Today is about an author, by an author and ideas for you to tweak and author for your company.
Do you know who Ray Bradbury is? An icon in the science fiction world, writer of screenplays, and hater of the internet and lover of libraries. “When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last offers a new look at why companies with everything going for them blow it. Check out this review; if you’re looking for some good summer reading you could do a lot worse than How the Mighty Fall … and Why Some Companies Never Give In.
Last, but certainly not least, is a white paper from McKinsey on creating a performance culture. It’s good reading and you’ll come away with ideas even if you aren’t ‘the boss’.
Good grief. It’s already Memorial Day weekend and that means the year is half over, the weather will be kind and the kids will be underfoot out of school.
I have just one item for you today.
Not counting the current economic debacle, have you ever wondered why companies rise and then fail, much like the Roman Empire?
I’ve always wondered how things can go downhill so fast when it takes so much time to turn them around.
Fortunately for me and all like-minded folks, Jim Collins, author of Good To Great, wondered, too.
During a conversation about positional leadership Richard Barrett said, “Reminds me of a Seinfeld joke. He pointed to professional sports teams and asked about team loyalty. The players change, the coaches change, and sometimes even the stadium changes. So, the people are really loyal to the logos on the team uniforms, just a pile of laundry. Maybe positional leadership is just laundry leadership?”
I like that—laundry leadership. Great term.
So what’s available instead of laundry leadership, especially these days when so much of the laundry is dirty?
Why not organizational leadership? Leadership that percolates from every nook and cranny of the enterprise driving innovation and productivity far beyond the norm.
Following this to its natural conclusion makes leadership a corporate asset and one that needs to be managed for it to have the highest possible impact.
Jim Stroup, whose blog I love, is a major proponent of this idea and defines and explains it in his book Managing Leadership: Toward a New and Usable Understanding of What Leadership Really Is And How To Manage It.
Of all the leadership books, Managing Leadership is the first book I’ve seen that breaks with the accepted idea of the larger-than-life leader whose visions people embrace and follow almost blindly.
Stroup says today’s corporations are far too complex for one person to know everything; that, given a chance, leadership will come naturally and unstoppably from all parts and levels of the organization making it a characteristic of the organization, rather than one person’s crown.
Sadly, fear makes the idea that leadership comes from all people at all levels and should be managed to make the most of it anathema to many senior managers; they consider leadership a perk of seniority and prefer squashing it when the source doesn’t occupy the ‘correct’ position.
I highly recommend Jim’s book. Even if the management above you doesn’t embrace this paradigm, you can within your own group. Encourage your people to take the initiative, guide them as needed, then get out of the way and watch them fly.
In this book, targeted to execs at mid-to-large businesses, Ms. McGarvie surveys the plethora of challenges and opportunities that companies face in the new century. She details the diversity in three major areas: cultures, nations, and generations.
Simply put, companies no longer have the luxury of ignoring any of these diverse constituencies. Even if a company is not competing internationally, then it is defending its domestic market against a multi-national competitor.
Likewise for multi-generational workforces and multi-generational customer bases. For the first time ever, many companies have up to four generations in their workforces, and possibly four or even five generations in their customer bases. Illustrating this trend, a recent survey identified the fastest growing age-group of employees in the US as people in their seventies.
The book amply documents the simultaneous interconnection and fragmentation of businesses, people and markets across the globe. It identifies various segments and constituencies in each major area, providing a good overview for readers wanting an introduction to the topic. The book concludes with three key messages:
“First, we need to understand how the world is interconnected and that all people in it are interdependent… We need to transcend our nationality.
Second, we must face the financial realities that created this need for going global.
Third, we should become aware of the six forces shaping personal courage if we are to go global. Namely, we experience different cultural norms as evident through beliefs, family, and time horizons; communicate with youth in new ways; tap into the talents of women; understand shareholder interests; capture the entrepreneurial drive for innovation; and respect individuals’ value systems.”
Most interesting are the personal vignettes which Ms. McGarvie uses to illustrate particular topics.
As a reader, I look forward to another book by the author, possibly in a case study format, in which she explores specific situations in much more depth, based on her personal experience.
“In both cases [the Great Depression and the current recession] an inflationary credit boom brought about by the Fed’s lowering of interest rates led to massive resource misallocation and a distorted capital structure. The Fed tried in vain to inflate each of these booms back into existence, and grew frustrated with banks that refused to lend out the new money it was pumping into the banking system. In both cases the federal government sought to prop up prices… rather than allowing them to fall to a level that made sense [in the market].”
Comparing this recession to the Great Depression and many other recessions in the 1800’s, the book identifies the common culprit in the boom/bust business cycles – government manipulation of the currency. Although this conclusion is no great surprise, the compelling analysis makes for good reading. He defends free markets, pointing out that the money supply is not a free market, but a government-controlled monopoly.
Mr. Woods makes a damning case against the Federal Reserve, condemning it for hidden dealings, a bias toward inflation, and backroom collusion with banks. His analysis demonstrates that government action not only causes the booms and busts, but that same government action significantly delays and cripples the eventual recovery.
As if on cue, in December the Fed strong-armed Bank of America to complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch even when that purchase significantly weakened the bank and increased the risk to the economy. Of course these machinations occurred in secret, with no disclosure and no transparency for investors, customers, and employees of either company.
In his conclusion, Mr. Woods calls for the abolition of the Fed, proving that he is an incurable optimist. Failing that, Mr. Woods predicts significant inflation ahead, due to government debasement of the currency. Government tampering with money is not just a recent phenomenon, as the author illustrates with examples as early as the tenth century, of governments (then kings) cheating their subjects by debasing the currency.
Even in the age of the internet and electronic commerce, some things have not changed.
I was delighted when I was sent a free copy of Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign to review. Not just because I voted for him, but because this is a book about how to sell change, major change, to strangers and in doing so turn them into a community of supporters.
That’s what Apple did with the iPod and that’s what every CEO recognizes as being of paramount importance.
But it’s not just about managing change; it’s about creating a desire for it. It’s about creating an environment where changes are being driven by your workers, not just by you and your execs.”
That’s what Obama and his team did brilliantly and that’s why you should read the book.
Forget politics, think about the challenges your company faces. Survival isn’t enough.
The business world and consumer landscapes are changing—industries that downplay or ignore innovation to focus on survival and the status quo out of fear of upsetting their current business model are likely to be swept away by the transformation rocking the global economy.
To thrive, you need to engage your current stakeholders (investors, employees, vendors, current customers)—just as Obama did.
His success turned on three main points, he
kept his cool under all provocations,
applied social technologies, including blogs, texting, and viral videos, and
made himself synonymous with what he was selling—change.
Obama allowed nothing to be set in stone and moved swiftly when the landscape changed.
One of my favorite examples was his choice to reject funding limitations, although he had previously said he would accept them. Why?
Because he realized that the amount of money he would raise via the Net more than compensated for McCain’s bashing him for the switch.
Now substitute ‘innovation’ for money and ‘quarterly results’ for bashing and give it some hard thought.
Read the book; adopt/tweak/adjust its lessons and tools for your company’s situation and then execute, because all the theory and examples won’t help unless you have the courage to use them.
I am a reader of books; they are my true comfort food. Books are my greatest joy; they lift me up when I’m down; make me smile when I’m sad; enhance my joy when I’m happy and keep me company when I’m lonely. They teach me; introduce me to people I’ll never meet, visit countries I’ll never see and even worlds in other universes. Books make me rich—without them I’d be bankrupt. I love books.
“We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.” –B. F. Skinner (Not texts, not email, not even blogs; but literature in all its myriad glory, whether high or low; ‘improving’ or escapist.)
“Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.” –Oprah Winfrey (They take you further than you ever dreamed possible,)
“You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” –Paul Sweeney (But you can revisit them at any time.)
“Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” –Heinrich Heine (That includes the metaphorical burning that comes from people imposing their view of what’s acceptable—it’s called censorship.)
“The buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching toward infinity…” –A. Edward Newton (Mine’s been reaching for decades and I don’t expect it to stop any time soon.)
Another day, another leadership book. I sometimes wonder how far around the earth they would stretch if laid end to end. Most have viable lessons, useable by everyone, not just the person running the show.
Many of the attitudes, actions and lessons learned and offered are similar, but each seeks a teaching mechanism that will catch and hold your interest.
Not an easy task in a time of information abundance.
Chris Warner and Don Schmincke manage to do it in High Altitude Leadership.
It’s not that their leadership guidance is new, but the presentation is riveting.
I like it because it directly addresses MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and offers examples from a world where screwing up easily results in death—real death as in gone from the world, not the company.
Amazing how different the advice feels when viewed through the lens of the “death zone,” i.e., the top altitude of the planet’s tallest mountains where mistakes are usually fatal.
“In achieving peak performance as a high-altitude leader, you also risk death. It could be the death of a career, project, team or company, or in extreme situations, someone’s physical death. Learning the best way to succeed comes from studying the death zone.”
Chris Warner is founder of Earth Treks (indoor climbing centers) and has led more than 150 international expeditions.
Don Schmincke started as a scientist and engineer who became a management consultant after realizing that most management theories fail to work.
There are eight dangers in the death zone and, although the authors stress that it’s the high altitude leaders that face the same eight dangers, I think that everybody faces them every day and in all facets of their lives.
The dangers are
Fear of Death
Selfishness
Tool Seduction
Arrogance
Lone Heroism
Cowardice
Comfort
Gravity
Not really new information, but when seen in the light of the death zone they have a very different impact.
High Altitude Leadership is an exciting, sometimes hair-raising read (even when the transference to business doesn’t work well) that will get you thinking whether you’re heading a Fortune 50 or trying to raise your kids. It’s a book that helps you see the problems in your own MAP.
What the book doesn’t offer are easy, paste on solutions—changing how you think means changing your MAP which is doable, but not easy.
As stated, a strong culture outlasts any charisma offered up by the so-called leaders; in fact, it’s the foundation of any company’s success.
Here is the short version of ten reasons why it’s worth the effort to build a great culture.
Leadership is critical in codifying and maintaining an organizational purpose, values, and vision. Leaders must set the example by living the elements of culture…
Like anything worthwhile, culture is something in which you invest.
Employees at all levels in an organization notice and validate the elements of culture.
Organizations with clearly codified cultures enjoy labor cost advantages for the following reasons…
Organizations with clearly codified and enforced cultures enjoy great employee and customer loyalty…
An operating strategy based on a strong, effective culture is selective of prospective customers.
The result of all this is “the best serving the best…”
This self-reinforcing source of operating leverage must be managed carefully to make sure that it does not result in the development of dogmatic cults with little capacity for change.
Organizations with strong and adaptive cultures foster effective succession in the leadership ranks.
No question, men and women think differently—at work, at home and in every other situation.
And for years the argument has raged as to which approach is better; which thinking clearer; which to follow.
When ignored, the differences are the basis for miscommunication and the resultant misunderstandings, dissatisfaction, frustration and anger.
In rare shows of common sense, some companies focus on understanding the differences, sharing the intelligence across their workforce and creating a stronger corporate culture that takes advantage of both sets of styles and skills. The result is more employee satisfaction, improved productivity, and better retention—all direct contributions to the bottom line.
If you’d like to get a handle on this Leadership and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business is a good place to start. Authored by Michael Gurian, best-selling The Wonder of Boys, and Barbara Annis, a top consultant on gender issues, the book provide and in depth look at two decades of both scientific research and real-world anecdotal evidence that different isn’t better or worse, or, as Gurian says, “I think what we’ve been able to prove over the last 20 years is that there is not superiority or inferiority.”
Homogeny isn’t good, especially in business. To interact and do commerce with the real world requires not only diversity of thought—gender, racial, ethnic—but respect for and the ability to interact and work together for a common goal.
The major part of Leadership And The Sexes is in the form of five gender tools that walk you through a process to help you understand the differences and effectively deal with them.
GenderTool 1 Improving Your Negotiating Skills with Both Genders
GenderTool 2 Running a Gender-Balanced Meeting
GenderTool 3 Improving Your Communication Skills with Men and Women
GenderTool 4 Improving Your Conflict Resolution Skills with Men and Women
GenderTool 5 Practicing Gender-Intelligent Mentoring and Coaching in Your Corporation
Written as pure brain science the book would be much drier, but the real-world examples and anecdotes offered save it from that and make for a more relatable read.
The need to acquire gender-intelligence is undisputed, whether for your company or yourself.No matter what you do or how powerful you are gender-intelligence will help you improve.
Finally, to give you an additional inducement to dig into this subject and absorb what it offers, here’s an interview with Michael Gurian.
He remembers the time when CEOs were all-powerful autocrats running top-down organizations under the auspices of Boards comprised friends and colleagues. The came the revolt and CEOs started being dumped right and left.
How large was the turnover tally last year and was it really that different from what it used to be?
Generally speaking, prior to the 1990s CEOs weren’t fired. During the Nineties Boards ousted a few high profile cases, such as GM, IBM, American Express, but by mid-2000 things really started changing and have continued apace—663 in 2004, 1322 in 2005, 1478 in 2006, but ‘only’ 1,356 2007.
Of course, not all were fired, some retired, some took outside offers, but a great number left by, or just before, Board request and some left in a very public perp walk.
By the time the book came out, six years after Enron, most of us thought we’d seen the worst; we believed that governance had changed and that Boards and investor activists had tamed CEO ego.
Many thought that it was a permanent shift in power away from CEOs, but it took only a year to show how inaccurate that analysis was.
It might be true when dealing with felonious intention, but when it comes to “maximizing shareholder returns” it seems like anything legal still goes.
But even slightly out of date, Revolt in the Boardroom is a good read—educational, entertaining and offering some unique insights into the corner office.
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,
Do you know who Ray Bradbury is? An icon in the science fiction world, writer of screenplays, and hater of the internet and lover of libraries. “When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.” 
Not counting the current economic debacle, have you ever wondered why companies rise and then fail, much like the Roman Empire?
Why not organizational leadership? Leadership that percolates from every nook and cranny of the enterprise driving innovation and productivity far beyond the norm.
by Blythe McGarvie (230 pages, John Wiley & Sons, 2009) addresses the fragmented, multi-polar world of global business.
I was delighted when I was sent a free copy of 
I am a reader of books; they are my true comfort food. Books are my greatest joy; they lift me up when I’m down; make me smile when I’m sad; enhance my joy when I’m happy and keep me company when I’m lonely. They teach me; introduce me to people I’ll never meet, visit countries I’ll never see and even worlds in other universes. Books make me rich—without them I’d be bankrupt. I love books.
An excerpt at 
What a difference a year makes. Last year Wall Street Journal columnist Alan Murray wrote 
