I love what the Google Chrome team is doing, and wrote about it on my CIO Views blog.
Empathy
This is my second post examining Larry C. Spears' list of the ten characteristics of servant leadership in his on-line article "On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders". His second bullet is this:
"Empathy: The servant-leader strives to understand and empathize with others. People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits. One assumes the good intentions of co-workers and colleagues and does not reject them as people, even when one may be forced to refuse to accept certain behaviors or performance. The most successful servant-leaders are those who have become skilled empathetic listeners."
Anyone who has worked as an employee has undoubtedly discovered just how challenging this is for most leaders. The weak self-image of most leaders is so pronounced that it has become one of the most stereotyped and parodied concept of leadership. Dilbert's pointy-haired boss is just one of the many obvious examples.
Being a "boss" or a "manager" has virtually nothing to do with leadership (the argument of author Paul Glen in "Leading Geeks" notwithstanding). Managing is oversight of specific processes and procedures focused on a linear output. In a world of knowledge work, it is of significantly less importance than leadership, although still important from the perspective of making sure that accomplishments are aligned with organizational objectives.
Leading, rather, has much more to do with people, how autonomous they are, and what it is that compels them to work together. Empathy is a significant contributor to the discovery of dynamics that allow people to work together in synergy.
In Spear's explanation of empathy that I quoted above, there is a key word: strives. According to Dictionary.com, a principle element of striving is exerting great effort. This means that empathy isn't merely being open to obvious observations about others, but is rather an intense, intentional, and consistent study of others: Who are they? How are they special and unique? What do they do especially well? Where are their challenges?
Empathy requires listening. How well are you doing?
Playing to Strengths
After reading my Listening post, blog reader and friend Mark Townsend of Enterasys dropped an e-mail to me expanding on his thoughts about listening and teamwork. In it, he drew a parallel to a recent best-ball golf tournament in which he played. He described the team as four guys, each with unique strengths and talents. As they learned to play to the strengths of each, they found that each member participated, contributed, and benefited. As a result, they were successful together in ways that they could not have been alone.
This is the ultimate goal of any good team, and therefore must be among the primary goals of the leader.
Mark then outlined his bullet points for management:
- Communicate the vision for the department and company clearly
- Engage each team player's individual strengths - but also allow fair competition to stretch outside and make the shot
- Each team player should feel that they contributed - player fulfillment sustains teams
- Each team player should not be typecast to a single role - in the golf analogy, a person making a great drive might later in the round make the winning putt. Allowing players to play outside their comfort zone can lead to team success (must be managed though!)
Furthermore, he mentioned, "In our round - we let our "champion" shoot last. It took the pressure off of the lower-skilled players and if we secured a great shot early - it let the champion take a more riskier shot than he normally would have. It also alleviated "performance anxiety" for the lesser skilled golfers. They weren't trying to beat a great shot made by a team member."
There is a lot to be learned from these insights, and the best leaders will consider the parallels with their team and their leadership. One difficulty might be in viewing skills and talents that you don't have with an objective eye. Another might be valuing the various benefits each member brings to the table. Developing this perspective is vitally important for optimum performance.
How about you?
Listening
As I mentioned in my earlier introductory post about Servant Leadership, I've been thinking about leadership and what it takes to lead in the 21st century for quite a while. Robert K. Greenleaf's insights into servant leadership are very powerful, and Larry C. Spears' list of the ten characteristics of servant leadership in his on-line article "On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders" is a worthy starting point for conversation.
The first characteristic is Listening: "Leaders have traditionally been valued for their communication and decisionmaking skills. Although these are also important skills for the servant-leader, they need to be reinforced by a deep commitment to listening intently to others. The servant-leader seeks to identify the will of a group and helps to clarify that will. He or she listens receptively to what is being said and unsaid. Listening also encompasses getting in touch with one's own inner voice. Listening, coupled with periods of reflection, are essential to the growth and well-being of the servant-leader."
If you think about your own historical view of leadership, would listening be one of the primary characteristics of the leaders that you've encountered?
Interestingly, during the Leadership Summit this week, I listened to Colin Powell espouse similar ideas under his principle, "Trust People in the Trenches."
There's a lot to listening. It's difficult work. It forces you to consider your own perspective and how others may differ from it. It stretches your concepts of "fact" and "opinion." And it introduces you to ideas and approaches that may stretch you our of your comfort zone.
That said, the results of leadership that embraces persistent listening are multiplied as a result. Team members who know they are heard respond much better to the needs of the team than those who wonder. And those who know that they aren't heard seldom stick around to see anything through to the end.
I remember walking into a board room to discuss options for a company on a rapid trajectory some years ago. We had all been studying the various options for next steps, discussing them in the hallways, meetings, offices, and during our frequent business trips. We had some exciting ideas and were eager to share them and get buy-in.
And then the CEO entered the room.
It didn't take long for us to realize that he had already decided. All of our thinking and effort was irrelevant. It was a waste.
As you might expect, it didn't take long for that leadership team to effectively disperse to other organizations. The company didn't last, either. It was unfortunate, because it had a great future and could have served millions of people. But, it never got the chance.
I remember another time and another CEO. One of his mantras was, "If I have all the ideas, we're in big trouble!" And he meant it. He listened. We all did. As a result we did amazing things. I still do work for him.
What about you as a leader? How do you make sure you're listening? What are your methods for drawing out your staff and listening closely?
Think about that...
The Servant Leader
Servant Leadership has long been a focus of mine, taking insights from Robert K. Greenleaf and Ken Blanchard, among others. Recently, I came across a page on the site for the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership entitled "On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders" by Larry C. Spears, Chief Executive Officer of the Center. In it, Spears identifies the following characteristics that he has gleaned from Greenleaf's work and his own experience:
- Listening
- Empathy
- Healing
- Awareness
- Persuasion
- Conceptualization
- Foresight
- Stewardship
- Commitment to the growth of people
- Building community
Over the next few posts, we'll step through each of these points and take a look at how they show up in day-to-day leadership. Feel free to drop in your thoughts as you read along.
Are They Really Missing It?
I have been off for a week in the downeast area of Maine, spending time in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park as well as hunting some great lighthouses. And learning that it's hard to find good tea in that part of the country. But we did find a great teahouse in Freeport on our way back to Portland yesterday. Jacqueline's Tea Room was a great capstone to our time away.
Interestingly, I was able to keep current with my e-mail and some web work while away using the iPhone. I was quite pleased that I did what I needed it to do to keep me in touch with clients and work that I have going, even though I did my best to disconnect for much of each day. One of the things that I noted was the on-going surprise from many quarters regarding the success of the iPhone. Frankly, I think most of the people discussing it do not understand the real issue.
The real issue is this: all of the sophisticated phones on the market today stink for one reason or another. They are too big, too limited, too unreliable, or too difficult to actually use when you are mobile. The market has longed for anything to grab that would resolve these issues, giving them an intuitive interface to the functions that they need in a mobile device.
That is why the iPhone has been so popular. It does what Apple said it would do. All of the complaints are about functions that Apple said that the phone would not do, or complaints about the design decisions that Apple made (such as using a soft keyboard instead of hard keys). They all miss the point that it lives up to the promises that Steve Jobs and Apple made, starting last January.
So, what is there to learn from this? Simple: underpromise and overdeliver. It's a well-known truth of business and leadership, but most people try to take a shortcut. They overpromise and then underdeliver.
This past week, I had to hold to a commitment even though I was off in the woods. I had promised a work product to a client by Friday, so I spent some time huddled over my iPhone getting it off to them late Friday after spending the day along the Maine coast. But many (perhaps most) producers of products don't keep their commitments and few take seriously their communications with customers and prospects.
The same holds true for leaders. Do you follow through? Do the members of your team know that they can count on you? Are you sure?
Ask them in a way that allows them to be transparent and honest. Then listen to what they say. You'll gain a great opportunity to grow, and if you follow through on changes, the benefits you'll reap will be astounding.
What do you think?
Second Impressions
I have now used the iPhone for a few days, and while it isn't perfect by any stretch, it is quite a capable mobile system. The phone works as advertised, and the so-called "hype" wasn't a set of over-promises, but rather an honest assessment of capability. As a phone, it has the most intuitive interface I have used. For example, when starting a call while having a BlueTooth headset active, the phone pops up a dialog that allows you to change the active audio device. The way that the phone displays options for incoming calls, call waiting, and other situations is quite clear. There do seem to me to be times when the call and hang-up buttons change places in different modes.
I am finding that the keyboard is becoming easier to use, and I think I'm already faster than I was on the Treo, primarily because the system corrects mistypes and the virtual keys are actually larger than the keys on the Treo as the system guesses the words. The maps application is very useful and amazing in its appearance and function. I'm about to take a trip where that will come in very handy. I'll report on that later.
Today, I had an issue recording a new voicemail outgoing message. The iPhone is different from other phones in that the message gets recorded onto the phone, then transmitted up to the voicemail system. The advantage is obvious: the sound quality is of a local recording, not a message recorded over the cellular network.
However, today I couldn't update it after my lovely bride suggested I could make it sound better. So, I called AT&T. They put me on hold for quite a while, and when they answered again it wasn't AT&T... it was Apple! The tech suggested I reset the iPhone (touch and hold home, then hold down the power switch until the gray apple appears). After I did that, the iPhone worked just fine. And interestingly, a stubborn SMS message finally decided to be sent, too.
So, clearly, it's not quite perfect, and I'm sure that others will find reasons to complain. However, its combination of size, weight, human interface, capabilities, and upgradability put it head and shoulders above any other mobile device available today...
...from the perspective of this pragmatic technologist, at least.
Just do it!
Another thought occurred to me as I watched the Cirque Shanghai: Bai Xi that I mentioned in Leading Like an Acrobat: There was no talk. For the 90 minutes of a constantly shifting show, there were no words. There was music and movement, gymnastics and dance, but no talk.
I have noticed that many organizations tend towards the opposite, like an inexorable slide to mediocrity. Talk replaces action.
Nike, of course, popularized their slogan "Just do it!" in the context of challenging recreational athletes to overcome their limitations through effort and goals. And, of course, to buy some Nike gear in the process. The concept is a good one, however, and we are well-served to consider it as we lead.
If we are just talking, we aren't serving anyone well. If our team is talking without action, we're not progressing.
How do you keep your team moving? How do you balance that movement with the desire to talk without movement that some of your team members may have?
Leading like an acrobat
During a recent team building trip with Firefly Energy, we saw Cirque Shanghai: Bai Xi, and incredible exhibition of acrobatics and teamwork.
As I watched the members leap and tumble, I noticed the synchronicity of their movements as a team, and they synergy of their roles. The members of the team would migrate from being the solo performer to one of a group to one that was supporting the others by holding a tether or moving props. Teamwork to music.
I noticed also that one member of each team would call out time for movements. "Hi!" they would say, loud enough for their teammates to hear, but not loud enough to be heard over the music. The members melted into one another as a group, then blossomed as individuals.
What a tremendous illustration of teamwork and a challenge to leaders of teams.
Are all the members of your team willing to be critical in different aspects of what you do? It may be supporting others or it may be taking the lead, but regardless, they are all critical. Are they willing to learn to work together at the highest levels of synergy?
What are some things that you do to help your team members enlarge their view of themselves and the team to expand what you are able to do? What do you think can make a difference?
The Cost of Leadership
In a comment to my recent post What's Next? Varun mentioned that the new world that is arriving is one that is not affordable for some. That got me thinking about the concepts of affordability and value.
The real question about any new technology or approach to leadership isn't one of absolute cost, but relative value. If I told you that you could invest $10,000 with me and I'll give you $30,000 after 30 days--and you can trust me to deal with you in integrity--you would of course find a way to do that. However, if I try to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge for $5,000, you'd probably not be too interested.
Those are simple illustrations, but the concept is important. Too many people tend to focus on cost rather than value. They might say that they cannot afford something, when what they really mean is that they do not see the value in it--for them.
The value equation is, of course, influenced by a number of variables, including each individual's personal perspective. What do you think impacts your view of value? Or others' view of it?
What's next?
The third stream was underlined yesterday in Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs' keynote at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. It frankly surprised me that it seemed to take Apple so long to realize the obvious answer to the biggest complaint about their soon-to-ship iPhone: no interface for external development.
The answer really was obvious and it's what I have been calling the third stream. You see, the Apple iPhone is the first fully-mobile device to offer a full-featured Internet browser. Jobs' words are that it offers "the real Internet, not the 'baby Internet' or the 'mobile Internet,' but the real Internet." Exactly! And that's the third stream.
Those who have been paying attention know that electronic applications are moving away from being tied to a specific device like a desktop computer or even a notebook. More and more, they are presented as an amalgam of software and data that lives on the Internet and is delivered on-demand to a device that primarily serves as the viewing device and the consolidation point for the distributed content. The iPhone presents a device of ultimate portability that can serve this role. It is the beginning of the next evolution for electronic systems and the use of the Internet for personal and professional productivity.
For instance, have you spent any time with Google Applications like Google Docs? Now think about being able to collaborate on a Google document with a person using a desktop in their office, another using a notebook from a WiFi hotspot, and another using an iPhone while sitting on an airplane.
That's where this is going.
And that is why the other two streams are so important.
For example, on June 6th, Google announced that the first Google Gears application they had built was Google Reader, meaning that you will be able to keep your RSS feeds current in Google Reader, and read them from your iPhone or any other device that will let you view Google Gears applications while offline. This is a significant, dramatic, and potentially marketplace changing evolution, and you as a leader and highly productive individual need to understand it and begin to move rapidly in the direction this evolution offers.
Those are the three streams: Web 2.0 available offline, mashups, and ubiquitous real Internet availability from the broadest variety of devices possible.
The world is changing. Are you?
The third stream
I've mentioned two of the three technology streams that are vitally important for any leader to not only recognize, but to understand. They are first the evolution of web applications to include off-line access and second the expansion of web applications to include mashups that effectively integrate and expand multiple web systems.
There is a third that will super-charge these first two. Its emergence has been expected for a while, but will explode shortly with the impending introduction of new products to support it.
Do you know what it is? Take your guess in the comments...
Is the Leader a Team Member?
Recently, a member of one of the on-line teams I lead made an interesting comment: "You don't communicate like you're part of the team." There was more to it than that, but let's take a look at that single statement. My communication is often an effort to find common ground, contribute my thoughts, encourage brainstorming and collaboration, and generally to develop synergy among the members of the team. I often remove myself from the core of the conversation to make sure that the ideas can blossom without the unfortunately stifling impact that a titled leader can create.
Her comment surprised me. It still does. I work hard to remain open, to encourage conflict (as outlined in Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), and generally to develop relationships that allow the team to be as productive as possible.
As a result, though, I got to thinking: Is the leader of a team a member of the team?
What do you think?
The Mashup stream
In my recent post on Technology and Leadership, I mention that there are three evolving streams of technology that are going to have a dramatic impact on how people interact, how people work, and how we lead. The first one is the evolution of web 2.0 applications to include the off-line components to that web applications become truly and completely mobile. In addition to the Google technology that I mentioned there, the evolving Zimbra Desktop makes it clear that the use of a web-based interface for platform independent, on-line and off-line applications is approaching at a rapid pace.
The second stream of technology is that of web mashups. The power of multiple web services are captured in a single application to form a mashup, thus providing a complex application through the combination of the capabilities and data of a number of web sites like Google maps and real estate information or crime statistics. Of course, those applications are the beginning and barely scratch the surface of what's possible. Sites like SalesForce.com's AppExchange are demonstrating how this technology is moving from the "interesting" to the "productive."
Have you used mashups? How?
A Philosophic Approach to Leadership
Those of you serious about leadership owe it to yourself to spend some time with the Leadership Diamond and Peter Koestenbaum's books. You can learn more at his Philosophy-in-Business site.
In the Leadership Diamond, he outlines the elements of leadership that we learn to hold in tension: Ethics, Reality, Vision, and Courage. Through the site's self-assessment, take a look at where you stand in each of them, and consider how you can grow.
Growing is what leaders do, you know...
Technology and leadership
As leaders, it helps to keep abreast of what's happening in technology, as well. There are a few converging streams of technology that are especially important, and I'm going to devote a few blog entries to them over the next few days.
After I do that, I will return to a much more frequent blogging schedule, and give you some insight into where I've been lately and why I haven't been posting here.
On to the streams.
The first stream is the on-going development of web-based applications. Even though web-based applications have been around for a long time and are thus not "hot" for most hype-driven press, the truth of the matter is that this stream is a cornerstone for the future of work and leadership.
Google, as you might expect, is a principal in this development effort, and this Thursday will announce an important step in the maturation of web-based technology: software to make web application work while off-line and sync when back on-line.
Google offers app dev kit for taking Web apps offline | InfoWorld | News | 2007-05-30 | By Ephraim Schwartz offers a look into where this technology is going, and is worth a read.
More on these streams soon.
Didja Miss Me?
A lot has been happening over the past few months, and it's time to share it.
First off is the book deal! I am writing a book combining my passions into metaphorical prose. At least, that's the goal. The book, entitled "Open Your Heart With Skiing, Mastering Life Through Love of the Turns" will be published by Dreamtime Publishing next summer. In the meantime, I am participating with a number of the other Dreamtime authors on the Dreamtime blog, so you may want to visit there.
In terms of leadership, I've been thinking lately about the difference between leading a volunteer organization and leading an employment-based one. While all employment is volunteer in a sense, the relationship created by the exchange of value for money creates an additional incentive--for both sides of the relationship--to make things work. This can help smooth over some of the rough spots in leadership, since the exchange makes clear that the effort is appreciated.
In a volunteer organization, however, that's not there. Instead, the requirements on leaders go up in order to make sure that appreciation and the intangible benefits of the relationship remain clear. These are lessons that a business leader can learn to her benefit, as well. For example, answering the most fundamental question, "Why are we here?" can make a big difference in how the members of your organization respond to leadership. When they know why they're coming to work every day, it really makes a difference. But, it's important that you create the answers to that question in a way that resonates with your team and gives them that reason--and doesn't encourage them to reconsider!
What do you think is different between leading a volunteer organization and an employment-based one? Do you think that one can learn from the other?
Ken Iverson: Proof that True Leadership Works
A Tribute to Ken Iverson: "Mr. Iverson passed away in April 2002 at age 76, but he left behind a legacy of proof that a great workplace is great for business. While profits fell last year by 63%, pushed down by the downturn in the economy and a rise in cheap imports, the company still had net earnings of $113 million -- a stellar performance in a tough year that saw most integrated companies losing big bucks. The company is the largest steel producer in the U.S., with over $4.5 billion in annual sales."
Ken Iverson was one of those guys that proves that leading a company makes business sense. It takes more effort and focus than simply managing and demanding, but ultimately, it generates both better shareholder value and a more solid company.
His philosophy, as outlined in the linked article in BetterWorkplaceNow.com, includes:
- Turn everyone into a decision maker
- Minimize the layers
- Treat people as equals
- Encourage innovation
The article is definitely worth a read. What do you think?
No Whining!
I am back in California this week spending time with the Interop gang getting the network up and running. It's always stimulating to connect with this team, learn what they're doing, and get re-ignited in a number of areas.
Today, however, we talked about whiners...
It's amazing that so many people seem to delight in complaining. Finding something wrong and then picking at it, often working hard to get others to go along with their observations. The core of complaining is the same as the source for conceit: a need to fit in. Also known as insecurity.
It is especially painful when the whiners are skilled team members. Furthermore, complaining is contagious, and can infect whole teams of people and even become a team culture. It can seem like it isolates the team against the outside, but sooner or later it becomes a defense that must be breached to get stuff done.
Watch out for whining. Check it in yourself and lead away from it on your team. In general, you can't legislate it out of existence, but it can become clear that it's not "ok". Keeping in mind the need to be accepted that drives it, you can probably eradicate it. If you can't, it's probably time to take action and clean up the team. No one likes to do that, but these days even more than ever before, you need to keep the team positive and moving forward.
The Up-Front Fallacy
My lovely wife and I visited Red Rocks Amphitheater last night to see and hear Michael McDonald and Steely Dan, thanks to my coaching client Ronald Lewis and Michael's manager. We sat 9th row center, and thoroughly enjoyed the show.
However, a few things I observed got me thinking...
The first one was that a 48-or-so year old guy--like the one a few seats down from us--really shouldn't be tokin' on a pipe. With age should come wisdom, after all. And did he ever look foolish! I'm not sure how that relates to leadership, but I bet it does somehow. From the looks of him, he could be a senior executive by day... What do you think?
The second one was while I watched Michael's drummer, Yvette "Babygirl" Preyer (find out more from Michael's site) sing and rip her kit. I was reminded of a "leader" who believed the up-front fallacy.
Some years ago, a fine drummer was hired as a new worship leader for a growing church. He was an exceptional drummer, and brought a real sense of skill and excellence to the band. But, he felt that as the "leader" he really needed to be in front of the band. So, he had learned to play the guitar. As you probably expect, for a guitar player, he was only average. He tried hard, bought a decent guitar, and "led" from the front of the stage. But the overall sense of precision and quality dropped dramatically. After a relatively short period, he was on to other roles in other places, but never really matriculated to the level that he could.
So, what happened?
Simply, he feel into the trap of thinking that he as the "leader" needed to be up-front and clearly "in control."
Think about the best leaders that you know. Do they do this? Now, think of the more difficult "leaders" that you know. What about them?
What do you think is the truth behind all this?