The summer is reading season for many of us, that rare time when “the tower of guilt” on my nightstand gets reduced to a manageable inch or two. I have always been a huge fan of Verne Harnish, Mastering The Rockefeller Habits. This is an incredible book for small business owners, chock full of tools and ideas that unleash your inner entrepreneur without limiting you. The “tower of guilt” euphemism is in fact borrowed from Verne!
This summer I decided that if my favorite business book today is about Rockefeller and his habits that I would go right to the source and read about John D. himself through the book, Titan. (Yes, it is seven hundred pages.) Rockefeller was, well, quite a force as a businessman, father, philanthropist, investor, etc…He gave more money away than any man alive. His family started colleges, medical research and national parks. He also made more money in his day than any other Robber Baron or business figure in modern times!
I thought it might be fun to share what I think our John D’s top few “habits” and how they might apply to your world today.
1. First and foremost know the numbers. John D. started his career as a bookkeeper. He always knew his figures for his companies and for any business deal. He always did his homework and had the information to make informed business decisions because of it.
2. Demand excellence. John D. was ruthless in many ways and his reputation legendary in how he did anything to gain market share and hurt a competitor. The greatest impact his story had for me was to expect excellence from your people. John D. expected his staff to work within his culture and to win. If you were into many of life’s vices, he had no time for you. If you did not do your job, you were asked to leave. This is easy to read and understand. By today’s business standards I see many business owners and managers struggle with something so basic. Establish expectations. Inspect what you expect and be direct in your feedback about it.
3. Always having a contingency plan. With staff, in an acquisition, in a negotiation – John D. always worked many chess moves ahead. He had backup plans. He had strategies. Most importantly he was in control of the details with his business.
4. Be adaptable. John D. was the world’s original change agent. Well before “who moved my cheese” sentiments he was able to adapt to the changes around him and use them to his advantage. For 60 years John was a fiercely private man and ran the world’s largest business that way. He protected all trade secrets fiercely; only a handful of top executives really knew about his broad reaching plans. Yet later in life he became more comfortable and learned to use media to his advantage. His company started the first Public Relations Department ever in business.
5. Never be “owned” by your funding source. John needed bankers early on to fund his business and thousands of acquisitions in the oil business. He built great relationships yet always detested the process of needing them. Over time Standard Oil became their own bank keeping high cash reserves on hand to do their own lending to the business! John D. was in advocate for running a business in a conservative fashion; he would be “fashionable” today.
There is so much more to say about John D.! Send me your notes and emails on what books have captivated you this summer!
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If you like technology or have had to buy it for your business, you know there are two camps. Camp one: pay for a license to use the software and have the priviledge to leverage it for business gain. Camp 2: the world of open source software. There are pros and cons to both. Software choices can also be applied as a metaphor for styles of leadership.
There are those that “license” leadership. They keep information close and use it as a source of power and ultimately control. These leaders believe in traditional social mores in business. They see teaching as a job for a trainer, not a leader. Learning and knowledge are not “free” nor encouraged, unless it helps the employee make more widgets. Structure and process trump organizational speed and creativity. For a license leader things like salary, bonus, and other perks act as strings to be yanked to demand and expect high levels of performance. For the employee, performing for the license leader often requires a compromise on who they are and who they want to be. I have often heard they are corportate actors expected to perform in scripted corporate ways.
Now contrast this with my concept of “open source leadership”. The great thing about open source software is that the masses make it better – all that contribute own it. In most cases it is very equal for users and contributors. You can pay to use it or simply make it better. Innovation and problem solving can excel here. For an open source leader this means that you can have the “source code” as an employee. There are no secrets and information is always available; control and responsibility are given out to all. It means that as a leader you embrace that business is complex and the way to manage it is by getting all to be an equal part of the business. You really have the most control when you hand it out to your employees. When you give up contol, will the end result be exactly what you wanted? Probably not – which is most likely a good thing. New thinking, more folks involved, more eyes and ears paying attention are a benefit to everyone.
Now let’s lay out the truth – It is really, really hard to be an open source leader. It is hard to change just for the sake of change. There most be a compelling business reason, such as better results, more profit, more of something. Guess what – it will happen for you. Just not right away. And not every day. All Leaders have bumps in the road. It is how you smooth them out that really matters. And open source leadership is not for all. It is a challenge to trust and hand it out all of the time. It is amazingly hard to get the company communication thing “just right”.
It probably would not suprise you that my company utilizes open source software products. I was an early adopter as they say. I can tell you it is not perfect. Far from it. Just like any chosen leadership style. Yet for me it is the tool of choice. Fast, fair value, transparent, adaptive. Things I want to be as a leader everyday…
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Chris’s blog provoked my thinking and I want to pose even broader questions about the world of work today. I am not sure that by simply identifying examples of forward thinking in action, without there also being a strategic object at organizational levels, can lead to the needed wisdom for sustained and productive organizational change. I think we need to examine the forces that are giving energy to these phenomena.
To make leadership everyone’s responsibility and thereby create the most productive and professionally satisfying organizations, it is imperative that there be clarity about the tidal wave of change that has been brought on by recent economic developments. This altered context requires rethinking about how the basic employer-employee agreement is understood and what impacts follow when “leadership as everyone’s responsibility” is now the norm.
It is suggested that when the economy recovers, things won’t return to normal in the workplace and instead it will defined by its “permanent crisis” state (Heifetz et al. “Leadership in (Permanent) Crisis”, Harvard Business Review June-July 2009)
To accept this paradigm means that organizational effectiveness is contingent upon everyone practicing both leadership and “followership”. Being a leader no longer describes a hierarchy of titles, but rather an intended dynamic interaction among all levels of staff to accomplish organizational goals. Leadership is influence at its best. Influence happens in “the space in-between” individuals and is reinforced, developed and recognized through organizational structures and systems.
It can be argued that individual expectations of the employment agreement often do not align, nor do they support, the behavior of individual leadership required to do “best practices, while establishing next practices” (Ibid). The rapid expansion of varied “employment” models (project work, contingency employment) and the rise of “encore careers” as an option for boomers and talent managers alike, contributes to an urgency to re-examine the assumptions that drive today’s major HR practices .
To understand the context of today’s world of work and the altered employer-employee agreement will drive organizational transformation to expect and require the demonstration of “leadership” by all employees and contractors.
Are organizations, HR professionals, managers and the workforce ready to recognize this reality and take incremental steps toward this new world of work?
Action without thought will be unproductive.
Bill Tietjen is a certified consulting associate with the Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH) Career Transition Practice of Greater Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Region. In addition, Bill is a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy & Practice and is a lecturer at Temple University’s Executive MBA Career Management Program and mentors the MBA students at Drexel University.
Popularity: 11% [?]
My mentor always said that Outside-In leadership involves letting others take a rest when they deserve it. That leading by example can mean letting your newest employee take off on Christmas Eve or skip a late shift on a Friday night, even if you have to step up as the leader and work in their place. We are all equal in importance, we all have value and as leaders, we want to send the right message. As a leader, we should be prepared to allow others the opportunity to go home when we would normally be the first in line.
During my college years, I worked in retail and my manager never worked Sundays. She always told us that once we put our time in and were leaders ourselves that we could set the schedule as we saw fit. Ironically, in order to maximize her weekend she also did not work late on Saturdays (and in many cases had that day off too). That logic seems funny – to leave the assistant managers and newest employees to manage the busiest and probably most profitable time in this business. What she did was not necessarily wrong but it did not earn her our trust or respect. We all knew it was on purpose and it only served to enforce that there was a pecking order and we knew where we stood. It hurt productivity and didn’t foster allegiance to a great company because we did not believe in our leader. We all eventually would leave and find other work.
What do most of us practice as we climb the ladder and achieve the status and the accolades that come with leadership? We take the time off that we want. Sure we work hard, even work around the clock. That is not unique, in fact, it is our job. Time is not something we ever have enough of and we feel like we have earned it. So we leave early on Fridays in the summer. We take two weeks off in a row, when most of our employees don’t even get that kind of time off in a whole year.
Please do not be offended by my point of view – I’m merely stating that leadership is about doing “right things” and in my estimation that means leading by example. Working and putting in your time during holidays and vacation season. Your people may not say anything – but they will see it and they will know you are acting in a way that aligns with your culture…
So do you have 50% of your staff in during heavy vacations? How is your customer service level?
Will your managers be at the office at 50%?
Are your rookies getting their time off?
Are your senior people always getting their first choice for time off?
Are you going to lead by example this summer?
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If you read my blog through one of the many ways we distribute, you probably read my good friend Bill Tietjen’s comments about remote control leadership. Bill and I get together several times a year to “wax philosophical” on career systems and business models and what works in today’s fast paced, unique business climate.
To quote Bill, “Remote control leadership can (and should) be complemented by a “remote control followership” in which all parties demonstrate and refine the same set of principles that have been outlined.”
My challenge to all of us who engage in organizational/entrepreneurial endeavors – How do we make such a tidal wave shift to a culture where “leadership is EVERYONE’s responsibilty”?
Our first common belief is that traditional career systems are dead. We are all not going to work for one company and have one job. We will all have many, as many as seven or more different jobs over our work life times.
Secondly, that the old military style of organized business where information flows from the top through the chain of command out to the troops and from the troops back to the top is less appealing today. Frankly not productive at the employee level. This model is inflexible, slow, and not likely to generate innovation and or create an environment of extreme customer service. To many this is still a common notion today because many leaders and most employees don’t know how to change. For the employee, they probably need to find a culturally based company. There are a few and they are worth finding. For leaders?
Leaders have a real challenge. Leaders who are worth their salt got to where they are by working hard and leveraging their natural strengths and learned leadership behaviors. Chances are most leaders did not learn to start or run their company utilizing the skills and or techniques that create an Outside-In culture or customer centered environment. This is the organization that is relatively flat, all are empowered, and information is shared across the business.
Innovation and speed come from empowerment. It also comes from earned trust that leaders gain through daily investments in the natural reinforcement of organizational priorities and by leading through the cultural values established for the business. But how do you make leadership everyone’s job? Seems like a daunting task, but it has been done. Have you ever been to a Ritz Carlton? Ever bought a Gore-Tex jacket? These are two organizations that are beacons of hope for making leadership everyone’s job.
The most important thing to do first? Leaders embed culture! Without your commitment as a leader to give leadership out to all, it will always fall short. And this must be in your words and actions!
Remote control followership. How do you do it? Where have you seen it?
Chris
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Did you ever try to sit and watch TV with your significant other? It requires a little patience and love. Most couples do not have the same interest in programming (or for how to enjoy watching seven channels simultaneously). I can watch the same movie over and over again if it is real favorite, and can start watching at whatever point in the movie I get there. Lets just say – that this does not work for my wife Kim!
The other day I found myself in the midst of a leadership meeting with a leader at CBI Group and I blurted out, “Be careful about being a remote control leader”. We were discussing goal setting, thinking through priorities and working on communication and messaging. Remote control leadership is when a leaders actions do not support their words and vice versa. It is when we flit and flutter all over the place, changing the priorities and agenda so frequently that it begins not to make sense to your staff.
We know we need to be nimble and flexible with our business. We want to be more customer centered and to look for our next product – one good idea becomes your future. Yet, to our employees, the process of holding on to where our company is going is riddled with side trips that make it hard to stick with and remember. So to avoid this, I created my Top 5 Failures in Remote Control Leadership. I hope it helps you and your thinking.
1. Leading by Reading. How many times have you gone on vacation or attended a seminar and announced at your next staff meeting that you were going to implement what you learned? ALL of us have done this. In fact, this first one is an easy stereotype of most leaders, both beginner and experienced!
2. Top 5 Priorities – Not Enough. I learned long ago that a company functions better when employees agree on priorities and know where to focus. For many years we have focused clearly on five per quarter. The logic is simple. Twenty people focused on five things is more productive than twenty people focused on their own lists of priorities. My learn? Opportunity knocks. A customer ask you to do something new. Someone wants you to buy their business. Key talent comes your way. How do you balance being entrepreneurial and opportunistic with being pragmatic and judicious with your limited resources?
3. Funding Too Many Ideas. I started my business with a willingness to back any good employee idea. I felt that for every 10, one or two might hit it big time. I am not talking about a change of coffee flavor in the break room. I am talking game changes – new services or new markets. I learned that you must vet these ideas and prioritize. Put a time line to them.
4. The Power of NOT Saying NO. For too many years I did not want to discourage my culture. I confused a culture of innovation and creativity with the balancing act of decent business planning and strategy. Remember, it is okay to say “not right now”. Or to ask how something fits into your short term and long term plans. You can always change plans if it makes sense.
5. Not Keeping Messages Simple. I read once that a leader defined their job as repeating simple messages all day long. I took the other route. Talked too much about too much. I have learned that really powerful visions are simple ones. They create emotional appeal because they can be felt and seen. They are repeated often and that repetition is key to helping employees internalize them and act upon them.
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