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Kim CameronLeadership Consultant

ExcellenceL E A D E R S H I P

THE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

MARCH 2010

“Leadership Excellence is an exceptionalway to learn and then apply the best and latest ideas in the field of leadership.”

—WARREN BENNIS, AUTHOR ANDUSC PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT

Positive LeadersPositive LeadersEnable Peak PerformanceEnable Peak Performance

Aim 2010Aim 2010

ConveningLeaders

ConveningLeaders

What’s YourVision?

What’s YourVision?

ExcellenceL E A D E R S H I P

THE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

PETER BLOCK

Convening LeadersThey are social architectsfirst and foremost. . . . . . . 3

JIM CHAMPY

Inspire CustomersGive them convenienceand economy. . . . . . . . . . .4

MARSHALL GOLDSMITHAND PATRICIA WHEELER

Mojo and YouRecognize the moments. . 5

TARA JONES

What’s Your Vision?Put passion and meaninginto the vision. . . . . . . . . . .6

TOM PETERS

Aim 2010I invite you to focus onsix key words. . . . . . . . . . .7

KIM CAMERON

Positive LeadersThey facilitatepeak performance . . . . . . .8

BRUCE ROSENSTEIN

Self-DevelopmentRecall what Drucker saidon the subject . . . . . . . . . . 9

MICHAEL HYATT

Leadership LessonsLearn these from MartinLuther King, Jr. . . . . . . . 10

KEVIN ROBERTS

Winning in 2010You need to take one offive ways forward . . . . . .11

BILL CAPODAGLIAND LYNN JACKSON

Where Did Creativity Go?Dream, dare and do. . . . .12

CARLOS RIVERO

While the Iron Is HotYou can capitalize oncrisis in six ways. . . . . . . .13

DOUG BERGER

Breakaway GrowthIt doesn’t just happenby accident. . . . . . . . . . . . 14

JOAN C. CURTIS

Teach and ReleaseTry this in developingmanagers and leaders. . .14

JIM HART

Team PurposeInspire people to be andperform at their best . . . .15

DENNIS HALEY

Military LeadersWhat can you learn fromthe military model? . . . . 16

STEVE HARPER

Who Cares?Promote a cultureof connection. . . . . . . . . . .16

BRUCE LEWIN, VLATKA HLUPIC, AND CHRIS WALTON

Emergent Leadership. .17

BETTY LAMARR

Feminine LeadersBuild and employ youremotional muscle. . . . . . .18

GREGG THOMPSON

Gentle Leaders. . . . . . . .18

DAVID MCCLEARY

Tea Party Sociology. . .19

DIANE ROCKETT

Leadership Excellence. .20

VOL. 27 NO. 3 MARCH 2010

End of the Ridge

After a steep and strenuous climb, two mountain goats

(like veteran leaders) survey the expanse of the clearing storm from the end of the

ridge, as if perched on a throne in a place where the universe seems upside down, as if gravity were irrelevant

as rock suddenly drops away into space and the sky

becomes an ocean.

TAKING A CUE FROM KIM

Cameron on the supremacyof positive leadership (see his

excellent article in this issue on page 8), Iventure to evaluate the current state of lead-ership and leadership development (LD).

First, let’s note that the LD field is onlyabout 26 years old, dating back to 1984—thetime when internal trainers and a few externalconsultants (Peters, Covey and Blanchard)realized that the development of leadersneeded to be more of a designed, systemic,and sustained effort that delivered measur-able business results. Yes, there was LDhappening earlier, but it was hit and miss.

Coincidently, this 1984 date coincideswith the launch of LeadershipExcellence magazine (we’vepublished LE every monthsince May 1984) and mir-rors the title of the classicnovel 1984 by GeorgeOrwell—a book about thetotalitarian regime of theParty, an oligarchical col-lectivist society where lifein the Oceanian province ofAirstrip One is a world ofperpetual war, pervasivegovernment surveillance,public mind control, andthe voiding of citizen rights.In the Ministry of Truth,protagonist Winston Smithis responsible for perpetu-ating Party propaganda byrevising historical recordsto render the Party omniscient and alwayscorrect, yet his meager existence disillusionshim into rebellion against Big Brother, whichleads to his arrest, torture, and conversion.

The terms Big Brother, doublethink, thought-crime, newspeak, and memory hole have sincebecome bywords for personal power andprivacy lost to the state. Newspeak languagesays the opposite of what it means by mis-nomer; hence, the Ministry of Peace dealswith war, the Ministry of Love deals with law.

Like many Newspeak words, the keywordblackwhite has two mutually contradictorymeanings. Applied to an opponent, it meansthe habit of impudently claiming that blackis white, in contradiction of the plain facts.Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal

willingness to say that black is white whenParty discipline demands this. But it meansalso the ability to believe that black is white,and to know that black is white, and to for-get that you ever believed the contrary. Thisdemands continuous alteration of the past,made possible by doublethink—the power ofholding two contradictory beliefs in mindsimultaneously, and accepting both of them.

Authentic leaders cut through and debunkdoublethink, not parrot or perpetuate it.Developing such leaders is problematicwithin the prevailing system, unless the cul-ture is one of straight talk and walk—rela-tively free of double think and speak.

RReeccoonnnneeccttiinngg wwiitthh CCoovveeyyIn San Diego on Feb. 1, I attended the

Training 2010 conference and there met withmy old friend and mentorStephen R. Covey, who Iserved from 1983 to 1995as a ghost writer, editor,and agent. He and his son,Stephen M.R. Covey, pre-sented back to back as key-note speakers. Clearly thisis a father-son team—thesimilarities are unmistak-able—and yet each has his

own voice and personality.I suspect that the State

of Leadership—in Americaor anywhere else—dependson such intergenerationalconnections and the recog-nition that at the end ofthe day we are all interde-pendent members of a largercommunity.

Hence, I lead this issue of LE with PeterBlock—the original voice on convening andbuilding community. He says that he is see-ing groups of local people coming togetherto pursue a common calling. “They havethe courage to discover their way—to createa culture made by their own homemadevisions, which are often underminded bycorporate, academic, governmental and pro-fessional institutions. Such organizations sayto us, “You are broken—we will fix you.”

Moral: As Covey noted in Habit 1 of hisSeven Habits, you and I need to be proactive inown our development as citizen leaders. LE

F o c u s a n d b u i l d o n t h e p o s i t i v e .

by Ken Shelton

Volume 27 Issue 3

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State of LeadershipE . D . I . T . O . R ’ S N . O . T . E

2 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

Editor since 1984

Stephen Covey Stephen M.R. Covey

7 Habits Speed of Trust

EEnnggaaggeemmeenntt IIss tthhee PPooiinnttLeadership begins with seeing that

every gathering is a chance to deepenaccountability and commitment throughengagement. It doesn’t matter whatthe stated purpose of the gathering is.Each gathering serves two functions:to address its stated purpose, its busi-ness issues; and to be an occasion foreach person to decide to becomeengaged as an owner. The leader’stask is to structure the place and expe-rience of these occasions to move theculture toward shared ownership.

This differs from the conventionalbelief that the task of leadership is toset a vision, enroll others in it, andhold people accountable through mea-surements and rewards. Most currentleadership trainings assert: 1) top lead-

ers are essential—they are role modelswho must possess a special set of per-sonal skills; 2) the task of the leader isto define the destination and the blue-print to get there; 3) the leader’s workis to bring others on board—enroll,align, and inspire; and 4) leaders pro-vide the oversight, measurement, andtraining needed (as defined by leaders).

These beliefs elevate leaders as anelite group, singularly worthy of specialdevelopment, coaching, and incentives.All of these beliefs have face validity,and unintended consequences. Whenwe are dissatisfied with a leader, wesimply try harder to find a new onewho will perform more perfectly in theway that led to our last disappoint-ment. This creates a level of isolation,entitlement, and passivity.

The world does not need leaders tobetter define issues, or orchestrate bet-ter planning or project management.What it needs is for the issues and theplans to have more of an impact, andthat comes from citizen accountability

Convening Leaders

TRANSFORMATIONALleadership is about

intention, convening,valuing relatedness, and presentingchoices. It is not a personality charac-teristic or style; thus, it requires noth-ing more than what we already have.

We can stop looking for leadershipas though it were scarce or lost, or ithad to be trained into us by experts. Ifour traditional form of leadership hasbeen studied for so long, written aboutwith such admiration, defined by somany, worshipped by so few, and thecause of so much disappointment,maybe we should stop doing more of allthat is not productive. The search forgreat leadership is a prime example ofhow we too often take something thatdoes not work and try harder at it.

I propose reconstructing leader associal architect—not leader as specialperson, but leader as a citizen willingto do things that initiate somethingnew. In this way, leader belongs rightup there with cook, carpenter, artist,and landscape designer. It can belearned by all of us, with some teach-ing and an agreement to practice—theultimate do-it-yourself movement.

Community building requires aconcept of leader as one who creates forothers experiences that are examples of ourdesired future. The experiences we cre-ate need to be designed in such a waythat relatedness, accountability, andcommitment are every moment avail-able, experienced, and demonstrated.

This “relational leadership”conceptmeans that in addition to embracingour humanity, our core task as leadersis to create the conditions for engage-ment. We do this through the power wehave to name the debate and designgatherings (not meetings). Most peopledon’t like meetings—for good reason.

Meetings are designed to explain,defend, express opinions, persuade,set more goals, and define steps––pro-ducing more of what currently exists.Such meetings either review the pastor embody the belief that better plan-ning, better managing, or more mea-surement and prediction can create analternative future.

and commitment. Engagement is themeans through which there can be ashift in caring for the well-being of thewhole, and the task of leader as con-vener is to produce that engagement.

The task of leadership is to providecontext and produce engagement, totend to our social fabric. The shift is tosee the leader as one whose function isto engage people in a way that createsaccountability and commitment.

In this thinking, we hold leaders tothree tasks: 1) create a context that nur-tures an alternative future—one basedon gifts, generosity, accountability, andcommitment; 2) initiate and conveneconversations that shift people’s expe-rience, which occurs through the waypeople are brought together and thenature of the questions used to engagethem; and 3) listen and pay attention.

Convening leaders create and man-age the social space within which citi-zens get deeply engaged. Through thisengagement, citizens discover that it isin their power to resolve something orat least move the action forward.

Engagement, and the accountabilitythat grows out of it, occurs when weask people to be in charge of their ownexperience and act on the well-beingof the whole. Leaders do this by nam-ing a new context and convening peo-ple into new conversations throughquestions that demand personal invest-ment. This triggers the choice to beaccountable for things over which wecan have power, albeit little control.

I add listening to the critical role ofleadership. Listening may be the singlemost powerful action the leader cantake. Leaders will always be underpressure to speak; but to build socialfabric and sustain transformation, lis-tening becomes the greater service.Such leadership––convening, namingthe question, and listening––is restora-tive. It produces energy, rather thanconsumes it, and creates accountabilityas it confronts people with their free-dom. In this way, engagement-cen-tered leaders bring kitchen table andstreet corner democracy into being.

As citizens, we have the power tocreate a complete life and an abundantcommunity. We are the architects of thefuture in which we want to live. Thegood life can’t be provided by corpora-tions or institutions. No great executive,central office, technical innovation, orlong-range plan can produce what acommunity can produce. LE

Peter Block is the author of Community and a new book withJohn McKnight, The Abundant Community (Berrett-Koehler).Visit www.PeterBlock.com or email contact@peterblock.com.

ACTION: Become a convening leader.

by Peter Block

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 3

LEADERSHIP ENGAGEMENT

T h e y a r e s o c i a l a r c h i t e c t s f i r s t .

car-sharing for urban Americans andprovided an economical solution tosuch problems as high cost of owner-ship, aggravation of traffic congestion,and danger of environmental damage.• Know what convenience means to your

customers. Know how your productsor service will fill a customer need.And what works for one group of cus-tomers might not work for another.You might need to use market seg-mentation, which Zipcar achievedwith its zone marketing. And if youare borrowing something already inuse elsewhere, make sure you adapt itto fit the realities of your own market.Zipcar’s founders knew going in thatAmerican customers would want 24/7service and wouldn’t walk as far asEuropeans do to pick up their cars.

• Push the product or service propositionas far and as fast as you can. Incremental-ism doesn’t work when using conven-ience and economy to engage customers.Zipcar built the most advanced tech-nology to enable customers to reservea car, locate it, unlock it, and drive itaway without hassles. Customers don’tworry about insurance, maintenance,depreciation, or parking fees; even gasis paid for with the Zipcar credit card.The cars are equipped with XM satel-lite radios and a voice-mail system toreport problems. Simple pricing struc-ture makes it easy to gauge the cost ofusing a car before you drive away.• Economy shouldn’t mean no choice. Cus-

tomers want to pay less while wantingmore. Zipcar manages to deliver con-venience for less, but it’s also learnedhow to deliver more choice. Customerscan choose from more than 25 modelsto rent by the day or the hour. Separateplans are available for frequent users

Inspire Customers

CONVENIENCE ANDeconomy are not

mutually exclusive.When delivered together, customersare presented with a value propositionthat keeps them coming back for more.

Companies that have grown 15 per-cent a year for the past three or moreyears share a set of traits: company-wide ambition for steady growth andstellar performance; intuition valuedabove tradition; focus on markets thecompany can serve best; decisions dri-ven by customer needs; risk calmlyaccepted as necessity; innovationviewed as everyone’s business; behav-ior governed by culture, not imposedby rigid rules; and, work is taken seri-ously but is nearly always fun.

Meet Zipcar, the leading car-shar-ing service in the world. More peoplewill pay a premium for genuine easeof use, as the expanding car-sharingfield attests. But Zipcar leads the fieldbecause it engages with customers bydelivering convenience that savesthem money. The 65 percent of Zipcarusers who decide against buying a carin the first place, or who end up sell-ing the cars they had, save an averageof $500 a month compared to car own-ers—and they can still drive whenev-er and wherever they want.

Zipcar has a quarter million card-carrying members (Zipsters) and 5,000automobiles in 13 major urban mar-kets. Since its merger in 2007 withFlexcar, it towers over the other 30U.S. competitors in the car-sharingfield. Its basic appeal is this: For anhourly charge of about $10, memberscan easily get a car when they need itwithout having to deal with the prob-lems of automobile ownership.

Zipcar leads the car-sharing fieldby knowing the rules of engagement.• Go beyond convenience and layered ben-

efits. A strategy of convenience mightbe insufficient to secure customersand keep them engaged. Customersare fickle and always want more. Butconvenience becomes a powerfulproposition when combined witheconomy. Zipcar saw the benefits of

and occasional customers. The key toachieving economy is to have an effi-cient delivery model. Few people runthe Zipcar business, and customersgladly do much work themselves. Anefficient business model also helps youdirect money to where it counts—suchas convenience and choice.• Identify potential customers and find

a way to tell them what you can do forthem. For Zipcar, this effort began witha demographic study of neighbor-hoods and expanded to concentrate onreaching customers where they lived—not by scattershot advertising, but withtargeted brochures, posters, handouts,and individual marketing efforts. Suchguerrilla marketing has helped manycompanies to succeed and prosper.• Broaden the use of the product or ser-

vice by engaging with new customerswho don’t overlap your current market.A proposition that has great appealand sustainability can find its way intomultiple markets. Zipcar’s cultivationof corporate members attracted much-needed weekday customers who putthe cars to use for more hours each daywithout cutting into individual mem-ber use at night and on weekends.• Look for natural allies who will bene-

fit from your success or who can use yourproduct or service for their own benefit.Going to market with a good businesspartner that shares your interest canaccelerate growth. City governmentssaw the potential that Zipcar offered toease congestion and parking problems,so cities have made it easier for thecompany to operate. Meanwhile, morethan 120 college campuses, clogged bystudents’ cars, have welcomed Zipcarservice as an alternative to adding cost-ly new parking spaces. And, through apartnership, IKEA subsidized a 30 per-cent discount on its co-branded Zipcarsto reward customers and make it easierfor them to visit IKEA stores. But youneed to take the initiative. None ofthese natural allies leapt to Zipcar’s aiduntil Zipcar showed them how theycould profit from the alliance. Alwaysselect allies whose business and socialinterests are aligned with yours.

By understanding its core users andproviding them with plenty of cars inconvenient locations as a cheaper andmore flexible alternative to traditionalcar rental, Zipcar has zoomed past itscompetitors to become a leader. LE

Jim Champy is head of strategy and chairman of consulting forPerot Systems and author of Reengineering the Corporation,Outsmart! How to Do What Your Competitors Can’t, and hislatest, INSPIRE! Why Customers Come Back (FT Press). Visitwww.JimChampy.com.

ACTION: Deliver convenience and economy.

by James Champy

4 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

PERFORMANCE SERVICE

W i t h c o n v e n i e n c e a n d e c o n o m y .

cylinders, and everyone in the roomsenses it. My definition of Mojo spinsoff from the great value I attach tofinding happiness and meaning in life.Mojo plays a vital role in our pursuitof happiness and meaning because it isabout achieving two simple goals—loving what you do and showing it.Mojo is that positive spirit toward whatwe are doing now that starts from theinside and radiates to the outside.

To attain Mojo, consider what youcan start doing to achieve more mean-ing and happiness in your life. That’sthe Mojo payoff—more meaning, morehappiness. It’s not just for organiza-tional leaders; it’s for all of us, and itapplies to all aspects of our lives—since people with high Mojo at worktend to have high Mojo at home.

I’m often asked, “What one qualitydifferentiates successful people?” Myanswer is always the same: Truly suc-cessful people spend a large part oftheir lives engaging in activities thatsimultaneously provide meaning andhappiness. In short, they have Mojo.

The only person who can define

meaning and happiness for you is you!Look around. Circumstances havechanged. Once secure individuals andmighty organizations are now vulnera-ble. And the challenges in our societybleed into our personal lives. Profession-als are working longer hours and feel-ing more pressure. With technology thatkeeps us connected 24/7, the bound-aries between professional and person-al, work and home blur. The quest formeaning and happiness becomes morechallenging, and yet more important.Now, it’s crucial to find ways of get-ting and keeping your Mojo.

BBee tthhee CCEEOO ooff SSoommeetthhiinnggImagine a company in which every-

one is the CEO. This is the philosophyof Marc Pincus, CEO of leading inter-net gaming company Zynga. Pincus isan advocate of people who want tostand out, be visible, and stand forsomething. We’ve all seen talented

Mojo and You

AFEW YEARS AGO, I ATTENDED A GIRLS’basketball game with my friend

Mel and his family. His daughterChrissy was the point guard for herhigh school team’s championshipgame. In the first half, Chrissy and herteammates could do nothing right. Asthey headed to the locker room athalftime, they were down by 17points, their shoulders were stooped,and I could see a couple of teammatesarguing with each other.

But when they returned from half-time, the tone of the game changed. Inthe first half, Chrissy’s team had beenconfused; now they were prowlingthe court with a renewed sense ofurgency and a little more swagger.You could see it in their eyes, and itwas evident in their play. Mel turnedto me and said, “We’ll win this game.”

You could see the change comeover the other team as well. While inthe first half they were operating in asmooth flow as they built up an enor-mous lead, now they were tense, bick-ering with each other, whining aboutthe referees, and turning more fre-quently to the bench, where theircoach was gesturing wildly and tryingto settle them down.

Chrissy’s team did, in fact, go on towin the game. Who can say why eachteam emerged from halftime with adifferent attitude? What I remembermost about the game was the momentwhen Mel turned to me and we bothknew that Chrissy’s team would dojust fine. We felt it, and our naturalresponse was to stand up and cheer.

TThhee MMoojjoo MMoommeennttThat moment is the condition I call

Mojo—the moment when you dosomething purposeful, powerful, andpositive, and the rest of the world rec-ognizes it. Mojo is about that moment—how you can create it, maintain it,and recapture it when you need itmost once again.

Mojo is when you’re firing on all

teams come into a game and play “notto lose” as opposed to teams that showup, take risks, and play to win. And, itis often the difference between successand failure.

Pincus encourages others to unleashtheir inner CEO by putting stickynotes all over a wall, with every teammember’s name on one, and chal-lenges each person to declare whatthey are “CEO of” within the compa-ny. Then each person takes ownershipof an area and becomes the “go-to per-son” for leading the charge.

This approach fosters ownershipand accountability on everyone’s part.Most people truly want to be on a paththat challenges and excites them. Andit’s essential to differentiate peoplewho are motivated, passionate, andengaged—those who truly want tomove the ball down the field and winfor their team, people who have Mojo,that positive spirit toward what we aredoing now that starts from the insideand radiates to the outside, the desireto actively create value and to spendtime in meaningful ways.

I (Pat) recently coached a delightful,energetic bank officer in her 20s con-templating her next career move. Sheexcitedly told me of two opportunitieswithin her company representing dif-ferent career paths, each with advan-tages and challenges. She asked myadvice on how to choose betweenpaths. I asked her to think severalyears down the road in her career andimagine what challenges she wouldface in each role, and where each pathmight lead. I also asked her what givesher the greatest satisfaction and contri-bution in her role and in her life so far.

In so doing, she refined her sense ofwhat it is about each path that excitesher and how each may enhance herability to create value (what gets herMojo working). She then interviewedher interviewers, taking an active rolein searching for her best next step to-ward a work environment that enablesher to be a “CEO of something.”

This sense of involvement, of beingpart of something meaningful, keepsyou moving forward as you navigate aworld filled with complexity, churn,and uncertainty. Ask yourself whatyou’re the CEO of in your role, andidentify those experiences that keepyou engaged and excited. LE

Marshall Goldsmith is author of What Got You Here Won’t GetYou There, and Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, and How toGet It Back When You Lose It! MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com.Patricia Wheeler is an executive and team coach and ManagingPartner in the Levin Group. Patricia@TheLevinGroup.com.

ACTION: Exercise your mojo on the job.

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 5

LEADERSHIP MOJO

by Marshall Goldsmith and Patricia Wheeler

F i r e o n a l l c y l i n d e r s .

listening closely to their every word!Leaders fail to ensure that performancemeasures are linked to the vision. Goalsare set, yet the leaders rarely definehow they will help achieve the vision.Employees are unclear about how theyare contributing to the vision, render-ing it meaningless to them.

WWhhyy IIss aa VViissiioonn SSoo IImmppoorrttaanntt??Since creating, sharing, and living

the vision in a way that maximizesimpact is challenging, is it worth allthe effort? Visions predict employeecommitment to the organization, anemotional bond that propels peopleinto action, and predict performance.Further, visionary leadership predictsvarious positive outcomes, includingindividual and team performance,

employee satisfaction, trust in theleader, and employee motivation. Thesecond-highest requirement of a leaderis that he or she be forward-looking.

You need to get your vision right!But what does getting it right mean?

Let me tell you about my observa-tions and experiences of two companies—one where the vision had a negativeimpact, and one where the effect waspositive—to highlight the key require-ments of getting the vision right.

In the first company, rather thangalvanize its people in a motivatingway, the visioning process de-motivat-ed them. The company, a large retailorganization, had recently made anacquisition. The acquiring companywas conservative, traditional, autocrat-ic, and slow in decision-making. Theorganization being acquired was pro-gressive, collaborative, fast-moving,and innovative. The leaders knew theyhad to develop a compelling vision

What’s Your Vision?

HOW MANY PEOPLEcould state your

company’s vision withaccuracy, without hesitation, and withenough passion and belief to inspireothers to be excited and motivated towork toward it? It is not enough to beable recite a vision—it must be livedin a way that enables you to achieve it.

How can you make your visioncompelling and come alive so that itfocuses your people’s energy towardcreating a desired future? Creating avision that inspires everyone to deliv-er extraordinary performance is diffi-cult. Underestimating the challenge isa common pitfall among leaders whothen make mistakes at each of threekey stages of the visioning process:creating, sharing, and, living the vision.• Creating the vision. Leaders create

a vision in isolation. The Board lockthemselves away behind closed doors.They fail to involve the people they in-tend to inspire and motivate. Leadersfail to ensure the alignment of thevision with the organization’s shorterterm goals and aspirations. The visionis so far into the future that people feelit is has little relevance to their day-to-day work and lose interest in it.• Sharing the vision. Leaders unveil a

vision at a launch event. The newly-branded vision is then distributed inthe form of wall posters, mouse pads,screen savers, and banners. People donot feel connected to the vision; it ismeaningless to them. Ultimately, theycriticize and ridicule the vision. Leadersdo not talk passionately about thevision, failing to conjure up the emo-tion and feelings that will engage theirpeople. The vision is communicatedby leaders in a transactional way, as aset of clinical statements about con-quering the market sector. This lacksthe emotional connection that willtransform behavior and ignite thedesire to turn the vision into reality.• Living the vision. Leaders fail to walk

the talk; their actions are incongruentto the vision they espouse. They forgetabout their visibility, and how every-one is watching their every move and

that would bring everyone togetherand harness their energy.

They made two big mistakes. First,the Board created the vision in isolationrather than consult with people in bothcompanies. And the Board was primari-ly comprised of members of the acquir-ing company. The resulting vision wasbiased toward the acquiring company.Hence, the new vision de-motivatedthose from the acquired company whofelt that their success, philosophy, andapproach had been ignored. Theybecame less committed. The resultingreduction in morale and engagement,which in turn lead to more turnover ofhigh performers from the acquired com-pany, hurt performance. By failing to inte-grate the successes of both companies,the new Board lost many of the greatpeople and things that had made theacquired company so appealing.

The second mistake they made wasto communicate the vision solelythrough one-way town hall speeches, atwhich a Board member presented thevision passionately, but in a preparedand polished way. In the Q & A session,many employees felt uncomfortableasking questions, and so left feelingunclear about the message, how thevision was to be lived, and how thingswould be different. The Board had notallowed people to discuss and makesense of the vision and what it reallymeant to their day-to-day work life.

An example of getting it right can befound in a global financial institutionthat had just undergone a restructure,resulting in much uncertainty andambiguity. The senior leadership team(SLT) recognized the need to updatetheir vision to provide a future viewwhich would re-engage their peopleand restore belief in the company. TheSLT ran focus groups comprised ofpeople from various levels to under-stand employees’ opinions about thedirection the organization needed togo, the future they hoped for, and thetype of place they wanted the compa-ny to be. Armed with this information,the SLT generated a compelling visionthat captured the hopes of employees.

They then shared the new vision ina way that engaged the employees andminimized their uncertainty and ambi-guity. The SLT delivered the usual roadshows, but also ensured that employeesattended mini-workshops in which theSLT shared their understanding of thevision, and explained what it meant tothem and how people could see howthe leaders’ new behaviors aligned tothe vision. These sessions enabledemployees to make sense of the new

by Tara Jones

6 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

PERFORMANCE VISION

P u t p a s s i o n a n d m e a n i n g i n t o i t .

resilience—that is, going gently in theworld serves the community andkeeps the heat (emotional reaction totough news) a little lower.

The third word is service. In mynew book I call leadership a sacredtrust, and I think it is. To steal shame-lessly from Robert Greenleaf, I am akeen fan—an adherent of servant lead-ership. Leaders work for those whoreport to them—not vice versa.

Word four: contribution. We Group1-ers simply have an obligation—apressing obligation—to give back andlend a helping hand. I live in an other-than-high-wage community, and Ideeply appreciate the enormousamount of time and energy my wife iscontributing as Board leader of ourlocal daycare center. (This is hardly herfirst major act of community service-leadership; it’s simply the one most onmy mind at the moment.)

Contradicting to some extent myGroup III mention, I am a strong adher-ent, assuming you’re not Bill Gates, ofsupporting (time, money) local effortswhere you can have direct impact.(Perhaps from local “fanatic” servicewill grow the desire to expand the

stage on which you andyour team now work.)

Word five is learning.The best way to stay freshand vibrant, and thenceuseful, in my opinion, is toseek new experiences andlearning opportunities.Like all of these words,learning takes thoughtful-ness (planning) andwork—though presumably

this work, in every case, should largelybe an act of joy.

The final word is my old friend—Excellence. I never get tired of it, and Ihope you don’t either. It’s a wonderfulstandard, a wonderful aspiration, awonderful way of life.

FFooccuuss oonn TThheessee SSiixx WWoorrddssSo my Aim 2010 is to focus on these

six words: resilience, thoughtfulness-civility, service, contribution, learning,and excellence. I suggest that all lead-ers do the same.

Doing so hardly solves major andimmediate problems, and for that Iapologize. In any event, may your year—and better yet, your decade—be oneof peace and health and energeticengagement and exploration. LE

Tom Peters is president of The Tom Peters Company. Visitwww.TomPeters.com.

ACTION: Work these words into your vision.

BY AND LARGE, WELLemployed Americans

are still “spoiled brats”who live high off the hog. And for allthe Great Recession’s pain, it’s hard tofeel sorry for us. Then there are thosein rich countries who are on the shortend of the stick, and there are manymillions of these folks. Then there arethe billions who live at or below sub-sistence—and millions more trappedin wars and natural disasters.

HHeeeedd SSiixx WWoorrddssIn my own Group 1 World, six words

are on my mind lately—and these wordshave high relevance for all leaders.

The single word most on my mindis Resilience. I expect my computer towork—and the rest of my electronicsas well. I expect my car tostart—and for gas to beplentiful. I expect safefood. I expect my two step-sons to make it home forholidays. I’ve got a genera-tor for the farm house thatI bought in a super-cau-tious moment and a six-month supply of meds thatmy doc suggested. I spenttwo years in Vietnam. ButI’m soft. I expect everything I need towork, and even small disruptions pissme off. I have no plans to become asurvivalist—though my Vermont farmis a good place to be in that regard. ButI do plan to think about “it” a littlemore than I have.

As I said, I planned to write aboutresilience even before the Christmasday terrorist scare. Namely because, asI parse the evidence as a non-expert, Ithink the odds are high that the next10 years will bring a major terrorevent, maybe another financial crash.So, I call for resilience.

The second word on my mindcomes from writing my new book. It’slargely about thoughtfulness and civil-ity. I think thoughtfulness-civility-grace-decency-kindness-appreciationpays off—Big Time—on the bottomline. And I think it pays off when youlook in the mirror or raise your kids.And, I think it’s directly related to

Aim 2010H e e d s i x w o r d s .

by Tom Peters

LEADERSHIP VISIONvision, in an environment clearly sup-ported by the leaders; their commit-ment to the vision was clear. Peopleunderstood where the vision camefrom, how others interpreted it, andwhat it meant to them individually.

The SLT also described how the goalsand performance measures related tothe vision. Employees asked how thesenew performance expectations alignedto and supported the new vision. Theyhad the chance to make sense of thevision and gain clarity about the direc-tion, relate it to their job, clearly seewhat was expected of them and theirperformance, and have the tools toachieve those performances.

Going forward, the vision was keptalive through continual reference incommunications and in team meetings.The high engagement ultimately in-creased productivity and profitability.

MMaakkiinngg YYoouurr VViissiioonn WWoorrkkHere are 10 rules to follow in creat-

ing, sharing, and living your vision:1. Create a vision you believe in and

that excites you. If it doesn’t excite youhow can you excite others with it?

2. Consult as many people from dif-ferent parts of the business as possibleto ensure that everyone feels connectedto the vision and responsible to achieve it.

3. Learn what motivates your peo-ple. Listen to what frustrates andexcites them. Ensure the vision tapsinto these motivations for people tofeel a connection to it.

4. Ensure there is clear alignment toKPIs, to performance managementsystems, and to all processes that willsupport the achievement of the vision.

5. Communicate the vision in a com-pelling way that leads people into thefuture, but is connected deeply with andvalues past and present successes.

6. Tell stories to bring the visionalive in a compelling and engaging way.

7. Ensure the vision is clear andsimple. Use imagery to paint a pictureof what the future will look like.

8. Give your people a chance to makesense of the vision and what it meansto them so they can make it their own.

9. Live the vision; allow your pas-sion for the vision to ooze out of you.

10. Align your behaviors with thevision; if you can’t step up your perfor-mance, how can you expect others to?

Now you have the key elements ateach stage of the visioning process tomake your vision successful. LE

Tara Jones, Ph.D., is a Principal Consultant at Lane4 Manage-ment, a professional services firm in performance, leadership de-velopment and executive coaching. www.lane4performance.com

ACTION: Put passion and meaning into your vision.

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 7

lective responses where organized actionis taken to foster healing and restoration.• Gratitude. Physiological health, cog-

nitive functioning, and performance atwork are higher when gratitude is fos-tered through distributing gratitudecards, acknowledging successes andgood things each day, gratitude visits,and keeping gratitude journals.

2. Positive relationships. Upliftingconnections associated with interper-sonal interactions boost personal phys-iological health, emotional well-being,and work performance. People whoexperience positive relationships havelower blood pressure, less stress anddepression, longer lives, and fewer ill-nesses. They are much happier withtheir lives, and their performance, pro-ductivity and quality are enhanced.

Positive leaders often use two keystrategies to foster positive relationships:• Positive energy networks show the re-

lationships of people based on the extentto which they energize (or de-energize)one another. Positive energizers createand support vitality in others; high-performing organizations have three

times more positive energizers.Positive energy is enhanced by model-ing positive energy and by recognizingand rewarding positive energizers.• Fostering a strengths focus means that

leaders identify and build on people’sstrengths and talents by giving them achance to do what they do best, learnfrom successes, and celebrate the posi-tive more than correcting the negative.

3. Positive communication. Thisoccurs when affirmative and support-ive language replaces negative andcritical language. To motivate teamperformance, the ratio of positive com-ments to negative comments must beabout 5 to 1. Positive leaders are farmore complimentary and supportive—not Pollyannaish or saccharin sweet—but negative feedback is alwayscouched in a context of positive.

Positive leaders enable positivecommunication by using two levers:• Reflected best-self feedback process asks

individuals to identify 20 acquain-

Positive Leaders

POSITIVE LEADERSHIP EN-ables extraordinarily

positive performance byemphasizing what elevates individualsand systems (not only what diminishesthem), what goes right (not only whatgoes wrong), what is life-giving (andwhat is life-depleting), what is experi-enced as good (not only what is bador arduous), what is inspiring (anddepressing), and what produces posi-tive deviance (not negative deviance).

Organizations are designed to fos-ter stability, steadiness, and predictableperformance. Positive leadership, onthe other hand, enables performancethat is unexpected, spectacular, andextraordinary—that deviates positive-ly from the norm and fosters highaspirations. It is more than just beinginspirational or charismatic—it enablesextraordinary performance.

Many leadership strategies facili-tate positive deviance, but here I focuson four that are seldom developed aspart of leaders’ repertoires:

1. Positive climate. In such climates,positive feelings and interpretationspredominate over negative ones; lead-ers affect climate as they induce, devel-op, and display positive emotions.Inducing positive emotions enlargescognitive perspectives and enablespeople to attend to more information,make richer interpretations, and expe-rience higher creativity and productivity.Mental acuity, behavioral competence,physiological resilience, and positivedeviance all are elevated.

To promote a positive climate, fos-ter three positive emotions:• Forgiveness. Forgiveness is relevant

when harmful or hurtful events occur—for example, downsizing, difficultunion negations, or embarrassing mis-takes. Forgiveness can be enhancedwhen leaders acknowledge the harmor injustice, associate it with a higherpurpose, provide support to members,and make clear that human concerns areas important as organization concerns.• Compassion. Enabling compassion

means noticing colleagues who needhelp, legitimizing the expression andcollective emotion, and organizing col-

tances and ask them to write three sto-ries in response to the question: “Whenyou have seen me at my best, whatunique value did I create?” The 60resulting stories identify the behavioralstrengths and unique talents of the per-son. These are then crafted into a best-self portrait. The result of this strengthsfeedback is positively deviant perfor-mance.•Supportive communication is useful

when delivering corrective, critical, ornegative feedback. Describe a situation(rather than evaluating it); identify ob-jective consequences or personal feel-ings about it (rather than blaming); andsuggest acceptable alternatives (ratherthan arguing about who is right or atfault). This enables you to deliver criti-cal or disapproving messages whilestrengthening the positive relationship.

4. Positive meaning. People associ-ate one of three kinds of meaning withtheir work—work is a job, a career, or acalling. Those who see work as a job dotheir work primarily for financial ormaterial rewards. Those with a careerorientation are motivated by success,achievement, and visibility. People whofeel their work is a calling associateintrinsic benefit, the greater good, andprofound meaning in the tasks. A call-ing orientation is linked with positiveoutcomes and superior performance.

To enable positive meaning and asense of calling, use these strategies:• Contribution goals. Goals tend to

focus on either personal achievementor contribution to others. When contri-bution goals predominate, the mean-ingfulness of work—along with theperformance—is much higher.• Articulating of a vision of abundance.

This emphasizes what is importantbeyond individual goals, and whatmultigenerational effects or broaderimpact can be created in the future.This vision is not merely an aspirationalproclamation, but its impact comes fromcentering on the highest human attrib-utes and potentials and on the benefitsto a broader constituency.

Positive leadership is associated withextraordinarily positive outcomes. Al-though leaders must constantly addressthreats, problems, and challenges, posi-tive leaders engender that which is life-giving, elevating, and virtuous byenabling a positive climate, positiverelationships, positive communication,and positive meaning—resulting inpositively deviant performance. LE

Kim Cameron is William Russell Kelley Professor at theUniversity of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and author of Positive Leadership (Berrett Koehler). Visitwww.bus.umich.edu/Positive/ and exceed.bus.umich.edu.

ACTION: Create a culture of positive leadership.

by Kim Cameron

8 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

LEADERSHIP POSITIVE

They enable peak performance.

2. Contemplate and reflect. Maketime outside of work hours for period-ic focused thought about your life andcareer. Drucker did this each summer,and said he was continually surprisedat how things turned out differentlyeach year from the way he thoughtthey would go. “Every year,” he toldme, “the things that worked are notthe things I expected to work. And thethings I expected to work are at bestnot failures. And every year I redirectmy priorities as a result of that testand a year later find out that I havenot lived up to my priorities but havedone something quite different.”

3. Practice systematic abandonment.Look for activities inside and outside ofwork that can be eliminated to makeway for something more fruitful. Aimto increase activities within your core

competencies (your areas of excellence),or that would contribute to your lega-cy. But beware: you may have to giveup some activities you enjoy doing.

4. Get outside your four walls. Makethe most of leisure opportunities. Youmight deepen your experience by tak-ing formal lessons or classes. Druckerincorporated his love and appreciationfor art, literature, and music into hislife. The people you meet in these en-deavors are likely to be different fromthe ones you associate with in yourjob, and will broaden your perspective.

5. Develop a parallel career. Startplanning this type of career, no matterhow well your work life is going.Things can change instantly, and yourparallel career (such as teaching, writ-ing, or working in a nonprofit organi-zation) can make all the difference ifyou experience a layoff or another per-sonal or professional setback.

6. Volunteer. Volunteering will addnew meaning to your life, as well as

Self-Development

IF AS A LEADER YOU AREto model best behav-

iors and best practices,paying attention to your self-develop-ment is crucial. No one addressed per-sonal growth for knowledge workersbetter than Peter Drucker, whose cen-tenary was marked in 2009. Druckerbelieved that the person who besthelps develop other people is onewho best develops himself or herself.

People most associate Drucker withbusiness and management, but hiswork extended beyond those areas.He wrote about self-development formore than 50 years. In 20 years of seri-ous study of Drucker, I’ve seen howrelevant his ideas on self-developmentare to leaders.

Central to taking advantage ofDrucker’s ideas about developing your-self is to design a diversified, multidi-mensional life with fulfilling workand satisfying personal relationships.But you must put in considerablethought and effort, as Drucker did inhis own remarkable life. He died in2005, at 95, after a highly productive70-year career as a writer, consultant,and teacher. In 2002, he was awardedthe Presidential Medal of Freedom,the nation’s highest civilian honor.Even though he was long at the top ofhis various fields, he never stoppedlearning and trying to improve him-self. For instance, for many years, hekept to a regimen of three years ofself-study on a chosen topic. In lateryears, he shortened it to three months.

Consider these 10 ways to developa multifaceted life:

1. Focus on achievement. Contin-uous improvement leads to excellencethrough self-motivation and self-direc-tion. Focus on what you can do in anygiven situation, rather than on whatyou can’t do, or aren’t allowed to do.Drucker told me that if you focus onachievement and leaving somethingbehind of value, you will never be fin-ished with worthwhile things to do.And if your motivation wanes, justthink of what tasks need to be done,rather than what you want to do, orwhat is easiest.

new challenges, new people, and dif-ferent types of leadership opportuni-ties. If you are not sure how to getstarted, check the Web for everythingfrom local volunteering agencies toCraigslist. Drucker had a simple obser-vation for finding these opportunities:look for an organization that repre-sents a cause you believe in, and thenmake yourself useful to it.

7. Become a mentor. Drucker wroteeloquently on the benefits of mentor-ing, both for mentor and mentee. Thisis also a way to recognize and payback the mentors who have guidedyou. There are mentoring possibilitiesin workplaces as well as within profes-sional organizations.

8. Learn how to learn. When it’s vitalto learn something, stop to think abouthow you go about it. Do you learnbest by reading, writing, listening,teaching others, or a combination ofsome or all of these methods? Druckersaid most people don’t go through thisexercise. He said one of the reasons heliked teaching was because that wasone of the ways he learned the best.

9. Become a teacher. Drucker believedthat no one learns as much as the per-son who must teach his subject. Considergetting into teaching, not necessarilyas a career, but either as a volunteer oras an adjunct professor. A valuableprep exercise to get you started is a“guest lecture,” in PowerPoint or someother organized form, based on thework you do, for an imagined courseon your subject. If you were to speakfor 30 minutes, what would you tellthe class about how your work is doneand how you would prepare for it?

10. Take the self-management chal-lenge. Go into personal diversificationwith your eyes open. Think aboutwhether or not you’ll dilute yourstrength by branching out into otherareas of life. You will have to practiceeffective time management to incorpo-rate new activities and people. Recallpast setbacks past and extract lessons

Not everything can happen at once,and not all of these items will makesense for you. Drucker believed thatunderlying your development was asense of integrity. He wrote, “The onequality demanded of you will not beskill, knowledge, or talent, but character.”

Developing yourself in a multidi-mensional manner would be a fittingway to honor Peter Drucker’s life andlegacy. LE

Bruce Rosenstein is author of Living in More Than One World:How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform YourLife (Berrett-Koehler, 2009). Visit www.brucerosenstein.com.

ACTION: Create a personal development plan.

by Bruce Rosenstein

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 9

PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT

L e a r n f r o m P e t e r D r u c k e r .

They are not passive; they are active.They are unwilling to acquiesce totheir circumstances. Dr. King contin-ues: “But we refuse to believe that thebank of justice is bankrupt. We refuseto believe that there are insufficientfunds in the great vaults of opportuni-ty of this nation. And so we have cometo cash this check—a check that willgive us upon demand the riches offreedom and the security of justice.”

4. Great leaders create a sense ofurgency. They are impatient—in agood way. They refuse to just sit byand let things take their naturalcourse. They have a sense of urgencyand communicate it. Dr. King says,“We have also come to this hallowedspot to remind America of the fierceurgency of now. This is no time toengage in the luxury of cooling off or

to take the tranquilizing drug of grad-ualism. Now is the time to make realthe promises of democracy. Now is thetime to rise from the dark and desolatevalley of segregation to the sunlit pathof racial justice. Now is the time to liftour nation from the quicksand of racialinjustice to the solid rock of brother-hood. Now is the time to make justicea reality for all of God’s children. Itwould be fatal for the nation to over-look the urgency of the moment.”

5. Great leaders call people to act inaccord with their highest values. AsNelson Mandela did when he becamepresident of South Africa, Dr. Kingcalled his people to a higher standardrather than resort to violence: “There issomething that I must say to my peo-ple who stand on the warm thresholdwhich leads into the palace of justice.In gaining our rightful place, we mustnot be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let usnot seek to satisfy our thirst for free-dom by drinking from the cup of bit-

Leadership Lessons

MARTIN LUTHER KING,Jr. was one of the

greatest leaders we’veknown. His 18-minute I Have a Dreamspeech is profoundly moving. Whilethe speech is a masterpiece of rhetoric,it also provides eight insights intowhat it takes to be a great leader.

1. Great leaders do not sugar-coatreality. This speech came at a criticalpoint in the civil rights movement. Dr.King did not pull any punches. Hefaced the most brutal facts of currentreality. Referring to Abraham Lincolnand the Emancipation Proclamation, hesaid, “But 100 years later, the Negrostill is not free; 100 years later, the lifeof the Negro is still sadly crippled bythe manacles of segregation and thechains of discrimination; 100 years later,the Negro lives on a lonely island ofpoverty in the midst of a vast ocean ofmaterial prosperity; 100 years later,the Negro is still languished in thecorners of American society and findshimself an exile in his own land. Andso we’ve come here today to drama-tize a shameful condition.”

2. Great leaders engage the heart.While logic compels the mind, storiesand metaphors move the heart. This isthe difference between offering infor-mation and inspiration. In the speech,Dr. King states: “In a sense we havecome to our nation’s capital to cash acheck. When the architects of our re-public wrote the magnificent words ofthe Constitution and the Declaration ofIndependence, they were signing a pro-missory note to which every Americanwas to fall heir. This note was a promisethat all men—black men as well aswhite men—would be guaranteed theunalienable rights of life, liberty, andthe pursuit of happiness. It is obvioustoday that America has defaulted onthis promissory note, insofar as hercitizens of color are concerned.Instead of honoring this sacred obliga-tion, America has given the Negropeople a bad check, which has comeback marked insufficient funds.”

3. Great leaders refuse to accept thestatus quo. I would say that this is thedefining characteristic of real leaders.

terness and hatred. We must ever con-duct our struggle on the high plane ofdignity and discipline. We must notallow our creative protest to degener-ate into physical violence. We must riseto the majestic heights of meetingphysical force with soul force.”

6. Great leaders refuse to settle. Itwould have been easy for Dr. King tonegotiate a compromise, to settle forless than his vision demanded. But hepersisted, and called his followers topersevere: “There are those who areasking the devotees of civil rights,‘When will you be satisfied?’ We cannever be satisfied as long as the Negrois the victim of the unspeakable hor-rors of police brutality. We can neverbe satisfied as long as our bodies,heavy with the fatigue of travel, can’tgain lodging in the motels of the high-ways and the hotels of the cities. Wecan’t be satisfied as long as a Negro inMississippi can’t vote and a Negro inNew York believes he has nothing forwhich to vote. No, we are not satisfied,and we will not be satisfied until jus-tice rolls down like waters and right-eousness like a mighty stream.”

7. Great leaders acknowledge thesacrifice of their followers. They noticeand affirm the effort of their people: “Iam mindful that some of you havecome here out of great trials and tribu-lations. Some of you have come freshfrom narrow jail cells. Some of you havecome from areas where your quest forfreedom left you battered by the stormsof persecutions and staggered by thewinds of police brutality. You havebeen the veterans of creative suffering.Continue to work with the faith thatunearned suffering is redemptive.”

8. Great leaders paint a vivid pictureof a better tomorrow. Leaders can nevergrow weary of articulating their vision.They must be clear and concrete andhelp their followers see what they see:“I have a dream that one day on the redhills of Georgia the sons of formerslaves and the sons of former slaveowners will sit down together at thetable of brotherhood. I have a dreamthat one day the state of Mississippiwill be transformed into an oasis offreedom and justice. I have a dreamthat my four little children will oneday live in a nation where they will notbe judged by the color of their skin butby the content of their character.”

I encourage you to glean lessons fromMartin Luther King’s leadership. LE

Michael Hyatt is the Chief Executive Officer of Thomas NelsonPublishers. Visit www.MichaelHyatt.com. The portrait of Dr.Martin Lutther King (image cropped) © George Mandus,hangs in the Georgia State Capitol Building.

ACTION: Apply these leadership lessons.

by Michael Hyatt

1 0 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

L e a r n f r o m M a r t i n L u t h e r K i n g , J r .

extra mile, and differentiates winnersfrom losers. Inspiration transcends team,individual, and market leadership.

Marketing is about inspiration; cre-ating a movement that everyone wantsto join and share with their friends.

2. Differentiate through the unrea-sonable power of creativity. Once yourteam is in the zone, the challenge is tocreate Loyalty Beyond Recession. Thiscomes not through management, met-rics, meetings, policies, or plans. Itcomes from the unreasonable power ofcreativity—the power of creating newsolutions, new approaches, new ideas.In an ocean of information, ideas arethe currency of the future. Crazy pat-terns, wild thoughts and outlandishconnections spawn differentiation.

Most organizations kill ideas. Theresearch vampires and metrics mon-

sters rip the guts out of them. What’sleft is a shell that won’t sell. The spring-board to creative foresight is insight,but most insights are not insightful—they are agglomerations of fact rolledup in a spiff new package. A true in-sight blows you away. It’s a revelation.

Leaders create playgrounds and ripideas through them. Winning ideas canbe driven from any quarter. Greatideas can come from anywhere peopleare inspired to think different.

3. Enter the new mass market. Themass market is back, only this timeone-to-many is many-to-many. We’vemoved from the Attention Economy toParticipation Economy. The shifts are frominform to inspire, from distraction to inter-action, from market to movement, andfrom return on investment to return oninvolvement. There is little life left inselling by yelling—involvement andparticipation are vital. Get involvement,and profit/margin/share will follow.

The climate in the Consumer Republic

Winning in 2010

LOOKING BACK AT THElast 10 years, no one

really saw what wascoming. The immediate future is alsomurky. We’re living in a volatile, uncer-tain, complex, and ambiguous world.

What’s next for leadership? Hereare five ways forward.

1. Lead through Inspiration.Excellent management has becometablestakes and traditional leadershipbrings survival, nothing more. Doingthings right (management) and doingthe right things (traditional leader-ship) keep you afloat, for a time.Command-and-control models are tooslow for an on-demand, non-stop real-ity. Right time, right place, right tools,and right attitude will get you into thegame. But it’s not enough to win.

The anomaly with 20th century lead-ership is that it requires followers, andwho today wants to follow the rear ofa lead husky? No one I know. In thistime, leadership demands collabora-tive connectivity, a quality that comesmore naturally to X than Y chromo-somes. As leaders, collaborative con-nectors will be surfers, catching thewave first and riding it furthest.

Great organizations will be morelike families, designed so that leader-ship and innovation are everyone’s job,with creativity central, and fun andcelebration integral. This moves teamsinto that optimal state of performancethat Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls flow.

The primary job of leaders is to in-spire everyone to be the best they canbe, all the time—in pursuit of the pur-pose—to be in the zone operating atpeak flow day in day out. This meanspouring four elements into every per-son’s day: 1) responsibility—not frame-works or controls but the power todecide and to own that feeling; 2)learning—learning fast every day (TomPeters gets it: “Fail fast, learn fast, fixfast”); 3) recognition—not the yawn ofEmployee of the Month but high-octaneauthentic empathy as to what turnson an individual; and 4) sheer, pure joy.

Inspiration gets you to 1,000 milesan hour without burning everyoneout. Inspiration makes people go the

has changed. People have less money,feel more vulnerable, and havestopped spending more than theyearn. We decide more with emotion.

Connecting with people isn’t aboutputting the customer at the heart of allyou do—it is about putting yourself atthe heart of everything the customerdoes. In the Participation Economy, it’sabout taking this across the family ofscreens. Because we are all screenagers.The only questions needed are: Do youwant to see it again? Do you want toshare it? Do you want to get involved?

4. Be bigger than a brand. The roleof executives is to turn their value zoneinto a Lovemark. Brands are dead, com-modified into a puree of High-RespectLow-Love parity. The premium-pump-ing zone is High Respect High Love. Inthis economy, consumers are asking:does the brand offer value? (tablestakes);and does it offer priceless value? Thisis Lovemarks—the shift from being irre-placeable (a great brand) to irresistible(bigger than a brand). Reason leads toconclusions. Emotion leads to action. Theheart’s electrical field is 60 times greaterthan the brain, but the heart’s magnet-ic field is 5,000 times greater in strengththan the field generated by the brain.

Anyone anything anywhere can be aLovemark. It takes a potent brew ofmystery to intrigue, sensuality toexcite, and intimacy to show empathy,commitment, and passion.

When your energy is flagging,when the journey is tough, remember:the road you’re on is called Irresistible.

5. Make it True Blue. Jack Welchsaid the role of business is to createshareholder value. For Peter Drucker,it was to create and grow a customer. Ibelieve the role of business is to makethe world a better place for everyone.

Dreams are where you start. MartinLuther King, Jr. did not say: “I have amission statement.” King understoodthe mobilizing power of dreams. Thedream of this day is sustainability. Thebusiness that inspires it will win. Thebusiness that ignores it will be pun-ished by their boss—the consumer.

Sustainability has to be economic,social, cultural and environmental. Thefuture will look beyond the green trendtoward a blue movement. Green is aboutresponsibility, limits, obligation, andglobal issues. True Blue is about inspi-ration, possibilities, opportunity, andindividual passion—about a movementto make sustainability irresistible. LEKevin Roberts is CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, theLovemarks Company and author of Lovemarks: the FutureBeyond Brands. Visit www.lovemarks.com;www.saatchikevin.com, Blog: krconnect.blogspot.com.

ACTION: Create a sustainable dream.

by Kevin Roberts

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 1 1

LEADERSHIP FUTURE

I t ’ s t h e a g e o f t h e i d e a .

managers say, “We aren’t an innovativeorganization.” Too many shortsighted-ly reserve the label “innovator” for the“big-league” brands like Apple, Nike,or Google, who are associated with rec-ognizable, simple, and sexy products.Therefore, they just don’t view them-selves as very creative.

Consider the creative talents of thefollowing two groups who were askedthese three questions: How many ofyou are good singers; how many ofyou are good dancers; and how manyof you are good artists? About 2 per-cent of the first groupresponded positively tothese questions. Thisresponse is typical of mostbusiness teams with whomwe’ve worked. We tellteams that it would be easyto find a second group inany community who wouldgive nearly 100 percent pos-itive responses. Surprised?Ask just any group of firstgraders these three questions, and thechildren will respond with an enthusi-astic “Yes!” to each one. All childrenare creative—they’re born that way!

What happened to the creative genethat was so alive in our childhoods? J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, oncesaid, “Nothing that happens after weare 12 matters very much.” Maybe 12is the age that we stop believing in thepower of dreams—when we stop tak-ing risks and pursuing big ideas.Maybe 12 is the age we become practi-cal and in touch with “reality.”

As a self-confessed Peter Pan, JohnLasseter is used to trying out newthings, and he doesn’t fear results thatare different from what he expectedthem to be. John has said, “At Pixarwe’re almost more excited about thethings that don’t work because it’slike: well, we tried this, but we didn’texpect this. In Hollywood, typically, ifsomething doesn’t work you lose yourjob. Not only is there no net but there’spoison spikes down there. At Pixar wedon’t just have a net, we have downcomforters and air bags, and everybodytrying stuff constantly. That’s one ofthe things we’ve changed here.” Pixarcontinuously strives to forge new fron-tiers and is one of the premiere busi-ness models of innovative cultures.”

Where Did Creativity Go?

For more than 100 years, Americanbusiness has been conditioned by lead-ing management experts, beginning inthe late 1890s with Frederick W.Taylor’s teachings on scientific indus-trial efficiency; Henry Ford’s 1913assembly line process for buildingthings faster and cheaper; and Dr.Deming’s 1950s quality managementlessons emphasizing how to removevariation from the manufacturingprocess. The message has been consis-tent: reduce cost and remove variation.

Today we expect companies to bedisciplined, but we also ask them to beinnovative, which by its nature increas-es cost and variation. Once the newestiPod, flat-screen TV, or laptop is devel-oped, the push for creativity and inno-vation gets ignored and focus returnsto reducing costs. Innovation can be

costly; the trick is to beinnovative and profitable.But priorities are constantlychanging, and organiza-tions must adapt continu-ously. Most find it difficultto emphasize creativity andinnovation while control-ling costs for the long term.

How do you build anorganization that embraceschange and delivers an

innovative, fairly priced, high quality,and profitable product? How do youestablish a culture of creativity in whichthe talents and abilities of all are nur-tured and honed with great care? Howdo you unleash the creative genius ofyour people and still meet budgets anddeadlines? How do you establish anenvironment that awakens dreams?

Few organizations maintain the bal-ance between childlike dreamer andtask-driven doer. Like Walt Disney,Pixar is an industry pacesetter. Pixarhas reawakened the innovative spiritof Walt Disney. Leaders Ed Catmulland John Lasseter have created a cul-ture that is innovative and profitable.By learning from them, you can createyour own innovative playground.

Lucky for us, Walt Disney, EdCatmull, and John Lasseter never lostthat childlike innocence. They knewhow to Dream, Believe, Dare, Do. Butfirst, one word of caution: “Innovate,don’t imitate!” You need to define aculture that is uniquely yours, one thatis right for your organization—it takestime and hard work to make it happen.

There’s no instant pudding! LE

Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson are co-authors of Innovate thePixar Way. Visit www.capojac.com.

ACTION: Cultivate a culture of creativity.

1 2 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

CHANGE CREATIVITY

You can still find it in a few visionary enterprises, like Pixar.

by Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson

DID YOU EVER WONDER WHY IT TOOKso long for the fast-food hambur-

ger business, started by White Castleback in 1912, to become such a stapleof American life? It took a visionarylike Ray Kroc, who was influenced byanother visionary—Henry Ford andhis assembly line production innova-tions. In 1961, Kroc boughtMcDonald’s from the McDonaldbrothers, and the rest is history.Likewise, the discount departmentstore has been with us for 130 years—Woolworth dime stores date back to1879, followed by Kresge’s in 1899and Ben Franklin Stores in 1927.

Again, it took a creative visionary—Sam Walton—to open Wal-Mart Dis-count City in Rodgers, Arkansas, in1962 to forever change the discount re-tail market. When Walt Disney arrivedin Hollywood in 1923 to begin his ani-mated cartoon business, he thought hecame too late to really make a namefor himself. By that time, Felix the Cat,a creation of the Pat Sullivan Studios,had already attained superstar status.Instead of giving up, Walt reinventedanimation. Rather than using popularslap-stick gags, he created characterswith personalities—Mickey Mouse,Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck,and many more. These characters con-tinue to capture the hearts of children,after more than 80 years!

Clearly, the first to market, while in-itially being creative, can lose focus andfade into obscurity over time. Slowly,that imagination that once soared onwings like Buzz Lightyear crashes tothe ground. (Buzz’s wings didn’t makehim fly; he only thought they could.)

Only once in a while, an organizationtotally redefines its industry. Why can’tevery organization be innovative?There are many excuses—”We triedthat before”; “That’s too crazy to con-sider”; “There’s nothing wrong withwhat we’re doing”; “That’s not myjob.” The worst excuse of all is when

2. “Rehire” the management team.Leaders need to reevaluate the man-agement team—including themselves—for competencies, chemistry, andalignment with business strategy andtactical objectives. One executive sum-marizes it neatly: “The current situa-tion has highlighted some weaker linksin my management team, exposingsome players who are having difficultykeeping up.” The most basic reevalua-tion concerns specific professional andmanagement skills. The next level con-cerns alignment: whether the manage-ment team is aligned on objectives andhow to achieve them, and whetherthere’s a deeper alignment aroundcore values and psychological charac-teristics. Of course, reevaluating seniorexecutives doesn’t necessarily meanreplacing those found wanting; there

may be no one to fill the gap. The bestcrisis leaders focus not only on sharp-ening their hiring criteria but on train-ing their “high potentials.”

3. Conduct a personal audit. Forperformance upgrades to stick, execu-tives must maintain the zeal and com-mitment they exhibited at the height ofthe crisis, but also demonstrate unusu-al self-awareness. The role of chiefexecutive can be isolated and isolating.It takes a particular chemistry withinthe management team and unusualopenness on the CEO’s part to over-come that isolation and gain an unvar-nished sense of his/her fit as a leader.

The best leaders are authentic, trueto their values, and constantly takingpersonal stock by asking: How did Iperform during the worst of the crisis?What did I do well and not so well?What do my responses imply aboutleadership development needs or rolerestructuring? How am I spending mytime now versus before the crisis? Does

While the Iron Is Hot

IN THE MIDST OF ECON-omic turmoil, many

senior executives haveexhibited admirable crisis leadership.They have acted with conviction, opti-mism, and decisiveness. Where othershave seen challenges, they have seenopportunities, unconstrained by thestatus quo or industry conventions.They’ve seen that the crisis gives themmore latitude—even an urgent man-date—to act. So they’ve seized themoment, aware it’s only a moment, andfocused on what matters most—ensur-ing customer confidence, controllingcosts, and engaging employees andstakeholders through communication.

As we ease toward recovery, can wesustain the most valuable aspects ofthis crisis mindset? Leaders can reapthe long-term benefits of their short-term actions by translating them intolasting improvements.

SSiixx WWaayyss ttoo RReetthhiinnkk LLeeaaddeerrsshhiippOver the years, we’ve researched

management best practices duringdownturns. Six imperatives emerged:

1. Stay focused on long-term value.Companies whose leadership teamsresist quick moves to appease criticsand bring short-term gains are bestpositioned for steady long-term value.Peter Drucker operationalized thismindset with his three classic queries:“What is our business?” “What will beour business?” And “What should beour business?” For many leaders, theglobal crisis has catalyzed a review ofbasic business models and strategies.They are now in the “adaptive” phase,tackling the effects of the crisis andbuilding the capacity to thrive in a newreality. Several leaders are going beyondthe standard defensive responses tocrisis—layoffs and budget cuts—andtranscending opportunistic responsessuch as acquisitions. Some are makingor considering changes to their struc-ture, with an emphasis on greater flex-ibility and mobility and fewer layers.Often, leaders are gaining years ontheir change agendas because they canpush through initiatives that wouldmeet stiff resistance in healthier times.

the shift imply a shift in priorities?And which changes should becomeexplicit, permanent, and systematic?

4. Understand and then master para-dox. There is no one profile of the idealleader or leadership “style.” Instead,the best leaders strive for balance andflexibility. They reconcile the oftenconflicting demands of volatile globalmarkets through nuanced responses.They also realize that the very traits thatmake them effective in ordinary timescan, under peak stress, derail them, sothey sharpen their self-awareness.

Those who can stay the course butveer off when necessary will maximizetheir odds of surviving the hard timesand thriving afterward. Being able to“select and selectively abandon if nec-essary” is a core leadership strength.

5. Feel compelled to communicate—constantly. Leaders need to communi-cating more frequently—internally,with employees, and externally, withstakeholders—blogging, holding townhalls, doing office walkabouts, and vis-iting customers and suppliers. But it’sexhausting, risk-prone, and work-cre-ating: Every utterance creates expecta-tions and requires follow-up. Still,communication must become part ofevery leader’s core skill set, not just asanother “process” or “project” but interms of its outcomes—the ways it canhelp sustain morale in good times andbad. Great leaders not only keepemployees informed—they find waysto tell them they’re valued and workto keep them engaged to sustain pro-ductivity and ensure that employeesadapt more easily and, ideally, con-tribute to operational changes.

6. Make talent management a priori-ty. As the economic landscape bright-ens, moving talent management to ahigher plane becomes essential. Manyleaders learned from previous crises,when a “hire and fire” mentality gut-ted good talent. Today, they don’t justmeasure employees’ costs and produc-tivity but gauge their future potentialfor innovation and value creation,because the time spent on acquiring,developing, and managing talent corre-lates with long-term success. Since bro-ken promises and compromised valueserode trust, leaders seek to reassure tal-ent by restoring their confidence.Effective executives are heeding theadvice to “never waste a good crisis.”

As the crisis begins to ease, these sixareas should be part of your agenda.LE

J. Carlos Rivero is a Partner at Oliver Wyman Delta, helpingsenior leaders achieve their strategic objectives. EmailCarlos.Rivero@oliverwyman.com, call 1-866-909-8239.

ACTION: Strike while the iron is hot.

by J. Carlos Rivero

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 1 3

PERFORMANCE CRISIS

Yo u c a n c a p i t a l i z e o n c r i s e s i n s i x w a y s .

bigness and newness of your growthaspirations. Keywords are commit-ment, alignment, and accountability.

3. Market-facing milestones. Youknow if your big idea has big commer-cial value through interaction and iter-ation with channels of distribution, buy-ing customers, and end-users. Fromearly story boards through commer-cialization, you nurture a growthopportunity or kill it based upon mile-stones informed by market interaction.

4. Total business concept. Breakawayinnovations effect multiple dimensions—development, marketing, sales, sour-cing, service, business models. Somebreakaway innovations don’t requireR&D. When you defer commercializa-tion dimensions, the opportunity willunderperform. For breakaway growth,bring commercialization into the front-end.

5. “Earn the right” funding. In sus-taining innovation, the presumption isthat ideas entering the pipeline will re-ceive funding and be commercialized atscale. In breakaway innovation, the pre-sumption is that you have to earn andfight for funding from a limited pool.Breakaway growth is not a predictableinvestment. So you earn fundingbased upon meeting market-facing

milestones, mitigating risk,and customer feedback.

Heed these early signs ofsuccess slipping away. Withinthree months of first-roundfinancing, you’re in trouble if:1) executives have yet to sig-nal commitment to breakawaygrowth; 2) the size of thegrowth opportunity lacksalignment and is not well

understood; 3) the external factors thatmake the opportunity big are spoken invague terms, the reason to believe isquestionable, and strategic risks aren’ttransparent; 4) the opportunity hasdimensions that are new to the marketor company but is run by the same pro-cess as a sustaining innovation; 5) theopportunity is led by an individualoriented toward improvement, notstart-up; 6) executives are unfamiliarwith the customers, application, andcompetition; 7) you haven’t madeexplicit the criteria by which the pro-ject will be killed in the early stages; 8) the opportunity is overspending itsfunding or is delayed in meeting itsfirst milestone; and 9) problems are nottransparent—the team doesn’t knowwhat the problems are and what to do. LE

Doug Berger is Managing Partner with Innovate, enablingleaders to attain growth through BreakAway Innovation. Visitwww.innovate1st.com, call 732-564-9145, doug@innovate1st.com.

ACTION: Achieve breakaway growth.

Breakaway Growth

FOR YEARS I’VE STUDIEDmanagement and

leadership theories.Everyone says that managers manageand leaders lead. So, everyone wants tolead and not manage.

But good leaders are also good man-agers. It’s not a question of either man-aging or leading—it is a question ofdoing both and doing them at theright time, knowing when to manageand knowing when to lead.

Our job as managers is to makesure our “people” do their jobs. We aretold to keep our people doing whatev-er they do in a productive manner.Make sure they come to work on time,leave on time, and perform efficiently.To some managers this means watch-ing and micro-managing those theysupervise. To others it means doingthe job themselves to make sure thejob gets done correctly. Good man-agers don’t do either of those twothings. The essence of good manage-ment is to teach and release. It takesmore time, yes. But, in the long run, itsaves time.

The teach and release theory meansyou adjust your style from manage-ment to leadership as needed.Leadership is all about motivating,building confidence, inspiring.

Some leaders think they inspire byneglect: if they let the person alone,give them no guidance, it inspireslearning. Others believe they inspireby holding out carrots: if I give yousomething, you’ll perform your job theway I want it done.

Good leadership means taking thetime to build confidence, to inspirethrough solid communication, and tolet go when the time is right and lenda helping hand when necessary.

FFoouurr SSttaaggeessGood management and leadership

work the teach and release model:1: Learning stage. In this phase, the

person knows nothing about the task.He is new to the task and desires tolearn how to do the job. In Stage 1, themanager must manage. The personwants the manager to direct and toshow him what to do. What is accept-

Is the potential being realized?

LEADERS CONTINUE TObe disappointed in

achieving above-market-average growth through innovation.You should expect to achieve onlymarket-average growth from yoursustaining innovations—those yourcompetitors are also making.

Breakaway ideas are not the soleprovince of R&D. Many leaders havebecome fixated on the product pipelineas the source of new growth. Thisblinds you to growth opportunitiesthrough innovative marketing, sales,packaging, and business models. Italso creates an innovation imbalancebetween breakaway products andstatus quo activities in marketing,sales, and business models. Thisimbalance results in breakaway prod-ucts that underperform in the market.

Breakaway growth ideasunderperform unless you setnecessary pre-conditions.Through our research andinterviews with innovationexecutives, we have identi-fied essential requirements tocommercialize ideas thathave the potential for above-average growth. If your inno-vation framework is not builton this foundation, your big ideaswill underperform, as troublesomeindicators will surface within threemonths of first-round resourcing.

MMuusstt--HHaavveess ffoorr SSuucccceessssHeed these five must-haves:1. Growth strategy that fulfills

executive ambitions and aspirations.Often overlooked, yet critical to newgrowth initiatives are the ambitionsand aspirations of executives. Growththat starts from analysis and assess-ment misses that strategy, at its core, isthe fulfillment of executive intentions.What are they? Are they aligned?

2. Commitment-based governance.The existing structure, processes andmindset that deliver today’s sustain-ing innovation will also put the brakeson your breakaway growth. Job 1 of agrowth governance structure is tochallenge the status quo so that yourinnovation framework matches the

1 4 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

Teach and ReleaseDevelop managers and leaders.

PERFORMANCE GROWTH MANAGEMENT CONTINUUM

by Joan C. Curtisby Doug Berger

doing, clear about their goals, andexcited to get to work every morning.”This is especially important in turbu-lent times. You need to keep that pur-pose in sight.

Dupont CEO Ellen Kullman talkedabout the importance of purpose dur-ing tough times at Wharton’s 2009annual Leadership Conference whenshe described her crisis leadershipprinciples. She was surprised duringweekly informal meetings withemployees that the number one ques-tion was about “whether we are goingto stick with our mission.” She realizedthat people were scared and wantedclear direction. “Making sure that peo-ple understand the mission—and link-ing their daily activities to thecompany’s broader purpose—is essen-tial to reducing fear, maintainingmorale and keeping employees moti-vated,” she said.

The economic meltdown has pro-vided us with many lessons from lead-ers of embattled companies, and theyall point to one clear approach for suc-cess: Leaders must keep their compa-ny’s purpose alive and in the forefront.

As you examine whether you bringyour purpose to life inyour company, considerthese questions: Do youremployees know what thecompany’s purpose is? Dothey feel that they have apersonal connection to thispurpose and their role inachieving it? Do yourclients and customersclearly understand yourpurpose and what it means

to them? Are you willing to make thehard decisions that need to be made toremain true to your purpose?

As a leader, your job is to leveragepurpose to affect real change. A key ele-ment of leadership is to inspire. Toimpact people, you must create a levelof inspiration that will galvanize peo-ple in a direction and create a magneticnorth for them to move towards.

Where does such inspiration comefrom? Some leaders believe they caninspire others through charisma. Thiscan be true short term, but by clarify-ing how your purpose makes a realdifference in the lives of others, andthen connecting your personal leader-ship purpose to that broader companypurpose, you inspire employees in amore meaningful, lasting way. LE

Jim Hart is president and CEO of Senn Delaney, the leadingauthority and practitioner in the field of culture shaping, andco-author of Winning Teams—Winning Cultures.

ACTION: Inspire people in a meaningful way.

WE RECENTLY ASKEDour leadership to

bring a memento to acompany meeting that reminds themof a time when they were at their bestas a leader, parent, spouse or team-mate. People arrived carrying every-thing from a ragged bible to a coffeemug. When the stories began, theywere powerful and emotional.

One woman held up a prayer cardfrom her mother’s funeral. Shedescribed her mother’s rough start inlife: she was abused by her father andran away from home in her earlyteens. She described her mother not asa victim, but as a survivor whoscraped her way through secretarialschool to support herself. She marriedand had nine children and numerousgrandchildren. “She didnot look back with regretand blame. She lived a lifeof optimism and found herpurpose was to give herchildren a strong sense ofbeing able to weather anystorm,” the woman toldher team. “She influencedmy own purpose anddirection. Because of her, Istrive to be a great motherand a productive, accountable, andself-reliant person and employee.”

We all have personal stories thatdefine our purpose and direction inlife. The question becomes, is that per-sonal purpose aligned with the purposeof your organization?

It is the leaders who must makesure that the company’s purpose isclearly defined and understood, fos-tered and reinforced. If leaders alsoencourage employees to understandtheir own purpose and direction andhow it connects with the company’s,employee engagement, personal satis-faction, and performance increase.

In his book, It’s Not What You Sell,It’s What You Stand For, Roy M. SpenceJr. writes something we have beencoaching leaders on for 30 years: “Areal purpose can’t just be words onpaper. It has to get under the skin ofevery member. If you get it right, peo-ple will feel great about what they’re

Team PurposeAlign personal and organizational.

by Jim Hart

PEOPLE PURPOSEable behavior? What does a completedtask look like? What are the expecta-tions? Close direction means closemanagement.

2: Confidence stage. In this phase,the person knows how to do the taskbut is not yet comfortable with doingit. The person fears she might make amistake. The manager lets go of thereigns and allows the person to do thetask alone. The manager even allowsthe person to make mistakes. The per-son learns from the mistakes andbuilds confidence in doing the task.The manager stays close but not tooclose. The person feels inspired by herconfidence in doing the task and bythe manager’s willingness to allow herto learn on her own and to give sup-port when needed. Imagine a childlearning to walk. The child gets upand falls down. The parent allows thechild to fall but protects the child fromfalling down a cliff. In Stage 2, themanger becomes that helpful parent.

3: Accomplishment stage. In thisphase, the person is completing thetask with confidence. The manager stillsigns off on the final completion andtweaks and teaches as he goes. For themost part, however, the person is com-pleting the task successfully withoutinterference from the manager.

4: Letting-go stage. Finally, the man-ager turns into a leader. To do someans letting go of the task. In thisstage, the leader tells the person, he nolonger needs to review the final result.He tells the person, “I have confidencein you to complete the task successful-ly.” The leader lets go and the personcontinues to do the task, not becauseof pressure or carrots. The person per-forms the task with excellence becauseshe wants to. That is the essence ofmotivation—doing something becauseyou want to.

In the Teach and Release model, themanagement and leadership functionsrun along a continuum. More manage-ment exists in the early stages and lessin the latter stages where leadershipsurfaces. Who wants a manager whogives no direction from the get-go?Who wants a leader who micro-man-ages a task you can do blindfolded?

Learn about your management andleadership style by taking the Rate YourLeadership Quotient on our web sitewww.TotalCommunicationsCoach.comlearning page. LE

Joan Curtis is a speaker and trainer, CEO of TotalCommunications Coach and author of Managing StickySituations at Work and Strategic Interviewing. joan@totalcom-municationscoach.com or call 706-369-7614

ACTION: Develop leaders through four stages.

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 1 5

Comprised of a team of Annapolisand West Point graduates who haverecords of success in the military andbusiness sector, Academy Leadershiptrainers provide the vital link to man-agers for the attainment of improvedleadership capabilities. For the last 10years, we’ve worked to transform man-agers at all levels into effective leaders.

Because we specialize in equal partsmilitary discipline, training and focus,as well as business savvy, we can offera dual-pronged approach to buildingeffective leaders. What that means fororganizations is the ability to tackleteambuilding initiatives with the helpof professionals who offer a perspec-tive formulated from years of militaryinstruction, coupled with a provenvision for business leadership success.

MMaaiinnttaaiinn tthhee LLeeaaddeerrsshhiipp EEddggeeTo become a better leader, write a

personal leadership philosophy state-ment. This one-page overview enablessupervisors to discover what they standfor, what’s important to them, andarticulate this to staff. Direct reportsknow the leader’s expectations andhow the leader is likely to respond assituations arise. This leads to mutual

trust and confidence andbuilds long-term relations.

In your statement, include:personal values such as hon-esty, commitment, andrespect for others; descriptionof how you’ll carry out yourresponsibilities; your priori-ties; staff expectations; howstaff will be evaluated; whatyour staff can expect of you.

A widely communicated leadershipphilosophy and a vision of what theleader wants an organization to be areessential to help managers keep a lead-ership focus. Over time, review andreflect upon your leadership philoso-phy as you integrate new experiencesinto the leadership framework.

Your direct reports expect you toshow them the standard, train them toreach it, lead by example, keep theminformed, and care for them. As aleader, you may have to ask others tomake sacrifices to achieve goals andmay need to call on staff to carry outtough tasks. If you’ve trained peopleproperly, inspired their willingness,and consistently looked after theirinterests, they’ll be prepared to accom-plish any goal, anytime, anywhere. LE

Dennis Haley, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, is founder ofAcademy Leadership, and co-author with Ed Ruggero of TheLeader’s Compass and The Corporate Compass. Visitwww.academyleadership.com or call 866-783-0630.

ACTION: Adapt the military model in your LD.

Military Leaders

WHEN I ASKED ONEVP of a technolo-

gy company facingimminent layoffs, How engaged are youremployees, and how connected are they toeach other, to management, to your cus-tomers? he shrugged, “Who cares? Theones we have to let go will be gone.The rest should just be happy that theystill have jobs!”

Sadly, I often encounter that atti-tude: companies treating employees asinterchangeable cogs in a machineinstead of interwoven threads in a sin-gle tapestry. In this economy, whencompanies are concerned about theirbalance sheets and layoffs have becomefrequent, it’s even easier to focus onhuman capital at the expense of humanbeings. That has employees feelingscared, disillusioned, and isolated.

And, that is a serious problem.According to Gallup, “Actively disen-gaged” employees cost U.S. companiesup to $355 billion per year. Havingclose friendships at work can increasejob satisfaction nearly 50 percent, andthat those friendships lead to a moreproductive, enjoyable, informed, inno-vative and safer work environment.Without those friendships, the chancesof being engaged are only 1 in 12.

Nonetheless, companies have beenslow to embrace the idea of intentionalengagement. Only 18 percent of organi-zations facilitate developing friend-ships on the job, just 30 percent ofemployees report having a best friendat work, and just 1 in 4 employees saythat someone helped them make newfriends when they started their job.

When faced with increased demandsand pressure—especially after a layoffor loss of a major customer—your abil-ity to rely on employees to help moveforward is vital. You need to create aculture of engaged connection by activelyinvesting time, energy, and resources.

Most LD programs don’t train peo-ple how to become better connectors,facilitate employee connections, orfinancially support connection activi-ties—an annual picnic, holiday party,or team-building activities won’t cut it.

So how do you promote a culture ofconnection? Start by taking four steps:

We can learn from their model.

IMAGINE HAVING ONLYtwo minutes to study

and commit to memo-ry the look of 15 objects; some areobscure and difficult to describe. Now,imagine pairing up with a partner topush your bodies to their physicalextremes in competition against otherteams. And while the two of you areheading to the finish line, try to recalland relay to your partner the 15 items.

Called a Kim’s Game, this memoryand teambuilding exercise is a spin-off of a drill carried out among NavySEALs. Recently, this tactic is beingused in leadership developmentamong managers and direct reports.

A Kim’s Game pairs two-personteams up for the timed real-worldmemory exercise and competitivephysical endurance challenge. Thedrill teaches managers andtheir direct reports theimportance of teamwork andworking together to meet thecompany’s common goals.

For leaders within Stryker,a medical devices and equip-ment manufacturer, thistraining was integral to theirleadership program. Strykeris committed to developingbetter leaders among its managementteam. Paramount in Stryker’s leader-ship-boosting initiative is coachingmanagers on the importance ofbuilding a stronger, more unifiedteam. Kim’s Games and similar train-ing efforts are most effective whenleaders, future leaders, and directreports work together. The sharedexperience enables employees tobreak down barriers and reach theobjectives. This collaborative effortalso strengthens the company inter-nally and makes it more effective incompeting in the global market.

Stryker is integrating these princi-ples into its culture so that the lessonshave staying power among currentemployees and new recruits. Strykerparticipants are touting the benefitsof real-life leadership experiences.Some have even suggested thatKim’s Games be used in buildingconfidence among new employees.

1 6 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

Who Cares?Are your people engaged?

LEADERSHIP MILITARY PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT

by Steve Harperby Dennis Haley

motivated, innovative, and energized.While the main ideas related to EL

have been extant in the literature forsome time, their practical applicationhas been rare and problematic. Fewtraining and developmental interven-tions incorporate a multi-disciplinaryapproach. This includes the under-standing on how change happens inthe human mind-body system and atcultural and organizational levels.

To move from conventional to emergentleadership, you need to understandand change the psychological develop-mental stages of leaders and employ-ees, moving to a post conventional,“second tier” world view.

Leadership development can takeone of two directions—horizontal orvertical. Horizontal growth and expan-sion happens through learning newknowledge, skills, and behaviors.Horizontal growth can be seen as thedifferent types of intelligences—IQ,emotional, logical-mathematic, musi-cal, body-kinesthetic, spatial, interper-sonal, and so on. Most training anddevelopment is based on lateral devel-opment principles—new skills, systems,procedures, and motivation, for example.

Vertical developmentrefers to the ability to seethe world through neweyes, change our interpreta-tion of our experiences andperceptions, and increaseour ability to accomplishwhat we are aware of andwhat we can influence andintegrate. It is the ability totransform the way wemake sense of broader and

more diverse perspectives thatenhances our outcomes.

To change the stage of the individ-ual, and then the culture, first andforemost belief systems and mentalmodels have to be changed andexpanded. We can’t think, create andact at higher levels of developmentwithout changing belief systems, men-tal models, and emotional capacities.EL relies on the ability of the leader torelinquish formal power and com-mand-and-control principles. This is amajor challenge for most leaders.

To capture the spirit of emergentleadership, recall the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi to Darth Vader; “Youcan’t win Darth, if you strike medown, I shall become more powerfulthan you can possibly imagine.” LE

Bruce Lewin, Vlatka Hlupic, and Chris Walton are authors ofvarious articles on emergent leadership. Email Vlatka@senior-executiveexcellence.com or bruce.lewin@fourgroups.com.

ACTION: Invoke the spirit of emergent leadership.

AS PRINCESS LEIA SAID TO DARTHVader, “The more you tighten

your grip, the more star systems willslip through your fingers.”

Leadership as usual is no longer anoption—filling the void requires a newmindset and skills. Conventional leader-ship approaches have been based on aparadigm that focuses on hierarchicallinearity, a culture based on rules, com-mand and control and formal relation-ships. While this approach works wellin predictable and stable environments,in dynamic environments, this tradi-tional approach inhibits creativity andinnovation and decreasesmotivation and productivity.

So how can leaders reactto ensure that the potentialfor creativity and betterresults are realized? Suchoutcomes are best createdusing emergent leadership(EL) approaches based onthe premise that leaders cangain more power, influenceand profit by “letting go.”

By eschewing formal power, relax-ing control and allowing decisions tobe made on the basis of knowledge,skills and experience rather than for-mal positions, leaders can enable adramatic shift in performance.

Emergent leadership is a new lead-ership approach that brings more inno-vation and profit through the distri-bution of formal power and decisionmaking, interaction through informalnetworks, experimentation, and learn-ing. When an EL culture is implement-ed, employees are intrinsically moti-vated to perform well, a strong teamculture is developed, and levels ofstress and absenteeism are reduced.

What does this mean for leaders?By giving away formal power, leadersget more power back, with more beingachieved with less effort. This makesthe leader’s life easier with less stressand burnout. More importantly, lead-ers develop employees who are more

Emergent Leadership

LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE1. Acknowledge the obvious. Upfrontand honest communication with youremployees is key to overcomingdoubts, distrust, and dismissive smirksthat permeate a culture in which man-agement has treated other training ini-tiatives like the flavor of the month.Admit that you haven’t been good atconnecting internally and ask for youremployees’ support to change that fact.

2. Be patient. Don’t expect everyonesuddenly to become great friends. Theart (and discipline) of connecting hasto be led by example over time. If youare an executive, manager or teamleader, make a daily effort to engageand connect with at least one personwithin and outside of your group. You’llbe surprised at how readily employeeswill respond and begin emulating youractions with positive encouragement.

3. Make it safe, fun and easy. Helpemployees connect in a variety of non-work related ways. Bring in ice creamon a summer afternoon. Celebrate per-sonal and professional milestones—birthdays, anniversaries, births—oreven some fun theme of the day orweek. How about a “Taco Thursday”where everyone gets a little breakfastor lunch and has the chance to mixand mingle? Or a board game night,crazy hat day, or “support your favoritesports team” day? These things work.

4. Create an internal network. Aneffective engagement program helpspeople acquire a more recognizableidentity in the company. An internalnetwork is an invaluable tool in thateffort. Promote it by using it to engageyour staff with news about charitablehappenings, team challenges, employ-ees of the month—even fun trivia.

Effective connecting is anything thatbrings two or more people together inorder to create something that theycouldn’t have achieved individually.And isn’t that part of a good team, agreat customer experience, or a satis-fied employee? If you aren’t focusingon your employees’ ability to connect,internally and externally, you may berisking your company’s survival.

How engaged are your employees?Are they connecting internally? Doyour clients feel connection to mem-bers of your staff? Intentional connec-tion should be part of your culture.

When you actively promote connec-tions, new channels of communicationare opened, fresh ideas are voiced, andnew products and solutions created. LE

Steve Harper, an authority on the power of connections, is CEOof The Ripple Effect, and author of The Ripple Effect. Visitwww.ripplecentral.com.

ACTION: Improve your engagement program.

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 1 7

by Bruce Lewin, Vlatka Hlupic, and Chris Walton

Enable their peak performance.

selves and manage our relationships.In my book, I talk about a time as a

leader I didn’t really show up with agreat deal of emotional intelligencewhen it came to my team. It was a timeI was responsible for $100 million inrevenue and thought that the onlything that mattered was getting results.I didn’t want to socialize or entertainthe emotional side of the team relation-ship. I was characterized by my teamas aloof. I didn’t take that feedback asanything I needed to act on, In fact, Ithought to be unemotional was to be fairand objective. I didn’t have a mentor orcoach then, so I learned the hard way.

You can no longer use the bad econ-omy to justify the bad attitude that it isup to others to get along with you. Toget the results you want from teammembers, you need to understand howyour behavior impacts others. We are aproduct of our daily experiences. Eachexperience creates a set of emotions,which ultimately drive our behavior.

Emotional intelligence is incrediblyrelevant for leadership, management,and teamwork. The workplace is tradi-tionally one of the most emotionally“unsafe” environments. All conflictsinvolve emotions, but it is the way in

which people deal with themthat causes conflicts. Somepeople let feelings drive theirresponses to problems; othersignore them; and others intel-lectualize them so much thatthey don’t know what theyare feeling. Professionals areoften very protective of theirimage and what others thinkof them. Since we spend so

much of our time at work, the manydimensions of who we are ultimatelyshow up, whether we want them to ornot. Effectiveness comes from self-awareness and awareness of others.

To develop emotional intelligence:Be committed to honesty with self andothers. Take time to reflect and under-stand self and others. Listen. Seek tounderstand. Check and validate whatyou believe. Be aware of your motivesand the motives or needs of others.

Here’s a four-step process for devel-oping your emotional intelligence: 1)assess—get feedback on areas to improve;2) demonstrate—what does the skill looklike? (get specific examples); 3) practice—role-play these skills in job-based sce-narios; and 4) feedback—get an idea ofhow close you are now to the ideal. LE

Betty LaMarr is author of Discover Your Inner Strength andpresident of Nadisa Associates. Visit www.nadisa.com. Call310-574-9181 or email betty@nadisa.com.

ACTION: Capitalize on the strengths of women.

Feminine Leaders

JAMES KAVANAUGH ONCEsuggested: there are

“those too gentle to liveamong the wolves”. I hope not. Ibelieve that the “wolves” have hadtheir day and need to make way for anew breed—the gentle leader. We needthose special leaders who can create areal sense of community and commit-ment—leaders who see their role asone who serves the greater good, whoputs the interests of others first, whocreates places where the lowest of thelow are treated with dignity andrespect, who galvanize people aroundan idea that stirs their deepest pas-sions, who believe that position, privi-lege, and wealth is earned only inservice of others. Men and womenwho use words like compassion,sacrifice, and forgiveness—and meanthem. Leaders who understand kind-ness and tolerance because these ele-ments are evident in their decisionsand actions. Leaders who haveremarkable faith in others and drawtheir strength from this faith.

If you are a Gentle Leader, you havelikely faced formidable opposition.Your stellar people skills have beenpatronized, and your collegial naturehas been seen as weakness. Your supe-riors have encouraged you to sharpenyour strategic leadership skills (codefor “please do my job because I can’tdo it”) and become more forceful indriving high performance. Your teamshave always quietly achieved extraor-dinary results, but you’ve can’t buildany career momentum because youjust don’t fit the mold of the upward-ly-mobile executive. You get importantstuff done but are not seen as toughenough to take on a real leadership role.I have good news—your time has come!

Why now? Many organizations havebeen beaten up to the point of collapseand need the revitalization that cancome from a new kind of leadershipthat graciously sees the best in others,heals festering wounds, and crafts anew, exciting story. And this is not justabout being nice to people. This is a busi-ness imperative. The bonds of loyaltyand commitment are now so weak thatmany organizations can’t take advan-

Flex your emotional muscle.

THE SHRIVER REPORThighlights the role

of women in the work-place. In 2009 women representedmore than 50 percent of the U.S.workforce. There are more than two-thirds of working women who arebreadwinners or co-breadwinners.This means that there are opportuni-ties for some major changes in theway women are viewed in their rolesin the workplace. These changes arenot just for the women but for menand children and families in our soci-ety as well as in organizations.

When we look at developing femaleleaders, we have the opportunity tobuild on the strengths that womennaturally bring to the table. Strengthslike collaboration, team building,adaptability, and interpersonal skills.All of these skills are part ofwhat we know today to beEmotional Intelligence. Take alook at how Jack Welch, for-mer CEO of General Electric,describes emotional intelli-gence for a leader. “A leader’sintelligence has to have astrong emotional component.He has to have high levels ofself-awareness, maturity, andself-control. She must be able to with-stand the heat, handle setbacks, andwhen those lucky moments arise,enjoy success with equal parts of joyand humility. No doubt EmotionalIntelligence is more rare than booksmarts, but my experience says it isactually more important in the makingof a leader. You just can’t ignore it.”

In his book, Emotional Intelligence,Daniel Goleman reported that con-ventional measures of intelligence(IQ) account for 20 percent of a per-son’s success. Being smart, possess-ing skills, and being driven can getyou only so far at work. To reallysucceed, it’s important to be in pos-session of emotional competencies,often referred to as EQ (emotionalquotient). Emotional intelligence is:The ability to recognize and understandour emotions and the emotions ofothers. We need to hone our skill atusing this awareness to manage our-

1 8 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

Gentle LeadersYo u r t i m e h a s a r r i v e d .

MANAGEMENT EMOTION LEADERSHIP STYLE

by Gregg Thompsonby Betty LaMarr

have experienced enough discomfortwith inept leadership to now demandmajor change. The rapid evolution oftheir increasingly coordinated effortswarrants observation.

Valuing image over authenticity isnot leadership—it is a preamble tomonarchy, and the tea-partiers recog-nize this implicitly. Some members ofthe GOP thought the Democrats’ super-majority in the Senate gave the liberalsa political autocracy with the incum-bent power to ram legislation down thecollective throats of the citizenry. Theywere not completely wrong. Democratsdid appear autocratic as they tried toforce a secretive health care packagethrough congress. Their counterparts inthe GOP appeared petulant with theirnew no is our only response philosophy.It’s relatively simple. Spurious leadersinfuriate followers. The Declaration ofIndependence made it clear: “When, in thecourse of human events, it becomes neces-sary for one people to dissolve the politicalbonds which have connected them withanother . . .” The actions of the originaltea-partiers helped craft that language.Are their modern-day relatives craftingnew and dramatic language of their own?

Our previous answer tothe troublesome aspects ofthe dual party system hasbeen the non-partisan Inde-pendent label. Independentvoters often swing electionsand encourage less polar-izing, govern-from-the-center political leadership.The Tea Party’s rapidgrowth tells us that cater-ing to Independents and

appearing to lead from the center isinsufficient.

The next 10 years will put Americanleadership to the test. China will likelysurpass the U.S. as the dominant eco-nomic power. Interest rates will rise.Droves of baby-boomers will flood theretirement market and strain a strug-gling health care system. The nationaldebt as a percentage of GDP will rise,endangering the country’s ability toborrow money. These issues fosterappropriate anxieties, and these anxi-eties are causing a sociological shift inAmerican culture. The significance ofthe Tea Party’s emergence is this: Theleadership of yesterday is unaccept-able, and the leadership of today isunapproachable. Change it. Make itbetter—release your trapped value. LE

David McCleary is author of Leaving Prisons: Release YourTrapped Value and CEO of www.FlawlessLeaders.com. Blog:www.David-McCleary.com.

ACTION: Heed the lessons of the Tea Party.

THE GROUNDSWELL OFwhat Robert Reich

referred to as the “mad-as-hell” political party reached a tip-ping point recently in its inauguralnational convention in Nashville.Coalescing from a fractious and hap-hazard collection of right wing tax-haters, the rapidly evolving Tea Partynow includes big business hatingDemocrats and powerful independentswho are suffering from a case ofbuyer’s remorse. So far, leaders of thisuprising have discounted the possibili-ty of becoming a third national politi-cal party; but the potential is there.This quintessentially American devel-opment follows a fairly simple socio-logical formula: Spurious Leaders +Furious Followers = Power Redistribution.

The transfer of powerfrom one chief executive toanother in this country is athing of beauty. It is aremarkable process and theenvy of many govern-ments. However, while thecountry is adept at individ-ual leader interchange, it isnot nearly as accomplishedwith adjusting its support-ing political infrastructure:the dual party system. The emergenceof the Tea Party signals drastic poten-tial shifts in power within Americansociety. Coming on the heels of themost polarizing first year ever for anAmerican presidency, the compellingquestion the Tea Party begs us to askis: From what sociological ashes doesthis new organization arise?

Americans are opinionated abouttheir leaders and about leadership. Theyexpect leaders to honorably facilitatewillingly convergent effort. Leadershipis not the force of cosmetic complianceor a scarce resource to be hoarded—itis a social capacity that is only power-ful when shared. The wish to governpurely from a majority position is aweak plea for domination that sets thestage for exploitation. Collaborativeleaders are expected to argue, disagree,debate, explore important issues, andproduce meaningful and tangibleresults. Restless Tea Party Americans

Tea Party SociologySpurious leaders infuriate us.

by David McCleary

LEADERSHIP CHALLENGEtage of an economic upswing. Talentedpeople are living out their careers inquiet desperation, merely going throughthe motions and putting in their time.There’s no shortage of advice for lead-ers. As engagement scores tumble, con-sultants are imploring leaders to drivenew behaviors, hold people more accountable,and get the wrong people off the bus. It’snot working, and it’s time for leader-ship that can inject fresh energy andenthusiasm. It’s time for Gentle Leaders.

TThheeyy’’vvee HHaadd TThheeiirr TTiimmeeOther leaders have had their time.

From the early 1900s until the 80s, com-panies were dominated by ProductionSystems Leaders who organized aroundrepetitive processes. They were follow-ed by Quality Performance Leaderswhose obsession with improvement inwork systems and processes resultedin previously unimaginable levels ofproductivity. The year 2000 birthedOpportunistic Enterprisers, the wolveswhose mission was to extract maximumvalue from the convergence of technol-ogy, globalization and fast-changingmarkets. They built lean, mean organi-zations, set big goals, exploited marketopportunities and were satisfied withnothing less than exceptional perfor-mance. And they’ve done this well.But we seem to have lost somethingimportant along the way—our soul!

Many organizations have becomecold and heartless entities that don’tnourish the human spirit. In our pur-suit of excellence and opportunity, wesomehow lost touch with purpose andcreated entities that no longer satisfyour needs to be appreciated, learn anddo work that really matters. When isthe last time you saw a leader put com-munity-building at the top of their pri-ority list; or speak about compassionand caring—and mean it; or make a bigpersonal sacrifice for the good of thelowest paid member of the company?

Becoming a Gentle Leader requiresthe courage to confront your needs foraccolades and recognition, the boldnessto invite each member to put a handon the steering wheel, and the daringto commit to a leadership agendabased on duty and service to others.But the rewards are worth the effort.As a new decade dawns, you’ll be theleader who forges new pathways intothe future. Now is your time to stepup. But watch out for the wolves. Theywill not go quietly into the night. LE

Gregg Thompson is the President of Bluepoint LeadershipDevelopment and can be reached at 513-289-0141 or greggth-ompson@bluepointleadership.com.

ACTION: Cultivate and support gentle leaders.

L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e M a r c h 2 0 1 0 1 9

performance management) were design-ed and delivered in classroom and Web-based settings. Relevant informationwas distributed to leaders monthly.

As the model was deployed, addedemphasis was placed on hiring. The com-pany had been using Predictive Index topredict employee behavioral strengthsand motivators, but leaders had notbeen fully trained in its applications.

As training continued, it becameclear a values/belief component wasneeded. Leaders identified their valuesand beliefs and considered their align-ment with the mission, vision, and val-ues of the company. To capture thepotential influences on performance,several examples were included.

The final component of the leader-ship model was intelligence—definedas a leader’s ability to take their life

experiences and relate them to thenature of the job. For example, if a per-son has a solid leadership experience,the experience could be transferred toa brand new job and the leader couldlearn the jargon and technical aspects.

Emotional intelligence was later sub-stituted for intelligence as a more inclu-sive term. Leaders were exposed to thebasic theory of EI to understand theirown level and how EI impacts leader-ship effectiveness. EI concepts wereincorporated into LD and training.

BBaacckk ttoo tthhee LLeeaaddeerrsshhiipp CChhaalllleennggeeHow can Susan use the leadership

model to diagnose the root of her em-ployee’s declining performance? Susanbegins her diagnosis by asking ques-tions in each of the seven sections.• Competence: Does Dan have the

skills required to do the job? Whichareas of his job is he successful and inwhich is he not? What examples do I

Leadership Excellence

SUSAN PETERS TRIEDmany ways to turn

around Dan’s declin-ing performance—from sending himto training to telling him how hisbonus would be impacted to how hewas hurting the team. Nothingworked. Susan prepared to fire Dan.

This leadership challenge is com-mon, and TriWest Healthcare Allianceis no different. What is different, how-ever, is that we help leaders diagnosethe root of performance problems andimplement improvement strategies.

TriWest is a Department of Defensecontractor that administers TRICARE,the healthcare entitlement for the mili-tary community in the West. A newgovernment contract resulted in con-tractual changes that led to explosiveemployee growth and leadership chal-lenges inherent with such growth.One challenge was promoting indi-vidual contributors into leadershiproles. To answer this challenge, thecompany designed and deployed aleadership development program.

The LD team set out to design aleadership model that would helpbuild a solid foundation of leadershipskills and a consistent leadership lan-guage. If a leader does not master theskills and behavioral changes whenmoving from individual contributor tofirst-level manager, those skill deficitswill impact their effectiveness.

The focus of the initial model wason leadership skills, managementskills, knowledge of the internal orga-nization, and external knowledge thatcould impact the company. Varioustools and strategies were used to teachthese fundamentals. The SituationalLeadership II model was selected forthe leadership skills component.Leaders learned to assess the level ofemployee competence and commit-ment on a specific task and the mosteffective leadership style for that tasklevel. Now leaders could customizetheir leadership style to a specific taskto encourage maximum performance.To build the management skill area,short competency-based courses (timemanagement, meeting management,

have to validate my belief? Do I haveexamples to show a trend in decliningperformance in specific areas? Whattraining has been provided to build jobskills—new hire orientation, depart-ment-specific training, mentoring?• Commitment: Does Dan show an

interest and enthusiasm in completinghis work? Which parts? Have I metwith Dan to talk about how he feelsabout the different aspects of his job?Did I sense confidence, and if not, did Iprobe further to find out where theconfidence is strong and where it isn’tand create an action plan to developwhere needed? Did I hold myself andDan accountable for action plan items?• Behaviors: Do I know what are Dan’s

strengths? Which are motivators? Do Iunderstand my natural strengths andhow they may interact with Dan’s?Does Dan have opportunities to use hisstrengths regularly? How do Dan’s nat-ural strengths interface with thestrengths of the rest of the team? HaveDan and I discussed what tasks he findsrewarding and which he struggles with?• Values/Beliefs: What do I know of

Dan’s core values and beliefs? Have Idone any values exercises or had con-versations with Dan that can help meunderstand what is important to him?• Intelligence/Emotional Intelligence:

What skills and experiences does Danbring to this job? What might be someareas to build on in his job? What haveI noticed about how Dan responds todifferent workplace situations thatmight help me understand what mightcause his declining performance?• Mission/Vision/Values: Does Dan

know the company’s mission, vision,and core values? Does he see how hisjob fits and helps the company achieveits goals? Where might there be a dis-connect? What can I do to bring clarity?• Working environment: Have I observ-

ed Dan’s work area to assess its poten-tial impact on his performance? Is hisdesk located where people stop andtalk and interrupt his concentration?Does he have access to the resources(people, technology) to do his job? Hashe ever mentioned anything about anyprocess or system that prevents himfrom doing his job efficiently? Does hehave an ergonomic work space?

By asking these questions, Susancould look at Dan’s situation with afresh perspective, get to the root of per-formance problems, consider her role inhis performance, and develop effectivestrategies to improve the situation. LE

Diane Rockett is the Program Manager for the LD Departmentat TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Visit www.triwest.com.

ACTION: Ask questions to boost performance.

by Diane Rockett

2 0 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e

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