The Leadership Sphere

Stand Out from the Pack

Why does brand matter? BMW Group Australia provides a clear example of the power of branding. Recent research from Australian universities on the top brands that IT and engineering graduates want to work for ranked BMW as ninth out of 500 companies. Ironically, BMW has not hired IT or engineering graduates for the past five years - but such is the power of the BMW brand.

Managers, Leaders and Human Beings

Leadership: the magic word that everybody wants to use and be associated with. Thousands of books published, thousands of conferences, classes, etc. Who do we think of when we think about 'great leaders'? What kind of behaviors and attributes come to mind?

We think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., M. Gandhi and mother Theresa -to name a few very visible non-arguable leaders. What do they have in common? People wanted to follow them. Did they have authority or formal power over them and asked to be followed? Ordered people to follow them? No, people chose to follow them willingly.

Book Summary - Outsmart!

IT'S A SMART, SMART, SMART, SMART WORLD

What you are about to read is about real business life, namely, outsmarting the competition. As eminent scientist Charles Darwin might put it, businesses breed beyond available customers; companies with successful strategies have a better chance of survival; and successful enterprises force out weaker ones, creating whole new business models. In other words, the businesses that succeed not only survive but grow, gaining more of the supply of customers and forcing their rivals to adapt or die.

Teamwork at the Top

The popular business press on both sides of the Atlantic is infatuated with chief executive officers who have drunk from the Holy Grail of heroic leadership. To be sure, a single person can make a difference at times, but even such heroic CEOs as General Electric's Jack Welch emphasize the power of team leadership in action. As Welch himself said, "We've developed an incredibly talented team of people running our major businesses, and, perhaps more important, there's a healthy sense of collegiality, mutual trust, and respect for performance that pervades this organization."

Distortions and Deceptions in Strategic Decisions

The chief executive of a large multinational was trying to decide whether to undertake an enormous merger; one that would not only change the direction of his company but also transform its whole industry. He had gathered his top team for a final discussion. The most vocal proponent of the deal—the executive in charge of the company's largest division—extolled its purported strategic advantages, perhaps not coincidentally because if it were to go through he would run an even larger division and thereby be able to position himself as the CEO's undisputed successor. The CFO, by contrast, argued that the underlying forecasts were highly uncertain and that the merger's strategic rationale wasn't financially convincing. Other members of the top team said very little. Given more time to make the decision and less worry that news of the deal might leak out, the CEO doubtless would have requested additional analysis and opinion. Time, however, was tight, and in the end the CEO sided with the division head, a longtime protégé, and proposed the deal to his board, which approved it. The result was a massive destruction of value when the strategic synergies failed to materialize.

Book Summary: 'We Are The New Radicals'

There is a quote attributed to Russian author Leo Tolstoy that states, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." The progression of modern society would disagree with the author of War and Peace. More and more people are awakening to the notion that the act of changing the world cannot come without first reinventing oneself. For many, the spark that sets off this internal evolution comes from turning on the TV. Any news network, particularly during coverage of international affairs, offers a non-stop nightmare for an anxious person: environmental catastrophe, non-stop warfare, abject poverty and human suffering. With this in mind, the stouthearted turn off the dial and turn on their light of compassion and look to make a difference. In We are the New Radicals, author Julia Moulden wants to show readers how they can get started.

How to Lead Clever People

According to Professor Rob Goffee, an expert in organisational behaviour from London Business School, clever people in organisations need a special type of leadership.  Speaking recently at a lecture in the Australian School of Business, Professor Goffee presented research on culture and leadership and what it takes to effectively lead this generation of ‘clever people’. As these people can often be difficult to manage, leaders should therefore be aware of the characteristics and traits possessed by their top employees. Because of their resourcefulness, tacit knowledge base and good connections, employees who create disproportionate amounts of value from the limited means made available to them are extremely important according to Professor Goffee.

HR Execs Concerned About Future Leaders

A recent study by IBM has found that more than 75 per cent of HR executives are concerned with their ability to develop future leaders, and given the explosive growth in emerging markets and the retirement of experienced personnel in more mature economies, companies are placing their growth strategies at risk if they cannot identify and develop the next generation of leaders.

Senior Leadership Teams - What it takes to make them great

With firsthand knowledge and compelling real-life examples, Senior Leadership Teams present indispensable guidance on getting your best people to work and thrive – together.

—David Gergen, Director, Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government

The demands on those who occupy the top roles of organizations are rapidly outdistancing the capabilities of any single person – no matter how talented. That is why a growing number of chief executives are turning to their direct reports – the senior managers of the enterprise – for help in meeting the challenges they and their organizations face. Yet, according to the authors of a new book, many CEOs stumble when creating their leadership team.

In SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAMS: What it Take to Make Them Great (January 24, 2008), Ruth Wageman, Debra Nunes, James Burruss, and Richard Hackman help senior executives identify the times and circumstances when senior teams are a good idea and when they are not. Based on their study of 120 top teams from around the world at companies including IBM, Sainsbury, Shell, and Unilever, they show executives exactly what is needed to create and sustain executive teams whose members both rely on one another and learn from one another as they work together to pursue organizational objectives. When set up properly, these senior leadership teams hold a number of advantages.

Tips for Improving Organizational Culture

Improving organizational culture has become a necessity in today's ever-changing business environment. People want to work for a company where they can be happy and balance work and life. Organizations who treat their members well have experienced a better retention rate, an increased productivity and a happier overall culture.

Improving organizational culture can be a big challenge for the organization and its members. Focusing on a few important steps will help you get started in improving organizational culture. Getting the right training for your employees is the first step toward improving organizational culture. The other important steps for enhancing organizational culture include: Analyze your organization's existing culture and compare it with customers' expectations and perceptions.

Why Teams Don't Work

In fact, most so-called "teams" don't work, for one of two reasons:

1. They're not supported or encouraged by the surrounding organization and are not recognized or rewarded for their efforts.
2. They're not really teams, but merely groups (at best) or (at worst) pseudo teams.

Companies Worldwide Struggle to Attract, Retain Workers

A large majority of companies in the United States and around the world are struggling to attract and retain top-performing and critical-skill workers, according to a new study by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm, and WorldatWork, an international association of human resource professionals.

Communication 'Secrets' of Top-Performing Employers

A recent study has found that companies with the most effective communication programs had a 47 percent higher total return to shareholders from 2002 to 2006, compared with companies that communicate least effectively. Moreover, those companies are four times as likely to report high levels of employee engagement as companies that communicate least effectively.

Driving Radical Change

Genuine transformations take place on a scale different from that of routine change programs and are much harder to pull off.  At some point every large organization comes face to face with the need for fundamental change. The decision to act may be prompted by a variety of circumstances: a sharp slide in profitability, enticing new prospects in distant markets, the gathering threat of fleet-footed competitors. Whatever the motive, leaders seldom meet greater demands on their skills than they do when they embark on a major change effort.

Book Summary - Corporate Agility

The initial results of the Future of Work project confirmed that although the global economy had undergone a series of rapid, model-shattering changes, most businesses were unable or unwilling to adapt their traditional management styles to new conditions. Prisoners of their own outdated business practices and assumptions about how work gets done, businesses found themselves losing ground to competitors who had not even been on the map a decade before. They became victims, rather than beneficiaries, of advances in information technology. And at a time when the attraction and retention of qualified employees had become an even more critical factor in a business' success or failure, they found themselves out of touch with a work force that had undergone a dizzying transformation in attitudes, abilities and ambitions

What are Job Seekers Looking For?

The competition for quality employees among leading companies is fierce, regardless of industry or sector. According to new Gallup research, job seekers aren't looking exclusively at salary offers; nor are they putting much stock into added perks such as company fitness center programs or on-site daycare services.

Recruiters and hiring managers who are looking to attract the best workforces for their companies would be well-served to laud their organization's quality managers; prospective employees are just as likely to deem great management important as they are pay when looking for a new job.

Book Summary: The Innovative Leader: How to Inspire Your Team and Drive Creativity

Although one might think this book is formulaic, it is far from it despite the title by Paul Sloane being comprised of several multi-step methods to achieving one's goals. Sloane, founder of the Destination Innovation consultancy, is a British author who takes a unique approach to reaching his audience. As he notes in his introduction, the book was created "not in some grand theoretical framework but in the form of practical tips and methods that can be put into immediate effect."

Awakening the Leader Within

In organizations, our success as leaders is measured by the degree to which we've mastered the external environment and delivered results in the form of revenues, profits, new product breakthroughs, cost savings, or market share increases.

External results, of course, are important.  But trying to define leadership by its external manifestations misses the core question:  What is the essence of leadership—the foundation that underlies external success and achievement?

Mr Rogers earns $20million in 6 minutes

We are continuing the theme of authenticity or 'being real'.  This is worth your time, even as busy as you are today.

Background:

In 1969, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was in danger of getting their funding cut in half by Nixon because of war costs.  So the CPB calls in Mr. Rogers (who ran a popular children's television program - the first series of episodes were produced and aired from 1968 to 1976, the second series of episodes were produced and aired from 1979 to 2001 (modern series) - to testify before the Senate.

More 'Right than Real' - The Shape of Authentic Leadership in NZ

While the crumpled remains of the car inevitably attract the attention of the motorist passing a crash, the investigator often finds that it is the tell-tale tyre marks that provide a far more informative guide to cause. Perhaps, there is an element of ‘rubbernecking’ about the way we examine leadership, since our insatiable curiosity about the leader’s character, actions and qualities often deflect us from the fact “that more than anything it is the behaviours of followers that really defines leadership.”

Dr Lester Levy from the University of Auckland continues his introduction...