Is there someone in your world who you consider your leader?

Think about it. Whether at work or in your personal life, do you follow this person’s lead?

Do you follow because of their title/position or because you trust their judgment?

Do you follow blindly because you share an ideology or do you think beyond the words and consider MAP and motivation?

Do you question, suggest, discuss, offer up your ideas and thoughts?

If not, why not?

If so, does this person welcome the input?

Or does she, by word or action, tell you to keep quiet, keep your head down, stop making waves and follow?

If so, what do you do?

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I doubt there are any Wall Street bankers who don’t consider themselves leaders and they exist in a world where innovation never stops.

Now, those wily, innovative leaders have come up with a new product to avoid new regulations.

Investment bankers in the US have begun using equity derivatives to convert restricted shares paid as bonuses into cash, side-stepping new guidelines on remuneration which were designed to prevent bankers cashing out for at least three years, according to a headhunter.

Popular wisdom wants us to believe that leaders ‘do the right thing’, but when it comes to those on Wall Street it’s strictly the right thing for themselves.

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Do you wonder what’s happened to people over the last century and into this one?

Did something change or was it always this way?

When did fudging, dissembling, dissimulating, equivocating, falsifying, fibbing, inventing, misleading, misrepresenting, misstating, and prevaricating become business as usual?

Call it what you will, it is still lying.

Leaders, followers, parents, kids; religious or not; whether business or personal, everybody does it.

We lie to avoid confrontation; improve results; sidestep repercussions.

We lie to our friends, parents, kids, congregations, clergy people, bosses, workers, colleagues and service providers.

From why something/someone is late to income tax to stock option backdating and corporate results to campaign promises and disagreeing ideologies—the list is both endless and all encompassing.

Most of us don’t see ourselves as liars, usually because there are “valid reasons” for it.

But ‘reasons’ don’t change the bottom line and Plato’s words ring as true today as when he spoke them,

“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.”

That infection has become a pandemic, spreading from one to another in both obvious and insidious ways.

It’s doubtful that there is any way to actually eradicate lying, but the next time you deviate from the truth think hard about your reasons; most of the time they won’t hold up.

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Engaging your people is a priority these days, but to do it you must foster an environment of trust, where the messenger is never killed and people feel safe saying what they really think. It also helps if you have the kind of ego that doesn’t stand on its dignity.

Here is one approach.

Start with how many times you have said or heard people say ’should have’, as in “We should have…” or “My boss should have…?”

What if you could harness the creativity behind those thoughts to improve performance in an organization (whether team, executives or somewhere in-between)—the company’s; the group’s; the individual’s; your own?

The idea is to take that “should have’ attitude and make it a constructive function to foster corporate/personal growth and motivation, since the more comprehensive the view of their job and company the more creative people will become.

Drawing in all your people, no matter their level, encourages them to see a larger picture, juices creativity, surfaces ideas from unlikely sources and enhances their sense of ownership, i.e., engagement.

Improvement happens because how they think is the basis for how they perform.

If your MAP makes you the type of manager to whom this appeals then encourage your people to ask

• “Why did she do that?”
• “What can I learn from his decision?”
• “What would I have done differently?”
• Later ask, “Would it have worked?”

Discuss the responses and implement the insights.

For more great stuff on engagement, click over to Becky Robinson’s LeaderTalk for a roundup of articles on engagement from some terrific bloggers.

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Often

• Leaders can envision and inspire, but that doesn’t mean they can manage.
• Managers can motivate and lead, but that doesn’t make them visionaries.
• Visionaries can inspire, but not necessarily lead or manage.

Rarely can one person do it all and that’s OK—if…

The solution starts when you shove your ego in your back pocket and face facts.

And it’s the same at every management level, be it Microsoft or McDonald’s.

Once you accept that reality then you can move forward and

• relinquish power;
• hire those who compliment your skills;
• give them the correct title, authority and status;
• shower them with public and private recognition;
• valid compensation; and
• sincere appreciation.

Of course, the problem with this is that few will admit their deficiencies even to themselves.

Worse, even if you want to admit it, companies, bosses and peer pressure make it almost impossible.

That leaves you with two choices.

• Stiffen your spine, ignore the pressure and let the results speak for your success.
• Bow to the pressure, fake it for as long as you can and change companies before you are found out.

That’s the great thing about life—you always have a choice.

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I’m not a sports fan so I rarely read sports articles, but this one from ESPN’s Mike Reiss caught my eye. Although he was talking about the Patriots, I believe it is applicable on a much wider stage.

Have we gone leadership crazy? …

In an instant, got-to-have-it-now society, the knee-jerk conclusion that the Patriots lacked leadership seemed to be one that many rallied around. … But to lay the season’s struggles on that is overlooking the more important issues: The Patriots need more playmakers, management needs to be sharper in identifying and keeping that talent, and coaches need to be better at cultivating, scheming, and communicating with players when their situations get sticky… Start there, then factor in the importance of better locker-room chemistry, and you’ll have a more accurate reflection of what went wrong in 2009 and what steps the club needs to take in 2010 to improve.

No matter where you look, business or politics, you’ll find that most commentary focuses on the lack of/need for better leadership, especially when it comes to Washington.

Just think what a difference if our national political scene included

• more playmakers,
• managers who were sharper identifying and keeping talent,
• everybody better at cultivating and communicating, instead of scheming, and
• better locker-room chemistry.

Notice that the most important is listed last.

What a difference it would make in their ability to find viable solutions, instead of ideological posturing.

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Out of all the commentary regarding Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts my favorite came from the Washington Post’s Monica Hesse, who pointed out that a woman who had posed nude for a major magazine probably wouldn’t be elected or recalled—even if she wasn’t nude.

The pictorial in question is a much-circulated 1982 centerfold from Cosmopolitan magazine, in which Brown was declared “America’s Sexiest Man.” In a two-page slice of beefcake, the then-22-year-old reclines on a blanket with nothing but a serendipitously-placed wrist covering his manly bits. … Cosmo offered a new campaign slogan: “Vote for Brown. He Has One Hell of a Stimulus Package.” … If Brown had breasts, the media and public response might have been more virulent.

(Hesse also hosted an online discussion here.)

No matter where you look on planet Earth you’ll find a double standard and a glass ceiling and it won’t change any time soon when the only motivating source is hope.

That’s why other countries are using legislation and quotas to move the gender issue forward.

• France’s parliament is considering a law that would force big companies to appoint women to 40 per cent of their boardroom seats.
• Norway introduced a 40 per cent rule in 2002 when women accounted for only 6 per cent of board seats there.
• Spain has also just passed a similar law.

Germany is turning tradition on its head in a move to draw more women into the workforce. The driving force is demographics—one of the lowest birthrates in the world—while the method—extending the school day—may seem quaint to other countries it’s breaking a centuries old tradition and working.

A new survey of 22-35 year-old American women finds an upbeat attitude towards the future in terms of personal satisfaction.

Nearly all, 94 percent, believed they could achieve a balance between a satisfying professional career and a gratifying personal life.

When asked to rank barriers to their careers, 12 percent cited marriage, 19 percent said maternity policies and 30 percent named pay scales.

But that says nothing about the role women will play outside of their own lives.

Across the developed world, a combination of the effects of birth control, social change, political progress and economic necessity has produced a tipping point: numerically, women now match or overtake men in the work force and in education.

Will the convergence of these forces be enough to change the MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) of the men who still control the global business and political arenas?

Or will viable gender parity have to wait until they’re not only retired but dead?

What do you think?

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Monday I wrote that so-called leadership skills are actually the skills everyone needs to live a satisfying life and to that end they are well worth developing.

I also said I would share the most important trait of leadership—and life.

It’s Initiative.

Initiative is the number one key leadership ingredient.

More so than vision or influence, it’s initiative that puts you in the forefront of any action, large of small.

Initiative is what

• separates the doers from the observers;
• stokes creativity and innovation;
• drives entrepreneurial activity at all levels; and
• makes the world a better place.

Initiative isn’t about schooling, although education can enhance it; it’s not about birth or clothes or cool. It’s not about networking or connections or followers on Twitter.

It’s about awareness; about noticing what needs to be done and doing it whether or not anybody is around to notice; doing it whether or not there is credit and kudos.

Initiative doesn’t wait for someone else to lead the way, nor does it play Monday morning quarterback to initiative taken by others, instead it actively contributes to that initiative.

Initiative doesn’t wait to occupy a certain position before becoming active, preferring to constantly seek ways in which it can contribute.

I believe that initiative is latent in every person, but it’s up to each individual to make it active.

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The most overused and abused words in almost any language are ‘lead’ and its close cousins ‘leader’ and ‘leadership’.

People are constantly exhorted to “step up and be leaders” and to “cultivate leadership skills” and therein lies my difficulty.

I googled a number of places and here is a partial list of leadership traits; I’m sure you can add many more.

Do you see the same problem I see?

Ignoring how they are interpreted, these are the traits that allow people to be decent human beings, no matter what they do in life.

Of course, the interpretation is colored by ideology and MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), sometimes so highly colored that a person on the ‘other side’ won’t recognize them—politics and religion are two areas where this is most obvious—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

If you prefer to see developing these and other ‘leadership traits’ as laying the basis for your emerging as a leader that’s fine, as long as the development isn’t contingent on your advancement to a certain position.

Ever wonder if there is one trait beyond all others that leaders of all kinds have and is obvious in every situation?

Join me Thursday for the answer.

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Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson started changing the work world in 2003.

That’s when they conceived and somewhat covertly initiated ROWE at Best Buy.

ROWE stands for “results only work environment” and it means just that. No set hours, no clock watching, get the job done and be evaluated based on the results and resulted in a 35% jump in productivity

These days Ressler and Thompson run CulutreRx, teaching ROWE to a variety of companies, such as GAP.

ROWE is a business strategy that’s been proven to profoundly improve workforce productivity (as much as 41%) and reduce voluntary turnover rates (as much as 90%). And, ROWE is a magnet for the talent you want to attract.

Best Buy’s culture is one that encourages creativity and good ideas at all levels, so it’s no surprise that another stand out came along a year later.

Julie Gilbert conceived and started the WOLF initiative in 2004 (she was given full ownership rights including the intellectual property and the right to take it outside anytime in exchange for building it first at Best Buy).

WOLF’s focus is to promote and enhance the role of women both inside the company and outside in their role as customers based on three precepts:

Commitment – to the business, customers and other members of the pack

Networking -  amongst at all levels internally and externally to nurture and support one another

Giveback – giving back to women and girls in local communities.

Sound all warm and fuzzy to you? Are you fighting back a snicker and thinking that there is no way your company would ever mess with that?

If so, try shrugging off Best Buy’s results.

Revenue

• $4.4 billion increase in revenue from female customers (11% increase in total company revenue)

Market Share

• Highest ever female market share in company history
• Females became the majority of the most “valuable “customers

Brand Reputation

• Largest increase in brand perception in company history

Network

• Passionate, global, viral customer networks growing market share and innovating new business offerings
• Over 40,000 members in 40 plus countries

Performance Outcomes

• 5% reduction in female turnover resulting in a minimum of $25 million in savings
• 18% increase in the number of female employees.
• 100% increase in females in the most profitable business unit
• 40% increase in female General Managers & General Managers In Training
• 60%  increase in female Operations Managers
• 30%  increase in female Customer Experience Managers

ROWE and WOLF both came from the same company while Brad Anderson was CEO.

His response to the question “Where do you find new business ideas?” says it all.

I believe that some of our best ideas have come from the people who are furthest removed from the CEO’s office – those line-level employees who interact with our customers each and every day.

Without a culture that encouraged and supported innovation from all levels ROWE and WOLF couldn’t have happened.

The MAP that enables that culture can function at any level no matter the company’s overall culture. Yes, it’s more difficult, but you can create an environment in which your people’s creativity blooms.

Your choice.

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