Judy Estrin is amazing. She co-founded seven companies, including Bridge Communications in 1981. Back then I was living in San Francisco, had several friends who worked at Bridge and was fortunate enough to meet her and hear her speak. Like I said, amazing.
But you may not know who Judy is, in spite of her being named one of the 50 most powerful women in American business by Fortune magazine three times.
So here’s your chance. In addition to the Google author’s interview below, there are other several other videos, and an interview by McKinsey here (may require free registration).
Enjoy getting to know Judy, she’s great fun and really smart.
A newspaper article 30 years ago talked about the initiation rites of girls who joined gangs. Previously, girls hadn’t been active members of gangs and I remember thinking then that equality was happening in the wrong places.
There was a time when attitudes and actions moved from older to younger.
But it seems that more and more, instead of children learning from their grandparents, the grandparents are adopting the attitudes of the kids and, as with girls in gangs, it’s not the good ones that are moving—it’s the worst.
Entitlement. Instant gratification.
There are thousands who knowingly bought homes they couldn’t afford (as opposed to buying out of financial ignorance and/or mortgage chicanery) because they wanted it now, not in three to five years when they could actually afford it.
When I was young I thought the same way, but there were all kinds of adults who, by example, showed me that that wasn’t the way the world worked.
Now, with these attitudes spread throughout the generations, where are the everyday examples that show a different way? Worse, the examples that are out there are often ridiculed as being out of step with the current world.
I know that some of you reading my Thursday posts wonder what they have to do with leadership, managing and business.
The answer is simple; these are the people who work for and with you; they are the people you hire now and the people you’ll be hiring for decades.
Can you build a successful business or non-profit of any size on attitudes of entitlement and instant gratification?
Any organization with more than one person has a culture.
Ask Google “what is corporate culture” and in less than half a second you’ll have 12,400,000 responses. Read a few and in less than half an hour and you’ll end up with conflicting information and a headache.
As with every other person, pundit or not, I have a definition to offer and some insights, but, hopefully, no headache.
Notice I said ‘group’; culture isn’t limited to the company, it exists at every level as either an active or passive product of that particular manager.
Think of it like multiple sets of nested dolls, each department makes up a nest of dolls from VP though team leader, all fitting into the biggest doll that is the overarching culture of the company.
Ideally, the overall culture sets the guidelines for the subcultures—but that ideal only happens by design.
It’s important never to lose sight of the fact that managers, no matter the level, will interpret the company’s culture through their own MAP—and modify it accordingly. That’s why cultural synergy is so critical when hiring.
Culture is, or should be, important to you, since you’re probably responsible for creating one of those dolls. For that reason, I thought we’d spend the next few Ducks In A Row learning
how to create a culture in both friendly and hostile circumstances;
the what, why and how of IBBs (infrastructure building blocks);
the importance of retaining flexibility so the culture can grow and change with the needs of the organization; and
the differences, pros and cons of active, passive and benign neglect in cultural propagation.
Along the way I’ll answer any questions you have; feel free to email or call me if they’re too sensitive to post in the comments.
I keep files of interesting stuff I read and reorganize them each year; some are deleted, but most hold their value. Today’s choices include some of the oldies.
“People are not machines. They don’t need fixing. Using the “4 A´s” – awareness, acceptance, ask, and acknowledge…”
I highly recommend Front Line Manager. Scott says that he is a “relatively new manager” and he writes from his own experience and efforts. He’s a pleasure to read (I’m a writing snob:) and seems to be overflowing with common sense. My kind of leadager. I especially appreciated Change & Tough Times.
I’ve always stories about entrepreneurs raise my spirits. While I like reading about people who had the guts to go for the gold ring, I find entrepreneurial vision in kids even more inspiring.
“…the inspirational lives of five whiz kids who built million-dollar enterprises before the age of 20…Three are from the U.S., two from the U.K. All started at age 15 or younger–and one before he broke double digits.”
Finally, have you ever seen something that you thought was really cool, but you wouldn’t be caught dead doing it? That’s how I felt (still do) when I first read about having dinner in the sky. Fascinating, but not for a confirmed acrophobite. Besides dinner the company now offers other events, including weddings. I wonder if the idea will weather the current economic storm.
A couple of weeks ago, Steven Pearlstein said, “Their leadership failure was a big part of the story of how we got into this mess…a number of executives have complained that this indictment is both too broad and too harsh. Given what was known at the time and the competitive and legal pressures that come to bear in these situations, they believe their actions and judgments were reasonable.”
“I didn’t know…” is America’s favorite excuse, although it won’t hold up in a court of law; ignorantia legis neminem excusat (ignorance of the law excuses no one) dates back to Roman times.
The operative word is ‘know’ and, unfortunately, there’s a lot of latitude in what one chooses to know.
People don’t know anything that
disagrees with their ideology or world-view;
is presented by the opposition or those with whom they disagree;
conflicts with their personal goals/agenda; or is
inconvenient or annoying.
The irony is that Wall Street’s leaders really didn’t know—for all the above reasons.
If you truly want to lead—yourself, your family, a company or any other organization—than it’s your responsibility to not just listen, but also to hear past all those reasons.
We’ll talk more about how to do this in tomorrow’s Ducks In A Row post.
Another Saturday and another collection of useful links for you.
Just remember to disregard anything you find that suggests that the skills and attitudes discussed are only for the anointed few and not for all of you to use as appropriate.
First up is a new site from the Washington Post and Harvard Business called The Intelligent Leader. It has some great content, including a diverse group of video interview opinions and commentary on leadership.
Next is something I’ve never heard of, which means I’m more out of the loop than I often think I am or the organization really is a bit obscure. It’s called the Foundation for Enterprise Development (FED) and says that it’s dedicated to “Fostering Science, Technology and Free Enterprise.” What I found interesting is that it has excellent information and links to studies on the effects of enterprise employee ownership.
Third is McKinsey; I frequently referred to articles and studies they’ve done. The couple of minutes required for free registration pays big dividends in the quality and quantity of information that’s available. Additionally, you can customize the kind of information that you want delivered by email. Although it’s a year old, this survey the role that CEOs believe that they should play as public leaders vs. the role they do play—a lot more talk than walk.
Lastly, is another offering from Harvard Business School that many of you already know. It’s the Working Knowledge newsletter, and you can customize it for your interests. One of my favorite researchers there is Jim Heskett, who poses thought provoking topics that draw fascinating responses from his readers. Here are two of my favorites, the first is “Is There Too Little “Know Why” In Business?” and the second is “Why Don’t Managers Think Deeply?”
So grab a cup of coffee, settle down and dig through the links and, whatever you do, don’t skip the comments to see what other people think—then take away the best of the intel for your own use.
I found a wonderful treat for you on this Friday before Christmas courtesy of Bruce Nussbaum.
It’s a video of Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement address in which he says,
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.”
Nussbaum says he watches this video every year and I plan to also. I hope it becomes a yearly tradition for you, too, and that you share it with your colleagues, friends and kids.
It seems that every time the leader of a corporation-in-trouble replies to the question, “What happened…?” the answer is that a ‘perfect storm’ of factors caused the problems.
Steven Pearlstein offers some great comments on this attitude, but it was what he said near the end that really resonated with me.
“What capsized the economy was not a perfect storm but a widespread failure of business leadership — a failure that is only compounded when executives refuse to take responsibility for their misjudgments and apologize.”
Accountability and remorse.
We demand these from our kids when they screw up and our mates if they cheat, but we seem willing to accept “reasons” from our corporate leaders.
Over the years we watched corporate leaders in Japan and Korea apologize publicly, heads bowed, for their actions and then resign in shame. Many of us considered it a quaint action stemming from a culture far different than ours. Some found it amusing and a few thought it was faked.
But think about it, how many of the executives you saw apologizing for the problems they caused have surfaced as head of another major corporation or in other leadership roles. In the US they land on their feet before the dust settles.
In the startup world failure is considered a badge of success, but only if the person has learned from it.
You can’t learn from something if you don’t recognize and admit your responsibility and feel remorse for mistakes that were avoidable.
A truly perfect storm would come without any warning and that probably doesn’t happen even once a century.
Be sure to read this terrific article in Forbes shows you why reading Machiavelli’s The Prince is well worth your time as it is a great guide to handling the powerful people at work and other places who have the ability to make your life hell. Machiavelli spent four months at Cesare Borgia’s court and lived to tell the tale and offer up guidance to the rest of us.
“In popular culture, Machiavelli is synonymous with deceit and treachery. However, Machiavelli’s main concerns were the security of the state and the welfare of its people. Much of his leadership advice is plain common sense.”
For most of my years in business, my clients’ nickname for me has been Michiavelli and I always saw it as a great compliment.
In addition to common sense, one of the traits we have in common is unvarnished honesty. Phil Gerbyshak over at Slacker Manager once asked me how that bluntness affected managing and other interactions; it was no problem as long as I never lost site of four basic points.
Blunt honesty is not about being
insulting, demeaning or contemptuous; or
personal attacks.
It is about
telling someone the truth as you see it and then listening and hearing their responses;
the clearly understanding that they have full reciprocity when they do respond;
never retaliating for their honesty.
For example,
When interviewing a company that isn’t doing well a candidate may say one of the following,
“I’ve read that your financials are really messed up. Whose fault is it and what are you doing to fix it?”
“I’ve read that the company is experiencing a period of financial difficulty; has the cause been identified and how could I contribute to the solution?”
The content is the same, but the manager would be justified for scratching the candidate for the first, while the candidate should drop the company if there is no valid response to the second
When your team is not doing as well as you like you can say, “Your productivity has gone to hell and I need you guys to get your acts together and bring it back up.” “Our productivity is down; we need to identify the causes and work together to turn it around.” For which manager would you rather work?
Honesty may be blunt, even brutal when people don’t want to hear it, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be harsh.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Judy Estrin is amazing. She co-founded seven companies, including Bridge Communications in 1981. Back then I was living in San Francisco, had several friends who worked at Bridge and was fortunate enough to meet her and hear her speak. Like I said, amazing.
A newspaper article 30 years ago talked about the initiation rites of girls who joined gangs. Previously, girls hadn’t been active members of gangs and I remember thinking then that equality was happening in the wrong places.
Any organization with more than one person has a culture.
First up is a terrific article showing why 
A couple of weeks ago, 
It seems that every time the leader of a corporation-in-trouble replies to the question, “What happened…?” the answer is that a ‘perfect storm’ of factors caused the problems.
Be sure to read this terrific article in Forbes shows you why reading Machiavelli’s The Prince is well worth your time as it is a great guide to handling the powerful people at work and other places who have the ability to make your life hell. Machiavelli spent four months at Cesare Borgia’s court and lived to tell the tale and offer up guidance to the rest of us.
