Guilt is a positive force or at least it can be as long as it is the right kind.

First, some background.

When people mess up they have one of two reactions, guilt or shame.

What is important to understand is that they neither the same nor is one the flip side of the other.

Whereas someone who feels guilty feels bad about a specific mistake and wants to make amends, a person who’s ashamed of a mistake feels bad about himself or herself and shrinks away from the error.

In other words, guilt embraces and focuses on fixing whatever, whereas shame runs away and hides.

This is important to you because in both controlled experiments and real-world feedback the guilt prone tend to have more initiative, AKA leadership.

In all the groups tested, the people who were most likely to be judged by others as the group’s leaders tended to be the same ones who had scored highest in guilt proneness. Not only that, but guilt proneness predicted emerging leadership even more than did extraversion,

As a manager, no matter your level, it is important to remember that everybody makes mistakes, causes errors or just plain screws up.

When interviewing, learning about mistakes, errors and screw-ups along with reactions and subsequent actions is often more important than knowing what candidates did correctly or their greatest strengths.

Initiative is one of the most valuable components of MAP and it’s difficult to evaluate when interviewing; after all, candidates are unlikely to say they don’t have any.

And that is why smart mangers hire MAP, not skills.

Flickr image credit: Murray Barnes

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Today is not about the difference (if any) or which is more important (you can’t have one without the other).

Which is more important in a CEO, age or experience? With the advent of the Facebook IPO that decades old question is hot again.

The debate typically pits the benefits of creativity and familiarity with emerging technologies against the need for disciplined decision making and experience dealing with hard times.

It’s funny how inaccurate most assumptions are, such as the supposed power of C-suite leadership teams. (Requires free registration.)

But in actuality, the group rarely conducts its work in unison, as a deliberative body or a source of command. Instead, its power comes from its members’ informal and social networks, their determination to make the most of those connections, and their ability to work well in subgroups formed to address specific issues.

Finally, take a look at the winners of the M-Prize on Leadership along with other out of the box approaches at the Mix.

If organizations are going to evolve from the hierarchical, command-and-control structure that has dominated over the past century to a new model where trust, transparency and meritocracy are guiding principles, they’re going to need to change the way they develop leaders.

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Talented managers are taking flack these days for not becoming entrepreneurs.

Whether hinted at or stated outright, their value is demeaned when they choose to stay in corporate positions and they are accused of wasting their talents when they could be out creating jobs by starting companies.

Kindly put, this is a crock.

As Andy Grove pointed out, after the first couple of years job creation is about the same in growth companies as large corporations.

Now Valley legend Esther Dyson, CEO of EDventure Holdings and an active investor in a variety of start-ups around the world, weighs in pointing out that without managers there would be no companies.

The real spur to job and value creation is not turning hundreds of college grads (or dropouts) into entrepreneurs, but hiring thousands – and hundreds of thousands – of people into growing companies that can organize and motivate them and make the best use of their talents.

Thank you, Esther!

This needed to be said by someone with a lot more clout than I have.

Startups are much like marriages.

In marriage, the real work starts after the bride and groom say “I do.”

In startups, the real work starts when the first “outsider” is hired.

There is a reason that very few founders build and run their companies—it’s not what they’re good at.

That’s why we should be celebrating managers with the talent and skill to build the company for the long-term.

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“There is no silver bullet that’s going to fix that. No, we are going to have to use a lot of lead bullets.”  --Bill Turpin (quote source)

Although Bill Turpin said this in reference to technical problems at Netscape, I see managers at all levels and across industries spending time looking for silver bullets with which to “fix” their people.

There are two reasons that this is a major waste of time.

First, I can categorically state that there is no such thing as a silver bullet. No matter what you are trying to do there is no tool or methodology that can be guaranteed to work in every situation and under every circumstance.

Second, No manager, past or present, has ever fixed anyone. The best that any manager can do is identify the problem, present the information and offer support, but any change or ‘fixes’ must come from the individual.

Lead bullets, however, are how most problems are solved and behaviors changed.

By some measurements lead bullets are expensive, since they cost time and effort over a longer period, but they typically have the highest ROI of anything a manager does.

So, time spent searching for a silver bullet fix or time spent chipping away at the problem with lead bullets?

As always, it’s your choice.

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Today is National Boss day and, contrary to what some think, it was not conceived by Hallmark to sell more cards. It was actually registered Patricia Bays Haroski in 1958 in honor of her boss, who was also her father. So in honor of all bosses out there, from team leaders to CEOs, I offer up these quotes by and about bosses.

According to H. S. M. Burns, “A good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him.” There are plenty of managers that still meet that description, but they don’t make good media fodder.

Culture is proof that likes attract, which is why you find so many managers who fit Peter Drucker’s description in the same company. “So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.”

Not to mention the truth of as spoken by General Joe Stillwell, “The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind.”

Sam Walton saw bosses in a different light, “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” What Walton didn’t see is that workers are also customers of their boss and they, too, can vote with their feet.

And Robert Frost offers up irreverent advice for those who want to become bosses, “By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.”

After spending more than a decade as a recruiter I can attest to the truth of John Gotti’s comment, “If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter.”

Finally, for all those stuck in a Dilbert-like world there is Homer Simpson’s fantasy to fuel yours, “Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream?”

Flickr image credit: ilovememphis

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Interviewing; everybody’s favorite thing, right up there with root canals and ironing. Having spent more than ten years as a headhunter (my term of preference) I’ve heard a lot of off-beat, weird and totally illegal. That was a long time ago and by comparison the list on BNET is tame, but still outside the ordinary.

A number of the questions were from high tech companies and turned on math, but I wonder if they use the same questions for marketing and other critical non-tech functions—or maybe they don’t consider them critical.

• How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine? (Reportedly from IBM)
• Given the numbers 1 to 1000, what is the minimum number of guesses needed to find a specific number if you are given the hint “higher” or “lower” for each guess you make? (Reportedly from Facebook)
• How many basketballs can you fit in this room? (Reportedly from Google)

The next question strikes me as a hot potato, at the least, or a political grenade depending on the response.

• Why do you think only a small portion of the population makes over $150,000? (Reportedly from New York Life)

The supposed point of this question it to see how candidates would handle a job for which they had no preparation or experience. I wonder how well it works, especially since so many young people work in pizzerias during school—but maybe not in Germany.

• What would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle? (This question comes from Volkswagen.

I like this one, but you have to wonder what happens when the candidate names a superhero and the interviewer isn’t familiar with it.

• If you could be any superhero, who would it be? (Reportedly from AT&T)

Considering the above questions, perhaps this one should be asked of the interviewers and not the candidates.

• Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are (Reportedly from Capital One)

Image credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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It has always amazed me how many entrepreneurs honestly believe that the people they hire will morph into a creative, productive team with no management effort.

They class themselves as “leaders,” but see “management” as a need and function of large/old companies—not startups.

They say they hire self-starters and these people don’t need to be managed; as long as they understand the vision they are self-propelled.

They talk about connecting their people through social networks, Twitter, texting and other modern tools.

And if (when) that doesn’t work they term them fools and dump them.

But the old adage “give a fool a tool and you still have a fool” still applies.

First, for them to actually be fools means you hired fools.

If you don’t believe that you are guilty of hiring fools then what you have are talented lost souls looking for a path to productivity and personal satisfaction.

People want to do their work well and they want to feel good about what they do; they care about their company’s success.

It’s not simple or easy or even much fun, but your real job as a founder is guiding your people out of fooldom and into becoming a powerful team.

Not every startup succeeds, but no startup succeeds sans management—whether you call it that or not.

Flickr image credit: PUBLISYST Comunicaciones

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Great managers hire the best people available—even when managing them is outside their comfort zone. One of the most challenging differences happens when introverts hire extroverts and vice versa, but there is more information available for the latter than the former. That said, here is something for all you introverts stressing over managing those noisy, pushy extroverts you were smart enough to hire despite the discomfort.

You’re a quiet introvert leading or managing others at your company. Odds are, then, you have a couple of not-so-quiet extroverts on your team. So how can you get the very best from these “too talky” types? Know what makes them tick and help give it to them.

Does your manager on a given project constantly touch base to see how things are going? Does it annoy you? Would you be surprised to know that the technique works, especially when managing non-direct reports?

Managers who are deliberately redundant as communicators move their projects forward more quickly and smoothly than those who are not.

Just how much difference does a middle manager make to the success of a knowledge-based company? Especially as compared to the innovators who do the actual work and the executives who set vision and strategy? Quite a bit according to Wharton management professor Ethan Mollick.

Managers accounted for 22.3% of the variation in revenue among projects, as opposed to just over 7% explained by innovators and 21.3% explained by the organization itself – including firm strategy, leadership and practices.

I find it very annoying when excellent advice is so specifically targeted in title language that those who aren’t part of the designated group skip it because they assume it is valuable only to the reference in the title. So as you read the next few offerings ignore the focus and consider how to adapt the information to your own situation.

Have you ever wondered which skills to hone to further your career or to develop in your people to help them grow? Skills that also can benefit people who may not want management, but still want to have more influence?

These C.E.O.’s offered myriad lessons and insights on the art of managing and leading, but they all shared five qualities: Passionate curiosity. Battle-hardened confidence. Team smarts. A simple mind-set. Fearlessness.

Last today (and my favorite) is the advice to go to the dogs. It’s aimed at entrepreneurs, sales and customer service, but if you embrace it as a manager I guarantee that your group’s productivity, innovation, retention and all around performance will skyrocket.

Is it possible most things we need to learn about business success we can learn from a dog? … They can be brilliant business instructors. … The next time you seek business advice try walking a mile in your dog’s tracks instead.

Enjoy!

Image credit: MykReeve on flickr

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Study Richard Branson as an entrepreneur.

Study him as a leader.

Study him as a manager.

Study him as an example of how to live your life.

Don’t just study Branson; study those around him, such as Stephen Murphy, Virgin CEO since 2006.

Studying both allows you to see how Branson differs from so many of his counterparts.

According to Murphy, “He [Branson] is a listener. He will say ‘I hired you to listen to you. I am not hiring you to tell you what to do’.”

Branson is known as Doctor Yes while Murphy is nicknamed Mr. No; together they make Virgin far stronger than either could separately.

Murphy balances Branson’s “screw it, let’s do it” attitude, but recognizes Branson’s positive mindset, “When there are nine good reasons not to do something, Richard is always the person who focuses on the one reason to do it.”

Branson is a master delegator, not just the responsibility, but the authority and once he delegates he lets go.

Study Branson to learn the value of controlling your ego or, better yet, being confident enough to let your people shine, knowing that giving them the spotlight doesn’t reduce your own place in the sun.

Last year I wrote a very short post on following and Branson seems to fit.

So when you are deciding whom to follow, who’s vision to trust, skip the shiny baubles and silken words and look to see who keeps turning the spotlight on others.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gulltaggen/4564600916/

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People, especially those in management/leadership roles, have advisors, mentors and other people they consult; they read blogs, attend seminars, access company training and all these sources constantly inundate them with management advice.

Everybody listens, especially when the technique is coupled with a brand name, usually a CEO.

And that’s OK as long as you remember that you are not a copy of the person giving the advice.

Their advice is a result of their MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) as formed by their upbringing and their experiences.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

You have different MAP, different upbringing and different experiences, so to use what you learn to your best advantage you need to know you.

Duff Goldman, who parleyed his passion for cake into a multimillion dollar business, including a show on the food channel and celebrity status, knows he is fallible, but has turned that fallibility into an asset.

“I kind of know what works, and I kind of know what doesn’t work. I have a good idea for how to make money and how to hold onto it — how to hopefully not make too many mistakes. But I know I’m going to make mistakes. My confidence comes from the fact that I’m very comfortable with being nervous. I’m very comfortable with my fear, because my fear comes from a very real place. It comes from a place that will make me perform above and beyond what I think I’m capable of doing.”

Duff Goldman knows himself.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

Along with the personal aspect of advice is the cultural one, both local and company.

Just as you don’t manage in China as you do in the US as you do in Russia you don’t manage in Groupon as you do in Apple as you do in Intel.

Management ranks (and divorce courts) are littered with those who tried to lever themselves into situations that didn’t fit or force everyone else into their worldview.

If the shoe doesn’t fit you get blisters and bunions; if the fit is bad enough you end up lame.

The take away is simple.

If the shoe fits, wear it; if it doesn’t fit, adjust it; if it isn’t adjustable, find shoes that fit.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ganymedes1985/3749273976/

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