David V. Lorenzo's Blog is now: www.careerintensity.com/blog

Change the World

You have the power to change the world.  If you need proof, today is the day you’ll receive it.

Today is a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. In his 39 years, Dr. King had enormous influence on our country.  He had a sense of purpose and he was able to communicate directly and effectively with large amounts of people in a deeply emotional way.

Dr. King’s words still ring true and he was a remarkable man. Think of the speed at which Dr. King could influence society if he were alive today.  The development of communications media technology would have allowed him to spread his message of hope world-wide in a matter of seconds.  Television, websites, blogs and e-mail would have helped carry his words and passion to almost every corner of the world.

We all have access to these powerful resources.  We can all use them to improve the world we influence.  Please take a moment today and reflect upon the impact Dr. King had with limited resources.  Then think about the impact you can have with the resources available to you.

We can all change the world, even if it’s one person at a time.

Turning Leadership Development into a Competitive Advantage

Few organizations have good leadership development programs. The companies that do have useful, organized programs find that it pays dividends.  A good leadership development program can provide your organization with advantages in:

• Recruiting
• Retention
• Productivity
• Customer Satisfaction

Recruiting.  Companies that spend time and money educating their managers will have an advantage when they go on campus.  People who graduate from college today want more than just a competitive starting salary.  They want to know how joining a company will keep them current in a competitive economy.  A good leadership development program will make a firm more attractive than its competitors.

Retention. Many people will look at the typical career progression in a company and decide if they are willing to invest the time necessary to advance up through the ranks.  A leadership development program will provide a road map for individuals who are motivated by advancement opportunities.  It gives them something to refer to when they reach the moment of truth – a point where they need to decide if they want to stay with the organization or explore other opportunities.

Productivity. Leadership development should include both “hard skills” and “soft skills” as well as “tribal knowledge”.  Hard skills are the finance and accounting components that must be managed to make certain a business provides value to its stakeholders.  The soft skills – human resources and marketing provide the necessary building blocks to move the business forward.  The soft skills, if managed strategically, will help make the leader refine the organizational focus into a lean, efficient business.  Tribal knowledge is a cultural component that must be addressed in a corporate education program. A leader must know where she can go to find company-specific information.

Customer Satisfaction.  The companies that provide the best training experiences will almost always be the best at taking care of their customers.  Teaching leaders how to solve problems is one thing, but teaching them the impact of solving problems is something totally different.  If a leader understands the dollar amount associated with fixing problems forever, the first time they arise, he will take the time to develop permanent solutions.

Great leadership development programs are a competitive advantage today.  Tomorrow they could very well be the price of entry into the many industries.

For more on this topic click here to read an article in this month’s Chief Executive Magazine.

Peter Drucker Remembered

Harry Joiner at Marketing Headhunter.com has a great tribute post to Peter Drucker (who past away yesterday).  Here are some of his favorite Drucker quotes that I also like:

• The critical question is not "How can I achieve?" but "What can I contribute?"

• There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.  He alone gives employment.

• Leadership is not rank.  It is responsibility.

• An executive should be a realist; and no one is less realistic than the cynic.

• Listening (the first competence of leadership) is not a skill, it is a discipline.  All you have to do is keep your mouth shut.

• The one person to distrust is the one who never makes a mistake.  Either he is a phony, or he stays with the safe, the tried, and the trivial.

• A decision is a commitment to action.  No decision has, in fact, been made until carrying it out has become somebody's responsibility.

• It's much easier to sell the Brooklyn Bridge than to give it away.  Nobody trusts you if you offer something for free.

• "What do we do now?"  Very often, the right answer is abandonment.

• One can't manage change.  One can only be ahead of it.

Good Today is better than Perfect Tomorrow

Mike Sigers at Simplenomics points us to Bob Parson’s blog post on the need to make decisions quickly.  It’s true that leaders must make decisions quickly.  This goes with the job, however good today is not the standard.  True leadership decisions must be quick and they must be perfect.

Imagine if we set good today and perfect tomorrow as the standard for airline pilots, parachute manufacturers and surgeons.  In those cases, there is no tomorrow.  Even in the corner deli, if a decision that affects the customer is taken with a “good today is better than perfect tomorrow” approach than that business would lose 20% of its customers each and every day.

Those who strive for good – even if it is quick – are not winners.  Winners strive to be perfect each and every single time.  Come on guys.  Set your sites higher.  You can make good decisions quickly.  It takes training and discipline but it can be done.

DNA = Dramatically Never Accountable

I hate buzzwords.

Consultants love to confuse the heck out of people by making up terms or using terms from other industries to describe problems in business.  One of my favorites is the term “Corporate DNA”.  We often hear many people referring to the “DNA” of an organization.

In some places this is shorthand for the organizational culture.  In other companies it means the composition of a work group or department.  Often times people use it with out any regard for a specific meaning.  A great example of this is the Booz | Allen | Hamilton Organizational DNA Survey.  This is a web assessment that asks twenty-five questions.   The only thing it diagnoses is what Booz | Allen can pitch to you.  Essentially this is a qualifying interview that helps Booz | Allen understand your areas of pain.  Then they come in and tell you how you can fix your DNA and you pay them. 

In reality DNA is permanent.  It can’t be changed or fixed.  If you have a problem with your DNA, chances are you’re dead (or you will be soon).  Don’t be mystified by consultant-speak.  Understand your problem and consciously look for a smart solution.  Sometimes this means hiring a consultant.  When you do, force them to break down specifically what work they will do and what problem their study will help you solve.  In the end, hold them accountable.  Make sure you can measure the effectiveness of their work.  If their conclusions conflict with some of your team’s bets thinking, make the consultants prove their theory before you put it into practice.

Thanks to Strategy Central for the thought on corporate DNA.

Your CEO Stinks – No He’s Just Out of Touch

Bruce Nussbaum is right on the money in his article in BW Online.  CEO’s are the victims of what I call ExecuVision.  This is a form of tunnel vision where the light at the end of the tunnel is a shining city on a hill where all customers and employees agree with the Chief Executive. 

This tunnel is constructed by the executive committee and board of directors.  Boards and executive committees pride themselves on their years of experience.  Experience is good when it is applied to helping shape the future and not repeating the past.  There are many people who fall back on their experience as a reason to be resistant to change.

Leading a large company is a difficult job and the Chief Executive needs people around him to handle low priority projects. There are some areas where the company leader must stay intimately involved.  Leading Innovation, change management and problem solving are not tasks that should be delegated.  The CEO needs to be an active part of the company’s activity in these areas. New ideas, fresh thinking and people who have a perspective from outside the company and industry are some of the best catalysts for sparking thinking in these areas. 

If you are a CEO you’re not going to read about the “next big thing” in the Wall Street Journal.  By the time an idea reaches the mainstream media it has lived a long and healthy life right here – in blogs, chats and discussion groups.  By the time it gets to the Journal, you can bet that somebody has launched the idea out of his garage / basement.

Here is the moral of the story:  Experience is valuable for some things:  Banking, Finance, Accounting, etc.  Fresh innovative thinking can come from anywhere.  Don’t discount the aggressive younger individuals in your organization.  They could have your next big idea in their garage.  Start looking for the next big thing in your mailroom, and on the Internet. 

I see ten good ideas a day as I read blogs.  One of those people will have the guts to see a good idea through.  At the end of a month, one of the 30 ideas that made it to the start-up phase will still be a business.  At the end of a year, five of them will be on their way to making real money.  In two or three years they could change the complexion of an industry.  I’m willing to be that the CEO and his experienced team won’t see this happening. By the time the CEO hears about a new business Chuck from the mailroom will have carved out a nice niche and taken some of the company’s most valuable clients with him. 

Mr. CEO – stay in touch.  Allow some young innovative thinkers into the executive suite.  Read a blog or two each day.  Don’t discount the crazy ideas you see.  Four or five of them change businesses and even industries every year.  Make sure your company is on the leading edge of that change and not a victim of it.

Thanks to True Talk Blog for pointing us to the article in BW. 

Bad to the Bone

Lisa Haneberg at Management Craft has a post up about bad bosses.  She talks about her experience working with people who made their employees lives miserable.

I have known a few of these folks in my time. Unfortunately there are a significant number of unqualified and/or emotionally immature people who rise up through the ranks of just about every organization.

The fact that these jerks exist is not the shocking part.  What often shocks us is that they are allowed to continue to spread misery in their companies for so long.  In my opinion this is all about accountability.  The leadership of the organization should hold Mr. Jerk Manager accountable for the way he behaves.  Many leaders do not feel comfortable having these types of conversations with the managers who report to them or they are concerned that they will lose a productive manager (often with a specific skill set) if they tell him he’s a jerk.

In the end, Lisa is right, you must vote with your feet and leave a manager that makes you feel bad or treats you disrespectfully. Life to too short to work for a jerk.

CEO Blog Uh Oh

Tom has a post on The True Talk Blog about why some CEOs don’t blog.  Tom contends that certain CEOs might say embarrassing things or things that may send their stock price plummeting.

I agree with Tom.  I have met many CEOs that were not terrific with the public.  Being an executive is pressure-packed job and you do not want your fearless leader “venting” in a public forum.

That said – a blog can certainly be a great way to provide your employees and shareholders with the transparency they deserve. 

Lead with the Truth

Mary Schmidt has an interesting post on the qualities of a leader.  I happened to read this post right after I read Tom’s post about The President and The Katrina Disaster. Almost everyday there is a new story on television or in the newspapers that details a crisis of leadership.  It is true that some of these stories are such huge leadership failures that the glare from them can often overshadow everything else.

It is important that we do not forget that for every Enron or Tyco (I’m keeping my promise to keep politics off of this blog) there are (at least) a hundred companies doing it right.  For every egomaniacal, lying CEO there are a dozen that are working hard, approaching their decisions with integrity and taking responsibility for their actions.

My friend Geoff Brewer taught me a valuable lesson when I first joined my current company.  He said, “It is amazing what you can get done as long as you are willing to give someone else the credit”.  This is one of the secrets to being a successful leader.  When things go right it’s not about you – it’s about the team.

The other big secret is to take the blame when things go wrong.  If you’re in charge and something happens, it’s your problem.  Figure out how to fix it and then make sure it doesn’t happen again.  People have a tremendous capacity to forgive. Those who follow you may hate the fact that you made a mistake but they will respect your honesty.

It Takes a Village

Today Seth teaches us a new word for an old concept:

Helping our Neighbor

Sometimes we all wait until life hits us right between the eyes.