There is indeed a command-and-control aspect of leadership. However in today’s knowledge-based environment, most value is created by bringing together specialized know-how from interdependent sources. The head of almost any organization needs the knowledge of customers, matrixed team members, vendors, professionals, or other stakeholders over whom they exert little power. Executives, business owners, and team leaders find themselves needing to bring out knowledge rather than impart it.

So in a knowledge, service, and interdependent environment, if you are not actually telling people what actions to take, what is it that leaders DO to get results?

The following are seven leadership ACTIONS other than telling someone what to do: exemplify, acknowledge, articulate, frame, follow, facilitate, and presence. (Yes, the latter is intentionally used as an active verb - read on to see why...) Read More...

Tags: Artful Leadership

Conventional wisdom will tell you that you get the best from your expertise by deeper learning your field, by keeping up with new developments and understanding the nuances and intricacies of your domain – in short, investing in knowing more. Conventional Wisdom tells us natural talent is what drives top performance.

Modern research challenges these notions. Read More...

Tags: Top Performance

What Were They Thinking?
Unconventional Wisdom About Management
by Jeffrey Pfeffer (2007)

Pfeffer’s wisdom is unconventional, with a preponderance of common sense that is often lacking in organizations both great and small. The author says in his introductory chapter that he focuses on “common mistakes I see in how companies manage their people and their business, and also on how to do things better.” Read More...

When desperate for innovation, what is most any leader likely to say? “Think outside of the box.” Think about it.

“Out of the Box” is a cliché, a phrase that’s been around for decades. Everyone knows what it means, but it’s hardly a trigger for ideas that are fresh, creative, and original. I encourage people to focus on Edge of the Box thinking – especially if you need ideas with a high potential for useful application.

Edge of the Box thinking is based on viewing the world at the boundaries of your organization and experience, where inside and outside perspectives can be combined, and where fresh ideas most likely will emerge. In today’s knowledge-based world, useful innovation typically arises out of combining core competencies with ideas taken from places outside of your industry or field, but not so far out as to be inaccessible. Read More...

Tags: Uncommon Thinking, Accelerating Innovation

The No Asshole Rule
Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
by Robert Sutton (2007)

Sutton's book is based on an article originally appearing in Harvard Business Review. While other terms for the problem people he describes might be jerks or bullies, Sutton said he would write the article only if it retained the word asshole. He was surprised HBR agreed. More... Read More...

People often treat uncertainty as an “either/or” situation; i.e., given a specific circumstance, decision, or strategy, the future outcome either is, or is not, uncertain. Here’s a smarter approach for dealing with change constructively: Instead of asking if something is uncertain, ask in what way is it uncertain. In other words, what type of uncertainty are we dealing with? Read More...

Tags: Change Mastery

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars
Destroying the Barriers that Turn Colleagues into Competitors
by Patrick Lencioni (2006)

This recent book by Patrick Lencioni tackles some of the most insidious challenges of larger organizations: silos, infighting, and turf politics. Lencioni’s solution comes in the form of the ever-popular business fable to make his case that leaders must create time- limited “thematic goals” to unite all parties – much as a crisis often does. He cautions that care must be taken to differentiate but integrate the ongoing work that always has to get done, with the efforts required to achieve the thematic goals. Perhaps not as impactful as his previous books, it’s a quick read and makes some valuable points nonetheless.

Quote from book:

Silos rise up not because of what executives are doing purposefully but rather because of what they are failing to do: provide themselves and their employees with a compelling context for working together.

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As a leader in your organization, do you add muda or subtract it?

Muda is a Japanese term for waste. One of the prime tenants of the Toyota production system, to which much of that company’s outstanding quality and profitability can be attributed, is to reduce muda. The organization is built on constant striving to identify and eliminate anything that does not add value for the final customer. The Toyota processes are now used worldwide, often called LEAN processing.

Seven mudas are traditionally recognized: overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, over processing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement, and defects. Jeffrey K. Liker, in his excellent book The Toyota Way, adds an eighth muda – unused employee creativity.

Liker describes the eighth muda as the waste of “losing time, ideas, skills, improvements, and learning opportunities by not engaging or listening to your employees.” Too many organizations suffer from CEOs or owners that inflate the eighth muda, rather than contribute to its elimination.
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Tags: Uncommon Thinking, Artful Leadership, Collaboration & Teamwork, Taking Care of Business

The Toyota Way
14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer
by Jeffrey K. Liker (2004)

Toyota is doing something right, and this book elegantly lays out in 14 principles what that something is. While Toyota basically invented “lean” production, Liker emphasizes Toyota’s success is based on more than simply implementing lean tools. In addition to process (focused on adding value and eliminating waste), Toyota gives attention to philosophy (look at the long-term), people (emphasizing a culture of teamwork with both employees and business partners), and problem-solving for continuous improvement. This book has something relevant to say for all businesses, and I’ve recommended it to several clients that are not in manufacturing.

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Never Eat Alone And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz (2005)

As books on networking go, this one is very good. Effective networking is always a two-way street, as much about helping others as making connections to people who can help you. The authors first cover the all-important mindset of clarifying what you want and what you have to offer. The second part of the book delves into the networking skill set. Even master networkers will find useful tips to improve skills and bring better focus. Recommended.

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The conventional and over-celebrated view of vision is that it's something a good leader first must “have” and then convinces followers to adopt.

I do not subscribe to the conventional view.

Exceptional leaders don’t impart a vision, they cultivate the emergence of a vision – a huge difference. High achievement and success are more likely when an organization’s vision has a life of its own. While the seed for a vision can certainly originate from a leader, there is incredible power and energy when a group of people to discover their collective vision.

This article outlines five critical actions that experienced leaders use to tap into the power of a shared collective vision.
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Tags: Artful Leadership

Time to crank up production? Get this place running like a well-oiled machine?

The machine continues to be the dominant metaphor of the workplace – meaning we tend to relate to our working world as if it was a machine. We have plenty of experiences each day that reinforce this perception of life-as-machine: We step on the gas pedal and our cars move faster. We push a button and documents get efficiently copied – maybe even on both sides, collated, and stapled.

I continue to be approached by executives looking for that metaphorical lever, pedal, dial, or button that will motivate people, get them to change, or increase morale. It’s the wrong thing to be looking for because it’s the wrong metaphor. Read More...

Tags: Uncommon Thinking

The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
by Zander and Zander (2000)
Over the last few months I have been speaking and writing about using inquiry to develop a positive verses a deficit perspective in organizations, and so I was delighted when a good friend and colleague clued me in to this remarkable book. The authors are a husband-and-wife team: he the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and she a talented family therapist. This is a book of stories around 'practices' the reader can use. The practices are not for self-improvement, but "geared instead toward causing a...shift of posture, perceptions, beliefs, and thought processes" – including not taking yourself too seriously. Although the book has been around for awhile, I consider it one of my best finds this year.

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Consider the two following questions.

What are the goals for my business this year?

What would the world miss if my business didn’t exist?

Both are important, but for very different reasons – and they will impact your thinking in very different ways. Read More...

Tags: Uncommon Thinking