DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE OTHERS DO UNTO OTHERS

Let that thought sink in and then walk around your organization— virtually or real body, real time.  This is what you have created. You are the ultimate role model for your company as CEO.  Of course, there are other forces at play, but---- don't minimize your impact.

The real issue (and why I write every week) is about how you can actually "see" your company and your culture and your impact on it when your top position keeps you blind.

l. The toughest and easiest way to begin to know your impact is to ask–at least 5 direct reports.  Performance review or developmental conversation time is the most normal, non-dramatic time.  Three questions: A. What should I do more of?  B. What should I do less of?  C. What is an impact I make that I'm not aware of?

2. Look for symptoms. Start with your regular meetings?  Are they dull beyond  belief?  Rote?  Do you model "Don't surprise me"?  Are your meetings tense but quiet?  Do you model "Cross me and I'll shun you?"  Are your meetings comfortable and loose and non-productive?  Do you model "Let's keep it fun with no conflict?" This is your highest impact environment and the most likely to model behavior to others.  Examine it.

3. What do people tease you about?  Can they tease you?  What gets a big laugh that you don't understand?  These are hints about impact. One CEO I worked with didn't show much anger. He would get quieter and quieter. Someone once said, "Oh, oh we're in the calm before the storm". That sort of thing. Later the CEO admitted to me that the comment hurt her feelings and she "got it".

4. What makes you go back to someone in order to course correct?  Is it a funny but caustic remark?  Is it an angry response to disagreement?  Is it not having a 
reasoned response?  Is it leaving an issue unresolved that now has to be faced?
What is your "go back and fix"  pattern that emerges looking back?  (I do hope you "go back" when it is needed. I assumed it.)

5. As it is at home, so at work. When I do formal instrumented assessments, leaders often will say, "My spouse would agree with this, or my brother or my kids or my best friend. Sorry, but they are a good source of information about your impact. Translate it to leadership impact.

6. Excellent leadership development can help you know your impact.  Good ones are hard to find. Look for  "real life" combined with "real feedback" in an atmosphere of a disciplined design for learning.  

And as this title suggests; what you do, others do and others do and others do.
"What is within, does indeed, surround you".

HOW FEW WORDS CAN A TOP EXECUTIVE USE?

Every executive should think about and get input on whether he or she uses too many words or too few.

I'm away this week.  Back on June 29th.  
So I'm taking a word break.

Ask someone!  "Should I use more word or less words"?

Answer that for my writing.
More words or less words?

YOUR EARS MUST BURN ALL THE TIME!

In case you don't know the phrase in the title, it means that when people are talking about you, your ears burn!!
No wonder you, as a top leader, develop blind spots. If not, how could you
stand the scrutiny.  This week I'm reminded of how much you are talked about, gossiped about and studied.

Why on earth did she do that?  Doesn't she get it? Doesn't she know what people will say?

What do you think he's like at home. Have you ever met his wife? No wonder he hates conflict?  

Watch her in the meeting. She'll fawn all over the Chair of the Board and ignore her own direct reports. She only manages up even as our CEO.   

You know how you'll know when he's irritated. Watch him. He'll start to clear his throat. That's the time to shut-up and wait for the next meeting

Her favorite is absolutely 'X'. That's who she confides in. If you want to influence her, get in good with 'X'.  He makes her feel good and just tells her what she wants to hear.

You get the idea. And once upon a time it probably hurt your feelings when you got wind of the 'gossip'. In a top role, it's harder to capture the informal chat--especially about you.  So you toughen up and dumb down. The hard part is staying soft enough to want to hear the small percent that matters and ignore
the bulk of the gossip that power at the top generates. Remember that it exists and there is a lot of it.

ARE YOU WILLING TO BE A HEROINE/ HERO AT WORK?

It is the trend to be a humble leader, a servant, a steward. The big ego is out of date. (At least in public) The leadership template is under revision. I'm talking about heroism.  The hero is more than a leader. Are you willing to take the Heroes' Journey for the good of your company?  Do you say 'yes' or 'no' to the following:

I will heed the call. I will discern the true nature of the task I must do. I will say 'yes' to the challenge, the real challenge.  

I will step forward into this task without a clear map or path.  I will find my way taking one true step at a time.

I am willing to face my own demons--the dragons and monsters of my ego and my blindness to my self.

I will be on the look-out for an unexpected guide to help me in tough moments.
I will know I can't  conquer without help.

I will tackle obstacles in my path until I transform the situation and win.

I will bring back the prize, the learning, the reward to others

I will be chivalrous to all keeping my word and my honor intact.

I am willing to be profoundly changed by the challenge I face and to end the journey as a different person

The only answer is "yes" to all of the above if you want the Hero's Journey.  It is not for every leader.

If intrigued, read Joseph Campbell's THE HERO'S JOURNEY for a more detailed description of the path of the hero.

THE WORDS "PERFORMANCE RANKING" RANKLES ME!!

Oh how I hate this topic. So Deloitte has radically reinvented Performance Rankings!  Did you read this in the April HBR? I did. Yawn and yawn and yawn.

I think it's the concepts behind most talent management that drives me nuts.
Deloitte really did improve --how to do an antiquated system better.

What bugs me?

--Ranking people against one another rather than against each person's 
collaboratively decided upon contribution.  What if there was room for all the talent to contribute according to individual capacity. (Hiring would be what it should be--the holy grail for performance)

--Tying performance to individual goals rather than to the company's overall performance. What if their were no individual goals. I know, I know. (Back to hiring well) 

--What if promotion was not the best way to make more money?  What if money stayed constant but a change in position was for learning and development only?

--What if everyone self-evaluated and you believed him or her?

--What if you gave up the idea of the bell curve that hovers over all ratings?  What if you led well enough that most would be very big contributors? As the top dog, your pay would dip if most did not perform above and beyond.

-- What if compensation was as idiosyncratic as  a person's contribution for each year? What if there were a base salary established for each role and then lots of room to enhance compensation based on extraordinary contribution?

--What if each person decided on the amount of "stretch" they wanted to reach for each year?

--What if compensation was fair to each person and but not equal across the company?

--What if people had a performance discussion and feedback absolutely any time they asked for it from anyone they wanted to ask?

I get excited about new possibilities for learning and blowing the lid off 
what a company can do.  I do know that  our assumptions and models to support this are off kilter.  

What if we gave up Victorian classroom management as a model for performance management?

What if tight definitions of "performance"  and tight measurements do nothing but limit what can be done?

What if we quit performing and just did good work day after day after day.

TALK TO ME!  Am I just an OD/HR grump?