People tend to take their role models whole; kind of an all or nothing approach, which isn’t a very smart approach. A few weeks ago I wrote that in some ways Steve Jobs isn’t the greatest role model. Take a look at some others better taken piecemeal or even not at all.

Graham B. Spanier did an amazing job growing Penn State into a powerhouse, but threw up defenses at the first hint of criticism. Says close-to-retiring anthropology professor E. Paul Durrenberger, “If you’re always focused on promoting the brand and there’s no scrutiny, that leads to covering up.”

On the surface Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder and chairman of Groupon, may look like a great role model, but due diligence is as important when assessing role models as investments.

Lefkofsky’s track record, reflecting failures and successes, bears certain hallmarks: rapid revenue growth accompanied by big losses, a penchant to sell stock early on, and lawsuits filed by investors, lenders or customers who feel they have been wronged. … Lefkofsky and his family have already cashed out $382 million from Groupon before the IPO filing.

Successful founders are considered excellent role models, but is there a down side when they stay?

Visionaries are fantastic, but their companies are often notoriously hard to run. Sometimes, these leaders cling to dated visions and stifle innovation. And sometimes, they simply won’t get out of the way. Promising executives with new ideas get fed up and leave.

Many entrepreneurs are known for the size of their egos and none more so than those from Russia, but not all of them buy a sports team, larger yacht or another home. Several years ago Vladimir Kekhman, who made millions in bananas and other fruit, left his company to focus on the local ballet company; he just pulled off another “first” by pirating two premier dancers from the Bolshoi.

And Mr. Kekhman, at age 43, recently gave up all of his day-to-day responsibilities as a major owner of Russia’s biggest fruit company to focus on the Mikhailovsky. “I have a new profession right now,” he said. “And this profession has brought a new life to me.”

Finally, good health role models lurking in a place you would never expect to find any—long-haul truckers.

“I’m being stupid if I don’t lose the weight,” she said, “because I’ll lose my job.” — Jill Garcia, 50, a driver from San Antonio

Flickr image credit: pedroelcarvalho

Wednesday saw the loss of the entrepreneurs’ entrepreneur, Steve Jobs.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about role models and mentioned that in some areas Steve Jobs wasn’t the best person to model.

Thursday I received an email suggesting I delete that post since Jobs had died.

I refused and explained that nothing had changed with his death.

While there is no question that Jobs was an extraordinary visionary; brilliant at creating the future and championing design as a development tool; exceptional as a marketer and his presentations are legendary, none of that changes or excuses his management style, which could be devastating.

Visionary leadership doesn’t preclude the ability to create a passionate culture that enhances employees, rather than diminishing them.

There is no doubt that Apple will miss Jobs, but there are many employees who will be relieved not to find themselves alone on the elevator with him even as the reason saddens them.

Which parts of Steve Jobs will you choose to emulate?

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A comment in response to an article entitled Steve Jobs Is a Lousy Role Model caught my eye.

I agree that good managers have to ‘manage’ their employees emotional well-being but I believe visionary leaders have to execute on their vision… Don’t get confused that good managers can build an innovation company without effective leaders to lead the charge.

Jobs ability to see around corners product-wise is unique, but that skill doesn’t make him a leader; it makes him a product visionary.

Yes, he is brilliant; yes he has charisma; yes, he screws up and the combination proves he’s human.

What needs to be understood is that Jobs successes don’t excuse his bad actions.

Do yourself a favor and recognize that your vision can also be your own personal Kool-Aid.

Richard Branson is also a visionary and successful entrepreneur, but his approach is a world away from Jobs.

The trick to finding a role model is to eliminate the singular, find multiple models and emulate their best traits after tweaking them to fit your own MAP and situation.

Last year I wrote, People love to quote the adage “there is no “I” in team” when somebody’s ego gets out of hand; perhaps a new adage is needed that states “there is no “I” in leader.” Of course, someone will argue that there is an ‘i’ in leadership, which is true, but when ‘i’ becomes ‘I’ it changes leadership to leadershit.

Even Steve Jobs phenomenal success provides no reason to change my mind.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Two weeks ago I wrote about the M3 Foundation and its success turning around at risk black boys.

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing M3’s founder KG Charles-Harris.

Why did you start M3?
I started the M3 Foundation when I became aware of the plight of black boys in school.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, 73 percent of black boys drop out of school (nationally the average is 54%).  These statistics places one of the wealthiest areas of the world on par with war torn areas like the Congo or very impoverished nations like Laos.  The statistics, along with meeting some of these kids, shocked me into action.

Another issue was that I wanted my own children to receive a good public school education.

To ensure that this happened, it was necessary to put a structure in place that enabled teachers to do what they were supposed to, i.e. teach students who were performing at or above grade level.

Sadly, most teachers and schools are unable to do this because of the significant portion of students lagging several years behind grade level; that results in remedial teaching and a lower level of education for all.

How did you come up with the approach?
The approach was based on common sense.  We cannot expect people who are lagging behind to work less and still achieve the same results as those who have worked more in preceding years. Also, we have to make a fundamental decision.  Are these boys unintelligent, or is it their environments that are affecting them negatively?

We put together a program which used sports and hip-hop as a carrot and focused on providing homework assistance, extensive mathematics tutoring and surrounded the boys with role models (UC Berkeley male students) as tutors and team leaders.

The program is intense; we work with the boys three times per week for 4 hours in the afternoon and 4-6 hours on Saturdays.  One of the keys to the program is our excursions; it is difficult to have vision and dreams when one never has been exposed to something beyond the few blocks of inner-city where one resides.

What have been the most difficult roadblocks?
We are encountering road blocks all the time.  We are still a startup, though we have proven that black low-income boys can perform well.  We now have an average GPA of above 3.0 across all the school sites where we are active.

The most difficult roadblock we encountered was being shut down by the school district because of a perception that we discriminate.  We have created a model for the most difficult student population, African American boys from low-income backgrounds, and have proven it works.  Unfortunately, due to legal restrictions, it is difficult to serve this population since we are unable to select students based on race, gender or other characteristics.

Luckily, thanks to the assistance of one of our Board members, we were able to move beyond this with the school district and are now experiencing them as good partners.

Of course, we are always experiencing challenges of hiring strong team members, retaining and motivating students, working with parents, and many other issues.

Is M3’s approach scaleable?
When I started M3, one of the goals was to create a scalable and cost-efficient model.  Because these were some of the founding thoughts, we constructed the program around these objectives and are managing to have a cost per student that is significantly lower than other programs working with these types of students.  In fact, we have lower costs and better results (in most cases).

We have managed to accomplish this by leveraging the resources we have through partnerships with other organizations and also measuring everything we are doing to ensure we get the results we desire. If we fail to achieve the results, we are able to evaluate our performance from an objective perspective.

This has been difficult to engender since most non-profit organizations are more “touchy-feely”; we want to ensure that we are both empathetic and results oriented.

A personal note from KG.
I cannot have this opportunity to speak to all of you without appealing to your generosity.

Since more than 50% of US African American males fail to graduate high school, and 64% of those who drop out end up in the penal system, one of the strongest ways to lower crime is to ensure that these boys receive a good basic education.

The absolute proof is that less than 1% of college educated black males end up in prison while 64% of drop-outs end up there.

Please feel free, whether to fight crime, enhance education or because of racial pride, to donate to M3. Please visit our website; click to donate or send a check to M3 Foundation, 832 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94710

Thank you.

KG Charles-Harris

Your comments—priceless

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