A Glimpse Into Kathy Ireland–Business Mogul

Of all the world-class contributors to The Power of Professionalism, Kathy Ireland is the person I’m most frequently asked about.  This post is a glimpse into Kathy the business mogul.      

As the ‘presenter’ of Kathy Ireland at a prestigious awards ceremony in Nov 2011 (Kathy was the recipient of the John F Kennedy Laureate award) I stated that Kathy was as “intelligent as she was beautiful”.

The recent article on Kathy that appeared in the Feb 13, 2012 issue of Forbes reinforces that point.

Here’s the article that appeared in Forbes.

Here’s the video that compliments the article.

Enjoy.

Professionals Don’t Trash Their Competition

Business requires we compete.  But most people intuitively sense that there’s a right way and a wrong way to compete.  One of the wrong ways is ‘going negative’. This is something that professionals know only too well.   Trashing your competition may provide a short term adrenalin rush, but long term goes over like a lead balloon.  People only want to be exposed to that type of rhetoric for so long, and soon after they’ll turn you off.  Worse yet, it makes you look petty.

People prefer to be for something as opposed to being against something….it generates more enthusiasm, more energy.  People want to know what your value proposition is…how you can help them…what you’re all about…why you’re better.  Trash your competition at your own risk.

Take the case of the PR firm that was hired by Facebook to “plant anti-Google stories in papers and blogs”.  This revelation was outlined in the Nov 29, 2011 cover story in Fortune regarding the future of social media and the fight between the industry’s two 800 pound gorillas.

Journalists soon discovered what the PR firm was up to.  This hurt the PR firm’s reputation and once again proves why white collar firms aren’t necessarily ‘professional’.  Facebook would have been better served to channel their energy into building a better product.  Instead, Facebook’s decision proved regretful and made the firm look sophomoric.

Compete?  Sure.  But don’t be tempted to take the low road.  Professionals compete to win in the marketplace—-not by ‘going negative’ on their competition.

Good Meeting? Bad Meeting? Look In The Mirror!

Have you ever been in a meeting when:

***the group’s enthusiasm gets squashed due to a few individuals negativity?

***the group gets stuck in the weeds

***constructive discussion turns into contention as people’s passion spills over

***the group’s energy gets drained upon the announcement of an unpopular decision

***apathy prevails when a less-popular colleague leads the meeting

***a normally rock-solid colleague uncharacteristically belly-flops on a vital presentation

Because negative energy feeds on itself, it’s easy to get sucked into a downward spiral in these types of situations.  Meetings of this sort are painful, often becoming the grist for Dilbert’s mill.  That’s why MS #6 (getting a hold of your emotions) is all-important here.

It’s almost guaranteed that, absent an intervention, the meeting will be a negative experience. For the professional, it’s recovery time. As easy as it might be to join the majority who enjoy whining about the meeting, the professional is unwilling to settle.  The professional asks themselves, “what can I do to help get this meeting back on track?” (consistent with MS #1…’having a bias for results’)

Thus, in responding to the situations above:

***the professional offers a contrarian point of view—one that offers a healthy dose of optimism

***the professional interjects a question or comment that gets the meeting re-focused.

***the professional points out that the meeting has become unproductive and asks the group, “Given  our situation, what do we need to do as professionals to get this meeting back on track?”

***the professional reminds the group of a similar situation years earlier—one in which people’s fears were never realized.

***the professional tactfully points out the group’s dysfunction, reminds them of the big picture, and challenges them to do better.

***the professional who draws the group’s focus to themselves—stalling for time—all the while enabling their flustered colleague to compose themselves and ultimately recover.

To be clear, the professional isn’t being a ‘yes man’, isn’t being pollyannish about issues of substance,  isn’t playing politics.  Rather, they are attempting to make the best out of a sometimes poor situation—in an objective, yet optimistic way. Professionals know that a good meeting—first and foremost–starts with them.

 

 

 

The Honest Broker–Wisdom From Seth Godin

Seth Godin (a wise man indeed) posted a piece this past Saturday warrants sharing as it compliments The Power of Professionalism so nicely.

I’ve taken the liberty of re-printing it here.  Enjoy.

The Honest Broker

It really is a choice, one or the other.

Either you happily recommend the best option for your customer, or you give preference to your own items first.

Either you believe in what you sell, or you don’t.

Either you treat your best partners better, or you treat everyone the same.

Either you shade the truth when it’s painful to do otherwise, or you consistently share what’s important.

Either you always keep your promises or you don’t.

Either you give me the best price the first time, or you make me jump through hoops to get there.

Earning the position of the honest broker is time-consuming and expensive. Losing it takes just a moment.

The Fallacy of ‘Walt Just Being Walt’

You may have heard that authenticity is really important.  Obviously, it is—especially in leaders.  It’s important for each of us to ‘show up’ authentically—in a way that engenders confidence in others that ‘what they see is what they’ll get’.  The implication is…. just be yourself.  Of course, being yourself doesn’t ensure you produce the right results the right way.

Absent professionalism, authenticity can be a cruel imitation of the real thing.  Walt—a COO in a $900 million for-profit entity—is ‘just being himself’….just ask his staff.  But he undermines the health of the organization by:

***insisting that all management jobs that are being filled in ‘Operations’ through competitive interview be reviewed through his office. 

(Consequence:  effectively this proved to be a way for the COO to personally control virtually all management hires.  He installs people who weren’t the best qualified and weren’t generally deserving of the opportunity.  He creates a legion of ‘yes men’.   Walt was just being Walt—always acting like the smartest guy in the room. This is what he believed himself to be—consistently so.  Naturally, the COO’s direct reports disengage their thinking and throttle their enthusiasm—just waiting for direction from ‘on high’.  The approach is a disaster.)

***habitually running executive level meetings with no agenda.

(Consequence: absent structure, the meetings turn into bull sessions.  Nothing of substance gets done plus attendees become jaded. Walt insists he’s allergic to too much formal structure. He’s definitely ‘being himself’, but the approach proves ineffective.)

***consistently putting a disproportionate amount of his energies into (what others view as) cozy political connections that have a high probability of advancing the COO’s career.     

(Consequence:  The political gamesmanship turns off a lot of people. In the eyes of many, the COO has abandoned his professionalism for careerism.

The COO ultimately proves himself ineffective.  Many see him as a phony. Many important aspects of the operation suffer—results especially.

Be yourself?  Sure.  But be your best self….as a professional would.     

 

The Dreaded Heart-To-Heart Conversation With A Beleaguered Colleague

A colleague of yours (let’s call her Janet) isn’t meeting expectations—neither performance targets nor cultural norms.   You know it…everyone else does too.  What Janet is doing (or not doing) threatens the organization’s results.  That means a lot of people (you included) will likely get hurt if her shenanigans continues.

Your gut screams for you to have a heart-to-heart with Janet—you know, peer-to-peer.   What do you do?

It’s interesting the things we tell ourselves when faced with a situation like this:

*** ”If I speak up, our relationship will never be the same.”

*** “It’s not appropriate for me to speak up. This is a job for the boss…that’s why they get paid the big bucks.”

*** “I don’t have the communication skills to pull this off.”

*** “Surely, Janet will be offended if I speak up.”

*** “It isn’t my place to judge.”

I’m confident you can think of plenty of additional examples.  Notice what great lengths we will go to in justifying not speaking up.  Certainly, the situation with Janet requires good judgment and a great deal of decorum, but rest assured that many of us are masters at finding ‘cause’ for not speaking up. (And, yes, an organization’s culture can be an impediment to not speaking up.)

Yet, part of the motivation underlying our unwillingness to speak up (e.g. to be direct with people) is often our own desire to be liked—to be thought of well by others.  When that occurs, it becomes all  about us.

Admittedly, this is one of the most difficult things to get people to do in organizations.  Let’s face it…it’s   risky.  Yet it happens.  You see it in team sports, in the for-profit world, etc. The degree to which an organization’s colleagues (as opposed to just the boss) hold each other accountable is often an indicator as to how well the organization performs.

People’s willingness to speaking up to one of their colleagues is also a reflection as to how committed people are to the organization’s results…..in other words, the degree to which they hold MS #1—having a bias for results.  The commitment to the result becomes a lynchpin in helping us overcome our own human tendencies not to act.

Other MS’s help people in speaking up too; namely all the rest— MS #2- MS #7.  That’s unusual, but it just goes to show how it really takes a professional who is secure in their own skin to speak up in an admittedly uncomfortable situation like this one with Janet.

In spite of all the reasons one might conjure up to avoid approaching Janet, the professional speaks up.    The reason is simple—they’re committed to the result (MS #1).  They know it’s not about them (MS #2) and they know that they need to rise above the fray (MS #4).  Ultimately, they commit to do what they know is right (MS #5).  It’s rarely easy, it’s never fun—but, in the end, they do it.

It’s what professionals do.

 

 

 

Accountability Run Amok—When Good Intentions Succumb To Bad Judgment

Think you can’t be fired for being accountable?  Think again.

A string of historic storms leaves hundreds of thousands of utility customers without power.  The collateral damage associated with clean-up and restoration is far greater than the “Type A” utility president either understood or was willing to acknowledge.

The company president, who had never been short of confidence and had a history of micro-managing, chose to be the media spokesman.  While the president’s stated  intentions were honorable (wanting to model accountability to his troops) they ultimately proved disastrous.

The President’s ‘MO’ always was to make things happen.  True to form, he did.  He went on record with an aggressive restoration target with the media.  On the surface of things, he was being accountable.  The target however was missed…badly so in the eyes of public officials.  Media briefings quickly went from cordial to contentious.  The president conducted the media briefings more like an internal utility briefing than one for media types looking for a juicy controversy.  To say that the president proved to be over-his-head in dealing with the media is an understatement.

Compounding the company’s media relations problem, were the prickly relations that had suddenly developed with public officials over delays in clearing roads and such.  One police department threatened to hold the president responsible for fires made worse by the utility’s sub-par performance. Things got so bad, the governor became actively involved.

The media, sensitive to the public outrage over power being out for over a week in several areas, turned their wrath on the president. When the media smells blood in the water they predictably will take full advantage. Rather than reporting on the company’s extensive restoration efforts, the president then became the story.  Editorial writers, public officials, and citizen bloggers alike put a bulls-eye on his back. The company’s reputation and credibility have been compromised. It becomes a nightmare scenario…. exactly what the company didn’t want to have happen.

After the dust finally clears, the president is forced to resign. The outcome was predictable.

Where did this go wrong?

First and foremost was the president’s decision to act as the media spokesperson.  Despite the president’s likely denials to the contrary, he proved himself ineffective with the media….having neither the skills nor the experience.  He became an all-too-familiar figure on television and in newspaper pages.  Each additional briefing generated more questions than answers.  Adding to the difficulty was the pressure-cooker atmosphere.  This event was arguably one of the company’s most critical PR events in its history.  It is little wonder the president ultimately became known amongst the media as the ‘beleaguered spokesman’.

And would the president have made such a bold prediction on a service restoration date (a bad idea!) had he not been the spokesman?  My guess is that he wouldn’t.  The president’s nature was to be “large-and-in-charge” which typically required a big stage. It wasn’t his habit (or preference) to work through a surrogate—especially on an issue of this magnitude.  (Note: not meeting the promised service restoration date proved to be the beginning of the end for the president.)

So what prompted the decision?  Was it ego or his stated intention to model accountability to the troops? We’ll never really know!  For our purposes, let’s assume his motive was to model accountability.  That decision, however well-intended, was a by-product of bad judgment. The President’s skills and capabilities were numerous.  However handling the media wasn’t one of them! Ultimately his poor decision cost him his job.  Plus, it cost the company big-time—in the form of a tarnished reputation.

Accountability is paramount in high performing organizations, but it must be preceded by good judgment.  Charging into the proverbial mine field (being accountable…putting the team on your back)  with inadequate skills and experience is bound to make things worse, not better….just ask the (now former) President!

Sniffing Out BS–Help For Your Meetings

Steve Jobs had what others called a ‘reality distortion field’.  In other words, there were times in which Jobs didn’t have a good grasp on reality. He was a showman that  believed his own stories—even ones that were without merit. Complicating the situation, Jobs would be prone to exaggerate, misrepresent facts, manipulate resources to his benefit—things that didn’t engender trust. (Note: there were other times in which Jobs used his reality distortion field to push people to do things that were thought to be impossible—arguably a good thing.)

People wrote this off to “Steve just being Steve.”  Jobs was far more prone to do this than most of us.  Yet, there were times when Steve’s inability to see reality hurt his  organization’s ability to do great work.  Each of us, in varying degrees, do this too…believing our own stories. Let’s get real here…some of our stories just don’t reflect reality.  And when our inability to be objective goes unchallenged it retards our organization’s ability to do great work.

General Richard Myers, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff knew this. While Chairman, General Myers introduced a protocol for the meetings held by the Joint Chiefs. The protocol was intended to sniff out (what they considered to be) someones ‘BS’. ‘BS’ was considered to be people’s stories that didn’t reflect reality, comments that bordered on wishful thinking, or diatribes that bordered on self-delusional grandeur. The Joint Chiefs committed themselves to do great work–and that meant calling out people on their ‘stuff’.

General Myers, a contributor to The Power of Professionalism, told me the protocol worked great for them. That’s been my experience too. Calling people out on their ‘stuff’ in some organizations can initially feel like it’s personal. However, over time people get beyond that.  The reason is simple—the focus is on the work, not the person.

Meeting protocols (a meeting norm) produce better meetings…which is condusive to doing great work.  Today’s blog identifies one such norm. Simply put…it’s a pre-meeting agreement that makes it safer for people to speak up on a sensitive topic. You can compliment this meeting norm by having attendees throw a soft-sided object (or equivalent) at a predetermined location (or even a person) when a meeting norm is violated.  This introduces a lighter side to an otherwise touchy situation. There’s a gazillion ways to compliment a meeting norm in this manner.

To do great work, you’ve got to be objective.  You’ve got to see the world as it is–not how we want it to be. Using this type of meeting protocol helps keep everyone honest…keeps people on track…and gives you the best chance to do great work.

 

 

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An Important Reminder From Jim Collins About ‘A’ Cultures

In The Power of Professionalism we advocated that there were three levels in  assessing whether an organization had centered their culture on professional ideals. ‘A’ was the best, ‘B’ was OK, and ‘C’ was…well…out of the running.  Almost without exception, it’s the dedication (and discipline) of the organization’s leaders that enable an ‘A’ culture to become that way.

It’s within an ‘A’ culture that people gather to do great work, to solve big problems, to (borrowing an over-used phrase) make a difference. Granted, these are not at the exclusion of self-interest….but it’s not their express purpose.

Consider this quote from Jim Collins and Morten Hansen’s wonderful new book Great By Choice

“The greatest leaders we’ve studied throughout all of our research cared as much about values as victory, as much about purpose as profit, as much about being useful as being successful.”

If one were able to concoct a secret sauce for an ‘A’ culture, the “great leaders” Collins alludes to would be the very first ingredient.