~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. January 2005 - Volume 8, Issue 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment – Deciding Factors * Leadership@Large – Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Interview – Promote Yourself * Quick Quotes – On Purpose ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DECIDING FACTORS By Dr. John C. Maxwell In 2001, EMI Group's Virgin Records label signed pop diva Mariah Carey to one of the biggest recording contracts ever—an estimated $80 million for five albums, plus a $21-million signing bonus. But when Carey's first album for Virgin Records—the soundtrack to the movie Glitter—flopped, the already struggling company decided to pay her $28 million to end her contract. Since Carey was allowed to keep her signing bonus, EMI essentially paid her $49 million for the soundtrack to a box-office bomb. Talk about a bad business decision. I'm guessing the EMI executives who signed Carey are still kicking themselves over that one. The decisions that you and I make may never approach that magnitude—at least not from a financial standpoint. But there's no doubt that our level of success in life is directly affected by the quality of the decisions that we make. We make dozens of decisions each day. Some of these choices—what to eat for breakfast, what to wear to work, what kind of car to drive, etc.—have little bearing on anyone else. Many others, however, have an unequivocal impact on the people around us, from our spouses, friends and children to our employees, clients and coworkers. It can be tempting to make such decisions solely on the basis of economics, ease, convenience or public opinion. But if you want to be an effective leader, you don't make decisions because they're easy. You don't make decisions because they're cheap. You don't make decisions because they're popular. You make decisions because they're right. So how do you know if you are making a right decision? Here are five guidelines: 1. Seek out wise counsel. Getting advice from others is a good idea, but don't solicit it from just anyone. Be wise about who you select to be your counselors. Seek out people who have proven track records when it comes to making good, solid decisions. 2. Look for patterns in the guidance that you are given. I have found that when I seek counsel from wise people, certain patterns or principles often recur. By the time three or four people have told me the same thing, I start saying, "Okay, I think I can buy into that." 3. Ask yourself, "Does this decision match my gifts and my abilities?" If the answer is no, there's no reason to continue this process. 4. Ask yourself, "Does this decision give me peace?" You know how you feel when peace is missing. Pay attention to those feelings. And never forget this powerful bit of wisdom: When in doubt, don't. 5. Look for the downside. Throw away your rose-colored glasses and force yourself to play the devil's advocate. Ask yourself, "If this turns out badly, can I live with it?" These guidelines—as well as other parameters that you establish for yourself—can be a tremendous help when you are making daily leadership decisions. They're also valuable when you're contemplating deeper choices that pertain to your values and what you want from your life. Along those lines, I want to close this column by sharing a few decisions I've made that have had a profound effect on my usefulness and fulfillment, both as a leader and as a person. I decided: 1. To continue to grow personally throughout my life. For me, growth is happiness. Out of my growth I live, and out of my growth I give. So here's my question for you: Are you learning or doing anything right now that is stretching you out of your comfort zone? 2. To give and serve on the front end. I'm not going to wait until I get something out of a relationship. I'm not going to wait until I find out what's in it for me. I'm just going to give on the front end—no strings attached. I can assure you that many of the blessings my wife and I have today are a direct result of this decision. 3. To exhibit a great attitude regardless of the situation. Life can be hard; there's no getting around it. But it's not what life brings to us that determines our success or failure; it's how we respond to it. We often don't have a choice about what happens to us, but we can chose to remain positive, no matter what's going on. As you evaluate the choices you've made in your life and career, perhaps you also can identify those that enhanced your satisfaction and productivity. But if the bad decisions—the ones that still cause you to kick yourself years later—seem to outnumber the good, today is a new day. And, armed with the guidelines I've given you, the first decision you can make today is the decision to make right decisions from now on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LASTING CONCEPTS Built to Last, the blockbuster management tome by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, has piled up some pretty impressive publishing statistics since it was first released in 1994. The book, which profiles 18 visionary companies with longstanding track records of success, has "sold 3.5 million copies worldwide, been translated into 16 languages, gone through more than 70 printings and spent nearly five solid years on the Business Week bestseller list," Fast Company magazine reported recently. But although Built to Last continues to sell well, nearly half of the featured firms have "slipped dramatically in performance and reputation, and their vision seems currently seems more blurred than clairvoyant," Fast Company's Jennifer Reingold and Ryan Underwood write in an article titled "Was Built to Last Built to Last?" The answer to that intriguing question depends, of course, on who you ask. Collins, whose success with Built to Last and, later, Good to Great, turned him into a management celebrity of sorts who pulls in $55,000 per speech, believes that the concepts in the book (preserve the core/stimulate progress, big hairy audacious goals, "try a lot of stuff and keep what works," etc.) are even more true—and more needed—today than they were 10 years ago. He also says that focusing on the companies instead of the principles shows a lack of understanding of what Built to Last is all about. "BTL is not about these companies," he told Fast Company. "For the most part, my experience has been that people haven't gotten hung up on the list of companies. At least intelligent, practicing leaders haven't gotten hung up on it." For more perspective on whether Built to Last really was built to last, see: ttp://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/88/built-to-last.html _________________________________________________________________ DRUCKER ON LEADERSHIP Peter F. Drucker stopped giving media interviews more than a year ago. But in October 2004, he granted an exception to Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard, who met with the 95-year-old management guru at his "surprisingly spartan" home in Claremont, Calif. The interview was arranged by Rick Warren, author of The Purpose- Driven Life and head of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., whom Drucker has been advising for two decades. Karlgaard's recap of his two-hour meeting with Drucker is a must- read for leaders who value practical, straightforward advice about how to lead more effectively. To whet your appetite, here are a few of Drucker's thoughts on various aspects of leadership. • "Successful leaders don't start out asking, ‘What do I want to do?' They ask, ‘What needs to be done?' Then they ask, ‘Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?' They don't tackle things that they aren't good at." • "Charismatic leadership by itself certainly is greatly overstated. Look, one of the most effective American presidents of the last 100 years was Harry Truman. He didn't have an ounce of charisma. Truman was as bland as a dead mackerel. Everybody who worked for him worshiped him because he was absolutely trustworthy. If Truman said no, it was no, and if he said yes, it was yes. And he didn't say no to one person and yes to the next one on the same issue." • "The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if they just give it another big push it will go over the top. One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious that this will be very hard to do. So, as I always advise my friend Rick Warren, ‘Don't tell me what you're doing, Rick. Tell me what you've stopped doing.' " For more of Drucker's insightful comments, see: http://www.forbes.com/2004/11/19/cz_rk_1119drucker.html?partner=smallbusiness_newsletter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PROMOTE YOURSELF When Peggy Klaus went looking for a job in the entertainment business, she quickly discovered that, if she wanted to get anywhere in Hollywood, she had to master the craft of self-promotion. At the time, she had no way of knowing that this skill would eventually become a key focus of her career, but that's exactly what happened. The producer/director-turned-communication consultant/leadership coach now teaches other people—from high- level business leaders to teenage girls—how to brag gracefully. Klaus's innovative approach to self-promotion has been featured in a variety of media venues, including The Wall Street Journal and ABC's 20/20. It's also outlined in her book, BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It, which was reviewed in the last issue of Leadership Wired. We recently spoke to Klaus about why she believes leaders need to learn how to brag effectively. Leadership Wired: For many people—especially those who are not familiar with your work—bragging has very negative connotations. Explain how you use the word. Peggy Klaus: There are many of us who grow up with a lot of myths about bragging—it's not polite, people won't like us, it's not such a big deal what we've done. My idea with bragging is to take the stigma out of it, because I really do believe—and I see it all the time—that people can brag in a very artful and graceful way. The way to do that is by telling about your accomplishments in a conversational and story-like manner using a few—underline a few—impressive and memorable tidbits of information said with a lot of passion, a sense of urgency and delight. Of course, good bragging is done in appropriate situations. But I believe that there are many appropriate situations, and when done in a conversational way, people will want to know more about you, instead of running away from you when you enter the room. Certainly, the people we've been warned about becoming—those who interrupt, who go on and on and on and on, who never ask questions about the people that they're interacting with, who name drop, who condescend, who make a nonsequitor out of anything so that they can bring the conversation back to them—they are definitely bad braggers. But my definition is taking all that behavior, throwing it away and being someone who talks about themselves in appropriate situations, using a few wonderful pieces of information about themselves. LW: Why is that important in today's marketplace? Klaus: Today, more than ever, the business world is so incredibly intense and competitive—with rightsizing, mergers and acquisitions, recessions, reinterviewing for your job after you've been there 15 years—that you have to let people know what you're doing. Managers have to do twice as much with half the resources. They don't have the time that they used to have to come and check in with you about what you would like to be doing, if you got enough of a bonus, how that promotion was for you. They're not able to find out what obstacles you've overcome and the successes you've had. You need to be able to tell them—they are not psychics. LW: Why is it so hard for people to talk about themselves and their accomplishments? Klaus: I think that we have grown up with a lot of social, religious and cultural mores about bragging—again, it's not nice, nice girls don't do it, people will not like you, pride cometh before the fall, humility is a virtue—all of those things. I'm not against humility, but I also think that we have taken that to such an extreme that it makes us unable and unwilling to take stock of what it is that we're doing well and be proud of that. Instead, we get generations of people—men and women—who are flogging themselves because they're not perfect. Most of the time when I ask audiences—senior, junior, students, men, women, minorities—to identify three things in their current career or job or schooling that they're proud of, I hear this collective moan. I had 350 women physicians who are also academics, and I gave them that assignment and there was this huge groan from the crowd. Their faces wrinkled up; they were really not happy to do this. I said, "All right, I want you to think of at least three things that you should be doing better in your job." Hands went up; they started to laugh. Of course, they knew what I was doing. It is so much easier for people to whip themselves than it is for them to say, "I really have grown; I really have improved." LW: How did you become a bragging expert? Klaus: I really do believe you teach what you need to heal. The bragging ethic was so burned into me by my father—I'm sure that as I lay in the bassinet in the hospital, he was over me saying, "Do not toot your own horn" because he was really a believer that people will say nice things about you and you will be justly rewarded. Well, that was all fine and good then. But when I got to Hollywood—I call it the tooting capital of the world—it was very hard for me. I didn't want to be obnoxious and I had to find another way around this because I was going to be sleeping in my car very soon. When I started to work with business people on this, I really hated to see how people struggled with it. I thought, "My gosh, we're spending so much time in our lives not being fully cognizant of who we are and really grateful and appreciative of that. If I'm going to teach this, I better start doing it." What I love about this is that everybody has their own unique way. There's not a formula for it. There are certain skills and techniques that you can use, but you need to apply it to you. I don't want people being designated as having learned from the Peggy Klaus School of Communication, but more that you take your best authentic self and bring that out in whatever you're doing. Whether it's bragging or a press conference or testifying in front of Congress or at a social event—it doesn't matter. It's really how you bring out your best self—that's how I decided to put my stake in the ground. LW: When is the ability to brag most necessary for leaders? Klaus: In Jim Collins' book Good to Great, he spent a whole chapter on the need for leaders to give credit to other people and be humble. I've been asked about that in a number of interviews. I've never met Jim, so I can't assume if we were in a dialogue what he would say. But here is what I feel about that. As leader of a company, you carry with you the emotional temperature of the company. They look to you to lead, to tell them the truth, to give them hope, to inspire, to motivate. If you are not dynamic in the way that you communicate and if you don't have a sense of confidence, then you're not going to do a very good job inspiring other people. So often, it's very subtle. I would suspect that there are lots of CEOs that Jim would say are not bragging because they don't come off in that negative way, but they do toot their own horn—in a way that is very acceptable and appropriate. So in answer to your question, I think it's necessary for leaders to do this when they're giving messages to their company. They can drop some of those little brag bites in there about what the company is doing and maybe how the leader has a part in bringing this forward. Certainly in times of crisis, people need to know what that person is doing. Some might say, "Oh, that's not bragging—that's just telling what he's doing." But the fact of the matter is that those are probably brag nuggets. LW: Can you give some advice to people who'd like to try this but aren't sure how to start? Klaus: One of the questions we get asked all the time is, "What do you do?" We usually answer that in a very boring, monosyllabic way. Instead, we should put together a response based on the answers to questions like this: How did you get into doing what you're doing? What do you love about it? What skills, techniques and talents does it use? How has it stretched you? How do you feel that it helps other people? What obstacles have you overcome? This is a way of starting to create what I call "bragalogues"—little monologues about yourself. It becomes a story about you. LW: Should leaders make an effort to teach their people these skills? Klaus: Absolutely. I was just at a leading Wall Street investment bank working with some manager-level folks. We were talking about why it is so important for them to learn how to do it and to be role models because performance review time comes up and their direct reports have to learn to speak up for themselves. If these managers and executives don't know how to do it, then they're not going to be able to probe and say, "Tell me what you've done—go create a bragbag for me." They really need to pass this on as a skill that employees need to learn because what everybody has identified—from the diversity groups through upper management—is that unless you self-promote—a.k.a. "brag"—you will stall or derail your career. White men, white women, minorities, it doesn't matter what age—if you do not tell people what it is that you're doing, what it is that you want, where you want to go, then they're not going to know and you are going to stall or derail your career. No doubt about it. So these people have got to be able to mentor their folks in this way. LW: What's the one thing you wish would stick in people's minds when they read this? Klaus: It doesn't matter whether you're an introvert or whether you've been taught never to brag about yourself, these are skills and techniques that you can learn. Just like going to the gym and exercising muscles that have never been used before. It takes practice, and it's not going to be comfortable the first time out, and maybe it will never be something that you would choose to do. But there's no excuse not to do this, and you have to do it. - Interview by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor Editor's Note: For a list of questions designed to help you create your own personal "bragalogue," see: http://www.klausact.com/brag/questionnaire.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ON PURPOSE "When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind." — Seneca "Men, like nails, lose their usefulness when they lose direction and begin to bend." — Walter Savage Landor "Great minds have purposes, others have wishes." — Washington Irving _________________________________________________________________ Leadership Wired is written by Dr. John C. Maxwell and is available via e-mail on a free subscription basis. You can subscribe at: http://www.INJOY.com/Newsletters. Questions about document transmission or editorial comments? Contact mailto:feedback@INJOY.com. Visitors may use the information contained in this e-newsletter by placing the following credit line: "This article is used by permission from Dr. John C. Maxwell's free monthly e-newsletter 'Leadership Wired' available at www.INJOY.com." This information cannot be used for resale in any manner. Copyright (c) 2005, INJOY, Inc.