That’s right, it’s the leadership development carnival of love featuring fifty of the sweetest posts from the past few weeks. A big thank you to Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership for letting us host this special February edition. You have a week until V-Day but let’s get right to the romance and drama…

Who (And What) To Choose?

We’ve all found ourselves in a questionable relationship and wondered if it was worth staying together. At a pre-Valentine’s crossroads, our wise and helpful friends would recommend sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and itemizing what redeeming qualities may exist. Let’s see what these leadership list makers conjured up:

• Molly Cunningham suggests 5 Ways for Leaders to Improve Productivity.
• Oliver Wang of BSchool.com offers 15 Inspiring Biographies for Aspiring Leaders.
• Kelly Davis shares 21 Excellent YouTube Videos to Learn About Organizational Development.
• MacKenna Stevens of Masters in Social Work catalogs his list of the Top 97 Unemployment and Joblessness Blogs.
• Natalie James of Dr. HR, PhD itemizes the Top 50 Up and Coming HR Blogs.
• Trainer, coach and consultant Mike Rogers provides 8 Important Tips to Help You Waste Time in Meetings.
• Bernice Frankel shares 21 Surprising Facts About Leadership Research.
• QAspire’s Tanmay Vora helps those Creating a Learning Organization: 10 Actions for a Leader.

So Many Questions.

So you’ve decided to press forward and pursue your leadership development sweetheart with complete abandon. Yet still, there are so many questions left unanswered. Here are some shower-worthy items to ponder as you prepare for your big business date:

• Working Girl’s Laura Schroeder wonders, Why Would ANYone Work for House?
• Wally Bock of Three Star Leadership asks, How Do I Praise Thee?
• Mary Jo Asmus of Aspire-CS wants to know, What Assumptions Are You Making?
• Adi Gaskell of Chartered Management Institute ponders, Is Business Planning A Waste of Time?
• Women of HR’s Lisa Rosendahl asks, What Kind of Role Model Are You?
• Lynn Dessert of Elephants at Work wonders, Can You Measure The Payback or ROI In Coaching?
• Tanveer Naseer wonders, Are You Leading From Inside a Fishbowl?

Polite Dinner Conversation

You want to make a good impression and seem like a decent conversationalist. Attentive, but not too needy or self-involved. Here are some items sure that allow for a measure of whimsy while maintaining the panache and flair of a modern leadership guru:

• Jane Perdue of Get Your Leadership BIG On shares Leadership and the Power of Storytelling.
• Sylvia Lafair opines on Business Leadership Strategies: Teaching Multi-culturalism.
• Dean L. Forbes of Powerful Principles of Personal Growth reminds us of The Whole Person Concept.
• Management is a Journey’s Robert Tanner helps us Create the Guiding Coalition.
• Stephen Warrilow suggests Facilitative Leadership as The Key To Dealing With Resistance to Change.
• Next Level Blog’s Scott Eblin shares some new math with Sorry, You’ve Used Up All of Your Meeting Budget.
• What Do You Want From Them’s Anna Smith demonstrates The Rise of Female Leadership.
• All About Living With Life author Charles Chua C K offers his thoughts on Effective Ways to Lead.
• Positive Organizational Behavior’s Bret L. Simmons shares his thoughts, With Honor.
• Great Leadership’s Dan McCarthy teaches you How to Pass the Leadership Baton.

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Of course, even the seemingly best planned leadership romance can end in an ill-conceived malay replete with hurt feelings and charged emotions. So if a bended knee to pick up a dropped napkin doesn’t turn into the organizational proposal you were hoping for, excuse yourself from the table and grab your cell. Aren’t you fortunate to have friends like these to talk you through it?

• Leadership and Learning’s Kevin Eikenberry asks for Five Minutes – A Key to Successful Time Management.
• Judith Lindenberger of The Lindenberger Group suggests we Take Charge of Conflict.
• Miki Saxon of MAPping Company Success questions whether you Manage Like Microsoft.
• Art Petty of Management Excellence offers How to Handle a Feedback Attack from Your Boss.
• Libery Buzz SC’s Vidal tackles Aggression: Life Lessons Learned from Girls Basketball.
• What Is Personal Growth’s Sean Burrows takes the edge off with How to Stay Calm and Relaxed When Feeling Angry.
• The Fortune Group’s Andy Klein feels that Effective Leadership is Founded on Accepting Personal Accountability.
• Janna Rust of Purposeful Leadership helps you Survive the Role Transition: Be Strategic.
• Ajax Social Media’s Jason Seiden reminds us of Why You Should Hire Moms.
• Lead Change Group’s Heather Coleman-Voss gives the wink and nod with Just Trust Me.

Check Please!

Now calmly return to the table and flag down the waiter – it’s time to wrap up this romantic rodeo. And don’t let your leadership date get all pushy or touchy. No amount of office flowers or sugary treats can replace the respect you’ll have from walking away. There are plenty of other leaders in the “C” and you’re a strong swimmer. Just remember…

• Chris Edmonds of Driving Results Through Culture calculates The HUGE Toll of Workplace Bullying.
• Create Learning’s Michael Cardus recalls that Before the Promotion He Was Nice and Had Potential.
• The Human Race Horses’ Mike VanDervort suggests that Resistance Is Futile – You Will Be Assimilated.
• Michelle Cramer of LinkToPro teaches an important skill in Learning How to Say “No”.
• Linda Fisher Thornton of Leading In Context connects Leadership And… Ethical Thinking.
• ReThink HR’s Benjamin McCall sees A Bad Opportunity For Someone Else, A Better Opportunity For You.
• John Gibbons of i4cp wonders if you’re Playing Not To Lose.
• Cultivating Creativity’s Bob Lieberman suggests Letting Go Of The Task.

Live to Love Again

Return home, pour a glass of wine, kick up your feet and breathe. You’re going to be just fine and it’s time to go back to basics and begin to look toward the future. You’re good enough, you’re strong enough and doggone it people like you!

• The People Equation’s Jennifer V. Miller suggests Making the Most of Leadership Assessments.
• Wilson Insight’s Amy Wilson offers Simple, Practical Advice on Motivating Staff.
• Kevin W. Grossman of Marcom HRsay offers Baby Zen and the Importance of Mindful Presence in the Workplace.
• Epic Living’s Eric Pennington provides The Path To An Epic Life.
• The LeaderLab’s David Burkus shares Happiness and Hierarchies.
• Alice Snell of Taleo Research offers In Succession.
• Be Good Ventures’ Nick McCormick suggests you Go Out and Co-Create!

I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day! And don’t worry, the Leadership Carnival returns to its rightful home next month.

This was the twenty-year reunion of the founding of the best company I’ve ever worked for.

As I sipped on an icy cold beer and recanted tales of old, I began to reflect on what made this firm so special. We were far from perfect by any external measure (who builds a software product on OS/2?), yet we managed to win more than our fair share of the market, took the company through a highly successful IPO and eventually sold portions of the firm to leaders in each of the markets we served. Nearly everyone who worked at the company admits that their experience there was unparalleled and they have yet to find that kind of happiness again in their career. Several have tried to “get the band back together” by launching their own firms or working together in other areas, yet it hasn’t really panned out in the same way.

But why?

What was it about this time and place that made it so special? As I reflect back, there are three things that stand out. They may seem cliché and perhaps even obvious, yet these characteristics seem to be so elusive in today’s workforce:

1) Leadership

Our CEO was the most charismatic, highly personable and infinitely approachable leader I’ve worked for. He did not sequester himself in a corner office or lord above his flock (despite the photo) but instead infused himself into every aspect of the business. He trusted his lieutenants and let them lead in their respective areas (hell, that’s why you hire good people, right?). When he spoke with you he was engaged, making eye contact, asking questions and truly trying to understand how he could best apply your existing or emerging talents to the business. And he had fun, subscribing to the edict that business does not need to be stuffy or boring. Everyone I know would work for this man again in a heartbeat.

2) Opportunity

I held six different roles in five years. That wouldn’t have been possible without recognizing each individual’s contribution and a belief in one’s ability to learn and grow. Several of those roles I created myself by identifying an underserved need and preparing a case for their value. And I wasn’t unique, as those around me were allowed to bring every ounce of their experience and perspective to the table, something I have never seen repeated at another firm. Despite serving the HR market, we didn’t do skills assessments, inventories or even complex performance reviews. Every day arrived with the collective knowledge of where we stood and where we needed to be. It was fascinating.

3) Victory

We won because we decided winning was more fun than losing. We didn’t always have the best product, the newest features or the easiest service delivery model, but we did have a celebratory style and this became a contagion among employees and clients alike. When a new client was signed, our CEO would bring the entire company together, we would ring a bell outside the main conference room and he would thank every single person who had been involved. This also happened when we brought a new product to market, met demanding end-of-quarter shipping deadlines, executed a new partnership agreement, fixed some tough bugs, and so on. No department was immune from celebration, no victory was too small, and we loved seeing one another win.

A closing thought

I spend an inordinate amount of time chatting with businesses about the hard decisions they need to make and the effect those decisions may have on their employees. And perhaps it won’t surprise you to learn that one phrase that comes up time and time again is…

“It’s not personal, it’s business.”

We need to change this mentality because it could not be further from the truth. Business is highly personal and is entirely dependent on relationships, so if you walk around with an attitude that your employees are just numbers on a spreadsheet or interchangeable cogs in the wheel of commerce, don’t be surprised when mediocrity or disengagement rear their ugly heads.

I want more of you to make business personal again because I’ve seen the magic that comes from people feeling connected to something greater than themselves. And to do this well, you need to actually engage. I’m not talking about another eye-stabbing engagement survey; I’m talking about human contact on a human level.

It’s quite likely that this was the last time I’ll ever see some of my former colleagues. And that’s okay, because I like remembering them at the top of their game, when we came together for a common purpose and when we didn’t dread getting up in the morning, going to work and slogging through another day. I wish them well and hope they find that sort of happiness again in their career. They deserve it.

“When a good friend had a bad day, I realized that leadership is a choice. When I choose to put on my leader clothes, our group runs more smoothly:
Becky Robinson presents Put On Your Leader Clothes posted at Mountain State University LeaderTalk.

Wally Bock says that Warren Bennis’ distinctions between leaders and managers may be the most pernicious and damaging bit of nonsense published in his lifetime: Wally Bock presents More leaders v managers nonsense posted at Three Star Leadership Blog.

Sometimes, the truth is a pig: Jason Seiden presents Do you want the truth, or do you pretend you want the truth? posted at Next Generation Talent Development.

Michael D. Haberman, SPHR presents Employee Attitude or Management Attitude? Or Both? posted at HR Observations.

Social media is allowing consumers to put the quality of company management under the microscope: Sharlyn Lauby presents Transparency Training posted at HR Bartender.”

This is just a sampling of the 30+ topics in this month’s Carnival, so take a short walk down the midway and let’s keep the conversation going.

Here’s the thing – what happened to US Airways flight 1549 was not a “miracle”. It simply wasn’t, and I believe that we’ve gotten a bit cavalier in the use and application of such a term.

Now before your feathers get into full ruffle, understand that I am overjoyed by yesterday’s outcome! I personally have been a passenger on two near-crashes and cringe every time the news flashes imagery of a downed plane. As someone who has flown more than I’d care to admit, I will be honest that I think of what might happen (and how I’d react) each and every time I fly.  Every single time.

But the facts as we know them are this. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is an extremely well trained, highly experienced pilot and air safety consultant who did his job flawlessly. His flight crew? Performed flawlessly. The passengers? With some limited exceptions, performed flawlessly. The ferry, tugboat and emergency crews? Performed flawlessly.  

So let’s not focus on divine intervention. Let’s instead attribute the outcome to everyone doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment. Training, experience, leadership, strength, empathy, selflessness. These are the attributes we strive for as professionals and individuals. These are the ideals we attempt to reinforce in the minds and hearts of our employees, our friends, our families. And we do all of this in preparation for whatever we might encounter, hoping that it will be enough to get us through with grace.

So I, for one, will take this brief moment to stand up and applaud those who actually got it right! And the next time I board a plane and give the crew a warm smile, I’ll be thinking of Captain Sully and all those others who performed so well under such duress.

Congratulations to them all and let’s keep the conversation going.

 

Monkey Sea, Monkey Do

Sea Monkeys take me back to copies of Boys’ Life magazine in the early 70s.  The ads were all about creating something out of nothing and bringing life forward from a few mail-ordered packets.  So we ordered them, prepared the mixture and – tada! – instant fun…for at least a few days.  (And no, they never seemed quite as happy as their smiling pictures.)  

 This week I met a variety of pre-hatched Sea Monkeys.  Like their tiny friends, these executives and employees were in a state of cryptobiosis – also known as suspended animation.  During cryptobiosis, an organism stops their metabolic processes and can survive until environmental conditions return to a more hospitable state.  Upon such a return to “normal”, the organism revives to continue its regular life. 

Look around you this morning, perhaps even in the mirror.  Don’t be alarmed at what you see, as most of corporate America has entered a state of suspended animation.  Now that you know what to look for, you’ll find Sea Monkeys everywhere.  And that, my friends, is an enormous problem during a time of crisis.

Saddle Up!

When I first saw a seahorse, I was surprised by the lack of several important horse-like features – no long mane, no hooves and no saddle.  Of course I was six, but that was a good warning against future literal interpretations.  

As I got older, I learned of Greek mythology’s hippocamp, often described as a “horse in its forepart with a coiling, scaly, fishlike hindquarter.”  This creature was also referred to as a sea-horse and was depicted more as my elementary school mind had imagined.

These sea-horses were often associated with heroes such as the Homeric poems of Poseidon.  They pulled chariots and guided riders across rough seas, into battle, and through the tumult to their ultimate destination.  The hippocamps were seen as fearless and sometimes ferocious.  Their stories, actions and images have been passed down for thousands of years.

Can you spot any seahorses in your organization?  I met a few and they are pragmatic, fearless, empathetic and driven.  They know someone needs to lead and step into those positions willingly, even if it ultimately leads to their own demise.  And right now, we need more of them to step up and be noticed.

So Which Are You?

A simple description of the modern seahorse summarizes my point – “Seahorses swim upright with their tails down and their heads up”.  So keep your head up and avoid the tendency to enter suspended animation.  The alternative is to live in constant fear, always waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Wake up all you sea monkeys, and let’s keep the conversation going.  

So as leaders, what lessons can we take away from the election?  Here are five to consider:

1. Your People Are Your Most Important Asset: I know, not original, but we need to translate these pedantic words into action.  The largest grass-roots effort in history has just occurred, so start to embrace social media, localized empowerment, personalized brand extension, and other means of making your employees truly believe they are not only part of, but truly are your future success.
2. Authenticity Matters: Be who you truly are and not what you think people want you to be.  I heard a lot of talk after McCain’s concession speech regarding “the real John McCain”.  Whether you agree or not, your employees have a keen instinct for authenticity and will disregard leaders who pretend to be something they are not.
3. Break Through Conventional Wisdom: Stop falling back on the crutches of those formulas which have worked in the past by embracing innovation and rewarding thoughtful risk.  ”That won’t work here” is a simple barrier that must be broken, but your employees must feel that they are in a safe environment in order to unleash their inner-creativity and begin to instantiate change.
4. Smile and Have a Sense of Humor: In general, businesses are waaaaay too stuffy and need to lighten up a bit.  And if you’re afraid of offending employees and thereby causing yourself irreparable legal damage, you’re being short sighted.  The safest person to make fun of is yourself and the best situations to laugh at are your own (see my post on that here).  SNL’s unbelievable ratings showed that people respond to laughter over fear, so give it a chance.
5. Inspire Hope: For most of us, this is likely the most difficult attribute to replicate.  But remember that hope is more than a charismatic personality and a stirring speech.  Hope is the belief that something better is over the horizon and that attaining your goals is well within your grasp.  When was the last time that you turned to your employees and inspired them?  I’m certain it’s been a long time coming.

Have a wonderful day everyone, get some rest, and let’s keep the conversation going.

Greetings readers.  Inflexion’s recent post about Robin Wolaner’s book, Naked in the Boardroom, reminded me that there are not only differences in the way that men and women lead, but that there are some differences in the way that men and women learn to lead.  Using Wolaner’s metaphor, let’s think of this as Naked in the Leadership Classroom—a look at preferred learning behaviors, based on gender, used in ANY type of learning experience.

While it is somewhat complicated to understand how one learns to lead (because it is measured by personal, tacit and subconscious acts), identifying gender differences may enrich talent management initiatives and leadership development programs.  Currently, there is not much information about the differences in gender-based leadership learning preferences.  If more was known, it would be possible to address gender differences more intelligently.

I recently conducted a study of aspiring leaders, males and females, and asked them which leadership learning behaviors were used most frequently.  Of the thirty behaviors offered, nineteen showed no differences between males and females.  However, there were eleven behaviors which were selected by females as being highly important in their leadership development.  These include:

1. Learning about leadership from a mentor.
2. Performing self-directed leadership development activities.
3. Contemplating what is expected of a leader by planning how leadership concepts, decision making processes and strategies can be used.
4. Using new language, new strategies, and new ideas to solve problems, mediate conflict, manage change or connect leadership theory to generalized situations.

While this study was not large enough to generalize from, these four leadership learning behaviors describe an approach used by females that ranges from self-reliance to co-dependence on a trusted confidant, and from deep thinking about strategizing/decision making to saying what you mean precisely.   Peeling the onion on leadership learning differences by gender holds promise for creating bias-free pathways for leadership development…all the way to the boardroom. 

Let’s keep the conversation going.

Did we mention she has a PhD?  Any questions for “Dr. Shannon” can be emailed to shannon.flumerfelt@inflexionadvisors.com.