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Leadership
Leaders are readers. If you’re looking for some titles to add to your reading list this summer, we’ve gathered our top eight picks for you.
From memoirs to case studies to historical dramas, you’ll find inspiring accounts to satisfy your need to read. Here’s a list of books that we think are well worth the turn of the page:
1. Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion, and Pluck Take You from Ordinary to Extraordinary by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
What it’s about: You don’t have to be brilliant or incredibly talented to become successful. In fact, those qualities may work against you when you face resistance. To push past barriers, it’s far better to have Guts, Resilience, Initiative and Tenacity.
Why pick it up: It’s a quick read (143 pages) and packed with both case studies and research. Plus, you’ll find ‘Grit Builders’ at the end of each chapter.
2. The Right Kind of Crazy: A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership, and High-Stakes Innovation by Adam Steltzner and William Patrick
What it’s about: The unbridled elation at NASA when the Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars in 2012 – and the inside account of the ten years of hard work and zero margin for error that led up to that moment.
Why pick it up: It’s a story about the triumph of human ingenuity over staggering odds. Share it with your team to inspire them to break down seemingly impossible problems into smaller, more manageable ones.
3. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
What it’s about: From Martin Luther King, Jr. to the founder behind uBeam, it’s an inspiring account of how successful non-conformists bust myths, speak truth to power, and avoid groupthink without getting sidelined.
Why pick it up: Fresh research, counter-intuitive insights, status quo busting, lively writing, and practical calls to action.
4. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Milhaly Csikszentmihalyi
What it’s about: Most people alternate between work we dislike but feel obliged to do, and passive activities that offer no stimulation. This book suggests that we find flow, a state in which we are intrinsically challenged without the self-conscious anxiety of performance.
Why pick it up: A reminder that when we are so absorbed in meaningful activity that we ‘forget’ ourselves, we reconnect with who we are at our best.
5. Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by L. David Marquet
What it’s about: A ship’s transformation through personal accounts and moments in which U.S. Navy Captain Marquet realized his own failures and successes.
Why pick it up: It’s “The Hunt for Red October” meets Harvard Business Review.
6. The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
What it’s about: The dramatic story of two courageous brothers who launched the Age of Flight despite overwhelming odds. To quote Wilbur Wright: “No bird soars in the calm. If you want to take off, you have to take off into the wind. You need the wind. The wind will make you.”
Why pick it up: It’s written by a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and blends the best of history with an inspiring story of how to meet resistance head on to achieve your goals.
7. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
What it’s about: A candid and riveting account from the man behind the swoosh about the company’s early days and its evolution from a garage business into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing brands.
Why pick it up: It’s a straight-from-the-source account about the early years of Nike, and the ragtag group of misfits who harnessed the power of a shared mission and deep belief in the spirit of sport.
8. Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent by Sidney Finkelstein
What it’s about: A revealing study about how some people are able to propel not only their companies – but also their protégés – to great heights.
Why pick it up: A good boss hits his goals and leads his team. A superboss blows away her goals by building an army of new leaders. Which would you rather be?
Some of the principles shared in these books you may already know but need reminding of. Others can give you the inspired insight you need to tackle your greatest challenges of 2016.
Question: What books have helped you along your leadership journey?
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Leadership
“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Unfortunately, that statement from British historian Lord Acton is not entirely false.
How power impacts our brains is the subject of The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence, a new book by UC Berkeley Professor Dacher Keltner. At Berkeley’s Social Interaction Laboratory, Keltner and his students explore how power reduces our inhibitions and weakens our social awareness.
“What we’ve learned,” says Keltner, “is that when we feel powerful, the empathy regions of the brain disengage. We suddenly become impulsive, we behave inappropriately, we are more likely to swear, and we generally lose touch with other people.” Keltner’s lab students dub this the Cookie Monster effect.
Thus, the paradox. The skills we need to gain power and effectively lead others – like social intelligence and empathy – are the very ones we are likely to lose when we achieve power.
So, does power corrupt? Yes and no.
“One of the things we’ve learned from studying the science of power,” states Keltner, is that it “tends to amplify our pre-existing tendencies.” In effect, power reveals.
Power reveals
Consider the effects of power on the late U.S. President, Richard Milhous Nixon. Long before Nixon left the White House as an unindicted coconspirator in the Watergate scandal, he was a highly paranoid conspiracy theorist. His attempts to break an imaginary conspiracy led him to launch a conspiracy that broke him, and, ultimately, cost him the presidency.
Nixon’s words, “I am not a crook,” and “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal,” forever cloud the political zeitgeist of the 1970s.The pall of Watergate overshadowed Nixon’s foreign and domestic achievements even until his death in 1994. Nixon died not famous but infamous, an icon of the power paradox.
Keltner finds that examples of the fall from power like Nixon’s resignation may lead us to believe that the abuse of power is inevitable. But the power paradox is more complex.
Keltner writes, “It is not human nature to abuse power. Power is a dopamine high. Every time we experience power, we find ourselves at a moment, a fork in the road . . . we can act in ways that lead us to enjoy enduring power, or we can be seduced by the self-indulgent possibilities that power occasions. Which path you take matters enormously.”
What will you do with power?
In his classic work The Prince, Machiavelli concluded that a person should use any means necessary in order to acquire and protect power. Yet, the rise of countless leaders like Nixon who subscribed to the Machiavellian model show that tactics like coercion and manipulation inevitably lead to their fall.
Keltner writes, “Society has changed dramatically since Machiavelli’s Renaissance Florence in ways that require us to move beyond outdated notions of power.” He suggests that we broaden our definition of power as the capacity to make a difference in the world, to find our purpose – the specific difference in the world that we are best suited to make – and bring it to fruition.
To overcome the power paradox, Keltner recommends a fivefold path to stay in check with what matters most:
- Be aware of your feelings of power. Be mindful of the dopamine high associated with power. Keep yourself grounded by reminding yourself of your higher purpose.
- Practice humility. Power is a gift, not a right. Don’t get caught up in your own press.
- Stay focused on others, and give. Our ability to make a difference in the world will grow exponentially when we give to others, and help others be givers.
- Practice respect. People with their self-respect intact are unified behind the purpose and values of the society, and are committed to the success of the society over personal success.
- Change the psychological context of powerlessness. Use your position to create opportunities that empower those without power. Call into question elements of society that devalue others.
In short, Keltner challenges us to answer the question, “What will you do with your power?” Will you be corrupted by it, or use it to make a positive impact on the world? The choice is yours.
Interested in overcoming the power paradox for yourself or your team? Check out our Leadership Development services or email me at snasim@executiveexcellence.com directly to set-up a free 30 minute consultation.
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Leadership
A few weeks ago, I was meeting with a CEO who is an avid student of servant leadership. This was the fourth in a series of sessions in which I was helping him write a speech about the benefits of being a servant leader. Here’s a paraphrased version of the conversation:
CEO: I nearly cancelled our meeting this morning because I was not prepared.
ME: Why do you think you were not prepared?
CEO: The firm is growing fast, and I have so many people to serve. I’m exhausted.
ME: Ah, yes. The servant leader’s dilemma. “How can I effectively use my leadership position to serve others without burning myself out?”
The concept of servant leadership was originated by Robert Greenleaf nearly 50 years ago. Greenleaf was an iconoclast who argued that leaders should use their positions of power to help their teams succeed rather than for self-interest and personal glory. It’s a powerful concept that has been put to the test by many organizations, large and small, such as Southwest Airlines and Federal Express.
Servant leadership has a strong appeal for leaders with a bias for being good stewards of humanity. Yet, many who start down the servant leadership path quickly run afoul when applying it to their teams. Consider these two areas identified by Dr. Tony Baron, author of The Art of Servant Leadership, that can result in the servant leader’s dilemma:
The doormat.
Leaders who are attracted to servant leadership are also often repelled by the traditional command-and-control, top down, leadership style. They’ve seen traditional leaders who demoralize and dispirit their team, and create a culture of fear.
However, servant leaders can swing the pendulum in the opposite direction. They emphasize the character traits they want to display and to see in their management team. Traits like integrity, humility, respect, and compassion are rewarded.
While these traits are honorable and can serve a leader well, teams need leaders who can effectively balance character with performance. In The Servant Leader author James Autry notes, “Servant leadership is not about being nice or being loved, nor is it about never having to do the gut-wrenching stuff like firing people. It is the combining of personal characteristics with self-discipline and the unwavering commitment to creating a workplace of efficacy and productivity.”
Nobody wants to follow a doormat. You can care about people and have an intense bias for action at the same time. After all, you’re not really serving others if you’re not helping them make and keep their performance commitments.
The empty vessel.
Executives who aspire to be servant leaders care deeply about helping others grow. But, like the CEO described in the opening conversation, they often misapply the concept and exhaust themselves in the process. If you spend all of your time giving to others, you’ll find yourself at a place where you have nothing left to give.
Those attracted to servant leadership want to be generous to others. But, as Dr. Tony Baron suggests, “you cannot be generous by emptying your cup but by sharing what is overflowing in your life”.
Leaders who spend too much of their time meeting others’ needs first run the risk of serving themselves into exhaustion.
Do you feel that your team is taking advantage of your good nature? Are you exhausting yourself in the service of others? If so, it may be time to ask yourself if you’ve ever misapplied the principles of servant leadership.
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Leadership
Danum Valley is an ancient tropical forest on the northeastern tip of Borneo with an outstanding complement of flora and fauna. It is the largest remaining area of virgin undisturbed lowland rainforest on the island spanning 170 square miles. Recognized as one of the world’s most complex ecosystems, Danum Valley lies along the upper reaches of the Segama River and is flanked by vast timber concession acreage. The valley is home to rare and endangered species like the Sumatran rhino, the Asian elephant, the clouded leopard, and the orangutan.
The Borneon orangutan, or Pongo pygmaeus, can trace its ancestral line for 9 million years to Sivapithecus, a Miocene hominoid from Turkey. At one time the world’s wild orangutan population climbed into the hundreds of thousands. Today, Pongo pygmaeus has been reduced to less than 20,000 individuals. Poaching, illegal logging, mining, and the conversion of forests to agriculture have played a role in the rapidly changing environment of the great ape.
It is under these threatening conditions that the male orangutans pursue the coveted position of alpha. They assert their dominance by doing three things: First, they pound their chests. Not in discrete bouts of rapidly delivered beats, but for prolonged periods of time. So much time, in fact, that they cause themselves physical harm. The desire to be alpha overrides their sensory for pain. Next, they screech and grunt until the oxygen to their brain is restricted and they become delusional. Finally, they excrete enormous amounts of poop and toss it at the other apes. This is how the alpha male is decided. Self-inflicted pain, histrionics, and dung throwing.
In the world of orangutans, the alpha holds the position of endurance and power, but is not to be mistaken as leader. He is not designed to lead. The alpha’s job is to protect territory and fight or frighten off invaders. With the alpha in place, the apes co-exist in a state of harmony. The troop works together to find and harvest food. They live like families and treat extended family members with courtesy. They even create pathways to food sources knowing these pathways will be used by other apes in the territory.
It is not a stretch to recognize their similarities to man. In fact, the word “orangutan” comes from the Malay words “orang” (man) and “(h)utan” (forest). Hence, “man of the forest.” Neither is it a stretch to draw leadership lessons from this primate community:
1. The alpha position is a responsibility, not a rank. Being the leader means to be in a position to help others achieve their goals — employees, customers, investors, and community. As Ken Blanchard says, “Leadership is not something you do to It is something you do with people.”
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2. Power is used to protect the troops, not impose burden. It’s the leaders’ job to set the vision and direction, then inspire and equip the team to achieve results. Used to maximum effect, leadership power will empower the organization and its employees. Used carelessly, it will disempower them, and can lead to a culture of fear.
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3. Delusional, dung-slinging behavior denotes endurance and power, not leadership. Part of a leader’s role is to solve problems, and problems can lead to stress. But yelling at people, demeaning them, and using profanity are not signs of leadership. (See Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice.) They are signs of fear, insecurity, and distrust.
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4. Power is not leadership. Hoarding power can lead to disengaged, clock-punching employees who leave their hearts and imaginations at the door. Sharing the power to give input takes true strength, from a true leader, and allows everyone in the organization to engage and grow.
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Like the orangutans, today’s organizations face threat by competitors, territory fragmentation, and resource depletion. Leaders who understand the true value of their position can create a culture of teamwork, respect, and sustainability.
Question: How does the way you use your power impact your organization’s culture?
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Leadership
Last week, Dr. Tony Baron and I hosted The Re:Imagine Leadership Summit at The Centre in north San Diego County. We spent the day sharing research from our upcoming book with the working title, Ditch the Pyramid: Reimagining Leadership for the 21st Century. The big idea of the book is this: while 72% of today’s leaders know that culture is extremely important to organizational performance, just 32% have aligned their culture with their business strategy.
A 2014 global study by Korn Ferry’s Hay Group division found that “driving culture change” ranked among the top three global leadership development priorities. There’s no doubt. Culture is the X-factor that makes the difference between whether an organization will succeed or fail in the market today. Yet, while the need to make cultural changes is clear, the path is not.
Technology has effectively collapsed the boundaries of time and space
Information is the new raw material. Performance today depends on our ability to turn information into knowledge and knowledge into service as quickly as possible. Yet, most organizations still operate under the pyramid paradigm. Culture change cannot begin until leaders recognize that the pyramid is still deeply embedded in their leadership psyche. Until that mindset is changed, culture changes will fail. Here are the top three reasons why leaders need to ditch the pyramid:
1. Acquiring and protecting power. People naturally want to learn, grow, and be their best both personally and professionally. Under the pyramid model, people are forced to climb their way to the top, squeezing out others along the way. Holding onto their positions requires leaders to continuously fight to acquire and protect their power.
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2. Limiting our circle of influence. A leader who is keen on acquiring and protecting power tends to build a team of direct reports who do not pose a threat to that power. When our circle of influence is made up of people who want to keep their positions by pandering to our ego, our ability to access reality correctly is severely limited.
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3. Operating in a paradigm of scarcity. As we work our way to the top of the pyramid, fewer and fewer positions are available. The pyramid shapes our paradigm of scarcity. Scarcity begets fear. We fear that someone will take our position. We fear that we never have enough time. We fear that if someone else wins, we lose. This creates stress, tension, and a drive for success as a destination that we continually struggle to reach.
Those are just three of the ten reasons we’ve identified about why we need to ditch the pyramid. We invite you to follow our journey as we continue to share our findings and help leaders create a culture that can respond swiftly, communicate freely, and organize as a network of people motivated by a shared purpose. Are you ready to reimagine leadership?
Question: Does the organization chart pictured look familiar to you? Are you holding onto a position of rigidity?
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Leadership
When we picture an organizational structure, typically a pyramid comes to mind. Under the pyramid model, power and privilege are concentrated at the top. It then trickles down through the ranks, leaving those at the bottom with the heaviest workload and the least privilege.
For centuries, the pyramid structure kept monarchies stable, dictated the rank-and-file system of the military, and enabled factories to manufacture highly reproducible goods from assembly lines. The model served America’s manufacturing economy well, helping it surge for most of the 20th century.
In the 21st century, information economy, however, leaders must remove the layers, get rid of the bottlenecks, and create a culture where their organizations can transform at the speed of change. Not only do they need to help their organizations transform, but they must be willing to be transformed themselves.
How to we do this? Where do we start? These are questions Dr. Tony Baron and I will address tomorrow at The Re:Imagine Leadership Summit. Among the topics of the day, we will share:
- How economic systems have shaped our leadership models over time.
- How those leadership models hold up in today’s information economy.
- The principles of transformative leadership.
- The 7 key practices of a transformative leader.
If you don’t like change, you’re going to hate extinction. Leaders who successfully navigate the 21st century will be transformative role models who ditch the pyramid mindset, and with it, the paradigm of power.
Question: Are you willing to ditch the pyramid? To learn and grow from those you lead?
