People tend to take their role models whole; kind of an all or nothing approach, which isn’t a very smart approach. A few weeks ago I wrote that in some ways Steve Jobs isn’t the greatest role model. Take a look at some others better taken piecemeal or even not at all.

Graham B. Spanier did an amazing job growing Penn State into a powerhouse, but threw up defenses at the first hint of criticism. Says close-to-retiring anthropology professor E. Paul Durrenberger, “If you’re always focused on promoting the brand and there’s no scrutiny, that leads to covering up.”

On the surface Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder and chairman of Groupon, may look like a great role model, but due diligence is as important when assessing role models as investments.

Lefkofsky’s track record, reflecting failures and successes, bears certain hallmarks: rapid revenue growth accompanied by big losses, a penchant to sell stock early on, and lawsuits filed by investors, lenders or customers who feel they have been wronged. … Lefkofsky and his family have already cashed out $382 million from Groupon before the IPO filing.

Successful founders are considered excellent role models, but is there a down side when they stay?

Visionaries are fantastic, but their companies are often notoriously hard to run. Sometimes, these leaders cling to dated visions and stifle innovation. And sometimes, they simply won’t get out of the way. Promising executives with new ideas get fed up and leave.

Many entrepreneurs are known for the size of their egos and none more so than those from Russia, but not all of them buy a sports team, larger yacht or another home. Several years ago Vladimir Kekhman, who made millions in bananas and other fruit, left his company to focus on the local ballet company; he just pulled off another “first” by pirating two premier dancers from the Bolshoi.

And Mr. Kekhman, at age 43, recently gave up all of his day-to-day responsibilities as a major owner of Russia’s biggest fruit company to focus on the Mikhailovsky. “I have a new profession right now,” he said. “And this profession has brought a new life to me.”

Finally, good health role models lurking in a place you would never expect to find any—long-haul truckers.

“I’m being stupid if I don’t lose the weight,” she said, “because I’ll lose my job.” – Jill Garcia, 50, a driver from San Antonio

Flickr image credit: pedroelcarvalho

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Today I want to share stories about four people, three dead and one living.

We’ll start with the living. Lynn Passarella is principal of the Bronx Theater Arts Production Company School and has taken her school so far beyond grade inflation that it is being investigated.

“When I interviewed for the school,” said Sam Buchbinder, a history teacher, “it was made very clear: this is a school that doesn’t believe in anyone failing.”

Have you noticed that when historical information is released by a Presidential Library what surfaces is not new, more so of whatever was there before? That is certainly is true when it comes to the newly released Nixon tapes, in fact you might find yourself wondering if Mel Gibson is channeling him.

Nixon said he was not prejudiced but continued: “I’ve just recognized that, you know, all people have certain traits.” … “The Jews are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality.”

Reaching still further back in history, we have Mary Todd Lincoln, nicknamed “The Hellcat” because of her temper. She threw a tantrum during am ill-timed shopping trip just before the succession because she was asked to pay for her train ticket. It was her son that who calmed the troubled waters, but the media had a field day.

“My name is Bob Lincoln; I’m a son of Old Abe — the old woman is in the cars raising h-ll about her passes — I wish you would attend to her.”

Finally, there is Donald Tyson, the driving force behind Tyson Foods, lauded as a visionary entrepreneur and leader and it seems like a lot of current CEOs are channeling his methods.

But it [the contested purchase of Holly Farms] also led to risky deals, questionable business practices and political ties that produced legal entanglements for him and the company. … Environmentalists accused Tyson of fouling waterways. Animal rights groups said it raised chickens in cruel conditions. Regulators said it discriminated against women and blacks and cheated workers out of wages.

More evidence that being designated a leader isn’t proof that someone is worth following.

Image credit:  MykReeve on flickr

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It takes years to build a brand into a leader; years of adherence to stated values and grueling work building trust.

And that is what the Better Business Bureau did for nearly 100 years.

It takes far less time to destroy or, at the least, badly damage a leadership brand.

And that is what the BBB has done; apparently for money.

Both Friday night’s ABC program and Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal’s attack focused on the two-year-old BBB marketing tool to assign letter grades ranging from the low of F to the top A+ rating to hundreds of thousands of businesses.

The marketing tool that is destroying the BBB isn’t sophisticated or subtle—more a case of grades for money.

Old story; buy a membership and raise your grade.

The scheme wasn’t universally popular, but the leadership had the leverage.

Some bureaus also had questions about the plan – developed and tested in the southern California chapter – and refused to follow it. The five chapters finally got with the program after the council threatened to expel them.

The result is betrayal, betrayal of the consumers who trust the ratings, of companies that work hard for good grades and the employees who just work hard.

Pressure; that is what leadership uses when it wants to have its own way, whether the leadership is an organization or an individual. And the leadership always knows exactly what kind of pressure to apply.

What do you do when your leadership starts applying pressure?

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31019817@N02/3254784742/

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My apologies if there has been too much politics lately, but you have to admit it’s difficult to avoid when so much of it is tied to “leadership” issues.

Or the lack thereof.

I rarely read op-ed pieces, but the title caught my, Awful, Awfuler, Awfulest; wouldn’t you click on that?

The author, Gail Collins, had written an article debating which state had the worst “leaders” running for election and chose Nevada as the winner.

Immediately, there were outcries from voters who believed their state had been unfairly overlooked on the dreadfulness meter.

Maine has a candidate for governor whose wife and kids live in their “primary residence” in Florida (the the other house is in Maine); Missouri has honors as the state with the least variety, 26 different candidates since 1980 from just two families; Florida has the dubious honor of a gubernatorial candidate whose company was fined $1.7 billion for fraudulent Medicare billing.

She says that in Net York’s race one candidate seems to tie every issue to his opponent’s sex life, while the main opponent doesn’t talk at all and a minor one is a self-proclaimed madam.

Nevada still won and you’ll have to click the link to learn why. (Hint: One of the candidates claims that Dearborn, Mich., and Frankford, Texas (a ghost town) are governed under Sharia, which is Islamic law.)  And take a moment to read some of the 229 comments for more hilarious examples and observations.

Why do we continue to accept acts from those in public service that we would condemn in other circumstances?

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The more I read/hear about leadership the less I understand.

Every day there are stories talking about someone’s good leadership or bad leadership—the adjective determined by whether the author agrees or disagrees with the vision/words/actions.

The stories cross the spectrum—politics, sports, business, religion, civic, non-profit, parenting [whatever].

I think the stories about “bad” leadership annoy me most.

Is a leader bad just because the author disagrees with the vision/words/actions?

If person A aspires to a specific positional leadership role is it enough to disagree with the vision/words/actions of the person currently in that role or does it behoove person A to present a cogent alternative?

Armchair leadership has the same value as Monday morning quarterbacking.

It is far to easier lash out, bash and tear something down, than it is to offer well thought out alternatives.

Emotions are more easily manipulated than minds—especially since ideology has replaced so much of independent thought.

Ideology isn’t just conservative vs. liberal; greed is an ideology, as is me-centric.

I think good leadership requires a more balanced approach, including the ability to say, “I was wrong,” rather than a dogmatic clinging to the vision/words/actions that are steering the ship straight onto the rocks.

What do you think?

Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/treehouse1977/3003180321/

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Last week’s Quotes were on egotism and I termed it the co-joined twin of arrogance. In other words, egotism is yin to arrogance’s yang.

Arrogance will eventually crash and burn as many corporate chieftains have proven, especially over the last decade.

Not surprising when you consider the words of Samuel Butler, “The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.”

And they certainly prove the Arabian proverb, “Arrogance diminishes wisdom”

Many of the most arrogant believe the popular unwisdom, “It’s only arrogance if you’re wrong.”

Proving David Hume’s sage words, “When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.”

And Sydney J. Harris offers an additional view, “Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.”

But it is Jorge Luis Borges who puts his finger on the true problem, “…the image of the Lord had been replaced by a mirror.”

It would be nice to believe that all those mirrors on Wall Street were smashed in the financial quake, but that is merely wishful thinking.

Flickr photo credit to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essygie/3898825852/

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There is a dangerous assumption out there that ‘leaders’ are chuck full of positive traits and on the side of the angels, but I’m here to tell you that it ain’t necessarily so. Just as leaders come in all shapes, colors and sizes they come with a wide variety of traits, not all of them positive. But it seems as if succession is tough all over.

Italian police have caught the Sicilian Mafia’s number two, the latest in a string of top-level arrests that has given the crime group that once terrified Italy problems with rebuilding its leadership.

The hero CEO who will save the company easily morphs into the imperial CEO. An intelligent, thoughtful opinion piece by Ho Kwon Ping in Singapore considers the dangers of this happening and assumes it will continue in the US—and it probably will.

The leadership of any company is critical to the success of its mission — but no one individual is mission-critical.

Yesterday I wrote Real Leaders are Fair, which means applying rules equally, but that rarely happens, especially when a government is involved and ours is no different. Consider the non-application of a federal law backed by a presidential proclamation that prohibits corrupt foreign officials and their families from receiving American visas. But business interests always seem to trump fairness.

“Of course it’s because of oil,” said John Bennett, the United States ambassador to Equatorial Guinea from 1991 to 1994, adding that Washington has turned a blind eye to the Obiangs’ corruption and repression because of its dependence on the country for natural resources. He noted that officials of Zimbabwe are barred from the United States.

Finally, on a lighter note, I found the answer given by Ask the Coach to this question to be classic.

Q: I am having a difficult time leading my team. The team members will not follow my instructions, which I am sure would make our project much more successful. What am I doing wrong?

A: What you’re doing wrong is very simple: you have simply forgotten that your team is more critical to the success of your project than you are.

Take a moment and read the whole post, I guarantee you’ll like what you learn.

And if you want more of my picks you’ll find them here.

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Now take a look at the perfect vacation

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CEOs move markets. A look, a gesture, a word.

And what the experts recommend for them will work for you.

Forbes has an article how to control CEO rage, but the best part is the accompanying slideshow highlighting the anger of a few of the most famous and infamous—those who lied, cheated and stole their way into history.

The Washington Post calls it the “Silent Language of Leadership,” but ignore the ‘leadership’. What is described is the silent language of influencing people, whether you are a CEO, Bernie Madoff or parents struggling to get through to your teenager.

Sometimes the boss decides it’s time to leave, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it—Sarah Palin did it the wrong way. See how it should be done; this is good information no matter what level you’re on.

Finally, how much disclosure should be required of the CEO of a publicly traded company? It’s a hot topic since Steve Jobs surgery was announced as a done deal.

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I love it! I just read a great article called Leadership Malpractice. Not by the media or some external pundit, but by Harvard Public Leadership Lecturer Barbara Kellerman, author of Bad Leadership and Followership.

What a terrific idea. Kellerman says that since “leadership is increasingly considered a profession,” so leaders should be subject to the same punishments as other professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.

Doesn’t that sound like an idea whose time has come?

Kellerman points out that business leaders are appointed; “in the first nine months of this year a record 1,132 CEOs quit or were shown the door” due to poor corporate performance, a few are behind bars, but even truly rotten performance carried no serious consequences, in fact, “most left with their financial futures handsomely secured.”

“No insignificant number of top executives have been culpable of negligence, failures that caused injury to others. To take only a few glaring examples, top executives at A.I.G., Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, or for that matter at General Motors, all failed abysmally to protect employees and stockholders alike.”

Leadership has become a profession in and of itself.

“It is taught in professional schools, in schools of government and public administration, and in nearly all business schools. There are countless books on how to exercise good leadership, and countless courses and seminars, both in and out of the academy, in which leadership is taught. It’s time then to apply to leadership the same standard that we apply to other professions. Similarly, when this standard is not met, even minimally, it’s time to hold leaders accountable by suing them for malpractice.”

Once someone is on the ‘leadership track’ they move forward with amazing speed—and less and less scrutiny the higher they go. When they foul up, they are often eased out, rather than being fired—an action that would make the person who hired/promoted them look bad.

By the time they’re appointed to the corner office they are practically untouchable; with few exceptions this applies to the entire C suite. Oh, they can be fired, and they often are, but that rarely impacts their career.

There is much talk of accountability, but most is empty.

Perhaps leadership malpractice would finally bring some serious accountability to the guys out front—the same guys whose monster egos and Teflon finishes keep them walking away unscathed.

What do you think?

PS: Here’s your chance to nominate the best and the worst for Business Week’s Managers of the Year.

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