Seize Your Leadership Day: Advice For The Boss
by Miki Saxon
Today is about the boss, but the reasoning behind the ‘leadership’ advice can be used by anyone.
First is advice from Toddi Gutner in WSJ Online for what to do as an incoming CEO. The advice is well worth reading considering 1,484 CEOs turned over in 2008.
Next a look at CEOs from a different culture and with a different attitude. It’s not that the Japanese do everything right, but American CEOs could certainly use a dose of their humility.
Right up there with humility are the findings of the Center for Creative Leadership that found soft skills to be of major importance during harsh economic times.
“The greatest challenges were identified as: motivating staff in uncertain times; being able to clearly communicate the rationale for changes; working within a leadership team format rather than alone; and developing staff for redeployment rather than layoffs.”
Finally, two great interviews, one with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and the other with Kevin Sharer, chief executive of Amgen. Amazing what you can learn from real pros who produce real value.
Enjoy and I hope that you’ll take a moment to share what you learn from these sources.
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: flickr
April 5th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Good information in your article on Seize Your Leadership Day!
I have been a part of a changing environment ever since I was young when my father was in the military and we were forced to move every few years.
I went on to also be a part of the military in the United State Marine Corps and then onto a major corporation, that prepared me for change as well.
The one common component in change is the fear of it, unless you personally decided on it.
Information and participation are the key to bringing everyone onboard for change.
Not telling everyone this is the direction we are going, but more importantly leading them into that direction so that they are a part of the decision to change. This helps to eliminate the fear and gives them the responsibility for making the change successful.
This is the key for any change no matter what the circumstances are, or how poor the company’s situation is.
The one exception of course would be for layoffs. When I talk about involving the employees I am speaking of those that will be there after the change.
It is amazing how much more effective everyone is when they are part of the decision and have been fully informed.
Thank you.
April 5th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Hi Gregory, I’m glad you enjoyed the information. There are companies who even share the layoff information. I linked to an article about one of them (apologies, I can’t remember which post) whose people voted to cut their own salaries rather than lay off their co-workers. I also think that Guy Kawasaki’s advice to “cut once, cut deep” instead of round after round if excellent.
But none of it works if the culture of the company wasn’t built on a foundation of open communications and trust. You can’t suddenly start doing it because times are bad or change is needed and expect it to work.
People really aren’t stupid as so many leaders would like to believe.
Thanks for visiting and taking time to add your thoughts!