A few weeks ago I was talking with Phil Gerbyshak over at Slacker Manger and he described a new leadership approach he’s developing (no details, it’s still in stealth mode). I mentioned that its success would be very MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophyâ„¢) dependent.

Phil thought it would be interesting to compare the two methods.

But as I explained, they aren’t comparable, they work together. People can’t implement any method unless their MAP is synergistic with it. And most management and leadership training assumes that everyone has a certain kind of MAP and that’s that.

But that’s not true—MAP is as individualistic as snowflakes—no two are identical.

Once Phil understood, he asked me if I’d like to do a short article for Slacker and explain MAP to his readers. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. The result is MAP Your Way to Successful Management.

And I promise, as soon as Phil takes the wraps off his new leadership methodology I’ll pass it on. Better yet, I’ll post an interview with the great man himself!

Have you checked out your MAP lately?

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Every so often I share one of the small pearls of wisdom by which I try and live my life.

Usually I can quote the source, but occasionally I’m forced to mark them anonymous and this is one of those times. (If you happen to know the source, please enlighten me.)

There’s always someone out there who thinks you’re an idiot, so try not to give them proof.

Unfortunately, I find myself handing out proof far too often!

What about you?

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Corporate culture has begotten a thriving industry that researches, dissects, writes, discusses, preaches, teaches, and studies it—all with the goal of helping people understand its effects and learn how to improve it.

It’s considered a soft science, a moving target, amorphous and difficult to pin down.

But I’ve always believed that corporate culture has much in common with a computer.

Yes, a computer, with its unyielding hardware and logical, literal software.

You see, in computing, the term I/O refers to input, whatever is received by the system, and output, that which results from the processing.

Programmers know that if you enter incorrect or bad data the results coming out of the computer won’t have much value, hence the term “garbage in/garbage out.”

And there you have it—the similarity between computers, corporate culture and most everything else in life.

What comes out is a function of what you put in.

Blindly accepting everything offered—whether from the guru du jour or religious texts—is sure to result in garbage out at some point.

Improving corporate culture requires critical thinking on your part. No one person, past, present or future, has all the answers. You need to evaluate the available information, take a bit from here and a bit from there, apply it to your situation and, like a computer, process it.

The resulting culture will differ from what you start with, because you’ve added the flavor of your own life experiences, knowledge and MAP to the mix and that’s good—different people, different culture.

A viable corporate culture is a living organism, growing and changing all the time and you’re contributing to that growth.

How have you contributed to your company’s culture?

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Be sure to visit my other WW—Mixed signals

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Gavin Cassar, a Wharton accounting professor, tested the prevailing wisdom of whether accounting techniques, such as budgeting, sales projections and financial reporting, would, in fact, help prevent business failures. In surprising results, he found that some accounting tools may actually lead them astray.

He found the culprit not to be the tools, but rather the MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophyâ„¢) of those using them.

I sent the article to a long-time CEO and thought you would find his comments interesting and useful. I’ve changed names to keep the examples he mentions anonymous, but note that CorpA was part of a Fortune 500 company and CorpB was public with sales of several hundred million with a CEO who had been around the block numerous times.

There’s only one important accounting problem described in this article. The other problems discussed are really problems in human psychology, such as being guided by hopes instead of realistic considerations and ignoring (widening) gaps between plans and results.

But the serious accounting problem described is the failure to collect and publish accurate and timely accounting information. If you have a carefully worked out budget, unless the monthly accounting figures are available quickly and are correct, the budget is useless as a planning tool because it’s impossible to really judge whether the company is on plan or not.

To some extent, both CorpA and CorpB suffered from this. Accounting was not held to high enough standards. Expenses were misclassified and weren’t posted in the months in which they were actually incurred. Managers initially tried to sit down with accounting and straighten out the discrepancies. But it was impossible, either because of poor accounting tools or probably just gross incompetence. After a time, managers stopped trying to correct the internal financial reports. They thought it was just wasting their time. They also stopped trying to control their expenses. Why bother? The financial reports were so inaccurate they didn’t show up even large and willful expenses outside budget limits.

So of course this led to increasing attempts by higher management to exert personal control over expenses. At one point, the CorpB CEO was signing all expense reports. You had to receive his personal permission to go on a trip or to even take a client to lunch. The budget meant nothing. And there was a line of managers outside his office asking permission to buy essential test equipment or fly an applicant in for an interview. Stuff that should have been decided instantly by the managers concerned was delayed, frustrated and often cancelled altogether.

Does your company provide timely accounting information to its managers?

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In an excellent post on risk, professor, researcher and author Bill Buxton says,‘Entrepreneurs, like ice climbers, are often said to risk their necks. But there are ways to cut danger to sane levels—and some very good reasons to try’

People often comment that both groups are, politely speaking, nuts.

After offering up a detailed explanation of ice climbing he comments,

‘…the four considerations employed by the ice climber are exactly the same as those used by the serial entrepreneur or the effective business person…’

They are training, tools, fitness and partners.

Buxton ends by saying,

‘The most dangerous way of all to play it is so-called safe. Safe leads to atrophy and certain death—of spirit, culture, and enterprise. There is not a single institution of merit or worthy of respect in our society that was not created out of risk. Risk is not only not to be avoided, it is to be embraced—for survival.’

A quick and valuable read—whether you consider yourself a risk taker or not.

How do you handle the risks you take?

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Ever wish you had a ‘get out of jail free’ card for all those ill-conceived, poorly run meetings to which you’re routinely subjected?

‘That’s why Mike Monteiro came up with meeting tokens—bumblebee-colored poker chips good for 15 minutes of a colleague’s attention, inscribed with a warning, ‘Don’t Waste My Time.’ Monteiro, the director of San Francisco-based Mule Design Studio, designed the tokens after tiring of disorganized and lengthy office meetings.’

He hasn’t started using them yet, but he’s definitely on to something.

What do you do to avoid/reduce meeting mania?

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Some of you may have read that ‘Siemens Power Generation Inc. has been fined more than $10,000 for safety violations in a wind turbine tower collapse that killed one worker and injured another.’

Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division investigated and found that ‘…workers were not properly instructed and supervised in safe operations, the technicians each had less than two months’ work experience and there was no supervisor on site. The agency says the workers were unaware of the potential for such a failure. Other safety violations included improper company procedures and failure to train employees in emergency rescue procedures.’

Not surprising, since companies constantly shortchange and skimp on all forms of training from safety to customer service.

Siemens says it has ‘made some changes, is reviewing the report and will make additional changes as needed…has brought in experts inside and outside the company to review the case.’

Typically, training, or the lack of it, is driven by cost factors and senior management myopia across industries and around the world.

But I really wonder if it the same attitudes will prevail in the UK post April 6 when The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 goes into effect.

‘The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is a landmark in law. For the first time, companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care.

The Act, which will come into force on 6 April 2008, clarifies the criminal liabilities of companies including large organisations where serious failures in the management of health and safety result in a fatality.’

Do you think that management should be held accountable for endemic practices that lead to employee deaths?

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And don’t miss my other WW— the halls of power

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Good post over at lifehack.org about productivity and why it’s about more than time management.

Rather than rewrite it I’m going to link you up with some stuff I’ve written previously that dovetails perfectly with the idea of Luftmenschen (people who deal in the non-tangible: ideas, thoughts, dreams).

I’ve written about this before, starting with proof that multitasking is a figment of your overactive imagination or wish list; then on to the time to think to facilitate the dreaming that fosters innovation and happiness; why vacations are important, and, best of all, here’s a link to the only real, honest-to-goodness silver bullet that not only exists, but is already yours!

Are you a Luftmenschen?

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