MOVING MY OFFICE TO NEW WEBSITE. PLEASE RE-SUBSCRIBE

   

I have a new website that has all of my writing in one place. Those of you who read more than one of my blogs have asked for that.  

And as a CEO reminder—even this small change has me feeling awkward with new things to learn that are uncomfortable. Incompetence always is. And I chose this change. And I still balk a little and wonder (was this a good move, only old fogies have websites. I was doing fine before. Blah blah blah. Noa magnify that by, oh say, at least one hundred, and that is how your associates feel much of the time in a world of constant change. Maybe you too. Just saying.

Here is the link to my CEO: Note To Self blog. Once you are there, I hope you will nose around the other pages and check out my other projects:

CEO: Note To Self

Take a look please
Follow your curiosity
PLEASE RE-SUBSCRIBE

SURE WOULD LIKE TO WRITE A HAPPY DAPPY BURP---

And I could.
I have had a wonderful Summery Summer
I almost take for granted that I live in beauty, that I have ease, that my family people are all healthy, that I can buy food when I need it, and I can be frivolous. And I am a white woman second from the top of white males, thinking of the unfairness of that white man at the top and ignoring all the other rungs of the ladder below that of privilege.

It's so fake humble to say I am privileged as a way to manage the the truth that I am over privileged. 

I wrote an inane comment to my black pastor about people learning to love in order to survive.
He wrote back, "maybe". I wrote my comment as an over privileged person who watches  awful hate from a somewhat safe distance. Of course nuclear missiles carry long range hate, so I am closer than I think.

I did watch news last night and was amused and very discouraged to see four guests erupt into furious shouting their opinion at one another. It was out of control. They were re-enacting the Charlottesville riot. Thank goodness for a break for ads. Maybe we need a world wide break to cool our fevered opinions of rightness.

So another beautiful Summer day. I will enjoy it. I will have fun. I will have coffee with a friend. I  am too far along in life not to savor what is good. But I have a pebble in my soul as I ponder my 
privilege and what to do with it.

LET'S NOT LIMIT OUR CONVERSATION TO A NARROW MARKET CHANNEL

 I am a former Executive Vice President for the Delhaize Group.
I loved my work and it's not often that my backgroud of Organizational Development gets 
recognized as a value adding function that sits at the top table of the company.
So I'm proud of Delhaize for seeing the contribution and proud of my work.
Great. I say this to show I have some expertise and experience in business.

AND I have also written a book on prayer and my ambivalence about organized religion and the tendency for all religions to think they are 'right'. The title is I PRAY ANYWAY: Devotions for the Ambivalent. I am well read in religions and theology. I read it for fun. And I pray my way, anyway, 

I have not formally released the book but soon I will. It is available on Amazon and got a good review by Kirkus.  I have a website soon ready to go live. It will carry my three blogs and other fun writing. They have separate themes but one voice. Mine

I am now coming to the point.
I have been told by many marketers (some excellent) that I can't write on both topics. (Make that three topics and more to come.) I have to have clear market channels.I shouldn't water down my authority. Keep the two separate. Well, I can't. I won't. I hate to be fenced in.

And I smile at this past week and my business meetings. I met with a man wanting to
begin to do corporate OD and T work with companies. We met for 90 minutes. We talked business for 30. The rest of the time was spent on The Quran and how it is numerically constructed in a highly complex way that indicates its authentic. He is a submitted Muslim. We had a subset conversation about my interent in learning how to discuss when there is no wiggle room (no learning no listening) because all parties have absolute certitude. 

I met with an HR executive and we did spend most of the time on the work I was going to do with his team but we also talked about heaven and hell. He had a goofy and brilliant and interesting theory that they both exist. It had to do with time and the experience of the brain.

I rest my case. People are multi-faceted. Connections are where new thought come through that can cause change and creativity and production and profit. Don't make your marketing channel so strict that new ideas can't get in. Allow for some blurring to allow for the unexpected opportunity.

TEN SIGNATURE STRENGTHS

I promised I'd follow-up the flaws I saw with the signature strengths of 
actual CEO's I worked with closely.  No theory. Just experience. Another day we'll talk about the specific impact of both the flaws and strengths

10 Signature strengths--the right one at the right time for the company

—Crazy love for the business that was contagious. This CEO couldn't stay out of the stores and loved being with customers. New products and marketing ideas 
sparked the company. Passion, passion passion.

—Strong moral ethics of a person that followed several ousted top executives and the company needed the ballast and trustworthiness of a leader to hold things steady as a new clean leaf was turned,

—Steady and innovative, two often incompatible traits that were used to ride the wave of change with impeccable business insight was this CEO's signature strength

—Charisma, energy and vision were the signature strengths needed to wake=up
a tired beaten down company and rebuild optimism.

—Easy going affability to enjoy people at all levels of the company and the 
ability to be ingratiating personally kept many challenges during a time of acquisition less dramatic and traumatic then would have been.

—Charm, clarity and quick strategic instincts that led to quick decision and action with no regret was a needed signature strength to this CEO

—Restless curiosity, promoter of innovation, willingness to risk and determination to reach the goal through will power which helped move 
reluctant projects and initiatives through quite a bit of resistance

—Operational expertise and focus to cut through barriers to efficiency and 
logistical blockage combined with high personal work ethic and standards
needed to bring order from chaos

—Strategic and political brilliance and polish to move among various stockholders along with enjoyment of the industry that endeared this CEO to
most people in the company

—Marketing and Sales expertise with a natural leadership embedded not learned 
with likeability and skill in collaboration

Every one of these leaders wanted to be CEO, had a strong ego, a good sense of humor and willingness to adapt to demands of all kinds. And their signature strengtht was what was needed for that particular company at that particular time. There is no once size fits all CEO and there is no CEO without plenty of flaws. The signature strengths simple outweigh the flaws.


PS--I WILL BE CHANGING TO WORDPRESS TO GO WITH MY NEW WEBSITE THAT CAN'T GO LIVE UNTIL I MASTER IT.  SO, WISH ME LUCK AND BE AWARE I JUST MIGHT MISS A WEEK OR TWO!!  Talk about flaws! Let's home I dig up some strengths to do this!! As my dear 4 year old granddaughter says, "I can do this!!"

TEN FLAWS I SAW

I have had experience working closely with over twenty-five CEO's--working from inside the company, not from outside as a consultant. I certainly could have gone the consulting route but I like being 'in' the day to day moments of great achievement and huge messes.
Thinking of the CEO's here are ten flaws I saw:

—not telling the strategic message over and over again using the same language to all levels of the organization

—not being clear enough soon enough with poor performance so that improvement might happen

—not realizing every word and gesture of theirs is watched and put into the company grapevine

—being susceptible to flattery that blinds the ability to see clearly--self and others

—talking prudence and acting with indulgence

—not staying in touch with the grit of the business

—being impulsive about changes and then bored with them so they dwindle and confuse

—managing the Board and Wall St and not the business

—being too protective of people and not demanding enough

—not realizing the need for a trusted confidante--just one or two 

I wrote each one of these with a specific CEO in mind
Next time, I'll share  what they did very right
A competent CEO has flaws and big strengths

RANDOM THOUGHT FROM RANGELEY MAINE

We are 'upta camp' as they say in Maine when you go off into the wood to a cottage.
We usually are able to power Internet from a neighbor. Not this time.
So I am on the porch of a nearby Inn and need to look invisible.
My camouflage is pink and live green pj's!!  All the Deer wear them.

Anyway, I have to be quick.
I want to thank those of you CEO's who run a decent company with good policies and fairness and opportunity. You are the best place to find it. Much of government and formal religion are struggling to embody that.

So thanks. 
I know you know that it is good for your company, but it is also good for the world

OF COURSE, HANNAFORD BROS. CO. IS MY FAVORITE COMPANY

A few weeks back I wrote about a couple of companies I said I loved--as in felt a fondness toward them. One was LL Bean and one was Delhaize, Belgium. Both were family originated with a core set of values that were still alive. In fact it's odd how values permeate a company and won't let go even during times of change and challenge. Often you know the values are active and alive by the pain of the change. They may go underground, but in my experience the values are in the DNA and will stay alive to be prominent again. (That's a topic to explore more.)

But now I want to pledge my troth to the company I grew up in professionally--Hannaford Bros. Co. from 1985-2006 joining with the Delhaize Group in 2000.
How do I love it? Let me count the ways:

—From my first day, the company crackled with competence. It was striking to me after some of my other work experiences. People knew what they were doing, they got it done and expected others to do the same. One characteristic was that people walked fast. I promise. Visiting vendors or consultants were left in the dust trailing behind the Hannaford person. Urgency personified

—It had steady Eddy talent development systems in place. Good talent was brought in with a disciplined (and fun) approach.  Work was actually reviewed. Bonus' were given. A performance problem was addressed. Fairly.

—Innovation happened. There were far reaching experiments and pilots from self-managed
warehouses to home delivery to re-structures of functions to leadership retreats that were
bold in how they were designed.  And all innovation had the HBC approach of prudence and
tight relationship to the consumer i.e.the business

—We laughed. We had energy. We had confidence we could meet the challenge. We were
proud without honking about it.

—People were not fenced in. Talent was put to good use above and beyond formal roles.
As a new OD professional in the HR department I was immediately put to use with a group designing a new warehouse and another that was creating a new store format--while I did all the other parts of my formal role as well. 

—I was never bored. Right, when I might have been, I would be promoted or assigned to something challenging--a downsizing done right, a major strategy retreat, a Board presentation on Diversity. 

—I liked the leaders when they were my bosses and when they became my colleagues. 
We all had flaws, some huge, most laughable, but I liked them as people. I liked going to work.

—All people at all levels were real. We talked about the grit of our lives, the pain of our lives,
funny funny stuff that happened to us, stories at our own expense. No one put on airs, least of all the CEO's. 

—It was a decent company. Analysts joked about HBC being boring--well managed, good profits,
great talent, high integrity (code for boring). I believe they may have said we were like a Scout troop in being wholesome.  

I think I'll stop on that last statement. Wouldn't you like to hear people say that about where they work or about the government?  It is so far from boring. It is extraordinary.

So, for those of you who asked--Hannaford Bros. Co. is my favorite company. 

BE YOUR VERY HIGHLY INDIVIDUAL WEIRD SELF

This article (The Offbeat Habits of 7 Famous Leaders (Infographic)
http://www.lifehack.org/610515/the-offbeat-habits-of-7-famous-leaders-infographic-ap-pinterest-infographic?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=talktokununu&ref=e )  led me to think about the CEO's I worked with and some of their "Offbeat Habits".  My point is to encourage you top leaders to have some quirks and flavor that suit you. If not bizarre or inappropriate (hate to even have to say this) they become a kind of personal hash tag that your associates enjoy. You are a person with your own habits and it makes you real and not role bound.

Here are some that became endearing:

—A CEO of an electric utility ate with the custodial staff everyday when in he office to get away from 'work'. He also insisted on going out with crews during disasters of any kind--like an enthusiastic kid not like a CEO inspecting work. Crews kidded about who would win him in the next hurricane or blizzard. He was one of the smartest CEO's I worked with and was universally loved.

—Another CEO when musing about a big dilemma (and that is mostly what is on a CEO plate) would head for his car and visit his retail businesses and do errands and stay in the car until he saw a clear path. People would say, "Watch out, He's in the car again."

—A CEO with a smoking habit he didn't like took his breaks with all of the other smokers huddled together outside the building. People loved to kid him about it and he sure found out what was going on in his company.  He was charismatic and well-spoken but when passionate about what he was saying, he would accidentally kind of spit. People brought umbrellas to the first row of a large meeting and opened them when he began to speak. Loving teasing.

—Here's one more.  One CEO who hated meetings but had an open door always would manage to get rid of people quickly by standing up and meeting people at the door and talk in the doorway, no matter what the topic. If she stayed seated, then people knew he wanted to chat and laugh and argue baseball teams. People would ask, "Did you get a doorway meeting or a sit down?"  

I snuck in a game of solitaire on the computer either after or before a tough meeting and would play til I won if at all possible. I never closed my door except to do this and so everyone knew, (besides my admin told them). Before a meeting people would ask, "Did you win?"  

So be real. Go ahead and have your unique goofy habit.  PS--I advise this only if you are competent and have a lot of goodwill in your pocket. The right to be eccentric has to be earned. 

ANOTHER NEW INTANGIBLE PRODUCT

I am about to go offline for a week.
There will be no signal available.
(I do live in Maine)
It feels luxurious and, in a sense, forbidden.
Remember, when things actually were forbidden??
Anyway, privacy and solitude will become things people will pay for.
They are now.
What does that mean for your business?

Happy Fourth of July to the world.
A solid Constitution is a great product.
Not to be taken for granted, which can happen when it's doing its work well.

Another invisible product is hope that comes from a world well run.
Leaders--it's on you

DON'T DENY THE NEGATIVE--MANAGE AND MINIMIZE IT

Top leaders need optimism to meet challenges with hope and to encourage 'can do' energy in their organizations. Many leaders come by optimism naturally. Many others learn to fake it which others smell fast and becomes seen as false. I want to raise the blind spot of ignoring negative feelings
for fear they will spread. Not realizing them can cause all kinds of surprise and disaster.
I read the following about how to know and identify what you are feeling and how to 
acknowledge it (so you don't get stuck in denial) but also how to move on quickly so you don't grow the negative.

I did not write the following and when and if I find out where it came from, I will let you know.
(It was in my notebook)

In our current feel-good self-improvement culture, we’re encouraged to only acknowledge positive emotions and feelings. Shove down the negative stuff and pretend it doesn’t exist. All that is fine until you have a negative emotion that won’t be silenced, and I’m betting all of you have been there before.

It’s stupid to pretend everything is fine and that you don’t experience negative, even humiliating, emotions. What is smart is to use neuroscience to figure out what to do with them so they don’t sabotage your best efforts to move forward.

How to make it work for you

—Nip negative thoughts and emotions in the bud when they first appear and are at their weakest.

—Label each emotion for what it truly is, not just what sounds good to you.

—Call out the emotion by name: shame, envy, anger, jealousy, lust, etc

—Describe the emotion in a word or two; be succinct and to the point.Do not enter a dialogue about the emotion; anything more than one or two words will only give it legs with which to run wild.

—Resist attempts to justify the emotion. Notice it and move on

It's a tricky balance to face reality head-on and to model and maintain the optimism needed for you organization to move forward with confidence.  Start by knowing what you are feeling because the organization will reflect it back to you. The company is your mirror of its emotional tone which, ironically, is set by you. So choose what you want to perpetuate.

CAN YOU LOVE A COMPANY?

I'll define 'love' so that you don't think I'm nuts. Love is a "deep feeling of affection". 
In strictly business terms it might be called goodwill. I care about the brand's non tangible assets--ie. its history, its stated and acted upon values, and its products that I like and trust automatically.

I have two in mind today and others to come. 
(Hannaford Bros is my BCFF. I grew up professionally there. Lucky me.)

One is LL Bean. I loved it when I lived in the Midwest and got its catalogues and requested Christmas gifts from it. When we moved to Maine with five school age kids who were to start school three days after arriving. I  called the school and asked, "What do kids love in your school for the first day of school this year. We just moved here." I did as told and  went directly to Beans to get Bean Boots. Five pair!! Later my adult kids came for holidays and did midnight excursions to LL Bean. I remember their chamois shirts and ragg sweaters. Even later, when I was a Hannaford executive I was lucky to have know Leon Gorman from various dinners where we sat together. And now I am so proud to have worked with the present CEO, Steve Smith. Both Steve and LL Bean are lucky. It is about as good a fit as you get. Steve is honest, frank, innovative, trusting in employee talent, progressive and a long time outdoor guy. Beans has had some unusual problems with a new system that has frustrated customers with unexpected behavior from 
a company that could be almost taken for granted for stellar customer service. This is where goodwill comes in. I so trust LL Bean, that I know they are (and I mean 'they") killing themselves to get this new system, corrected and up and going. I am on their side. This is what you call customer loyalty. I'll be patient. It's a way to repay an honest company of good quality goods and exceptional customer service for years of being good to me.

While I'm declaring my love for certain companies, let me include Delhaize Belgium. This company is celebrating 150 years of continuous business. I respect its history, its passion for all things food, its constant learning as the market changes and its values stated at the beginning of the company. Like most other companies, it has had challenges and hard decisions to make. What I know and respect is that any choices that color that history or its values are extremely painful for its leadership. And that is a good thing. It means the values are alive and active.
Once again, I was lucky to work with its present CEO--Denis Knoops. He is innovative, progressive, smart about the business and cares about the integrity of the company.  Here are some of the written 'commandments' written by the founding fathers of the company:

—Do your work well
—Persevere in everything you undertake
—You will inspire confidence if you trust yourself
—Never make a commitment you cannot honor
—See to the welfare of those who work with you. You have the care of their souls
—Do not tolerate any relaxation from anyone (This one is apt for crazy retailers everywhere--action rules) 

There are more guidelines  and I am touched as I read them. They instill honor with every word and assume that  integrity and hard work are what makes a business thrive.

As I said, I have a deep feeling of affection for these two companies that goes beyond pride and respect.

Love.

COMMON GROUND

Getting your entire organization to run as one is where extraordary power sleeps.
Call it alignment or synchronization or  organizational effectiveness or plain ol' coordination.
There are many analogies used. I like thinking of the CEO as a great orchestra conductor
interpreting a laid out plan (the score) and creating something great out of what could be very disparate sounds. I know of a CEO who took his team to hear and study and discuss a famous orchestra.

BUT--that does engender dependence on one leader with each section knowing in detail only the part they play. Alignment is working with surface parts and how to streamline and smooth out the bumps. It is really coordinated action--often mistaken for collaboration. Deep collaboration is very important but involves people being together to do it. Often with time and distance and other work, the product of collaboration dissipates. A modern leader has to go deeper to steep the company in common direction and identity.

l. Do you rely only on company goals to guide organizational action?

2.Is project management a primary tool for keeping action on track?

3.Do 'projects' rule the major momentum of your company? How do you tie it in to the everyday work of the organization?

4. Do you tell people what and how, model it, co-create it, teach it?

5. Do you personally spot test your company for understanding organizational direction and why it matters?  And how their individual work can and does contribute.

6. Do you evaluate your direct reports on the deep understanding of the business of their direct reports and functions?

I am talking aout the need for everyone in your company to have the DNA of the direction of your company in their bones. It is not about organizing the surface of the work--the action guided by strategy and goals and the leaders. It is about dipping so deep into the organization and into the work that after inculcating people, they could be self managed most of the time.

This kind of deep dip will be needed for 20/20 as the workplace continues to become less and less geographically and physically connected. People who work at home need the DNA. People who work on different continents and countries need the invisible connective tissue. And people who connect only through technology will need it too. 

The analogy of healthy parenting is similar. Instill the disciplines of daily living. Instill the rich
personal connections of family connections. Build common understanding of who this particular family is--history, pride, common events. Articulate and model the values that make this unique family work.

Sounds good. But. But. But.  It  depends on how hard you want to work and when.
You either put in time consuming hard work at the beginning of a culture shift or new organizational effort or you put it in later, monitoring and correcting and speechifying all the time.
You either engage in creating deep motivation or you spend a fortune on engagement efforts 
and cosmetic and constant make-overs. 

I have seen DNA be developed by a CEO who over the first year of his tenure took the time
to co-create with his top 150 people using innovative methods that were risky at the time.
It wasn't just the time, it was the methodology that dug deep. Guided imagery, creative expressions of new thoughts, detailed and deep conversations within and across functions leading to the what and how of the future, all absorbed and reflected back by the CEO. It took a year.
These 'town meetings' were made up of 350 people. Twelve were held. They continued as they cascaded down and across the organization. No outside facilitation. Leaders were trained to do the support work. This charged the battery of the company for about five years with occasional re-charging which, to follow the family analogy, were like family reunions. It takes extraordinary effort and time but reaps power thrust, deep motivation and
clarity of company direction that can become self-driven and still be on point with strategy. So tempting not to do it, or do it poorly without, you the CEO being committed. It will be essential for you to do in the twenties.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Easy to say, hard to do when so many things tie for first place.

This choice actually was easy.  Hard to implement but easy to choose.

Will be gone without computer to visit my former mother-in-law with my daughter and hers.

Four generations that need to connect.

Talk next week.

C-SUITE COLLABORATION

I know that collaboration is a touted skill for leaders heading to the year 2020. I'm not sure that we know what we are talking about yet. 

I've known CEO's who are mistaken for being collaborative because they are actually egalitarian. They hang out easily with all levels of the company. They are nice. They care. They 'look' collaborative.   
Many other CEO's honestly, with no arrogance, are sure they know what is needed from strategy to execution. They don't collaborate. They create ' buy-in' and are very skilled (if not manipulative) at getting it. OK, I guess, if their percentage of 'right' is right. The hardest thing to watch is a 'command and control' leader trying to be collaborative because she knows it is the right thing to do and it fits with her values as well. But habit wins again and again and the organization gets whipped going from loose to tight to landing in chaos.

I'm not sure we are using the right word when we say' collaborative'. It's less trendy to say,  but I think we may be talking about  coordination. That's what the literature looks like--synchronizing, aligning, helping relationships to work better--that sort of thing. 

Let's see about you as a top leader:

l. Do you structure your Board Meetings to be a think tank or an approval for plans already made?

2.How many groups inside and out of your company do you "think with" about common issues?

3.Do you dread meetings without a tight control or focus?

4.Would you trust your team (not an individual leader0 to run the company without your guidance?

5.Are you in touch enough to know when to step in and reorient a team or project or initiative?

6.Does not knowing make you tighten up or open up?

7.Does your team hit one another hard with ideas and opinions and leave the conversation laughing??

I think you can see my bias. 
Collaboration is thinking together to create and move a project to a just right resolution.  And here is the kicker.  Collaboration without losing the power of the individual is the key at the C-Suite level. 
I designed and ran a Leadership College for high-potential talent, from different companies and culture
They had to produce and meet a mandate over a set period of time. The EC was their customer.
The participants learned much about working at top executive level. One surprising by-product was how the leaders gave up their individual power in order to collaborate. They gave in on decisions.They avoided conflict. They settled for a not so great product. They lost their leadership footing and voice. 
This is how collaboration gets a bad name. It tends to be cosmetic or weak.
Thanks to the demand for high performance and some good coaching, the group grew into full power. They fought well. They met deadlines. They challenged one another for a quality product.
They defined their individual contribution. They gave up and gave in for the sake of the project, not out of coercion or protecting their career. 

What is needed is high level collaboration by C-Suite peers who do not dumb down in order
work together. That is collaboration. That is power. 


l










































Like Salesforce.com’s managers and employees, businesspeople today are working more collaboratively than ever before, not just inside companies but also with suppliers, customers, governments, and universities. Global virtual teams are the norm, not the exception. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, videoconferencing, and a host of other technologies have put connectivity on steroids and enabled new forms of collaboration that would have been impossible a short while ago.

joining and leaving over and over again

Research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided they are well led. The ability to bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and generations and leverage all they have to offer, therefore, is a must-have for leaders

Part of the problem is that many leadership teams, composed of the CEO and his or her direct reports, actually don’t operate as teams. Each member runs his or her own region, function, or product or service category, without much responsibility—or incentive—for aligning the organization’s various projects and operations into a coherent whole.

Part of the problem is that many leadership teams, composed of the CEO and his or her direct reports, actually don’t operate as teams. Each member runs his or her own region, function, or product or service category, without much responsibility—or incentive—for aligning the organization’s various projects and operations into a coherent whole.

The organization of the different elements of       to enable them to work together effectively  cooperative efforts that creat effective relationships    the ability to use different parts of an entity smoothly and effectively

CAN YOU DANCE? CAN YOU IMPROVISE?

I am putting together a book of the algorithms of leadership for 20/20.
It is like translating art into systemic action.
It is based on my very up close work with CEO's and the development of CEO's to be.
It will have 52 short entries--yep, one for every week
Short because CEO's don't have time to read--even the bookworms among them.
52 because top leaders need a little nudge every week to improve their artistry (and I do believe extraordinary CEO's are artist/leaders.

The topic of improvisation as an algorithm for leaders 20/20 deserves a book--that CEO's won't read so here is the essence.

The world is nuts now and will be more so in 20/20. It will take the art of 'flow' to maneuver through the obstacles and the possibilities embedded in them for you business..  Flow means flexibility to move, staying in readiness for movement (like the back line in tennis) joining rather than resisting, being present and real, staying relaxed while not knowing the next step, and being in tune and ready to dance with others. 

l. Do you think you have had a good week when you commit to and follow-up on every item in your calendar?

2. Do you table good ideas or hot issues if they come up at a meeting but are not on the agenda?

3. Do you sigh with resignation or bristle when someone suggests a major change to a project that is half way through and over budget?

4. Do you accept that your strategy is only an indicator for the direction of you company or do you hold it as sacred?

5. Are your meetings all about the past (reporting what happened) or the future (fixing problems or planning) with no looking at the present (lack of energy, irritation with others, dullness,
a feeling of faking)?

6 .Can you have very tough conversations while staying relaxed and open to being wrong?

Check out these behaviors for improvisation in comedy, dance and jazz and see what you can apply to your leadership:

—Always start with 'yes' joining the person or project. Don't leave your partner stranded with 'no' 
  after they have made a start. Join, then redirect. Say 'yes' AND----

—Make a clear statement in response to give your partner.  Give the person and the project something to work with? Do not be muddy or nebulous. Allow a reaction to occur. Add a clear solution or idea. Top leader opinions do not weigh too much if they are helpful and not personal.

—In improvisation work, there can be no mistakes.  You are in the moment  dancing, playing jazz, comedy) and you have to continue while on the spot and so you work together until it becomes right, resolved, finished. 

—Improvisation removes habitual patterns by changing something in the moment. I'm thinking of a meeting with dead energy where I had every keep moving around the table as we talked, reversing direction whenever I felt like it. This led to many stand-up meetings. Meetings are the most calcified tool used today. 20/20 will demand different

—There is exciting energy in a moment of improvisation. I never rehearsed an interview of the CEO' I worked with
for presentations. You can't be fake or overly formal in a spontaneous moment. This is the authenticity moment that can galvanize an organization. Authentic does not mean sharing thoughts about your mother-in-law (positive or negative).

—Be accessible. You have to recognize and be open to an opportunity for connection when it crosses your path.You have to go out into your world and company and bump into your customers, your associates, other ideas, and the irritations of the world. This gives you fodder to play with later. Or an opportunity to dance right there in the here and now where opportunity lives.

THE PLAY DILEMMA

I am a fun fanatic. It is the joy in my life. Laughing is my absolute favorite activity.
The best thing about fun is that it can't be orchestrated. It can be encouraged.
And I take play seriously!!! Play for kids is earned rehearsal for 'life' in the best sense of living.
Exploration, mastery, persistance, winning and losing, pretending as a way to try on roles are all satisfying to the learner.

I stumble onto this topic without knowing what I wanted to say. I think it's this.
Our organizations tend to be grim oldsters or day care centers. Why?  
What does play and fun stand for?  

Old Grim                                       New Daycare
not serious                                    essential 
wasted time                                   supports work
disrespect for the work                   often is the work
foolish                                           serious about play                                       
done after work not during              committed to fun
embarassing                                  proud of fun culture
orderly                                          chaotic

What is the blind spot for leaders?
Easy. Learn from one another
Neither is right or wrong
What supports a culture that gets the work done and keeps people committed?
AND wanting to do more for the fun of it.

THE ART OF PROMOTION

Promotions are an important tool for CEO's and top executives. They have impact galore, good and bad, but certainly on more than the person being promoted.  Promotions at the right time can be a booster shot for a company. New blood, new ideas, new people give new energy and focus to an organization. And a message is sent every single time for every single promotion.
"This is what matters. This is what kind of person we want. We want more of this."
Don't be blind to the power of promotion in your company.

l. Are you proud of every single promotion that occurs in your company.

2. Would you be OK if the discussion about the promotion and its standards were made public to the company?

3. Are you ever coerced into a promotion due to the person telling you of a possible job offer from your competition?

4. Do you take into consideration the character of the person being promoted?

5. Who do you confer with about promotions?  Do you look for contrary evidence of readiness

6. Do you make overt to the company as a whole why you are promoting this person?

7.  How often do you regret a promotion due to being surprised in some way about what you didn't  realize about the person and their work?

I think three important issues that can be forgotten in making a promotion. Seems impossible but it's true.  They are implied but could be more powerful if made overt.  Is this the kind of person that you want to have a lot more of in your company? How and why?  How did this person add specific value to the company and what are the hopes for what this person will do in the new role. These issues should be discussed in detail before the promotion. 

Discussing these issues with as many people as you can tolerate (yes large groups can make important decisions if facilitated with some skill) will give your culture a powerful coherence and can make the acceptance of the person into the new role easier. There are tough discussions. I have seen people promoted for darned good work but who were problems personally. Mass murderers? No, but profound lack of judgment about personal and professional boundaries meaning too flirtatious, too punitive to direct reports, hiding behavior behind the freedom allowed in the job, or out and out dishonesty. Not everybody sees this at the same time but it is a blow to company energy when the smoke of these kind of issues are not checked for fire. Ignoring these signals for the sake of achievement only reduces respect to the CEO team and makes an idealistic culture a joke.

I hate to say it but hard work and loyalty play a small part in promotions. It does say a lot about the character of a person and should be highly valued. But you want the promotion to say "this person moved the needle". They added value to the enterprise and here is how.
And a promotion is not recognition for a job done as much as an indicator of new higher expectations in the new role. "Here is why you have this new accountability and what we want to see done."  

A well written announcement can be powerful, showing fairness  the choice related to the work done and to be done. And it can teach people. " Here is what you do to get ahead."  "Here is the kind of person that gets promoted. Each promotion teaches the boundaries of what is OK and not OK in your company.

Another aspect of promotion that works for you or against you is the timing. Do not let people dangle waiting for a promotion that is not coming. Do not insinuate a coming promotion because you never know what might happen. A person who is left waiting too long kind of rots on the vine--loses commitment and energy and often leaves after being promoted. What you think is positive can be seen as an insult and boy will you be mad when it happens. I see more damage from promoting late than from promoting early. I've experienced both and I was motivated over the moon by having trust put in me a little early.  Provide support and let the talent learn.  

Promotions are a big yes and a big no to people. And they involve personal fondness if it is a direct report of your own. And you can be blinded by sucking up as they say. But don't avoid the 'no' because it also avoids the 'yes'.  And yes is what makes the company go round.

YOUR FOCUS IS THE COMPANY FOCUS

Do you realize when you have lost your focus about the primary essentials of running a money making company?

1. Do you see decisions made by your direct reports that you feel are not prudent?

2. Do you know exactly where your company needs to put its attention?

3. Can you give a fifteen second statement about the focus of your company to a new Board Member?

4. Do you teach the business fundamentals to your management group on an annual basis and apply them to your present business environment?

5. Do you have excitement about applying business savvy to your company no matter what the circumstances?

6. Do you assume everyone knows what you do?  Or do you assume most people can't understand the complexity of your company?

7. Is the 'what' of your company balanced with the 'how'?

You may have a blindspot about the most basic elements of money making and have gotten lost in the forest of daily distractions. Maintaining the 'right' focus for your company is at the top of the CEO list of to do's.

Try asking random people in your management group:
—What were our sales last year?
—Are sales growing or declining? 
—Profit margin? In comparison with other companies in your industry? 
—Here's a good one. Ask about inventory velocity or asset velocity?
—ROA?
—Cash? Increase or decrease? Why? 
—How do we stand in relationship to the competition?

The C-Suite members should know this without a moment's hesitation. But how literate is your company as a whole? These basics are what makes a strategy make sense rather than being a slogan or list of rules. 

Thanks to Ram Charon (What the CEO Wants You to Know) and Daniel Goleman (Focus) for their writing on this topic.

ARE YOU STUCK IN 'SKIMMING' MODE?

1. Do you go beyond the executive summary on an important topic?

2. When you insist on 'exception reporting', do you note it but don't dig for the cause for the exception?

3. Do you worry more about time than content during meetings?

4.. Are you so quickly touching bases that you miss important emerging information you might need?

5. Do you get only fleeting glances of possibly serious relationship issues in your team?

6. Would your assessment of the functioning of your business be the same as randomly selected people in your organization?

7. Do you, yourself, miss the grit of an average business day? 

8. Do you know the major challenge of each of your functional leaders?

9. Do you spend more time traveling and dining with leaders than you do understanding
their business challenges and generating options to meet the challenges?

I remember the blur of meetings and crowded calendars and the ever present issue of 
limited time and huge scope of being a top executive. That dynamic can create a sense of
waste, hyper-active work and low impact. Not what you want as a top executive.
I have seen a burned out CEO get re-energized by going to a store and working with associates and seeing actual customers. (I worked in food retailing and banking)
It brings the conceptual, strategic work down to earth. It reminds leaders that they are not playing chess at the top. I also suggest digging deep yourself, not through Human Resources or your direct report, when you sense something is off. This is the moment to dig deep to get your own tangible knowledge. Of course, you tell the functional leader that you are going to
touch thing up close or you do it with your EC colleague. What you learn will give you insight into the company as a whole, allow you to make better decisions and to course correct.
The people in your company will respect, even admire your care and diligence. It's hard to stop the scanning/skimming approach and you can't afford to dig deep often. But it is essential to know when to do it and the impact on you and your company will be big.

CURIOUS ABOUT HOW DECISIONS ARE MADE

I have worked in many countries and have been there durng Easter time.
Each celebrates Easter differently. 
I am in Maine for Easter this year. I came home from Mexico for a week for family birthdays, business and Easter too.
I was surprised to see two major supermarkets closed for Easter Sunday.
Everything would be closed in Mexico, so why was I surprised?
Not sure.
I guess I view the US as primarily secular.
Or pragamatic.
Or so pluralistic that we wouldn't close the doors to non Easter celebrating people.
I got curious about the decision.
Was it sales numbers for Easter Sunday in the past?
Was it to be good to employees?
Was it to please customers?
Who made the decision?
Has the store always been closed on Easter Sunday?
What were the factors involved in the decision.
What was discussed?
Was it an easy, automatic decision or complex and heated?

How does a CEO or top executive not become blind to how decisions are made or more importantly, the impact of the decision.  I'm curious.

STRENGTHENING YOUR EARLY ADAPT MUSCLE

 The demand for large company innovation is here again. It does come and go as with different  two pressures--a tightening market and economy or optimism combined with need for the new to compete. I used to do lots of keynote speaking and training on innovation and the creative  process.

It is actually highly skill based but needs the ooomph and discipline to support develop it in large organizations.

Here are some of facts about early adapter CEO's as researched by

business+strategy and written up by David Clarke.

—They embrace novelty and take pride in being ahead of the game

—They're willing to be guinea pigs

—They are taste makers

—They lose interest quickly

—They are fundamentally optimistic about the future

The rationale for the need to become an early adapter CEO is, as Clarke says, that the price that early adopters were willing to pay was a multiple of what the product would cost once it hit critical market adoption.

I like this kind of talk. It energizes me. And I hesitate. I've worked with CEO's obsessed with innovation and I've worked with the determinedly prudent CEO. I wonder if the CEO is the early adapter or is it  the mavericks or company culture who push innovation. I see the CEO managing the pace and strategic content of innovation and demanding new ideas from the company--whole company. A balancing, choke is needed.

Then again, Virgin Galactic has already taken $250,000 as deposits from 700  people for trips to space. Check your reaction to that statement. It may reveal your blind spot about your early 
adapter muscle. Do you immediately get interested or do you immediately dismiss it as too bleeding edge? I would certainly have Boards assess their CEO's (you) on this dimension.