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Filed Under: Leadership

Published on: Monday, May 21, 2012

Are You Really Capable of Change?

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Lots of business leaders say they're ready for change. They're eager to get on with something new. But the ugly truth, particularly for executives with a painfully deficit of self-awareness, is that they're simply incapable of change.

This incapacity to see an enterprise from a new or different perspective or to pursue a new course that may require an open-mind and willingness to engage in serious discovery is debilitating. It stops companies in their tracks. It prevents them from ever reaching their full potential. It alienates more self-aware peers and subordinates, and it can also have devastating results on executive careers.

 

 
High-achieving leaders find networking six times more effective for creating career options than online job postings, according to our hot-off-the presses research from ExecuNet's 20th annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report. Further, networking is the activity executive recruiters maintain to have the greatest success finding candidates.

 

Published on: Thursday, May 17, 2012

3 Career Lessons from Vanilla Ice

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I think I spent a little too much time alone in the car recently, because Vanilla Ice was sending me career messages while I sang along to "Ice Ice Baby." Cast no judgment on his music, sense of style or dance moves; you can find some inspiration when you sift through the beats:

 

Published on: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Decisions that Define Leaders and Organizations

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: leadership, joseph daniel mccool, brand, decisions, public perceptions, trust
Comments (0)
 
Some of the toughest decisions leaders are forced to make are those regarding the future of other leaders who've compromised the trust the organization has placed in them.

In recent months, a number of scandals have unfolded in the worlds of business and higher education. These have not only captured national headlines but also led institutions to question major hiring decisions and take action against leaders whose failures in their personal lives have cast a pall over their organizations.

 

Published on: Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Adaptability Becoming an Even Better Predictor of Executive Success

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: leadership, joseph daniel mccool, business success, adaptability
Comments (4)
 
Over the past four years, nearly every company has had to confront the challenge of change in all its forms. From the need to shift to a new business model, serving new customers, doing more with less and getting creative when it comes to meeting financial commitments, the sheer pace and scale of change has been daunting.

 

Published on: Monday, April 30, 2012

Leadership, Defined by Leaders

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, inspiration, quotes
Comments (1)
 
Even author and Harvard Business School professor Bill George quoted someone else, Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, when he spoke about leadership: "Leadership is a long journey into your own soul." But, George added, "Nothing is more fulfilling than leading, bringing people together to make a difference in the world."

As leaders, you've read countless volumes learning how to better lead and drive team performance and organizations, and spent more untold hours on-the-job doing, but sometimes it's a simple phrase that crystallizes the leadership experience. Here's some inspiration from successful leaders ExecuNet has captured while on location that we've collected to share with you.

 

Published on: Friday, April 20, 2012

Do You Talk About Fight Club?

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, roundtables, conflict resolution
Comments (0)
 
Some leaders view conflict as fighting and ignore it, but conflict-avoidance can be every bit as damaging as all-out conference room brawls. "Conflict can be cancerous to an organization," said a president in the manufacturing industry during a discussion in ExecuNet's General Management Roundtable. "The sooner you deal with it the better. It will not go away, and will only get worse. I have found that one must deal with it quickly, fairly and firmly. When dealing with conflict, the longer you delay, the 'cancer' will grow and has the potential to devastate an organization."

 

Published on: Thursday, April 12, 2012

Do You Really Need an MBA?

Comments (15)
 
Some who were unemployed during the last few years chose to use that time to pursue additional education, hoping the degree would accelerate their job search or enable a career change.

 

Published on: Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Do You Help Your Team Run?

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, success, engagement, team work
Comments (0)
 
A few months after losing my beloved dog, Moca, of 12 years, I began looking for another companion. A friend who worked with a shelter in Puerto Rico sent me some pictures, and I was immediately drawn to Hope, a year-old mix recovering from an injury it was believed she incurred during her time spent abandoned on the streets.

When I met her, she took a few steps toward me and fell, and then never seemed to fully regain her footing. We thought it was due to her long trip, nervousness and new surroundings, but she didn't improve when we got her home.

 

Published on: Monday, April 09, 2012

Is Your Winner a Whiner?

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, team unity, morale, pessimists
Comments (0)
 
Executive and corporate recruiters have said that skills and experience are the 50 percent that gets you in the door for an interview. Cultural fit, attitude and personality are the other half of the equation and will get you the offer.

Both are equally important, and the members of ExecuNet's Operations Roundtable grappled with the dilemma of how to manage a high-performing employee with a pessimistic attitude, leading a vice president of a food and beverage company to remark that proper handling of this type of person is one of the true tests of an individual's management skills.

 

Published on: Thursday, March 29, 2012

In Through the Out Door

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Talking about severance terms when negotiating a new employment offer can be as awkward as discussing a pre-nup at the engagement party, but when the expiration date arises — on either a job or relationship — it's important those conversations were initiated in advance.

ExecuNet members in the General Management Roundtable shared how they broached the topic with their employers and successfully managed positive exit strategies — even after they've been on the job a while:

 

Published on: Monday, March 26, 2012

A Critical Measure of Committed Leadership

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: leadership, joseph daniel mccool, team development, coaching, mentoring
Comments (0)
 
Lots of people say they're a great leader. Not all of them prove that. That's why it's especially refreshing when our interactions with ExecuNet members lead us to the kind of executive who demonstrates truly committed leadership in the form of coaching and mentoring of subordinates in his company — many of whom have their lives and careers transformed by the experience.

 

Published on: Monday, March 19, 2012

Find a Way to Have Them Stay

Comments (0)
 
If you are reading this, it is only because I didn't break ExecuNet's "Word Factory" while Online Editor Will Flammé was away on vacation. That's him last Halloween as "Robyn's Hood."

I value Will and all he does to keep things moving in the right direction, and I doubly appreciate him when he isn't here and I don't have him to rely upon. That's when I really see all the things he does that now fall upon my shoulders.

 

Published on: Thursday, March 15, 2012

Are Hard or Soft Skills More Important?

Comments (89)
 
One can have the very best technical and functionally specific expertise but cannot be considered a leader without engaging followers, and that is done through effective communication, relationship-building and developing emotional connections.

"I would argue that it is the proficiency in the 'soft' skills like empathy, communication and emotional intelligence that determine whether a leader is even able to successfully employ the 'hard' skills like analysis, risk management and operating efficiencies. You really can't operate efficiently if you can't get the best from your people, and they may not 'hear' you if there's no emotional connection," began one of the discussions within the ExecuNet community.

 

Published on: Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Opening Your Mind to an Ever-Changing Business World

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: leadership, joseph daniel mccool, networking, business performance
Comments (0)
 
For decades, executives measured their own business influence and authority based on the size, quality and depth of their Rolodex. While the tools have changed, executives are still very much committed to building and strengthening the relationships they believe can help them perform better in their jobs and create the kind of meaningful connections that will open up new career opportunities whenever the time and conditions are right to pursue them.

 

Published on: Friday, March 09, 2012

Go Ahead, Make a Mistake

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, innovation, growth, change, mistakes, failure
Comments (0)
 
"Make something today, even if it's a mistake," is something a friend said to me last week at the end of a phone conversation. Fear of making a mistake is sometimes the barrier to taking any action, but that also prevents any learning from happening too. And every lesson serves as a building block toward the next success.

It's been said that Thomas Edison counted all his unsuccessful attempts at developing the light bulb not as failures, but as many ways that didn't work on his journey to finding the one that did. Unfortunately, today's business culture is often not as forgiving, and definitely not as encouraging, of mistakes, yet innovation couldn't exist without failure.

 

Published on: Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Are You Chasing the Next Dollar or Truly Engaging Customers for the Long-Term?

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: leadership, joseph daniel mccool, customer satisfaction, value
Comments (0)
 
My takeaways from two recent interviews with ExecuNet members intersected by pure serendipity, but they would lead many business leaders quite purposefully to this conclusion:

If your sales teams are simply chasing the next dollar and failing to meaningfully engage your customers, they may not be your customers for much longer.

 

Published on: Thursday, March 01, 2012

When Your Company Has the Urge to Merge

Comments (6)
 
The economy is already a destabilizing external force, but many employees have added uncertainty when their own companies merge or acquire other businesses, or get sold. What used to be so familiar becomes unknown, and even worse, job security can disappear. When two companies become one, redundant headcount is often reduced; reorganizations occur; leadership can change; and cultures shift.

An ExecuNet member shared the difficulties his organization encountered in assimilating employees after purchasing several smaller businesses, and called upon his peer General Mangers for suggestions about how they coped in similar situations.

 

Published on: Friday, February 24, 2012

Give Your Organization a Reason to Believe in Itself

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In my research into the origins of organizational purpose one thing impressed me about those leaders in the social service sector.

When asked to define the purpose of their organization they could rattle it off in a flash. For example, one educator told me it was to improve the ability of children to learn; another in health care told me it was to improve levels of access and quality; and another from the military told me it was to bring all his troops home safely.

 

Published on: Thursday, February 16, 2012

Is Green Good or Bad for Business?

Comments (9)
 
It all depends on how your company operationally defines "green" and the ensuing strategies. Where it makes the most sense for business and careers is to tie "green" to "efficiency," and these ExecuNet members in the Operations Roundtable shared their experiences when asked whether going green helped or hurt their businesses.

 

Published on: Monday, February 13, 2012

Follow the Leader: Patrick Lencioni

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Business author, consultant, and speaker Patrick Lencioni has seen a lot of organizational dysfunction at play over the years. So it may come as no surprise that Lencioni advocates for disrupting corporate bureaucracy by determining what's essential to achieve and then building structure around those business objectives.

Lencioni says organizational politics often emanate from the senior leadership team, or may otherwise be condoned by that team because no one is willing to confront it. "Are we creating the kind of organizations where politics doesn't work?" Lencioni asks as something of a litmus test on bureaucracy and the politics that inevitably populate.

 

Published on: Thursday, February 02, 2012

Leadership is Transferable Across Industries

Comments (71)
 
An ExecuNet member who was trying to transition into a new industry finally networked to an interview with the president of his target company. The president was resistant to hiring this executive because he didn't have the experience, know the language or have the contacts in this particular sector.

"Where do you rank your company in this industry?" the ExecuNet member asked the president.
"We're the best," the president quickly replied.
"Then why would you want to hire from a weaker competitor?"

 

Published on: Monday, January 23, 2012

Ben Zander Shares His 6 Secrets to Success

Comments (1)
 
I wish that I were effectively able to convey to you what a roomful of Ben Zander energy feels like. I wish I could have you hear him lead thousands of executives to sing happy birthday to a complete stranger or Ode to Joy in German. I wish you could see 350 hungry business leaders let their lunches grow cold as they sat transfixed and hanging onto his words.

 

Published on: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

When You’re Very Young

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, engagement, brand
Comments (69)
 
When you're very young:
  • You wonder, "What exciting thing is going to happen today?"

  • You experiment.

  • You LOOK.

  • You imagine.

  • You learn.

  • You play.

  • You share.

  • You make friends.

  • You're curious.

  • You're joyous.

  • You change.

  • You grow.

  • You're a fanatic about your loves.

  • You're brimming with crazy energy.

  • The world hasn't shown you how to corral the thing and be normal.

 

Published on: Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Secret to Happiness

Comments (0)
 
Recently, I visited a naturopathic doctor with a friend who received an acupuncture treatment. Despite a phobia to needles, I was curious to try it and challenged myself to overcome the fear. Before I could brace myself for the imagined pain, the doctor stuck one of the needles in the top of my head.

It didn't hurt, just felt a little tingly. When I asked why she chose the top of my head, she said that's a place for happiness.

 

Published on: Monday, December 19, 2011

Follow the Leader: Tal Ben-Shahar

Comments (2)
 
Author and Harvard lecturer, Tal Ben-Shahar defines happiness as the convergence of meaning and pleasure, and it's a destination business executives and the organizations can reach if they're willing to consider what makes their existence unhappy.

 

Published on: Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Follow the Leader: Bill George (2 of 2)

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In an exclusive interview with ExecuNet, former Medtronic Chairman and CEO Bill George shares his perspectives on the intersection between authentic leadership, which he has championed, and Servant Leadership.

Recalling how the Servant Leadership model was created by AT&T executive Robert Greenleaf, George reminds today's business leaders that in order to get the most of themselves, they must first commit to serve others.

 

 
If your company doesn't have a strong retention plan, then it better have a successor lined up for the CFO position. ExecuNet's findings reveal these financial executives have one hand on the purse strings and the other on the doorknob.

 

Published on: Monday, November 28, 2011

The Big Amazing/Little Amazing

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, planning
Comments (7)
 
If there existed a business world miracle scale, one might place the resurgence of Chrysler on one end and a certain online shoe retailer that pays shipping both ways at the other.

(AT&T's wireless network playing nice with the new iPhone 4S would fall somewhere in between.)

A miracle: Something extraordinary. Contrary to the established constitution and course of things. The opposite of normalness and usualness. Something that challenges the status quo.

 

 
If you're a CEO, you'll want to benchmark yourself against others like you. If you're an in-role senior leader, insight into the chief executive can help you strategically focus your performance goals. For those in job search, you can better position yourself as a solution if you know the CEO's business priorities. Finally, if you recruit top talent, knowing CEOs' retention and engagement triggers can help you place your next candidate.

 

Published on: Monday, November 21, 2011

Follow the Leader: Bill George (1 of 2)

Comments (2)
 
In an exclusive interview for ExecuNet members, former Medtronic Chairman and CEO Bill George shares his perspective on getting the right management talent in the right roles, the impact of internal politics and empowering enterprise potential.

George, now a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, believes today's global business leaders have to learn how to position people to perform up to their true potential and to their key strengths.

 

 
In an exclusive interview for ExecuNet members at the 2011 World Business Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, workforce management expert Tammy Erickson assesses how the economy has shaped the organizational experiences of multiple generations of employees and what it means for business productivity and performance.

The smartest companies, says Erickson, have been focused on workforce engagement in a challenging business environment because they understand how employees have been stretched — and stressed — and why they must remain engaged to preserve vital customer relationships and market share.

 

Published on: Thursday, November 10, 2011

Have You Heard the One About the First-Time CEO?

Comments (8)
 
There are many different ways to present information, and we've found three approaches typically resonate with our ExecuNet members:
  1. Benchmarks and market intelligence borne from our statistical research
  2. Authoritative advice from vetted experts
  3. Experiential knowledge from peer communities

When an ExecuNet member landed an opportunity at the top of the org chart, we were able to present him with data revealing CEOs' top business priorities, as well as perspectives from Board experts on what they expected from their chief executives. But the real inside information came from those he engaged in ExecuNet’s General Management Roundtable who already sat in the corner office:

 

Published on: Friday, October 21, 2011

It’s Good to Be Quiet Sometimes

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, twitter, facebook, social media, linkedin
Comments (26)
 
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind."Pooh," he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."

* * *


As like buttons spread, it's becoming impossible to get a quiet conversation going; everybody is talking so much.

It's good to be quiet sometimes, not to talk so much, or loud, or big. Not to "Like," Tweet, comment or "digg."

 

Published on: Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Is Your CEO Using Social Media?

Comments (1)
 
If your CEO is not leveraging social media, this could change quickly as more companies increase productivity and drive higher engagement levels by using social media. According to a recent study by Social Media Insights and Trends, only 5 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs are on Twitter. While we hear about Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media on Twitter, they are not leading large publicly traded firms. However, there is the beginning of a movement to explore the business benefits of using these tools for the CEO and top executives of larger companies. Is your company one of the ones with a CEO on Twitter?

 

 
Shortly after joining ExecuNet as Senior Editor, I somehow scored a press pass for World Business Forum, an event that brought Jack Welch, Rudy Giuliani, then-CEO of Yahoo! Terry Semel, Tom Peters, Richard Branson, Colin Powell and Andrea Jung to the stage at Radio City Music Hall.

I settled in to the velvet seat for two days of reflected star power and mind-blowing leadership insight — most of it a much higher level than I had ever heard before. In those pre-iPad days, I returned to the office with a full legal pad of handwritten notes and reported thousands of words back to ExecuNet members about this stunning event.

 

Published on: Friday, August 26, 2011

Chief Eccentric Officer

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, innovation, anthony vlahos, eccentric, creativity
Comments (14)
 
Eccentric. Derived from the Greek: ek—out of + kentros—center.

When you're off-center, when you're one step ahead of the curve, stray from the norm, you're eccentric — and quite often, superbly successful.

Next month marks the 45th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek, which followed the interstellar adventures of Commanding Officer James T. Kirk and the crew of an exploration vessel of a 23rd century galactic "United Federation of Planets" — the Starship Enterprise. The show was not just fantastic, it was strange and somewhat off. It lives on in endless reruns and multiple remixes.

Eccentricity in the corner office here on planet Earth? Hardly unusual. There's the headline-making:

 

Published on: Friday, August 19, 2011

Non-Verbal Communication: Understanding and Mastering the Secrets of Body Language

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: leadership, joseph daniel mccool, communication, linda dominguez
Comments (1)
 
Sometimes, it's what someone doesn't say or the attitudes and beliefs they betray non-verbally that communicate more than words and which really mean the most.

Author and trainer, Linda R. Dominguez, a coach with the Executive Coaching and Resource Network and guest presenter for an exclusive ExecuNet webinar, says non-verbal communication constitutes as much as 65 percent of any conversation you may engage in as a business leader.

 

Published on: Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Road to Employee Engagement is a Journey, Not a Destination

Comments (0)
 
Given the economic and organizational pressures of today, many human resource leaders are talking about employee engagement, engagement surveys and getting their people back on track.

But it's especially important to recognize that arriving at some improved, future condition of employee engagement is a journey, not a destination.

 

Published on: Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Three Chords and the Truth

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, communication, risk, message, sacrifice
Comments (51)
 
Wild Thing. Blowin’ in the Wind. All Along The Watchtower. Bad Moon Rising. Ring of Fire. Brown Eyed Girl. Workin' Man Blues. Countless Ramones songs.

The basic twelve-bar blues progression is three chords: tonic, subdominant, dominant. Most early Rock & Roll (Elvis, Chuck Berry...) was simply Blues played cut-time.

 

Published on: Friday, June 17, 2011

What You Said: Leadership

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, executive, vision, employment, tony vlahos, mood, integrity
Comments (197)
 
In a recent blog post, Screaming, ExecuNet CMO Tony Vlahos shared what he thought were the characteristics that made a great leader. More than 100 of our readers responded, chiming in with the qualities they felt necessary for effective leadership.

 

Published on: Monday, June 13, 2011

If I Had a Nickel

Comments (0)
 
Everyone knows the "If I only had a nickel..." phrase, and I know we all have dozens, if not hundreds, of situations where we have thought of those famous words as we sat frustrated over one thing or another.

The most recent instance for me actually wasn't one of frustration but rather was much more positive, although it didn't necessarily start out that way. So why did the "If I only had a nickel..." phrase run through my mind?

 

Published on: Monday, June 06, 2011

Sure-Thing-Taking

Comments (44)
 
Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the bird is?

We can risk curiosity. In fact, business leaders have to. Without curiosity, our thinking gets small and our vision narrows. With it, real innovation and growth can happen.

We forget to hire for curiosity. The employee who asks "why" a lot; who is inner-directed and develops her own ideas; who is always doing that which she cannot do, so she may learn how to do it; who explores first and then considers whether she will accept the ramifications — that cat often winds up in lockdown.

 

 
That's how Jeff Kortes, author of No Nonsense Retention: Painless Strategies to Retain Your Best People, frames the issue of sustaining organizational performance by getting the most out of top performers and acting on bad hires before they drain productivity and morale. If your organization isn't already thinking about how to keep its best people, time is of the essence.

 

Published on: Friday, May 20, 2011

First We Kiss

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, culture, anthony vlahos, communication, brand, consumer relations
Comments (48)
 
After all, one must start somewhere.

Brands we adore, the remarkable customer service rep who fixes our problem, leaders whom we love to follow: They usually begin the love affair by deep kissing us in advance.

It's so much easier to read lips when they're touching yours.

 

Published on: Monday, May 02, 2011

Back to Basics

Comments (0)
 
Recently, I attended a breakfast of the Greenwich Leadership Forum, an organization of professionals and business leaders who are striving to be ethical leaders, combining business excellence with wisdom and faith-based and ethical principles. The speaker was Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci, who gained recent fame as part of the bidding group for the New York Mets and for the famous Jon Stewart segment last September, which went over 5,000,000 views on YouTube, answering the question Anthony asked President Obama in a town hall meeting: "When will you [President Obama] stop treating Wall Street as a ‘piñata?'" Stewart answered the question: "...until the candy comes out."

 

Published on: Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Screaming

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, vision, leaders
Comments (151)
 
Roller coaster, roller coaster, with your stomach-clenching drops, nerve-shredding loops and shriek-inducing jerks — why do we love you so?

You incite rollicking fear, make our hearts race, send our knuckles white, chuck us around unmercifully — and we keep getting right back in line for more.

 

 
Recently, a former colleague emailed me his résumé and asked me for my thoughts. When you work in an organization like ExecuNet, this is a familiar request. I started to open the attachment but stopped. After all, what I was about to do was give some sort of subjective feedback to someone who now works in a field I'm barely familiar with. I'm pretty sure he didn't really want to know what I especially liked or didn't like about his résumé.

What he really wanted to know was if this résumé was going to open doors and get meetings for him to move on to a new C-suite leadership role in a new organization.

 

Published on: Friday, April 15, 2011

Breaking Away to Innovate

Comments (1)
 
I recently went to a reception announcing the release of Breaking Away, a new book on "how great leaders create innovation that drives sustainable growth — and why others fail." There are many books on innovation, but this one is a keeper. It was written by the Jane Stevenson, Chairman, Board and CEO Services at Korn/Ferry International and Bilal Kaafarani, who has been a "serial" innovator at P&G, Kraft, Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

Stevenson's and Kaafarani's main purpose is to clarify what innovation is and how companies can consistently succeed in making the breakthroughs in innovation that lead to transformational change, revolutionizing an industry, a market or a company itself — the payoff being activating profitable and sustainable growth.

 

Published on: Monday, April 04, 2011

Ask a Poet What Makes a Great Leader

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, culture, anthony vlahos, vision, leaders, national poetry month
Comments (30)
 
Longfellow and the iFellow seem to be odd bedfellows with very little connection. What do great poets and great leaders have in common? Quite a lot. For example:
  1. Great poets muse on the big questions: "How did we get here?"; "What's important now?"; and "Where do we go next?"

  2. They're great at conjuring different pictures of reality — things as they are and as they ought to be.

  3. They listen more than they invent.

  4. They tear down as much as they create. They violate the meter, break the status quo, point at frauds and flawed models, take sides, start arguments, name the unnameable and say the unsayable.

  5. They leverage their talent for simplicity to shape the world around them, transform culture and create change.

 

Published on: Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Uncertainty Breeds Success

Comments (4)
 
Did you hear the story of how seven million American children vanished overnight and the IRS employee who was behind it all?

At the 2010 HSM World Business Forum in NYC, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics and a professor in the University of Chicago's economics department, asked the delegates this question. He went on to tell the story of one IRS employee's idea to require taxpayers to report the Social Security numbers of children they claimed as dependents on their tax forms that not only outed a lot of tax cheats, but also added $20 billion into the United States Treasury.

"He didn’t get a raise. Didn't get a promotion. Didn't get a parade," Levitt said. "He had a great idea…but he got no rewards, either social or financial."

 

Published on: Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Power of Innovation and Passion

Comments (0)
 
Can someone who pushed teams to great achievements through a demanding leadership style reform and get the same high-quality results? Filmmaker James Cameron confessed to delegates at the 2010 World Business Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, he had to adapt his leadership style from dictatorial to one that was more respectful and empowering. "I don't think I was always a good leader where I worked with people to get the best out of them," said the creator of Avatar, adding that these skills weren't innate for him, and he had to be open to learning so he wouldn't seem phony.

Now, when conflict arises, Cameron's inclination is to solve the problem, rather than make a recriminating moment out of it, he told Bloomberg anchor Betty Liu during an onstage interview. "I turn it back on myself. Did I hire the right person? Yes. Then maybe I didn't communicate it well or they didn't understand." This new leadership style lent Avatar a sense of fun, authorship and ownership in an environment where people felt like they had permission to make mistakes but were now less likely to do so.

 

Published on: Friday, March 11, 2011

“What Ships Are For:” Working and Leading with Purpose

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, engagement, meaning, purpose
Comments (3)
 
When I was little and my dad was a giant and always in a hurry, I remember frisking alongside him, trying to keep up with his long strides as he made his way to his shop off Seventh Avenue in New York City's fashion district. In my memory, the sun bounces off the hood of a taxi and the smell of fresh-baked bread wafts in the air. The morning brims with purpose. My dad is going to work, and he is taking me along with him.

Probably the single most useful thing I ever learned from my dad was about purpose. "A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for," he'd say. Picture being small and hearing these words being spoken by a man of mythical stature with a Greek accent. It is possible to imagine the Homeric overtones of such a moment.

 

Published on: Monday, February 21, 2011

7 Meaning Drivers to Leverage at Work

Posted By: Dave and Wendy Ulrich
Filed Under: leadership, employee engagement, meaning, dave ulrich, wendy ulrich
Comments (1)
 
In the last few years, many leaders have been playing a corporate version of "Whac-A-Mole." Every time a crisis pops up — like the need to cut costs, keep customers, or outsmart competitors — they move quickly to beat back the problem and then move to the next crisis.

But now, as the economy slowly begins to recover, leaders need to shift from attacking short-term problems to developing long-term opportunities. Emerging from the economic recession will require us to overcome a parallel psychological recession. Many employees and leaders are fatigued with "Whac-A-Mole" and want more out of work than endless responses to crises. The degree to which leaders address this need will define their future successes.

 

Published on: Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Creating Winning Social Media Strategies

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"The key to creating winning strategies in social media is first to give up control," Charlene Li, leading analyst of social technologies told delegates at the 2010 World Business Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, "You need to give up control but still be in command."

First, leaders must realize that social media is a lot more than just Facebook, said Li, also author of the bestselling books, Groundswell and Open Leadership. Then, she advised, you need to make sure you have a direction that everyone understands and will follow. "The only way to get people to follow you is if you lead them."

 

 
An impressive GPA and a high IQ certainly can't hurt in today's job market, but they're no guarantee of getting an interview, much less a job. But a high CQ (cultural intelligence quotient) is an increasingly sought-after capability by many employers. In today's competitive job market, candidates who demonstrate cultural intelligence have an edge for landing a job in many businesses. Even if the job doesn't require any international travel, managers and HR departments are realizing the importance of having culturally savvy employees who can dynamically meet the challenges of serving a diverse customer base at home and abroad as well as becoming effective participants of culturally diverse teams.

Cultural intelligence is defined as the capability to function effectively across national, ethnic and organizational cultures. You've heard about IQ and EQ. CQ stems from this same body of research on the various forms of intelligence needed to be a successful in today's workforce. CQ is a set of capabilities and skills proven to give employees and their organizations a competitive edge in our shrinking world.

 

 
There were tremendous learning opportunities at the 2010 World Business Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, but, warned Joseph Grenny, the delegates were likely to confront resistance at the office when they attempted to implement new ideas and strategies.

"The challenge begins when you return to the office and have to encounter human beings," said the business strategist and bestselling author, "human beings who are often unwilling to change."

Resistance to change is such a frequently encountered problem that Grenny said he found author David Sedaris' comment telling: "I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out."

 

Published on: Thursday, January 20, 2011

What Can You Do to Own the Solution?

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I think one of the most important elements in career advancement, leadership and business success is that of ownership. By ownership, I don't mean the kind of financial stake you have in the business. That kind of ownership simply gives you the opportunity to share in the benefit or risk of the enterprise.

Instead, there is another form of ownership that most successful leaders demonstrate, a form of ownership that will cause others to sit up and take notice of who you are and what success skills you bring to the table. Demonstrate this form of ownership and you will be able to workaround any number of issues that get in the way as well as add to your career advancement scorecard.

All too often, technically competent managers fall short of the ownership mindset required to both advance and succeed. Instead, these managers are very good at finding fault, blaming others for the roadblocks or complaining about the lack of competence of other groups. The absolute worst thing about these kinds of managers is that they are often right! There are roadblocks out there and sometimes other groups aren't performing as they could or should.

 

Published on: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The New Global Deal

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The 45th Vice President of the United States began speaking at the 2010 World Business Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, with a positive remark about the economy, but then he quickly put it in perspective with an anecdote from the late Grand Ole Opry comedienne Minnie Pearl of a farmer who was involved in a car accident. When the farmer went to court to sue for damages, the lawyer asked him whether it was true he said he "felt fine" right after the accident.

The farmer began to tell a long, involved story of the events of the car accident, culminating with the other vehicle hitting him and his cow. When the police arrived on the scene, they saw the injured cow and mercifully shot him. "So when the police asked the farmer how he felt, he said, 'I feel fine.' Many of us are feeling like that, said Gore."

 

Published on: Friday, October 22, 2010

Lost Without Leadership

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"This but not that." "Someday." These are the last five words in a recent Op Ed piece by David Brooks of the New York Times. The title of the piece was "The Paralysis of the State" and essentially deals with why government at all levels is so broken. Not something that comes as news to anyone.

What Brooks was pointing out with these last five words was simply to remind readers of the enormous price we all pay if we are part of something where there is a lack of leadership. Of the many examples cited in the article, perhaps the epidemic of unfunded public pension programs is as good as any in demonstrating what happens when the political will is not there to say this but not that.

 

 
Every recruiter has them. Many recruiters like to share them. Still others relish the disbelieving responses to war stories about the most incredible candidate interview gaffes.

We've all learned that sometimes fact is stranger than fiction and that even highly qualified candidates can be lousy interviewees. Sometimes, the candidate just doesn't understand that a first impression is a lasting impression. Other times, it's a lack of effort, a lack of focus or outright incompetency that does them in.

 

Published on: Thursday, October 14, 2010

Finding the Will to Survive…and Thrive

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As I watched (along with many of you) the joy on the faces of each of the Chilean miners and their families during yesterday's rescue, I couldn't help but think of another survivor who has been a powerful presence in my heart and mind since I was honored to meet him just six days ago.

What single characteristic drives a survivor to persevere and then prosper post-crisis? One word ties Nando Parrado to these miners we celebrate today: Commitment. In both cases, the commitment to live.

Shortly before his talk on the stage of Radio City Music Hall near the end of the World Business Forum, I met Fernando (Nando) Parrado, one of the 16 survivors of the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in the Andes in 1972. His cordial smile and calm demeanor come from an experience so tragic that we can't imagine it any more than we can really imagine what it has been like for the 33 miners trapped underground since August 5th.

 

 
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the September job numbers and though the total non-farm employment (-95K) disappointed many, unemployment remained steady as a percentage (9.6 %) and there was private sector employment growth (+64K) with some revisions upward for prior months.

The environment remains "wait and see" until the election or beyond in many respects as companies stay on the side lines with plenty of cash and strong balance sheets and income statements to make a move. It remains all about business confidence.

 

Published on: Monday, October 11, 2010

How Do You Text Authenticity?

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Report from World Business Forum, New York

The reconciliation of old school values and cutting-edge technology was consummated on stage at Radio City Music Hall during the two days of the World Business Forum this week. Some 30 business and policy leaders, nostalgic for times when trust, transparency and a handshake were the hallmarks of a deal, acknowledged the power of 21st century tools that connect one to millions in a moment and can shatter reputations at the press of a "send" button. Add into the mix a renewed emphasis on organizational culture and customer-centricity, and today's CEO has hands too full to barely pick up a BlackBerry.

 

Published on: Monday, October 04, 2010

Follow the Leader: Seth Godin

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Business leaders create value for organizations either through obedience or risk, and one is at a surplus and no longer needed, said author and marketing expert Seth Godin at the 2010 World Innovation Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported for attendees.

Those who generate ideas and "work without a map" are the real high-value leaders, according to Godin, but many companies don't encourage employee innovation nor do they build a culture that fosters creative thinking for fear of failing.

But failure acts as a double-edge sword: "Doing what you're told is a sure way to failure," said Godin of obedience; however, corporate innovation is guaranteed in a culture of failure.

 

 
Management Hiring Expected to Remain Steady until Fall Elections

Executive recruiters report the management employment marketplace is showing improvements in certain sectors of hiring activity but is also marked by lingering employer hesitancy about investing in new projects and leaders ahead of a more convincing economic recovery and the fall elections.

Signs of business reinvestment and increased executive hiring in select industry segments such as healthcare, technology and life sciences, and for management roles in sales, business development, engineering and marketing reveal no immediate indication of a "double dip" in economic growth.

In September, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index found that 50 percent of 147 responding executive recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, up four points from August.

 

 
Most private business owners wear two hats. One is the "Owner" hat. The other is the "CEO" hat. And Chuck Richards, CEO of Chairman's View, a business valuation consultancy, says the key to effectively passing any private, often small business from one leader to the next requires a strict ownership focus on building the transferable value of the enterprise.

First, Richards advises business owners, you must think like an owner, and to reach your goals for the eventual transition of the business, you must:
  1. Define success

  2. Assess the transferable value of the business asset

  3. Take measurable action

  4. Create better options

 

Published on: Friday, September 24, 2010

The Customer is the Driver

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"Leaders do not lead innovation. Leaders have to facilitate it. Leaders will impinge on everyone else's innovation," said Michael Howe at the 2010 World Innovation Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported for attendees. Howe, described by Forbes as one of the top 10 innovators of the past decade, believes the goal of businesses should be to create the right environments and support to foster innovation, and to align innovative ideas around business strategy and customer needs.

Howe explored the pace of innovation through the approach he mastered as chief executive of MinuteClinic, pioneer of the retail healthcare concept.

 

 
Slower hiring by companies – even when they have vacant leadership roles – has dampened executive recruiters' confidence in overall management hiring activity through the end of the year.

In August, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index revealed that 46 percent of 181 responding executive recruiters are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve over the next six months, down four points from July and the first index reading below 50 percent since October 2009.

 

Published on: Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Management Today is Outdated

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Why have there been advances in virtually every technology invented in the last 100 years, yet management is woefully out of date? At the 2009 World Business Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported, strategist and innovator Gary Hamel asked the delegates, "Could technology management change in this century the way it changed in the last century? Almost all organizations are running on 19th century management systems."

Management was created, the author and co-founder of the Management Innovation Lab at the London Business School said, to "get people to show up every day and do the same job over and over again like robots."

 

Published on: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Follow the Leader: Joel Makower

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"Green" is evolving from a regulatory or moral requirement to a business strategy. But, green will only succeed, said Joel Makower, author of Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business, when green equals better.

Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com and co-founder of Greener World Media, has tracked the greening of corporations over 20 years and seen it evolve from isolation in the environmental function to spread nearly enterprise-wide. At the 2010 World Innovation Forum, where ExecuNet exclusively reported for attendees, Makower talked to executives about how green innovation can fit into their organizations and careers.

 

 
For years, public company directors have told me their single most critical responsibility is to ensure a smooth and effective process for CEO transition. And I've heard Bill Conaty, the former longtime head of human resources at General Electric, say great leaders help develop their own successors and succession plans; lousy leaders are intimidated by them.

So how, then, to reconcile the data from a joint survey by Heidrick & Struggles and Stanford University's Rock Center for Corporate Governance that more than half of the business executives they polled cannot immediately name a successor to their current CEO should the need arise.

 

 
Lots of very smart people talk about the critical nature of organizational culture as an indicator of future business performance. An equal number of business leaders talk about the importance of recruiting and developing superior executive talent to gain a competitive edge.

Yet the challenge of filtering the wrong people out of an organization when they poison the cultural well, so to speak, and keeping them out of your company in the first place, is so often overlooked.

 

Published on: Thursday, July 29, 2010

Get In, Get Out

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Interest in interim executive positions has risen in the last few years; most recently, 7-in-10 senior-level leaders surveyed by ExecuNet were considering or may consider part-time roles in their career planning — up from 57 percent in 2006. ExecuNet contributing editor Marji McClure explored the advantages of interim opportunities for our member publication, CareerSmart Advisor, and found that while still more prominent in Europe, interim posts are increasingly gaining traction in the US with both organizations and executives for a variety of reasons.

 

Published on: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Follow the Leader: Marshall Goldsmith

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"Mojo" is not among the words executives and recruiters use when we survey them about the specific attributes of leadership, yet executive coach and management expert Dr. Marshall Goldmsith claimed it for his latest book, MOJO: How to Get It, How to Keep It and How to Get It Back When You Lose It.

Goldsmith defines Mojo as "that positive spirit — toward what you are doing now that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside," and he associates identity, achievement, reputation and acceptance as the four key factors that impact personal and professional Mojo.

 

Published on: Wednesday, July 14, 2010

BP “Needs Adult Supervision”

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There's no disputing that the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has been over-analyzed by multidisciplinary external interests, but this ExecuNet member in our Sales and Marketing Roundtable group summarized it very simply, while echoing many of the sentiments coming from other senior-level professionals that someone needs to step up and display some authentic leadership.

"Two other guys there [would] have been better with the media and in general, but it would help if there were some women in BP visible too, as women are perceived as caretakers and generally better perceived in governance and accountability," this CEO of a marketing communications company added.

 

 
As US business leaders try to make sense of what, at times, seems a confusing mix of economic reports and forecasts, there is a huge economy that's booming right now, and it's also focused squarely on talent and executive management and sustaining growth.

That country is Brazil, or for observers of our increasingly multi-polar world, the country that puts the "B" in the so-called "BRIC" economies.

 

Published on: Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Do Not Want What You Already Have

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, job search, success, executives, gps, challenge
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Like many drivers, I have a GPS in my car and, probably like some, I don't always listen to where it tells me to go. When I veer from its directions, it gives me a moment on my own and then tells me it's "recalculating" before adjusting to a new course.

While deep into our latest survey research, I thought how a perspective might be recalculated to improve how successful professionals approach job search, and even connect them to conditions that feel more familiar.

Many executives already have the skills they need to find their next opportunity, but the skills need to be pointed in a new direction.

 

 
A recent survey by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) finds that one-quarter of employer-identified, high-potential leaders plan to leave their company within the year. But employers need not see that statistic — and the flight of top talent — as a foregone conclusion.

The same survey finds that an additional 21 percent of employees today identify themselves as "highly disengaged," a figure which has risen nearly three-fold since 2007. The CEB finds that companies can apply the following tactics to identify, re-engage and more effectively manage high-potential employees:

 

Published on: Monday, June 14, 2010

Some Underpinnings for a Positive Market Tone

Posted By: Mark Anderson
Filed Under: leadership, mark anderson, the economy, innovation, strategy, expert insight
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We saw a great deal in the media about the threat of a "double dip" in our economy.

Bernanke's remarks before Congress this week, expecting 3 percent growth for the rest of this year into 2011, shows we continue to be in a slow growth environment with lots of "noise" but probably not a "double dip."

Anecdotal evidence we received this week also suggests a positive outlook. A team of ExecuNetters covered the HSM's World Innovation Forum that was held in NYC this week. They reported that the world actually was alive and well and returning to basics. With over 900 attendees, the attendance was at an all-time high — more than doubling the prior year. The vibrancy of the discussions and this increased attendance really speak volumes about how business has refocused on innovation and growth — after a hiatus.

 

Published on: Monday, June 07, 2010

Relocation via Oceanic Flight 815

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, onboarding, job interview, succession plan, lost, tv
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So, in the end, LOST turned out to be a helluva long job interview. For those who didn't spend the last six years alternately fascinated and frustrated by the series, I'll translate it into corporate language:

 

Published on: Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Old Memories Not So Sweet

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, the economy, strategy
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Old Memories Not So SweetThose who were dramatically affected by America's Great Depression in 1929 seemed to carry the weight of that experience well beyond the following decade of double-digit unemployment. The stories of people who spent the rest of their lives saving aluminum foil or hoarding sugar packages aren't folklore, but the long-lasting results of preparing for lean times to reoccur.

 

Published on: Thursday, May 27, 2010

Change at 30,000 Feet

Posted By: Robyn Greenspan
Filed Under: robyn greenspan, leadership, strategy
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Change at 30,000 FeetYou're settled into your seat for a long airplane trip — reclined, shoes off, drink on tray table, magazine open to that article you've been waiting to read once you finally had enough time. Suddenly, the flight attendant asks you to switch seats with another passenger — your comfortable environment and mental harmony is now disrupted, and it will require some deliberate focus and nurturing to get you back on track.

Imagine that same seat-swapping scenario occurring during a period of severe weather turbulence. Not only were you already anxious and feeling unstable in your current seat, you now have to collect yourself, mobilize and get re-oriented in a new place while trying to balance and keep from falling.

Change is usually not easy, and change amidst instability is even more difficult. Yet that's how many employees are feeling lately as their companies reorganize, reallocate resources, cut costs and downsize staff while the economy searches for stabilization.

 

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