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#Leadership : How I’ve Learned To Fight Loneliness And Isolation As A CEO…When Everyone’s Looking to You for Answers, one CEO Recounts from Experience, the Pressures can be Intense.

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 Martin Senn, the former head of Zurich Insurance, committed suicide in May this year, less than three years after two other top Swiss executives took their own lives. It’s difficult to generalize from individual tragedies like these, but it’s just as difficult not to see a common thread. It’s long been argued that companies could do a lot more to support their employees’ mental health and well-being, considering that so many of those pressures arise in the workplace.

Free- Bench on a Lonely Beach

What’s clear is that CEOs aren’t exempt from the pressures. Many execs face intense scrutiny in their roles and bear the mental and emotional burden of guiding their companies to success and protecting their employees’ livelihoods—and that’s outside of any issues in their personal lives.

LONELINESS IN THE CORNER OFFICE

So many roll their eyes at the notion that highly compensated business leaders need or deserve special attention. And at a time when so many Americans struggle just to find a decently paid job, that sentiment is understandable. But it doesn’t diminish or negate the reality that the c-suite offers no shelter from psychological pressures—many of which are unique to those in leadership positions.

A survey by RHR International found that half of CEOs report experiencing feelings of loneliness in their roles. Of this group, 61% believe isolation hinders their performance. That’s a significant proportion of top executives who are suffering and not performing at their peak. Executive loneliness and isolation is bad for people and bad for business.

In my experience, fear and ego are two of the main causes of this kind of isolation. On the one hand, there’s fear of appearing inadequate and the concern that asking for help could make others doubt your judgment. After all, CEOs are supposed to have all the answers—the buck stops with you. Meanwhile, your ego is telling you that you really don’t need others to help make big decisions; who knows your business better than you do? Combined, these two factors can prevent even highly capable CEOs from turning to others for support when they need it most.

When times are good, you may not even notice this. It’s when your business faces real struggles that the risks and consequences of loneliness come into play. In the 2008—2009 financial crisis, my business was in desperate shape and everyone was looking to me for answers. I could feel the walls closing in. Here are some steps I was able to take to overcome those feelings of anxiety and loneliness and get myself—and my company—back in gear.

1. DON’T WAIT TO FIND PEER SUPPORT

For me, one of the most revelatory things was simply realizing that I wasn’t alone in being alone. Lots of other CEOs out there were experiencing the same challenges and going through the same emotions. I just had to look outside my own company and immediate circle to find them.

For me, the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a group of CEOs from companies around the world, has been an incredible channel for connecting with peers who’ve had similar experiences. During regular meetings with my YPO forum group—eight to 10 CEOs or other top decision makers from non-competing businesses—we all share the challenges we’re facing and speak frankly about how we’re trying to tackle them.

In 2009, when BuildDirect was teetering on the brink of collapse, I confessed to my forum mates that in about a month’s time we wouldn’t be able to make payroll. This was an incredibly scary thing to admit, but just being able to say it out loud to others helped me unlock the creative thinking it took to come up with a solution.

Bottom line: There are other people out there who have gone through the exact same challenges. Finding them—even if it means looking outside your company—is a first step toward overcoming isolation.

 

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2. LET YOURSELF FEEL VULNERABLE, THEN LET PEOPLE IN

Vulnerability is all about inviting others into your world, making it a natural antidote to loneliness. The challenge is taking that first step and letting down your defenses. I’ve found that simply confiding in people from the get-go—essentially, trusting first and asking questions later—can dramatically improve ties with your team. While you never know what kind of response you’ll get, in my experience the benefits far outweigh the risks.

This isn’t a unique perspective on my part. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has spoken previously about the importance of vulnerability and transparency and the role they played when his company was struggling in 2008. Instead of trying to become the lone savior of Starbucks, Schultz helped his employees understand the challenges the company was facing and empowered them to become part of the solution. But he first had to let his own guard down as their leader in order to do that.

I’ve seen the power of this firsthand. During the crisis, I held a company-wide meeting and explained to everyone that we would have to shut down BuildDirect if we couldn’t figure our way out of the problems we were facing. Rather than drawing up a strategy behind closed doors and hoping for the best, laying everything out there in the open encouraged the whole team to take ownership of our challenges and work toward solving it, which we ultimately did.

3. STAY GRATEFUL WHEN IT’S HARDEST

When I think about how fortunate I am to have a loving family, good health, and the ability to make positive contributions to the world around me, it’s hard to get bogged down in despair or loneliness for too long. A 2007 study, in fact, found that gratitude led directly to “higher levels of perceived social support, and lower levels of stress and depression”—just one of the psychological benefits of simple thankfulness.

The challenge, as always, is remembering all of this in the heat of the moment. For me, maintaining this perspective is all about routine and repetition. I work hard to carve out dedicated time for family and friends—then try and protect that time when I do. My family sometimes takes trips to a cabin, and when we’re there, I do my best to make sure I give my full attention to things like swimming, campfires, and enjoying each other’s company—not work. That may sound simple, but any business leader knows how hard it can be. In the end, gratitude is almost like a muscle: It’s something you have to consciously exercise or else you risk losing it.

Media coverage of high-profile CEOs tends to ramp up whenever things are going really well or really badly, and that can add a real psychological pressure on execs themselves. For leaders who judge their success by that popular narrative, the pressures on them can build, sometimes with terrible consequences.

But great CEOs know—and always try to remind themselves, especially when it’s hardest—that it’s never about them. It’s about the impact that their businesses have on others. They build relationships and teams that pass credit for success onto other people. They stand in when mistakes are made, shielding their teams so that experimenting and learning can continue. As I’ve come to understand, win or lose, knowing it’s not all about you—and never has been—can make a big difference.

Jeff Booth is cofounder and CEO of BuildDirect. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBooth.

 

FastCompany.com | JEFF BOOTH 07.27.16 5:00 AM

#Leadership : 2 Business School Professors Explain How you Can Become a More Authentic Leader…The Newly Appointed Ask Themselves: Am I Tough Enough? Extroverted Enough? Can I Deal with the Constant Exposure? Faced with this Uncertainty, #Leaders Naturally Look for Models they can Emulate.

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Few transitions test one’s character like moving to a senior leadership role. It’s one thing to gain mastery of a particular function or skillset; it’s quite another to take responsibility for, and earn the respect of, employees from different backgrounds, functions, and cultures.

Free- Stones stacked on each other

For many leaders, this transition is marked by a period of self-doubt. The newly appointed ask themselves: Am I tough enough? Extroverted enough? Can I deal with the constant exposure? Faced with this uncertainty, leaders naturally look for models they can emulate.

But interestingly, imitating the leadership styles of others may not be the best way to go. “People often think they need to change or mold themselves into an idealized version of leadership,” says Brenda Booth, a clinical professor of management at the Kellogg School. “This creates a kind of impostor syndrome. They think that if they are truly themselves, people won’t accept it.”

Becoming a leader does not require adopting a new persona; it means amplifying your true self with focus and discipline. The key is to be authentic — to draw from one’s own experiences, values, and strengths.

“Authenticity is not a license to be excessively focused on the self,” says Brooke Vuckovic, an adjunct professor of leadership coaching at the Kellogg School. “It’s about being aligned with your character and values in order to lead effectively. That takes work.”

So how does a new senior leader achieve this alignment? Booth and Vuckovic offer five tips for how to lead authentically.

1. Know yourself.

“The cornerstone of authenticity is self-awareness,” Booth says. “It is about being comfortable in your own skin so you can lead the organization in a way where you do not feel ethically compromised or like a charlatan.”

In part, this means being aware of your unique character, values, strengths, and shortcomings. Decades of research on leadership shows that there is no one right way to lead. Instead, what distinguishes leaders is their ability to understand the impact they have on other people. “Many leaders are characteristically outgoing,” Booth says. “They thrive in social settings and give bold, inspirational speeches. However, more introverted types can be great leaders, too.”

Take, for example, Douglas Conant, a self-described introvert (and Kellogg alum) who became CEO of Campbell’s Soup in 2001 — a turbulent year. Despite overseeing a period of layoffs, Conant was able to boost morale, achieve results, and earn the respect of employees throughout the company.

He did this not by delivering grandiose, fist-pounding speeches at company-wide meetings, but by drawing upon his natural gift for connecting in more intimate settings. One of his trademark moves was to walk the halls, which allowed him to meet employees one-on-one or in smaller groups.

And he always sent handwritten notes to those he wanted to acknowledge. “That was his version of authentic leadership,” Booth says. “He had a personal touch.” The point is not to find the appropriate dial on the introvert–extrovert meter; it is simply to be aware of your personality and use it to your advantage.

Perhaps even more fundamental than personality is understanding one’s values and purpose. One way to explore your values and purpose, Vuckovic says, is to take the time to review your life in detailed chapters, which can help you understand yourself in narrative terms. “Stories help leaders explain where they came from, what they stand for, and why they lead. All of this is related to the vision they project,” Vuckovic says.

“Most leaders are not driven by shareholder value alone,” she continues. So it is critical to develop a strong understanding of what motivates you — and how you want to motivate others. “Is recognition important? Is having a fun-loving culture important? The clearer you are about what motivates you and those around you, the more authentic and effective you will be as a leader.”

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2. Learn to connect.

Whether you are speaking to a packed auditorium or chatting with a single employee, it is important to make a sincere connection that matches the needs of the situation.

“This capacity to connect and demonstrate ease is a central component of executive presence. Those who demonstrate the qualities that make up ‘likability’ convey warmth, for certain, but also congruence,” Vuckovic says.

In other words, your actions should align with your words, and your words with your emotional affect. But being congruent also means adapting to the situation at hand. If a leader prepares for a large meeting but it turns out only six people attend, it might put others off if that leader insisted on formalistically sticking to the script. “It’s usually incongruence that makes people feel you are inauthentic,” she says.

Leaders should also be hyper-aware of the culture in which they are operating. “You want to be yourself — but with care,” Vuckovic says.

3. Be discreet.

“Being an authentic leader doesn’t mean revealing inappropriate personal details, talking about yourself incessantly, or telling people how you feel all the time,” Vuckovic says. “The point of being authentic is that it frees you up to be others-focused. So you should always ask yourself before personal disclosure: Is this relevant to the task at hand? Does this contribute to this individual understanding my values and decision here?”

Disclosing too much information — especially if it is highly personal — can have a negative impact on a leader’s reputation and can call into questions their capacity to self-monitor.

There is also the question of how transparent leaders should be about high-level decision making. “Sometimes being fully transparent is neither prudent nor an option,” Booth says.

Consider a scenario where senior management is discussing a possible reorganization. If a decision has not yet been made, it would not make sense to share this information with employees, since productivity would clearly suffer. And in the case of a merger or spin-off, top management must sometimes keep information confidential due to fiduciary reasons.

4. Play to your strengths.

Every leader has strengths and weaknesses. Some are good at boosting morale; others are good at ensuring productivity. Some are natural-born mentors; others prefer to keep more distance. It is important to know your limitations and figure out how to compensate for them — possibly by making sure other leaders can assist in playing those roles.

“If you need to impose cost reductions or cut staff, that would require tough leadership,” Booth says. “If you need to boost morale — that’s a different kind of leadership.” A single leader may be able to do both authentically, but not everyone has that range.

“Some people are hardwired to be hard as nails,” she says, pointing to Donald Rumsfeld, who was famous in the intelligence community for ruthless efficiency. “He would randomly call first-line supervisors or analysts and ask them what they were doing,” she says. “He’s not the guy for boosting morale.”

5. Keep requesting feedback.

Authentic leaders welcome feedback, both formal and informal, though Booth cautions against worrying too much about popularity. “Being authentic is not a popularity contest,” Booth says. “People may not like what you do even if you are authentic. But if you focus on what is right for the organization, make ethical choices, and treat employees with dignity in the process, then chances are you will earn the respect of the vast majority.”

If the feedback deals with a known weakness — for example, chronic impatience — it is helpful to track your own progress. A leader may occasionally learn of a flaw they had not been aware of — say, awkward body language. They will also have to keep the context of the feedback in mind when deciding on how to respond.

Vuckovic takes the example of an introverted leader whose predecessor was a charismatic extrovert: “Someone might say to you, ‘I wish you would hold more rah-rah meetings like we used to — they got people really excited,’” she says. “And, let’s say that you’ve seen those and you know you can’t pull them off authentically and that you would be a poor imitation of another.

First, you need to determine what those rah-rah meetings achieved — was it communication? Socializing with others? Celebration? For you, it may better to achieve those goals in a different way or to support someone else conducting those meetings. Identify what is needed, and then determine the ‘how’ in a way that is authentic to you.”

“You need honest people to act as whetstones — to keep you sharp and in line with your values,” Vuckovic says. “But remember: you get to filter that feedback and decide what to act on. There may be times when you say, ‘I hear you, I understand what you’re saying, but I’m not going to change a thing.’”

Read the original article on Kellogg Insight. Copyright 2016.

Businessinsider.com | March 21, 2016 | Drew Calvert, Kellogg Insight

 

#Leadership : Why this CEO Makes his Executive Team Climb a Mountain that has Claimed more Lives than Everest…CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani Has his Leadership Team do Something More Adventurous than Gathering at a Cushy Resort.

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Like a lot of big companies, the Japanese internet giant Rakutenused to host annual offsite retreats where all the executives would meet at a golf course to connect and talk strategy. About seven years ago, that tradition changed radically.  CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani tells Business Insider that he now has his leadership team do something more adventurous than gathering at a cushy resort.

Rakuten Tanigawa 4

CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani.

Instead, execs now meet on Mount Tanigawa every year, a Japanese mountain that hasclaimed the lives of more climbers than Mount Everest.

Despite that jarring death toll, Mikitani decided to change the company offsite after hiking the mountain with his young son. Although the climb is difficult, some trails, including the one Rakuten employees take, are less dangerous than others.

Mikitani sees the tradition as the perfect way for execs to get to know each other better through a non-conventional bonding experience. Even more importantly, the struggle to make it to the top altogether symbolizes the idea of working through company difficulties as a team.

Rakuten Tanigawa 3RakutenCompany executives climbing through the fog. “Rakuten always goes to the peak,” Mikitani grins.

 

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One other exec who has climbed Mount Tanigawa several times gleefully told Business Insider that he almost died last year when he started sliding on the rocks under his feet. He almost careened off the side of a cliff before managing to grab onto a rock. His teammates and their guide then threw him a rope he used to climb back onto the path.

Rakuten Tanigawa 2 (1)Rakuten

Although the offsite is all about team building and pushing boundaries, another exec jokes that it also acts as a good way for employees to stay in good physical condition through the year.

“The fear keeps you fit,” he laughs, saying that he would remind himself to go to the gym more often in the months leading up to the retreat.

Mikitani recalls one particularly memorable climb where he invited a journalist who planned to profile the company to join the expedition. After a grueling ascent and witnessing how execs continually pushed themselves and each other to the limit to make it to the top, the journalist, between his own tired gasps, apparently said, “Now I finally feel like I understand Rakuten.”

Rakuten Tanigawa 6Rakuten

 

Businessinsider.com | September 21, 2015 | 

 

#Leadership : The Daily Habits of 19 High-Achieving CEOs …Success in Business & Life is All about Being Intentional About How you Use your Time.

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Think about the Most Successful People you Know. Chances are they Didn’t get Where they Are Because of a Lucky Break, but rather possess characteristics or a state of mind that sets them apart from people leading average lives.

 

Check out these quotes from 19 successful CEOs who credit simple daily habits for helping them get ahead in business and life.

1. Take a few 30-minute breaks to walk around the whole company and talk to people.

“Often I’ll overhear a problem that I didn’t know about that we’ll need to solve some day. And while [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”][it may be] a bit nerve-racking to have the CEO running around asking questions at first, [you’re more] approachable over the longer-term as long as you don’t over-react.”

–Suhail Doshi, CEO of Mixpanel, an analytics platform for mobile and web that tracks 50 billion actions people take in applications per month to help companies gain insights into user activity.

2. Talk to at least one customer.

“I try to never let a day go by where I don’t speak with at least one of our current customers. No one is better equipped to let us know where our services are succeeding and failing, and where we can improve. This is also why we have a client success team, but hearing it directly from the horse’s mouth can provide greater context.”

–Michael Ortner, CEO of Capterra, a web service that has helped companies such as Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Home Depot find and purchase business software.

 

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3. Limit meetings.

“I never have more than five meetings in the average day and usually only two or three. The reason is I believe you can create a daily work life where you are too busy to grow. I spend much of the day just thinking about the business–the product offering, the sales and marketing strategy, the industry. Taking time to think about your business gives you the best chance of growing [it].”

–Matt Godard, CEO of R2Integrated, one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the country.

4. Don’t leave things for later.

“We tend to save the more complicated tasks for later, but that’s an efficiency killer. Solve things right away. This goes for emails too. Email still is the most used tool and by far preferable to phone calls. It has, however, the most undeveloped functions. Try to use the basic set of filters and sorting on your next batch of emails. It helps.”

–Serban Enache, CEO of global stock photo site Dreamstime.com.

5. Run to work and back.

“I bookend my day with exercise by jogging to the office and back. It’s a great way to clear your mind and get the creative juices flowing. Naturally you need a shower at work to pull this off and a reasonably short commute. It means exercise is built into each day, and it beats sitting in a car or a bus. Plus, audiobooks!”

–Jay Simons, president of software company Atlassian, which offers team collaboration products including JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket, and HipChat, which are collectively used by more than 48,000 companies worldwide.

6. Wake up an hour early and stay up an hour late.

“I find that I have the most time for myself to think during the hours of the early morning as well as late at night. During the early morning, I often think about the priorities for the day ahead and what communications to the team I must relay in order to ensure everyone continues to be fully aligned and on the same page. Then, at night, as everyone else goes to sleep and the distractions of email and phone calls dissipate, I allow my mind the freedom to be fully creative and think bigger picture, exploring our organization’s vision for the future and the overarching path we will take to get there.”

–Tiffany Pham, founder and CEO of MOGUL, an award-winning technology platform for women.

7. Be willing to meet with anyone at any time.

“I meet with people–usually via phone and computer–at all times of the day and night. [It might be] 5 in the morning for meetings in India or Sunday night for meetings in Singapore. I find that without doubt the harder I work and the more flexible I am about meeting someone’s schedule, the more people I reach and the luckier I get.”

–Eric Frankel, founder and CEO of AdGreetz, a cloud-based SaaS platform that empowers brands such as Intel, NBC, and Toyota to deploy relevant, personalized video messages.

8. Work your to-do list.

“In the morning or the night before, I write down a to-do list, a sort of priority of what I intend to accomplish that day. As the day progresses I scratch off items completed and open room for others. I find this helps me keep focused on the most important goals and not lose sight of what I primarily intended to accomplish that day.”

–Payman Taei, CEO and founder of Visme, a DIY online tool that has empowered over 200,000 businesses and nonprofits create better presentations and infographics. He is also the founder of HindSite Interactive, an award-winning web agency that helps companies improve their online presence.

9. Work out hard every day.

“I’m driven when it comes to sports and fitness. I have a regular 5 a.m. workout consisting of Insanity, Asylum and a five-mile run regardless of where I am in the world and the time zone. Since so much of my job is unpredictable, the workout helps keep my mind and body fresh and at least I have a predictable start to my day.”

–Don Joos, CEO of global telecommunications company ShoreTel.

10. Be a servant.

“Once you get to any reasonable size, the team is running the company. Your job is to be a servant–to make sure people have the resources to do the job, to eliminate friction, and to drive the strategy that sets everyone up to succeed.”

–Greg Schott, CEO of MuleSoft, a software company valued at $1.5 billion.

11. Don’t be afraid of failure.

“The biggest mistake any leader can make is to avoid taking risks because they are afraid of failing. It’s best to fail fast, quickly learn and re-do versus wasting years in trying to perfect and losing a key opportunity. And, sharing the failures with your team is even more important as you build a culture that fosters out-of-the-box thinking without obsessing about the worst-case scenarios.”

–Faizan Buzdar, CEO of Convo, an enterprise-mobile messaging and collaboration platform used by 15,000 businesses and 25 percent of the Fortune 500 companies.

12. Leverage all of your staff.

“Understand that you and your sales personnel don’t necessarily have all the knowledge in the world. Constantly ask the company staff and external advisers, ‘How else can we be bringing value to prospective customers?’ There are always new clients and revenue models that can be explored and a holistic approach to BI and BD can provide substantial results.”

–Joel Zamel, CEO and founder of Wikistrat, which operates a global network of more than 2,000 subject-matter experts specializing in national security and geopolitics, operating on a virtual platform to conduct wargaming simulations and data modeling for enterprise clients.

13. Be a collector.

“I have always had a love for one-of-a-kind collectible action figures. It’s a great passion of mine. Maybe it’s something I do subconsciously to connect to my inner kid. It’s a great reminder to maintain a degree of levity and balance.”

–Moshe Hogeg, founder and CEO of Mobli Media, a technology company that creates products leveraging crowd-based activities that benefit people through content sharing and social media.

14. Exercise during your break.

“Science has told us countless times that sitting at a desk all day will doom our bodies to eternal suffering and not only will getting up and moving around during the day significantly lessen the damage, it also boosts productivity. Instead of simply taking my lunch break to eat food in another chair, I make sure to duck out at least three times a week to get my limbs stretched and my blood pumping. My personal favorites for this are a 45-minute spin class or cross-fit training.”

–Shaul Olmert, CEO and co-founder of Playbuzz, a free online content platform that enables publishers, marketers, bloggers, and brands to create, distribute, and embed quizzes, polls, lists, and other content on websites, social pages, or mobile apps.

15. Have pointless conversations.

“Especially when it comes to the fast-moving tech industry, it’s easy to fall into a trap where urgency takes over and every conversation, interaction, or meeting has to fulfill a particular purpose. While staying focused and effective is important, I’ve found it’s equally important to take the time to have pointless or no-action-item conversations with people about how they are doing and what’s going on in their lives. This is key in building a strong bond with the people in your company, but equally important, it allows you to learn more about the people you’re working with, and knowing what makes them tick will make you a more successful manager.”

–Tomer Bar-Zeev, co-founder and CEO of ironSource, a global technology company that helps developers connect with users across devices and platforms.

16. Cross things off the to do list, but don’t delete them.

“I was keeping a Google doc and just deleting things of the to-do list. However, it was difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment, especially on days when the list actually grew longer. I find that when you cross items off the list, and don’t delete them until the end of the day, that you see the progress and feel the satisfaction of moving forward.”

–Eric Narcisco, founder of Effective Coverage, a national online renter’s insurance site that recently launched a mobile platform for buying renters insurance via a partnership with Traveler’s.

17. Meditate every morning.

“I begin each morning with an hour of deep meditation. I’ve learned to remain calm when the world strikes a stressful blow, which happens frequently as a businessowner. It’s amazing how much easier it is to lead a ship through stormy seas when the captain is calm and confident. I can’t imagine my life or running a business without meditation.”

–Jeremy Hallett, CEO of online term life insurance company Quotacy.

18. Go out for coffee several times a week.

“I don’t even like coffee but it’s a great excuse to go out and meet people I can learn from, and hopefully, who I can then help in return. My network is the most important asset I have, but I have to work it by getting out of the office and meeting people. It’s how I raised $1.2 million in funding and met some of our big-name clients.”

–Kristi Zuhlke, co-founder and CEO of KnowledgeHound, a market research data retrieval and visualization technology that serves large consumer brands like Pepsi and Procter & Gamble.

19. Listen to podcasts.

“Every night I listen to podcasts that feature ideas on entrepreneurship, interviews with successful founders, or industry news. I’m a huge believer in lifelong learning, and I find these podcasts to be incredibly helpful in sparking new ideas, inspiring me to improve, and learning from the mistakes of others.” (His favorite: The Startup Podcast.)

–Matt Mickiewicz, co-founder of online IT recruiter Hired.

What daily habits help you succeed in business and life?

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
PUBLISHED ON: SEP 2, 2015

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#Leadership : Avoiding A Career Killer: Subordinates Who Don’t Deliver Results…Great #Careers are Not made by Keeping Busy. They’re Made by Tackling the Most Important Tasks & De-Emphasizing Everything Else.

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Leaders & Managers Kill their Careers Because they Tolerate Direct Reports Who Can’t Step Up & Take Work Off their Plate. They’re stuck doing lower level work and never have time to tackle higher level projects. This signals their boss that they are not ready to move up. No promotion.

man-on-staircase

Consider the conversation I just had with the CEO of a fast growing manufacturing company. She was overloaded and looking to adjust her organizational chart in the year ahead. As we discussed each of her direct reports, she contrasted one VP who dodged responsibility for projects the she had delegated, versus another who actually told the CEO, “I’ve got this [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”][project] and will report back if I run into any obstacles,” and delivered results. What a stark contrast. One will move up, the other will not.

Direct Reports Make The Difference
Is one VP lazy and the other industrious? No. Both are hard working. The difference is that one VP has direct reports who are growing in their roles and support the VP by doing parts of his job for him, freeing him up to take tasks from the CEO. As the business grows, this VP will gain a c-suite title and his team will follow him, staying near the top of the organizational chart. The other VP will move down a layer (at best) with a new executive placed above him.

Most of the time, executives & managers assume their direct reports have clarity on priorities and possess the skills and experience to tackle the important tasks, not just the urgent ones. They check in with subordinates on an ad-hoc basis and hear about “what’s going on” and “how busy things are.” The assumptions are wrong, and ad-hoc conversations won’t cut it.

 

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Great careers are not made by keeping busy. They’re made by tackling the most important tasks and de-emphasizing everything else. It’s the leader’s job to help their subordinates to do just that. They must require clear, written milestones for any projects in the hands of a subordinate and have weekly one-on-one meetings to examine how time will be invested in key priorities plus reviewing anticipated and realized progress. Most 1:1 meetings miss the mark and waste time. Here’s how to make them powerful.

Making Weekly 1:1s Powerful

For each subordinate:

1. Have them choose the five most important priorities/initiatives in the month ahead. Limit them to about five. Starting with a list of 20 important things on their plate is useless; even harmful. If they struggle to pick five, then you are getting your first lesson about why they’ve struggled to produce important results. Help them as needed to pick the five. Try not to do it for them.

2. Ask them for simple project plans for each priority. This is a chronological list of five to 10 key steps for the project, with a starting and ending date for each step, along with a guess on how many hours they are budgeting to complete the step. Many managers do not know how to do this. You may need to teach them how, doing it with them a few times. Part of your job as a leader is mentoring. Save a copy of these project plans in a shared drive.

3. Ask them how much of the week will be devoted to these five priorities. Assuming they are an exempt, salaried manager, I’d expect them to work around 50 hours per week total. Perhaps 25 hours goes to the priorities, with the rest going to “day to day” tasks. (Some line managers spend most of their time on day-to-day, so they might only have five hours for priorities.)

4. Ask them to allocate those 25 hours to certain steps of the five priorities. In writing. For example, five hours for each priority, with the specific step identified.

5. Meet weekly. The first few times you take a subordinate through the weekly meeting additional time may be required for mentoring. But by the third week, the weekly meetings should be held to 30 minutes or less. It begins with the subordinate producing last week’s plan (with their brief notes as to how their time was spent versus plan and what was accomplished) and their proposed plan for the week ahead (following the guidelines above).

Reviewing the prior week lets the subordinate know you’re looking and will call out any loss of focus. This visibility will help them stay focused amidst all their distractions (i.e. e-mails, lunch, meetings, travel). For the week ahead, you may modify the plan or adjust priorities. For any new priorities, you will review the step-by-step project plan briefly. An excellent subordinate working in a well-led environment will get their priorities right 95% of the time.

The meeting will be very fast. Your subordinate will exit the meeting feeling good that they know exactly what you want and have a plan for the week that they helped construct. And they’ll feel a bit of pressure that they’ve committed to focusing on specific priorities with certain accomplishments expected. That pressure is exactly what they’ll need all week long to resist interruptions, avoid attending worthless meetings, shorten long lunches and minimize time spent on “nice to have” projects. They’ll exhibit a more disciplined use of time.

Discipline Is Unnatural
For most humans, discipline is unnatural. Many executives start off this process well, then allow their subordinates to become undisciplined, and weekly 1:1s turn back into formless conversations that don’t produce results. Be rigid in what you require from each subordinate at the start of each meeting. Stick to the process.

Sometimes you’ll have to skip your 1:1 due to travel or vacations. I understand. But the subordinate should still turn in their weekly plan, and you should still look it over and respond by e-mail. Their simple act of writing and reviewing their own weekly plan has tremendous value. Your subordinate’s productivity is too important to your career to allow a full week without a plan and your brief review.

Sometimes a week seems too frequent, especially for subordinates who are supervisors, with a majority of their work falling into the day-to-day category. While in some cases a every other week interval can work, I instead recommend shortening the weekly 1:1 to a five or ten minute meeting. A weekly cadence is powerful in helping keep focus on priorities, which can sometimes include managing key performance indicators along with initiatives.

In all of the companies I’ve consulted for, great leadership is sought after and rewarded. Far and away, promoting from within is the preferred approach, but only if there are executives who are signaling that they are able and willing to step up. Managers and executives who help their boss win by taking tasks off their plate are positioned as ideal candidates for promotion. Companies benefit through accelerated growth when the entire leadership team is stretching and growing; tackling new challenges. Make implementing this management discipline a priority throughout your leadership ranks.

Also on Forbes:

Follow me @RobertSher and check out my new book, Mighty Midsized Companies; How Leaders Overcome 7 Silent Growth Killers.

 

Forbes.com | July 21, 2015 | Robert Sher

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#Leadership : The Daily Habits of 35 People at the Top of Their Game…Nearly 3 Dozen Successful Leaders Share the Rituals they Say Help them Succeed in Business & Life.

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When it Comes to Achieving Success, Actions Speak Louder than Words, Connections or Opportunities. Think about the importance of your daily habits, for example. Do you run five miles every morning because you value being fit and healthy? Or is it your regular routine to watch three hours of television every night because you feel the need to escape? Without a doubt what you achieve in life depends on your actions. Take it from 35 founders, entrepreneurs and executives who have achieved great things and credit simple daily rituals for helping them do it. Here are their quotes on what helps them get more out of business and life.

1. Hold back-to-back meetings in one location.

If I must have multiple meetings throughout a day, I often aim to set them back-to-back in one location. This way, I maintain efficiency and focus throughout the meetings, setting the pace according to the agenda and maximum time allotted [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”][while] knowing we must get straight to the points at hand since the next meeting is impending. Additionally, placing these meetings back to back enables me to maintain a clear frame of mind during the times before and after the block of meetings, since I am freed from the constant self-reminders to be punctual to the next meeting.

– Tiffany Pham, founder and CEO of MOGUL, an award-winning technology platform for women.

2. Read voraciously.

My first job at Warner Bros. was preparing a daily press packet without internet. I had to read everything physically, clip pertinent articles, copy and distribute them to execs. This job taught me the power that one garners by knowing everything that’s going on in business and the world — who’s doing well and might be a candidate for a sale of a popular Warner Bros. TV series or movie and who is in trouble and might be a candidate and need a hit TV series or movie. One needs to be able to converse with other executives intelligently about their business.

–Eric Frankel, founder and CEO of AdGreetz, a cloud-based SaaS platform that empowers brands such as Intel, NBC and Toyota to deploy relevant, personalized video messages that build stronger customer relationships and increase engagement, activation and revenue.

3. Constantly triage your to-do list.

“The role of the CEO is really to keep the team focused on the most important topics, and it’s important that you do the same for yourself.”

–Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage, a solar-marketplace company that recently secured a $1.5 million Series A round of funding and announced a partnership with Green America.

 

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4. Unsubscribe mercilessly.

I get a lot of unwanted email from folks who’ve subscribed me to lists that are irrelevant to me. I combat this clutter daily and find it’s a useful way of removing one distraction from my day.

–Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate, a platform for marketing with images that works with 650 brands, reaching millions of consumers a day.

5. Block time on your calendar according to tasks.

It is so easy to fall into daily distractions, forcing you to play catch up the next day. This cycle can go on forever. Time blocking keeps me on track. I schedule a time frame where I am responding to emails, and then the next hour is blocked for meetings, etc.

–Jayna Cooke, CEO of EVENTup, an online marketplace for event venues that has listed more than 15,000 venues and attracts more than one million consumers a month.

6. Connect with your passion.

Every week I check in and participate with the product and technology teams. Even as the company has grown, I have forced myself to make time to stay connected. As an engineer, I personally enjoy participating in the technology challenges and love to learn about the solutions our team comes up with. Not only does it keep me up-to-date on latest ideas, but it also gives the team an opportunity to see the bigger picture and ask “why?” Not all startup CEO/founders are technologists, but each CEO has a passion. Staying connected with your passion will keep you engaged, even when your job evolves into bigger strategic thinking. Sometimes you have to let yourself have fun with the things you love.

–Alex Muller, CEO of GPShopper, a developer of mobile apps with a focus on the retail industry and annual revenue growth of 50 to 70 percent.

7. Limit the time spent on email every day.

It’s easy to get caught up answering emails all day and feeling like work is being done but by the end of the day realize that no progress has been made on strategically pushing the business forward. You just spent the whole day fighting fires and solving immediate problems but the to-do list remain the same as the day prior. Email can also be a bit of disruption given that it comes in in random intervals and thus can take focus away from projects and work that requires a continuous block of time and thinking. As a result, it is really important to invest blocks on time on email every day also block off times where email is not checked. I do not let email become the “default” work item because it eventually [becomes an] insidious kind of semi-procrastination.

–William Hsu, co-managing partner of Los Angeles-based VC Mucker Capital, which was ranked as the number two accelerator in the U.S. by Seed Accelerators Ranking, a joint study by MIT and Rice University.

8. Spend one hour outside every day.

As a digital-only company, almost all of my time is spent in an office in front of a computer. This is why I make it a rule to be outside for at least one hour a day. Be it walking my dog, riding my bike or just sitting at a patio with friends, I find being outside as a form of meditation. No matter if it’s broken into 20-minute chunks or late at night, the fresh air helps me relax, release any stress and restart my mind for the next challenge.

–Alex Matjanec, CEO of MyBankTracker, a Brooklyn-based personal finance and banking hub, which helps more than 1.5 million visitors a month make smarter banking decisions.

9. Use technology for Personal Relationship Management (PRM).

Every CEO has a to-do list or actions that they need to accomplish daily. While we have many strategic objectives and initiatives that we work on, one daily habit is to target relationships to accelerate or organizations progress. These include clients, partners, internal team members and board members. I weekly schedule an agenda of engagement with each of these relationships via a PRM tool, CallPlease which allows for real-time daily prioritization of these relationship interactions. I leverage the mobile CallPlease app on my iPhone and since it is a team-based system my executive admin can also support these interactions via a web console through its workflow.

–Kris Snyder, CEO of Vox Mobile, a Cleveland-based enterprise mobility solution provider with annual growth which trends above 30 percent, a recent funding round closing at $6.7 million, and consistent inclusion in Gartner’s MMS Magic Quadrant. Snyder is also the founder of the Global Enterprise Mobility Alliance (GEMA).

10. Prioritize key employee objectives.

I know that even my best employees have a range of focus and performance. In addition to motivating them through traditional recognition methods I’ve found that letting them know that their personal objectives are important to me earns their best efforts and loyalty. In the past this has included sponsoring night classes not directly related to their job and helping an employee secure a book deal with a major publisher.

–James Roche, CEO of Houseplans.com, a San Francisco-based stock home design site which has grown 25% year over year.

11. Focus on two to three things a day.

I can’t multi-task. It creates too much chaos.

–Tim Eisenhauer, president of San Diego software provider Axero Solutions, a profitable bootstrapped company with hundreds of customers playing in the crowded enterprise software market with huge venture-backed competitors.

12. Have a family dinner.

We may be co-founders, but we are also mom and dad to three daughters. No matter how hectic running a fast-growing startup is, we make sure to shut off the cell phones and have a family dinner with our girls. While many CEOs are still going strong at 6 p.m., we’re passing the green beans and focusing on what matters most to us — our family. What’s most amazing is how many of our business and marketing ideas have come from our twin 8-year-olds and our 11-year-old right at the dinner table.

–Scott and Missy Tannen, founders of Boll & Branch, a New York based company with a line of accessibly priced luxury bed linens which launched in January 2014 with first-year revenue topping $2 million and more than a $10 million run rate in its second year in business.

13. Get home on time.

I try and be religious about the time I leave my house in the morning for work and the time I get back. It helps balance things and ensures I am present, both physically and mentally, with my family.

–Jeff Braverman, CEO of snack and candy store Nuts.com which has grown revenue to $35 million, up from $1.5 million in 2002.

14. Exercise every day.

I try to run every day and science now shows a positive correlation between running and creativity. It has helped me maintain a sense of balance, it grounds me, and offers an outlet on my most stressful days, and allows me to lean into risk and uncertainty. What I find is that many people, especially executives, take the workouts off the calendar when they get busy or are dealing with a particularly stressful time in their careers or lives. It should be opposite. The more stressed out you may feel the more important it is to carve that time for workouts that nourish not only your body but your soul as well.

–Julie Smolyansky, CEO of Lifeway Foods which has grown gross sales to $130.2 million.

15. Every morning read 20 to 30 unsolved customer support tickets.

I think proactively knowing about customer problems can really help you build a long-term intuition about the important things you need to get right when you build your company. And it helps you build empathy with the people that ultimately have to do the hard work of working through those customer problems.

–Suhail Doshi, CEO of Mixpanel, an analytics platform for mobile and web which helps companies gain insights into user activity and leverage this data to build better products. Mixpanel now tracks 50 billion actions people take in applications per month.

16. Check KPIs first thing in the morning.

As an organization grows, it’s easy to let a little distance get between the CEO and the day to day. By checking KPIs first thing in the morning, I already know the answer tohow we’ve been performing and can immediately move on to the why. I’m in a better position to ask my team important questions, and we can all work more efficiently and effectively.

–Michael Ortner, CEO of Capterra, a web service that has helped companies such as Coca-Cola, Walmart and The Home Depot find and purchase business software.

17. Be unpredictable.

Successful people predict trends but they are original and innovative. Have your own workflow, stick with it or break the rules, but try to stay ahead of others by gettting away of patterns.

–Serban Enache, CEO of global stock photo site Dreamstime.com, which has been used by more than 11 million users since its launch in 2000.

18. Always ask why.

So much of work becomes too focused on the what–the plan we’re writing, the project we’re trying to complete on time, the deadline we missed. We don’t ask “why” enough and it’s the best way to get context for the stuff we’re trying to get done. I’ve found asking it of myself is as important as asking it of the people I work with. It’s critical to staying grounded in what’s most important. I try to keep asking why until I can’t go any deeper. Then get going.

–Jay Simons, president of software company Atlassian which offers team collaboration products including JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket, and HipChat which are collectively used by more than 48,000 companies worldwide.

19. Allow enough unscheduled time during the day to think, react or write.

This enables me to gets things done on the same day instead of allowing the guilt pile to build up. I keep blocks on my schedule to avoid over-scheduling each day… I am significantly more productive when I am not forced to multitask. Studies have shown that multitasking leads to inefficiency. By creating pockets of time in which I can work alone, I am able to accomplish tasks on the same day and also leave time for collaboration.

–Dr. Walter S. Scott, founder, executive vice president and chief technical officer of satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe, which provides images and geospatial content to U.S. government defense and intelligence agencies, international governments, every major online mapping platform such as Google and other commercial customers.

20. Exude positivity.

I’ve made it a habit to be a positive, enthusiastic source within my company. Even in the morning “hi” or “welcome” has huge ripple effects across the organization at scale. It seems so simple, but has the power to make employees feel valued and appreciated.

–Kris Duggan, CEO of BetterWorks, an employee-related goals platform that recently closed a $15.5 million Series A round and is more than doubling active users every quarter.

21. Prioritize a daily to-do list.

I’m a zero-inbox CEO. Occasionally I don’t get there, but each night I give it my all to power through via all available gmail shortcuts and give folks the responses they need as quickly and efficiently as possible. I hate feeling like a delay on my response might prevent Omada employees from quickly progressing their work.

–Sean Duffy, CEO of Omada Health, a digital-therapeutics company that was selected by Fast Company as one of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.”

22. Talk to people.

This is often described as “managing by wandering around” but don’t under-value it. Having random conversations with different people across the organization will really help you keep your ear to the ground on what is really happening. Be respectful and don’t interrupt people who are working but catching someone making a coffee in the kitchen, give them a big smile and learn a bit about their day in a friendly, non-creepy way. You will easily stay on top of the pulse of the organization.

–Jonathan Cogley, CEO and founder of IT security company Thycotic which ranks at the 2,671 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in 2014, up 760 spots from 2013.

23. Prepare budgets by initiatives and expected outcomes rather than by functions.

Thinking about spending this way keeps me focused on how each dollar contributes to building the company.

–Mike Zivin, cofounder and CEO of Whittl, an online appointment booking platform for neighborhood businesses, which recently raised a $3.3 million series A round with backing from GrubHub co-founder Mike Evans as well as GrubHub’s first VC, Origin Ventures in Chicago.

24. Get coached.

Olympic athletes have coaches — so should CEOs. I have had a coach for years, Ed Batista, who I work with at least biweekly to recognize and improve my weaknesses.

–Douglas Merrill, former CIO of Google and now CEO of ZestFinance, a big-data startup that uses more than 100,000 data points about an individual to figure out if he or she will pay back a loan.

25. Keep a close eye on the competition.

I use the first 15 minutes of each day to read competitive web sites and any press they might be receiving. Knowing what our competition is doing or thinking is critical to our ability to both win and keep business.

–Darin LeGrange, CEO of Aldera, a company that provides health plans (insurers) with the back-office technology that handles billing, claims processing, coverages, and more.

26. Get moving.

I am a huge believer in walking, and in moving around in general. At the very least, I make sure to get up from my chair every hour, and walk the office. Not only does this get the blood flowing, it helps me see what the team is working on and helps spur the spontaneous discussions that lead to new ideas and innovations. I also love to do walking meetings. Instead of going into a conference room, we’ll walk around our neighborhood, a mix of businesses and beautiful old houses and apartment buildings. I find this brings out more natural and authentic discussions, and keeps people in the moment – you can’t mentally check out like you can if you’re sitting at a table.

–David Kalt, founder and CEO of Reverb, a marketplace for musical instruments and gear that has raised about $5 million in funding and expects to do $130 million in transactions this year, up from $40 million last year.

27. Read the news about your industry first thing in the morning.

“The first thing I do once out of bed is read 15 to 30 minutes religiously. I jot down anything interesting for rumination vis a vis healthcare [such as] Netflix’s god mode, or Jaguar’s brainwave tracker. It’s amazing how many dots you can connect by just reading.”

–Ahmed Albaiti, founder and CEO of Medullan, a digital health innovation company that works with payers, providers, and pharma on patient engagement.

28. Adjust your perspective.

Every Tuesday at noon San Francisco administrators test the emergency alarm system, which I now use as a marker for a notable time in each week. Every Tuesday at Noon, I deliberately try to “let go of all things negative, retain all things positive, and march forward to a better week, and a better you!” Though this started as a personal habit, it’s become a company-wide event, across multiple time zones.

–Neha Sampat, CEO of digital tech solutions provider Built.io, which powers innovation at the intersection of enterprise mobility and the Internet of Things (IoT) for startups and Fortune 500 companies. Sampat also co-founded KurbKarma, was named a “San Francisco Business Times 40 under 40″ honoree, as well as one of “50 Women in Tech Dominating Silicon Valley” in 2015.

29. Get to inbox zero.

“Anything that’s not actionable immediately, I get out of my inbox. This frees me up to think and focus on the tasks that I know will take up most of my time, like building a team of amazing people who are smart, thoughtful and motivated who are trying to achieve something. That is the number 1 most important thing in building a company as I truly believe a company is only as good as what is made up of. ”

–Rick Morrison, CEO of Comprehend Systems, which works with big names in the life-sciences industry, such as Boston Scientific, Astellas, and AstraZeneca, modernizing and improving the quality in their clinical process through cloud-based tech.

30. Make a daily “top three” to-do list.

As CEO, my to-do list is never ending, so it’s important for me to prioritize. Typically, I’ll make a daily list of the three most important things I need to get done that day. It really helps to make my day more manageable. As a morning person, I tend to complete those activities before noon, which then gives me time to address other urgent items that come up during the day.

–Ratmir Timashev, CEO of Veeam, a data center backup company founded in 2006 which now employs more than 1,500 employees around the world and brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, with its sights on reaching $1 billion in revenue in the next five years.

31. Get up to speed with direct reports first thing.

Informally, I call each of my direct reports between 7 to 8 a.m. daily to catch up and get updates on various parts of the business.

–Michael MacDonald, CEO of nutrition and weight-loss company Medifast.

32. Plan your work and work your plan.

I think Evander Holyfield said that. But anyhow, I use [the project management app]Trello to manage my day-to-day. It’s color-coded between Hiring, Investor, Legal, Sales/Marketing/Press, Product, Admin, and JFDI. Every Sunday night, I get my week prepped by looking at my calendar and my Trello board. Then, every morning, I take a quick look at the Trello board and mentally prep myself for the day.

–Jason van den Brand, co-founder and CEO of online mortgage refinancing startupLenda, which graduated from Silicon Valley-based 500 Startups last year. Since then, the company raised its first round of funding, has been growing 40 percent month over month since December, and recently passed the $40 million mark in loans financed through the platform.

33. Keep a short to-do list.

I keep my to-do list short. Every morning I write down the three most important things I need to do that day to move the needle forward. This helps me to make sure I’m playing more offense than defense. It’s so easy to get bogged down in email and other people’s to-do lists that when you look up at the end of the day you realize you didn’t make any progress on the things that are most important. Keeping my to-do list forces me to prioritize and do just the things that are most important.

–Ethan Austin, founder of the online fundraising website Give Forward, which has raised more than $150 million and hosts 20,000 active fundraisers at any given time.

34. Take time to reflect.

As a CEO, you can’t be afraid of the decisions you make. But it’s just as dangerous to have full confidence in your decisions. Every day I reflect back on the effects of my decisions that day and how I can improve upon them in the future.

– John Yung, CEO of cloud application management platform Appcara which is used by customers including Sysorex, AIS, HP Cloud Services and Intermedia.

35. Be consistent and proactive.

I was an avid bodybuilder back in my college days and to succeed you had to be religiously consistent day after day with diet, nutrition and training. I applied the same in business. It takes time to create great products and a stable business so I’ve learned to succeed you have to remain consistent especially when you truly believe in something. It’s a two-edged sword that if not tamed can also have negative ramifications, so I also try to be proactive to know when to change angles when the need arises.

– Payman Taei, is CEO and founder of Visme a DIY online tool that has empowered over 200,000 businesses and non-profits create better presentations and infographics. He is also the founder ofHindSite Interactive an award-winning web agency that helps companies improve their online presence with effective websites.

What daily habits help you achieve more in business and life?

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Image: Getty Images
Inc.com | July 13, 2015 | 

BY CHRISTINA DESMARAIS

Contributor, Inc.com

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