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ExcellenceL E A D E R S H I PTHE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITYMAY 2008CrisisLeadershipNew Sourcesof PowerPosition vs.ContributionCall for Talent“Leadership Excellence is an exceptionalway to learn and then apply the best andlatest ideas in the field of leadership.”—WARREN BENNIS, AUTHOR ANDUSC PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENTJohn ZengerLeadership Coachw w w . L e a d e r E x c e l . c o m

ExcellenceL E A D E R S H I PTHE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITYVOL. 25 NO. 5 MAY 2008Thunder and DustWe celebrate the spirit, majesty, and powerof the buffalo, symbol of the American Westand source of food and clothing for natives andsettlers who hunted the thundering herds.NOEL TICHY ANDWARREN BENNISCrisis LeadershipHow good is yourjudgment in a crunch?. . . 3BARBARA KELLERMANLeaders and FollowersTechnology is shiftingthe balance of power. . . . .4GARY HAMELAre You a Good Leader?Let’s ask your peopleand check performance . . 5SALLY HELGESENNew Sources of PowerThese portend a newmodel of leadership . . . . .6CHIP R. BELL ANDJOHN PATTERSONAttracting LoyaltyYou win customer loyaltywith five drivers . . . . . . . .7KEVIN & JACKIE FREIBERGWake Up!Global competitors areknocking at your door. . . .8MARSHALL GOLDSMITHBetter CoachingStart by asking sixclassic questions. . . . . . . . 9MARGARET WHEATLEYAND DEBORAH FRIEZEEmergenceLeaders need to knowhow change happens. . . .10HOWARD M. GUTTMANOvercome ResistanceGet things done withoutruining relationships. . . .11KIM CAMERONLeading ChangeIt helps to have fixedpoints for navigation. . . .12TOM PETERSStrategic ExcellenceStudy my baker’s dozenpoints of best practice. . .13CONNIE HRITZChange ModelYou need to consider threelevels and stages. . . . . . . 14KEVIN CASHMANLeader for LifeLeadership emerges fromthe inside out. . . . . . . . . .15JACK ZENGERPosition vs. ContributionMake sure you match orexceed expectations. . . . .16DAVE ULRICHCall for TalentStart using a newtalent equation . . . . . . . . 17PETER BLOCKPossibilitiesLeadership is largelyabout conversations . . . .18KEN BLANCHARDSituational LeadershipAdjust your style to suitthe development level. . .19STEPHEN R. COVEYAuthentic LeadersThey are centered ontrue-north principlesand natural laws . . . . . . .20

LEADERSHIPCRISESCrisis LeadershipIt’s all about good judgment.by Noel Tichy and Warren BennisOBVIOUSLY LEADERS NEED TO MAKEgood judgment calls in crisis situations,since crises are, by definition,dangerous moments. But errors atthese times may not be any more fatalthan errors in judgment regardingpeople and strategy. The big differenceis that they are usually time-pressured;hence, dire consequencesbrought on by bad calls at thesemoments often come quickly.We examined judgment calls incrises, not only because getting themright is so important, but also becausethey compress and highlight so manyimportant elements of making judgmentcalls. They require leaders: tohave clear values and know their ultimategoal; to foster open and effectivecommunication among members of thesenior team and in the ranks; to gatherand analyze data; and to execute decisionseffectively. These are elements formaking good judgment calls underany circumstances, but the pressure ofa crisis brings them clearly into focus.In the military, especially duringwar, leaders deal with crises regularlyas part of their role. The stakes are differentin business, but the urgency, theunpredictability, and the seriousnature of the situations are the same.There are important lessons for businessleaders to be found in reflectingon how the military handles crises.The first thing you need to do in acrisis is keep your wits about you.Assess what you are facing, and comeup with the best strategy for achievingyour ultimate goal in the circumstances.Of course, you need to knowyour strategic goal. In a crisis, leadersoften forget the strategic goal—theymay come up with a great solutionthat has little to do with accomplishingwhat they’re supposed to be doing. Ifyou don’t stay focused on the mission,you easily drift into wasted activity.All leaders face crises at some point.Some crises are life-threatening to theinstitution, if not to human life. Crisesnot handled well, where good judgmentcalls were not made, can evenlead to the demise of an institution.Three PhasesGood judgments made during timesof crisis follow the same process asjudgments made under ordinary circumstances.There is a preparationphase, a call phase, and an executionphase. The preparation phase needs tobe done before the crisis occurs.Effective leaders prepare for crisis, evenbefore knowing what crisis will occur.It’s more true in crisis situations thanwith judgments about people and strategythat the likelihood of making successfulcalls is vastly increased if theyare made in the context of a TeachablePoint of View (TPOV) and on the platformof the storyline for the future.Leaders tend to make bad crisisjudgments either because they lack aclear TPOV and storyline, or theymake bad people judgments. To handlecrises effectively, leaders musthave an aligned team. Otherwise, thecrisis situation will splinter the teamjust when smart, coherent action isneeded most. Bad people judgmentsor bad strategy judgments can precipitatea crisis, but once one happens,teamwork and focus make all the differencebetween survival and disaster.Having been in leadership positionsdealing with crises, and having talkedwith scores of leaders about crisisleadership, we can attest that the fundamentalprocess of judgment is thesame as with people and strategy:have a solid TPOV, and make sure thejudgments you make are consistentwith the TPOV, or at least, do not hinderexecution of the storyline forwhere you want to ultimately end up.Blind spots. Most leaders haveblind spots about people. Sometimesleaders have a sense of loyalty to thosewho did something helpful to themearlier in their career. Sometimes subordinatesare talented at the “kiss upand kick down” game. They abusetheir subordinates and undermine colleagues,but they present a picture ofperfection to the boss. This is why 360-degree evaluations are necessary.Leaders also succumb to the haloeffect—when the they generalize theirown talents and abilities to othersaround them. Blind spots cause someleaders to have defensive routines thatblock out accurate data on a person orset up psychological barriers that keepothers from sharing honest feedbackon the person. All of these forces addup to serious bad people judgments,which can create organizational crises.Why are some leaders better able todeal with crises than others? Evenwhen hit with unpredictable events,why do some leaders do a better job ofresponding? How do some leaderseven manage to turn crises into leadershipdevelopment opportunities?The answer is because they anticipatecrises. They aren’t psychics. Theycan’t see into the future and predictrandom events that are going to striketwo days or two years hence. But theyknow that some crises will occur, andthey prepare themselves and theirorganizations to respond effectivelyand efficiently when they do.These leaders know that in order tosurvive crises, perhaps even come outahead, they must have an aligned andtrusted team; a teachable point of viewand storyline for the future success;and a commitment to developingother leaders throughout the crisis.David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands,and Phil Schoonover, CEO of CircuitCity, are two leaders who have navigatedthrough several crisis situations.They both do three things: 1) theyeffectively, in real time, deal with theircrises; 2) they mobilize, align, andengage the right social network ofleaders by tapping their brains andemotional energy to handle the crises;and 3) they focus on developing theleaders engaged in the process, teachingand coaching in real time.Leaders who succeed in crises developtheir capabilities and build theminto their culture. The conventionalwisdom regarding crisis managementand communication, basically, nets outto be good public relations advice. Itincludes such things as preparation ofLeadership Excellence May 2008 3

LEADERSHIPINNOVATIONAre You a Good Leader?Create an evolutionary advantage over time.by Gary HamelMOST LEADERS EXERcisecontrol viastandard operatingprocedures, tight supervision, detailedrole definitions, a minimum of selfdirectedtime, and frequent reviews.These mechanisms bring people toheel, but they also put a short leash oninitiative, creativity, and passion.Luckily there are other ways of leadingand managing. For example, whilethe in-store teams at Whole Foods havediscretion over staffing, pricing, andproduct selection, they are also heldaccountable for the profitability of theirdepartments. Teams are assessedagainst monthly profitability targets,and when they meet those goals, teammembers receive a bonus in their paycheck.Since the rewards are teambased,associates have little tolerancefor colleagues who don’t pull theirweight. Every team’s performance isvisible across the company—incentiveto work hard and stay focused.You don’t need much top-down disciplinewhen: 1) first-line employeesare responsible for results; 2) teammembers have access to real-time performancedata; 3) they have decisionauthority over key variables that influenceperformance outcomes; and 4)there’s a tight coupling betweenresults, compensation, and recognition.• For example, Gore would seem tosuffer from an excess of freedom. Associateschoose which teams to work on.They can say no to requests and allocatetheir dabble time as they see fit.But they are reviewed by their peerseach year—and these assessments determinetheir compensation. And, oncea project moves beyond the dabblestage, a cross-functional review processputs the development team through anexercise called “Real, Win, Worth.” Toattract resources, a product championmust first show that the opportunity isreal and that Gore can win in the marketplace.Then, the focus turns to profitability.While Gore encourages grassrootsinnovation, associates must builda solid business case before they canget funding. And pensions are closelytied to Gore’s share price. This is whyGore is as disciplined as it is inventive.• And then there’s Google—with itstop-to-bottom anti-authoritarian vibe—where if a person feels something ismore important than anything they areasked to do, they should “follow theirpassion.” Can you hear your VP ofoperations saying something like that?Google’s equivalent of Real, Win,Worth is “Learn fast, fail fast.” Employeesdon’t need many sign-offs to trysomething new, but they won’t getmany resources until they have somepositive user feedback. Since every projecthas its own internal website, engineeringteams get a lot of peer feedback.This transparency weeds out stupidideas and beefs up goodones—reducing the need forformal reviews. And, there’sGoogle’s reputational scoreboard.Titles don’t meanmuch at Google—you haveto develop a product thatattracts millions of users; thiskeeps developers focused onreal-world problems.And the quarterlyFounders Awards grant millions of dollars’worth of restricted stock to teamsthat make remarkable contributions. Toget a big bonus, you have to build somethingthat makes money. These mechanismshelp to keep noses to grindstones.In these cases, what at first glancelooks like a slacker’s paradise turnsout to be anything but. Discipline andfreedom can coexist, but not if leadersrely on stick-instead-of-carrot methodsfor keeping employees in line.Drawing a clear distinction betweenthe what and how of discipline can helpuproot management dogma. Peopleoften defend the how of a hoary oldmanagement process simply becausethey haven’t thought deeply aboutother ways of accomplishing the goalsthat process serves. Help them distinguishbetween the what and the how,give them some time to think, andnew approaches are likely to emerge.The sooner you start sloughing offyour legacy management beliefs, thesooner you become fit for the future. Afew companies are already travelinglight, having left a lot of their outdatedmanagement baggage. In the end,there’s not much of a choice: You caneither wait for tomorrow’s managementheretics to beat the orthodoxiesout of your company, or you can startcoaxing them out right now.What does the future of leadershiplook like to you? Can you imaginedramatic changes in the way humaneffort is mobilized and organized? Canyou envision radical and far-reachingchanges in the way you manage?What you need is a methodologyfor breakthrough thinking. While youcan’t entirely script innovation, youcan have a disciplined process forchallenging the long-standing orthodoxiesthat constrain creative thinking.Rooting out dogma is all about askingthe right questions repeatedly: Isthis a belief worth challenging? Is itdebilitating? Does it get in the way ofan important attribute (like strategicadaptability)? Is this belief universallyvalid? Are there counterexamples? Ifso, what do we learn from those cases?Have our choices and assumptionsconspired to make thisbelief self-fulfilling? Is thisbelief true simply becausewe have made it true? Ifso, can we imagine alternatives?These questions areyour pickax. They’ll helpyou break through “impenetrable”orthodoxies.When talking to leaders,I often get the sense they’dlike their employees to be more experimental,but they’re worried this mightdistract them from a laser-like focus onefficiency and execution. These sentimentsreveal a persistent mindset: Ifyou allow people the freedom to innovate,discipline will take a beating.This view holds that having more ofone means having less of the other.Yet is it possible to have more innovationand more discipline. Thesevirtues can coexist! Leadership innovationis innovation in principles andprocesses that changes the practice ofwhat leaders do, and how they do it.The ultimate test of any leadershipteam is not how fast it can grow thecompany short-term, but how consistentlyit can grow it over time. A worldof relentless change demands a capacityfor rapid strategic adaptation. Inrecent years, we’ve witnessed manyadaptation failures. What the laggardsfail to grasp is that what matters mosttoday is not a competitive advantageat a point in time, but an evolutionaryadvantage over time. The capacity toevolve is the greatest advantage of all. LEGary Hamel is the author of The Future of Management (HBSPress). Visit www.GaryHamel.com or www.bigspeak.com.ACTION: Assess your leadership innovation.Leadership Excellence May 2008 5

LEADERSHIPPOWERNew Sources of PowerWe need a new model of leadership.by Sally HelgesenOVER THE LAST 15years, three forceshave transformed thenature of organizations, rendering traditionalmodels of leadership obsolete.By examining these forces, we can bettersee what leadership we need.First, the nature of our economy hasshifted. In this knowledge era, primaryvalue is vested in the knowledge andexpertise of those who comprise andserve it. Human knowledge––not land,capital, or machines––has become theessential asset, shifting the balance ofpower away from organizations andtoward individuals.The shift to a knowledge economyhas three implications for leaders:1. Individuals now own the primarymeans of all production. The knowledgeeconomy offers more freedom, choices,and scope for action to those whoseskills and talents have real value. In aknowledge economy, talent can’t becompelled, but must be encouragedand coaxed. Leaders must attract andinspire people to use their best talents.2. Knowledge must be broadly vested.In the industrial world, knowledge wasoften prized only at the top of the pyramidor chain of command. Decisionswere made by “heads”at the top;implementation was done by “hands”in the ranks. By contrast, in a knowledgeeconomy, knowledge must bedistributed broadly to be effectivelyleveraged. Leaders must build collegialityand spread decision-making.3. Since a great idea has greater worththan costly machines or even access to capital,competition can come from anywhere.A 100-year investment can be trumpedovernight by a smarter vision of howto offer a product or perform a service.This puts a premium on innovation,continually adapt to changing conditions.Since new ideas are paramount,leaders must be skilled in creating aculture in which innovation flourishes.Second, a new architecture of technologyis reshaping organizations.Today’s networked systems are fast,flexible, interactive, and non-hierarchicalin shape and structure, facilitatingdirect communication. Those who arecomfortable communicating directly,rather than up and down a chain ofcommand, have a distinct advantage.This has two primary implications:First, technology distributes informationmore broadly. Information and powerare being pushed down to those on thefront lines, no longer isolated at the top.This undermines hierarchies and thestatus of those at the top, as they relyprimarily upon the mystique of theirposition. Leadership is becoming decoupledfrom the power of position; itmust be constantly earned, not assumed.Second, using the technologies of workto manage private lives breaks down barriersbetween public and private, work and home.As technology becomes ubiquitous,zones of privacy erode. Public and privateconcerns can no longer be separated.Private issues are resolved in public;private behaviors that were in the pasttolerated have become the subject ofpublic debate; public and political mattersare increasingly viewed as mattersof private concern; and private and workinghours encroach upon each other.Leaders must negotiate the frontierbetween public and private, aligningtheir private actions with their publicface and respecting privacy that theirstakeholders value. Failure to do sobrings rapid and severe publicresponse, even for those whose positionmade them unassailable in the past.The third change is demographic. Thisis manifest in the inclusion of womeninto positions of authority and influence.Women bring with them many ofthe talents, attitudes, and presumptionsthat were formerly honored in thedomestic sphere into the public realm.This has had a profound impact uponwhat is required of leaders. Relationshipskills, intuitiveness, inclusiveness,coaching, the capacity to listen—thesewere considered “soft” skills, antitheticalto heroic conceptions of charge-ahead leadership. Recently, these skillshave moved front and center.Women tend to evince a healthyskepticism about the perks and privilegesthat define high position, in partbecause they have long been excludedfrom traditional hierarchies. But thisskepticism is also the result of the factthat women, as the Harvard psychologistCarol Gilligan argued in ADifferent Voice, are comfortable being atthe center of things rather than at thetop, and making moral judgments on acontextual rather than abstract basis.Such attitudes undermine the presumptionsand disciplines by whichhierarchies have been maintained.Diversity is the order of the day. Inevery organization, people of divergentbackgrounds are working side-byside.This is the result of greatermovement across borders; direct immigrationto non-gateway cities; theassimilation of African-Americans intothe mainstream of American life; andthe fact that members of subculturesno longer necessarily find value in submergingethnic, national and religiousidentity in order to adjust to notions ofa fast-fragmenting “mainstream.”Thus leaders must show nimblenessand sensitivity to cultural difference tobalance the needs of their diverse constituency.They must also see that diversityis not simply openness to race orgender, but to different values as well.Power and InfluenceThe economic, technological anddemographic changes work together,resulting in a rapidly shifting landscapein which the power and influence ofthose in the ranks becomes integral tohow organizations function. This turnstraditional notions of leadership upsidedown. For if people in the ranks areempowered, if their knowledge constitutesa primary value, if they can communicatedirectly, and if they prizediversity, they will not be led by myway-or-the-highwayautocrats.To the extent that leadership is equatedwith and derived from position, itwill be less potent. New concepts ofleadership will be vested less in positionthan in the power of connections,relationships, individual expertise, personalqualities, aspirations, and earnedpersonal authority. Leaders need tomake the mental shift away from traditionalmodels and sources of power andexercise flexibility and sensitivity tomeet the challenge of the new model. LESally Helgesen is a leadership development consultant andcoach. Visit www.sallyhelgesen.com or call 518-392-1998.ACTION: Tap into new sources of power.6 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

PERFORMANCELOYALTYAttracting LoyaltyFrom all the new customers.by Chip R. Bell and John R. PattersonTODAY’S CUSTOMERS GET TERRIFIC SERvicein pockets of their life, and usethose experiences to judge everyoneelse. When the UPS or FedEx deliveryperson walks with a sense of urgency,we expect the mail carrier to do likewise.Customers also have choices.Shop for a loaf of bread, and you’reconfronted with 16 brands and 23 varietiespackaged 12 different ways.Today’s customers are smarter buyers.Considering Sleepwell Hotel foryour next vacation trip? You can getweb-based information complete withevaluations from 40 previous guests.Everyone is everyone’s ConsumersReport. Watchdog websites can giveyou the lowdown on why one companyis better than another. It meanscompanies must monitor all the details(now transparent to customers) and getearly warning on emerging glitches.Figuring out how to attract and retainloyal customers today is not easy.Five Loyalty DriversFive loyalty drivers fit most customersmost of the time about most services.1. Include me. Customers’ loyaltysoars when they discover they can beactive participants in the service experience.Harley-Davidson created theHarley Owners Group (HOG) as aforum to bring Harley loyaliststogether for education and recreation.Membership comes with the purchaseof a Harley. Managers often join in thefun and fellowship as HOG membersreunite around a barbeque or motorcadeon a Sunday afternoon.Dealers for BMW’s Mini-brandautomobile mail to buyers a “birth certificate”once the customer pays adeposit. The customer then receives alink to go on line and follow their car’sproduction. Build-A-Bear Workshopwith their interactive build-a-stuff-toyexperience has grown to 200 storesworldwide in 10 years. If customersknow they have a chance to be included,the impact is almost as powerful asif they actually put “skin in the game.”2. Protect me. A value proposition isthe complete package of offerings aseller proposes to a customer inexchange for the customer’s funds. Itincludes the product (or outcome), theprice, and the process (or experience)involved in getting the product or outcome.There are certain qualities orfeatures all buyers assume will typifythat value proposition—the productsthey buy will be as promised, the pricefair, and the process comfortable.These are “givens”—taken for grantedunless removed—but theydo not make us happycampers. If the commercialplane we board lands inthe right city, we do notcheer; but, if it lands in thewrong city, we’re upset. Weassume banks will be safe,hotels comfortable, andhospitals clean. Customersare loyal to organizationsthat make sure the basicsare always done perfectly.3. Understand me. Service goesdeeper than just meeting a customer’sneed. All needs are derived from aproblem to be solved. Great serviceproviders are great listeners. Theyknow that unearthing the essence ofthe problem will point to a solutionthat goes beyond the superficial transaction.It takes building rapport withcustomers to engender trust. It entailsstanding in the customers shoes to getsense their hopes and aspirations.Understanding customers takesmore than surveys and focus groups.It means viewing every person whocomes in contact with the customer asa vital listening post—a scout whogathers intelligence about the customer’schanging requirements andprovides early warning about issuesand concerns. It involves gatheringcustomer intelligence and mining theintelligence from front-line contacts.4. Surprise me. Today’s customerswant sparkle and glitter; a cherry ontop of everything. They want all theirsenses stimulated, not just those linkedto the buyer-seller exchange. Featureshave become far more titillating thanfunction; extras more valued than thecore offering. Attracting customer loyaltytoday requires thinking of serviceas an attraction. Examine how Cabelasand Bass Pro Shops decorate the serviceexperience. If your enterprise was“choreographed” by Walt DisneyWorld, a Lexus dealership, MTV orStarbucks, how would it change?Think of the service experience like abox of Cracker Jacks. What can be your“free prize inside?” The power of surpriselies in its capacity to enchant, notjust entertain; to be value-unique, notjust value-added. Service innovationworks best when it is simple and unexpected.Hotel Monaco puts a live goldfishin your room; Sewell Infinitidealership programs in your radio stationsfrom your trade-in; servers atMacaroni Grill introduce themselves bywriting their name with a crayonupside down (right side up to the customer)on the butcher paper table cloth.5. Inspire me.Customers are tired ofplain-vanilla service. Itattracts their loyalty if itreflects a deeper purposeor destiny, befitting of theorganization’s values—not just its strategy. Servicewith character meansa sense of innocence, naturalness,purity—a solidgrounding. We like beingcharmed by what we don’t understand;we do not enjoy being hoodwinked bywhat we should have understood.Such service need not be obvious tocustomers in its design, but it mustnever feel devious in its execution.What makes service inspirational? Itmoves us when it comes from peoplewho are passionate about their work.We are stirred by professionalism andpride when it reflects a zeal to “do theright thing.” It leaves customers wantingto return when they’ve had anencounter with goodness and purity.Loyal customers act as a volunteersales force, championing you to othersat home, work, social circles, blogs,bulletin boards, and web sites. Becausethey feel committed to you and seeboth emotional and business value inthe relationship, they’ll often pay morefor what they get from you.The formula for creating and sustainingloyalty comes through inclusion,trust, understanding, joy, andcharacter. Put these in your customers’experience, and watch their admirationsoar along with your bottom line! LEChip Bell is senior partner of The Chip Bell Group. JohnPatterson is president of Progressive Insights, a CBG alliancecompany. Their new book is Customer Loyalty Guaranteed!Visit www.loyaltycreators.com.ACTION: Earn customer loyalty.Leadership Excellence May 2008 7

PERFORMANCEGLOBALWake Up!It’s a new world.by Kevin and Jackie FreibergIN MOST CASES, CHANGE IS PRECEDED BYcrisis. Someone religiously bucklesup after being in a serious automobileaccident. A friend goes on a rigorousexercise program and low-cholesteroldiet after experiencing a minor heartattack. A workaholic father decides tocheck-in, re-engage and “be there” forhis children after his teenage daughterenrolls herself in drug rehab.Here are eight insights gleanedfrom our global travels:1. See opportunity in the crisis. Youare likely on the verge of facing either acrisis or an opportunity, depending onhow you choose to look at it. India,China, and others are getting betterand stronger every day. Don’t assumethat professionals in these countries arecontent to settle for low-paying, laborintensivejobs. How long will a softwareengineer in India or China—whoreads about the success of his or hercounterparts at Microsoft, Yahoo,Google, Intel, and Silicon Graphics—becontent to work for a third of thewages? How long will the best andbrightest entrepreneurs of these countriessuppress their standard of livingand materialistic desires with so muchopportunity right in front of them?2. Face reality. Are the radical innovationsthat give birth to new industriesunique to entrepreneurs in theU.S.? Do we really think that the peopleof India, China, and other countrieswill patiently wait for us to createnew, cutting-edge technologies andsophisticated new industries so theycan take the routine work we refer tothem? Perhaps we need to think again.3. Fuel the entrepreneurial spirit. Onhis last two trips to India, Kevin conductedleadership programs inHyderabad, Bangalore, and Mumbai.He was struck by the first-rate intellectof the people, the thoughtfulnessof the questions from the media, andthe passion with which business leadersare engaged in building a newIndia. Young people take little forgranted. They want to learn, and theyare committed to doing something significantwith their education. As soonas they graduate and start makingmoney, they are dedicated to helpingtheir younger siblings get an education.The country is abuzz with newfoundhope and optimism. Peoplehungry for new ideas are experimentingfeverishly. Their penchant foraction is challenging India’s fatalisticculture and creating a fresh and invigoratingmomentum. When asked,“What big initiatives are you focusedon right now?” Many Indian CEOs arebuilding stronger ties withcompanies in China, Australia,Egypt and Brazil.The argument has beenthat while we outsourcemore of the low-value-addjobs to developing countries,those jobs will bereplaced by more sophisticated,higher-paying jobshere in the U.S. Maybe, butconsider the fact that Ernst & Young,J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Microsoftand Intel are building or plan to buildfacilities in Hyderabad, Bangalore,Mumbai and other locations in India.These facilities will house people producingmore sophisticated, technicallyadvancedproducts—not just therepetitive “call center” work.4. Be aware of the intellectual migrationunderway. Enticed by a whirlwindof entrepreneurial activity, culturalrestoration and the excitement of puttingtheir homelands in contention forglobal economic leadership status,expatriate managers are bringing theirknowledge, skills, experience, and networksback home. Trained in the bestAmerican and European firms and universities,these sophisticated managersare equipped to lead the knowledgeworkers of the 21 st century into morecomplex and value-added work.The phrase “Made in China” nowhas a different ring to it. The result? Anational renaissance that is sendingshockwaves around the globe. Thosewho will be most affected are thosewho choose to reside in denial aboutthe radical changes occurring in otherparts of the world. People are in for asurprise who believe that India is simplythe call center capital of the worldand China is an isolated, inward-look-ing nation that can’t get out fromunder communist oppression.Even if only a small percentage ofthe three billion people in China andIndia cross the entrepreneurial thresholdthat we are describing, it will havea dramatic affect on everyone competingin the global marketplace? Are youand your company prepared for this?5. Take nothing for granted—successis never final. While we’ve had our upsand downs as economic cycles come andgo, the U.S. is still the only superpowerin the world. Yet, as a nation we are nevermore vulnerable to arrogance, complacency,indifference, and inflexibilitythan when we are riding the wave ofsuccess. No nation has the corner oncreativity, innovation, and ingenuity.Success is never final. Our greatnesstoday could disappear tomorrow. Hardto fathom? Read some history—thereare no guarantees.6. Stay hungry. Manypeople argue that in thenext 20 years there will bethree superpowers: India,China and the U.S.—if weget our act together. Webelieve the U.S. can maintainits place of leadershipon the global stage, butonly if we can reinvigorate our entrepreneurialspirit by developing the gutsto risk more and fail faster, strengtheningour work ethic, ridding ourselves ofthe entitlement mentality, and actingwith a sense of urgency. We can’t affordto roll over and hit the snooze button.7. Inspire people to fire on all cylinders.Eric Hoffer said, “In times of drasticchange, the learners will inherit the future.”If we become arrogant or fail to ask thetough questions that force us to face thebrutal facts, we won’t govern our economicfuture. To have a fighting chance,we need to engage every employee,with every idea in their heads, andevery bit of energy in their bodies.8. Be a global player. What are youlearning today that prepares you andyour organization to face these challengesand capitalize on these opportunitiestomorrow? Are you currentlyengaged in a dialogue about what itmeans to be a player on a global scale,or are you content to be a spectator? Areyou interested in establishing the rulesby which the game is played, or are yousatisfied to play by the rules created byyour competitors—who just might beon the other side of the world? LEKevin and Jackie Freiberg are speakers, thought leaders andauthors of NUTS! and GUTS! and BOOM! Visitwww.freibergs.com or www.bigspeak.com.ACTION: Wake up to the global world.8 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

COMPETENCYCOACHINGBetter CoachingStart asking six questions.by Marshall GoldsmithIN MY WORK WITHleaders, I find thatone common complaintof direct reports is that theirleaders do a poor job of coaching. Yes,executives tend to be poor coaches.They often neglect to schedule coachingtime, and some leaders fear thatcoaching will come across as negative,alienating direct reports.I suggest that you use an effective,time-efficient, six-question coachingprocess. Schedule a one-on-one, 30-minute dialogue with each directreport once a quarter. You and theyare asked to: 1) make each question adialogue, not a dictate, 2) focus on thefuture, not the past, and 3) listen tothe other person’s ideas, try to implementwhat you can—and not try toprove the other person is wrong.1. Where are we going? The firstquestion deals with the big picture.You outline the larger organization’sdirection, vision, goals and priorities,and then ask direct reports where theythink the organization should begoing. This question builds alignmentand commitment to the vision.2. Where are you going? This questionsurfaces the direct reports’ vision,goals, and priorities. Executives sharetheir views as well. By the end of thisdiscussion, the vision, goals and prioritiesof the direct reports should bealigned with the executive’s vision, andthe goals and priorities of executivesand direct reports should be aligned.3. What is going well? Great coachesprovide positive recognition for achievement.Assess what the direct reportsand their teams are doing well, and ask,“What do you think that you and yourteam are doing well?” Direct reportsmay feel under-appreciated becauseyou don’t recognize their achievements.In many cases, you would recognizethese achievements if you knew whatthey were! By asking this question, youcan celebrate performance wins thatyou may otherwise miss.4. What are key suggestions forimprovement? Here leaders begin bygiving direct reports constructive suggestionsfor the future. These suggestionsshould be limited to keyopportunities for improvement. Givingtoo many suggestions is almost as badas giving none. Direct reports shouldlisten to the suggestions with a focuson understanding, not judging what issaid. Executives should come across astrying to help. Next, executives shouldask, “If you were your own coach,what suggestions would you have foryourself?” Then modify the areas offocus and attention as needed.5. How can I help? After asking thisquestion, listen to the suggestions! Youcan also participate in the dialogue bysuggesting approaches and then asking,“Do you feel this approach will helpyou become more effective?” The keyto helping others improve is not to domore coaching, but to provide coachingto the right people on the right topics.By asking this question, youcan make more effective useof your time.6. What suggestions doyou have for me? This questionchanges the dynamicsof the coaching processfrom a one-way monologuethat focuses on, “Let me tellyou what you can do toimprove” to a two-way dialogue:“Let’s try to help each other.”Your reports are more willing to becoached by you if you are willing to becoached by them! In fact, by asking forsuggestions, focusing on improvingone or two key behaviors, and followingup quarterly, you will be seen asdramatically increasing your leadershipeffectiveness.Arrange for follow-up between sessions.At the end of each session, youmight say, “I’ll have a dialogue withyou once each quarter. I’ll cover what Ithink is most important and get yoursuggestions on what you think is mostimportant. Please contact me at anytime you need my help. I can’t promiseI’ll be immediately available, but Ipromise to make your request a top priority.”Great coaching happens withinan agreement of mutual responsibility.Use this six-question approach tobecome a more effective coach. Coverthe most important topics regularly,and be available for each other for specialsituations. Few people need orwant more coaching than this. Thisprocess provides you with a simplediscipline to give people what theyneed, and receive what you need, in away that respects your time and theirs.Pay for ResultsAs an executive coach, I have a uniquecompensation system—I only getpaid if my clients get better, meaningthey achieve positive, measurablechange in behavior, as judged by theirkey stakeholders. This process usuallytakes about 18 months and involves anaverage of 16 stakeholders.I learned this “pay for results” ideafrom Dennis Mudd, my boss 43 yearsago. Growing up in Valley Station,Kentucky, my family was poor. Dadoperated a small gas station. The oldroof on our home had started to leak,so Dad hired Dennis Mudd to put on anew roof. To save some money, Iworked as his assistant. Putting on aroof in mid-summer in Kentucky is nofun. I’ve never done any job (before orsince) that required such physical exertion.I was amazed at the care Mudd putinto the laying of the shingles. He waspatient with me as I mademistakes and helped melearn how to do the job right.When Mudd presentedmy Dad with the invoice,he said, “Bill, please takeyour time and inspect ourwork. If you feel this roofmeets your standards, payus. If not, there’s no charge.”Dad carefully looked atthe roof, thanked us for a job well-done,and paid Mudd, who then paid me.I’ll never forget this event. The Muddfamily didn’t have any more moneythat we did. I thought, “Mr. Mudd maybe poor, but he is a class act.”How much would not getting paidhave hurt Mudd? A lot. Not payinghim would have meant that his familywould not be eating well for the nexttwo months. This sacrifice didn’t matter,though. His pride and integritywere more important than money.Mudd never gave pep talks aboutquality or service. He didn’t use anyfancy buzzwords. He didn’t have to—his actions communicated his values.The next time you are working on aproject, ask yourself, “What wouldhappen to my commitment andbehavior, if I knew that I was onlygoing to be paid if I achieved results?”Although I’ve received many honorsfor my work, I’ll never match thededication to quality and integrity ofMr. Mudd. For the record, I have notbeen paid on a few assignments, andI’ve never asked for money I felt wasundeserved. At the time, this causedme some pain and embarrassment, butI knew I’d still have a prosperous life.LEMarshall Goldsmith is co-founder of Marshall GoldsmithPartners and author of What Got You Here Won’t Get YouThere. Visit MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com or bigspeak.com.ACTION: Adopt a pay-for-performance system.Leadership Excellence May 2008 9

CHANGEEMERGENCEEmergenceHow change happens.by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah FriezeIN SPITE OF CURRENT slogans, theworld does not change one personat a time. It changes as networks ofrelationships form among people whoshare a common cause and vision. Thisis good news for leaders: We don’tneed to convince large numbers of peopleto change; instead, we need to connectwith kindred spirits.Networks need to evolve into intentionalworking relationships wherenew knowledge, practices, courage,and commitment can develop, such ashappens in Communities of Practice.From these relationships, emergencebecomes possible. Emergence is howlarge-scale change happens. Separate,local efforts connect and strengthentheir interaction and interdependency.What emerges is a system of influence—a powerful cultural shift that thengreatly influences behaviors anddefines accepted practices.Traditionally, when leaders seek tocreate a culture of achievement, theycreate a vision, develop a strategy,design an implementationplan, structure a timeline ofactivities and desired outcomes,design assessmentand evaluation tools, thenparcel out the work. Theyseek allies and changechampions from seniorleaders, use policies, measuresand rules to enforcethe new behaviors, developrewards and enticements to achievebuy-in, punish those who don’t buy it,and develop a PR and communicationstrategy to create good press.This theory has several embeddedassumptions: Change is top-down andrequires top-level support; it requirescareful planning and good controls; ithappens step-by-step in a neat, incrementalfashion; behavior can be mandated;rewards and punishmentmotivate people to change; and largescalechanges require large-scale efforts.This approach to change has failedto achieve its intentions. The intent isto create a Culture of Achievement butwhat emerges is a Culture of Enforcementwhich subverts achievement and weariesand demoralizes people.How do change leaders often createresults opposite to what they intend?To answer this question, we need tonotice how change really happens.Change Through EmergenceIn all living systems, change happensthrough emergence. Large-scalechanges that have great impact do notoriginate in plans or strategies from onhigh. Instead, they begin as small, localactions. While they remain separateand apart, they have no influencebeyond their locale. However, if theybecome connected, exchanging informationand learning, their separateefforts can emerge as powerfulchanges, able to influence a large system.This sudden appearance alwaysbrings new capacity. Three things areguaranteed with emergent phenomena:their power and influence far exceedany sum of the separate efforts; theyexhibit skills and capacities that werenot present in the local efforts; andtheir appearance always surprises us.One way to understand emergenceis to look at the “Perfect Storm.” Itspower is a result of several factors convergingin perfect synchrony. If anyone of the elements were not presentat that very moment, the storm couldnot emerge. It is the simultaneity of theirconvergence that creates their power.Well-intentioned leaders often activateunseen dynamics in the culture tocreate a perfect storm. Localchanges that have little significancein isolation convergewith other changes tocreate a major force.In organizations, aSystem of Influence determinesaccepted practicesand patterns of behavior; itsets the criteria for what’simportant. Over time, thosewho fail to conform to requirementsget labeled as deviant and pushed to thefringes. A System of Influence, like aculture, sets the values, norms, expectations,beliefs and assumptions. Itdetermines where resources go, whatpractices to use, which behaviors toreward. To understand how these powerfulsystems of influence arise, wemust understand and work with thedynamics of emergence.Working with EmergenceEmergence is a description of largescalechange. These Systems of Influencehave broad reach and affect behaviorsthroughout the system. Yet emergencedoesn’t start big—it begins with smalllocal actions. Large-scale changeemerges from connections amongthese local efforts, from the exchangesand forging of relationships.Even if you could change all the elements,you could never replicate howthey converge. What you can do isbegin to create system-wide change byworking locally where you learn how tobe the change you want to see. At thestart, your small efforts seem impotent,puny in the face of the dominating culture.By themselves, they’re insufficient.These initial local experiments notonly teach us how to make the futurecome alive in the present, they activatesupportive beliefs that have been suppressedby the current culture. Manysupportive dynamics and beliefs areinvisible now, but they appear as youdo your work. Your work is to encouragelocal experiments, to nourish supportivebeliefs and dynamics, and tosponsor people to connect with all thekindred spirits now working in isolation.This is how you work with emergenceto create the future you desire.Emergence has a life-cycle. In eachstage, connections become strongerand interactions more numerous anddiverse. It begins with networking,connecting people who are often soengaged in their own efforts that theydon’t know what’s happening outsidetheir building. Discovering you’re notalone offers a big boost to morale.The second stage is when peoplerealize that they can create more benefitby working together. Relationships shiftfrom casual exchanges to a commitmentto work together. Personal needs expandto include a desire to support others andimprove professional practices. Oneexample is Communities of Practice—agroup of practitioners dedicated to learningwith and from one another in pursuitof promising practices that supportor create the desired changes. Withemergence, it’s not critical mass youhave to achieve—it’s critical connections.As we innovate at the local level,strengthen connections, and embodysocietal ideals, we work toward theemergence of a new System of Influence.If we can see how we created our currentculture and how change happens,a new map will reveal itself for howwe can create better organizations. LEMargaret Wheatley is President emerita of The Berkana Institute,and author of Leadership and the New Science and ASimpler Way.Deborah Frieze is co-president of the Berkana Institute. Visitwww.margaretwheatley.com, www.Berkana.org or bigspeak.com.ACTION: Work with emergence.10 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

CHANGERESISTANCEOvercome ResistanceGive change a chance to succeed.by Howard M. GuttmanWHAT PROMPTS PEOpleto do whatthey do? Why do theybehave in a certain way? What causesthem to overcome fear and inertia tofollow some new, untraveled path?These are complex questions. Wedon’t have scientifically valid answersfor how organizations can change thebehavior of those who show up eachday in varying states of readiness,willingness, and ability to shift paradigmsand routines.What we can offer are practical tips—a kind of results verification—thatcome from great leaders who haveovercome resistance to change to taketheir teams to a very different place.• Be reassuring. Not surprisingly,change, especially in lean times, breedsfear. It is difficult for people to embraceyour vision of some new tomorrow, nomatter how brightly you paint it, whenthey remain frozen in fear.Managing the fear of change is atop priority for high-performing leaders,who know that “greatness”requires making deep organizationaland personal change. When GrantReid, now global president, MarsDrinks, was faced with the challengeof turning around sales at Mars’ Snackunit, he first went directly to associates—especiallythose whose leaderhad been replaced by Reid, to reassurethem.Reid set up one-on-one meetingswith his VPs and their direct reports toexplain his vision for the future andask for their help in achieving it. Heencouraged them to express their feelingsabout the changes by asking questions:“How are you feeling? What areyou thinking about your future here?What are your major concerns?”Listening to the answers, Reid realizedthat people wanted reassurancethat their future was secure. He carefullyexplained what was going tochange and what their role would begoing forward. He let people knowthe end game; let them know theywould have a hand in bringing itabout. Before long, they were fullycommitted to Reid’s plan.• Pace change. People can only dealwith so many changes before they gointo “Future Shock.” One way to keepFuture Shock from undermining yourefforts to implement change is to makesure that people have sufficient time tounderstand and absorb the upcomingmove to the high-performance model—and to give them plenty of opportunityto ask questions. As Axcan Pharma’sCEO, Frank Verwiel, reminds us, “It’s achallenge to strike the right balancebetween getting people to changeenough to make a difference and notmaking so many changes that theybecome paralyzed.”There is no formula for finding thatbalance. High-performing leaders knowhow to weigh the business case for thechange and its urgency with how farthe organization must travel to getthere. They also know how to conveyto everyone that moving horizontally isthe “real deal” rather than just anotherthis-too-shall pass initiative.Bottom-line lesson for leaders: Keepin mind that change doesn’t just happen—ithappens to people.• Tie-in self-interest. People aremore apt to change when there areincentives to do so—and disincentivesfor clinging to old habits. What willthe high-performing model mean interms of how players in an organizationearn their living and live theirprofessional life? What’s the cashvalue to them? What are the rewardsin terms of their career, their ability tooperate freely, to tap their creativeenergy, and to express themselvesfreely without all the task interferenceof a siloed, hierarchical environment?Brian Camastral, regional president,Latin America for Mars, Inc., is a superbconsequence thinker—a skill that heuses adeptly in managing high-performancechange. Imagine, he asked hischange-shy team members, if we couldcreate a situation in which each of thedecentralized geographical units couldwork together as an area-wide team,continue to operate independently, andyet improve individual unit results?Camastral got his team’s attention.He then made the business case foraligning each unit’s strategy withMars’ global strategy. Camastral tookhis top team through an alignmentsession, which barreled home thepoint that with each unit working offthe same strategic plan, parts wouldbe more interchangeable, allowing forcross-border mutual assistance.Executives on his team realized thatthey would remain accountable and berewarded for their unit’s results, notthe region’s, but their unit’s resultswould improve, given a freer flow oftalent. “The attitude began to shift,”says Camastral, “until everyone wantedto be on the winning team, andthey were all determined to make itwork, individually and collectively.”When Paul Parker was vice presidentof HR for Colgate-Palmolive’sAfrica-Middle East Division, he wascharged with reining in the SouthAfrican team of “mavericks” whoenjoyed the rough-and-tumble of thelocal marketplace. The only problem:The region wanted to play a morerobust corporate role and become aglobal supplier for CP, which it couldn’tdo if it remained at its current level.Enter the universal motivator: selfinterest.When it was pointed out tothe South Africans that they wouldnever be viewed by corporate as asource of talent for the global organization,they realized that their behaviorwasn’t in their own best interests.They asked: “How do we accelerateour careers within CP?” The answer:“By demonstrating high-performancebehaviors.” They began to do so.Then there is that effective, stand-bycarrot: pay for team performance.Many companies now reward bothresults and how they are achieved. Inone company, 40 percent of compensationdepends on “soft” behaviors:authenticity, following protocols,depersonalizing, holding others’accountable, being receptive to feedback.And it really helps people takethat leap of faith onto a new path. LEHoward M. Guttman is the principal of GuttmanDevelopment Strategies, specializing in building high-performanceteams, and author of Great Business Teams.hmguttman@guttmandev.com www.guttmandev.com.ACTION: Reward results and how they’re achieved.Leadership Excellence May 2008 11

CHANGEETHICSLeading ChangeUse fixed points to navigate.by Kim CameronWE LIVE IN A DYNamic,turbulent,high-velocity world.Unfortunately, when everything ischanging, it becomes impossible tolead change. Without a stable,unchanging reference point, directionand progress become indeterminate.Airplane piloting offers an instructivemetaphor. The key to successfulflight is adjusting the plane’s movementin relation to a stable, unchangingreferent such as land or the horizon.Without such fixed referents, pilotscan’t steer a course. With no visual orinstrumentation contact with a fixedpoint, they are unable to navigate.Consider the last flight of JohnKennedy, Jr., who began to fly up theNew England coast at dusk. He lostsight of land and, when it grew dark,the horizon line as well. He lost hisfixed point of reference. The resultwas disorientation, and he flew hisplane into the ocean. He was unableto navigate the changingposition of his airplanewithout a fixed standard.The same disorientationafflicts leaders in situationswhere they have no fixedreferents. When nothing isstable, no clear fixed pointsor undisputed guiding principlesexist, leaders are leftwith nothing by which tosteer. They can’t tell upfrom down or progressfrom regress. When nothing is stable—an absence of fixed points, dependableprinciples, or stable benchmarks—theytend to make up their own rules. Theymake sense of the ambiguity and chaosthey experience by deciding for themselveswhat is real and appropriate—based on criteria such as personal pastexperience, immediate payoff, personalreward, or socialized standards.In high-pressure, high-velocity environs,some leaders simply make uptheir own rules. They end up cheating,lying, waffling, or claiming naiveté, notonly because it’s to their economic advantage,but because they create theirown rationale for what’s acceptable.They operate in evolving, complex, andhigh-pressure environments whererules and conditions change constantly.Although their actions are unethical andharmful, within the rationale they create,those actions make perfect sense.These examples illustrate why ethics,standards, rules, and social responsibilityare vital in governing behavior. Ethicalreforms have led to the Sarbanes-Oxleylegislation—considered to be an enormouscost and productivity drain onU.S. companies because of its requirementsfor documentation and oversight—and the emphasis on social responsibilityhas motivated leaders to addresstroublesome issues in the environment(pollution, poverty, health care, environmentalsustainability), redress existingproblems (cleaning up waterways), orwork to prevent harm (filtering smokestacks).Rules and standards meant toguide what is right and wrong, legaland illegal, have escalated in the interestof identifying fixed points.The problem is, standards thatavoid harm are not the same as standardsthat lead to doinggood. To date, the dominantemphasis in the ethicslegislation has been onavoiding harm, fulfillingcontracts, and obeying thelaw. In practice, ethics areunderstood and implementedas duties. They aremainly specs designed toavoid injury or preventdamage. Unfortunately,such rules and standardsmay lead to the reverse—notice campaignfinance reform, mortgage lendingstandards, union work rules, taxlegislation. Ethical standards are frequentlyin flux.To illustrate, consider a continuumin which three points are identified—negative deviance on the left (illness,dishonesty), a normal or expected conditionin the center (health, trust), andpositive deviance or highly desirablecondition on the right (vitality, flow,virtue). This continuum illustrates thedifference between ethics—defined asan absence of harm—and virtuousness—theperpetuation of goodness.To understand the continuum, thinkof the human body. Most of what isknown about human physiology relatesto avoiding or overcoming illness andharm—similar to the emphasis in theethics literature. Unethical behaviorproduces harm, violates principles, anddoes damage. Ethical behavior usuallyrefers to avoiding damage—behavingconsistently, being trustworthy, notinjuring others, addressing or redressingsocietal problems. However, theright side of the continuum refers toconditions that extend beyond theavoidance of harm. Terms such as honor,vitality, benevolence, and flourishingdescribe a condition of virtuousness—what individuals aspire to be whenthey are at their very best. The word isderived from Greek arête, meaning excellenceor that which represents the highestof the human condition.Sadly, the concept of virtuousness atwork is often viewed with skepticism ordisdain. We see increasing usage ofcompetitive and aggressive language inreference to business but almost no linkbetween business and virtue, compassion,and integrity. Moreover, practicingmanagers often reflect the attitude thatvirtuous concepts are irrelevant.Virtuousness can, and should, serveas a fixed point to guide behavior intimes of ambiguity, turbulence, andhigh-velocity change. Virtuousness representswhat people aspire to be attheir best, and those aspirations areuniversal. Without virtuousness as asupplement to ethics, no unchangingfixed point exists with which to leadchange. When virtuousness is demonstrated,positive outcomes accrue.Organizations that facilitate universalvirtues such as compassion, integrity,forgiveness, trust, and optimismoutperform less virtuous organizationson profitability, productivity, innovation,quality, customer retention, andemployee loyalty. In turbulent conditions,virtuous firms made moremoney, recovered from downsizing,retained customers and employees, andwere more creative and innovative.To cope effectively and perform successfully,leaders must avoid doingharm—adhere to ethical rules—andalso act virtuously—foster virtuousnessand the best of the human condition.Virtuousness is associated withpositive outcomes, positive energy,growth and vitality, social capital, performance,and dividends. Doing goodhelps organizations to do well. LEKim Cameron is author of Leading with Values. Visitwww.bus.umich.edu/Positive or call 734-615-5247.ACTION: Cultivate virtue.12 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

PERFORMANCEEXCELLENCEStrategic ExcellenceHere’s all you need to know.motto? Message: Hot begets Hot! (Coldbegets Cold.) My work has been to repaintdry and dreary “managementtalk” in Technicolor hues! Business isabout people creating things for people.People serving people. People growingand achieving beyond their dreams—one Wow Project at a time. I’m still inlove with “excellence” with exceedingexpectations. I’m convinced that anyactivity, no matter how humble, can beturned into a Work of Magnificent Art.Great Aspirations don’t ensure greatresults. But the absence of GreatAspirations will ensure non-greatresults. If reaching for the moon is routine,then falling short will also occurfrequently. But with the playing fieldsmorphing, time devoted to a “mediocresuccess” is a tragic waste.7. Do you subscribe to Jerry Garcia’sdictum: “We do not merelywant to be the best of thebest, we want to be theonly ones who do what wedo”? Doug Hall, myfavorite marketing guru,gives us Three Laws ofMarketing Physics. The Lawof Dramatic Difference isLaw 3: Prospective customersevaluate a newproduct and are thenasked 1) if they’d buy itand 2) if they see it as unique. Thefirm’s execs in turn evaluate and weighthe prospective customers’ reactions.Without fail, the execs deciding tolaunch or not bet all their marbles onthe intent-to-buy question, and ignorethe uniqueness issue. The problem: theintent-to-buy response is a poor predictorof success (or failure), while the“uniqueness” assessment almost perfectlypredicts the true response to theproduct.8. Do you elaborate on and enhanceJerry G’s dictum by adding, We subscribeto Best-Sourcing—and only wantto associate with the best of the best.My punch line has been: Not out-sourcing.Not off-shoring. Not near-shoring. Notin-sourcing. But Best-Sourcing. Companiesthat try to be best at everything aredoomed. Every unit (logistics, IS/IT,HR, finance, R&D, marketing, sales)must offer proof that it is, “the onlyones who do what we do”—or at leastequivalent to the best of the best.9. Do you embrace the new technologieswith child-like enthusiasmand a revolutionary’s zeal? The wholeidea of thoroughly modern IS/IT is theright information at the right place atthe right time. Adios, middle managers!Welcome, direct agency and inter-serbyTom PetersIAM NOT A CHAMPION OFthe school of thoughtthat implies, “Get thestrategy right, and the rest will automaticallyfollow.” Knowing whereyou’re going—with today’s marketgyrations—is difficult to do. For me,knowing who you’re going with topsthe list of imperatives, along withknowing that those you’re going withshare your passion and determination—and the flexibility of mind to adjust.What do you need to know aboutstrategy? My answer: 13 eternal verities:1. Do you have awesome talent,everywhere, and do you push that talentto pursue audacious quests? It’s thepeople, stupid! It’s the people on yourroster. Become a “connoisseur of talent.”And then, what do you do withthis Great Talent you’ve recruited?Send them out on Inspiring Quests! Aimto have this Great Collection of Talentsurprise and delight you by heading offto explore territories that neithercould have imagined. If you are settlingfor de-motivation and mediocrity,no strategy will save you.2. Is your Talent Pool loaded withwonderfully peculiar people whomothers would call “problems”? We’reseeking adventurers for quests, right?Adventurers tend to be a bit quirky.They travel paths of their own making.Their commitment shows on theirsleeves—sometimes to the annoyanceof “company men.” I say: It’s a weirdtime! Bring on the Misfits! And I’d extendthis Keystone Idea to customers,vendors, and the extended enterprise.How do you do measure up on theWeirdness-Misfits-Pioneers Scale?3. Is your Board of Directors as coolas your product offerings—and does ithave 50 percent (or at least one-third)women members? “The bottleneck is atthe top of the bottle,” strategy guruGary Hamel reminds us. That’s whereyou are likely to find people with theleast diversity of experience, thelargest investment in the past, and thegreatest reverence for dogma. TheBoard ought to bear some slightresemblance to the market you serveor aim to serve, but most Boards dono such thing! Women, minorities andyouth are nowhere to be found! I see noexcuse, save an open acknowledgement ofstupidity, for less than one-third of boardmembers being female. This issue is of theutmost “strategic” importance. Whocares what the strategy is—if the Boardis completely, maliciously misalignedwith the market served?4. Is creating a culture that cherishesinnovation (not imitation) and entrepreneurshipyour primary aim? We areassaulted by a siege of “me too” atexactly the wrong time—atime of profound and rapidchange. It is thus a momentthat cries out for profoundinnovation. No promotionshould be granted to anyonewho does not demonstratea clear, compelling,sustained commitment toRadical Change. The heartof “good strategy “ goes farbeyond any plan. The heartof the matter is Heart andWill—a record of upsetting apple carts,dislodging establishments and alteringdeep-rooted cultures to embracechange. We need leaders who can reimagine,call forth wellsprings of daringand guts, spirit and spunk, fromone and all, to topple the way thingshave been—and inspire us to ventureinto white waters with insouciance,bravado, and determination.5. Are the ultimate rewards heapedon those who exhibit an unswervingbias for action? Many brilliant strategiesare executed poorly. At excellentcompanies, we see less emphasis onthe strategy per se, and a persistentfocus on simply doing stuff, not talkingit to death. Problem One: Too muchtalk, too little do! An abiding bias foraction, results, performance remainsExec Job One. A “bias for action” is theDeep Cultural issue. Instilling such abias begins with the front-line recruitingprocess and continues all the wayto the selection of the CEO.6. Do you routinely use hot, aspirationalwords-terms like “excellence”andBHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal, perJim Collins) and “Let’s make a dent inthe Universe” (per Steve Jobs)? Is “Rewardexcellent failures, punish mediocresuccesses” your de facto or de jureLeadership Excellence May 2008 13

vice, bureaucracy-free communicationamong those who do the work.10. Do you serve and satisfy customers,or go berserk attempting to provideevery customer with an awesomeexperience that does nothing less thantransform the way she or he sees theworld? As global competition heats up,merely making a quality product orservice is not enough. You need tooffer remarkable experiences.11. Do you know that the two biggestunderserved markets are Women andBoomers-Geezers and that to take advantageof these two Monster Trendsrequires realignment of the enterprise?Getting with the program is not aboutsegmentation—it’s about wholesale culturalrealignment of the enterprise.Women = Opportunity No. 1. Womenbuy everything (and they have their ownapproach to purchasing things). Thoseleaders who shortchange this businessopportunity are simply stupid.12. Are your leaders accessible? Dothey wear their passion on their sleeves?Does integrity ooze out of every pore? Is“We care” your implicit motto? Todaythe boss’s mantra is: “Help! Please commityour heart, soul and imagination toinventing clever and wonderful services-solutions-experiences-dreamscome true. Join with me in inventingan adventure, a quest worth our timeand our clients’ time and money.” Atrue partnership among all partiesdemands as a price of entry: unstintingintegrity, total transparency, passionon-our-sleeves,and spirit to burn.13. Do you understand businessmantra #1: Don’t try to compete withWAL*MART on price or China on cost?Clients want either the best or the leastexpensive—business as usual is dead.And I say, “Hurray.” Try instead to be“the only ones who do what we do “—whether the tableau is a one-personaccountancy, a 10-chair beauty salon, a400,000-person behemoth, or yourcareer as newly minted “Brand You.”Cubicle slavery is ending. Commoditystrategies are bankrupt. Passion and commitmentmatter most. Creativity wins.Individuals reign. Re-imagine! TechnicolorTimes demand Technicolor leadersand Boards who recruit TechnicolorPeople who are sent on TechnicolorQuests to execute Technicolor Projects inpartnership with Technicolor Customersand Technicolor Suppliers all of whomare in pursuit of Technicolor Goals andAspirations fit for Technicolor Times. LETom Peters is the author of In Search of Excellence and severalother best-selling books and one of the original contributingeditors of Leadership Excellence. Visit www.TomPeters.com.ACTION: Seek strategic execution excellence.CHANGESUCCESSChange ModelThree stages to success.by Connie HritzCHANGE IS INEVITABLE—and the key tosuccess is adaptability.If you’ve lived through change, you alreadyknow that it occurs one person ata time. If you can bring people throughchange individually, you can managechange successfully. Organizationschange when the people in them change.Change happens at three levels:individual, team, and organization. Asindividuals adapt to change, theiractions shift the team. As their adaptationsand shifts work their way up, theorganization changes. So, focus yourchange management efforts on gettingindividual commitment.Employee attitudes toward changeroughly follow bell-shaped curve: 15percent embrace change; 60 percent areuncertain; and 25 percentresist. Since most employeesare ambivalent, yourideal strategy is to applaudthe minority who embracethe change and move theambivalent group towardcommitment. The resisterswarrant your attention andenergy only as they sabotagethe change.Our three-stage change model is basedon a belief that organizations changeas a result of changes in individuals:Stage 1: AssessDetermine the degree of changereadiness. People tend to fall into sixchange readiness states:Indifference. Some see no need tochange. Behaviors may include apathy,disregard, and an unwillingness to takerisks required to produce the change.Rejection. Some people don’t wantto change. Behaviors may include fearof change, refusal to change, challengingthe business case of the change, anddiscouraging others from changing.Doubt. Some people may focus onthe downside. Behaviors may includeskepticism, suspicion, the search forproof, hesitancy, or questioning.Neutrality. Some people will participatewhen asked, but won’t initiate.Their behaviors include sitting on thefence, indecision, and non-commit-ment, but they will listen and observe.Experimentation. Some people providemomentum for the change withoutbeing committed to it. Behaviorsmay include a willingness to participateand move the change forward.Commitment. Some embrace thechange. They’re eager to learn and performwell. They accept and supportthe change. They collaborate to integratethe change and show dedication.Stage 2: Customize and ImplementTo move people toward commitment,you need to acquire four competencies:Communication. Explain the changeand its drivers, being authentic aboutbenefits and challenges, exploringreactions and implications, and gainingcommitment to next steps.Accountability. Ensure that correctbehaviors bring rewards and resistancebrings undesired consequences.Creating a safe environment. Ensurethat people have a safe place to expresstheir feelings. People can’t commit tochange in a closed environment.Coaching. In coaching throughchange, you focus on feelings and personalimplications. Such coachingtends to release muchdeeper emotions, and meetmuch stiffer resistance.Authenticity and problemsolvingtake precedence.Stage 3: SustainHelp each individualbuild “change muscle.”Since it’s easy for people tofall back into old habits orlose sight of why change is needed,apply four skills:Reinforce key coaching skills.Practice working with people who arein challenging states like rejection.Focus on clearly defined action plans.Use coach-the-coach routines. Observecoaches. Help them grow anddevelop in the role.Refresh coaching skills. Offer follow-uptraining programs: onsite sessions,webcasts, conference calls.Reassess change readiness.Reevaluate to see if you are gettingcloser to total commitment.Changes happen at the individuallevel, and coaching is an effective wayto influence behavior. “Change muscle”enables you to navigate change moreeasily. Cultivate your change resilience,and you’ll be ready for anything. LEConnie Hritz is senior VP of R&D for Omega Performance, aconsulting, training, and coaching firm. Visit www.omega-performance.comor email info@omega-performance.com.ACTION: Observe these three stages.14 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

LEADERSHIPDEVELOPMENTLeader for LifeWork from the inside out.by Kevin CashmanWE LEAD BY VIRTUEof who we are.We are all CEOs of ourown lives. The only difference is thedomain of influence. The process isthe same: we lead from who we are.The leader and the person are one. Aswe learn to master our growth as aperson, we will be on the path to masteryof Leadership from the Inside Out.What does mastery of leadershipmean to you? Our ideas about masteryand leadership tend to be externalized.Our leadership development(LD) programs focus on learningabout things. We learn what to think,not how to think. We learn what to do,not how to be. We learn what toachieve, not how to achieve. We learnabout things, not the nature of things.As leaders, we receive recognitionfor our external mastery. Our successis measured by the degree to whichwe master our external environment.Revenue, profit, new product breakthroughs,cost savings, and marketshare are some measures of our externalcompetencies. But where do theexternal results come from? Is focusingon external achievement the solesource of greater accomplishment?Could our single-minded focus onexternal results cause us to miss theunderlying dynamics supporting sustainablepeak performance?Our definitions of leadership alsotend to be externalized. Most descriptionsof leadership focus on the outermanifestations of leadership—vision,innovation, results, drive—instead ofgetting to the essence of leadership.Many companies develop massiveleadership competency models or“perfection myths” about what theywant or expect of leaders. When competencymodels are perfectionist, mythical,and disconnected to the businessneeds, they are counter-productive.We decided to study the most effectiveclients that we had coached overthe last 30 years. We asked, “What isfundamental to the most effective,results-producing leaders that supportstheir various competencies or styles?”Three patterns became clear:1. Authenticity: Self-awareness thatopenly faces strengths, vulnerabilitiesand development challenges.2. Influence: Communication that connectswith people by reminding self andothers what is genuinely important.3. Value creation: Passion and aspirationto serve multiple constituencies—self,team, organization, family,community—to sustain performance.By evaluating these principles, welanded on what we think is an essentialdefinition of leadership: Leadershipis authentic influence thatcreates value.The implications of thisdefinition are far-reaching.Leadership is not hierarchical—itexists everywhere.The roles of leadershipchange, but the core processis the same. Anyone who isauthentically influencing tocreate value is leading.Some may influence andcreate value through ideas, othersthrough systems, others through people.Deep from their core, the personbrings their talents, connects with others,and serves multiple constituencies.The single biggest performanceissue organizations face is inspiringleadership at all levels. There are infiniteways to manifest leadership.There are as many styles of leadershipas there are leaders. To enhance yourleadership effectiveness, explore threeessential questions: How can weenhance our authenticity as a leader?How can we extend the influence wehave? How can we create more value?Leadership from the Inside Out isabout our journey to discover anddevelop our purposeful inner capabilitiesto make a more positive contribution.Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic,notes: “The more we can unleashour whole capabilities—mind, body,spirit—the more value we can create.”Mastery of Leadership from the InsideOut is principally about achieving onething—making a difference by applyingmore of our potential. This doesnot mean that we only lead from theinside-out. We lead just as much—andsometimes more—from the outside-in.Leadership involves a dynamic betweenthe inner and the outer. We emphasizethe inside-out dynamic because wetend to focus too much on the outside.We are in a dynamic relationship withourselves and our constituencies—themarketplace, our customers, employees,and personal relationships.Ultimately, we want a balance of leadingfrom the inside-out and the outside-in.Our decisions and actions arein a dynamic loop from us to othersand back again. To practice leadershipat the highest level, we need to takeresponsibility—personal and socialresponsibility—and be vigilant aboutthe “I” and the “We” of effective leadership(awareness of self and others).As we help people to develop theirleadership, we learn:• As the person grows, the leadergrows. The master competency in LDprograms is growing the whole person togrow the whole leader.• Most definitions of leadershipneed to be balancedfrom the inside-out, viewingleadership in terms ofits external manifestationsand seeing it also from itsinternal source.• Helping leaders to connectwith their core talents,core values, and core beliefsis key to effective LD.• Leaders who learn to bring theircore talents, core values and core purposeto awareness experience dramaticincreases in energy and effectiveness.• Leaders who integrate personal powerand results power with relationalpower accelerate their effectiveness.• Leaders who achieve congruence—alignment of their real values and theiractions—are more energetic, resilient,effective and interpersonally connected.• Transforming LD programs from aseries of fragmented, content-drivenevents to an integrated, inside-out/outside-in growth process enhancesteam and organizational excellence.Leadership from the Inside Out involvesclarifying your identity, purpose, andvision so that your life is dedicated to amore intentional manner of living andleading. This inner mastery directs yourdiverse intentions and aspirations intoa purposeful focus. As you move to amore fulfilled manner of living andleading, a focus on purpose replacesyour single-minded focus on externalsuccess. This purposeful intention andaction serves as the energetic, inspiredbasis for leadership effectiveness. LEKevin Cashman is president of LeaderSource, part of Korn/FerryInternational, and author of Leadership From the Inside Out(2 nd edition, Berrett-Koehler). Visit www.LeaderSource.com.ACTION: Keep connected to your inner core.Leadership Excellence May 2008 15

PEOPLETALENTCall for TalentWhat’s the best solution?by Dave UlrichTALENT. WE KNOW ITmatters. Some go towar for it. Sports teamsdraft for it. Actors audition to showthey have it. Others consider it theultimate solution and try to manage it.Agents contract for it. Some areendowed with it. Others strive diligentlyto earn it. All try to grow it.Talent is evolving into a science forHR professionals and a passion forline managers. Many programs arecreated to attract, retain, and upgradetalent. Yet, we can easily get lost in themyriad of promises, programs, andprocesses and lose sight of the basics.I offer a deceptively simple formulafor talent that can help you turn yourtalent aspirations into actions: Talent =Competence, Commitment, and Contribution.In this equation, the threeterms are multiplicative, not additive.Competence means that individualshave the knowledge, skills, and valuesrequired for today’s and tomorrow’sjobs: right skills, right place, right job.Competence clearly matters, as incompetenceleads to poor decisionmaking, botchedexecution, low sales, andpoor service.Commitment. Withoutcommitment, competenceis discounted. Competentpeople who are not committedare smart, but don’twork very hard. Engagedor committed employeeswork hard, put in theirtime, and do what they are asked todo. In the last decade, commitmentand competence have been the bailiwicksfor talent.Contribution. The next generationof employees may be competent andcommitted, but unless they are makinga real contribution and findingmeaning and purpose in their work,their interest diminishes and their talentwanes. Contribution occurs whenpeople feel that their personal needsare being met through their work.Competence deals with the head(being able), commitment with thehands and feet (being there), and contributionwith the heart (simply being).If any of the three elements is missing,the other two can’t replace it. Alow score in competence won’t ensuretalent, even when people are engaged.Talented people must have skills, wills,and purposes; they must be capable,committed, and contributing. Leaderscan engage their managers to identifyand improve all three dimensions torespond to the call for talent.Creating CompetenceHere’s how you create competence:1. Set and articulate standards. Identifycompetencies required to deliverfuture work. The best competencestandards come from turning futurecustomer expectations into presentemployee requirements. You can ask:What social and technical competenciesdo we have? What changes face us andwhat are our strategic responses? Giventhese changes and choices, what technicaland social competencies mustemployees demonstrate? By askingthese questions, you help create a pointof view on competencies that leads to aset of standards. When managers buildcompetence models based on futurecustomer expectations, they directemployee attention to what they shouldknow and do. The simplest test of thecompetence standard is to ask target orkey customers, “If our employees livedup to these standards, would thisinspire confidence from you in ourfirm?” When customers answer yes, thecompetence model is right.2. Assess individualsand teams. Assess peopleon how well they meet standards.Most talent assessmentsevaluate both resultsand behaviors. Talentedemployees deliver results inthe right way (as defined bycompetence standards).These behaviors may beself-assessed by the employee(a 180), assessed by other employees—peers,managers, subordinates (a360), and evaluated by those outside theorganization—suppliers, customers,investors, community leaders, and otherstakeholders (a 720). This assessment letspeople know what to do to improve andprovides input about how to design anddeliver HR practices to upgrade talent.3. Investing in talent improvement.You can fill talent gaps or upgrade talentby making HR investments in sixareas: 1) Buying—recruiting, sourcing,securing new talent; 2) Building—helpingpeople grow through training, onthe job, or life experiences; 3) Borrowing—bringing knowledge in throughadvisors or partners; 4) Bounding: promotingthe right people into key jobs;5) Bouncing: removing poor performers;and 6) Binding: retaining top talent.When you create choices in thesesix areas, you help individuals and theorganization invest in future talent.4. Follow up and track competence.Use measures to track how well individualsare developing their skills andhow well the organization develops itstalent bench. People can be tracked ontheir understanding of their nextcareer step and their capacity to do it.Leaders can track the extent to whichback-ups are in place for key positionsand how well they produce great talent.Strengthening CommitmentCommitment means that employeesare willing to give their discretionaryenergy to the firm’s success. This discretionaryenergy is generally conceivedas an employee value proposition:employees who give value to their organizationshould get value back. Theability to give value comes when employeesdeliver results in the right way.Employees are more committed whentheir leaders provide: 1) Vision—a senseof direction or purpose; 2) Opportunity—an ability to grow, develop, and learn;3) Incentives —a fair wage or salary forwork done; 4) Impact—an ability to seethe outcome or effects; 5) Community—peers, bosses, and leaders who build asense of community; 6) Communication—knowing what is happening and why;and 7) Entrepreneurship or flexibility—having choice in terms and conditions.With these seven dimensions, peoplehave VOI 2 C 2 E. They show their engagementby being at work on time, workinghard, and doing what’s expected.You best strengthen contribution byhelping people answer six questions:• Who am I? How does my identitymeld with the company reputation?• Where am I going and why? Canthe organization help me reach goals?• Who do I travel with? How doesthe firm build a community of support?• How well do I practice spiritualdisciplines? Do leaders practice humility,service, forgiveness, gratitude?• What challenges do I enjoy? Do Ifind energizing challenges at work?• How well can I access resourcesto manage health, space, and finances?Start using the simple talent formulaof competence, commitment and contributionto lead and manage your talent. LEDave Ulrich is cofounder of the RBL Group, a leadership consultancyand coauthor of Leadership Brand (HBS Press).Visit www.bigspeak.com.ACTION: Apply this talent formula.Leadership Excellence May 2008 17

LEADERSHIPCONVERSATIONSPossibilitiesConverse about them.by Peter BlockCERTAIN CONVERSAtionshave morepower than others.Explanations, for example, have nopower; in fact, many of your explanationsabout your life and work are fiction—storiesthat you manufacture toease the pain. But, explanations treatthe story as if it’s true: “Let me explainwhy I feel that way, what got me here,why my history predicts my future.”Let go of explanations.cies. If you’re deficiency-minded, youmay work on the same deficiencies allyour life, with marginal effectiveness.So, how effective is deficiency work?Why do we still work on weaknessesand give lectures on feedback? Whypackage disappointment in the label offeedback? People ask me, “Peter, wouldyou like some feedback?” I say, “No!”because I know that they’re mad at me.Nobody expresses or introduces loveby saying, “Would you like some feedback?”They just give it to you.5. Conversation of vision. I like thenotion: without a vision, the peopleperish; but usually that means somebodyelse’s vision. So why not askeach individual, “What are you here tocreate? What’s the vision you have?”Now people get nervous: “Suppose wedon’t have agreeable, compatiblevisions,” but I’ve neverheard a vision that wasn’tembraceable.6. Conversation of imagination.The future is causedby imagination. An imaginationof the life causes aleading of the life. I like thelanguage of possibility—thepossibility I’m living into. IfI hold a possibility, or afuture, of the way I want the world tobe, I bring that into the room with meevery time I show up. I don’t have towork on it—the possibility works onme. So I can get off my list of resolutions.I have no faith in resolutions.The lists I make are only things I don’tcare about. If I care about something, Idon’t have to write it down. So, I createa possibility, and we’re here to supporteach other in living out eachother’s possibility.7. Conversation of action. Go publicwith the action you intend to take. Itdoesn’t count if it’s not expressed. It’sa daydream if it’s kept silent. And soyou say, “I bring people together topublicly share their possibility, or thefuture they want to create, and the actof sharing it brings it into being. It isan action step.” We have a small notionof what constitutes action. We think ifyou don’t build something or tear itdown or spend money or save moneyor order somebody around, youhaven’t done anything. But if youleave a meeting with a new thought orclarity about the future you’re tryingto create—that’s an action step.8. Conversation of community. Thepossibility you hold grows out of yourwoundedness. It’s not by accident thatthis is the world you want to create.Now the wound doesn’t go away, but10 Powerful ConversationsI invite you to have any of these 10powerful conversations, since these havethe power to create an alternative future:1. Conversation of possibilities. Thisasks, “What’s the possibility I camehere to live into or to create?”Possibilities have to be unreachable. Ifyou only set goals, you worship toosmall a god in your life: to be efficient,to make a living, to have a relationship.Carl Jung says that what’s true inthe morning is a lie in the afternoon.What’s true in the first half of your lifeis a lie in the second half of your life.2. Conversation of ownership. Takewhatever you’re complaining aboutand ask, “What have I helped do tocreate that situation? What’s my contributionto the problem?” It meansI’m an owner. Whatever I complainabout, let me turn that question andsay, “How have I created that thing?”It’s a conversation of ownership.3. Conversation of commitment. Thisasks, what’s the promise I’m willing tomake with no expectation of return?Most people barter: What’s in it forme? The cost of patriarchy is entitlement.If you find people entitled, it’snot who they are; it’s their response toa high-control world that has somethingin mind for them, and their contributionto that is the wish for safetyand protection. I want my Mommy,Daddy, boss, mentor, executive coach,financial counselor, or personal trainer. Sowe see this professionalization of careand love. To create a culture of engagement,make promises to each otherand sit in witness of peer promises.4. Conversation of gifts. Most ofyour life is organized around deficienitloses its power. And so only an isolatedperson would imagine the possibilityof community. Some people areborn into community; they’re extroverted,they’ve had context, they knowwhere they’re from, they know whothey are; they never come up with thatas a possibility, because they’re livingit. What would it be like if I was notonly committed to your success, butdependent on it? Cooperation wouldsoar, and we would realize that for meto succeed, you don’t have to fail.9. Conversation of accountability. Idon’t have to make a list or remindmyself, I just have to go public with it.Going public means that two otherpeople have to hear it. As soon as I telltwo other people, I’m accountable. If Itell five other people I’m very accountable.If I stand up in this room and sayit, then I’m in real trouble.And the reason is becauseif you say it to the world,you can’t control the response.There’s somethingabout the verbalization ofpossibility that brings itinto being, makes it powerful,makes us accountable.10. Conversation of howbest to help others. Peoplewant to be helpful to each other, butthat can be a huge problem because helpis often just a subtle form of control.People want to give advice to eachother. They want to tell you what theydid when they were at your stage oflife. They have an answer for you, andthey call it generosity; but it feels likecontrol. What would happen if you hadone simple intention—to bring the giftsof the margin into the center?Servant-leadership is an abundanceparadigm. Why let the economy ofscarcity define the nature of your relationships?Substitute curiosity for advice.Ask the person, “Why does that matterto you? What meaning does that havefor you? What’s at stake for you?” Yousay, “I came to serve you by valuingmeaning over speed, meaning over efficiency,meaning over problem-solving.”Have One ConversationIf you hold any of these conversationswholeheartedly, you don’t needto do all the others. They all lead to thesame center, the same spirit and source.Possibility, ownership, commitment,and gifts conversations all express ourwillingness to be accountable for creatinga future distinct from the past. LEPeter Block is a partner in Designed Learning and author ofCommunity. Visit www.designedlearning.com.ACTION: Converse about possibilities.18 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

LEADERSHIPSTYLESituational LeadershipAdapt your style to their development level.by Ken BlanchardIWISH I COULD TELL YOUthere’s a single solutionto managing people—orone best leadership style. Regrettably,that’s not the case. There is,however, a practical, easy-to-understandapproach—Situational Leadership.Effective leaders adapt their styleaccording to the development level ofthe people they are managing.In Situational Leadership, there arefour leadership styles representingdifferent combinations of directiveand supportive behaviors.• Directive behavior is defined as theextent to which you engage in one-waycommunication; spell out the person’srole; tell the person what to do, whereto do it, when to do it, and how to doit; and then oversee performance.Three words define directive behavior:structure, control, and supervise.• Supportive behavior is the extent towhich you engage in two-way communication,listen, provide support andencouragement, facilitate interaction,and involve people in decision-making.Three words define supportive behavior:praise, listen and facilitate.Four StylesThe degree of direction or supportyou provide depends on the developmentlevel of the person for the task.There are four development levels:Style 1. Directing. High-directive/low-supportive leader behavior isDirecting. You define the roles of peopleand tell them what, how, when,and where to do various tasks. Youinitiate problem-solving and decisionmaking.You announce solutions anddecisions and supervise implementation.You set goals, develop actionplans, provide direction, set time-lines,and closely supervise people whenthey are inexperienced or incompetentwith a task, even if committed.Poor results tell you to focus ondeveloping your team members’ competence,confidence, and motivation.To improve your use of this style,you may want to be more specificabout what each team member’s job isand what a “good job” looks like.2. Coaching. High-directive/highsupportivebehavior is Coaching. In thisstyle, you still provide direction, butyou also hear the person’s feelings,ideas and suggestions. You increasetwo-way communications but maintaincontrol over decision-making.Coaching is for low-to-moderatedevelopment level. People who havesome competence but lack commitmentto take responsibility need bothdirection and support. Thus, a coachingstyle—one that provides directivebehavior (because of their lack of competence)but also supportive behaviorto build confidence and enthusiasm—is most effective. Coaches both directand support their people. This stylebuilds confidence and motivation inpeople, while keeping responsibilityfor decision-making with the leader.To improve your use of this style,you may want to ask for input ongoals and plans with competent teammembers and praise progress.3. Supporting. High-supportive/low-directive behavior is Supporting. Inthis style, your role is to provide recognitionand to actively listen and facilitateproblem-solving and decisionmaking.As competence rises, mostpeople question whether they can performthe task on their own. Here aSupporting style is appropriate. Peopleneed to be heard and encouraged.Supporting is for moderate-to-highdevelopment level. These people arecompetent but have variable commitmenttoward the task. You need topractice two-way communication andactive listening and to support people’sefforts to use their skills. You listen,facilitate, and shift some controlfor day-to-day decision-making andproblem-solving to team members.You provide support and encouragementwhen they lack confidence ormotivation on a given task.To improve your use of this style,you may ask more questions, praiseperformance, or encourage your teammembers to solve their own problems.4. Delegating. Low-supportive/lowdirectivebehavior is Delegating. Youallow people greater autonomy, sincethey have the competence, commitmentand confidence to do the task.People at this level are competent andmotivated to take responsibility. Thus,a low-profile delegating style—onethat provides little direction and support—islikely to be effective. Eventhough you may still identify the problem,you delegate the responsibility forcarrying out plans to experienced followers.They are permitted to “run theshow” and decide on how, when, andwhere tasks are to be accomplished.Empower competent and confidentteam members to manage their ownperformance. Collaboratively set goalsand then delegate day-to-day decisionmakingto experienced team members.To improve your use of this style,you may ask your team members totell you what resources they need toexcel and then secure those resources.When to Use Each StyleThe right style is primarily a functionof the degree of difficulty of thetask and the developmental level ofthe person doing the task.Developmental level is the degreeof competence and commitment a personhas to perform a task without supervision.Competence is a function of knowledgeand skills which can be gainedfrom education, training, or experience.Commitment is a combination ofconfidence (self-assuredness) andmotivation (interest and enthusiasm).The factor that triggers a change instyle is performance. Improvements inperformance shift the leadership style.Effective managers adapt their style tomatch development levels and meetchanging demands. Over time individualsand teams develop their own patternsof behavior and ways of operating;these constitute the norms, customs,traditions, and mores of the culture.You may use one leadership stylefor the team, but a different style whendealing one-on-one, since individualsare at different levels of development.Shifting forward and backward instyle makes Situational Leadership adynamic developmental model. LEKen Blanchard is the author of the One-Minute Manager seriesand CEO of the Ken Blanchard Companies. Call 800-728-6000or visit www.bigspeak.com.ACTION: Practice situational leadership.Leadership Excellence May 2008 19

LEADERSHIPPRINCIPLESAuthentic LeadersThey are centered on principles.by Stephen R. CoveyAUTHENTIC LEADERShumbly recognizethat while they may bein charge, principles ultimately govern.I don’t talk much about ethics andvalues because to me those wordsimply situational behaviors, subjectivebeliefs, social mores, cultural norms,or relative truths. I prefer to talk aboutuniversal principles and natural laws.You may think that it’s just a matterof semantics—that when most peopletalk about values they really meanthese universal principles. But I see aclear difference: All people and organizationsare driven by what theyvalue, but they aren’t necessarily ethicalor principle-centered.The Humility of PrinciplesAs a leader, you may control youractions, but not the consequences ofyour actions. Those are controlled byprinciples, by natural laws.Building character and culture is afunction of aligning your beliefs andbehaviors with principles that are external,objective, and self-evident. Theyoperate regardless of your awarenessof them, or obedience to them.If your style is not in alignment withthese principles, I suggest that youtrade a value-based map for a principle-centeredcompass and willinglysubordinate your values to true-northprinciples and align your roles andgoals, plans, and activities with them.But doing so often takes a crisis: adownsizing, firing, failed relationship,lost account, financial problem, orhealth concern. In the absence of sucha catalytic crisis, you tend to live innumbed complacency—so busy doinggood, easy, or routine things that youdon’t stop to ask yourself if you aredoing what really matters. The good,then, becomes the enemy of the best.Humility is the mother of all virtues:the humble in spirit progress and areblessed because they willingly submitto higher powers and try to live inharmony with natural laws and universalprinciples. Courage is the fatherof all virtues: we need great courage tolead our lives by correct principles andto have integrity in moments of choice.When you set up your self-generatedor socially-validated value systemsand then develop your mission andgoals based on what you value, youtend to become a law unto yourself,proud and independent. Pride hopesto impress; humility seeks to bless.Nothing sinks leaders faster thanarrogance. Arrogance shouts “I knowbest.” In the uniform of arrogance, youfumble and falter—pride comes andgoes before the fall. Dressed in humility,you make progress. As the characterIndiana Jones learned in The LastCrusade, “The penitent man will pass.”In pride, you often sow one thingand expect to reap another. Your paradigms—andthe processes and habitsthat grow out of them—never producethe results you expect because they arebased on illusions, advertising slogans,program-of-the-month training, andpersonality-based success strategies.How do you align your leadership withtrue-north, governing principles?Four Human EndowmentsFour unique endowments help youto transform your mechanical, efficiencyclock into a moral, effective compass.• Self-awareness enables you toexamine your paradigms, to look atyour glasses as well as through them, tothink about your thoughts, to becomeaware of the social and psychic programsthat are in you, and to exercisechoice between stimulus and response.Self-aware, you can take responsibilityfor reprogramming or rescripting yourselfout of the reactive mode. You cannurture self-awareness by keeping ajournal. Keeping a journal—a daily indepthanalysis and evaluation of yourexperiences—is a high-leverage activitythat increases self-awareness andenhances all the endowments.• Conscience puts you in touch withsomething within you deeper than yourthoughts and something outside youmore reliable than your values. It connectsyou with the wisdom of the agesand the wisdom of the heart. It’s aninternal guidance system that enablesyou to sense when you act in a waythat’s contrary to your deepest valuesand true-north principles. Conscience isuniversal. What is most personal ismost general. No matter what your religion,culture, or background, your missionstatement deals with the sameneeds—to live (physical and financial),to love (social), to learn (educational),and to leave a legacy (spiritual).You can educate your conscience bylearning, listening, and responding. Tohear the conscience clearly oftenrequires you to be reflective or meditativeto sharpen your sensitivity to thatquiet inner voice that teaches you oftrue-north principles and your owndegree of congruency with them.• Independent will is your capacityto act, the power to transcend your paradigms,to swim upstream, to re-writeyour scripts, to act based on principlesrather than reacting based on emotions,moods, or circumstances. While environmentalor genetic influences may bepowerful, they do not control you. Youare not a victim. You are not the productof your past. You are the product ofyour choices. You are response-able,able to choose your response.You can nurture independent willby making and keeping promises. Bydoing so, you make a deposit in yourpersonal integrity account—theamount of trust you have in yourself,in your ability to walk your talk.• Creative imagination empowersyou to create beyond your present reality.It enables you to write a missionstatement, set goals, plan for the future,or visualize yourself living your mission,even in challenging circumstances.Memory is limited and finite; it dealswith the past. Imagination is infinite; itdeals with the present and future, withpotentiality, vision, mission and goals.When your willpower is matched withimagination, you are more effective.Those who accept the risks of leadershipmust have changeless principleswithin them. This provides bedrocksecurity from which they can dealeffectively with changing conditions. LEStephen R. Covey is vice chairman of FranklinCovey Companyand author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People andPrinciple-Centered Leadership. 801-817-1776 or 800-827-1770.ACTION: Practice principle-centered leadership.20 May 2008 Leadership Excellence

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