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#Leadership : 7 Unforgettable Leadership Lessons from the Ancient Roman Conqueror Julius Caesar…Today, Caesar is still Considered One of the Greatest Military Commanders in History. His Name is also Synonymous with Cults of Personality and Political Strongmen.

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After eliminating his rivals in a civil war, general and politician Gaius Julius Caesar began serving as dictator of Rome in 49 BCE.  He established a number of political reforms before getting stabbed to death on the Ides of March in 44 BCE.

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                              What would Julius Caesar do? Wikimedia Commons

This sparked yet another civil war that doomed the Roman Republic to mutate into an empire with Caesar’s adopted heir Octavian at the helm.

Today, Caesar is still considered one of the greatest military commanders in history. His name is also synonymous with cults of personality and political strongmen.

So how exactly did the one-time high priest of Jupiter accrue so much power during his lifetime?

Business Insider looked through some of his own writings — as well as the less-reliable but still interesting works of contemporary ancient writers — to get a sense of his leadership style.

Here are the top seven lessons we came up with:

1. Presentation matters

The best leaders don’t just do amazing things — they know how to present a compelling story.

After a relatively brief war with a certain Pharnacles II of Pontus, Caesar had to sit down and write out a report to Rome detailing his conquest. According to both Greek biographer Plutarchand Roman historian Suetonius, the commander didn’t go into too much detail, writing simply: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

The phrase proved so catchy that we still remember it, centuries later.

Caesar could have gone on and on about his military prowess (in fact, he was the author of several long military accounts). Instead, he realized that the simple note would convey the most powerful message.

 

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2. Take risks

In ancient Rome, crossing the Rubicon River with an army was kind of a big deal. It was tantamount to a declaration of war and could be punishable by death.

When Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his legion, he put everything on the line. In “The Life of the Deified Julius,” Suetonius writes that Caesar quoted an Athenian playwright as he crossed the river, declaring “the die is cast.”

He risked it all and it paid off (in the short-term, at least).

3. There’s nothing wrong with starting small

Oftentimes, you’ve got to start out as a large fish in a small pond in order to succeed as a leader.

Caesar understood this. He managed to climb back into a position of power, even after losing his inheritance in a coup as a young man.

According to the ancient Plutarch’s “Parallel Lives,” the general also made a rather curious remark while passing through a small village in the Alps: “I assure you I had rather be the first man here than the second man in Rome.”

4. Nothing is set in stone

As a general, Caesar new that circumstances could change in an instant. According to Bill Yonne’s “Julius Caesar: Lessons in Leadership from the Great Conqueror,” Caesar once wrote that “in war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes.”

Resting on your laurels is never a good idea — because things can always take a turn for the worst.

5. Never kid yourself

Even if you’re a successful leader, you never want to get to the point where you start to buy your own nonsense.

In his chronicle of the Gallic Wars, Caesar concludes that: “i n most cases men willingly believe what they wish” when describing a tactical mistake on the part of his Gallic enemies.

The best leaders behave rationally and don’t allow their feelings or preconceived notions to dominate their decision-making. Gut calls and instincts are important too, but the best leaders utilize both — not one or the other.

6. Don’t get comfortable

No matter how good things look, the best leaders never fail to anticipate the worst outcomes.

In his “Commentaries on the Gallic Wars,” Caesar writes: “The immortal gods are wont to allow those persons whom they wish to punish for their guilt sometimes a greater prosperity and longer impunity, in order that they may suffer the more severely from a reverse of circumstances.”

Basically, if you’re on a winning streak, watch out. Caesar would have done well to actually follow this advice himself. Instead, he allowed a conspiracy to boil under him once he became dictator, resulting in his famous assassination.

7. Never sell yourself short

In order to lead, you need confidence in your own abilities. This is something that Caesar never seemed to lack.

This is illustrated by one notable incident in the ancient Roman’s life (involving pirates, of all things). In his account of Caesar’s life, Plutarch writes that, as a young man, Julius Caesar was abducted by the pirates that swarmed the Mediterranean Sea.

Livius.org provides a translation of what happened next: “First, when the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents, Caesar burst out laughing. They did not know, he said, who it was that they had captured, and he volunteered to pay fifty.”

Caesar went on to promise the pirates that he’d personally kill them once he was free. After he was ransomed, he raised a fleet, hunted them down, and did just that.

Businessinsider.com | October 12, 2016 | Áine Cain

#Leadership : 5 Ways Smart Leaders Ruin Companies…The Bad News is that These Mistakes are as Common as They are Damaging. The Good News is that They’re Really Easy to Fix, Once you’re Aware of Them.

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Most businesses are run by highly intelligent people. Yet, when things fall apart it’s usually due to these highly intelligent leaders’ stupid mistakes. Tragedies happen when smart leaders, who are otherwise great, sabotage themselves, day after day, with mistakes that they can’t see but are obvious to everyone else.

Free- Barbed Wire

How can smart, experienced people with impressive track records make such stupid mistakes?

Sydney Finkelstein, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, spent six years searching for an answer. He and his colleagues studied 51 of the business world’s most notorious failures, interviewing CEOs and people from all levels. He and his team found that the poor decisions these smart leaders made were sometimes intentional and sometimes accidental, but they always followed a clear pattern of hubris that ensured even the most successful enterprise could be run into the ground.

Here’s what the leaders in Finkelstein’s study had in common:

1. They thought they were the smartest person in the room.

Many intelligent leaders know quite well how smart they are. Their identities become so wrapped up in their intelligence that they believe input from others is unnecessary. They make decisions quickly and refuse to answer questions when there’s a misunderstanding. Although this may fit the TV image of a strong leader, making split-second decisions with imprudence often leads to major mistakes. Your chance of failure is heightened when you don’t care to know what other people think.

 

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2. They surrounded themselves with yes-men and women.

Some leaders become so obsessed with loyalty that they expect mindless support for every decision they make. This alienates valuable employees and silences voices that could otherwise help the business succeed. When a leader begins to equate disagreement with disloyalty, or worse—the undermining of their authority—there’s no one left to raise the warning flags.

3. They viewed themselves, and their companies, as untouchable.

There’s nothing wrong with having lofty goals or a healthy sense of pride, but these leaders took their success for granted. They became so enamored with their ideas that they believed their competitors would never catch up, their circumstances would never change, and no disruptors would ever surface. These unrealistic expectations made failure inevitable. Leaders must continually question their positions, especially when they’re on top.

4. They couldn’t tell where they stopped and the company began.

The leaders in Finkelstein’s study had high profiles and were obsessed with company image. As a result, they were too busy being the face of the company to effectively lead it. Not only did this lead to stagnation but it also engendered dishonesty and corruption. A leader who sees a company as his own is more likely to hide anything that could tarnish that image, whether it be low numbers or faulty products.

5. They drove past red flags and warning signs.

Some leaders are so enamored with their personal visions that they’re willing to drive the company off of a cliff in pursuit of them. Many of these leaders solicit input and suggestions, but they just can’t take their feet off the gas. Persistence is a great quality in a leader but not if it means ignoring the facts.

Bringing It All Together

The bad news is that these mistakes are as common as they are damaging. The good news is that they’re really easy to fix, once you’re aware of them.

Have you seen smart leaders make similar mistakes? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

Travis co-wrote the bestselling book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and co-foundedTalentSmart.

 

Forbes.com | September 27, 2016 | Travis Bradberry 

 

 

#Leadership : This FlowChart can Help you Figure Out If you’re a Horrible Boss, or a Great One…Follow the FlowChart to Figure Out If you’re a Great Manager, or a Horrible One

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Most people like the idea of being the boss — but not everyone has what it takes to lead effectively.

Directions Man

It can be difficult to determine whether or not you’re manager material, even if you’re being honest with yourself. What’s more, once you are in a leadership role, it’s hard to reckon whether or not you’re doing a great job — or failing miserably.

It’s important to determine what your strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to leading. Otherwise, you might be unprepared once an opportunity to rise up comes around. Or, if you are already a boss, you might flounder in your management role.

For anyone who’s considering whether or not they have any leadership chops, Headway Capitalcompiled this infographic breaking down what it takes to be a great boss.

Follow the flowchart to figure out if you’re a great manager, or a horrible one:

Are you boss material DV4 1

Businessinsider.com | September 16, 2016 | 

Your #Career : The 3 Ways Ego Will Derail Your Career Before It Really Begins…Do Not Let Ego Derail your Career — Before it Even Begins.

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“Among men who rise to fame and leadership two types are recognizable—those who are born with a belief in themselves and those in whom it is a slow growth dependent on actual achievement. To the men of the last type their own success is a constant surprise, and its fruits the more delicious, yet to be tested cautiously with a haunting sense of doubt whether it is not all a dream. In that doubt lies true modesty, not the sham of insincere self depreciation but the modesty of “moderation,” in the Greek sense. It is poise, not pose.” – B.H. Liddell Hart

Free- Lock on Fence

When we’re young and just setting out in our careers we tend to assume that the greatest impediments to our progress and success are external to us. We blame our bosses and “the system” but we rarely think that we might be our own worst enemies, sabotaging ourselves right when we are beginning on our path.

Too often the obstacle that impedes our progress the most is internal — our own ego.

Yes, all of us, with all our talent and promise and potential, if we don’t control our ego, risk blowing up before we start. Talent, as Irving Berlin put it, is only the starting point. What we also need is self-management, self-control and humility.

 Here are three ways that ego is the enemy of those important traits.

1. Talk, talk, talk.

At the beginning of any path, we’re excited and nervous. So we seek to comfort ourselves externally instead of inwardly. There’s a weak side to each of us, that — like a trade union — isn’t exactly malicious but at the end of the day still wants to get as much public credit and attention as it can for doing the least. That side we call ego.

The writer and former Gawker blogger Emily Gould — ­essentially a real-­life Hannah Horvath — realized this during her two-­year struggle to get a novel published. Though she had a six-­figure book deal, she was stuck. Why? She was too busy “spending a lot of time on the Internet,” that’s why.

“In fact, I can’t really remember anything else I did in 2010. I tumbld, I tweeted and I scrolled. This didn’t earn me any money but it felt like work… It was also the only creative thing I was doing.”

She did what a lot of us do when we’re scared or overwhelmed by a project — she did everything but focus on it. In fact, many valuable endeavors we undertake are painfully difficult, whether it’s coding a new startup or mastering a craft. But talking, talking is always easy. So we do that instead.

It’s a temptation that exists for everyone — for talk and hype to replace action.

Doing great work is a struggle. It’s draining, it’s demoralizing, it’s frightening — not always, but it can feel that way when we’re deep in the middle of it. We talk to fill the void and the uncertainty.

The question is, when faced with your particular challenge — ­whether it is researching in a new field, starting a business, producing a film, securing a mentor, advancing an important cause — do you seek the respite of talk or do you face the struggle head­-on?

Related: Lessons on Overcoming Obstacles From a Pair of Immigrant Entrepreneurs

 

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2. Early pride.

At 18, a rather triumphant Benjamin Franklin returned to visit Boston, the city he’d run away from. Full of pride, he had a new suit, a watch and a pocketful of coins that he showed to everyone he ran into. All posturing by a boy who was not much more than an employee in a print shop in Philadelphia.

In a meeting with Cotton Mather, one of the town’s most respected figures, Franklin quickly illustrated just how ridiculously inflated his young ego had become. As they walked down a hallway, Mather suddenly admonished him, “Stoop! Stoop!” Too caught up in his performance, Franklin walked right into a low ceiling beam.

Mather’s response was perfect: “Let this be a caution to you not always to hold your head so high,” he said wryly. “Stoop, young man, stoop — as you go through this world — ­and you’ll miss many hard thumps.”

The problem with pride is that it blunts the instrument we need to succeed — our mind. Our ability to learn, to adapt, to be flexible, to build relationships, all of this is dulled by pride. Most dangerously, this tends to happen either early in life or in the process — ­when we’re flushed with beginner’s conceit. Only later do you realize that that bump on the head was the least of what was risked.

The question to ask, when you feel pride, then, is this: What am I missing right now that a more humble person might see? What am I avoiding, or running from, with my bluster, franticness, and embellishments?

It is far better to ask and answer these questions now, with the stakes still low, than it will be later.

Related: At SXSW: How Biotech Can Overcome Obstacles

3. Don’t be passionate.

Early on in her ascendant political career, a visitor once spoke of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “passionate interest” in a piece of social legislation. The person had meant it as a compliment. But Eleanor’s response is illustrative. “Yes,” she did support the cause, she said. “But I hardly think the word ‘passionate’ applies to me.” As a genteel, accomplished, and patient woman born while the embers of the quiet Victorian virtues were still warm, Roosevelt was above passion. She had purpose and direction.

Today it’s all about passion. Find your passion. Live passionately. Inspire the world with your passion.

People go to Burning Man to find passion, to be around passion, to rekindle their passion. Same goes for TED and the now enormous SXSW and a thousand other events, retreats and summits, all fueled by what they claim to be life’s most important force.

Related: What Producer Jerry Zaks Can Teach You About Overcoming Obstacles

Here’s what those same people haven’t told you: your passion may be the very thing holding you back from power or influence or accomplishment. Because just as often, we fail with — no, because of — passion. To be clear, this is not about caring. This is passion of a different sort — unbridled enthusiasm, our willingness to pounce on what’s in front of us with the full measure of our zeal, the “bundle of energy” that our teachers and gurus have assured us is our most important asset.

Instead, what we require in our ascent is purpose. Purpose, you could say, is like passion with boundar­ies. Passion is form over function. Purpose is function, function, function. The critical work that you want to do will require your deliberation and consideration. Not passion.

Passion is about. (I am so passionate about ______.) Purpose is to and for. (I must do ______. I was put here to accomplish ______. I am willing to endure ______ for the sake of this.) Actually, purpose deemphasizes the I.

Purpose is about pursuing something outside yourself as opposed to pleasuring yourself. “Great passions are maladies without hope,” as Goethe said. Which is why a deliberate, purposeful person operates on a different level, beyond the sway or the sickness.

It’d be far better if you were intimidated by what lies ahead– humbled by its magnitude and determined to see it through regardless. Leave passion for the amateurs. Make it about your purpose: what you feel you must do and say, not what you care about and wish to be. Then you will do great things. Then you will stop being your old, good-­intentioned, but ineffective self.

Early on in our careers we are setting out to do something. We have a goal, a calling, a new beginning. Every great journey begins here — yet far too many of us never reach our intended destination. Ego more often than not is the culprit.

We build ourselves up with fantastical stories and talk, we pretend we have it all figured out, we let our star burn bright and hot only to fizzle out, and we have no idea why. These are symptoms of ego, for which humility and reality are the cure.

Do not let ego derail your career — before it even begins.

This piece is adapted from Ryan Holiday’s book Ego is the Enemy, published by Penguin Portfolio

 

Entrepreneur.com |  June 15, 2016  | Ryan Holiday

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#Leadership : Leading Horizontally Could Take You to The Top…To Advance to a More Senior Management Position, the Ability to “Play Well” With your Peers is Vitally Important –Meeting your Targets is Not Enough.

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In this article, we will suggest three keys ways to work more effectively with your colleagues and perhaps, change the types of relationships you are having in the workplace.

business people shaking hands make deal and sign contract

Effectively leading horizontally is likely to increase your sphere of influence within your organization, enhance your productivity, better the organization, and it may just result in you experiencing more job satisfaction.

Over the years, scholars and business journalists have written several articles and books on how to “manage up” in the context of organizations – specifically how to manage relationships with supervisors. For example, see Karl’s recent blog post . Our bosses naturally want to work with us since we help them, solve their problems, and in our more lucid moments, accomplish seemingly unattainable feats.   It goes without saying that our first responsibility as a manager is to the people that work for us. There are also countless books and articles about how leaders within organizations can mobilize employees to fulfill a vision. Each of these situations requires individuals to manage a vertical relationship.

 

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The thing is that you don’t have legitimate power or a superior title over your peers, and they may not even work in your division; nonetheless, you depend on them to successfully complete your job and demonstrate you’re ready for middle and senior management. One could frame the question in the following manner: “How should one lead horizontally?” By leading horizontally, we refer to the ability of individuals to exercise their power of personal influence with people of equal or similar status within their organization.

There are three things to keep in mind when attempting to lead horizontally:

1) Identify precisely what the other person needs from you;

2) Identify ways that the other person can benefit from helping you;

3) Identify ways that you can create a client-server relationship with that person, rather than just a peer, or colleague-relationship of equal status. Underlying these ideas is the notion of trust. To have a healthy and influential working relationship, you will have to cultivate trust by being open and honest with your colleagues.

What does he or she need from you?

Power in any relationship is based on the relative needs interdependent people have for one another. In the workplace, your colleagues need you to fulfill particular tasks at particular times, in particular ways. You probably know the parameters of those tasks, but are you fully aware of how much the other person depends on you? Are you perfectly clear about what it feels like to them when you do your job at the highest level of proficiency rather than the lowest prong of mediocrity? Some people don’t take the time to consider this, but it’s one of the keys to increasing your influence in this relationship.

Generally, people tend to want to return a favor to someone who does something helpful for them. You may not like your colleague, or you may think they are not worthy of your extra effort. Nevertheless, everyone benefits when everyone is working for the betterment of the company. You are also more likely to be viewed as a team player by many of your co-workers, particularly your superiors. This is particularly true if your manager knows that you and the other person don’t necessarily get along very well.

Further to this point, the question you want to answer in relation to your counterpart is the following: “What might I do to make your job easier?” We are suggesting you ask this very question. They will often be surprised, perhaps even pleasantly surprised because they have never heard it before. This approach will provide you a much better understanding (not just base knowledge) of your colleague’s task, and his or her perspective on your role in the larger scheme of the work that needs to be done. In many instances you’ll find that people will reciprocate, the consequence of which is that your job becomes easier by making someone else’s job easier. The concept is basic, but without knowing the strengths, weaknesses, systems, and needs of certain colleagues and your organization, you might as well be playing proverbial “battleship”.

How might he or she benefit from helping you?

It goes without saying that people are motivated mostly by self-interest. The crucial question on this point is: “how might this person benefit from helping me?” Now, this may require some creative thinking on your part, but it could be very much worth the effort. In some ways this is the opposite side of the same coin discussed above. In this instance, it’s not you helping them directly – it’s you convincing that person that cooperating with you will inure to the benefit of their job, or overall responsibility. An example might be as simple as telling your supervisor that an individual was instrumental to your completion of a project and you would like to make sure he or she is commended appropriately. Not only might this help that person receive a better job evaluation, but in taking such steps, you could generate good will between the two of you, your supervisors, and your departments.

 

How can I create a server-client relationship?

Finally, begin to view your colleagues as “internal customers or clients.” This requires a major shift for most people. Have you heard the saying, “familiarity breeds contempt”? The more familiar and comfortable we are with people, the more we tend to take them for granted. This may manifest itself through having a more careless attitude, procrastinating on routine projects, paying less attention to detail, etc. The behaviors one typically exhibits to an authority or “bill payer” in the corporate context is often, and naturally, very different than the behavior exhibited to the person in the office next door. The natural impulse to treat internal people with less care should be resisted, and instead, treat them more like you would a client.

When you actively choose to view your colleagues as clients with their own needs, goals, and idiosyncrasies, you are likely to become more tolerant of their behaviors. This doesn’t mean that you have to simply accept their behaviors, but it is more productive if you accept that you must find a way to work peacefully with this person. It is unproductive to allow communication channels to become blocked and otherwise ineffective. This will do nothing more than increase strife in your organization while simultaneously decreasing collegiality, effectiveness, and work efficiency.

Effectively leading horizontally is likely to increase your sphere of influence within your organization, enhance your productivity, better the organization, and it may just result in you experiencing more job satisfaction.

Karl Moore, Ph.D. is associate professor at Desautels Faculty of Management and associate fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford University.

 

Forbes.com |  May 10, 2016 |  Karl Moore CONTRIBUTOR

#Leadership: Agile Leadership and the Manager/Entrepreneur…Remaining Flexible is One of the Most Important Traits a Leader can Possess–Especially Today.

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Over the last number of years, the word “agile” has been tossed around in numerous ways. The most common use has roots in the programming world, where “agile” is regarded as one step forward from “waterfall” as a means of making incremental improvements, to assure that the final product grows and is adjusted through the development process to be aligned with customer demand. In recent years, agile has emerged as “agile leadership.”

IMAGE: Getty Images

Some people have a rigorous notion of agile. Others prefer to use agile as a synonym for the ability to be flexible and responsive to a particular situation. Fortunately or unfortunately, the term itself is used in a non-concrete way.

What does agile leadership mean? At its core, my approach to agile leadership is predicated on the assumption that leadership is as much about how one adjusts one’s leadership style to a situation as it is on the embedded personality characteristics of the leader. Agile leadership, in this sense, implies contingency that how one leads is dependent on how one analyzes and views a particular situation.

For example, if the situation is one of stability, minimum uncertainty, and routinized expectations, then, as a leader, you lead in one way. If the opposite is true–unstable environment, high uncertainty, and ambiguous expectations–then, as a leader, you lead in another way.

Leading a manufacturing division is one thing; leading R&D is another. Leading when customer expectations are clear demands one kind of leadership; leading when customer expectations are not clear demands another.

 

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Agile leadership demands a mindful consideration of the context and an ability to adjust your leadership style appropriately. Agile leaders are able to vary their leadership style along a continuum. The question, of course, is what is this continuum?

The classic distinction is facilitative and directive leadership. The challenge for an agile leader is to balance their directive and facilitative style. Directive leadership sustains control by allocating resources, making expectations clear, defining goals, and establishing the parameters of success and failure. Facilitative leadership is based on giving individuals maximum flexibility and autonomy–giving them flexible goals, and letting them define and deal with parameters and constraints on their own.

In balancing these two leadership styles, an agile leader needs to be clear about which style is appropriate. During lean and difficult times, you may want to explicitly define goals, with the assumption that by delineating goals and specifying expectations will allow you to better control resources. In times of growth and abundance, you may want to define goals more broadly and give autonomy to be open to opportunities.

The challenge for an agile leader is to understand which style is appropriate at which type in time. The challenge is to balance leadership styles.

In these times, agile leadership is a special challenge for managers & entrepreneurs because they are caught on the horns of a dilemma. On the one had, they want to lead in such a fashion to give their organizations and teams the space to be innovative to assure the cutting edge. On the other hard, entrepreneurs have a short leash when it comes to resources and time. They have to be continuously accountable to assure a concrete ROI. The need to stimulate creativity and innovation may demand that the entrepreneur place a greater emphasis on their facilitative style while the shadow of ROI may demand that they emphasize their directive style. Agility is the capacity to juggle both styles as necessary. Entrepreneurial leaders need to get beyond blinders and personality and be aware of when one style suits the situation better than the other.

Even before “agile leadership” was in vogue, leaders of organizations of all sizes were well aware of it. The name may be a fad, but agile leadership has always been a core behavioral trait of successful managers & entrepreneurs.

#Leadership: The New Rules of Work. Meet the #Boss of the Future…The Power is Shifting, & What it Means to Be a Great Boss is Taking a Dramatic Turn

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We work in an ever-changing, hyperconnected, world-scattered workplace. As the way we work changes, so too will the boss’s role need to shift to meet those demands.

Take, for example, the very makeup of the U.S. workforce. One in every three Americans is a freelancer of some sort, according to a 2014 survey by Freelancers Union and Elance. This includes independent contractors, moonlighters, people working temporary or multiple jobs, and freelance business owners. Many expect this figure will increase to up to 50% by 2020, filling half the workforce with free agents.

What does this mean for the boss of the future?

A lot. “In the past, people acted like the only way to be in business was to make money,” says Ken Blanchard, co-author of the book, The New One-Minute Manager. “Now everybody is working for their people, rather than their people working for them.”

FOLLOWING THE HOLLYWOOD MODEL

For a sense of how the workplace might look five years from now, says Jeanne Meister, co-author of the book The 2020 Workplace and cofounder of the consulting firm Future Workplace, think for a moment of the way a Hollywood movie is made. Rather than hiring a permanent staff, a team of independent workers is pulled together, each of them filling a specific project need for the film. “These teams form and then disband when the movie is over,” says Meister, who sees this “Hollywood model” as one more companies across industries will adapt.

Businesses have the ability to grow insanely fast these days, going from relative obscurity to viral status sometimes overnight. That means managers need the ability to act quickly when it comes to putting together the perfect team needed to tackle whatever new challenge is at hand. “A leader is going to identify a new project—maybe it’s entering a new line of business or a new part of the world—and this is going to require a team with a new skillset,” says Meister. Cobbling together the leanest, most experienced team of people will require not just hiring, but overseeing a mixture of full-time and freelance people.

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FINDING MORE IMMEDIATE WAYS TO COMMUNICATE

Five years from now, managers will need to be far savvier about how they connect and communicate with their teams. Collaboration platforms like Yammer, Chatter, and Slack are starting to make their way into workplaces as the main form of communication, replacing email. “A whole population of employees think email is dead,” says Meister. “It’s not just a new way of communicating and collaborating. This is basically a new way of working.”

Introducing and making sure this new way of working goes smoothly falls largely into the hands of managers. That means the boss of the future must prioritize and be hypersensitive to how they adapt the technology themselves. With employees scattered around the world and often working remotely, making sure everyone is on the same page will become increasingly tricky and important.

A WHOLE NEW WAY OF HIRING

Managers are starting to be held more publicly accountable for their hiring practice and the need to be more sensitive to diversity in the workplace. A growing body of training, software, and services is being developed to help companies up their hiring game. Google, for example, recently started offering training in unconscious bias to make employees and managers more self-aware of their behavior and biases.

New hiring practices like blind interviewing are also being considered to help equalize the hiring process. All this points to the growing responsibility and accountability managers will have to their employees in the future.

“We are beginning to see leaders looking at their employees with the same lens you might look at a customer,” says Meister. “That requires leaders to have an empathy in how they view their team.”

THE BOSS ANSWERS TO EVERYONE

The culture of oversharing and immediacy that social media has bred into our daily lives is leaking into the workplace, which means employees will come to expect the same kind of transparency from their bosses. In five years, no one will be able to escape the immediacy and accountability that social media and online reviews have created for businesses. “How transparent you are is increasingly important,” says Meister. “Employees are going to seek you out because you’re a transparent leader.”

That means the boss of the future must be well adept at leading under a microscope, taking people’s feedback—harsh as it may be—and responding to it in their stride. Sites like Glassdoor.com, for example, where people can anonymously review their managers, are already making accountability far more important in the workplace. Say or do something that might piss your team off, and you better be prepared to handle the blowback.

Transparency will also require bosses to include their team in big decisions rather than just taking a top-down approach to leadership. “People look at leadership as a side-by-side relationship or a partnership relationship,” says Blanchard. “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Managers] need to be much better listeners rather than talkers. They need to be much better servant leaders.”

 

Fastcompany.com | May 18, 2015  | Jane Porter

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#Leadership: How You Support Others Starkly Shows How You #Lead…As a Mutuality-Minded, Connective #Leader, Demonstrate that being a Strong Team Player is As Important as Being a Rising Star, & Act as If that is also Their True Intention

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I played the Triangles Game as the last step the Coro Foundation used to select Fellows for its public affairs program. What I discovered — about being a connective, sought-after leader — was unexpected and unforgettable.

leadership-role-pic

Here’s what happened.

All final applicants were seated in groups of six around round tables. In front of each of us was placed a varied set of triangle-shaped cards. The board chair stood up in front of us all and said, “There is only one goal to this game and only three rules. The goal is to see which team finishes first. To finish, each of you at your table will have assembled in front of you a set of the triangles that fits to create a larger triangle. The first iron-clad rule is that you cannot ask for the piece you want back in trade to complete your triangle, made out of pieces. Instead, you must accept any piece that is offered to you in trade. Three, you cannot talk until the game is over because a team has won.”

What ensued was unforgettable, especially in retrospect after we heard the Coro leaders describe the behaviors we displayed when playing this game. For example, some individuals, in their ardor to win, couldn’t help but grab the card they wanted, throwing one of theirs back quickly in their drive to be first to complete their triangle of pieces. Others, as they came closer to completing their overall triangle of pieces, muttered under their breath their requests  – and pointed at what they wanted from someone else. After just a few trades, almost all of us instinctively kept peering down at our partially assembled set of cards,  looking for what was missing and who had one of them.

Adeptly Helping Others Is The Best Way To Help Yourself

Our team won, and certainly not because of me but because of Sue Wong (yes, that really is her name), who sat next to me. Unlike the rest of us, she was looking at what cards were missing in front of each of her teammates’ mix of cards. Then she was looking down to see which card she had that might help one of us complete our overall triangle of cards, and accepting the discards from us.

Eventually she was orchestrating the completion of each teammate’s triangle by aptly sharing the discarded cards she received to the right member. In so doing she facilitated our winning. She played the mutuality-mindset “card” of behavior better than anyone else on our team or the other teams. Everyone received an indelible first-hand experience of the power of mutuality behavior after the wise Coro leader drolly described to all of us in the room what we had done “together.”

Tip: “Don’t be a sheep, be a shepherd.” ~ Yael Citro, LawPal co-founder

 

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Articulating Their Specific Talent Can Help Them Strengthen It

When I was a Wall Street Journal reporter, my bureau chief bluntly told me one day that I took too long when interviewing some people, and sometimes that was a good thing. I got insights about the interviewees’ views on other topics.

He told me that, when I finished writing the story I was assigned, I should write notes about their answers to questions I asked that were not directly related to the story. Then in future stories, I might see where one of those interviewees had an unexpected yet relevant angle and quote them. In effect, my bureau chief showed me a talent I did not know I had, that I saw patterns between apparently unrelated things people said. That insight was life changing for me.

Consequently I developed a habit of explicitly telling others when I saw them demonstrate a specific talent that appeared to be hidden to them.

My boss, the bureau chief, was also extremely blunt – and invariably right — in describing my shortcomings and thus ultimately became a valuable sponsor for me in my career. Over time our relationship morphed into one of mutual mentoring, one of the most precious and continuing traits to our flourishing friendship.

Hint: A mutuality mindset multiplies opportunities and moments of camaraderie for us.

Vividly and specifically praise others when they shine a spotlight on individuals who are showing their strengths. In so doing, connective leaders can contagiously create close bonds and model connective behavior that embodies the sentimentRosabeth Moss Kanter advocates for leading: “I stand behind you. My job is to make yours successful.”

When They Make a Mistake, Enable Them to Save Face and Self-Correct

Help self others

What if Jennifer successfully completed a project that was vital to the division you supervise, yet left colleagues in the lurch on other projects – without telling them? You have an opportunity to offer a vital team-values lesson.

Act as if she understood she’d made a mistake. Meet with her privately and say, “I appreciate your great work on that project. And I know you feel badly that your colleagues didn’t learn, in time, that they would need to rapidly make adjustments to get the other projects completed. In our next meeting, how do you want to explain to them how you will do things differently in similar situations in the future? You have strong talents and I want to fully back you in gaining their support.”

Tip: As a mutuality–minded, connective leader, demonstrate that being a strong team player is as important as being a rising star — and act as if that is also their true intention.

 

Forbes.com | May 18, 2015  | Kare Anderson 

 

#Leadership: How To Create A High Performing #Culture…At the End of the Day, People DON’T Really Care About the Company, they Care about Themselves. Let’s be Honest, IF People cared More for the Company then #Turnover Wouldn’t Exist.

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The individual motivations that propel each and every worker are impossible to appeal to at mass. In fact, just motivating a single person can be challenging let alone encouraging 100 or 1,000 employees to exert another one percent effort.

SheepHerder

There are two approaches organizational leaders often take to stir the motivational pot and turn those employee frowns upside down (if need be). First–and these are in no particular order–there’s the, “We are going to change the world with this killer new product!” approach that may motivate some people, but not everyone. Then, there’s the, “We’re going to turn this company around! Yeee-haaw!” tactic that, again, energizes some but mainly inspires a rolling of the eyes.

While the intent to motivate is positive, there’s a drawback to either of the above motivational tactics: the company is at the center of  focus rather than the person. Here’s why.

At the end of the day, people don’t really care about the company, they care about themselves. I don’t mean this in a selfish or self-interested way but let’s be honest, if people cared more for the company then turnover wouldn’t exist.

What people do care about is something meaningful; something that challenges and inspires them to grow personally and professionally; and something to which they can contribute and improve.

So how do you integrate these principles into company culture? Read on.

Ask, don’t tell. No, not what you’re thinking of. What I’m referring to here is the power of choice—not so much from the proactive perspective (although that’s important, too) but from the perspective of senior to subordinate relationship. Here’s what I mean.

A research experiment by Daniel Kahneman took two groups of people and held a lottery drawing. The first group was assigned a ticket number; the second group was given a blank piece of paper and told to write their own number. Then—and this is the twist—the researchers asked to buy the lottery tickets back.

Logical thinking would lead one to believe that there wouldn’t be any difference in the amount paid for a participant’s lotto ticket, but that’s not what the results indicated. More so, what the researchers discovered offers valuable insight into how to create a high performing culture: The participants who wrote their own number charged five times more than those who were assigned a ticket.

What does this mean for company culture? It means then when offered thefreedom to choose, our commitment to results increases fivefold.

 

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Create a Christmas-like culture. I always loved the surprise of Christmas as a kid. Come to think of it, I still enjoy it as an adult. But there’s something to be said for the element of surprise accompanied with the aspect of reward. Surprises are exciting, and a rewarding surprise is even better. Now, if we pair theunexpected with recognition we create a whole new (intangible) aspect of compensation that boosts employee performance. If you don’t believe it, check this out…

In the same aforementioned study, experimenters assigned one group of participants to a photocopier who found a dime in the coin-return slot. The other group? Nada. Afterward, the participants who found that extra ten cents rated their satisfaction at 6.5 on a scale of one to seven, while the other group rated 5.6.

The takeaway here is that unexpected rewards have a positive impact on our mental states, and therefore our productivity.

How do you compel high performance?

 

Jeff is a executive coach specializing in adaptive-leadership and author of the forthcoming “Navigating Chaos: How to Find Certainty in Uncertain Situations.”

 

Forbes.com | May 18, 2015 | Jeff Boss

#Strategy: How to Be More Nimble Than Your Competition: 5 Tips…These Strategies can Help you Banish Bureaucracy & Stay Agile

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When you’re a new company you can be fast and nimble, and you don’t have any bureaucracy mucking up your ability to get things done. But how do you retain that agility as you scale? Girish Navani, CEO of the cloud-based electronic health record giant eClinicalWorks, has some ideas. The high value he places on speed is one factor he says has helped his bootstrapped company grow from $1 million in revenues in 2003 to $333 million last year. Here’s his advice for how you can be more nimble than your competition.

IMAGE: Getty Images

1. Banish layers and focus on team-playing.

Companies become sluggish because of silos and walls that slow decision making. To avoid such a fate eClinicalWorks has only three of layers: Team leads, team players and Navani as CEO, although he takes responsibility for leading product development. “When [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][your company is] five people you have roles, you have responsibilities, but you don’t have layers. Why can’t we do the same thing when we’re 4,000 people?” he says. “I think we’ve found a way to do that. We’ve structured the company around being a team-player versus an individual.”

 

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2. Encourage transparency and free speaking.

When people speak their minds decisions are made faster, particularly if your culture is one that values the larger picture more than the individual. Ideally, if an employee sees that something may be good for himself and his role-but not for the overall organization-you want him to say so. “Be open, be communicative, be transparent and let people know that what you value in a company is teamwork and not individuals trying to be superstars,” he says.

3. Keep the doors open.

Part of transparency means anyone can access anyone else at any time. Navani says he spends 95 percent of his day working in the open at a table surrounded by several chairs anyone can occupy when they have something to collaborate on or discuss. “We brainstorm, we make decisions, and we talk. No meetings, no scheduled appointments,” he says. “Because I don’t close my doors, nobody else closes their doors.”

4. Communicate simple goals people can understand.

If you can’t articulate your company’s mission and goals within 30 seconds youremployees probably won’t be able to deliver on them. For example, as eClinicalWorks grew, its list of products did, as well. But considering the company’s goal is to use technology to improve healthcare delivery at some point it made the most sense to offer all products to customers in a bundle they pay for monthly. “Suddenly the world changes with one broad statement, and people start getting away from individual [product] profitability to company-wide decision making,” he says. “[We] became very agile in how we make decisions, because the only decision we have is to make our customers use all our products and let them pay the monthly fee rather than trying to sell them individually.”

5. Look at your company from the customer’s perspective.

The company used to charge $1,000 a day for training, meaning an independent small doctor may have had to shell out five times that amount to get up and running. Unlike its competitors eClinicalWorks did away with the upfront fee, instead baking it into the monthly subscription, meaning it took longer for the company to recoup the training. As a result, sales increased as prospects started seeing the company as one which was confident it could keep their business long term. “Ask the question, ‘What’s slowing you down? What’s causing grief to your customer? Why does your customer think working with them is harder today than when you were a 5-person startup?'” he says. “If you keep doing that type of constant refactoring of your business, you’ll stay agile and ahead of your competition because you’re making decisions they can’t make.”[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]