A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read allIf the Shoe Fits posts here

I rarely mention ‘leadership’, because I believe that given the opportunity to act anyone can and will step up and lead when the time and cause is right.

That’s why I when I coach one of the mantras I offer is “leadership is like manure, it produces the best results when spread around.”

You wouldn’t think founders today would even consider any kind of old world hierarchical management, but they do.

Not overtly, but covertly—and often unconsciously.

It shows in their unwillingness (fear?) to delegate the authority to make decisions along with the responsibility of doing the work.

But there are major advantages to spreading leadership opportunities at every level in your organization.

Foremost is the fact that if you want to hire these days you need to offer your workers meaningful opportunities to grow or they’ll walk.

Growing includes leading and managing—even if it’s only a group of one, themselves.

It means pushing responsibility further and further down in your organization—not just the responsibility—but the authority required to accomplish whatever it is.

And that’s where most founders (and bosses) blow it.

They assign the task, but then require their people to keep running to them for permission to do each step.

I’m not saying to hand over total control, but you need to hand over enough authority to get the job done.

Even when it comes to money, which is often the biggest hang-up, you can still do it.

Create a budget for each task and give the responsibility for spending it to the person responsible for getting it done. Let her decide how to spend it without interference or “help” from you—unless she asks.

If she goes over budget don’t freak out. It’s not that much (or shouldn’t be) in the big picture and if you freak she may never recover.

She already knows that she messed up, so beating on her will accomplish nothing. Sit down calmly and let her walk you through the thinking and decision-making that led to being over budget, discuss it and lead her through a pattern that would have succeeded.

But if it turns out that the error is yours and the estimate was wrong, admit it, don’t try and convince her that someone else could have done it.

People aren’t stupid, she’ll know that the discussion ended as a CYA function for you—as will everyone, since stuff like this never stays secret.

Other great reasons to spread leadership around are increased productivity, more employee satisfaction, fewer logjams when you’re unavailable or traveling, easier staffing and less turnover.

Finally, spread it around because that’s what great founders do—they pay it forward by fostering the growth of more entrepreneurs.

Image credit: HikingArtist

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People, in all their varied glory are as Spock said, fascinating.

They come in many different flavors and ‘entrepreneur’ is one of my favorites.

Entrepreneurs come in many flavors, too. From the ones that set out to build the next Google, Facebook, Apple or Intel to the micropreneurs who just want to earn a decent living.

Within every business of any size at any stage there are tasks that are prime for avoidance.

Stuff like establishing culture; defining values; developing financial controls, etc.

All kinds of intangible infrastructure that can wait “until things calm down” or “when we’re bigger”

In other words, mañana—and we all know when that is.

Or, as Ryan Blair says, “If it’s important you’ll find a way. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse.”

Flickr image credit: JD | Photography

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Yesterday I received the following email from Sean.

Hi Miki, I need some advice. When I graduated I accepted a position with a company I had interned with. The job isn’t terrific and I took it mainly because it gave me the opportunity to learn a lot in a short time and participate in various training programs. I was excited when my manager chose me for leadership training, which was supposed to fast track me into a more senior role. Pretty heady stuff for someone just a year out of college. The problem is that the leadership training feels more like brainwashing. But I don’t really have anything to compare to, so I thought I would write and see if this is typical.

Reading this reminded me of a post late last year by Jim Stroup over at Managing Leadership; I sent it to Sean and decided to share both question and answer with you.

Pod people

As the modern leadership movement’s (MLM) many and various advocates compete for attention, we inevitably find ourselves being bombarded with simplistic insights, each one, its “discoverer” will argue, the very cornerstone of a brave new world that can be built only on its foundation.

As it happens, if you can dismiss the ludicrous promises made for many of these, what is left may still be useful to peruse, even thought-provoking and helpful.

Unfortunately, though, the intensity of our angst over how we each individually relate to the pseudo-vital subject of leadership can make it difficult to distinguish between the product and its packaging.

This is particularly so in the MLM – with its devastatingly misplaced focus on the uniquely special attributes of the individual. Leadership is what you are, they pontificate. What you are – if you are the right things – is leadership, they add with trivializing profundity.

An exceptionally unnerving quality can become embroiled in this unstable mixture when the advocates of a particular insight-based approach come to uncritically accept their own hype. They can then become dogmatic about it, almost fanatical. Even not-so-subtly intimidating.

A manager recently wrote me about just such a leadership sect, if you will. The group is a well-known leadership consultancy of international reach, and the beneficiary of explosive growth built on the back of a run-away best-selling book by the founder. This book presented the well-worn idea – but with spectacularly well-tuned spin in the telling – that there is an inseparable link between success and wisdom in one’s person and private life, and one’s business position and career.

This group had been hired by my correspondent’s organization to present its leadership training program to the outfit’s managers. It seems, though, that some disquiet was caused by the presenters’ almost glassy-eyed praise of the founding principles of the program philosophy. Evidently, it was even described to the attendees as something that would – indeed, that must – have a “spiritual” impact on them.

The last straw for my correspondent was when there appeared to develop real, personal pressure on the attendees to demonstrate their willingness to drink the Kool-Aid. It seems as though an inordinate amount of time was spent ensuring that each attendee had genuinely internalized – rather than merely stipulated to for the sake of the argument – the philosophical underpinnings of the program. Those that resisted drew unsettlingly focused attention, and it seemed as though the program would not progress until they capitulated.

At this point, the alarm bells sounding in this manager’s head succeeded in drowning out the liturgical droning of the acolytes. He left the multi-day workshop, which had been a requirement, and explained to his seniors why.

When you hear alarm bells yourself during any sort of presentation – especially a workshop like this one – always heed them. Try to determine what they might mean. And never let yourself be intimidated by those who want to rush you along into group-thinking lock-step with their positions without allowing you time for calm, clear deliberation. Get out of the hot-house and evaluate the comprehensiveness and consistency of the case presented yourself. Make your own decisions, and draw your own conclusions.

Certainly, don’t turn into a mindless “follower” of a “leadership” of this ilk. If you’re alert to the phenomenon, you’ll be surprised to find how much of this kind of “training” so dangerously fits this mold.

I highly recommend Jim’s work, and especially his book, if you are interested in debunking leadership myths and creating a leadership culture instead, nor is this first time I’ve recommended him to you.

Image credit: Managing Leadership

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The trouble with finding quotes on the Internet is that they are frequently missing attribution. If you know who said any of those missing an author please share your knowledge.

Mark Twain provided a great explanation to all those who don’t understand why failure is often more important than being right, “Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment. “

It used to  be a standing joke that guys don’t ask for directions (or help) and it seems to be an attitude that more and more women are adopting and proud of it, but they may want to rethink it based on this bit of common wisdom, “If you’re too afraid to ask for help, you will drown proudly.”

The following is dedicated to all those who never let facts influence their opinion, “Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity”

Have you ever wondered why some are doers and others are slackers? Here’s part of the answer, “Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.” And we are a country of short-term thinkers.

The following should be writ large at all events, especially those relating to business, “The real test of a person is how s/he treats people who can be of no personal benefit now or in the future.”

Those who pass that test will have no trouble living by this advice, “The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

Finally I’ll share one that I keep taped to my monitor. “The world is full of cactus, but you don’t have to sit on them!”

Flickr image credit: Peter Pearson

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A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

Last year I reminded entrepreneurs that, like Roman generals, they weren’t gods.

But what about kings?

In an excellent article in U~T San Diego, Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, serial entrepreneurs who invest in early-stage technology companies, explain why they ask anyone presenting to them whether they want to be rich or be king—those who want to be king are politely shown the door.

The concern is valid, since few founders are capable of scaling their company and that desire to control has a bad impact on the bottom line.

“Founders who kept control of both the CEO position and the board of directors held equity stakes that were only 52 percent as valuable as those held by founders who had given up both the CEO position and control of the board.” –The Founder’s Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman, HBS

Not to mention its effect on talent.

Being king undercuts the ability to recruit and keep good people making it impossible to build a world-class team.

People don’t believe authoritarian visions are trustworthy.

People whose voices aren’t heard have little reason to be care.

Kings like to believe that they can buy stars and then own the team.

There are two reasons that doesn’t hold true in the real world.

First, people who join for money will always leave for more money.

Second, the only stars worth having are the ones who join the team.

Would you work for a king?

Or be one?

Option Sanity™ is not fit for a king.
Come visit Option Sanity for an easy-to-understand, simple-to-implement stock allocation system.  It’s so easy a CEO can do it.

Warning.
Do not attempt to use Option Sanity™ without a strong commitment to business planning, financial controls, honesty, ethics, and “doing the right thing.”
Use only as directed.
Users of Option Sanity may experience sudden increases in team cohesion and worker satisfaction. In cases where team productivity, retention and company success is greater than typical, expect media interest and invitations as keynote speaker.

Flickr image credit: HikingArtist

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The following quotes are from an interview with Charlotte Beers, former chairwoman and C.E.O. of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, and meant specifically for women leaders.

As usual, I find that such insights and advice focused on a certain demographic is applicable to a much broader audience.

Don’t let someone tell you who you are. Keep your own scorecard, and it has to include the good, the bad and the ugly.

This is a humongous insight that qualifies as real wisdom.

Too often our perception of self is, in reality, a reflection of how our various worlds see and treat us; worse, that perception is often colored by negative experiences that happened to the person we were years ago and bear no relationship to who we are now.

Sometimes a company’s culture is a big influencer in how you see yourself, and you have to sift through that and see if it’s a fit. Part of it is knowing yourself so well that you know where you fit, and knowing yourself so well that you know why you work.

I would disagree and say that all of it, “it” being anything you do/try to do/want to do, is knowing yourself (the good, bad, ugly and inane).

Company culture as an influencer is more than sometimes, it is all the time. Culture is the atmosphere you breathe and the values by which you work. If you are not at least synergistic with the culture going in you will either leave or be co-opted into its vision of values.

Beers also talks about what she looks for when hiring.

I’m trying to understand how they used the power to hire and fire and promote and make those kinds of invisible choices that really affect other people’s lives. If they don’t have some generosity of spirit and some quality of teaching, I worry that they’re not going to bring along a strong culture.

I’m trying to find out if they have confidence about the things that matter, their own ability to think and to get to the true center of things.

The importance of these traits to a potential manager pales in comparison to their importance to the individual.

Understanding these things about yourself in conjunction with your scorecard provide a firm foundation on which to tweak the you-you-are, as well as to build the you-you-want-to-be.

Take a minute and read the entire interview—it’s well worth your time.

Flickr image credit: bradleypjohnson

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As the theme from CSI keeps asking, who are you?

The answer is  easy, but not simple—you are your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™)

Your MAP is what truly defines you; it defines you more than your ethnicity, religion, where you were raised, the schools you attended or any other external criteria.

MAP is why you act certain ways and do certain things, as I wrote about myself several years ago.

MAP is not is an excuse to act badly.

MAP makes you you.

MAP is dynamic as opposed to static—and totally within your control.

It will morph and change as you direct and not as others suggest.

Which is not to say that you shouldn’t listen to suggestions; honest feedback is the best objective mirror for viewing your MAP.

Once you thoroughly understand the role MAP plays in your life you should understand that it plays a similar role in the lives of your team, your vendors and your customers.

Because just as their suggestions won’t directly change your MAP, your suggestions won’t directly change theirs.

Flickr image credit: EPMLE

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Last Friday I cited HBS research that indicates that the best results are achieved when those in charge are both good managers and competent leaders and that the key factor is excellent communications.

Whether you think of yourself as a leader or a manager, communications is about more than talking clearly, it’s about providing all the background necessary for your people to understand why they are doing their jobs, as well as what jobs they are to do.

Think of it this way,

• operational communications provide people information on how to do their jobs, while
• management communications tell them what their jobs are and why they do them, giving form and purpose.

People need both.

Many of the problems that managers face daily stem from their own poor or inaccurate communications, often as a result of using jargon in an effort to sound sophisticated, knowledgeable and with it.

Jargon doesn’t work for several reasons.

• You may not totally understand or be comfortable with the jargon;
• your people may have their own individual understanding or be guided by their previous boss’ definitions that have nothing to do with your intended meaning. This happens often enough with words of one or two syllables, let alone multi-syllabic management-babble; or worse,
• your people may shut down when they hear jargon.

You can create a relatively jargon-less environment by

1. keeping it firmly in mind that your goal is to provide your people with all the information needed to understand how to perform their work as correctly, completely, simply, and efficiently as possible; and
2. providing clear, concise, and complete communications at all times.

Follow these two steps religiously and the results will amaze you,

• Productivity will skyrocket; which will
• make your company more successful;
• your employees happier; and
• you a more effective manager with better reviews and an enviable reputation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check out this months Leadership Development Carnival; it’s been broken up to run over several days, so I can’t repost it here.

Flickr image credit: kevinspencer

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A fascinating study of successful women brings to light some interesting and unexpected facts about women who know when and how to turn off “masculine” traits, i.e., aggressive, assertive and confident.

They received 1.5 times more promotions than masculine men, and about two times as many promotions as feminine men, regardless of whether the men were high or low self-monitors. They also received 3 times as many promotions as masculine women who were low self-monitors, affirming that masculine behavior alone does not garner success. … The study also showed that self–monitoring masculine women received 1.5 times as many promotions as feminine women, regardless of whether those women were high or low self-monitors.

This is researched proof of my own attitude of “work for an ideal, but you have to function in the real world” and the real world requires flexibility.

I’m guessing that these women were smart enough to apply whatever was needed to a given situation, instead of approaching them all the same way.

This seems to be the “why” to the results of a previous study by the same people.

“…learned behavior patterns — not biological sex — may be the greatest determinant of workplace success as measured by salary and promotion.”

If you are a woman, accepting the accuracy of the research does much to put career control directly in your hands. And that’s a good thing.

Of course, along with personal control comes personal responsibility when you can no longer blame external forces.

You need to take a hard look at your own actions; request input from those you trust to tell you the truth (not just what you want to hear or what fits their world view), then assess where you are, where you want to be and how best to get there.

Start your voyage immediately.

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I’ve always liked advice columns, as much for the duh factor of those writing as for the level of common sense they often display. These days I read Carolyn Hax, but when I was young the reigning queens were a pair of twin sisters, Eppie Lederer, writing as Ann Landers, and Pauline Phillips, writing as Dear Abby, AKA, Abigail Van Buren. Today we’ll take a look at Landers in conjunction with the business world; next week her sister.

Let’s start with some great advice on dealing with the irritating elements found in every workplace—usually  people, “There are really only three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, “What happened?””

And moving on to how to deal with them, “Nobody says you must laugh, but a sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the day.”

Networking is a necessity of business life and Landers offers up a golden rule for doing it. “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” Take this to heart and watch your networking ROI skyrocket.

Here are three pieces of golden advice, whether you are building a career in the corporate world or as an entrepreneur.

1. “Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies.”
2. “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”
3. “Know when to tune out, if you listen to too much advice you may wind up making other peoples mistakes.”

And some personal advice that I hope you never forget,“The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie”

In a world where ego and self-focus has run amok, Lander’s uses humor to remind people to reign in their egos.

She reminds us of the importance of looking in the mirror first, instead of assuming the problem is someone else, “One out of four people in this country is mentally unbalanced. Think of your three closes friends; if they seem OK, then you’re the one.”

And I’m pretty sure her final thought is just as applicable if you don’t have a dog, “Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”

Image credit: Wikimedia

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