I love it when several news items come together in perfect synergy as happened this week.

It started Thursday when I read a marvelous post from Jim Stroup at Managing Leadership that elegantly blew a hole in the myth that leadership is always a positive and constructive force.

The conviction this week of Galleon’s Raj Rajaratnam, long lauded as a brilliant leader who epitomizes today’s leadership definition of ‘influence’, perfectly proves Jim’s point.

A link in Jim’s post led me to an article in BNET questioning even the need for and value of ‘heroic’ leaders.

And that was confirmed by none other than Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte, who says that leadership needs to be “flat” and permeate the entire organization, not just positional roles.

Different publishing dates, different sources and different authors, but all dovetailing perfectly to drive home the point that “leadership” is passé.

Image credit:  MykReeve on flickr

There’s a bad habit I see sweeping through companies. It’s not really new, but it has gotten much worse in recent years.

This particular habit used to be more the province of arguing couples, relationship counselors and divorce courts.

Always more of a guy thing, I now find it on the rise among women.

I call it “verbal avoidance” and it is irritating to say the least.

It occurs when something happens, or is supposed to happen, and person A needs to communicate that to person B.

And doesn’t.

A doesn’t because

• what happened is going to upset B and A either doesn’t want to be the messenger, since messengers are sometimes killed or deal with the fallout if/when B gets upset.
• B is waiting for A to notify him of good news, but B doesn’t have the information yet, so rather than saying that, he doesn’t call.

Of course there are dozens of variations, but they all boil down to the same thing—A does not communicate with B as expected.

When B does reach A, A offers a variety of reasons why the contact didn’t happen, but reasons don’t excuse anything.

B feels frustrated/disappointed/disgusted/angry/betrayed.

Verbal avoidance for any reason breaks trust.

And trust is the basis for any kind of relationship, whether at work, at home or in the world at large.

Silence isn’t always golden.

Stock.xchng image credit: Sigurd Decroos

Several years ago I read an article by Bill Buxton about risk; I think it’s worth reposting, because the article is as valuable today as it was then.

The Value of Risk

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.

Training, tools, fitness and partners—those are the same considerations that make all parts of life not only successful, but worth living.

In a world moving ever faster, where 2008 is considered ancient history, it is worth recognizing that there is much wisdom to be found there.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3000044567

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigoneal/2201129877/

Last fall I wrote that the prevalence of bullying, especially in the workplace, was giving rise to an anti bullying industry and I’ve seen nothing to change my mind about that.

I recently learned that my post was taken by at lease one person to mean that I didn’t believe workplace bullying was real and I want to state categorically that it is very real and way too prevalent.

I’ve seen abusive managers and cultures in action up close all my working life, especially since I returned to headhunting in the late Seventies.

Whether you call it abuse or bullying, it’s out of the closet and getting more and more media attention, which is good.

I learned about the misinterpretation last week when I received a call from a senior manager I’ll call “Lisa.”

Lisa was looking for expert witnesses because an employee has gone to HR with claims that he is being bullied.

I immediately told her that I don’t believe I would qualify as an expert, but offered to listen to the story. (I was very curious.)

Long story short, Lisa explained that her job was very difficult because the department she had recently taken over had a number of very stupid people who insisted on doing things differently from the way she knew they should be done.

She had found the only way to make them listen was to scream and constantly point out what they were doing wrong.

However, one of them was so wimpy he had filed a complaint with HR and the investigation was impeding her work, hence her desire to find experts on her side.

I asked what made her think I would side with her and she mentioned the article.

I then explained in words of one syllable that she had completely misunderstood what I wrote, that her she was bullying her people and that actions such as screaming and public belittling were not only abusive, but created a toxic culture for everybody.

As you might guess, her reaction to what I said was less than positive.

Fickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

I’m There For You, Baby, is the first volume in Neil Senturia’s The Entrepreneurs Guide to the Galaxy.

“Huh, if this is about entrepreneurs, why is it Monday’s post in stead of Thursday’s?” I’ll let Neil answer that,

Today everyone needs to think like an entrepreneur whether it’s in your own business, a large company or a non-profit.

I would add that you need to think like an entrepreneur if you are working for others, raising kids or just trying to function in the 21^st Century.

Other reasons I’m reviewing it on a Monday.

• It’s hilarious and a great read at only 215 pages. (Disclaimer: some of the language may be a bit blue, but no more so than real life.)
• It’s autobiographical, so it’s very real; not as told to blah blah.
• It includes a great deal of the bare-ass truth about entrepreneurs that is usually glossed over.

For those of you who don’t recognize Neil’s name, he is CEO of Blackbird Ventures; he moved from  writing for television sit-coms to doing real estate deals to technology entrepreneur; like me, he is older than dirt, but at least a billion times richer.

I’m There For You, Baby includes some 400-odd rules, most of which you don’t have to memorize, but there are a few you would be wise to not only memorize, but implement as well, such as Rule #1: Return every phone call and every email.

Most of the rules are a function of common sense, good manners and a belief in the ethical treatment of fellow human beings—not the most prevalent attitudes in these go-go meme days, so maybe they do need to be memorized.

I’m There For You, Baby offers enormous value and no preaching; instead of how-tos it provides how-dids along with an unvarnished view of what worked, what didn’t and why.

I highly recommend it and would love to hear your thoughts here after you read it.

Image credit: I’m There For You, Baby

See all mY generation posts here.

I should have called this series “Did you know…?” because that’s how I keep wanting to start every time I write Oddball Facts. Oh well…

Seems that most people these days are either trying to lose weight, so, of course, they work at reducing the amount of food they eat. If the average person eats about 60,000 pounds in the course of their life—the equivalent of about six elephants—look around and just think how many extra elephants some of the people you see must have consumed.

I wonder it the half a billion dollars American kids spend on chewing gum is included or in addition to the 60,000 lifetime pounds.

While we’re on the subject of people food, you can add the more than $11 billion in comestibles that we feed our dogs and cats.

I often wonder why most Americans are upset over the possibility that the US Post Office will eliminate Saturday mail delivery in an effort to reduce costs. Canada eliminated Saturday service in 1969 and seems to be doing just fine.

Try dropping this bit of trivia at your next boring lunch or meeting—more people use blue toothbrushes, than red ones. If nothing else it’s sure shut people up while they try and come up with a response.

Finally, a salute to ingenuity, not to mention sheer guts. Cary Copestakes had tuition to pay and no money, so she decided to auction her virginity on eBay with a starting bid of $10,000 (at least she put a high value on herself). Lucky Cary, the man who won the bidding felt sorry for her, so he gave her the money, but didn’t collect on the service.

I wish you all a wonderful Mother’s Day, whether you are a mother or not.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/93014478@N00/3358790995/

The effect of culture is extensive, but in some cases the ripples it sends out travel further than you would imagine. Such is that case in the culture of lies that surrounds the implementation of Title IX as it affected the unequal treatment of male and female athletes on college campuses. Rather than creating new women’s sports or, heaven forbid, reduce football teams, for the last 40 years many colleges have turned to “roster management.” Roster management is a fancy term for lying and cheating to make it seem as if you complied with the law.

Just as culture is the main reason people join companies it is also the reason they leave. Not just the overall culture, but the specific culture fostered by their manager. A new study shows that the majority of women leaving engineering do so because of the culture.

The sexist MAP in the medical profession is nothing new, but you would think that it might have changed a bit more over the last few decades. Nope. Dr. Lazar J. Greenfield, a top surgeon and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan Medical School, was forced to resign his position as president-elect of the American College of Surgeons because of his really stupid comments in a column he wrote in the organization’s newspaper. Among other comments he termed semen a mood enhancer for women.  Good grief and shades of 1970.

I guess some things never change.

PS I’ve never added to a post once it’s published, but after reading this morning’s paper I’m making an exception today.

I guess it proves just how naive I am, but I honestly thought the days of it being a woman’s fault if she is raped were gone. How wrong I was.

Image credit:  MykReeve on flickr

Gilbert Fiorentino may not be a household name, but millions of online shoppers recognize the name Tiger Direct.

In a nod to the corporate excess and bad culture, as represented by John Thain and disgraced CEO Dennis Kozlowski, we now have Fiorentino.

The truly shocking part of this story is found in the comment section; the stories from employees whose descriptions of their work environment will raise your hackles even as they make you cringe.

Dell sued TigerDirect for trademark infringement for “repeated and blatant” violations regarding the resale of its computers and in 2008 the Florida Attorney General’s office sued for failing to pay advertised rebates to consumers.

But this isn’t just another CEO running amok.

Fiorentino may have founded Tiger Direct and be CEO of CompUSA (bought out of bankruptcy), but Systemax owns the whole shebang.

And it is Systemax that turned a blind eye for all those years as Fiorentino created and maintained a culture of intimidation and abuse of both employees and vendors for more than a decade.

“He was making a lot of money for the company and I think people looked the other way for a long time. … If he wanted it, he took it, for whatever reason,” –William “Cully” Waggoner, a former employee who was fired in 2009 after five years with the company, but won a court settlement challenging the action. A blind eye until a worm turned and made that fateful whistleblower call.

Now Systemax claims it wants to change its corporate culture.

A memo last week to employees talked about embracing changes like a more “open management style” and elimination of competitive postings of hours worked by each employee. “The prior management regime was not the reason for the Company’s success – you were.” –Systemax Executive Committee

This is the same executive committee that was blind all those years.

If you believe them I have a great buy on a gorgeous orange bridge that would look terrific on your front lawn.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/salim/402620871/