The first follower is an underestimated leader.

To be a leader – you may have to be the first follower. The populous believes that you can’t be a leader without having followers.  I hate this premise – even if I don’t have a good argument to dismiss it. While watching people trying to figure out how to get home in spite of all the airplanes not flying due to volcanic ash, it was clear there was no leader of the pack. Nor was it any individual frenzy.  Everyone took personal responsibility for his or her actions and shared the knowledge that they discovered.  It made me wonder – if there is a shared vision, is leadership needed?

My answer is: Yes.  But perhaps not the traditional kind of leader from the front.  I have always liked this quote from Lao-tsu:

“To lead people, walk beside them … As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’”

The following short video by Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started. He uses a very popular YouTube video which is under three minutes. Sure a leader needs to stand out and be fearless.  But it is first follower  who if treated like an equal will show others how to follow.

I have come to the conclusion that the follower is the leader.  This shouldn’t surprise me.  I have always believed that nothing is really diametrically opposed to another.  Everything is connected and once reframed is often the flip side to the same coin.  Thus the leader becomes an equal follower and the follower becomes the leader.

This is the fourth in a five part series based on some reflection time I had while “stranded” in Prague due to the volcanic ash. The others to date can be found here:

1. Rethinking Collaboration
2. Rethinking Engagement
3. Rethinking The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Morris had just been hired as the new CEO of a large high tech corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three envelopes number 1, 2 and 3. “Open these if you run up against a problem you don’t think you can solve,” the departing CEO said.

Things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and Morris was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit’s end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.” Morris called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press, and Wall Street, responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him.

About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” This he did, and the company quickly rebounded.

After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. Morris went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope.

The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

In this world of speed and high expectations, we don’t get second chances.  It may not be fair but it is life.  At 1-Focus International we work with executives and senior managers to ensure iterative and sustainable change.  That means it is always an ongoing process of refinement and recreation.  It is never the flavor of the month or a one time event.  For some this seems to involved or complex.  However, most of us know that whether it is the organization, life or our families, that there is no quick fix to issues; no simple answers to the challenges; no easy strategies for implementation.  At best we can learn to take things in stride and smile.

MIT Sloan Management Review has chosen three recent leadership articles designed to help you address a number of common leadership challenges. In these challenging economic times, the effectiveness of leadership in corporations is increasingly becoming a source of concern. They claim that insights in this complimentary collection will help you make effective decisions about leadership recruitment, promotion and development strategies.

MIT SMR De-Mystifying Leadership Collection, sponsored by Hewitt Associates can be obtained here.

[private_Corporate]

[firstname], because you are a member of the [memberlevel] Group, here are your free articles for this collection.  You may use these links directly from MIT.

• Can You Measure Leadership?
• Are You a Vigilant Leader?
• Improving the Performance of Top Management Teams

[/private_Corporate]

The Economist last week had an article entitled “Sympathy for the Boss“.  It is a poor title for an interesting piece based on some of the findings of Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave in their book “The Secrets of CEOS: 150 Global Chief Executives Lift the Lid on Business, Life and Leadership”.  Are we really suppose to care that around 50% of the chief executives interviewed said they found the job “intensely lonely” and did not know who to turn to for advice?  Perhaps not but the book (with a foreword by Richard Branson) is taking the bestsellers list of business books by storm. . .  and with good reason.

There is a lot in the book and you can read parts of it yourself on the author’s web site:  The Secrets of CEO’s. The stats on how many CEO’s use coaches is particularly interesting:

Around 40% of FTSE chief executives have used a personal coach. (“It is extraordinary to think you can be excellent at something without a coach. The notion that Roger Federer would not have several coaches is ridiculous. One of the best things that happened to me was to get a coach,” says Richard Baker, a former boss of Alliance Boots, a pharmacy.)

Up until recently, not all executives were willing to admit they used a coach. I wonder what kind of coach.  t 1-Focus International, our Coach Approach is designed to be congruent with both our collaborative philosophy and our excellence programs. Both Sandy and I are Master Certified Coaches and our executive coach associates are vetted by us to ensure similar levels and standards.  We tend to be more reflective than task in our approach to coaching and clearly and this is what executives need.  The “best bosses” according to the article mentioned, find a way to make time to be with their family, to think in solitude and to stay healthy.  One valuable way is to work with a Master Coach to reflect on strategy and issues that often get missed in the bustle of day to day activities.

By the way, the book while out in Great Britain, hasn’t been released in the US.  It is however beginning to get press even in the New York Times

Special limited time offer: Access the entire April issue of Harvard Business Review free of charge, this month at HBR.org.

While the feature article on Google is an interesting read, we recommend Stewart D. Friedman’s article (video below) and Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? by David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad:

It’s a dirty little secret: Most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement. If they can’t, neither can anyone else.

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life,
April 2008 Harvard Business Review article by Stewart D. Friedman

Contrary to conventional wisdom, work and the rest of your life don’t have to compete in a zero-sum game. The secret? Experiment with small changes that simultaneously improve your satisfaction and performance in all four areas of your life—work, home, community, and self. Friedman offers a chart and worksheet that you can download online.

I look closely when things appear coincidental for I suspect synchronicity is at play. Whether or not it is popular – I do believe that The Universe unfolds as it should. And so when the following 19 minutes video was sent to me, I paid attention.

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

You can read the full transcript here which ends in a powerful call t alof us to be fully present in the choices that we make:

So who are we? We are the life force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. And we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. Right here right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere where we are — I am — the life force power of the universe, and the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form. At one with all that is. Or I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere. where I become a single individual, a solid, separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, intellectual, neuroanatomist. These are the “we” inside of me.

Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful our planet will be. And I thought that was an idea worth spreading.

Each morning when I get up, I have the unique privilege of looking out my bedroom window to see if the Mont Blanc can been seen. It is only 100 km away and the weather has been excellent these past three days. I never cease to be amazed of its magnificence and I have been reminded of the work I am doing with Echart Tolle’s “A New Earth”.

Tolle writes about flowers being the representatives of the spiritual realm. Due to their fragile and ethereal nature they represent one of the best access points for contemplation. It is in the stillness we can gain consciousness instead of our compulsive naming. Nature is the best place to start as people tend to invite “labeling”. All of this is relevant to us as leaders, executives, parents and partners. We are part of the collective consciousness and if we believe as Tolle says – our world is at a crisis point, it is up to us to have our own practices that lead us to influence the world. To have a legacy is to learn to be present with our perceptions and not “lost in thought”.

Oprah has partnered with author Eckhart Tolle to present a live 10-week Web event on Oprah.com. The first class last Monday had over half a million attempting to log on.

“A New Earth” is a book that has the potential to change the way you view yourself and your world—it will awaken the highest self within you. If you are one of the view in the western hemisphere that has not heard of this event, click here to see a very slick introduction.

The live event is late for me in Europe, so I can download the material. You can listen to it on video or audio for your i-Pod by checking your i-Tunes. It is the number one podcast download.

When the following Forbes article by Rebecca Ruiz “Eight Hot Spots For Volunteer Travel” arrived in my Outlook, I was intrigued. The teaser read:
These trips will improve your cultural literacy and likely make you a better business leader.

Could we be looking for something bigger than our daily lives and jobs?

A Travelocity survey of 1,017 people in late 2007 found that 17.7% of respondents had previously taken a vacation with a volunteer or philanthropic component. Of those, trips with a focus on conservation, education and health care were the most popular.

There are a number of references and sources in the article but one that caught my attention was the Cross-Cultural Solutions , a recognized leader in the field of international volunteering, with over 4,000 volunteers each year. Founded in 1995, CCS is international not-for-profit organization with no political or religious affiliations.

Most “voluntourists” prefer philanthropic traveling to traditional vacations, and executives are no different. Executives frequently hope the experience will further define their career, according to Dava Antoniotti, director of program enrollment for CCS.”A lot of people are used to the daily grind, and they’re questioning the direction of altruism in their careers,” says Antoniotti. She notes that executives often find trips more fulfilling than just donating money, and that some take their families as well.

We are all looking to create meaning in our lives and we would love to do this at work. As the title of my post suggests, I think that this is a wonderful way for us all to get beyond ourselves and our own privileged life.  That said, isn’t it sad that we don’t look closer to home to find a way of giving back?  Instead of only looking to leave a legacy through volunteering during one’s vacation, executives should seek out the opportunities to build a legacy in their own organizations.

For quite some time, HBR has offered some interesting case studies. A list in order of popularity can be found at this search. Traditionally, just four experts are invited to comment on the case. With the new interactive version however, HBR invites you to contribute your solution.

Besides seeing this short introductory interview video with the author, you can read the case, and then:

• Contribute your commentary on the case
• Read others’ contributions
• Compare your perspective with the experts’

The first interactive case is entitled: How to Change the World by Howard H. Stevenson is a fictional case study that probes a dilemma facing many ambitious young professionals: How to do well while also doing good. While the author Stevenson admits that this is a bit contrived in that all the choices come at a single point in time, it is in my mind a bit far fetched for most of us. I should be so lucky to be in such a position, at any age, but the truth is, I would not be that interested in the work and commitments that would be required in any of his three choices. If one can get passed the grandeur of the “job offers” then the objective of the case as written in the first line is well worth analysing:

Alan Wilson has several career options but only one ambition — to make a difference.

One of the scenarios even involves our passion – mergers. So I will be looking forward to the opinions of all those who post as well as “the experts”.

BlessingWhite Press Release – October 16th, 2007

Chief Executives make seven classic complaints about their leadership team, according to BlessingWhite, a global consulting firm based in Princeton. The complaints are clear signs that the senior-management team is not functioning well, the firm said.

“As a rule, such gripes or comments made by the President or Chief Executive Officer reflect underlying interpersonal issues confronting the leadership team,” said BlessingWhite CEO Christopher Rice. “Among them is that the CEO gets too much agreement and too little candor, and this is the most frequent reason for a leadership intervention to help with strategic alignment, team building or comparable exercise. The challenge is to encourage every team member to speak up, to facilitate more back and forth, even if it means dissent from the CEO’s point of view.”

The firm paraphrased the top seven complaints they most often hear from CEOs before a leadership development initiative is implemented:

• “Everyone always agrees with me, and that makes me uneasy.”
• “All I get is data, but not much insight.”
• “We focus so much on competence that the senior team never gets emotionally charged up.”
• “All we talk about is results, but we don’t change the way we do things.”
• “I find myself talking strategy ’til I’m blue in the face, but my team doesn’t get it.”
• “Some of my best people have left, and no one tells me why.”
• “A lot of change is happening, but people don’t see how it all fits together.”

Lack of candor among senior teams, Rice explained, is to some degree unavoidable. “The CEO may be so charismatic that no one else is comfortable contributing, or sounding a discordant note. CEOs, however, tend to be intuitive and recognize when they’re not hearing all they need to hear. It’s usually the CEO who sees that something needs to be done to shake up the team.”

Another frequent issue is lack of emotional engagement by members of the team, Rice said. “This may occur even when an organization is doing well, that is, when the right numbers are coming in. In these cases longer-term behavioral issues are often overlooked amid the good news. The great CEOs are the ones who don’t wait for earnings to tail off, but intervene so that all the top people are truly involved on a visceral level.”

Many leadership teams become so focused on results and data, said Rice, that there is a natural tendency to overlook fundamental person-to-person issues. “Top people are inundated with data, daily if not hourly. And if it’s not data, then it’s a torrent of e-mail. So team members often find they’re not actually talking with one another, but just messaging or trying to stay on top of things. Then after a year or two the CEO gets the sense that team members are drifting apart, that the overall picture is less distinct, and it’s time to everyone to get together and speak frankly.”

BlessingWhite is a global consulting firm dedicated to creating sustainable high-performance organizations. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, with locations in London, Chicago, San Francisco and Melbourne, the firm has worked with almost three million professionals in thousands of organizations since its founding in 1973.

Contact: Shari Fryer, President, Shari Fryer & Associates, 970.846.6607, shari@fryerassociates.com

We find the issue of “lack of emotional engagement” an interesting one to say the least. If your senior management isn’t emotionally engaged how can the employees be?

At 1-Focus we are convinced that one of the biggest challenges in leadership and any change initiative is the issue of engagement. Unfortunately, like other terms such as empowerment, the meaning has been watered down. Engagement IS about emotionally connecting to the vision and strategy.

In order to address these kinds of issues in a concrete and bottom line focus, we use the model and principles developed ourselves and others.

• To really understand the process and urgency of engaging others we have a one day Merger Simulation.
• To promote leadership competencies in today’s global economy, we have developed our propitiatory 360 Collaborative Leadership Feedback Assessment.
• To assist in looking at team performance and part of our “Corporate Legacy” program, we like to address the principles of Patrick Lencioni in his ground breaking book: “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”.