By Wes Ball, author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read all of Wes’ posts here.
There is a growing phenomenon among upper-level executives in American corporations that we could easily call, “Corporate ADD.”
Even stretching down to upper-middle management levels, there is a growing problem with having too much to think about too quickly with too little information, but too much pressure to get it done and done right.
Every time I talk with mid- to upper-level execs, I hear the same thing. They can’t get anything done, because there are too many meetings talking about too may things that have to be solved immediately, and the pressure upon them to turn around impossible problems increases almost daily.
This is exacerbated by the stock market for the CEO, who finds himself putting out investor relations and stock analyst fires more than he does even the panicked internal fires that are driving his staff crazy.
Is it any wonder that there are fewer visionary “leaders” heading up companies?
Who in their right mind would step into such a role, if he were a visionary?
By Wes Ball, author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read all of Wes’ posts here.
Have you ever wondered where leaders get the inspiration that helps them guide and lead their organization? The responses I’ve received to that question have been pretty amazing.
For instance, I’ve heard… “I wake up in the morning and get my inspiration in those few moments between sleep and being completely awake.” Or “I start reading something, and before I know it, I’m thinking through the critical things I need to solve and I’m getting great ideas.”
More often, unfortunately, I hear, “Inspiration? I feel lucky just to be able to maneuver through the day.” Or “I had so many meetings today that I didn’t have time to get any inspiration.”
Inspiration is the lifeblood of a dynamic, growing company. I hurt for those corporate leaders who are so driven by the “tyranny of the urgent” that they can’t hear the inspiration to greater greatness that is calling to them.
Sadly, this describes all too many corporate leaders and managers.
Compounding that problem is the fact that very few corporate leaders have anyone they can honestly talk with to really work through their fears and weaknesses so they can discover a real vision they can passionately pursue.
What do you say we all chip in to buy them a vacation?
By Wes Ball, author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read all of Wes’ posts here.
When innovative thinkers in a company run up against restrictive management, their first thought is to “lead from the bottom.”
They try to create influence among other employees. They try to create a following among suppliers, distributors, salespeople, and anyone else they think they might influence. The result most typically is that the restrictive manager squashes them.
Interestingly, many top managers hope that these good ideas will filter up and be discovered. Sadly, they seldom, if ever, see such good thinking. They have no way of un-filtering the ideas that were filtered through the restrictive managers they placed between themselves and the real innovative thinkers at the lower levels of the company.
I’ve run into this in every large and many smaller organizations with whom I have worked. Top management desperately desires the ideas that are floating around at the lower levels of the company, but they never get to see them. I recall hearing a creative director at a large ad agency say that he regularly went into the junior copywriters’ offices and searched their trash cans – not to find problems, but rather to find good ideas that had been thrown away because they didn’t recognize their value. Too often, we see good ideas being “trashed” because managers don’t recognize their value.
In the meantime, top management is saying, “Where are all the good ideas we need?”
By Wes Ball, author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read all of Wes’ posts here.
Most employees of larger corporations would agree that the majority of the persons they see being moved upward are not leaders.
In many cases, they aren’t even very good managers. They just happen to be willing to stay around and put up with more #*&@ than other people around them.
Is that too harsh? I speak not just from all the research I did into “Alpha” companies for my book, The Alpha Factor, but also from personal experience working for one Fortune 100 and one Fortune 500 company. In most cases, the best (who stick around) eventually do filter to the top, but I have often questioned the process larger companies follow that allows restrictive, managerial personalities to rise so high in the ranks where they can negatively affect so many other people by their focus upon managing more than leading, nurturing, or inspiring.
The result is most often that all the entrepreneurial personalities drift out into the marketplace, when most of them would much rather have been able to practice their innovative thinking within the structure and using the resources of a larger organization.
By Wes Ball, author of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at what really creates market dominance and self-sustaining success. Read all of Wes’ posts here.
In my fifteen year research project for my book, The Alpha Factor, that finally uncovered the core transferable secrets to creating sustainable market dominance no matter how big or small you are, I discovered something that seemed to fly in the face of most business mythology. I discovered that many companies that are the dominant leaders are not run by extraordinarily gifted visionary “leaders.” I know that the book Good to Great came up with the conclusion that “great” companies had great leaders, but I did not find that to be true across the board.
A prime example: Harley-Davidson. They are clearly the Alpha in the cruiser motorcycle category and have been for many years. In the mid-1990s, Harley-Davidsons were found to be the most desired item in the world. Not the most desired motorcycle; the most desired item.
Yet their leadership is not visionary. It is not inspirational. It is not truly “Alpha” material.
The difference between H-D and many other Alphas, Victoria’s Secret for instance, is that one created its Alpha status, the other had it thrust upon them. Victoria’s Secret very purposefully created the aura and dominance they enjoy. Harley-Davidson discovered that they had that aura after they finally got their quality up to an acceptable level in 1983, after the company was purchased from AMF.
H-D’s “Alphaness” is the result of their customers, not their own marketing or strategic vision.
Because of that difference, we may be watching the beginning of the demise of one of the greatest success stories in American manufacturing, as H-D begins to let its quality slide, as I heard from one distraught factory manager.
Could we see them slide into oblivion over the next decade or so, just because their management doesn’t “get it?”
What a shame. As a long-time, die-hard Harley fan, my hope is that they finally catch their customers’ vision!
What’s all the fuss about leader as opposed to manager?
I keep wondering why there is so much discussion about “leader” vs. “manager.” The head of a company has to be a leader, because people need to follow someone or something in order to be productive and effective. Without a model to follow, people fall into chaos. That includes everyone from your children to heads of major corporations to the companies themselves.
Every person within a company also has to be a manager—from the top down. Without management of processes and outcomes, there is chaos.
So what’s the big deal?
The big deal is that we’ve been taught that you can
compartmentalize those two functions; and
you don’t have to be both to run a company.
Wrong! There have been so many books written on this subject that it is almost absurd to talk about it, but even my own research for my book, The Alpha Factor, which was focused upon how to create total dominance in the marketplace, had to recognize the importance of the leader/manager. The key is in understanding how and where to lead and what to manage. And aren’t those the key definers of leaders vs. managers?
I think that it’s the “how,” “where,” and “what” that make a total leader.
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Have you ever wondered where leaders get the inspiration that helps them guide and lead their organization? The responses I’ve received to that question have been pretty amazing.
When innovative thinkers in a company run up against restrictive management, their first thought is to “lead from the bottom.”
In many cases, they aren’t even very good managers. They just happen to be willing to stay around and put up with more #*&@ than other people around them.
A prime example: Harley-Davidson. They are clearly the Alpha in the cruiser motorcycle category and have been for many years. In the mid-1990s, Harley-Davidsons were found to be the most desired item in the world. Not the most desired motorcycle; the most desired item.
For the next few months (longer I hope) Wes Ball, founder of 
