The Manager/Leader Dichotomy
First off, for those of you who know me, you know that I am a Marine. With that said, the use of a word like “Dichotomy” is a dangerous proposition, because there is a high probability that I will use it incorrectly. Those of you who know me, also know that I don’t really care, it sounds cool and I will make it work.
I read a blog yesterday which pointed me to an article in the Wall Street Journal discussing the difference between Management and Leadership. The most provocative portion of that article was from “On Becoming a Leader,” by Warren Bennis, which provided a comparison of Managers and Leaders:
- The manager administers; the leader innovates.
- The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
- The manager maintains; the leader develops.
- The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
- The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
- The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
- The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
- The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.
- The manager imitates; the leader originates.
- The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
- The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
- The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Filed under: Leadership | Leave a Comment
Tags: Leadership, self reflection
Understand the Stakeholders
I received one of those funny emails that people forward around from a former boss last night. It is one of those forwards that you saw a few years ago and it made you chuckle then and it makes you chuckle now. Lately I’ve been trying to look at things from a more thoughtful point of view, so here’s the email and my thoughts…
THE EMAIL:
The Sierra Club and U.S. Forest Service presented an alternative to Wyoming ranchers for controlling the Coyote population. Ranchers were using the tried-and-true method of shooting and trapping these predators.
The Sierra Club and U.S. Forest Service proposed a “More humane” solution:
- Capture the Coyotes with non-injurious traps, castrate the males and turn them loose again.
The ranchers remained silent for a few minutes, contemplating this new idea. Finally one rancher in the back of the conference room stood up. Tipping his hat back, he said;
Son, I don’t think you understand our problem… Coyotes don’t screw our sheep… they eat’ ‘em!
The meeting never really got back to order.
THE LESSON:
This is a perfect example of what happens when you think you know the problem and you don’t understand the stakeholders. There are a few basic lesson here:
- Fully vet the problem, understand the symptoms and the cause;
- understand and listen to the stakeholder (their challenges, motivation and point of view);
- and develop solutions that create short-term wins and long-term sustainability.
In this case the Sierra Club was focused on a solution that would address population control, but did not address the ranchers immediate needs.
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Tags: Consulting, Lessons, Stakeholder, Story
The Campaign Plan
I recently read Tim Brown’s article in HBR Agenda 2011 about “Granting Permission to Innovate,” in the article he cautions against the “one-strategy trap,” and its unintended effect of stifling innovation. As I read I began to think about how to create a framework for an enterprise that provides the strategic guidance required to synchronize an enterprise’s many activities without creating an atmosphere that is adaptable to the various forces that effect the organization.
I often reach back to my military roots when trying to make sense of the world around me. In this case, I have to believe the planning framework used by the military could greatly enable large enterprises in accomplishing their strategic objectives. Military planners use various planning tools to unify operations and synchronize the ends, ways, and means of subordinate organizations to accomplish strategic goals. The campaign plan is a tool used to ensure alignment and synchronization of activities across the entire operating environment. It provides vision and intent through broad, operational concepts for operations and sustainment throughout the time frame necessary to achieve the commander’s assigned strategic concept and objectives. The key to designing a campaign plan is the understanding of the capabilities of the organization, the competitive and economic forces and desired strategic end state.
Some of the critical elements of a campaign plan include:
- Mission Statement, which translates to “intent”
- Enterprise Objectives
- Lines of Operation (or lines of business) objectives and priorities
- Enabling resources (IT, Core Capabilities, Financials, etc)
The campaign plan should lay the foundation for business decisions over a long period of time. If the campaign plan accomplishes this, the leaders within the enterprise will be empowered to not only make decisions, but to develop innovative solutions. They will be given the “permission to innovate.”
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| From Untitled Album |
Filed under: Strategy | Leave a Comment
Tags: Campaign Plan, Enterprise, Leadership, Strategy, Tim Brown
It is sometimes funny how much my kids help me remember some simple concepts that can apply to everyday life. A couple of days ago, we wanted to put together a little video for some friends who were about to get married. It was late in the day and the girls, ages 2 and 3, were in no condition to put on a performance for the camera. In fact, they were down right miserable. So I was faced with a decision, the Stick or the Carrot, in this case I choose Chocolate Cake. Here is the result of telling them that a good performance will result in Chocolate Cake.
The change in attitude was instant; the flip of a switch with the promise of backed goods covered in frosting always amazes me.
So, that leaves us with a few questions we should be asking ourselves. What motivate me? What will motivate my people? What will motivate my customers? If only chocolate cake was always the answer…
Filed under: Reflection | Leave a Comment
Tags: Leadership, Lessons, Motivation
Finding the Sweet Spot
I recently opened a new chapter in my career by accepting a position with Sapient Government Services. I have been with my new team for about 3 weeks and I have zero inkling of buyer’s remorse. The work is not that different, but there will eventually be a much great set of expectations levied on me, which is very much welcomed. My work isn’t different, my commute is the same, yet my general feeling of current and future job satisfaction is immensely different. Why is that? Here are some observable changes:
The average age of my team with Booz Allen (not including me) was about 50 and now the average age is about 30. I was considered one of the junior people (not by title) on my old team and now I am one of the senior (at least by age). I went from suit ever day to business casual on most days. I was usually one of the last people in to work at 7:30 and now I am one of the earliest. Happy hours are a regular thing; I am the only married person and the only one with kids on my team. About half of the people I worked with were overweight, and now I am feeling like the portly one.
While many of these changes are superficial they all impact my daily interaction with my work environment. Yes, I am still in my honeymoon phase, but I think my happiness level will settle at a much higher equilibrium when all is said and done. The major difference here is my leadership has demonstrated they have vested interest in my development as a manager. We were able lay out some near and far term objectives which clearly set me up to grow with Sapient, this is something I identified as lacking immediately with my old team at Booz Allen.
Lesson 1: Culture will greatly effect the engagement of your employees.
Lesson 2: Interest and plans for your employee’s development will go a long way in setting all parties up for success.
Disclaimer: I think Booz Allen is a great firm, my only regret is that I did not do enough due diligence in understanding the type of team I was joining when they hired me on.
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Tags: Career, Leadership
I graduated from Darden with my MBA yesterday after spending the last two years in the MBA for Executives program with 59 other amazing individuals. The weekend was filled with laughs, nostalgia of the last 23 months, friends, family and a whole lot of small talk. The top small talk topic was about time; more specifically all the newly freed time I will have now that school is over. This topic was probably the most challenging for me, being the pragmatist that I am. Frankly the last two months have really not been that challenging with school, so much of that so called free time should have already been available; yet I don’t see this huge chunk of time that should be sitting in front of me.
When school started back in June of 2008 it took a good 3 months for me to get use to studying and scrounging for those precious minutes in the day. I began to use the metro for work, so I could read on the train. I would find a quiet place during lunch so I could read a case. I would read late into the night, just to keep up with the work load. All of those extra minutes in the day have eroded as my school work load began to decrease over the last few terms.
What am I going to do with all of my free time? One answer is, there is not longer any free time. Ooorrrr the answer could be, I need to sit down and conduct a personal life inventory. Now that I have re-adjusted my menu of action items, I also need to re-adjust my priorities, goals, and how I spend my time. My mind, body and family have become accustom to this extra work load, I am still in good enough shape to be a high output high quality producer in life…. If I take too long of a break I will become soft and slide back into the comfortable equilibrium I was in before school. I need to fill the void or let my time management skills get out of shape again. For the time being my girls and I will fill the void with dragons and polly pockets.
Filed under: Reflection | 2 Comments
Tags: Growth, self reflection, time
The following short essay was written as part of a school project in a form similar to NPR’s “This I Believe” project.
Each and every one of us has the ability to evolve as individuals. As humans our ability to evolve is a naturally occurring phenomenon, but that does not mean we don’t have any control over our evolution. In fact I believe it is just the opposite. We, as individuals, have full control over how we evolve. While we sometimes have very little control over our environment we have full control over our interactions, reactions, and general consumption of that environment. Our choice is to either be victims of our environment or to master it and redefine how we want to evolve.
One of my first memories as a child was speaking into a microphone for my speech therapist; this was my first introduction to formal education. As a pre-teen I went to four different elementary schools in four different states, and in each of those schools I was sent to special classes as a form of academic intervention. Later, in Junior High, my parents sent to the Sylvain Learning Center after school, and my self confidence during my pubescent years was consistently low across all categories except sports. My environment was telling me that academically I would never be as competitive as my peers and my future prospects were most likely limited to moving heavy objects or breaking things. I had a choice I could accept my lot in life and evolve with the natural tides pushing me toward a blue-collar future or I could choose my evolutionary path. I chose to work harder, learn smarter, and never to back away from a challenge.
This kid whose self-confidence was a victim of academic intervention began to believe in himself, he began to adjust his learning to fit his needs, he was eventually a member of the National Honor Society, graduated in the top quarter of his High School class, graduated from the United States Naval Academy with an engineering degree, and is on the cusp of graduation from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business with a Masters in Business Administration. I chose to evolve the way I wanted to when I was a young man, and I continue to make deliberate and purposeful choices that challenge my current state forcing an evolution into someone whom I believe is more interesting.
As I break the mid-thirties mark I look back while preparing to look ahead. As a young leader in the Marine Corps I saw both victims and masters of individual evolution; and two years ago as young professional in middle-management I began to lose hope when I looked around and only saw victims. That is when I choose to evolve again by going back to school for my Masters in Business Administration. The academic environment is both refreshing and engaging, and the opportunity to immerse oneself in a sea of individuals who are striving for mastery of their evolutionary future is one I will never regret. I believe we can choose how we are defined, and I for one am defined as evolving.
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Tags: Darden, Evolution, self reflection
Team Concepts came to provide us with the Team Hollywood Experience. This was an outstanding way to end the week. We self selected teams and were given the task of creating a 5-10 minute short film. The premise behind the exercise was the “Eight Secrets of Inspirational Leadership,” and while I usually hate just about anything that begins with “secrets” I thought this was a great set of observations which apply to high performance teams.
- Everyone wants to be part of something bigger than themselves
- Everyone want to feel valued
- Define the performance objective
- Ennoble the effort
- Empower individuals within team synergy
- Emphasize personal responsibility
- Celebrate the journey
- Positive engaged energy
The lead facilitator was Dan Lyons, who is a world champion and Olympian rower, he also attended my alma mater, the Naval Academy. While the “8 Secrets” may seem pretty straight forward Dan’s stories about how they relate to high performance teams are very powerful.
Here are a few of Dan’s quotes:
Apathy in high performers is unforgivable.
You have two choices as a leader either be Positive or Negative
Eliminating variance in the vision will increase the team’s performance in making the vision reality.
The experience itself was great. My team decided to do a film similar to the Blair Witch Project and I think it turned out great. After spending two years with my classmates, this experience was a great way to begin the next chapter. Our friendship and understanding of each other allows us to come together and quickly engage any challenge set before us. I wish I had a similar team at work, in fact that is the type of team I want to strive for.
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Tags: Darden, Leadership, LR4 Journal, Story
OK this is the fourth in the series and if you still need a warning, then you may not get any of this to begin with, so click on this link instead.
Chic Thompson (his website) came to speak to us today. He provided us some interesting insights into Left Brain and Right Brain thinking and creativity.
A creative individual weds the most advanced understandings with the curiosity that characterized his life of wonder as a child.
~ Howard Gardener
Basically he told us we need to try an achieve a balance or at least ensure both sides of our brain are being exercised. Just like with the body if you let one side of your brain go without exercise it will atrophy. It is actually sad when he described what we were able to do as children and how that has evolved over time to where we are know.
We entered school as question marks, but graduated as periods.
~Dr. John Holt
Creating an environment where we can exercise both sides of the brain is easier said than done. In fact creating an environment where experimentation is OK may be even more difficult.
Getting Answers Wrong actually helps learning.
~Scientific America, October 2009
Understanding how to break out of the status quo may require a failed attempt or two.
When something goes wrong, ask what went right?
~W.L. Gore
We’ve discussed integrative and creative thinking, but we have not really discussed opposite thinking. Chic contends that sometimes you may want to ask the question, “What is it we absolutely do not want to do?” While this may seem silly, it helps us understand our limits. Once we answer the question, we can then ask ourselves is there any bit of this that we want to take on? Are there any elements of good in this opposite solution? This may just be the type of thinking that is needed to open up new opportunities or to push the market space in another direction.
Opposite thinking, do you think you can pull it off?
Filed under: Innovation | Leave a Comment
Tags: Brain, Creativity, Darden, Innovation, LR4 Journal
YES this is two days late and YES this is still stream of consciousness writing with no editing. SOOOOOO, reader beware.
We had two main sessions for the day. The first was with Laura Nash, author of Just Enough, she also has an HBR article “Success That Lasts.” The second session was with Michael Stallard and Jason Pankau, authors of Fired Up or Burned Out. The first session was about identifying ways to achieve long term lasting success and the second was about the importance of creating a culture of connection for yourself and within your organization.
Laura Nash’s lecture began by asking some fundemental questions:
- What really matters?
- What is just enough to excel at the many things that matter?
- How do great leaders manage many different targets?
- What are your measures of winning?
- What throws successful people off?
- How do you grow and sustain yourself as a leaders?
- What can you do to help the next generation succeed?
She then went all to answer all of the questions with a scene from Tin Cup….OK maybe not all the questions, but we did begin to decompose the the values of Tin Cup, which gave us insight into understanding that his definition of success was very different than those around him.
Mrs. Nash provided us a tool for which we could begin analyzing our own values, lives, careers, and so on…the Kaleidoscope Model, a four circle Venn diagram consisting of Happiness, Achievement, Legacy and Significance. I am not going to go into the descriptions of each circle, but I will touch on some her key points.
- Our definition of success changes over time
- It is easy to fall into the “Never Enough” addiction
- We often calibrate our balanced Venn to the wrong benchmarks
- Balance = f(value of activity + ENERGY)
At the end of the lecture she challenged us to identify a “Four Bagger” in one episode of our lives. I think this is relatively easy in the lens of my life, my family is my four bagger. Now, if you were to ask me to identify a four bagger in my career, we up the challenge significantly…in fact, I will need to get back to you on that one.
The second session of the day was focused on the connection culture and the importance of being “Human Beings” instead of “Human Doings.” These guys focused on the basic human need for connection and more specifically three elements of connection:
- Inspiring Identity
- Human Value
- Knowledge Flow
When they break it down to fundamental elements like the ones above it is tough to argue any different. In fact the Vision, Value and Voice concept for connection makes perfect sense.
I now find myself analyzing my connections and how I enable or disable others to connect. While this is not an earth shattering realization, it is another angle to look at how I treat others and how I conduct myself within an organization. I can definitely work on my connecting skills. I suppose I never really gave the value of connection its do…. How well do you connect?
Filed under: Reflection | Leave a Comment
Tags: Balance, Darden, LR4 Journal, Social Networking
