Executive 'Presence'

Toss a stone into a pond and watch what happens. The ripples move out from the centre growing larger as they swell before receding into the glassy surface of the water. There's something familiar and predictable about this pattern in nature. But how does it apply to corporate leadership?

If you are in a position of authority, influence or leadership those closest to you have the clearest sense of the motivations behind your actions and words. Beyond this inner circle, employees in your organisation interpret your words or actions without knowledge of your motivations, and therefore, without proper context. Here lies the greatest area of risk in communications.

How then can you influence the way you are perceived beyond your inner circle?

Executive presence. You know it when you see it. That elusive "it" quality shared by great leaders throughout history. The way they walk onto a stage as though they belong there; or into a room as if everyone is a friend. They are polished, positive, direct, professional and authentic. They look you in the eye, and they seem to understand. Not only do they come off as strong, confident and in control, they are wonderful to be around! When you're with a leader who's got "it", YOU feel strong, confident and more in control…inspired, really.

What leaders with great executive presence understand that we can all learn from is the concept of "the ripple effect". How a common sum of qualities and competencies that create this "presence" can impact hundreds if not thousands of people in your organisation…even if you never personally interact with them.

No one is born with it. Every leader can adopt the common attributes of great executive presence. Every leader can influence the way they are perceived throughout their organisation.

It's a simple as 7 key elements:

Substance - Whether in verbal or written communication, make sure your message and language are clear, concise, interesting, informative and intelligent.

Personal Style - Your wardrobe and grooming speaks volumes about your leadership presence. Make sure you dress in a polished, appropriate manner and set the standard for your organisation.

Physical Presence - If you've ever received bad news from someone who is smiling, you know how important body language and facial expressions are to clear communications. Align your non-verbal and verbal messages, and be sure to demonstrate energy, vitality, confidence and ease.

Vocal Skill - Like body language, the way you use your voice will dramatically impact interpretation of your meaning. Control the way others receive your message through tone, pace, volume and inflection. Maintain a clear, pleasant, expressive and confident tone.

Manners/Etiquette - Have you ever noticed how great leaders seem to demonstrate elegance, finesse and ease regardless of the challenges they deal with? They understand the rules of business etiquette, and they respect those rules. They are gracious, grateful, generous and thoughtful.

Listen, listen and listen more - Be receptive to new information, listen attentively and make yourself available. Encourage expression by engaging when others speak and listening without judgment.

Work Environment - Consider the impact of your own personal space - if you're suit is custom tailored, your car is a fine European model, but your desk is a cluttered mess, what will be remembered most? Your building, office and desk should be clean, organised, pleasant and inviting, reflecting your professionalism.

Executive 'Presence'

Flow (or 'Being in the Zone')

Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, “What makes a life worth living?” Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of “flow.” Flow is an oft cited concept in organisational literature today. This video gives a great introduction to the concept: 

Flow (or 'Being in the Zone')

How to Avoid Mistakes in Managing Traumatic Change

Turbulent times put leaders to the test. How people handle unwelcome surprises and unexpected blows to the best-laid plans can exacerbate a run of bad luck — or turn things in their favour. Traumatic change is hard enough without adding insult to injury. When crises occur, leaders need to know how to avoid the traps that make it harder to recover. 

Here are 13 common mistakes and some guidelines for avoiding them.

1. Pressure to act quickly undermines values and culture. Leaders take drastic steps quickly with no time to explore alternatives. Values about participation, involvement, or concern for people disappear. Cynicism grows.

Solution: Avoid the temptation to announce instant decisions. Find issues that can benefit from employee input and assign teams to tackle them.

2. Management exercises too much control. In crises, decisions get pushed to the top. Because top managers are rethinking everything, people below go passive and wait to be told what to do. Initiative declines; innovation goes on hold.

Solution: Establish short-term tasks that empower employees to seek quick wins, giving them a feeling of control over results.

3. Urgent tasks divert leaders' attention from the mood of the organisation. Managers are swamped with meetings and decisions. No one takes responsibility for assessing the impact on employees' motivation and performance.

Solution: Appoint a team of natural leaders to monitor the culture, take the pulse of employees, and coach managers on an effective process.

4. Communication is haphazard, erratic and uneven. Things change quickly, leaders are distracted, and it's not clear who has accurate information. Potentially destructive rumours take on a life of their own. Time is wasted.

Solution: Develop an interactive communications site to reach everyone with the same information in a timely fashion. Keep it going after the worst of the crisis is over.

5. Uncertainty creates anxiety. Executives don't like to say "I don't know," so they wait until they have definitive answers before they talk to their people. But people can't commit to positive actions while mired in anxiety.

Solution: Establish certainty of process when there can't be certainty about decisions. Create a calendar of briefings so that people know when they'll know. If there are no answers yet, say so.

6. Employees hear it from the media first. Aggressive journalists dig for information, and items can run in the media before employees hear about them — e.g., workers who heard that their plant was closing on the radio while driving to work. Middle managers look dumb and uninformed. Employees feel insulted and left out.

Solution: Keep the press out. Develop networks of employee-leaders to connect an information chain.

7. There is no outlet for emotions. Anger and grief mount with no way to express or deal with these emotions. People might start acting in strange ways, undermining teamwork.

Solution: Create facilitated sessions for venting. Teach managers about dealing with trauma and ensure that they acknowledge grief and anxiety.

8. Key stakeholders are neglected. Busy internally, leaders fail to engage other key constituencies. Customers, dealers, suppliers, government officials hear only the media's and competitors' slants. They get nervous and withhold support.

Solution: Manage relationships. Identify all groups that need to be communicated with regularly and devise a plan for reaching each.

9. It seems easier to cut than redeploy. Reducing budgets or people in equal proportion everywhere seems easier than taking time to reassign people or reallocate resources. Inevitably, strong performers are lost when they could have served elsewhere — including in sales roles.

Solution: Establish a pool of strong performers from areas with cutbacks. They might be able to help the business in another way — or be called back for special assignments such as supporting the transition.

10. Casualties dominate attention. Sometimes leaders want to do the humane thing by offering help to people who are cut, while neglecting the "keepers" on whom the future depends. Some of the keepers don't know that they are valued and decide to leave.

Solution: Meet individually with leaders of the future and show appreciation. Offer recognition for extra problem-solving efforts during the crisis period.

11. Changes are expedient, not strategic. Managers often restructure by removing the weakest or newest people, without regard to business needs. The unit does what it has always done but with fewer people. The opportunity for change is lost.

Solution: Identify a team and process to re-examine mission and priorities, to redirect activities toward more productive future uses.

12. Leaders lose credibility. The shock of crisis, lurches in business strategy, and performance shortfalls make top leaders' words less credible. Why believe any new strategy now? Motivation drops.

Solution: Make short-term, tangible, doable promises, and keep them.

13. Gloom and doom fill the air. Everyone is preoccupied with the negative current situation. They feel guilt about the people who are being let go. Morale sinks, and it is hard to find the energy to be creative or productive.

Solution: Show that there is a future beyond the crisis. Repeat a credible positive vision. Emphasise the steps being taken to avoid reoccurrence of the present crisis — how we're going to change so that this won't happen again.

Leaders make their own luck. In the face of traumatic change, it is important to take the time to anticipate and avoid the 13 unlucky mistakes. Learning better acts of leadership when change is difficult will help everyone get through the crisis to find better fortunes ahead.

For more, see - http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2010/03/13-unlucky-mistakes-in-managing-traumatic-change-and-how-to-avoid-them.html

How to Avoid Mistakes in Managing Traumatic Change

If You Think You Can, You Can

When you think that you’ll lose, you’ve lost;

For out in the world you will find

Success begins with a man’s will –

It’s all in the state of mind.

When you think you’re outclassed, you are.

You have got to think BIG to rise;

You have to FEEL sure of yourself

Before you can win a great prize.

Life’s battle does not always go

To the stronger or faster man;

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the one who THINKS he can.

Uknown

If You Think You Can, You Can

Holidays!

As it is the summer, we thought we would share 10 of the many sound business reasons to go on holiday — in addition to the fact that you deserve it and are supposed to enjoy your life and have some fun…

1. Going on holiday shows you are competent at your job because you can manage and plan enough to free up some time in your schedule, and not leave a festering mess in your absence. Not being able to take a holiday for years shows that your work and your team are so out of control that you can’t even be gone for a week.

2. No one is impressed that you have not had a holiday. If you think your company, or your team appreciates your extra-work ethic, they don’t.

3. Your team is motivated from seeing that you support and allow people to have a life — as long as you don’t send them email every day! Set the expectation you will be generally out of touch. Arrange 1-2 check-in points if you can’t stand to let go entirely, but don’t just go somewhere else and keep working.

4. Your team gets more productive when you go away. You give them a break from worrying about all the things you throw in their way when they are trying to get their work done. After about 2 weeks they will miss you and need you again, but in the mean time their productivity will actually go up.

5. Being unavailable is an effective technique for developing people. It forces them to step up. Just be careful not to un-do everything they did in your absence just because it was different than the way you would have done it.

6. If something comes up in your work that you can’t avoid and you need to cancel your holiday, reschedule another one while you are cancelling. This will minimise resentment and disappointment, give you something to look forward to… and ensure you don’t go too long without a holiday.

7. You will be more productive at work, if you step away from it and give your back-of-mind processes a chance to chew on things while you are otherwise in a good (or at least different!) mood.

8. You will realise that some of the things that you thought were important before your holiday don’t actually need to get done after all. When you step away, the most strategic things re-assert themselves and all the clutter drops several notches in volume.

9. Your company prefers people who enjoy their life because they have more positive energy to bring to their work.

10. You need a break whether you know it or not!

Holidays!

Condoleezza Rice Duets With Aretha

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined Aretha Franklin, for a rare music performance in Philadelphia earlier this week to raise money for charity:

Condoleezza Rice Duets With Aretha

Recovering from Adversity

When adversity strikes, whether it be loss of your job, an illness, a natural disaster or when you take a big hit that really knocks you off your feet for a while, how fast you get up again depends on a number of things such as: 

- How good your support network is.
- How solid your self-esteem is.
- The extent to which you believe that you can control your own destiny.
- Your experiences of overcoming adversity in the past.

If you want to shorten the time it takes to get back on your feet, try this:

- Ask yourself how it will look when you no longer have your
current problems.
- Spend time visualising yourself in that picture and imagining
how you'll feel.
- Do it over and over, day after day, week after week.
- List your strengths and past accomplishments and add to
that list on a daily basis.

At the same time:

- Set and prioritise some immediate, short-term goals to
improve your situation.
- Write a detailed plan of action for the top three, including
day and time.

Once you've accomplished a few short-term goals, you may feel ready to do some long-term visioning and goal-setting. 

Finally - and this is important - no matter how much you've lost, take time to help someone else who is struggling. Even the worst adversity can be used to learn and grow. 

Recovering from Adversity

3 Steps to Positive Leadership

In 2005, Jerry Krueger and Emily Killham shared the results of Gallup research that showed managers play a crucial role in employee well-being and engagement—but the research didn’t study what managers specifically did to elicit positive responses.

That’s why Margaret Greenberg, president of The Greenberg Group, and Dana Arakawa, a programme associate at the John Templeton Foundation, put the theory of positive leadership to the test. They wanted to know if managers who apply positive leadership practices have teams with higher project performance and employee engagement.

As it turns out, positive managers practice three leadership behaviours:

1. Use a strengths-based approach.
2. Provide frequent recognition and encouragement.
3. Maintain a positive perspective when difficulties arise.

None is an innate behaviour, but all can be learned.

A Strengths-Based Approach

There’s a reason why managers’ focus on strengths and weaknesses is so important. Most organisations are obsessed with fixing weaknesses. They conduct performance reviews, 360-degree assessments and the like to evaluate how well employees and managers are measuring up to predefined goals and competencies. Managers are instructed to look at an employee’s assessed gap and coach for greater performance in areas of weakness. But such assessments usually pay only cursory attention to an employee’s strengths. Performance reviews and subsequent remedial programs focus almost exclusively on weaknesses.

Focus on What Works

Too many managers assume that employees need to be good at many things, rather than excellent in the key areas. Recent studies have firmly established that focusing on what works, followed by a programme to scale it to greater levels, is a more practical and efficient approach to developing people and their performance.

Managers who take a strengths-based approach help employees identify strengths and align their talents with their work. These managers don’t ignore employee weaknesses, but fixing them isn’t their primary focus.

Greenberg and Arakawa found that managers who focused on strengths enjoyed superior team performance, as opposed to managers who focused on weaknesses.

The Problem-Seeking Mindset

It’s not enough to wait for performance reviews and project completion to deliver feedback. Praise must be frequent, ongoing and specific to current behaviours—not vague or general.

Sadly, we’re predisposed to look for the negative: in ourselves, in others and for external events. We rarely scan our environment and ask:

• “What’s working right now… and how can we do more of it?”
• Instead, we look around and ask: “What’s broken—and how can we fix it?”

The problem-seeking mindset is one of the brain’s shortcomings, while also serving as a protective device to spare us from danger and making mistakes.

In Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Dan and Chip Heath write about “finding the bright spots” in our work and lives. After extensive research, the two business school professors have documented how we’re wired to focus on bad over good.

It’s no wonder performance reviews and feedback are usually aimed at what’s not working. Yet, some successful individuals can override this brain tendency and focus on the positive, at least enough to create successful relationships both at work and home.

John Gottman, a psychologist who studies marital conversations, finds that couples who sustain long-term marriages use language that reflects five times more positive statements than negative ones. In fact, he calls this “the magic ratio” and claims it will accurately predict if a marriage will last. He urges managers to use a ratio of 5:1 positive statements in conversations with employees.

When Things Go Wrong

Managing long-term, multimillion-dollar projects that involve dozens of people and several workgroups is a complex challenge, and things are bound to go wrong. How managers respond to problems has a direct and measurable impact on both the employees and the project.

Researchers Greenberg and Arakawa asked employees:

• “When a problem crops up on my project, is my project manager able to help me come up with solutions?”
• “What steps does your project manager take when such a problem arises?”

Here’s what they found:

• Managers who maintain a positive perspective don’t turn setbacks into catastrophes.
• They don’t fly off the handle; they control their emotions.
• They recognise what’s within their sphere of influence (and what’s not).
• They see and discuss the problem as an opportunity.
• They provide a solution-oriented perspective

Greenberg and Arakawa also discovered that managers who maintained a positive perspective when things went awry experienced greater project performance. Managers who scored in the top quartile for positive perspective (as reported by their employees, not self-report) had significantly higher project performance than those in the bottom quartile.

Reflect on how you as a manager and leader can implement positive leadership by practicing these behaviours:

1.      Focus on and work with people’s strengths.

2.      Improve the frequency with which you give praise and recognition.

3.      Respond with a positive, solutions-orientation when the going gets rough.

3 Steps to Positive Leadership

Gary Player's 10 Commandments

Gary Player is a legend in his own time. The most successful international golfer of all time, Player has achieved the kind of worldwide acclaim reserved for only a handful of sporting greats. He is, quite simply, world class. Gary Player is renowned as much for his dedication to the principles of excellence as he is for his golfing accomplishments. He is recognised worldwide as an uncompromising perfectionist who settles for nothing but the best. His impeccable set of values, stringent regimen of health and fitness, and insistence on quality, have earned him admiration the world over.

Gary has lived his life based on the following commandments, enabling him to realise success achieved by very few:

1. Change is the price of survival.
2. Everything in business is negotiable, except quality.
3. A promise made is a debt incurred.
4. For all we take in life we must pay.
5. Persistence and common sense are more important than intelligence.
6. The fox fears not the man who boasts by night but the man who rises early in the morning.
7. Accept the advice of the man who loves you, though you like it not at present.
8. Trust instinct to the end, though you cannot render any reason.
9. The heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but that while their companions slept were toiling upward in the night.
10. There is no substitute for personal contact.

Gary Player's 10 Commandments

Are You in Denial?

Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face---and What to Do About It is the unconscious determination that a certain reality is too terrible to contemplate, so therefore it cannot be true. We see it everywhere, from the alcoholic who swears he's just a social drinker to the president who declares "mission accomplished" when it isn't. In the business world, countless companies get stuck in denial while their challenges escalate into crises.

Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow tackles two essential questions in this astute diagnosis of one of the biggest problems in business : Why do sane, smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies and careers? And how do we find the courage to resist denial when facing new trends, changing markets, and tough new competitors? 

Tedlow looks at numerous examples of organisations crippled by denial, including Ford in the era of the Model T and Coca-Cola with its abortive attempt to change its formula. He also explores other companies, such as Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and DuPont, that avoided catastrophe by dealing with harsh realities head-on.

Tedlow identifies the leadership skills that are essential to spotting the early signs of denial and taking the actions required to overcome it.

Are You in Denial?

Applying Leadership Lessons in a Crisis

The panellists in this Harvard Business School video reflect on important leadership lessons they have learned and how to apply these lessons in times of crisis -
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala Chairman & CEO, Ayala Corporation;
Jamie Dimon Chairman & CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Company;
Orit Gadiesh Chairman and CEO, Bain & Company, Inc.;
G. Richard Wagoner Chairman and CEO, General Motors Corporation.

Applying Leadership Lessons in a Crisis

Thinking of Leading? Think About Winning First!

As a 34-year veteran of the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, Pradeep Pant, President of Kraft Foods Asia Pacific, can say quite convincingly that he knows the key to successful leadership.

The magic lies in a “winning mindset”: a trait that can make all the difference between making profits or suffering losses under trying business conditions. Pant says that it was this “winning mindset” that helped turnaround Kraft Foods' Asia Pacific business.

Kraft Foods made the news recently when it launched a US$19.5 billion takeover of Cadbury PLC, the British sweet maker famous for its iconic purple-wrapped chocolates. This was barely three years after the US$7 billion acquisition of Group Danone’s global packaged baked-goods business. Clearly, Kraft Foods is not a humble company merely selling cheese. Rather, it is one of the largest food manufacturers around.

Today, Kraft Foods' products can be found on the shelves of supermarkets and grocery shops in 160 countries. In its stable, a line up of 11 “billion-dollar brands” like Nabisco, Oreo, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Maxwell House, and of course, now Cadbury, as well as dozens other in the “hundred million brands” category.

Naturally, within such a sprawling business organisation, it would be impossible for every cylinder to be firing at the same speed all the time. While emerging markets are a critical engine of growth for Kraft Foods today, the Asia Pacific division was struggling with low to flat growth between 2001 and 2007. However, around 2007 onwards, three major "change" factors came together. First, there was a global reorganisation led by Kraft Foods' CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, to move decision-making closer to the local consumers and customers. Next, Kraft Foods acquired the Danone biscuit portfolio and finally, new leaders, like Pant, were brought in. Since 2008, operating profits have been growing at double digit rates – despite the recent economic downturn.

From a regional business unit with relatively sluggish top line growth, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific has since taken the mantle of the company's growth engine. The Asia Pacific business now boasts approximately 6,400 employees across 15 markets, 21 manufacturing plants in eight countries around the region, and eight research and development centres.

Pant, who took on the job in January 2008, said what drove the turnaround were: a clear strategic focus where they can win, consumer insights-based innovation, powerful integrated marketing initiative, aggressive in-market execution, and heavy investment in people.

But all these would not have worked without the willingness to get into the mindsets, “we will be leaders" and "we will win”.

To win, it is necessary to focus. In many organisations, the focus is on the core business. Focus means knowing what you want. But it is useless to know what you want if you cannot articulate it, for you will not be able to formulate a robust plan and steer your team or organisation towards your vision.

Focus also means concentrating on one task at a time. Gillette, where Pant worked his way up over 20 years to become President for Asia Pacific, is one good example. When the operations underperformed in 1999, the company came up with a recovery plan. While many other companies might have rushed to react to changes in the market, Gillette stayed the course, tackling the issues one by one. This approach became the foundation of the organisation’s successful turnaround.

In a highly competitive marketplace, companies may feel compelled to be ‘everything to every customer’, and ‘doing everything everywhere’, Pant said. But to do well, it is better to stick to a clear strategic focus. He suggests that organisations ask themselves two questions: "What do I want?" and "What do I not want?"

In order to win, certain attitudes have to be adopted. For example, to master the business environment, one must first be the master of oneself, Pant said. Start by being self-aware. Ask yourself: Who am I? What are my values? What are my weaknesses and how do I fix them? The art of self-control is important as well. “If you can’t control your weaknesses, you can’t control other things,” Pant noted. Old ingrained habits will require time to break, so try instilling discipline in small doses, he advised. For example, if you want to start a morning exercise regimen, start by waking up on time everyday for the first week, before easing into the exercise. The trick to lasting changes, he said, is to do it in small steps. 


Mastery over oneself also means being genuine and real. Many people often put on a front to impress others. However, the real self will show gradually. So, be yourself and let people see you genuinely for who you are. “Nobody, including me, can act well enough to fool people all the time,” he added.

Pant, whose turf includes a diverse mix of markets with different characteristics and cultural nuances, encourages adaptability – so as to draw ideas and thoughts from different cultures. This, in turn, helps him to run the multinational corporation better.

Another route to winning, for Pant, is to think of opportunities in times of adversity. Citing the two Chinese characters that make up the word 'crisis', or "wei ji" he noted that 'wei' represents danger, whilst 'ji' stands for opportunity. So these are two ways to look at a crisis.

During the global economic downturn last year, as most other companies cut back on spending and shelved expansion plans, Kraft Asia Pacific went the other way. It maintained its prices, its product quality and marketing spend. They saw results very quickly, further confirming that the decision to stay the course was the right one.

Next, leaders need to realise that a winning mindset will do no good if there is no one to put the ideas into actual use. Unlike fixed assets, human assets need not be depreciated, he said. In fact, if there is an asset that appreciates all the time, it is people.

Pant's advice for any company is to help every staff maximise his or her potential, and make winners out of every one of them. At Kraft Foods', it is the strong belief in people – the aggressive investment in people through development and training – that has played a key role in turning it around, he added.

Winners never achieve success by staying put within their self-imposed boundaries. They need to be innovative; they need to take risks.

Innovation and risk-taking starts with listening to the customers’ needs, said Pant. One example is consumer research on Tang, a drink that is usually drunk cold in the US, is consumed as a hot drink in China. Oreo, one of the company’s best-selling cookies, was not well received in China until the less-sweet version was launched. With this version, Oreo became the number one cookie in China. In contrast, Oreo sold in Indonesia, is sweeter. “Ultimately, consumers are the bedrock of understanding the product,” he said.

With insights from customers or targeted audiences, Pant suggests delivering solutions in ways that are unique and exciting. One example he shared was from his Gillette days, when he gave salespersons silver recognition medals not after they achieved their targets, but before they set out to do so. He pointed out that the last thing someone wants to do is to return a silver medal because they didn’t deliver what was committed. The task is to find out what makes people tick. If you do well, celebrate. “Reward yourself with a small celebration for small achievements, and a big celebration for big achievements,” said Pant. But more importantly, strike a happy balance between contributing, learning and having fun at work. After all, we spend the longest part of our waking life at work.

For more, see - http://knowledge.smu.edu.sg/article.cfm?articleid=1273

Thinking of Leading? Think About Winning First!

How (Not) to Lead in a Crisis

Tony Hayward, ex ceo of BP, must have studied management in a parallel universe, where a set of anti-rules for bad leadership are taught. Here are some of these anti-rules:

Deny and minimise problems. Drop any mention of the high-minded principles you announced at the beginning of your term, such as safety and a culture that puts people first. Sweep them under the rug as you play down the significance of the crisis. Or better yet, find someone else to blame — a supplier, a business partner, a lowly employee or two.

Emphasise your own power and importance. Keep yourself front and centre all the time. Rarely bring forward the rest of the team, nor even indicate that it's a team effort.

Make the story all about you. Talk about your heavy burdens and the costs to your life. When forced to acknowledge the true victims, pay lip service.

Never apologise, and don't even pretend to learn from your mistakes. Brush off public disapproval, and persist in the same mindless behaviour that provoked criticism in the first place.

Hang onto your job even when it's clear you should go, in order to negotiate the highest severance package, whether you deserve it or not. Don't even consider a deferred resignation to allow for smooth transition. Cling to power, and keep everyone guessing to the very end.

How (Not) to Lead in a Crisis

The Importance of Ethics and Values in Business Leadership

Don Soderquist is the founding executive of The Soderquist Centre for Leadership and Ethics and former chief operating officer of Wal-Mart.

Here are some of his insights on the importance of ethics and values in business leadership:

• Values are really the filters through which we process the decisions that we make — and it’s extremely important that we have good filters. Problems arise when not everyone has the same filters.

• If values are touted at your company but not put into practice, it’s even worse than if you hadn’t mentioned them in the first place. It is in the acting out of our values on a day-to-day basis that they become alive.

• Among the key business values are: trust, integrity and a focus on customer satisfaction. Integrity is at the top of the list.

The Importance of Ethics and Values in Business Leadership

Positive Leadership™ Values-Based Strategic Planning

What defines our strategic planning process is our emphasis on helping you develop a robust plan built around the values of Positive Leadership™.  

Values + Strategy = Results (Even Under Pressure)

In addition, we not only help you develop a robust strategic plan, but we advise you on how best to integrate it into your organisation’s everyday operations so that the plan is accomplished. The result of our process is that your plan will help you embed Positive Leadership™ values throughout your organisation and consistently deliver increased revenue, enhanced productivity, and greater execution company wide.

A Positive Leadership™ Values-Based Strategic Plan is a road map to lead an organisation from where it is today to where it wants to be in 3-5 years. The success of our approach is measured by the level of execution and support throughout the organisation.

For further information on our approach, please contact: graham.watson@positiveleadership.co.uk

Positive Leadership™ Values-Based Strategic Planning

Attributes of Great Leaders

If you were to compile a checklist of attributes for great leaders, it would certainly include the following:

Visionary? Check. JFK's powerful vision of "We will put a man on the moon by the end of a decade" is a classic example of great leadership through a compelling vision.

Great communication skills? Check. Ronald Reagan's ability to inspire others through passionate oratory earned him the moniker "The Great Communicator."

Focus? Check. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln saved a nation (and changed the world) with his relentless focus on keeping the United States whole.

Courage under fire? Check. When things looked their bleakest for Britain in the early days of WWII, Winston Churchill rallied the country with his personal courage and bulldog tenacity.

Personable? Check. Despite his other character flaws, Bill Clinton had a charm and charisma that attracted people to him in droves.

Strategic thinker? Check. The business landscape is full of great strategists who have guided their organisations to positions of market leadership. Steve Jobs of Apple. Gordon Moore of Intel, to name a few. If you asked people which of these is most important for a leader to have, many - at least those in the business world - would probably say strategic thinker. With so many competitors in every market and with change happening in the blink of an eye, it takes a great strategy to come out ahead. It takes someone who can look around, make new connections, and connect the dots faster.

But creating a winning strategy is only half the battle. In fact, it may be the easier part. Leading effectively in today's business environment requires the ability to think strategically and to implement according to that strategy. And that's where many leaders and entire organisations are falling short.

The  number 1 job of today's leaders and managers is constant focus on both strategy and implementation. This represents a huge difference from a generation ago, when it often took several years for a good strategy to unfold. These days, speed, the rate of change, and universal access to information have created a whole new set of demands that require your daily attention.

The key is to balance your energy and attention across strategy and execution. Find a tool (or tools) that will enable you to develop the same sense of urgency around strategy and focused implementation that you normally devote to putting out all the "emergencies" that occur throughout the day.

To stay focused on implementation, pause for a few minutes and plan out your time for the week ahead. Segment it into separate activity blocks, such as collecting data on strategy X, hands-on work on initiative Y, feedback sessions, customer meetings, communication events, etc. Really think about where you are spending your time and how much of it correlates to actually achieving your strategy.

Review the percentage of time you allocate to each activity block and ask: Does this align with getting us to our destination? Am I ignoring or missing critical areas? Are there areas taking up too much of my time for the anticipated return? Of what I am doing right now, what will have an impact a year from now?

Spending all your time contemplating the future might work for think tanks and ivory towers. But in the business world, it's the day-to-day actions (communicating, providing feedback, realigning behaviours, recognising others, etc.) coupled with the strategic thinking and doing that equates to success.

Many leaders can come up with a winning strategy. It's the follow-through and focus on getting the right things done that separates the great leaders from the good ones. Don't just run, run in the right direction!

Attributes of Great Leaders

Helping Individuals Succeed

The Chinese have a saying: "There's a different length for all the fingers on a hand." You really need to find out each individual's strengths, to help them compensate for their weaknesses.

Helping Individuals Succeed

How Video Games Build Leaders

Stanford professor Byron Reeves on how online multiplayer games like 'World of Warcraft' are creating the next generation of leaders:

How Video Games Build Leaders

The Future of Leadership

Cross-cultural, female, visionary, and values-driven, Indra Nooyi, chairman and ceo of PepsiCo embodies characteristics that will be increasingly sought in leaders for a globalising world. In an interdependent world of border-crossing and boundary-spanning, leaders must position their organisations not only in the marketplace but also in a social nexus in which sectors overlap and societal problems belong to everyone.es-driven, he has been guest speaker at national events, such as, Scottish Mutual annual event, Countrywide Investments annual sales conference, PIMS International, Finance Directors UK 

The Future of Leadership

Positive Leadership™ Coaching

Central to the creation of positive, sustainable, high performance organisations is good leadership. 

Positive Leadership Limited supports leaders to become the ambassadors within the organisation, coaching others and perpetuating a positive performance culture.  Positive Leadership™ coaching can take place in a number of different settings, or as is more common a combination of settings; individual coaching, in a group setting with other leaders, or with their own team as both participant and coach. 

Positive Leadership™ coaching enables leaders to apply the principles of Positive Leadership™ to create environments where individuals become their best, people work well together in teams and with other stakeholders, and where teams and organisations build momentum in good times and demonstrate resilience in the face of challenge.

For more information, please contact: graham.watson@positiveleadership.co.uk

Positive Leadership™ Coaching

Building a High Performing Organisation

Here are ten quantum leaps (specific ways of acting and behaving) that build high-performing organisations:

Align the Values of Positive Leadership with Business Strategy: Do you communicate clearly and consistently the organisation’s key leadership values (what is essential for its success)? Do you make sure there are measures of success tied to the core values?

Sharpen the Focus: Do you communicate clearly and consistently the vision for the organisation (where it is going)? Does the vision communicate a sharp sense of focus and priorities? Do you make sure there are measures of success tied to the vision?

Lead Through Others: Do you make sure that talented people are recruited, placed in the right roles, and developed? Do you build effective teams? Do you manage effective meetings? Do you delegate effectively? Do you develop “operating principles” for people that enable them to work well together?

Manage Decisions Well: Do you understand the various types of decision processes? Do you communicate the process surrounding a given decision in such a way that everyone is clear on their roles and expectations?

Accelerate the Pace of Change: Do you build processes to share performance information and improve the performance of the organisation? Do you engage people in continuous improvement and learning? Do you manage change effectively?

Stimulate the Creative Flow: Do you create an environment in which innovation flourishes? Do you drive out fear of failure? Do you reward people for creativity and innovation? Do you search out people’s particular strengths? Do you give people opportunities to display their strengths and experience creative flow?

Spread Systems Thinking: Do you encourage people to use a systems approach to solving problems? Are you data-driven in your approach to solving problems? Do you help people overcome the assumption of competence? Do you help people avoid the substitution fallacy?

Communicate in 3-D: Do you communicate well internally, up, down and across the organisation? Do you communicate well with customers, shareholders, regulators, suppliers, and other interest groups? Do you have a message box? Do you mobilise new media as well as old media effectively?

Start With Yourself: Do you set a high standard for personal and professional integrity – and hold other people accountable to a high standard? Specifically, do you display high levels of passion for the organisation, honesty and honour, humour, and humility? Can you communicate effectively, using all each power of communication?

Help People Assume Responsibility: Are you able to alter your own behaviours to achieve higher levels of performance? Are you able to ask powerful questions that enable other people to assume responsibility and perform as effective leaders in the organisation? 

Building a High Performing Organisation

A Model for Inspirational Leadership

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

 

A Model for Inspirational Leadership

Mentors

What is a mentor? What is that mentors do? Can having a mentor help you succeed? 

These days, there are many sophisticated tools available to help those who want to be successful. But one of the most valuable assets anyone can have is also one of the oldest - a mentor - someone who can help you learn the ropes, find your way around obstacles, and chart a course that will get you where you want to go.

Just about every successful person, whether they are in business or one of the professions, sports, the arts, or any other field of endeavour, has had the benefit of at least one mentor. Very often, they've had many more than that.

Mentors are people who have achieved success themselves and want to pass along what they've learned to others. They don't usually tell you what to do - that's not their role - but they do help you weigh your options and think through decisions. 

Who are you mentoring and who is mentoring you? 

Mentors

Adaptive Leadership

Ronald Heifetz is the King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and founder of the Centre for Public Leadership at Harvard. Recognised for his seminal work on both the practice and teaching of leadership, his research focuses on building the adaptive capacity of societies and organisations. His first book, Leadership Without Easy Answers, has been reprinted and translated many times. In this video, he explains his concept of adaptive leadership:

Adaptive Leadership