Category: Ideas

Categories
BLG Leadership Insights Ideas Leadership On the Edge Managerial Competence Proactive Leaders

Executives Forecast Leadership Shortages

If a company’s culture lacks purpose in achievement, it is hard to maintain talented leaders. Leaders may get some motivation from monetary and other rewards. However, their willingness to stay in a company may have more to do with finding purpose. Money may not be enough. Leaders lacking purpose can be expected to jump ship.

This important point is made quite clear in a recent article from AMEinfo.com which focuses on a press release from Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) that claims there is an upcoming leadership shortage around the world. Deloitte’s new survey series Talent Edge 2020 points out that 56% of surveyed executives are forecasting leadership shortages in the near future. It’s a fascinating look at a problem that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

Deloitte: 56% of surveyed executives forecast leadership shortages

photo: hafabulous

Categories
BLG Leadership Insights Ideas Leadership On the Edge Proactive Leaders Social Media

7 social media and leadership stories from the past 7 days

Here are seven stories from the past seven days about social media and leadership.

Enjoy!

1. The Wisdom of Booker T. Washington

2. Grading Time Warner CEO Bewkes on Leadership

3. Time for Apple to speak up on future leadership

4. Don Banks from Sports Illustrated on the looming NFL strike

5. It is never too early to learn leadership

6. How 7-Eleven discovered the secret to success is service

7. Yes, Virginia, You Can Get Business with Social Media

Categories
BLG Leadership Insights Ideas Leadership On the Edge Managerial Competence Proactive Leaders

A Lack of Substance and Knowledge

If you don’t have the substance and knowledge to complement your leadership position, you need to seek it out. Leadership without substantive knowledge creates risk. Egon Zehnder International, a global executive search firm recently released a study with apt and slightly disturbing title Corporations Lack Leadership to Deal with Change. Here’s an excerpt from a PR Newswire story that details both the study and the idea that there is a definite lack of knowledge and substance in many of today’s leaders.

“More than two-thirds of corporate executives see great danger in leadership being overwhelmed by the complex challenges brought about by the current trend in which companies are experiencing convergence, according to a new study released today by Egon Zehnder International, a global executive search firm.  Convergence involves cross-industry collaboration, changing business models and companies making structural transformations.  In fact, three out of four executives report seeing convergence in their industry.  The main drivers behind this trend are changes in customer expectations and technological innovation…In the U.S., three quarters of executives are fearful of leaders being overwhelmed by the increase in complexity brought about by convergence,” said Mike Portland, co-leader of Leadership Strategy Services, Egon Zehnder International.”

Categories
BLG Leadership Insights Ideas Leadership On the Edge Proactive Leaders

The Myth of Productivity: Is 8 the Magic Number?

It’s all about getting things done. If you can get those you lead to rally around your ideas then success isn’t that far away. But once you’ve reached a certain level of success it becomes imperative that you sustain the momentum you worked so hard to build.  One way to sustain momentum is to make sure that you keep your employees motivated–motivated to continue the high level of work that got everyone to the top of the mountain in the first place.

Entrepreneur magazine’s Tony Bradley recently wrote an article entitled Telecommuting Is Good for Employees and Employers. In the piece, Bradley makes the point that, despite what we’ve been taught for years, allowing workers to break out of the normal 9-5 grind will actually help maximize their time. He argues that forcing those you lead to sit in a cubicle for 8 hours a day doesn’t guarantee that more work will get done.  In fact it does  just the opposite. There is no incentive to work faster if the only reward is more work and more time sitting around.

The idea that telecommuting is more than just people sitting in their bathrobes watching game shows instead of working is a perfect example of how leaders have to burst The Myth of Productivity. There is no generally agreed upon norm for productivity. Working eight hours-a-day in a sterile, fluorescent lit, cubicle is the result of nothing more than a law to keep unscrupulous bosses from forcing people to work fifteen hours a day in a dangerous and poorly ventilated mine shaft. There is no science behind the number. It’s not some perfectly worked out equation that guarantees success. Yet we still hang on to it like Moses brought it down from Mt. Sinai.

The key here is to understand that you must be able to adapt your criteria for success and productivity.  The bottom line is that you want to get things done. But everything that comes before that final goal must be flexible and adaptable in the face of change. Setting understandable and clear criteria for your employees is an ongoing and continual process. You might have been told that forcing your employees to work a certain number of hours in a certain place is a must, but it is just not so. Don’t be afraid to shape, mold, and transform your criteria as your initiatives and ideas change.

Picture credit: Legozilla

Categories
BLG Leadership Insights Ideas Managerial Competence Proactive Leaders Proactive Stories Social Media

Tough Act To Follow: 3 Tips to Transferring Charismatic Power

The sociologist Max Weber realized long ago that one of the challenges of leadership is the transference of power.  Weber knew that this was especially the case when you are forced to replace a charismatic leader. How does a visionary, an inspirational leader, a person driven by a sense of calling and purpose transfer their charismatic energy to the leadership that follows?

More often than not, the issue of charismatic transference emerges in startup organizations. Organizations led by entrepreneurial, paradigm breaking, charismatic revolutionaries may reach the pinnacle of success but the problem then becomes: how does the company keep it going if the leader chooses to go fly fishing, become  a college professor or just decides the time has come to move on.

Having a charismatic leader seems like a great idea, especially during a start up period or during a time of crisis.  Having such a luminary, such a solitary star in the sky makes it easier to navigate through both the good and the bad.  But anything that shines so bright will inevitably burn out. Then you have a big problem to solve.

A current day example of the daunting task of charismatic transference is Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is Apple and Apple is Steve Jobs.  That’s what we’ve been sold, and that’s what we choose to believe. This week Mr. Jobs announced that he will be taking another medical leave of absence, his third in the last six years. When the news first came out, shares in Apple fell 8% in overseas markets (due to the MLK holiday on Monday, US markets were closed).  Of course the stock rebounded later in week thanks to Apple’s amazing earnings announcement, which included at profit increase of 78% ($6 billion) and record revenue of $26.7 billion. It’s pretty clear that even if Jobs were not to return, Apple would continue being a giant in the tech world, but for how long?

Apple and Jobs offer a look at both the upside and the downside of having a charismatic leader. More importantly, they highlight the near impossibility of having to replace one. There is no question that without Steve Jobs at the helm, Apple would have never reached the heights it has. The company itself has created fundamental shifts in the tech industry, if not the world, time and time again. Then again Jobs’ charisma has had a lot to do with how many of us respond like moths to a flame when he rolls out of a new iPod or iPhone.

So without Jobs, can Apple survive? The answer is a resounding, but qualified, yes. Things will hum along just fine as long as the next wave of leaders at Apple focus on one thing and one thing one: Execution.  It’s clear that charisma has played a large role in their success far, but in reality it was Steve Jobs’ ability to get things done, to execute, that made Apple what it is today. His dedication, if not obsession, with high quality, forward thinking projects is legendary. His drive, his desire to succeed and his ability to get those around him to execute at levels that they never thought possible are what make Steve Jobs a titan of industry.  To say the least, Jobs’ overwhelming charisma has certainly helped, but it alone cannot explain his or Apple’s success.

Tim Cook and the rest of Apple’s future leaders need to focus on not trying to out-charisma a cult hero like Jobs. It’s not going to happen. If they can just find a way to continue Jobs’ record of execution, they just might have a chance. It’s not going to be easy, but I can guarantee it will never happen if they choose to focus on charisma over execution.

Bottom line, if you have a charismatic leader and you’re facing a transference of power keep the following in mind:

-In the short term build on the plan laid out by the charismatic leader

-During the transference period make sure that concrete steps of execution are built on the charismatic vision

-Move agendas forward built on the charismatic vision but get beyond it

Simply put, change little, reinforce the vision, make sure you know how to execute on the vision and most importantly, respect the vision for a while but don’t be afraid to move beyond it when the time is right. Charismatic leadership, even when it slightly fades, can be a base for successfully moving forward.

Photo: willamli