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Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category
Friday, June 24th, 2011
Once upon a time there was a company in trouble. It was big company in specialty publishing, an industry getting killed by the internet.
So, the board, not knowing what to do, brough in a slash and burn turnaround CEO. He was formerly an executive at a big home improvement company. Within weeks of arriving, he fired the leadership team and brought in his former industry, AIG and Lehman Brothers cronies at the top.
His turnaround methods were less than humane. For instance, they fired a woman who was a division CFO, a 23-year employee of the company, beloved by all, via a phone call from NY, with no notice. A few days later, one of the new advisors came in for a one day visit, to follow up with the remaining team and check in- “is everyone alright?” Their response was effectively, “Umm, no we’re not. And you, Mr. Big Hair – you now have 25% of our effort while we’re all spending the rest of our time looking for another job.”
A friend of mine ran one of this company’s fastest growing divisions, a SaaS business that he had started and sold to the big publisher. His division had 600 employees when the new CEO came in, and it was profitable by tech industry standards, but had small margins compared to the old publishing/content margins. As a result, the new leadership mandated massive cuts in this division over the ensuing 18 months.
The division was reduced from 600 to 200 people- but only by outsourcing, offshoring to India for development and to South America for accounting tasks. Even what would be considered mission critical roles for a software firm were outsourced. (more…)
Sunday, May 8th, 2011
We’re looking a conference room full of 40 to 50 year old executives from all around the world, gathered for leadership school, the majority in standard issue khakis and well pressed shirts- corporate casual. And they are giving us that evaluative eye common when you arrive to address a room full of people. We’re here to get real, to invite these mid career professionals to share their untold stories and big ideas, to go out on a limb and say what the organization needs to hear. And we’re putting all their shiny faces on video. Essentially, we’re taking a few days helping people go deeper, looking for the treasures of their company’s culture and eliciting the kind of stories that would never make it into an ECM system but are the heart of the what it means to be part of the company, and tell the world (or perhaps just the leadership team) who this organization really is. (more…)
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Do you know what it takes to raise a child to adulthood, and then what it takes for them to make their strides from early adulthood to get to the point where they are mature decision makers in the world? Say, 30 years old?
I decided to do some back of the envelope calculations to get to an answer, starting with figuring out what has been invested in a person by the time they get to this age. Basically each person is a walking treasure, an immense investment by their families and the culture- and simply walking around with that realization has shifted the way I see each person. So, here goes:
The hard dollar costs of raising a person: In the United States, we can use some government data that says it costs parents on average $250K to raise a child from zero to 18. $350K if their parents made over $98K per year. If the parents don’t pay, the society picks up the slack. (more…)
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
If you call “your people” assets or human resources, you may want to rethink your approach.
True leaders see people, not replaceable widgets. Leaders understand the full range of capabilities, values, desires and concerns of the people on their team. Conversely, the commodification of people as Assets, Resources, or Employees dehumanizes them, creates assembly line mentalities, and dissuades people from giving their all to the work they are doing.
If you want enthusiastic, committed support, cooperation, collaboration and an ownership mentality, you have to see and treat individuals, not widgets.
Here are some ways that can show up:
- Stop the cookie cutter job design. You meet the needs of the individual, taking their needs and the organizations goals to heart. Often, it’s caring about how the job fits into the person’s life, and adjusting the framework of the job to support the overall life that creates long term loyalty and minimizes undesired attrition.
- You attempt to create jobs that use the whole person. Vary and combine jobs to tax and utilize the brain’s cross training skills and eliminate boredom. Overspecialization minimizes creativity and effectiveness.
- You celebrate the individual. See each person’s gifts, contributions and unique qualities in a way that makes them feel seen for who they are, not as a widget. Play to their strengths, and everyone wins.
- You invite the person to express their authentic self. Whether by default or intention, see where you are trying to have people fit a mold that makes the dominant group (the group in charge) feel more comfortable, and where you are valuing their individuality, their true selves.
- You love. When we see all people as their highest and best selves, as their full potential realized, they live up to the expectation. We move from a perspective of judgement and criticism, to one of wholeness, contribution and possibility. We highly recommend Ben Zander’s book The Art of Possibility, especially his chapter on “Giving an A“.
Cube living can already feel rather closed- like a person is not living fully. As a leader and a manager, sending the message- you matter, I see you, you exist- can make all the difference in creating a better life for everyone you have the privilege to lead and guide.
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