Tag: leaders

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BLG Leadership Insights Creativity Features Ideas

Word Processed Plagiarism


I used to doze off at night chanting obscure citation formatting rules from all the major players in town: MLA, APA, Chicago, even Turabian on some particularly insomnia-stained evenings. For a brief period before I fabricated some semblance of a social life, my homepage was EasyBib.com. As a law-abiding citizen who only jaywalked when a red light obstructed a closing kitty-corner Chipotle, plagiarism seemed like a surefire way to win a date with the 5-o. I figured citations would avoid (police) citations and I cited to within an inch of my life. I even fantasized of winning a Pulitzer someday for one of my immaculate bibliographies.

Why then do I feel like a corrupted, plagiarizing criminal? Maybe it is because even as I compose this confession, I wage a literary crime spree. I plead the Fifth as I reveal that everything from that last paragraph to this clause is riddled with lifted language. If someone handcuffed me now I would start typing with my nose because you should know of the unprosecuted plagiarism saturating our word-processed existence.

The culprit: Almost everyone

The mechanism: A Thesaurus

Aliases: Review: Proofing: Thesaurus; Shift-F7; Thesaurus.com;

I’d pause for dramatic effect but my thesaurus suggests that I might alternately adjourn for theatrical suspense. So go to the bathroom/lavatory, call your lawyer/attorney, and we’ll resume/commence in the next section/paragraph.

Ok welcome back…We’re all guilty of the occasional thesaurus indulgence. Personally, when my creative juices run dry, I’ve leaned on the thesaurus like it’s a Segway that will effortlessly transport me to my conclusion. My thesaurus probably deserves a Cornell degree for its brilliant text on subjects ranging from “Scientology and American Dissent” to “Andorra’s Crisis in Democracy”. You can argue that the thesaurus is as innocuous as an internet translator but when you’re translating from shoddy slang to polished prose is it really a pardonable offense?

Well you tell me. I think similar to sourcing Wikipedia and leaning on a Smartphone during a trivia competition, thesaurus plagiarism falls into a certain ethical purgatory. Is it dishonest, corrupt, amoral, immoral, devious, deceitful, wrong, unethical, and dishonorable? Possibly. But maybe it’s also practical, proactive, pragmatic, realistic, and sensible.

Fundamentally, does a leader use a thesaurus? Is leadership synonymous with plagiarism?

Pic Credit: autumn_bliss

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BLG Leadership Insights Features Managerial Competence Political Competence

Preserving the Skeleton

Yesterday, the media volleyed around stunning stories of tennis legend Venus Williams’ diagnosis of Sjögren’s Syndrome and her subsequent withdrawal from the U.S. Open. The story saturated mainstream news networks, receiving full court attention from health and lifestyle journalists in addition to devoted sports reporters. All this press served to racquet up both sympathy for Williams and intrigue into her “shocking diagnosis”, Sjögren’s Syndrome (Moisse & Childs, ABC News, 9/1/2011). In full disclosure, I also have Sjögren’s Syndrome, and fall in an exceedingly rare demographic as a young male afflicted by a predominantly older female autoimmune disorder. While I certainly appreciate the attention Sjögren’s will receive with the arrival of this high-profile case, I wish less to commiserate than I do to investigate how a leader navigates illness.

Venus Williams, who was recently ranked the 10th most powerful black woman in the U.S. and the 86th most powerful celebrity in the world (Forbes, The Celebrity 100), is certainly a leadership titan. She launched her own fashion line and interior design firm and is a co-owner of the Miami Dolphins. The list of accomplishments on and off the court is exhausting and diminishing for anyone who thinks they’ve found success.

Unfortunately so is Sjögren’s Syndrome. While the hallmark symptoms of the syndrome are dry eyes and dry mouth, the Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation explains that, “patients may experience extreme fatigue and joint pain and have a higher risk of developing lymphoma” (Sjogrens.org). It’s certainly serves up a challenge for a part-time table tennis attendant let alone for a professional tennis star at the peak of her career.

We often speak of the importance of mobilizing an agenda, sustaining momentum, and tirelessly operating in a campaign paradigm. So how does a highly competent, politically savvy leader manage when the body starts attacking itself? I wish I had an easy answer for this nauseating challenge but (much to my parents chagrin) I’m no doctor and hardly a leadership expert.

What I do know and what we often emphasize is that organizations, like your bodies, are uncertain organisms. Just as you never know when Hurricane Irene will flood your foyer, you can’t anticipate illness. While we may wish our doctors worked next to our desks, we lack this luxury.

The key is maintaining your coalition and vigilantly preparing for disorder. God forbid the day arrives when your body turns on itself, but, if it does, you at least want to avoid having an autoimmune coalition that mimics your disease. Cultivate an earnest, empowered coalition that will brace your organizational body if your personal frame gives out. If Sjogren’s dries your glands, find a team that will lubricate your agenda and carry you to the finish line.

Venus Williams’ courageous response to her diagnosis was that, “[Sjögren’s] will help me to feel grateful for everything that I have. And at the same time it makes me want to get up and fight harder every single day” (Moisse & Childs). So have another cup of coffee, eat your deep fried Oreo, and confidently plunge into your campaign. But remember to remain mindful of your personal and professional health.

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BLG Leadership Insights Features Proactive Leaders

Earthquake from the (Apple)Core

This week a massive earthquake rocked the country and left people buzzing from coast to coast. While it may be too early to determine the exact damages from the quake, it produced instant market swings and potentially affected nuclear sites in the D.C./Virginia metro area. Luckily finely tuned preparation plans created in anticipation of such an event generally surged into action and thwarted any immediate, major repercussions. Now the world steps back and anxiously watches the news on their iPads while walking their iPoodles; everyone is waiting to see how the dust will settle following this unprecedented upheaval.

My sources tell me that before the seismic activity surrounding Steve Jobs resignation from Apple, there was seismic activity of the plate tectonic persuasion across the eastern seaboard. Maybe we’ll report on that later but the Jobs quake buried all natural disaster news within minutes while the Virginia tremors barely shifted ground.

There will be immeasurable commentary and analysis on Steve Jobs’ resignation and his career in general. His legacy will be immortalized in the forthcoming (and still unfinished) biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson in addition to other inevitable volumes devoted to the Apple mogul. Jobs elevated Apple to the summit of the business world as the company, “flirted with displacing ExxonMobil as the world’s most valuable company by market cap, and…[at one point] had more cash on hand than Uncle Sam himself” (Matlin, 8/25/11). The list of his accomplishments reads like a greedy (and enterprising) child’s Christmas list to Santa.

I know from experience taking Professor Bacharach’s classes that Jobs continually emerges as the model leader in leadership studies contexts. He is one of the most recognizable faces in corporate leadership and his name is synonymous with management success. When Professor Bacharach solicits examples of leaders, he will likely hear a student offer Steve Jobs long before receiving the names of, say, Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, or Gandhi. There is no argument; the man is a leader guru.

So let’s take a pause from our leadership exploits today and just marvel at the force that is Steve Jobs. We know that Tim Cook will almost certainly succeed Jobs and will likely succeed in his new role. We know, or at least argue, that leadership is not an innate, trait-based phenomenon but something that can be pragmatically and systematically learned and replicated. Jobs was no god and certainly had his faults and fumbles. Nevertheless, the man was a titan and the world shakes today in response to his resignation.

Pic Credits: tsevis

Deanna Lowe @ Fortune magazine and the photographer (Corbis) of the original photo in which this mosaic is based.

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BLG Leadership Insights Leadership On the Edge Managerial Competence Political Competence Proactive Leaders Proactive Stories

Splitting Hairs: A Study in Failed Leadership

I sat, bewildered, sweat dripping from my brow, wondering why I had been called here. Since I began my work with this not-to-be named Real Estate company I had been the paragon of salesmanship.  I climbed to the top of the sales ladder after one week on the floor. I hit my quota of 150 plus outbound calls per day (there was no way my manager could know that at least half of these were instant hang-ups, right?)I had even purchased a brand new business wardrobe, complete with tie-clips and suspenders, an almost Herculean feat for someone who wears sweatpants to restaurants. I was, for all intents and purposes, an A student.

Why, then, was I called into a special meeting to review my performance? Was I getting promoted already? It had only been a month. I was good, but was I that good? I thought back to my training. A Vice President of the company, Les, had personally trained me and a few others on the ways of selling over the phone. He was a fossil of the coke-infused 80’s era; a copy of a copy of Gordon Gecko.  He was short and muscular, with loud and proud silver hair, slicked back with what appeared to be cement. Les was filled to the brim with stories and catch phrases, but light on substance and leadership.   His name was Les. That can’t be a real name. My most vivid memory of our training together was him recounting his time in the Special Forces as an analogy for closing sales.

“I was in a bar in Bangkok. This son of a bitch was starting with me so I beat his face to a bloody pulp then went back to the bar. Out of nowhere I feel a whack on the side of my skull. It was the son of a bitch. I hadn’t closed the sale. He was still breathing” Now go sell Real Estate!

Terrifying relics from Bright Lights Big City notwithstanding, I had done my time in training and proved to be a promising member of the team. So I couldn’t imagine…

Pet, our twenty-seven year old Vice President of Sales, busted into the room like the Kool Aid Man, full of bluster, frat-boy machismo, and spikey hair. Pete’s idea of motivation was to blast Top 40 Hip-Hop drivel throughout the sales floor and take away our chairs.

“No one sits until we book 5 FSBOs”–For Sale By Owner, the meat and potatoes of our business. Our main charge was to harass people who had listed their own homes on the internet into listing with us.  The Call Center employees set up the appointment for the Listing Agent, who would close the deal.  Being the former, my sole purpose was to set appointments. This was most easily done by lying to the FSBO and leading he or she to believe that we were prospective buyers rather than agents.   How standing up helped to speed this process is, as of yet, still hidden in the Foxtons manual. I believe the chapter is seated between “Why you need to wear a suit to a job at which you will literally never see a client in person” and “The benefits of cold calling customers on Sunday morning”.

Where was I? Pete, right. Pete bounded into the room like a six year old.

Pete said, “Jay, Jay, Jay, my MAN. How are you doing? You are the MAN. THE MAN.”

Jay heard: “Jay, Jay, Jay, please, call a doctor, I’ve had 17 red bulls and it’s 11 a.m.”

Pete continued, “Jay you are doing so awesome man. You have a real future at this company”

Jay heard, “You are going to be stuck in this awful job for the rest of your life”

Pete went on, without interruption, “Jay, your sales numbers are through the roof. You are great on the phone, and you show a real spark. You’re just the kind of employee I like to have working for me. But, there is one thing…”

Oh no. What could the one thing be? Are my clients not properly “hearing my suit over the phone?” (direct quote).

“Jay…I don’t know how to say this…but it’s your goatee. There are a few stray hairs and it needs to look more clean. I have some razors for you.”  My mouth agape, I took the razors, went to the bathroom, and did it. Because it was my job. Because my boss told me to. Because my leaders, like Wesley Snipes in White Men Can’t Jump, were more concerned with looking good than they were with winning.

Three months later, I left the company due to “personal reasons” that included receiving a Workers’ Compensation settlement that allowed me to be unemployed for a year. Six months later, the company closed its American doors, leaving me to wonder to no one in particular: If Pete and Les had been less preoccupied with hair gel and gentrified hip-hop music, and more concerned with running an honest business by cultivating their employee’s skill sets, would I still be wearing a suit for no reason today?

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Features Managerial Competence Political Competence

Avoid the Leadership Achilles’ Heel

Showing interest in others can be your leadership Achilles’ heel.

You can take leadership survey upon leadership survey and you can be competent in many ways, but if you can’t convey to others that you have serious interest in them you’re likely to be tripped up by the leadership Achilles’ heel.

You have to transcend hollow tokenism and really reach out.

Nothing is worse than being dismissed by someone because they think you are self-absorbed and don’t give a damn. It creates animosity in the office and it’s a hard feeling to change.

To maintain interest in others in an office environment or on a virtual international team you can avoid the leadership Achilles’ heel by paying mind to the following steps:

1. Initiate Conversations: Don’t wait for people to come to talk to you. Take the time to find an item of conversation that is not only interesting to you but also to the other person. When it comes to opinions, ask for input and engage in friendly debate.

2.  Be Thoughtful When Questioning: Leaders and managers must recognize that certain conversations and questions are off-limits. However, it shouldn’t stop leaders from asking their team about their well being with regard to their career and their hesitations. If you close yourself off completely, you run the risk of never showing a real interest in others. Too many questions can be off-putting.

3. Don’t Look at Your Watch: Not everyone is an expert conversationalist with an arsenal of witty anecdotes. But everyone has a story to tell. Listen, don’t yawn. Maybe you’ll learn something. You’ll certainly show that you’re interested.

4. Be Interested (Even When You’re Not): People will come to you with problems, new ideas, and complaints that make the prospect of watching grass grow seem exciting. Office life will produce dull discussions, but it’s your job to be interested. If you think that too much time is being wasted, suggest shorter meetings or more to the point memos, but always maintain a healthy enthusiasm. If someone nodded off during one of your presentations, how would you take it?

5. Enjoy the Conversation: Conversations have to end.  You have meetings and things to do, but once and a while let the conversation run its natural course before checking your watch and running off. It shows that you care and that you are enjoying yourself. If you make the time to idly chat with someone, they’ll take the time to do a better job.

6. Continue the Conversation: Conversations are like baseball games. They can go on for hours and last for days. Your job is to not forget the score. Don’t lose the thread of conversations. If you can’t remember what you were talking about it means you probably weren’t listening and were just waiting to speak. If it helps, make notes.

7. Shoulder the Sacrifice: Don’t be reluctant to help out in small ways here and there. It shows that you care and you have time for other people. If you never extend small favors to others, don’t expect them to think you care.

8. Show Your Vulnerability: Humans make mistakes. Egotistical humans don’t readily admit their mistakes. Be approachable and the first to point out your own errors. You’ll be easier to talk and relate to.