CATHERINE THE GREAT REALLY WAS JUST THAT--GREAT

I've been reading Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie. It's a biography of Catherine the Great of Russia.

There have been some 'great' women leaders in past history that would be just as great today. It would be a great (word of the day I guess) book for women leaders to read and weigh against their style and principles. Certainly, the learning applies to men as well.

What Catherine did:

** She wanted to lead from the time she set eyes on Empress Elizabeth who greeted her in full magnificence. Catherine said, "Yes, I want to do that." She learned by sixteen she was more competent to lead than others and wanted the top role.

**She knew how to win people to her side. She learned this when she was powerless and persecuted and became adept at garnering a following of loyal people.

**She waited. She knew what she wanted, and it took her years of ups and downs and growing into her own confidence to become Empress.

**The moment came and with help from those loyal followers she seized a moment and the throne. Seized. Took the throne. Knew when the time was right. Knew that she was right. Knew she would be killed or isolated unless she acted.

**She was generous and rewarded people grandly and publicly for achieving important results. And she rewarded possible enemies and gave them the limelight which won many over to her side.

**She understood the international chessboard and always aligned with the side that got gains for Russia. She knew when to talk directly and when to talk through others. And she knew how to snub as needed.

**She benchmarked Russia against Paris and Berlin and London. She invited learned people to come and talk with her--Voltaire was her idol. She hired from other countries, and when she needed a Navy expert, she hired John Paul Jones.

**She understood ceremony and used it well. She knew what moment needed a symbolic event and created one.

**She took care of herself. She had a cadre of people (and favorites) where she demanded informality--explicitly.  She would put a royal ban of silence on complaints and politics and gossip for social evenings of dance and cards and laughter. She prized people who made her laugh.

**She worked hard. She was hands-on and read all diplomatic pouch contents daily.  

**She stood by the principles of The Enlightenment and tried out many naive projects of self-government and pragmatically decided her Russia was not ready and needed a strict royal matriarchy.  

So looking to evaluate your CEO?  Here are the traits of Catherine the Great as told by Massie---"she had genius, natural abilities, an excellent memory, artifice without craft, the art of conquering every heart; much generosity, graciousness, and justice in rewards; and a consummate knowledge of mankind." How's that for a benchmark?

DON'T MAKE INNOVATION AN END IN ITSELF

The interest in creativity and innovation in business ebbs and flows.
There seems to be an up tick  again, maybe due to a new generation of top leaders who are themselves, are not so constrained, nor so role bound.

Anyway it's been on my mind for awhile. Good ol' Tom Peters. Read him again.
I am thinking of the 'loose-tight' dynamic he describes in PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE. Some companies get goony trying to be loose and self-consciously creative. Some have Innovation Officers. Some strive for a culture of creativity.
I think it may be putting the cart before the horse. There certainly are techniques for loosening up thought. In fact I teach those. Synectics is one of the best.

Still here is my recipe for innovation:

Make the WHAT of your business and strategy tight and clear and understood.
Let the HOW happen on its own.  Do not measure and monitor HOW. Measure the WHAT.  

Have a permeable company.  Make it easy for everyone to talk to anyone about anything.  Conversations are the breeding ground for new ideas.  Not meetings. Conversations. So both set them up and let them happen.

A rock and a hard place is what pops out innovation. And sometimes you just have to stay with the dilemma and wrestle it down.  Innovation makes your brain sweat.  It is not easy.  In fact it is the irritation of the insolvable that finally breaks down old answers into something new. 

When people talk culture of creativity, they always mention allowing mistakes.
Well. Sure. Some. I think the approach is to let the mistakes have the consequences that are natural. No extra punishment. PS--innovators and entrepreneurs do not love the risk. They love having their idea come to fruition.
They are willing to take the risk but only to the degree it is necessary. There is no throwing caution to the wind.

Encourage your employees to range broadly in their development experiences.  Don't tie it too closely to their role or there present ability.

Say 'yes' as often as you can. Let the world or the consequences say 'no'.
Create a 'yes' based culture to keep idea generation in the DNA of your company.

Last--Control you own control impulse.





Enough for today!

WAITING TO BECOME CEO

I have been thinking about the many CEO's that I know or who I helped in their development to become CEO and-----


-----all of them had to become good at waiting without becoming passive.
Some couldn't wait and actively looked for outside opportunities and most found they still had to wait. 

It takes time to groom and grow someone to become a CEO.  And it takes time for the career kaleidoscope to turn so that the opportunity comes at the right moment for the organization and for the person.  For every CEO chosen, there are one or two who are not.

I don't know any CEO who did not think they could do the job NOW. Not one.
In my experience, many got what they were waiting for.  Sometimes it was by default. She or he was the last person standing after others had left impatiently.
Sometimes it involved living through a company transition that put highest level
decisions on hold. Sometimes it took time because the Board needed to be persuaded that the best candidate was chosen. Sometimes the  CEO in place just couldn't pull the trigger that meant his or her career was over. 

So, it takes ego management, disciplined gracefulness, and incredible patience for CEO candidates to not lose their place during the time they have to wait to be chosen.  Candidates cannot be too eager or vocally impatient. They can not become timid in their work (which often does happen) and lose their strong achievement record in the process.  They cannot become bitter or sarcastic about the organization because it's plain bad form. Transitions from one CEO to another is a delicate time in an organization's life.  CEO candidates have to learn that waiting is part of the process to become the CEO.  In or out of their organization, CEO choice takes time.

SOFT SPOT FOR THE CEO

I have a soft spot for the CEO role. Even as I write that, I cringe because there are quite a few lousy borderline evil CEO's that live up to the stereotype of greedy, ego maniacal, ruthless, cruel, usurious, power abusing crazies.
I'm sure you can name one.  Just don't be one.

Here's why I have a soft spot for CEO's:

--They are not power hungry but they have to build, garner, and use BIG power in order to get big things done. Power is the energy to make it happen.  It can become addictive and needs to be monitored but it has to be BIG

--They do have to exist on a different plane from their employees and even their own direct reports.  They are facing out from the company, protecting it from events that can kill it, searching for new paths to grow, watching for all kinds of risk, scanning the future not managing the present --that belongs to a different role.  So the CEO can look and is distant and aloof by definition of the job.

--They have to be willing to never win the race but to keep on running.  They may enjoy a milestone or two but never ever reach a finish line.

--They have to dig to find a path of optimism and future hope for their enterprise and this is very different from simply projecting optimism. They must constantly explore for a new path.

--They have to continually right size their egos which can be tough when they must also allow the organization to project larger than life attributes to them.
People want the leader to be like them and also very not like them--bigger, better, smarter, kinder, impossibly perfect.

--They have to always be making someone very very unhappy.  

--They have to eat and be eaten by their work

Do they "have to" do all of the above?  Maybe not all of the time, but they HAVE TO wrestle with these "have to's".  That I know.  

PROGRESS OR A SERIES OF FALSE STARTS MIMICKING PROGRESS???

I don't mean that question to be flippant, but I keep seeing companies being put on hold or paralyzed while there is major maneuvering going on at the top (EC, Board and partnerships).  Notice that I said maneuvering, not progressing or moving forward  but engaged at a different level of concern than the day to day business. 

While your EC and Board are actually creating a new game for the company to play, your people at work touching customers are playing the old game. And they like it better. New concepts, strategy, new processes don't make  people happy or hopeful. They want the freedom to help customers, to trust that sequestered leaders have them in mind and the knowledge that  company momentum will start again.

What's my point?
--The work at the top can be as slow as a chess game with lots of pause for thought and adjustment.
--Work that touches the customer must be nimble and active.
--When the top group turns their attention to the outside demands (very justified) the average employee experiences a void of energy and direction.
--If your company has had many such new starts, they can be seen as false starts and caution and fear and passivity become the norm.

Make sure that you have top level leaders devoted to the everyday business with relentless focus while the rest work on what is yet to come.  Reward these leaders with big bonuses for keeping things going with a full head of steam.  Don't let the flow of your business get paralyzed by the uncertainty of new direction. Keep the energy moving.

FOLLOWING MY OWN ADVICE

I am stepping off my normal schedule for travel and study.
I'll see you again on after April 1st.

I leave you with this almost full thought.
Try full focus on your direct reports.
Ignore all else.
Get them right and so much else will follow.
Hire right
Let go if needed
Be explicit about your mandate for each
Teach, coach, correct
Practice with them
Go nuts when they do well.  Give explicit praise
Don't punish
Notice what works and push that
Know who they are and what goes on in their lives

All else will come right

SAYING 'NO' WELL IS A MUCH NEEDED CEO SKILL

I am intrigued about the less commonly understood leadership skills that belong only or mostly to the CEO role.  Saying 'no' is one of these.

There is a dynamic similar to seeking the audience of the Queen or King that exists in our organizations no matter how we try to minimize it.  We may try to involve people and empower leaders  and flatten the organization but as long as our structures end up with one person in charge of the whole, the CEO is the ultimate power.

And so the CEO has to say 'no' most of the time and has to learn to say 'no' with skill.

There are huge 'no's that are said often and loudly and with exaggeration.  These have to do with strategy, culture and values.  Big, loud, speeches teach what people are supposed to say NO to in order to keep the organizational message clear enough to guide behavior at all levels.  The same is true for culture and values.  The CEO models every yes and no for these important mega issues.  Expensive wine at meeting dinners?  Yes or NO?
Embellishing the story just a little for an analyst call? Yes or NO.  Taking time for a large level of involvement in a decision?  Yes or NO?

And there are constant smaller 'no's' to deliver. A 'no' is often heard and remembered  better than a 'yes' which is why the myriad of smaller 'no's you must deliver need to have a level of finesse.  How many 'make nice' meetings can you tolerate? Certainly not all that are requested. How many outside speaking engagements can you make? How many times can you say yes when asked "Do you have a minute?"

 The art of disguising a "no" as a kind of 'yes' matters.  YES I will meet with you by phone (which is a 'no' to lunch).  YES I'd love to speak but better yet my SVP is closer to the topic at hand (which is so 'no' in actuality) Every CEO figures out their own strategy for saying 'no'. Another is to walk into other peoples' offices so you can leave when you want is a 'no' to giving to much time to something. Staying standing when someone comes in your door is a nice 'no'.

Think finesse, not sledge hammer. Most importantly, know when you are saying  
NO and know the impact of the negative, whether good or bad.