Graduated from a Manager to a Leader. What Next?

Although topics like Mindfulness and Meditation have recently threatened to overtake the presence that “Leadership v/s Management” has enjoyed in Leadership literature over the past 5 years, practitioners continue to have a lot to say on the subject. Instead of adding to the already over-crowded voice on how managers can progress to become Leaders, I would like to talk about what they should do after they’ve graduated to being Leaders. 

Let me start with the anti-climactic give-away up-front so impatient and disinterested readers can find better things to do than spend time going through the rest of my article. I would like to suggest that the most important thing to do after graduating from a Manager to a Leader is to get back to being a solid Manager. Through the remainder of this blog, it will be my endeavor to get the good old, much-neglected Manager back in fashion. None of what I am going to say undermines the value of attributes and practices that have been attributed to being the difference between Management and Leadership (example – this simple one). But I am making a case for the need to _remain_ a sound Manager even after becoming a Leader. The specific reason to note this is the fact that several smart and intelligent people have taken to practicing Leadership in lieu of basics of Management and I have seen their effectiveness suddenly drop.

Through my own personal experiences, reflections as well as several deep conversations with successful people in various walks of life, I have tried to formulate some routines and practices that I think can be the foundation of one’s “solid management” practices. Of course, this is a theory that I have not been able to fully put into practice, but the ambition is to get as close as possible to do so.

My conviction in the theory that it is important to remain a sound Manager comes from my surprising finding that even accomplished Leaders think quite a bit about doing the basics right – as in the case of a successful $30B+ company CEO with whom I had the good fortune of a prolonged interaction about his Leadership philosophy. When I tried to find out what he constantly thinks about, I was anticipating responses like vision, hiring the right people, budgeting and such things. His response was refreshingly simple. He talked about how he has some simple practices that form the basis of his approach. He mentioned to me about how he always checks in with his direct reports regularly and never goes out-of-sync for more than a week – even if it means he needs to call them on the way to work or back. He also talked about how he spends plenty of time with his admin(s) (I am sure they must be some highly qualified MBAs!) to deliberately divide his time across different things – internal governance, external interactions and meeting with people. He specifically mentioned that he does that to make sure that he does not inadvertently gravitate towards things that he likes to do and instead, focus on doing the right set of things in the right proportion.

Another similar example is that of a friend of mine who is perhaps one of the fastest rising leaders in the Silicon Valley circles. During a casual chat that I happened to have with him where I sought to understand what his magic recipe is, he was very clear about how the source of his effectiveness comes from being able to unblock people as quickly as possible. As simple as it sounds, think of the amount of productivity and explosive positive energy that it unleashes in an organization where there are very few stall cycles. I am sure this is not a uni-dimensional skill/practice. Behind the scenes, he spends time doing things that establish a delivery track record, progressively broaden his spheres of influence so he can successfully unblock people even when they are blocked by seemingly immovable rocks.

Again – it is worth repeating that none of this makes light of the “big things” that most successful Leaders do. But the point that needs re-iteration is that it is very, very important to not give up on the first principles of Management. I am sure most effective Leaders have their own practices and routines. Here are some that I try to practice. What are yours?

1. Check-in with my direct reports at least once a week – even if it is over a quick phone call or just swinging by their offices on my way to or from the coffee room
2. Spend time on every Thursday afternoon to map out the following week and get a mental map of what I would define as success the following week
3. Have at least 4 90-minute blocks on the calendar every week for impromptu meets, walking around the office floor, etc.
4. Whenever possible, I meet people in their offices instead of mine – gives me thinking time between meetings and people are far less guarded in their own areas than others
5. As hard as it is (and I must admit, I break this rule quite often), I try to make Friday my meeting black-out day. Serves as buffer for catching up on backlog, meet people that need quick time with me so I can unblock them
6. Come to work really early on Fridays and attend to my reading backlog (I focus mostly on Business, Leadership, Technology, Spirituality and some Self Development topics) before people start to trickle in
7. If I have important meetings where I am not just participating, but trying to lead or drive an outcome or provide a direction, I make very sure to block prep time for those meetings. In general, if there’s a meeting that I am driving, I always set aside time to prepare for it
8. For every 1-hour interview, I set aside an hour to prepare for it so I can make it count for myself as well as the interviewee
9. Set aside 4 hours per direct report per quarter just for performance feedback, goal setting and career planning discussions
10. Respond to every email directed to me – even if it means I just respond with a “let’s take this up in person” 
11. Do my best to show up – may be an employee celebrating the birth of a little one in her family or even an employee’s going away lunch
12. Look back at my calendar every month and see if I would like to re-balance the way I spend my time across different activities. More broadly, I try to use my calendar to align it with my long and short term goals rather than let it grow on me and consume me

What are some of your practices?

The curious case of Kevin Pietersen….and parallels with the world outside cricket

This is not a topic that will appeal to too many people that don’t follow cricket – simply because of the context being so deeply connected with cricket. But the theme that I am attempting to discuss here is beyond cricket. It is about flawed geniuses and what the rest of us – as friends/colleagues, managers, coaches or stakeholders in some form – can do towards channelizing their disproportionately superior gifts for the greater good as well as the benefit of the individuals themselves.

Those of us who follow the game of cricket closely have been consumed by all the press – mostly negative – that Kevin Pietersen’s book is attracting. The England cricket administration has its response, the management group that KP has targeted in his book has felt compelled to come with its response, some ex–players resorting to Twitter to offer their retorts/interpretations and so on. I am sure we have not seen the last of this saga and several more gigabytes of press will be wasted on this subject. But the most insightful article that I have seen on this subject comes from Martin Crowe – an ex-cricketer himself and not far from being a genius himself with the bat, especially when he was at the peak of his powers. His analysis of KP’s psyche and its evolution over the last decade or so is very deep and insightful and offers a window into people of KP’s ilk that we run into every so often in our lives – whatever disciplines we practice. I am talking about those extraordinarily gifted people with extremely high skill/IQ, but are also characterized by a fragile ego and absence of emotional intelligence or stability.

Early in my career, I had the good fortune of watching – from the sidelines – such people either being expertly managed by excellent coaches/managers towards some larger good and also cases where such “flawed geniuses” either burned themselves or environments that they were in. As I started my career as a people manager, I often found myself confused about the approach and action to take with such individuals. My own think-tanks would come up with opinions ranging from quickly cutting such people loose from the organization all the way to simply dealing with such people and their fragile egos with kid gloves in anticipation of them turning into “the goose that lays the golden egg”. After a fair amount of trial and error with such individuals, I have come to settle to what I think is a recipe for handling them….something that has worked for me with a reasonable hit-rate. I am sure I will find that this recipe will fall flat on its face in several situations and I am also sure that it will keep getting refined in my own mind as I go through more such experiences. At the risk of sounding like yet another “5 Habits of …” prescription, I will try to outline this formula using a combination of view-points and actions or suggestions:

1. You will know such a “flawed genius” when you see one. It is generally never very hard to figure out if someone fits into the class of people that form the subject of this discussion., There’s so specific check-list that I can think of to describe such people, but the incandescence of their brilliance is generally matched by how visibly fragile – and big – their egos are.
2. Very low tolerance as well as blind impunity are both approaches that are doomed to fail with such people. There may be time-bound periods and specific situations where a competent manager may take such an approach, but neither of these can be the steady-state formula.
3. The most important thing that such people need is TOUGH LOVE…..not unadulterated admonishment or blind ego-boosts. These people know they are good, and they never tire of hearing that they are good. But they need an equal dose of reality-checks. This is where, I have seen many a good manager lose sight of the “tough” part of the tough love.
4. The most important value that one (as a manager or a coach) can add to such individuals is to help them discover and stay connected with a broader purpose beyond themselves. While this is true for most individuals, these outliers have a tendency to transfer focus from the broader purpose to themselves very often and for seemingly petty reasons. It takes a lot of effort to get these individuals to buy into a larger goal than themselves, but it is possible. The key is to find goals that either (a) enhance their reputation at a company/industry/society level or (b) are challenging enough that they can be the difference between the success or failure of an important initiative. Some of the things that are compelling sources of inspiration are – the opportunity to make an imprint on the industry, opportunity to upset the hegemony of a market leader, leave a strong legacy of proficiency and accomplishment.
5. Pair them up with fairly intelligent, but very high EQ (high emotional intelligence) individuals – self-assured people that understand the value of such individuals as well as their psychological and emotional make up. They serve two very specific purposes – (a) be a willing sounding board…often at short notice and at unreasonable frequencies (b) serve as a “sink” to drain out all the negativity and poison that inevitably builds up among such people – by simply giving them a hearing.

Back to the case of Kevin Pietersen – for all the mountain of runs that he has collected, he will remain one of the most unfulfilled talents of his time. He really should have retired with at least 12,000 test runs, lot more test and ODI victories and many more compelling duels with the best bowlers of his time. It is a major loss for cricket and for that, the English Cricket Leadership should share the blame with the man himself!

In the mean time, we all can continue to do some simple things to make sure that these flawed geniuses don’t squander the gifts that they’ve been blessed with. They deserve better and more sustained support structures than they generally get. And organizations can create huge value by thoughtfully supporting and harnessing such special talents.

Sachin Desai
http://www.facebook.com/sachinsdesai

Random Friday collection (of articles on Leadership, Self Development, etc..)

Character at the heart of Global leadership
http://www.imd.org/research/challenges/character-global-leadership-morrison-black.cfm
Character at the heart of Global Leadership – really like this article for touching on simple but essential traits of being an all-seasons leader. This, coupled with an earlier post makes good reading if you are looking for a quick refresher on basic leadership qualities. This one talks about two basic traits that global leaders need to develop and practice:

1. Establishing emotional connections by (a) developing sincere interest in people (b) genuinely listening to people (c ) understanding different view points
2. Integrity in the form of demonstrating strong commitment to company and personal standards/values

Leadership v/s Management
http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/2013/01/management-is-still-not-leadership.html
Another perspective on the oft-repeated subject of Leadership v/s Management – this time from John Kotter. Does a good job of not glorifying Leadership and instead simply tries to articulate the difference between these two things, while re-iterating the need for both qualities in an organization.

Very nice and crisp article on traits of collaborative leaders
http://www.strategy-business.com/article/ac00040?gko=8e8d0&tid=27782251&pg=all
There’s plenty of literature on these matters in the modern blogosphere era but I found this to be quite relevant. Took me just 10 minutes to read. Worthwhile read – if only to serve as a refresher….
My Summary: 4 important traits of collaborative leaders:

• Focus on authentic leadership and eschew passive aggressiveness
  • Follow through on organizational commitments – in spirit and in deed. Particularly avoid passive aggressiveness
  • When there is disagreement about a decision, fight the instinct to make it personal
• Relentlessly pursue transparent decision making
  • Be open and transparent about your decision process, who owns the decision, accountability to execute decisions, etc.
• View resources as instruments of action, not as possessions
• Codify the relationship between decision rights, accountability and rewards
  • Perhaps the most important of these 4 in my mind – in building the right organizational culture that lasts beyond your time and gets integrated into the organization’s blood stream

11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader

A simple article that articulates some basic traits that great leaders have. While quite a few of them sound obvious and the list is by no means exhaustive, the ones that appeal to me the most are (a) Story Telling (b) Authenticity (c) Transparency. Story Telling is a particularly powerful trait that IMHO all modern day leaders should learn and develop. In his wonderful book “The Whole New Mind”, Dan Pink talks about the power of story telling in terms of its ability to provide context to any text and hence, paint a fuller, more relevant picture.

As regards Authenticity and Transparency, I can relate to these attributes through the first hand experience of having worked for someone who was the ultimate embodiment of Authenticity and Transparency. It was an absolute clinic as far as these two attributes are concerned. It is pretty clear to most experienced leaders that these are very important characteristics to practice – both in professional and personal lives. But I was able to see the power of authenticity realize its full potential in the case of this manager. Very simply put, he turned out to be three times the manager that he could have been without the fundamental trait of authenticity. His ability to be completely himself at all times, share his vulnerabilities openly with his team and promote information flow in the organization created an environment where the whole turned out to be much greater than the sum of parts. An authentic leader can foster trust in an organization much more easily and in the process, eliminate currents of negative energy that can set even the best of organizations back.

11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader

Dave Kerpen

CEO, Likeable Local, NY Times Best-Selling Author & Keynote Speaker

Being likeable will help you in your job, business, relationships, and life. I interviewed dozens of successful business leaders for my last book, to determine what made them so likeable and their companies so successful. All of the concepts are simple, and yet, perhaps in the name of revenues or the bottom line, we often lose sight of the simple things – things that not only make us human, but can actually help us become more successful. Below are the eleven most important principles to integrate to become a better leader:

1. Listening

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway

Listening is the foundation of any good relationship. Great leaders listen to what their customers and prospects want and need, and they listen to the challenges those customers face. They listen to colleagues and are open to new ideas. They listen to shareholders, investors, and competitors. Here’s why the best CEO’s listen more.

2. Storytelling

“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” -Robert McAfee Brown

After listening, leaders need to tell great stories in order to sell their products, but more important, in order to sell their ideas. Storytelling is what captivates people and drives them to take action. Whether you’re telling a story to one prospect over lunch, a boardroom full of people, or thousands of people through an online video – storytelling wins customers.

3. Authenticity

“I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I’ve become. If I had, I’d have done it a lot earlier.” -Oprah Winfrey

Great leaders are who they say they are, and they have integrity beyond compare. Vulnerability and humility are hallmarks of the authentic leader and create a positive, attractive energy. Customers, employees, and media all want to help an authentic person to succeed. There used to be a divide between one’s public self and private self, but the social internet has blurred that line. Tomorrow’s leaders are transparent about who they are online, merging their personal and professional lives together.

4. Transparency

“As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth.” -John Whittier

There is nowhere to hide anymore, and businesspeople who attempt to keep secrets will eventually be exposed. Openness and honesty lead to happier staff and customers and colleagues. More important, transparency makes it a lot easier to sleep at night – unworried about what you said to whom, a happier leader is a more productive one.

5. Team Playing

“Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds.” -SEAL Team Saying

No matter how small your organization, you interact with others every day. Letting others shine, encouraging innovative ideas, practicing humility, and following other rules for working in teams will help you become a more likeable leader. You’ll need a culture of success within your organization, one that includes out-of-the-box thinking.

6. Responsiveness

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” -Charles Swindoll

The best leaders are responsive to their customers, staff, investors, and prospects. Every stakeholder today is a potential viral sparkplug, for better or for worse, and the winning leader is one who recognizes this and insists upon a culture of responsiveness. Whether the communication is email, voice mail, a note or a a tweet, responding shows you care and gives your customers and colleagues a say, allowing them to make a positive impact on the organization.

7. Adaptability

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” -Ben Franklin

There has never been a faster-changing marketplace than the one we live in today. Leaders must be flexible in managing changing opportunities and challenges and nimble enough to pivot at the right moment. Stubbornness is no longer desirable to most organizations. Instead, humility and the willingness to adapt mark a great leader.

8. Passion

“The only way to do great work is to love the work you do.” -Steve Jobs

Those who love what they do don’t have to work a day in their lives. People who are able to bring passion to their business have a remarkable advantage, as that passion is contagious to customers and colleagues alike. Finding and increasing your passion will absolutely affect your bottom line.

9. Surprise and Delight

“A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless.” -Charles de Gaulle

Most people like surprises in their day-to-day lives. Likeable leaders underpromise and overdeliver, assuring that customers and staff are surprised in a positive way. There are a plethora of ways to surprise without spending extra money – a smile, We all like to be delighted — surprise and delight create incredible word-of-mouth marketing opportunities.

10. Simplicity

“Less isn’t more; just enough is more.” -Milton Glaser

The world is more complex than ever before, and yet what customers often respond to best is simplicity — in design, form, and function. Taking complex projects, challenges, and ideas and distilling them to their simplest components allows customers, staff, and other stakeholders to better understand and buy into your vision. We humans all crave simplicity, and so today’s leader must be focused and deliver simplicity.

11. Gratefulness

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” -Gilbert Chesterton

Likeable leaders are ever grateful for the people who contribute to their opportunities and success. Being appreciative and saying thank you to mentors, customers, colleagues, and other stakeholders keeps leaders humble, appreciated, and well received. It also makes you feel great! Donor’s Choose studied the value of a hand-written thank-you note, and actually found donors were 38% more likely to give a 2nd time if they got a hand-written note!

The Golden Rule: Above all else, treat others as you’d like to be treated

By showing others the same courtesy you expect from them, you will gain more respect from coworkers, customers, and business partners. Holding others in high regard demonstrates your company’s likeability and motivates others to work with you. This seems so simple, as do so many of these principles — and yet many people, too concerned with making money or getting by, fail to truly adopt these key concepts.

Acquiring & Building Talent

Very nice article – to-the-point, actionable and isn’t one of those articles that simply puts together well-known and obvious practices.

http://www.rallypointwebinars.com/Clients/UNC/UNC-White-Paper-Talent-Builders.pdf

Translating Strategy into a compelling leadership message

http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=2745

Really nice read – by Willie Pietersen, the pre-eminent writer/practitioner of our times on matters related to strategy.
Some highlights:

– People will do almost any what if you give them a good why —- Nietzsche
– For a strategy to be supported and acted upon, it has to live in the hearts and minds of employees. We must end the notion that the final product of a strategy is a document.
– The essential task of a leader is to be able to describe ‘the cathedral’—the cause worth working for. This gives meaning to everyone’s role, no matter how humble
– Whose job is it to translate your organization’s strategy from a document into a compelling leadership message that will win the hearts and minds of employees? It is everyone’s job at every level in the organization.
– As leaders tackle the task of communicating the organization’s strategy, the following questions are almost always on the minds of employees, and if they are not answered clearly and credibly, employees will simply tune out.
• What are we aiming to achieve, and why should I care?
• Where does my department fit in, and what is expected of me?
• How will we measure success, and what’s in it for me?

WHY you do something inspires people…not so much, WHAT

About how people are inspired not as much by WHAT you do but WHY you do it. Good, short talk from TED.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action