good Followership

How does one become a good follower? This is a responsibility no less important than that of leadership––in fact it enables good leadership––yet it is often ignored. 

The nature of leadership can perhaps be best understood by turning the coin over and studying followership. Why do people follow leaders? If we can understand this, then we will be a long way down the road to creating those followers and hence becoming an effective leader. People don't just follow anyone. You can't just say 'follow me' and expect people to follow out of the goodness of their hearts. You have to give them good reason for them to follow. Moreover, it is likely that all of us will be followers more often than we will be leaders!

Here then are our Ten Rules of Good Followership gleaned from experience:

1. Don’t blame your boss for an unpopular decision or policy; your job is to support, not undermine.
2. Argue with your boss if necessary; but do it in private, avoid embarrassing situations, and never reveal to others what was discussed.
3. Make the decision, then run it past the boss; use your initiative.
4. Accept responsibility whenever it is offered.
5. Tell the truth and don’t quibble; your boss will be giving advice up the chain of command based on what you said.
6. Do your homework; give your boss all the information needed to make a decision; anticipate possible questions.
7. When making a recommendation, remember who will probably have to implement it. This means you must know your own limitations and weaknesses as well as your strengths.
8.  Keep your boss informed of what’s going on in the team; people will be reluctant to tell him or her their problems and successes. You should do it for them, and assume someone else will tell the boss about yours.
9.  If you see a problem, fix it. Don’t worry about who would have taken the blame or who now gets the praise.
10. Put in more than an honest day’s work, but don’t ever forget the needs of your family. If they are unhappy, you will be too, and your job performance will suffer accordingly.

See also, The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power. In this book, the authors write; 'The development of a shared identity is the basis of influential and creative leadership. If you control the definition of reality, you can change the world.'

Ten Rules of Good Followership

The Winning Mentality

'While evaluating international teams for CONCACAF (FIFA's regional leadership arm) in the Gold Cup, a tournament of National Teams, I was interviewing the national coaches from Mexico, Canada and China. They told me that what distinguishes the Americans from other countries is their winning mentality. The USA players have an enormous will to succeed, and it is very respected.

This mentality is a description of the strength of your psychological dimension. It involves your capacity to reach down inside and find your inner hardness. It's what happens when you emerge triumphant from any physical duel or combative situation. The winning mentality is partly optimism, but mostly it's a combination of focus, pride, competitive anger, relentlessness, hardness, fitness and courage - all of the most descriptive words for competitive athletics. This type of mentality is not about your skills or tactics. What it comes down to is intense desire. To get this winning edge, you need to build an indomitable will. This means you must be relentless; you must never give up.

What I love about this mentality is that it's not a talent; it's not part of a genetic code you're either born with or not. It's a choice, a decision you make to develop it. It is not an easy choice, but it is what is going to elevate you from the ordinary player. The question is: can you make the choice to be indomitable? Of course, having this mentality doesn't guarantee winning, but it's a quality that gives you the incredible strength, power and hardness that is an element in every consistent winner. You are already aware of our emphasis on one v. one at UNC. We use one v. one as the best training ground for developing the winning mentality. That's because it embodies all of the qualities mentioned above.

The winning mentality is the defining aspect of the National Team and UNC players. But that doesn't mean they have this trait as soon as they get here. Our players are still a work in progress. Most young players are. I can see this in my evening talks on the winning mentality at summer camp. This mentality requires a domination in both practice and games. The girls nod their heads yes when I'm talking about this, but I know what most of them are thinking: That's not me.

We joke with our players all the time (remember the importance of a laugh?). We tell them that we know women have evolved to a higher level - they know their relationships are more important than soccer. That's absolutely true, we say, but forget that for the 90 minutes it takes you to win the game!'

Excerpted from The Vision Of A Champion: Advice And Inspiration From The World's Most Successful Women's Soccer Coach by Anson Dorrance

The Winning Mentality

Winter Olympics 2010

Winter Olympics 2010

Winter Olympics 2010 - Moments of Excellence

Canada appears to have fallen far short of its goal of "Owning the Podium" at the Vancouver Olympics. How can leaders know the difference between a "stretch" goal that inspires people to reach new heights and an unattainable goal that winds up demoralising people?

Canada is hardly flopping in the Olympics. While their goal to "Own the Podium" is ambitious, there is nothing wrong with having high expectations. "Stretch goals" are obtainable if all the ingredients of success are present: careful planning, motivation, and a little luck. Even then, the individual or team still needs to make that giant leap to glory.

Demoralisation comes from feeling fear and doubt. It does not come from having high goals. Limitations only have power when one believes in the fears that give them life. Because of the Canadian team's high goals and their desire to not just win, but win big, many amazing things have happened that demonstrate the team's resolve.

Just a couple of days into these Olympics, Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada's first gold medal in freestyle skiing. The Canadian men's hockey team made it to the semi-final round after an overwhelming victory against the Russians. Joanie Rochette, just days after her mother's death, gave a courageous figure skating performance in which every second was just as powerful, emotional, and inspirational as the last.

These moments are what the games will be remembered for. Canada might not have achieved their desired medal count, but they have sought excellence, and are now in a different realm because of it. The Canadians are close to achieving the highest amount of gold medals they have ever achieved in a single Winter Olympic Games. If this is the result of having goals that are out of reach, then that giant leap is always worth it.

Winter Olympics 2010 - Moments of Excellence

The Power of Charisma in a Leader

Some people can to draw followers the way a lamp attracts moths. Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy had that magnetism. Barack Obama has shown it. It is far easier to identify than to explain. What is it?

The word comes from Greek, meaning divine favour, as true charisma can seem to be a gift of the gods. In the 1920s the German sociologist Max Weber defined it as "a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which one is 'set apart' from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities" that are "regarded as divine in origin or as exemplary." In our time, with brands and personalities exerting huge cultural influence, charisma is bigger than ever.


Corporations large and small recognise that success begins at a personal level, and they realise that charismatic leaders are valuable because they are the ones who can connect with others in a visceral, direct way, creating memorable, treasurable experiences. They also know that charisma plus operational ability can make for a very strong leader.

What does it take to be a charismatic leader?

According to Richard Wiseman, professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire you don't need divine powers to be charismatic. He estimates that charisma is half inborn and half acquired, which means you have to be blessed with certain qualities at birth but you also need to nurture and develop them. He says every charismatic leader shares three qualities: He or she feels emotions very strongly, excites them in others and is impervious to the influence of other charismatic people.

Here are some quick keys to being charismatic, or at least to drawing on the virtues of charisma even if you haven't really got it yourself. These are things people with real charisma consistently do:

Stretch the world: Charismatic leaders live as if heeding the old saying sometimes attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli, "Make no small plans, for they have no power to stir the soul." They realise that only an audacious view of the future will excite people and bind them together. They also make it a point not to restrict their bold outlook to one primary aim; they extend it to almost everything they get involved in. In every undertaking they push the boundaries beyond what is ordinarily thought possible.

Don't hide. Be seen: Charismatic leaders keep themselves always visible. They stand up to be counted in every crisis. They make unwavering efforts to motivate their people, whether by listening and responding to them or by working alongside them. Their constancy emboldens their people to go on, even in the darkest times.

Talk the talk: Charismatic leaders embrace every opportunity to convince others to adopt their vision. They make it a point always to speak in ways that convey personal integrity and engender trust.

Speak even when you are silent: Charismatic leaders send out the right signals through all their actions. They always appear enthusiastic and passionate and make others feel good and strong in their presence. They let people know that they matter, even if just by simple and subtle gestures such as upright posture, direct eye contact, genuine smiles and firm handshakes.

Charisma effectively deployed can have electrifying results.

For more, see - http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/25/charisma-speaking-communication-leadership-managing-inspiration.html

The Power of Charisma in a Leader

Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People

“I’m wrong!”

“I’m sorry!”

“You can do it!”

“I believe in you!”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you!” 

“I need you!”

“I trust you!” 

“I respect you.” 

“I love you!”

Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People

How Leaders Can Reap Big Results From Collaborating

Here is some interesting perspective from Morten T. Hansen, the author of Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results. He is a management professor at University of California, Berkeley, School of Information.

'Recently, President Obama strode into the White House Briefing Room, surprising the reporters there. He had just held the first of a new string of meetings — a bipartisan gathering involving congressional leaders from both parties...This is a good effort, but it comes a year late. Obama came into office promising to end the politics of division. A year later, it seems we have more division and less collaboration.

It's a lesson in how not to collaborate, and it applies equally to business leaders. All leaders and managers can learn from five key mistakes made by the White House:

1. Wrong language by the rank-and-file. 

President Obama says many of the right things about the need for bipartisanship and collaboration. But his team does not follow suit. Rahm Emanuel, most notably, is often making news with heated rhetoric, most recently when he called people with whom he disagreed "F—ing retarded" (and they were Democrats!). As I argue in my book Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results, how leaders talk matters a great deal. In a fascinating experiment at Stanford University, students played a game where they chose to cooperate or compete. When it was called "the community game," given the impression that it was about cooperation, 70 percent chose to cooperate. When it was called "the Wall Street game," suggesting market competition, 70 percent chose to compete — the exact opposite! Rhetoric shapes behaviours.

To get people motivated to collaborate, you need to talk the language of collaboration, all the time. And you can't extol it one day and then say something differently another day. The White House can learn from the example of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California who came into office callinghis opponents "girlie men." That rhetoric led to even more division, but once he cooled the rhetoric, he was able to get a lot done by collaborating.

2. Confusing delegation with collaboration. 

President Obama pledged to work with Congress; but he has been criticized for delegating major legislative initiatives like health care reform to the Democratic leaders in Congress. What's the difference? Delegation means letting other people do the work, with little oversight. Collaboration, in contrast, means that leaders are actively involved — they sit around the table, sweat through difficult discussions, given and take, and forge solutions. President Obama's relatively recent hands-on involvement with health care legislation is a good sign that he is rectifying this particular mistake.

3. No meaningful outreach to opponents. 

The Republicans have complained that they haven't really been listened to during last year's legislative meetings on health care. It's of course hard for outsiders to judge what really went on, but this brings up a vital point: real collaboration means bringing in all parties — including those who disagree with you — to the debate early in the process, and not later when many decisions have already been made.

To collaborate well, you must involve all parties in a meaningful way: invite people to propose divergent views and promote vigorous debate (some call this constructive conflict). Let robust ideas and solutions get a fair chance, even if you may not like them much.

4. No hard compromises. In 2006, when Governor Schwarzenegger turned collaborative, he and the democratic leaders in California passed major legislation because they made some tough compromises. Consider the increase in minimum wage to $8 per hour. The Governor compromised by agreeing to an increase (which he had twice vetoed before), while the Democrats compromised by dropping their insistence on an automatic adjustment pegged to inflation. They both made painful choices.

Good collaborative leaders have learned the art of compromising. 

5. Lack of a compelling common goal. In 1961, President Kennedy pronounced his famous "man on the moon" goal. It was a great goal because it unified. People set aside their own agendas and ideologies. For example, Wernher von Braun, a towering figure in space exploration, set aside his agency's cherished method to get to the moon ("earth orbit") and embraced a rival's method ("lunar orbit"), precisely so that they could reach Kennedy's goal in time.

Has President Obama articulated a "moon goal" for healthcare that can unite all parties, even many Republicans? Great collaborative leaders craft such common goals, and they lead people like von Braun (or the Republican leader John A. Boehner....) to set aside own agendas in pursuit of a compelling unifying goal.

Had President Obama and his team avoided these five missteps and practiced the five corresponding good collaborative practices, things may have looked differently today. But there is still time to practice good collaboration, for all of us.

Examine your own organisation: do you have compelling unifying goals that unite people from different units? As a leader, do you set a tone that invites collaboration? Do you foster real debate early in the process, reach out to those who disagree, and stay hands-on in major initiatives? And — when the process stalls — have you been willing to make hard choices?'

How Leaders Can Reap Big Results From Collaborating

Leadership Lessons from the Winter Olympics 2010

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver have already provided many wonderful stories of athletes resiliently staring hardship in the face, picking themselves up and turning in the performances of their lives.

These are the kinds of stories that fill those end-of-broadcast montages that send shivers up your spine and make you reach for the Kleenex box. Of course, those montages always include the heartbreaking near-misses and lost opportunities as well. Isn’t that what draws us so irresistibly to sport? While we know that we’ll witness extraordinary athleticism and thrilling performances, the tension created by the knowledge that anything can happen keeps us engaged and on the edge of our seats.

There are a number of leadership lessons we can learn from these extraordinary athletes and their coaches. What stands out most is the role that a team’s or individual performer’s coach plays once the athlete(s) enter the field of play.


Coaches stand back and let the athletes perform. They are not out there moving the athletes’ feet, pushing them down the track or holding their hockey sticks. They allow the athletes to perform unhindered because they recognise who has the talent. Similarly, managers who build their teams by selecting people whose strengths eclipse their own, and then allowing them to express those talents freely, will reap the reward of outstanding performance.


One of the best cues we can take from these Olympic partnerships is that if an athlete fails to deliver an expected performance, the best coaches do not berate and hang on to the team or athlete’s shortcomings. They recognise that the athletes are fully aware of what went wrong.


The best coaches support and encourage, helping the performers to regain their confidence so that they are psychologically prepared to face their next battle. Managers who focus their feedback on detailing an employee’s deficiencies will simply demoralise individuals and seriously undermine future opportunities for exceptional performance. Great managers seek what’s working and no matter how small the feat, they fan that flame to give the employee the confidence to keep going. Of course, they don’t ignore easy fixes but they frame the feedback in a future-oriented way: "Next time try this…" They provide ideas about how to improve and always include the employee’s ideas in the plan.


Finally, anything great that has ever been accomplished has been accomplished through the conscious collaboration of extraordinary individuals. While the high-performing individual can certainly impact certain outcomes, the makings for great and sustainable performance on the field or in your organisation are found in those groups of people who have discovered how to bring out the best in themselves and each other by virtue of working together and supporting the best in one another.

Leadership Lessons from the Winter Olympics 2010

Leadership Lessons from the Life of Gandhi

A Higher Standard of Leadership: Lessons from the Life of Gandhi tells us that we need to adhere to moral principles in all our activities, rather than using a position of leadership as a way to achieve power and privilege.

If we are to look for a model, an individual to benchmark for a higher standard of leadership, what better example could we follow than that of Mahatma Gandhi. While Gandhi was seen by most as an idealist, he demonstrated that he could also be a practical and effective leader. The author, Dr Keshavan Nair, a lifelong student of the teachings and life of Gandhi, provides the reader with a pragmatic guide based on three concepts Gandhi exemplified.

1. Service is the purpose of leadership.

2. Moral principles must be the basis of goals, decisions, and strategies.

3. A single standard of conduct needs to be employed in both public and private life.

Dr. Nair brings Gandhi's ideals to us in clear business terms without taking away from or diluting their moral or ethical value. As Nair says, "Everyone in the organisation, irrespective of position, can commit to one personal act of service every day."

Leadership Lessons from the Life of Gandhi

Leaders Need To Be Energisers

Harvard Professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter tells us why 'energy' is such an important dimension of leadership:

'Some people become leaders no matter what their chosen path because their positive energy is so uplifting. Even in tough times, they always find a way. They seem to live life on their own terms even when having to comply with someone else's requirements. When they walk into a room, they make it come alive. When they send a message, it feels good to receive it. Their energy makes them magnets attracting other people.

Just plain energy is a neglected dimension of leadership. It is a form of power available to anyone in any circumstances. While inspiration is a long-term proposition, energy is necessary on a daily basis, just to keep going.

Three things characterise the people who are energisers.

1. A relentless focus on the bright side. Energisers find the positive and run with it. A state government official in a state that doesn't like government overcomes that handicap through her strong positive presence. She dispenses compliments along with support for the community served by her agency, making it seem that she works for them rather than for the government. She greets everyone with the joy generally reserved for a close relative returning from war. I can see sceptics’ eyebrows starting to rise, but judging from her success, people love meeting with her or getting her exclamation-filled emails. She is invited to everything.

The payoffs from stressing the bright side can be considerable. In my new book, SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good, I tell the story about how Maurice Levy, CEO of the global marketing company Publicis Groupe, tilted the balance in his company's favour when his firm was one of several suitors for Internet pioneer Digitas. At one point in a long courtship, Digitas hit problems, and the stock collapsed. One of Publicis's major competitors sent Digitas's head an email saying, "Now you are at a price which is affordable, so we should start speaking." Levy sent an email the same day saying, "It's so unfair that you are hurt this way because the parameters remain very good." Levy's positive energy won the prized acquisition.

2. Redefining negatives as positives. Energisers are can-do people. They do not like to stay in negative territory, even when there are things that are genuinely depressing. For example, it might seem a stretch for anyone to call unemployment as "a good time for reflection and redirection while between jobs," but some energisers genuinely stress the minor positive notes in a gloomy symphony. A marketing manager laid off by a company hit hard by the recession saw potential in people he met at a career counselling centre and convinced them that they could start a service business together. He became the energising force for shifting their definition of the situation from negative to an opportunity.

"Positive thinking" and "counting blessings" can sound like naïve clichés. But energisers are not fools. They can be shrewd analysts who know their flaws and listen carefully to critics so that they can keep improving. Studies show that optimists are more likely to listen to negative information than pessimists, because they think they can do something about it. To keep moving through storms, energisers cultivate thick skins that shed negativity like a waterproof raincoat sheds drops of water. They are sometimes discouraged, but never victims.

An entrepreneur who has built numerous businesses and incubated others had a strong personal mission to raise national standards in his industry. He began that quest by meeting individually with the heads of major industry organisations, all of whom told him that he would fail. He nodded politely, asked for a small commitment to one action anyway, just as a test, he said, and went on to the next meeting. Eight or nine meetings later, he was well along on a path everyone had tried to discourage him from taking.

3. Fast response time. Energisers don't dawdle. Energisers don't tell you all the reasons something can't be done. They just get to it. They might take time to deliberate, but they keep the action moving. They are very responsive to emails or phone calls, even if the fast response is that they can't respond yet. This helps them get more done. Because they are so responsive, others go to them for information or connections. In the process, energisers get more information and a bigger personal network, which are the assets necessary for success.

The nice thing about this form of energy is that it is potentially abundant, renewable, and free. The only requirements for energisers are that they stay active, positive, responsive, and on mission. Are you an energiser? '

Leaders Need To Be Energisers

Leadership Trends for 2010 - If your business isn't looking ahead, you're already behind

Two results from this year's Best Companies for Leadership survey, conducted by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Hay Group, stood out. First, the Top 20 companies this year are significantly more likely to be primarily focused on "positioning for the future" than other companies.

The behaviour of these companies indicates they believe the recession is over. Their focus is on seizing the initiative as the recovery begins to gather momentum. These companies are innovating new strategies, tactics, and execution and are already working to gain a competitive advantage.

Secondly, there is a revealing shift in what the top companies value in leaders. In last year's programme, the quality that the Top 20 companies valued most in their leaders was execution—the ability of leaders to achieve results through others. This year, the most valued quality is strategic thinking.

Last year's focus on execution was a clear reflection of the turmoil that virtually every business had to deal with. In the teeth of the recession, with workforce reductions and limitations in resources commonplace, forward-looking companies recognised the importance and value of simply maintaining focus and performance with some kind of consistency.

This year's emphasis on strategic thinking suggests that, like an individual recovering from a personal upheaval, businesses today are taking stock: reviewing their options, rethinking their strategies, considering new opportunities and innovations.

As the recession recedes—but with reduced credit resources and different consumer and business buying patterns—companies are shifting their vision from the short to the long term and choosing to move forward with new strategies and initiatives that offer the greatest potential to impact top-line growth.

At the same time that they are shifting focus from short to long term, this year's Best Companies for Leadership are taking a broader view of what's important. The data suggest that the Top 20 companies this year are more likely than other companies to find value in being inclusive, socially responsible, and globally aware in their outlook.

This result reflects recognition on the part of leading companies that they are operating in a complex and every more deeply interconnected global system and that their responsibilities extend beyond achieving short-term returns in shareholder value.

For more, see - http://www.businessweek.com/careers/special_reports/20100216best_companies_for_leadership.htm 

Leadership Trends for 2010 - If your business isn't looking ahead, you're already behind

Athletes as Role Models

Why is it that more professional athletes seem to be struggling to maintain one key ingredient in their lives – integrity?

Days of Grace is the memoir of the late pro tennis great Arthur Ashe. The book outlines Ashe’s final years after it was learned he was infected with the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion during a heart bypass operation in 1983. Ashe was able to keep the illness private until 1992. He died in early 1993.

Ashe epitomised integrity, both personally and professionally. What would Arthur Ashe say if he were able to provide insight on some of the latest story lines in professional sports?

How would Ashe react to someone like Michael Vick being given a chance to resurrect his tarnished image in the NFL? It certainly helps that Vick has someone in his corner whose personal integrity parallels that of Ashe. When you listen to Tony Dungy, you see a man who gets it today like Ashe got it then. Dungy and Ashe are examples that integrity can co-exist in professional sports. Does Vick get it? Public opinion is still out.

What would Ashe say to gun-carrying Gilbert Arenas of the NBA's Washington Wizards? Several incidents involving guns and pro athletes in the USA over the past few years have fuelled public perception that some carry handguns around like women carry purses!

What would Ashe think of the soap opera that has become Tiger Woods’ world? It is anybody’s guess how the Woods saga will unfold over the next year. A billion-dollar image is now mired in alleged infidelity with multiple women.

Professional athletes who feel they are above the law or public scrutiny have been around for years in the UK and the USA. In baseball, home run records established by Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds are now tarnished milestones?

More professional athletes need to work on expressions of solid character and less on expressing themselves as a human canvas for tattoo artists. After the career is over nobody will remember their body art. Athletes are remembered for character. 

Athletes as Role Models

Preparing with a Purpose

The images are timeless:  the clock ticking down, the wild celebrations in the rink, the goalie wrapped in an American flag, and legendary sportscaster Al Michaels screaming the now-iconic line, "Do you believe in miracles?"  The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's defeat of the Soviets is one of the greatest upsets in sports history.  Disney even got in on the act with the release of its blockbuster movie Miracle in 2004, which won an ESPY as the best sports movie of the year. 

Thirty years ago today, on February 22, 1980, that famous game took place, which captured America's heart and made Olympic history.  It would come to be known as the "Miracle on Ice." But as Jim Craig, goalie for the team, will tell you, "What we did wasn't a miracle.  It was the result of hard work." 

This is Craig's insight  on that famous game, and on what US Olympic Coach Herb Brooks did to get his team ready:

"Brooks ran every practice preparing us to beat the Soviets, the best team in the world," Craig says.  But even before Brooks began preparing his team, he prepared himself.

For more than a year before the team roster was set -- even before he was named to the position of Head Coach -- Brooks analysed the Soviet team, studying their style and figuring out what had made them so dominant.  He watched game reels and even travelled to watch them play in Moscow and on the road.  As the gold medal winners in five of the last six Olympic Games, the team from the USSR was unquestionably the best team in the world.  

Before long, however, Brooks discovered that the Soviets' dominance wasn't due to a secret technique.  Instead, he realised that their success was owed to the fact that they could out-skate their competition at the end of the game, when the stakes were the highest.

From that moment on, his coaching philosophy shifted as he focused most intensely not on hockey skills, but on conditioning for his team.

"Coach pushed us harder than any of us had ever been pushed," Craig explains "But he did it because he knew that the great strength of that Russian team was that its players were in incredible shape at the end of the game.  They blew people away in the third period. We took that away from them by being in better shape.  We worked every day in practice to be ready for that third period of that one game."

Brooks' non-traditional approach to preparation was intense:  The US team worked out before games, when other coaches insisted their players should rest; they worked out after games, when other teams were celebrating a win or consoling each other over a loss.  When the moment finally arrived all that practice made sense.  As the Americans came out of the locker room, trailing just 2-1 to start the third period of that game 30 years ago today, the Soviets looked into their opponents' eyes and they saw no fear.

The rest is history.  

Even though Al Michael's line was a fantastic one that truly captured the emotion of the moment, as Jim Craig observed, the greatest moment in US Olympic history really wasn't a miracle.

Brooks did not push his team to simply practice the skills they already possessed.  Instead, he found where the competition was stronger, and focused his team's training on overcoming that strength.  They didn't just work to match the next team they would face, but they drove themselves to the point of exhaustion in order to beat their biggest competitor.  

Great teams understand that victory over their toughest competition is the result of careful and meaningful preparation.

The lesson is easily transferable to whatever your own goal may be.  Do you prepare with an eye towards the biggest opportunity you can imagine?   If you hone your thought-process and develop your practice habits around taking on your greatest opponent, imagine how easy it will be to win against lesser competition along the way.

How does your team prepare?  Do you do the homework to find out exactly what it is that makes your competition so tough, and do you follow that up with the necessary work to face it head-on? 

Greatness is not achieved simply by reviewing what you already know but by tailoring your work to fit the needs of each situation, and by understanding what is necessary to succeed in every competition.  Take the time to consider exactly what kind of preparation each scenario calls for, and then pursue that goal with dedication and focus.

There wasn't any other way of beating the Soviets.  Many other teams were just as good at puck-handling and skating as they were.  The only way to defeat them was to meet their level of endurance, and then to go past it.  Before Brooks prepared his team to do just that, no one else had been able to match the Soviets' conditioning.  Afterwards, every member of that American team knew that the late nights, aching muscles, and burning lungs had all been worth it. 

Remember, Greatness isn't something that happens by accident.  It comes about because of long hours and intense preparation.  The road to success is not always comfortable, but the result of that work is truly Great!

Preparing with a Purpose

What it takes to Win an Olympic Gold Medal

Team GB gold medallist Amy Williams' coach, the former world champion Austrian Mickey Gruenberger, was emphatic that, above all, it was triumph for the rider's skill and nerve – but there was no doubt about the value of her design support.

Gruenberger said: "If you want to win a medal everything has to stick together. You have to have the right equipment – you have to have the right athlete. You see in Formula One, Michael Schumacher is not able to win with a Minardi. It's quick but it is limited when compared to a Ferrari."

What it takes to Win an Olympic Gold Medal

Teaching Leaders How Not to Behave

Peter Drucker once said: ' We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don't spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half of the leaders I have met don't need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.'

What are some of the behaviours which leaders need to be careful about? Typically, they are transactional flaws performed by one person against others. They include:

• Winning too much.
• Adding too much value.
• Passing judgement.
• Making destructive comments.
• Starting with 'No', 'But' or 'However'.
• Telling the world how smart we are.
• Speaking when angry.
• Negativity or 'Let me explain why that won't work'.
• Withholding information.
• Failing to give proper recognition.
• Claiming credit that we don't deserve.
• Making excuses.
• Clinging to the past.
• Playing favourites.
• Refusing to express regret.
• Not listening.
• Failing to express gratitude.
• Punishing the messenger.
• Passing the buck.
• An excessive need to be 'me'.

The solution to changing behaviours such as these is relatively simple - leaders need to use their positive skills rather than expose their negative flaws.

Teaching Leaders How Not to Behave