Anytime I can include ’sex’ in a post my stats improve for that day. And if the sex is combined with ‘leadership’ they go up even more.
I want to thank Steve Pearlstein and Raju Narisetti, who write On Leadership for the Washington Post, for offering up both sex and leadership in the same post along. See how the 11 panelists and dozens of readers responded to this question and then come back and tell me what you think.
Why do so many leaders fall prey to confusing power with sexual charisma? Do leaders face more personal temptations than the rest of us?
In this Knowledge@Wharton interview, Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines, explains why you shouldn’t “hide in a corner.” She also knows the value of sex and leadership and incorporates both in various forms, together and separately, in her media empire.
Hearst’s stable of 15 magazines includes some of the best-known titles in the business, including Cosmopolitan,Esquire, Good Housekeeping,Harper’s Bazaar,O: The Oprah Magazine,Popular Mechanics,Redbook and Town & Country.
Speaking of leaders, here’s one who qualifies no matter how you rate her. Meet Ursula Burns, Xerox’s new CEO and see what she is doing to change its culture. Burns’s background is a long way from the typical Fortune 100 and her parent is even further away.
She grew up in ”the Projects,” a large low-income housing community on Delancey Street in Manhattan. … Ms. Burns was the middle child of three…her mother took in ironing and ran a day care center from home.
Whether we choose to or not, we learn from the day we are born to the day we die. Sometimes our learning is conscious and intentional, but not always. Sometimes it makes us better people, sometimes not.
I have two stories for you today that clearly illustrate my premise.
Let’s start with the unconscious/unintentional (so we can end on a happier note).
For years before the global meltdown the media shared stories about the opulent lifestyle led by the wealthy and ultra wealthy. And the last couple of years the stories have revolved around how, instead of shopping until you drop, to shop so no one knows.
Two professors, HBS’ Roy Y.J. Chua and Xi Zou, an assistant professor at London Business School wondered if the people who lived this life style are different from the rest of us. Specifically, they asked,
“Does the availability of luxury goods “prime” individuals to be less concerned about or considerate toward others?”
Surprise, surprise; the answer is ‘yes’.
Next is a look at how intentional learning can not only reverse your life, but take you to rarified heights—as it did Shon R. Hopwood.
Hopwood was a mediocre bank robber—five banks over two years yielded only $200K— who spent a decade in prison. Now, prison is boring and a lot of felons spend their time in the library, specifically the law library, and Hopwood was one of them, but unlike most of them.
Mr. Hopwood spent much of that time in the prison law library, and it turned out he was better at understanding the law than breaking it. He transformed himself into something rare at the top levels of the American bar, and unheard of behind bars: an accomplished Supreme Court practitioner.
As you can see, unintentional learning can make you a jerk, whereas intentional learning can change your status from jerk to highly respected.
‘Leader’ is a word that’s bandied about with reckless abandon, but it is the only word that’s available that carries a fairly universal meaning.
That said, I have several leadership links I think you’ll find interesting.
First, from American Express’ Open Forum, 10 excellent examples of real business leadership. Some refer to companies, others to people, none will take you long to read. And if the story resonates you can always google more in-depth information.
Next is a fascinating analysis from Newsweek that looks at the pros and cons of business executives as politicians. It’s a timely article considering how many are throwing their hats in the ring.
Finally, whether you consider yourself a leader, or just someone who enjoys helping others excel, you’ll find lots of good ideas at LeaderTalk where Becky Robinson has a round up of posts discussing the importance of, and ways to, develop people from some of the smartest coaches around—including me.
Trends come and go. In its Innovation special Business Week takes a look at leading trends in the business community. Last year was all about execution, but that was then… (While you’re there be sure to check out the Special Reports.)
This year’s emphasis on strategic thinking suggests that, like an individual recovering from a personal upheaval, businesses today are taking stock: reviewing their options, rethinking their strategies, considering new opportunities and innovations.
Another trend is the questioning of CEO compensation, once strictly the province of the board of directors and a few consultants, today it’s everyman’s topic of conversation. Do you think today’s CEO compensation, not just on Wall Street, but in general, is fair and appropriate? Do the incentives work? Do they focus too much on risk taking or do they encourage excessive caution? Read this interview for some excellent insights.
Speaking of fortunes, what do the elder statesmen of Wall Street, guys like George Soros, Nicholas F. Brady, John S. Reed, William H. Donaldson and John C. Bogle have in common with you and me? Surprise, surprise, they all believe that Wall Street needs to be reigned in.
They grew quite wealthy in finance, typically making their fortunes in the ’70s and ’80s when banks and securities firms were considerably more regulated. And now, parting company with the current chieftains, they want more rules.
Another rich guy is John Thain, a trend of his own. Fired from his CEO aerie he has landed on his golden feet at CIT. The man who didn’t see anything wrong with spending $1.2 million renovating his office in 2008 is now responsible for the company that provides financing for SMB, as well as being the third-largest railcar-leasing and aircraft-financing firm in the U.S. In his hands rests much of our future—at least he’s not planning to redecorate.
“This is a company that’s over 100 years old and its core business is lending to small- and medium-sized companies,” Thain said yesterday in an interview. “If we’re going to get the U.S. economy to continue to grow, if we’re going to create jobs, then we need to have this kind of a company do well.”
Our final trend comes from Forbes, famous for the way it slices and dices lists of wealthy people. Its newest look offers yet another one—billionaires under age 40.
Of the current eight, four are from China, three are from the U.S. and one is from Japan.
I’m not sure whether it’s amusing or ironic (or both) but breakout companies all seem to be focused on culture. And when they are successful, no matter the business, they are immediately in high demand to tell others how they do it—think Tony Hsieh and Zappos.
Last Saturday I told you about Nick Sarillo, whose two pizza restaurants in Chicago do $7 million a year with 20% turnover vs. the casual dining industry average of 200%. As a result of the Inc magazine profile he is keynote speaker at the Pizza Executive Summit this summer. I’m sure he’ll be in demand other places. I love the title—“Culture 2.0: Branding your company’s way of life;” think about it.
Along with being a culture fanatic I also believe that anyone can lead given the opportunity, challenge and a supportive culture in which the messenger is never killed.
An NYT interview with Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive of Zynga offers insight into his approach of making all his people CEOs.
“I’d turn people into C.E.O.’s. One thing I did at my second company was to put white sticky sheets on the wall, and I put everyone’s name on one of the sheets, and I said, “By the end of the week, everybody needs to write what you’re C.E.O. of, and it needs to be something really meaningful.” And that way, everyone knows whose C.E.O. of what and they know whom to ask instead of me. And it was really effective. People liked it. And there was nowhere to hide.”
Stories from CEOs of their most life-changing day in their careers. Sometimes the result was promotion to the upper reaches of business, and sometimes a steep fall from grace.
TED has become a phenomenon and it’s on now. Plan to spend some time listening to an eclectic group of creative thinkers.
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.
The annual conferences in Long Beach and Oxford bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
In a final tip of the hat to Valentine’s Day tomorrow, check out substitutes for Viagra that taste great.
Today we have four stories that sit at the intersection of innovation and culture.
The first is the story of Nick Sarillo, founder of Nick’s Pizza & Pub in Chicago. Sarillo set out to build a culture that ignored common knowledge’ about what to expect from hourly workers. Did he succeed? You tell me.
In an industry in which annual employee turnover of 200 percent is considered normal, Sarillo’s restaurants lose and replace just 20 percent of their staff members every year. Net operating profit in the industry averages 6.6 percent; Sarillo’s runs about 14 percent and has gone as high as 18 percent. Meanwhile, the 14-year-old company does more volume on a per-unit basis (an average of $3.5 million over the past three years) than nearly all independent pizza restaurants. And customers, it seems, adore the service: On three occasions, waitresses have received tips of $1,000.
Next is commentary from Daniel Isenberg, professor of management practice at Babson College, who offers cogent reasoning to save passion for the bedroom.
Passion is up there with innovation in what people think entrepreneurs need in order to succeed. I doubt it. My experience as entrepreneur, entrepreneur educator, and venture capitalist tells me that the more scarce and valuable commodity is cold-shower-self-honesty.
Third on our list is a cautionary tale about what happens when a leader looks for external confirmation that am innovative idea is great and passes on it when none is forthcoming.
Innovation is killed with the two deadliest words in business: Prove it.
When faced with a new idea, the boardroom impulse is to ask for proof in one of two flavors: deductive and inductive.
This attitude gives insight on the difference between Apple and Microsoft—only Microsoft’s blockage is internal according to Dick Brass, a vice president at Microsoft from 1997 to 2004.
Microsoft has become a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator. …
Internal competition is common at great companies. It can be wisely encouraged to force ideas to compete. The problem comes when the competition becomes uncontrolled and destructive. At Microsoft, it has created a dysfunctional corporate culture in which the big established groups are allowed to prey upon emerging teams, belittle their efforts, compete unfairly against them for resources, and over time hector them out of existence.
The striking difference between the culture at Nick’s and the one at Microsoft is a real eye-opener.
Innovation and entrepreneurs, subjects that offer some of them most fascinating stories around. And although they often merge to form new business, there is plenty of innovation inside existing companies, too.
I have four such stories for you today, all on wheels.
On the high end we have two airlines, Air New Zealand and AirAsia.
Coach innovations helped Air New Zealand win the Air Transport World Global Airline Awards, AKA the airline Oscars. Innovations include Premium Plus Economy with more inches of legroom, special dinning options, in-flight concierges; completely re-designed coach seats, including eleven rows of three seats on each side of the cabin dubbed “Skycouches”, Snacks on Demand, three course meals, onboard events, such as wine tasting, a destination seminar or kids story time using the 23″ mounted galley monitor.
Once upon a little boy told his father, “One day I will own an airline.” The boy grew up to be Tony Fernandes, CEO of the Malaysia based budget airline, with 80 aircraft that fly to 122 destinations. AirAsia is growing, primarily because, as Fernandes says, “Each growth spurt has always come at a time of calamity for the airline business. I think the best time to build a brand is in times of recession.”
The next wheels are far smaller. They belong to Vickie Nolting, a hair salon manager who, in 1999, found work/life balance by creating a successful business called Hair On Wheels, providing on-site haircuts to such companies as DigitalGlobe, Intrado, Seagate and the U.S. Department of Commerce in Boulder, Colorado. These days Nolting has a staff of 15 part-time stylists, four vans and a PT Cruiser.
Our final look at innovation is also focused on cars, but they are parked. Parking lots take enormous space, but that’s not necessary. Using technology, their size can be cut 80% and still create a far more safe and friendly user experience. Just watch.
The oddity of the human animal (including myself) never ceases to make me scratch my head. I thought I’d share some examples with you so you, too, could marvel at the human thought process.
Art does not imitate life—just ask any newly minted lawyer what real life is like in comparison to ABC’s new series, The Deep End. Although I can empathize with any new grad in this economy, I can’t say I’m sorry that law firms are shrinking and attitudes are changing—it’s about time.
“What has come to pass is that a law degree is not a ticket to a six-figure salary and a six-figure bonus,” said Matthew A. Feldman, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York.
Distracted driving is a hot topic with many states weighing in with new laws—but those on foot are no different.
Examples of such visits [to the emergency room] include a 16-year-old boy who walked into a telephone pole while texting and suffered a concussion; a 28-year-old man who tripped and fractured a finger on the hand gripping his cellphone; and a 68-year-old man who fell off the porch while talking on a cellphone, spraining a thumb and an ankle and causing dizziness.
The best way to sell your product and company these days is to go green—or at least be perceived as such. People seem to embrace any suggestion of green and this apparently extends to churches, which is good. Our poor planet needs all the help it can get.
A study released in December by the Barna Group, which more typically studies trends among evangelicals, said that older, mainline churches faced many challenges but that their approach to environmental issues was among several areas that “position those churches well for attracting younger Americans.”
In a lighter vein is the subject of passwords. In spite of every horror story of identity theft and trashed computers people cling to their simple passwords. And I do mean simple!
According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like “abc123,” “iloveyou” or even “password” to protect their data.
Finally, if you’re in LA some Saturday and want to something a bit out of the ordinary, you can spend $65 for a 12-stop, two-hour journey learning about “the history and origin of high-profile gang areas and the top crime-scene locations” in South LA, but book early because it sells out quickly.
Alfred Lomas, 45, a former gang member and the creator of the tour ($65, lunch included), said this drive-by was about educating people on city life, while turning any profits into microloans and other initiatives aimed at providing gang members jobs.
First, Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs testified in front of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a group established by Congress to determine the causes of the Wall Street debacle. During his testimony, Blankfein “…likened aspects of the financial crisis to a “hurricane” and similar acts of God…”
And here I thought ‘acts of God’ referred to uncontrollable natural phenomenon as opposed to the outcome of greed-driven risk.
Who knew?
This next item made me ill. Over the years I’ve seen many statements from the far right that dripped ignorance, hate and bigotry, pronouncements often made by Pat Robertson, and the Haitian earthquake is no exception.
Robertson says the Haitian people brought it on themselves by making a pact with the devil [in 1791].
Even if I were religious I wouldn’t believe that God killed 100,000+ in retaliation for an unprovable act that happened 220 years ago.
It’s not the first time Robertson has blamed a natural disaster or tragedy on a group of people he dislikes. He blamed Hurricane Katrina on abortion supporters and blamed the 9/11 attack on gays and feminists.
I’d say that Blankfein and Robertson ought to get together—except that it sounds like they already have.
Image credit: pedroCarvalho on flickr and CBN on YouTube
I have 5 stories for you today about CEOs, two who don’t and four that do.
Pundits (consultants, academics, bloggers) are fond of lauding CEOs for their vision and skill at imparting it to their followers—Richard Fuld, Bob Nardelli, Jeff Skilling, Bernard Ebbers, Dennis Kowalski, the list is long—but after their meltdown you hear only from the Monday morning quarterback crowd.
But if you want to sort the true stars from the others, you need to take a long-term look—not Wall Street’s typical quarter or even a decade—at more than the stock price.
Moreover, you need to look at the down times; the times when the economy sucks, yet the CEO still finds ways to foster a great culture and stoke innovation—not just cut staff and threaten execs with termination if they don’t make their numbers.
For better or worse, it’s not in the vision or the leading, it’s the doing.
Our first story is should be a familiar name to all of you. Remember Sandy Weill? The man who drove the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 and whose deal making built CITI, the colossus that never really jelled. He was named “C.E.O. of the Year” in 2002 by Chief Executive Magazine, but that was then and this is now.
In today’s cutthroat business world how many CEOs would lift a finger to save their competition? Ted Baseler, CEO of Chateau Ste. Michelle did exactly that when freezing temperatures wiped out the grape harvest in 2004. He didn’t just save his competition; he’s credited with saving the entire Washington state wine industry. Baseler is the quintessential big picture guy.
“We want Washington known. All of it. We’re not about to fight over whose bottle of wine gets sold. We’re competing with Napa, with France. We’re not competing with Washington wineries.”
My last offering is an interview with Pete Peterson, co-founder of Blackstone Group, looks back on s storied career and offers his insights as to what’s needed to “rebuild the American dream.” There’s a video (that refuses to embed) and a PDF of the interview (requires free registration). I think you’ll find it interesting.
Anytime I can include ’sex’ in a post my stats improve for that day. And if the sex is combined with ‘leadership’ they go up even more.
Subscribe to MAPping Company Success 