March 08, 2012

Five Ways To Spot A Good Leader

For many of you, finding new leaders is an on-going challenge.  

In HR world, they call this the "bench-strength" issue and it can be a game changer.  As companies expand, new divisions are formed, requiring fresh leaders to guide them to effectiveness.  For startups, this is even more critical.  Pick the wrong one and you lose time, and often good talent. 

Too often, we rely on the resume to find leaders.  Or we let managers grow up into leading, mostly a matter of attrition.  File that approach under Peter Principle. That's why so many 'leaders' are managers in power clothing.  Over my career, I've recruited, fired and  studied leaders.  Recently, I've consulted with companies on leader spotting.  There are six sure signs that you should look for when considering a promotion or a hire at a leadership position in your company: 

1. She Has Followers - As the old Chinese proverb indicates, "without followers, you are just taking a walk." When she calls a meeting, including dotted line participants, do people show up? Do they pay attention and contribute? When she rolls out an initiative, do others listen and understand?  Are they inspired to action? Here's a little trick: Is she often accused of poaching? Does everyone want to transfer to her group, to work with her? (PS - research suggests that a permissive manager is not a popular destination for real talent, they usually pick highly effective managers that will challenge them and win in the market.)

2. He Has A Bias To Action - When I worked for Tim Koogle (first CEO at Yahoo), he talked about how some managers were 'ings', always study-ing or think-ing about doing something.  He told me the real leaders were 'eds', meaning, they execut-ed, fail-ed and learn-ed.  Great leaders help thier teams make the leap from talking to doing.  No happy talk! 

3. She Is A Better Listener Than Talker - In a meeting, especially with her team, does she listen more than talk? Can she leave a room understanding the emotions as well as the facts? Does she have the capacity to show empathy? This is important, because if the leaders isn't a deep listener, they'll fail to see the entire playing field.  Not listening is also a leadership problem from a trust standpoint. For my second book, my team conudcted a survey on the issue of trust and "doesn't pay attention when I'm talking to him" was a leading non-trust indicator, right up there with "lied to me".

4. He Has Emotional Talent - Connected with the last point, the real leader has a combination of emotional intelligence and generosity.  He's in control of his emotions and respectful of others. He wants to create customer delight and be part of a great employership experience.  He realizes that long after his troops forget all the things he did for them, they mostly remember how he made them feel. (thanks Maya). 

5. She Is A Multiplier Of Her People's Potential - In her fabulous book, Multipliers, author Liz Wizeman points out that there are two types of managers: Multipliers and Diminishers.  The former creates a good place to grow and the latter creates a place where dreams die.  The multiplier is not a hoarder of resources like the diminisher.  She stretches people to deliver beyond their self-perceived potential.  She doesn't think of her self as the brain, with a number of hands that 'help'. She measures her success in a triple bottom line capacity: Enterprise, People, Self.  In that order. 

If you've crafted some leader-spotting techniques, contribute them in comments! 

 

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March 01, 2012

Making a difference is the new Buy-One-Get-One-Free

              
This week, I gave a rare talk on the subject of Social Responsiblity at a convention for credit union executives and board members.  The talk is based on my third book: Saving The World At Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do To Move From Making A Profit To Making A Difference. 

For the credit union industry, this is a natural.  The Credit Union Movement in North America started when a Canadian reporter named Alphonses Desjardines found out about a man in Quebec who was being charged $5000 against a paltry loan of $150.  The "Just-For-Profit" banking system, he reasoned, wasn't working for people.  Within a decade, St. Mary's Credit Union was founded in New Hamphire and by 1934, the Credit Union National Association was founded in Estes Park Colorado.  Many of you benefit from this socially responsible structure of banking services: By and for the members.  Not Just-For-Profit. 

I challenged my audience to extend the vision from fairness in banking to complete social responsiblity.  This includes community and cause projects as well as environmental sustainability programs.  Most of all, I encouraged them to talk the walk - sharing the cause with members. 

Some might argue that you should just do-the-right-thing and not make a fuss about it.  Some are put off by cause marketing, so they get involved with local community projects or global concerns...and neglect to offer the giving opportunity to customers and/or employees. 

This is missing the purpose of marketing.  In his classic book, The End Of Marketing As We Know It, former Coke CMO Sergio Zyman declares that good marketing is "a service, that adds value when you purchase, own or consume the product." Example: Coke is refreshing!  

He's right too.  Think of Tom's Shoes and it's compelling one-for-one value proposition: When you buy a pair of them, a pair is given to a needy child in the developing world.  By making the choice to wear these (lower quality) shoes, you have a chance to help someone far away.  In our new-reality where conscipuous consumption is uncool - this is a way to spend and enjoy.  

Making a difference with your purchase dollars is the new Buy One Get One Free.  So, whether you are reducing environmental impact by eliminating paper (receipts, printed bank statements, etc.) or supporting the local food bank with a portion of profits - make sure the customer knows about the program!  They will garner more satisfaction this way, and it may also drive loyalty and incremental purchases of your products and services. 

One caviat: Be very transparent about the difference you make.  If it's cause marketing, communicate exactly what percentage of profits flows through.  If it's environment, provide a metric that everyone can understand (for each year you go paperless, you save a tree).  This way, the customer (or in the credit union case, the member) can make an informed decision about what they are supporting - and whether it's just better to give straight to the cause. 

 

 

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February 21, 2012

Is Email Your Company's Secret Weapon Or Achille's Heel?

Your company's culture springs up based on the conversations leaders lead and actions they allow. "How are things done around here?" is the most important question you need to manage if you want to build a positive and strong culture.  

Think of communication tools, then, as culture-building devices.  Meetings, casual conversations, phone calls, email exchanges and letters/documents - all of these comprise The Conversation. But among them, one stands out as the 800 Pound Gorilla: email.  It's anywhere from 1/2 to 90% of your conversational life both inside and outside the company. 

That's why entrepreneur and Tech Stars teacher Mark Sullivan advised all new CEO to "not suck at email."  Get that part of your leadership life wrong, and bad things will always cascade down from it. It amazes me that very few companies have an "Excellence Area" for email.  Most don't even offer Email Etiquette Training.  

Most companies have an Obscenity Avoidance policy to prevent harassment suits, excessive foul language, etc.  They teach Duh' level techniques, like "Don't Always Hit Reply To All" when email is flooding everyone's Inbox like a tsuanmi.  But that's reactive.

Email is either your secret weapon or achille's heel.  Here are some examples: 

1.  Customer Mangement - When you receive an email from a ticked off customer, what's the policy? At broadcast.com, Mark Cuban had The Two Minute Call Rule.  For our business services group, every one of us was expected to phone a ticked off or disappointed customer withing two minutes of reading the email from them.  It made us very accountable, and usually, the ticked off customer was somewhat apologetic about the tone of his email!  It separated us from other companies, where the email was socialized around for the 'best response' (read: cover your butt!). The gap in time between the Send and your live response almost always simmers the customer to the boiling point.  And email reads horribly unless you are saying YES! to whatever they are demanding.

2. Talent Management - Is your email policy a benefit or a penalty for your talent?  At top-rated employer SAS Institute, it's how they attract top talent and keep them for life.  Dr. Jim Goodnight believes that we should turn off our computers around 5, go home and live our life.  And weekends should be ... weekends.  His Email Only During Professional Hours policy is a recruiting tool and also ensures top quality work and less meltdowns.  Do you think your 11:30pm missive, a product of sipping and sending, is really that coherant? 

3. Conflict Resolution -  When I worked at Yahoo, we brought in Reader's Digest veteran Greg Coleman in 2002.  He was appalled at how much he had to manage complaints between his reports.  So he required anyone with a complaint about another Yahoo, to tell the other Yahoo to his/her face or phone if they aren't local.  If they still needed him involved, he'd consider it.  It created a culture of courage, where you dealt with your issues with real-time conversations among grown-ups.

But many companies have an email culture where you copy bosses and other influencers to get your way.  Or even worse, you use email to disagree, criticize or talk about emotionally weight things ... so you don't have to have a live conversation.  This can only lead to problems, as email is a terrible way to convey our intentions.  If you've ever received an email from a boss saying, "that is stupid" and boiled about it for weeks - you know what I mean. 

Here's more posts on how to turn Email Into Your Secret Weapon

 

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February 13, 2012

Love Is the Killer App turns 10

It feels like yesterday: Valentine's Day, 2002, the day my first book was published.  

Since then, thousands of readers have shared their stories with me.  A few of them even showed up in the paper back version of the book, which was release in 2003.  Many of you told me that the principles in the book validated your actions: Share Knowledge, Network Without Expectations, Be Compassionate.  (Read the Fast Company excerpt from Love that ran in their Feb 2002 issue.)

To me, that's one of the two best reasons to write a book.  Validate the reader, to quote Kurt Vonnegut, "let her know that someone else shares her values and that she is not alone." (note: the other reason to write a book is to give advice or share perspective that is counter to conventional wisdom.) 

I have so many people to thank from my writing partner Gene Stone to the last person who emailed me with an account of how he has given the book to fifty business partners over the last year.  From the genesis to today - "thanks for sharing the love!" 

In the comments, please share what you learned from the book, and how you've applied it to your business or leadership life.  Thanks in advance for sharing. 

For iPad or iPhone users, here's a YouTube video I made about the ten year anniversary. 

For the rest of you, here's the video! 

 

Love Is The Killer App Turns Ten from Tim Sanders on Vimeo.

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February 09, 2012

Rehearse Before You Create

On Tuesday, I spoke to a group of creatives in Nashville (Twitter Stream).  One point that stuck with them was this simple thought, a quote from fellow creative David Lynch: "It takes four hours to get one hour of creative work done." 

After my talk, a great deal of the Q/A explored that mind blowing observation.  Why does it take so long, distraction? Nope.  Editing?  Nope, that's not part of creation.  

I recollected my application of this idea when writing Today We Are Rich.  After studying Lynch, I discovered one of his secret weapons: Rehearsing the act of creating. 

So, before I would start a writing session, I would go outside and putt the ball around the side yard - and rehearse writing.  I would speak it out loud (I'd outlined it prior), record it on my phone, then listen to my rehearsal on playback.  Then I delete it.  At some point, I'd visualized or audiblized it enough, then I'd drop my putter, run down to the studio and furiously type for an hour.  And 3000 words were born.  (I wrote Feed Your Mind Good Stuff in less than two hours, read it and see how it isn't over-edited or stilted.) 

Here's the takeaway.  You can't schedule time to be creative.  That's like scheduling time with your partner for sex.  It's an in-the-moment experience.  If you sit down to 'wham it out', you'll end up polishing a turd.  You'll spew, edit, delete, fix, re-edit and sqeeze the life out of your 'baby.' 

Most of us reserve rehearsal for life's big performances, but think about it: Creating is the ultimate performance and shouldn't be taken for granted.  Creativity is a burst of structured insanity, followed by a factory-line set of steps to deliver it to its intended target.  If you rehearse, even in your mind, what you are about to create, you'll likely induce that moment of birth.  See the photo shoot before doing it.  Visualize the Power Point or Photoshop session before sitting down to do it. Do the work!  

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January 30, 2012

Always Build Culture (the ABC of effective organizations)

Last year, a conference attendee asked Tony Hsieh (founder of Zappos) what he'd do differently, if he knew then what he knows now.  "Build culture from Day One," was his thoughtful and profound reply.  Not technology, partners, product lines, marketing - culture building! 

In his book, Delivering Happiness, he described several ways he and his team cobbled together a customer-obsessed culture ... including offering new-hires thousands of dollars to quit at the end of the customer-mania training program.  But his point: You need to build culture starting the minute you create a company, organization, group or even project team.  The longer you wait, the harder it is to build. 

Here's my fave definition of culture: How Things Are Done Around Here.  Culture building is a conversation about values, led or allowed by leaders, that creates a group-intuition.  When the culture is strong, everyone knows what 'the right thing to do' actually is.  And they proactively do it all the time from hiring to product/process design to conflict management.  This is the only way you can scale your success into greatness.  PS - when culture is weak, the default behavior is 'what does this mean to me?', which results in silo building or selfish actions.

I am CEO of a startup, Net Minds.  We came together as a founding team last year, and currently we are hiring two developers to work for us (in Los Angeles).  We are building a market place platform for creative ideas and the talent that works on them.  (PS - if you know any brilliant people, please send me a note at: tims at netminds dot com or here.)

Prior to hiring our first person, though, we've contemplated culture.  What is "The Net Minds Way?" and in this case, "Who is a Net Mind?" I've read often that when you are a startup, your first employees become the framework of your culture, thousands of hires later.  So these first picks are highly important!

While working at Yahoo, I spent a lot of time with Libby Sartain our Chief People Officer.  She ran HR at Southwest Airlines, and built a great culture there.  She explained to me that step one was to define the quintessential Yahoo's common attributes (The were: Fast, Fun, Friendly, Easy To Work With, Human) and let that be the guide to hiring along with technical proficiency and background.  Using these attributes, the first interview is all about this question: "Does she fit?  Is she a native Yahoo?" 

Apply this thinking to your next hire.  Even if your organization is established, it's not too late to identify your-way and the DNA of your-best-talent.  The exercise will help others come into the fold, and might identify some changes you need to make in the lineup.  Immediately, you'll notice that the process empowers everyone on the team.  Often, when you define the values of your culture, and the ingredients of the perfect team member, you'll realize how worthy and special your mission is.  

 

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January 20, 2012

Focus Your Attention When It Is Go-Time

It's 5:32 AM and this is the last thing I'm doing before I'm on Go-Time-Lockdown. 

Today I have a speaking engagement for UMEC in Phoenix.  It's a return engagement for a group of great people that support my work and practice what I preach as leaders.  There is nothing more important today than this talk - and the takeaway value it should deliver to the audience. 

In our culture, we have one area of over-confidence that holds us back: The Myopia Of Can-Juggle.  We think we can do several things at once well.  But the reality is that we can't.  If I get sucked into Tweeting, checking FB, working on Net Minds, selling the next gig or just grazing on my Inbox, there's a chance when it's Go-Time later today, I'll only be half strength.  It's called dillution. 

Every one of you have Go-Times in your life.  Presentations, project meeting, creative sessions, coding assignments on deadline, etc.  They are challenging, high-stakes and require you to be 100% on.  So why do you try and juggle the Big-Thing with all the Little-Things?  You may say, "I have a primary focus and secondary ones to keep things interesting."  

That sounds good in principle, but in reality, you'll spend too much time buffering on the not-so-important stuff that doesn't stress you out than the preparation you must execute to tackle today's big challenge.  I've done this before, and paid the price later on stage.  No more.  

Today, my tweets are pre-programmed and you won't see me on FB.  I'm not answering my iPhone because it will be on silent, squirreled away in my bag.  I've delegated everything, including decision-making, to my manager and the founding team at my company.  I'll review all my notes from this and my previous talk at UMEC.  I'll rehearse (mentally and then in a green room) my remarks, especially the one-of-a-kind ones I've created for them.  I'll re-read a little from a book I bought for UMEC to read later, a highly relevant book on the future of their business by Dan Pink (A Whole New Mind).

My next non-gig thought patterns will start when I'm in the taxi on the way to the airport.  And the world will go on without me.  Dr. Stephen Covey Sr. once said that if you don't do the work, all of the hard work, you'll know it deep inside at the moment of truth - and it will be a drag on you.  When I hit the stage this afternoon, I'll be light as a feather, with my whole mind centered on what's important.  Please try this approach for your next Go-Time and report the results in comments!

 

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January 10, 2012

Sitting Is The New Smoking

The above image is taken from a great infographic on Techcrunch. 

It's message is simple: The more you sit, the worse you'll feel.  Recent studies suggest that of all of our bad contemporary habits, sitting all day is a killer.  With the rise of the information age, more of us earn a living sitting down, working on computers.  Our parents were more likely to sit less than a quarter as much as us and their parents more even less sedentary.  

So why isn't this post titled, "Cube Farms Are The New Coal Mines" ??? 

Because sitting all day is your choice, not your fate.  You can beat this disease risk by tweaking the way you work.  It's my 2012 resolution to sit at least fifty percent less than I did last year.  That's just as good as kicking my weekly french fries or losing ten pounds!  Here are several ways you can sit less and live longer: 

1.  Stand Up While Working On Computers.  There are several great standing desks, including hydrolic ones where you can sit (during meetings with others) or stand.  My old boss at Yahoo, Anil, had his desk permanently setup where he stood while he worked.  He had a tall stool for those times he needed to take a load off.  He also had a foot rest, as this is the proper way to work on computers while standing.  If you can't do any of this, yet work on a laptop, occassionally pull it out of your docking station or off your desk and work on a bar counter or some other standing friendly surface.  

2. Talk Daily Walking Breaks.  Walking is great exercise, and according to many doctors, a great prescription for too much sitting.  Each day I carve out 20-30 minutes for 'walk-time' either outside or on a treadmill at my gym.  When walking outside, I frequently conduct my daily (no-paperwork or web access required) phone calls.  It's made a huge difference both in terms of my health and my mood state when I was finished. 

3. Convert Work Into Walking.  Conduct phone calls or meetings standing up and/or walking around.  (You'll have shorter ones as a result!) Take the stairs at work instead of the elevator.  Get up out of your chair to ask a quick question of a colleague, instead of sending an email 200 feet.  

Change your habits, and beyond health, you'll be better at work.  To be creative and confident, the formula for excellence, you need to feel good.  Sitting all day drains your energy, creates distracting physical pain and reduces your endurance.  And it's your choice.  You quit smoking, and don't miss the smoking breaks - you won't miss sitting either!

 

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January 04, 2012

Best Business Books Of 2011

Here's a six pack of 2011 releases that represent the year's best business books:

The Master Switch: The Rise And Fall Of Information Empires by Timothy Wu.  This read is gripping as a biz-book like The Social Network was interesting as a movie.  Wu chronicles the rise of AT&T, it's demise, then later monopolies leading up to Google.  Very provocative, and good food for our understanding of how things work in the free market now - and into the future.

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries by Peter Sims  This new book helps unlock the secrets to true innovation: Fast prototyping, testing and scaling and close monitoring of feedback.  His examples of how little bets create big ideas range from comedian Chris Rock to Google to Pixar.  This is a think-piece book, that you'll put to work immediately on your own business, product or project at work.

In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy Most books on Google are either premature or outside-looking-in, and so far, I avoided them. In this case, Levy's work appealed to me, as he's been covering them for Wired since 2004 and has insider status with their culture. This is an entertaining, useful and enlightening read about the formation of Google's culture, assets and evolving mission.

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation To Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries This is, hands down, the best business book for leaders I've read since Good To Great a decade ago.  Will no-doubt be my top pick for 2011. It's that valuable.  Whether you are a startup or working inside a big company, Eric and his Lean Startup Practices will make you a rock star.  Learn how to master the MVP, innovate in Small Batches and ask the Five Whys when things go wrong.  Those who read this book will have a business advantage over those that don't.  And the book is a really good read, too. Brain Rules: 12 Principles For Surviving And Thriving At Work, Home and School by John Medina To improve your professional performance, you need to first leverage your brain.  Medina offers simple, but highly effective ways to improve your creativity, memory and emotional intelligence.  Some ideas you already know about ('get enough sleep') but others are novel (repeat to remember).  There are a slew of brain science books you can read, but this one was written to be easily understood and acted upon.  Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson  What do you get when you combine intensely private person who's changed our life with one of the greatest biographers of our time?  The book, Steve Jobs, which is storming the best seller lists and dribbling out provocative pieces of Jobsian thinking daily via the press. This is one of those books you really need to read to be in the know.  It's likely that we'll discuss Jobs for years to come in a lot of areas: CEOs, design, innovation, management style, history, etc.  This book is likely the best money you'll invest this year.  Just think, $20 in Apple stock a decade ago is worth...NOTE: Read this book on your iPad if you can, it will be a special experience for you.

 

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December 21, 2011

My 6 Favorite Albums Of 2011

After buying over 100 albums this year (mostly in CD format), I'm ready to reveal my top listens from 2011.  To qualify, the entire album must be good, not just a few songs.  I still love to listen to an album from beginning to end, instead of just grazing on singles via a playlist.  It's hard to find albums that shine from cut 1 to cut 10 or beyond - and that's why these 6 are so special: 

1.  Yuck (self-titled debut) - If you liked early Smashing Pumpkins or Dinosaur Jr., you'll love this group of youngsters from the UK.  Their songwriting is matched by a very special guitarist with one-of-a-kind tones. 

2. The Givers: In Light - The Lafayette Louisiana guy/girl group has a fresh new hippie meets indie sound.  For fans of Vampire Weekend or Peter, Paul and Bjourn. 

3. Decemberists: The King Is Dead - This album sparkles, mainly because of the addition of REM's Peter Buck on guitars.  Each song has a country-rock influence, which combined with the Decemberist sound makes for a truly remarkable album that you'll still enjoy five years from now. 

4. Black Keys: El Camino - They pick up right where they left off with Brothers, except this time they've got some friends playing and singing with them.  Just got this one in, but in less than a week, it's on heavy rotation in my car.  

5. Foster The People: Torches - This is the breakout album of the year, containing three singles and several big deals for TV shows, commercials and movies.  Foster really captures the gestalt of the times with this record and Pumped Up Kicks is the song of the year - bringing back song-construction wonders I've been missing since MGMT's first album. 

6. Fruit Bats: Tripper - Much like Decemberists, Fruit Bats are really figuring out how to integrate a country-rock feel into indie and make it shine (brighter than Wilco).  There's also a timeless quality to these songs, like merging Supertramp with the Allman Brothers. 

Here are some discoveries from 2011 worth checking out: 

1. Planningtorock - combines NIN with Florence and the Machines for eerie but awesome songs. 

2. Peaking Lights - Dub, meets guy-girl vocal for dancy yet chilled out grooves. 

3. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - These guys funk it up, Touch The Sky will make you get up and dance.

Chime in here in the comments - what are your favorite albums or discoveries from 2011? 

 

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