Jun
30
The importance of philosophy to great leadership
Filed Under Organisational Leadership, Personal Leadership | 3 Comments
Google has taken time to clearly articulate their business philosophy, described in the article, “Ten things Google has found to be true”. The article highlights Google’s beliefs, values and principles, which guides how they go about growing and managing their business. The ten things that comprise Google’s business philosophy are:
- Focus on the user and all else will follow.
- It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
- Fast is better than slow.
- Democracy on the web works.
- You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
- You can make money without doing evil.
- There’s always more information out there.
- The need for information crosses all borders.
- You can be serious without a suit.
- Great just isn’t good enough.
These are the ten things that support Google’s business philosophy and guide Google’s leadership. In the same way, all leaders need a personal leadership philosophy, a set of values, beliefs and principles that influence how they act and lead.
“In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is—i.e., he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts—i.e., he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance.” - Ayn Rand, 1966, “Philosophy and Sense of Life” from What makes Ayn Rand’s philosophy unique?
Many leaders fail to take the time to think and reflect on their leadership philosophy, the beliefs, values and principles that supports their leadership. A leaders philosophy is grounded in who they are as individuals. A clear leadership philosophy supports consistent action, building credibility and trust with the leader’s constituents.
- What are the ten things that form the basis of your leadership philosophy?
- Do you live your ten things?
Technorati Tags: Philosophy, Leadership, Management, Google, Business, Worldview, Mental-Model, Thinking, Reflection, Values
Jun
29
When Jason Fried from 37signals was asked "How did you create the culture at 37signals?” he answered as follows:
"You don’t create a culture. Culture happens. It’s the by-product of consistent behavior. If you encourage people to share, and you give them the freedom to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust then trust will be built into your culture.
Artificial
Artificial cultures are instant. They’re big bangs made of mission statements, declarations, and rules. They are obvious, ugly, and plastic. Artificial culture is paint.
Real
Real cultures are built over time. They’re the result of action, reaction, and truth. They are nuanced, beautiful, and authentic. Real culture is patina.
Don’t think about how to create a culture, just do the right things for you, your customers, and your team and it’ll happen."
Whilst I agree with Jason’s view, that a) culture takes time to develop and b) the culture is a by-product of consistent behaviour, culture doesn’t "just happen". Culture is the shadow of the leader. If Jason means that culture just happens, if you have the right leadership, then I support his view, and perhaps that is what he is say. The with the right leadership… culture just happens! Organisations that set out to create or build a culture, without changing the leadership behaviours, results in what Jason refers to as artificial cultures.
In the end, culture determines who’s in and who’s out…. Once you have the right leadership in place … then … culture just happens.
- Are you purposefully acting to develop your organisation’s culture?
- Do you have the right leadership in place?
- Are you hiring and promoting people who reinforce the culture you’re trying to develop?
Technorati Tags: Culture, Leadership, Management, Business, HR, Strategy
Jun
24
The Ken Blanchard Company newsletter, Ignite!, for November 2007 has a great article “Keeping a Vision Strong through All Levels of Your Organization” which discusses why vision tends to dilute as you move down the organisational structure.
“In most organizations, when executives create a vision for the entire company, they believe it provides clarity, focus and direction. And it is true that it does, at least for those at the top of the organization. Unfortunately, it gradually loses strength as it works its way to the front lines. In fact, research by The Gallup Organization indicates that senior executives are more than twice as likely to feel that an organization’s mission and purpose inspire them to higher levels of performance as frontline workers… Why the disconnect? Why might senior leaders resonate with an organizational vision while the rest of the company does not relate to it? There are many possible answers, but according to Dr. Jesse Stoner and Dr. Drea Zigarmi, a good place to start is by looking at one or more of the following factors: how the vision is created, how it is communicated, and how it is lived or modeled in the organization.”
The three factors mentioned are critical in getting an organisation’s vision to stick:
- How the vision is created: No matter how you try to get around the issue, the fact is that people only support what they help create. A vision created by top management, will be supported primarily by top management. Unless people feel they have an influence over the creation of the organisation’s vision, commitment to the vision will be difficult to achieve. One way to involve people, as mentioned in the article, is for leaders to engage employees in discussing the vision “senior leaders encourage dialogue about the vision by asking people these questions: ‘Would you like to work for an organization that has this vision? Can you see where you fit in the vision? Does it help you set priorities? Does it provide guidelines for making decisions? Is it exciting and motivating? Have we left anything out? Should we delete anything?’”
- How it is communicated: The communication of vision is critical. Two common mistakes I see in the communication of vision is, firstly, vision is not communicated frequently enough, and secondly, the vision is not weaved into all the organisations communication initiatives. Leaders are the custodians of an organisation’s vision, they are responsible to ensure that the vision is talked about and kept alive. You can never over-communicate your vision.
- How it is lived or modeled in the organization: This is an important finding, vision is a process and not an event. The author of the article makes the following point… “Creating a vision—for your organization or department, for your work, and for your life—is a journey, not a one-time activity…. ‘It is important that all leaders in the company hold themselves and each other accountable for behaving consistently with the stated vision and values. As others see leadership living the vision, they will trust that leaders are serious and will be motivated to join.’” Leaders watched closely by others, their language and behaviour is closely scrutinised by their teams and employees. Unless a leaders actions, align with what they say, people will question the importance of the vision.
If you review your actions and how you have spent your time over the past month how closely aligned are your actions and the way you spend your time with your vision? How often do you talk about your vision?
Technorati Tags: Strategy, Vision, Execution, Leadership, Management, Business, Research, Communication, Collaboration
Jun
24
Tony Mayo, co-author of "In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century", discusses the importance of contextual intelligence for leaders. In his post Tony Mayo describes the importance of context for leaders….
"Yes, business leaders need to have certain personal characteristics to be successful, but it is often the application of those characteristics within a specific context that define great success. It’s not only who you are, but when and where you are."
Too much emphasis is placed on heroic leaders, those special individuals with a unique set of traits, CEO’s who turn-around large organisations and political leaders that free a nation. Tony goes on to note that:
“There is far too much focus on individual characteristics of leadership and far too little focus on the situational context. By placing too much emphasis on the individual, we can easily fall prey to the cult of the CEO and believe that any individual who was successful in one setting would naturally be successful in a new setting. The list of once-successful CEOs who have failed in new business settings is long.”
This focus on heroic leadership traits, leads to a number of dysfunctional behaviours, such as:
- The tendency to try and become like our leadership hero’s, instead of seeking to become more of who we are, to be original’s and not copies. What traits and factors that made a leader great in the past, will not necessarily make the leader great tomorrow. This is why you cannot blindly emulate successful leaders from the past and expect to get the same results. What made Jack Welch successful, will not make your successful. We need to leader from successful leaders and not to try to emulate or copy them.
- The tendency to over-estimate the importance of our leaders, and to under-estimate the difference we can make in our daily actions.
- The tendency to relay on past success and limit ourselves from experimenting and trying new things.
Given the importance of context, it’s important for leaders to be able to make sense of the changing environment and then adapt their leadership style, approach and behaviour to ensure they’re effective in the new context.
“Clearly, context is important. Business leaders who have been sensitive to context possess what Nitin Nohria and I call contextual intelligence. Not only do these leaders understand the implications of the contextual forces that surround them, they also have the ability to adapt and change their leadership style and approach as environmental conditions evolve. Success in one realm does not always translate into success in another. Indeed, relying on past models of success without being sensitive to the context of the situation has often yielded major disappointments.” - Tony Mayo, Why Do Some Leaders Have More Influence than Others?
Do you have a good understanding of the context in which you are leading?
Do you know what leadership behaviour and traits will be most effective in this context?
Technorati Tags: Context, Sensemaking, Leadership, Management, Book
Jun
24
Anecdote posted on David Maister’s podcast on earning trust and it’s importance to business. The fact is that leaders cannot lead without trust. Maister identifies four dimensions to trust, the first three can cause trust to increase:
- Credibility - about words - I can trust what he says. This is about tangible, professional expertise.
- Reliability - about actions - I can trust her to do something. Are you dependable and behave in certain ways?
- Intimacy - about emotions - I feel comfortable discussing this with that person. This is about the ability to relate to people one to one. It is the dimension that people fail on most often - it has high consequences if we get it wrong.
The fourth component, self orientation, reduces trust:
- Self-Orientation - about motives - the extent to which we can trust that someone cares about certain things. This relates to the extent to which we can focus on the other person in the relationship rather than ourselves. Selfishness, self-consciousness, need to appear on top of things or to appear intelligent, a long to-do list that distracts us from focusing in the moment etc are all things that keep us focused on ourselves rather than the other person.
These four dimensions are a useful way to assess our own behaviour. Are we instilling trust? Do we have integrity in our words, actions, emotions and motives?
Technorati Tags: Trust, Credibility, Integrity, Character, Leadership, Management, Business
Jun
19
Does Your Strategy Have A Purpose?
Filed Under Leadership Practices | 1 Comment
A the post "Does Your Business Strategy Have A Purpose?" on Idris Mootee’s blog Innovation Playground Idris makes the following point:
…“’purpose’ is bigger than ‘strategy’. Way much bigger. At best, strategy is just a number of smart ideas to take advantage of a market opportunity or re-configuration of the value chain. But purpose is different, it is a journey. Strategies are about means; they cannot be an end in themselves. An end is a reason. Many companies today are not lacking strategies, they lack a reason–they lack ‘purpose.’”
Purpose is something that we need as humans, purpose is what drives us, fuels our passion and gives us hope. Leaders bring more than a set of plans and objectives, they bring purpose and meaning. Having a strategy is necessary, but not sufficient…. You need to have a purpose a reason for the journey… and …it’s purpose that brings meaning to the journey…
- Have you defined your purpose?
- Does your strategy support your purpose?
Technorati Tags: Strategy, Purpose, Planning, Meaning, Leadership, Business
Jun
19
Michael Watkins wrote an interesting post "Demystifying Strategy: The What, Who, How, and Why", he defines business strategy as:
"a set of guiding principles that, when communicated and adopted in the organization, generates a desired pattern of decision making….. A good strategy provides a clear roadmap, consisting of a set of guiding principles or rules, that defines the actions people in the business should take (and not take) and the things they should prioritize (and not prioritize) to achieve desired goals."
In a nutshell, as illustrated below:
- Mission is about what will be achieved.
- The value network is about with whom value will be created and captured.
- Strategy is about how resources should be allocated to accomplish the mission in the context of the value network.
- Vision and incentives is about why people in the organization should feel motivated to perform at a high level.
Together, the mission, network, strategy, and vision define the strategic direction for a business. They provide the what, who, how, and why necessary to powerfully align action in complex organizations.
Technorati Tags: Strategy, Vision, Mission, Value, Business, Goals, Management, Leadership, Planning
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