If you were considering purchasing stock in a large corporation or a large bequest to a major non-profit and read the following comments about the CEO from people with firsthand knowledge of him would you buy the stock or donate the money?

• He was never interested in bureaucratic stuff because he did not want to work as a manager.
• He would be the first to concede he was much more interested in the life of the mind than the nuts and bolts of administrative work.

Last year when I wrote that bad managers didn’t make good leaders Mike Chitty responded, “I think you can lead if you are lousy manager. You just need good managers to cover your back. Teamwork you see.”

I disagreed then and I haven’t seen any reason to change my opinion—in fact, just the opposite. Right now the largest leader vs. manager mess is playing out on a global stage.

The leader in question is Pope Benedict and the above quotes were about him.

In a comment two years ago Nick McCormick said, “Leadership and management are very tightly intertwined. Ignoring characteristics of one is done at the expense of the other.”

According to a NY Times article, The church said the decision to allow the priest to resume his duties in 1980 was made solely by Cardinal Ratzinger’s top aide at the time, but church officials also said the future pope was sent a memo about the reassignment.

Obviously, leaders focus on visions and managers read memos.

The Catholic Church is the largest and probably the richest multinational in the world, so there are many business lessons to be learned from what is going on.

The two most obvious that I’ve noticed are

• protect the brand no matter what, and, more recently,
• the best defense is a good offense.

What do you think?

Image credit: Jari Kurittu on flickr

“What’s more important to you, being right or winning?”

That is what I asked a caller today.

“Frank” has been sequestered on jury duty for several weeks and when he returned to work he found that right after he left his team was assigned a new project and they were just finishing.

Frank said that the project had gone well, was on time and in budget, but he was upset that they had used a different approach from the one he preferred.

That’s when I asked, “What’s more important to you, being right or winning?”

You’d think that was an easy answer, but I was met first with silence and then with multiple reasons proving his approach was better.

He agreed that on time/in budget was a win, but still felt they should have done it his way.

So I ask you, “What’s more important, being right or winning?”

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Often

• Leaders can envision and inspire, but that doesn’t mean they can manage.
• Managers can motivate and lead, but that doesn’t make them visionaries.
• Visionaries can inspire, but not necessarily lead or manage.

Rarely can one person do it all and that’s OK—if…

The solution starts when you shove your ego in your back pocket and face facts.

And it’s the same at every management level, be it Microsoft or McDonald’s.

Once you accept that reality then you can move forward and

• relinquish power;
• hire those who compliment your skills;
• give them the correct title, authority and status;
• shower them with public and private recognition;
• valid compensation; and
• sincere appreciation.

Of course, the problem with this is that few will admit their deficiencies even to themselves.

Worse, even if you want to admit it, companies, bosses and peer pressure make it almost impossible.

That leaves you with two choices.

• Stiffen your spine, ignore the pressure and let the results speak for your success.
• Bow to the pressure, fake it for as long as you can and change companies before you are found out.

That’s the great thing about life—you always have a choice.

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A client called and during the conversation he complained about his receptionist. He said he was close to firing her, but would prefer a different outcome; he thought a third party could help resolve the problems.

When I asked “Jack” what the problem was he said that “Judy” was disrupting the culture and refused to do her work as expected. For example, she insisted on having two pencil cups on her desk; he preferred organizing his desk based on Feng Shui principles and that two cups were nothing but clutter. He had explained this to Judy to no avail.

This is an extreme example of the puppetmaster mentality, but not counting the micromanager who really believes her’s is the only way, I’m willing to bet you have been on the giving or receiving end of this attitude, if not both, at some point—most of us have.

Whether you consider yourself a leader, a manager or leadager, yours is not the only way—or even the best.

There are many ways to approach a task or goal. Some may seem more efficient, but, in fact, will lower productivity if they are counter-intuitive for a particular worker.

As long as the task is done or the goal achieved ethically, on time and in budget the route to accomplishment doesn’t matter.

Forcing your approach on your team forces them to become puppets.

That makes them dependent on you for all creativity, innovation and productivity—at least until they resign.

Flickr image credit: ZedBee | Zoë Power

I often do work around my house, fixing, redoing and maintaining stuff, as do most of us.

When I moved and bought this house in March 2003 I found that every time it rained water ran under the garage door. Typically, I’m a jerry-rigger, especially fixing stuff around my home, but I thought I would do it “right” this time.

Over the next few years I spent over a thousand dollars on drywells, barriers, etc., but was still getting water under the door.

Having run out of affordable do-it-right options, I went back to jerry-rigging and usd a clear, vinyl shower curtain, tape, and a few bricks—no water under the door since then and I just check the plastic each fall.

This got me thinking, how much is too much?

How “right” does a fix need to be?

How “fixed” does a challenge/problem need to be to count as solved?

Every day we all face a myriad of challenges, any number of which may upgrade (downgrade?) to the status of problem in the blink of an eye, so this isn’t a casual question.

What do you do?

Managers, like the rest of us, have their own routine for evaluating and deciding on solutions, corrections and fixes.

I’m not saying you should change yours, but I am suggesting that you give thought to what end results you really need in order to avoid overkill in your decisions.

In other words: Does it need to be “right” on some cosmic yardstick—or does it just need to work.

Your comments—priceless

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Recently Dan McCarthy asked if there was a leadership crisis or is it a branding issue and I’ve been stewing ever since. (Please take a moment to read the post and the discussion.)

I’ve been stewing not so much because I disagree with Dan’s individual points, but because I disagree with the whole leadership-for-the-chosen-few attitude prevalent since the end of WWII.More than that, I am vehemently against the leader-as-a-silver-bullet school of thought.

The extent of this attitude has become glaringly apparent and the Presidential election is the highest profile example.

Yes, I voted for Obama, but not with any expectation that he could take office and resolve the global economic crisis, provide an abundance of high-paying jobs and reverse outsourcing, end our involvement in the wars and provide universal healthcare during his first year—or even his first four years.

There is no human being on the planet who could have accomplished any one, let alone all, of those goals.Hero-leaders, god-like leaders, God-as-leader—none are going to lead us anywhere because none is universally acceptable.

And it is time to stop looking to others to clean up our messes.

Real change starts as a grass roots effort, not as the vision of a larger-than-life figure with a title that is more like a target.

But we love to have a scapegoat; someone to shoulder the responsibility and take the blame for an effort doesn’t work—and that we can laud in the event that it does.

Remember when financial writers talked about share prices and compared 2005 prices to their pre dot bomb highs?

I think that comparing leaders/managers who functioned brilliantly during an up economy to those are performing now is just as ridiculous—there is no similarity between running a company in 1999 or 2006 and now.

Just as importantly, I believe we have a crisis in ‘followers’, both the actions and the brand.

Initiative is expected in the select ‘high potential’ few, but if you aren’t in that group initiative is often shot down. So, by de facto definition, followers are lower; a lesser breed from which to expect little more than compliance.

When high potential is identified early “late bloomers” are often nipped in the bud—or leave to flower somewhere else.

Developing and rewarding initiative, no matter the source, helps build leadership into a core competency throughout the organization.

That, in turn, builds strong, thinking followers and positions the company to thrive no matter what.

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Image credit:  ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr

“Clint” used the ‘Chat with Miki” box in the right-hand frame to ask me this question.

Have you ever heard this?  “People usually won’t change until the pain of NOT changing exceeds the pain of changing.”

Since this is a pretty common idea I thought I’d share my ideas with everybody.

I’ve heard this and many variations of it over the years, especially when applied to the workplace where it becomes a form of management by threat

For example, if your company or boss decides on a change and people’s jobs hinge on that change, they will change.

The problem is that they will also disengage at some level, maybe a little, but sometimes a lot. Not always obviously, but over time it will show in lower productivity, less creativity and, eventually, higher turnover.

Clint then asked if I thought that vested self-interest could be used instead of increasing the pain.

The answer is absolutely.

VSI is the perfect opposite to increased pain.

By rethinking a desired action, such as change, and presenting it in terms of its value to employees you can trip the VSI switch—but not if it’s a con.

As I’ve said a million times, people are not stupid; if the desired action is not really in their best interests there is nothing you can do that will convince them. VSI will still kick in, but the result will be resume polishing, lots of LinkedIn action and conversations with recruiters.

Clint decided that by using vested self-interest he could reduce the pain of changing. He plans to connect his organization’s goals to his people’s goals, which will effectively reduce the pain and increase the likelihood that they will do what he needs them to do—painlessly.

Handy little item my chat box. Try it, I’m usually here.

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I received the following email from “Terry” who just started his first job.

“Hi Miki, Basically with my new job, they are really giving their employees the shaft.  Peoples’ contracts aren’t being renewed so they can bring in cheaper labor (like me). My manager often says “Hey man!  It’s cool!  You have a job!  The economy is crap!” as though the position with them is the only one that I could get.  It’s really infuriating sometimes because I know that when they use an attitude like that, it’s like they feel they can abuse their power.  It’s like saying “Hey, you’re worthless, you’re SO lucky you have us… right?  Do you feel fortunate that we take you under our roof?  Good, because no one else will – now get to work or we’ll kill you!”  I don’t feel they see it like that, but I am trying to decipher their motives.  What do you think is going on?”

Hi Terry,

There are several obvious things that come to mind; your manager

• is nervous;
• is trying a poor joke to reduce the stress of layoffs;
• doesn’t think and has no idea of the effect of his words;
• actually believes what he is saying.

However, there is a not so obvious thought for you to explore.

Perhaps your manager is projecting—voicing his own feelings based on the way he is being treated.

Rather than guessing there are things you can do over the next few months to achieve a much better handle on why he acts this way, mainly through close, objective observation.

I say objective because you need to suspend judgment, scrub the emotional side and dispassionately study what he says and does.

I can almost hear you say ‘why bother’ when it’s much easier to shrug and write it off to his being a jerk or a lousy culture.

The reason it’s worth the effort is that it will give you an edge when working with and for him. It will help you to understand where he’s really coming from and how best to interact with him.

And it will keep you from doing the same things when you become a manager.

I love when readers write or call, so feel free to contact me if you think I can help; contact information is in the right column. I hope to hear from you soon.

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First came the New Your Times interview with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, in which she categorically stated that women were better managers than men.

A few days later an NYT editorial asked Do Women Make Better Bosses?

Among the reader response was one that said it all for me.

“While I am sure that there are effective women bosses out there, I am equally sure that mine isn’t one of them. She is terribly emotional, paranoid, and an absolute dictator. She is also incredibly inefficient and stubborn, and as a result our entire group is far less productive than similar groups in our organization.

But I do not think this is a gender issue at all. I’m sure there are some really stupid male bosses out there (again, one of the male bosses from work quickly comes to mind). — Grunt2″

ABC is asking for reader input and stories on the subject (click over and share your story, you might even be interviewed).

I’ve read a lot of these stories, especially since the meltdown, including the ones that say if women had been in charge it wouldn’t have happened.

While I agree that there are differences between the sexes, but to say that those differences are uniform or guarantee a certain action is ridiculous.

The whole argument is parallel with similar comments, such as blacks can dance better than whites and women are better at parenting.

Some are, but it’s not a given.

I believe that race and gender will always take a backseat to MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), which is what really drives and guides people.

What do you think?

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Vote in comments for your favorite manager and I’ll send him/her a great business book.

Click to see a common attitude for all generations

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