Management Craft

The Milkshake Moment - Interesting Excerpt

Here is a brief excerpt from The Milkshake Moment by Steven S. Little. I like how it focuses on being real and focusing on what's most important - in tasks and in relationships.

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What I've come to learn is that growth leaders are distinctive not only in their actions, but also in their attributes. These specific attributes are more like personality traits than true management skills, and they ultimately build trust:

Timely
Realistic
Unscripted
Sensitive
Transparent

Timely -- Every day I deal with people who say they want to grow their company, community, or association. And I know they truly mean it. Often one of the key factors that impede their progress, however, is how they choose to allocate their time and that of others. When I look at how they actually spend their time, I find that they revert back to their default setting -- what they know best. They fill their days working on the tasks they are most comfortable completing.

In contrast, successful leaders devote the majority of their time to those areas that truly need it. They make timely decisions as often as decisions are needed -- no more and no less.

Time is not something to be filled with activity for activity's sake. Leaders understand the nature of time and are skilled at prioritizing it to make an impact. They understand that being timely does not come from Day-Timers, longer hours, or an increasing workload. For some, this prowess is innate. For others it is a skill that must be honed through experience. Yet make no mistake about it; it is impossible to lead a growth charge without mastering the importance of time.

(Most managers simply get up and do what they want to do. Growth leaders get up and do what needs to be done.)

Realistic -- Many joke that reality is overrated. It certainly is easier to don our rose-colored glasses and see only what we want to see. What distinguishes growth leaders is their unrelenting focus on what really is and what truly can be. While positive thinking has its place, delusions are dangerous.

"Our product is the best." "Our team is superior." "Our customers love us." "Our cause is more important than any other." Really? Let's can the empty slogans, take down the banners, and throwaway the T-shirts. Today, it takes a pragmatic realist to separate the true picture from the conventional groupthink.

Facing reality isn't merely a good idea; it's an imperative. Your organization is depending on someone to challenge the organization's most closely held beliefs today. Why couldn't that be a leader like you? Too often, closely held beliefs are kept on our shelves long past their expiration dates. Growth leaders seek only the truth and welcome any and all reality checks.

Unscripted -- Today our world is filled with skeptics. People are simply jaded, and why shouldn't they be? Over the past 50 years we've lived through disgraced presidents, dubious armed conflicts, pilfered pensions, and "new and improved" products that are clearly neither new nor improved. We live in a world where much of what comes at us from organizations is spin, propaganda, and distorted half-truths. It should be obvious to any twenty-first-century leader that many people are reluctant to believe anything. Everyone's bullshit detector has become finely calibrated.

What we long for is authenticity. We want leaders who speak plainly and from the heart, not from talking points. We want bosses who reject corporate mumbo jumbo. We want professionals who don't cloak themselves in a blanket of CYA-speak.

In order to lead, it is critical to master the authenticity. Reject the tired clichés, lose the latest buzzwords, and say what you mean and mean what you say.

Sensitive -- This is a loaded term. While it has many definitions, here I mean perceptive. Sensitive leaders are acutely aware of their surroundings and are keenly observant. They have an intuitive knack for understanding the motivations of others. They are able to feel the barely perceptible winds of change long before the actual storm. They have the uncanny ability to gain insight from seemingly disparate data.

How well do you read others in complex social situations? How much do you trust your gut feelings? How well do you handle displays of emotion in yourself and others? How easily do you move from perception to action?

Most growth leaders are naturals at these types of skills. Others need to regularly extricate themselves from day-to-day activities to work on them. Either way, being sensitive is an attribute that gives leaders another arrow in their organizational growth quiver.

Transparent -- It's human nature not to trust those who attempt to hide things from us. For instance, when an organization gets into trouble and spirals downward because of a public relations crisis, it nearly always has something to do with not being transparent. Most of the great corporate and political scandals of the modern age have had more to do with cover-ups than with the original act of wrongdoing itself.

In contrast, people and organizations that are transparent in their actions are the ones that consistently grow and come out ahead in the long run. Those who are forthcoming with information -- good and bad -- can more effectively lead a team to accomplish great things.

An organization itself can and should be transparent, but to be so it needs leaders who are transparent in their actions. An active beehive hanging in a tree looks to me as ominous as the Death Star in a Star Wars movie. I definitely don't trust it. But have you ever seen a cross section of a beehive? By placing it behind glass we can see the fascinating inner workings of an efficient organization. Somehow, knowing what each of those busy bees is up to puts my mind at ease.

Employees, customers, vendors, and shareholders know what to expect from transparent leaders. Fostering transparency takes commitment and confidence. It can be tempting to hide problems, but the transparent leader knows that the truth eventually slips out anyway -- and often looks worse than it did originally. As an ancient Eastern adage says, "Three things cannot be hidden forever: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

Fireside Chat with Michael Kanazawa

Which new mantra ought to replace "do more with less?" Listen to find out.

During this 28 minute podcast, I chat with Mike Kanazawa, co-author of Big Ideas to Big Results: Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast. We have a great conversation about the ways that leaders at all levels can better focus and drive breakthrough growth. What does all this have to do with smoking opium? You will have to listen to find out. Check out Mike's website and blog here.

You can listen to my podcast with the Michael Kanazawa by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here.

And just a reminder.....

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

Looking for Fast and Irreverent Blurbers

A couple years ago I told you about a collaborative book project I was involved in that began with a three-day get-away and mini-think-tank-type experience. Well, our book is done! And it is very fun.

It is short - 80 pages with BIG fonts.
It is irreverent - we poke good fun at ourselves and others.
And it is funny and (we hope) provocative.

It is called: Undo Before You Become Undone. It was written by my friends Randy Boek, Kathleen Goodman, and me.

We are looking for a few people who will give the book (a PDF version of it) a quick once over and send us a juicy blurb. If you are interested, send me an email at lhaneberg AT gmail DOT com. I will email you the PDF of the book (a 6.4meg file). I need your blurbs back within one week - May 8th. The best blurbs (the one's that tickle us the most) will be on the back cover. The other wonderful blurbs will be listed at the front of the book. Blurbs must be fit to print (no swearing or offensive words) but can otherwise be sassy, irreverent, and outrageous. Outrageous will gain you extra style points.

It is a quick read! Do you need to step into the BS Deprogrammer 2010? You won't know unless you read the book and give us your blurb!

Here's the Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION    5
CHAPTER 1 – FORCES OF UNDOING    9
CHAPTER 2 - UNSCRIPTED    21
CHAPTER 3  - EXPERTS AREN’T    31
CHAPTER 4 - UNMANAGEMENT    45
CHAPTER 5 - UNMASKED    53
CHAPTER 6 – UNDO BEFORE YOU BECOME UNDONE    69
EPILOGUE    79
ABOUT THE AUTHORS    81
NOTES

Here's the cover

Fireside Chat with Alexandra Levit - Dream Jobs

What's your dream job and how do you get it? Listen to find out.

During this 22 minute podcast, I chat with Alexandra Levit, author of How'd You Score That Gig: A Guide to the Coolest Jobs-and How to Get Them. We talk about which jobs her research revealed to be the coolest, how we can get from where we are today to doing our dream job, and how to discover the type of job that will be a great fit for your strengths and interests (your Passion Profile). Alexandra's book highlights 60 cool jobs - including a realistic look at the good, bad, and ugly of each. This is a fun conversation and a must-not-miss for anyone wanting to improve their career happiness. You can find Alexandra's blog here.

Alexandra also has a podcast called, 30/20 Vision, which is a monthly series for the 20-something woman who wishes she had a couple of big sisters to clue her in on the ins and outs of life after college. It features young authors Christine Hassler (20 Something Manifesto), Alexandra Levit (How'd You Score That Gig?), and Lindsey Pollak (Getting From College to Career).

You can listen to my podcast with the Alexandra Levit by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here: MP3 Download

 

And just a reminder.....

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

Innovation - The Game Changer - Ram Charan

Here is an article from Ram Charan and A.G. Lafley's recent book, The Game Changer. This is my favorite line in the article:

In a phrase that will recur throughout this book, innovation is a social process. And this process can only happen when people do that simple, profound thing -- connect to share problems, opportunities, and learning.

It's all about conversation - Are you a master conversationalist? Enjoy the article.

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Why Innovation Matters

Innovation is the key idea that is shaping corporate life, helping leaders conceive previously unimagined strategic options. Take acquisitions, as an example. Most are justified on the basis of cost and capital reduction: for example, the merger of two pharmaceutical companies and the global rationalization of overhead and operations and the savings from combining two sales forces and R&D labs. You can, however, buy earnings through acquisitions for only so long; cost-control, however necessary, is a defensive strategy.

Innovation enables you to see potential acquisitions through a different lens, looking at them not just from a cost perspective, but also as a means of accelerating profitable top-line revenue growth and enhancing capabilities. For example, the innovation capabilities of P&G were enhanced by its acquisition of Gillette. Its market-leading brands (such as Gillette, Venus, Oral B, and Duracell) are platforms for future innovations; and core technologies in blades and razors, electronics, electromechanics, and power storage strengthen the technology portfolio from which P&G can innovate in the future.

Innovation also provides an edge in being able to enter new markets faster and deeper. In large part, it is P&G's revived innovation capacity that is allowing it to make inroads into developing markets, where growth is double that in rich countries.

Innovation puts companies on the offensive. Consider how Colgate and P&G, effective serial innovators, have innovated Unilever out of the U.S. oral-care market. The company that builds a culture of innovation is on the path to growth. The company that fails to innovate is on the road to obsolescence. The U.S. domestic automakers and major companies such as Firestone, Sony, and Kodak all used to be industry leaders, even dominators. But they all fell behind as their challengers innovated them into second place (or worse).

Peter Drucker once said that the purpose of a business enterprise is "to create a customer." Nokia became number one in India by using innovation to create 200 million customers. Through observing the unique needs of Indian customers, particularly in rural villages where most of the population resides, it segmented them in new ways and put new features on handsets relevant to their unique needs. In the process, it created an entirely new value chain at price points that give the company its desired gross margin. Innovation, thus, creates customers by attracting new users and building stronger loyalty among current ones. That's a lot in itself, but the value of innovation goes well beyond that. By putting innovation at the center of the business, from top to bottom, you can improve the numbers; at the same time, you will discover a much better way of doing things -- more productive, more responsive, more inclusive, even more fun. People want to be part of growth, not endless cost cutting.

A culture of innovation is fundamentally different from one that emphasizes mergers and acquisitions or cost cutting, both in theory and practice. For one thing, innovation leaders have an entirely different set of skills, temperament, and psychology. The M&A leader is a deal maker and transactionally oriented. Once one deal is done, he moves to the next. The innovation leader, while perhaps not a creative genius, is effective at evoking the skills of others needed to build an innovation culture. Collaboration is essential; failure is a regular visitor. Innovation leaders are comfortable with uncertainty and have an open mind; they are receptive to ideas from very different disciplines. They have organized innovation into a disciplined process that is replicable. And, they have the tools and skills to pinpoint and manage the risks inherent in innovation. Not everyone has these attributes. But companies cannot build a culture of innovation without cultivating people who do.

Myths of Innovation

The idea of innovation has become encrusted by myth. One myth is that it is all about new products. That is not necessarily so. New products are, of course, important but not the entire picture. When innovation is at the center of a company's way of doing things, it finds ways to innovate not just in products, but also in functions, logistics, business models, and processes. A process like Dell's supply chain management, a tool like the monetization of eyeballs at Google, a method like Toyota's Global Production System, a practice like Wal-Mart's inventory management, the use of mathematics by Google to change the game of the media and communications industries, or even a concept like Starbucks's reimagining of the coffee shop -- these are all game-changing innovations. So was Alfred Sloan's corporate structure that made GM the world's leading car company for decades, as was P&G's brand management model.

Another myth is that innovation is for geniuses like Chester Floyd Carlson (the inventor of photocopying) or Leonardo da Vinci: Throw some money at the oddballs in the R&D labs and hope something comes out. This is wrong. The notion that innovation occurs only when a lone genius or small team beaver away in the metaphorical (or actual) garage leads to a destructive sense of resignation; it is fatal to the creation of an innovative enterprise.

Of course, geniuses exist and, of course, they can contribute bottom-line-bending inventions (see Jobs, Steven). But companies that wait for "Eureka!" moments may well die waiting. And remember, while da Vinci designed a flying machine, it could not be built with the technology available at the time. True innovation matters for the present, not for centuries hence. Another genius, Thomas Edison, had the right idea: "Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility and utility is success," he told his    associates in perhaps his most important invention -- the commercial laboratory. "We can't be like those German professors who spend their whole lives studying the fuzz on a bee," he said. Generating ideas is important, but it's pointless unless there is a repeatable process in place to turn inspiration into financial performance.

Innovation is a Social Process

To succeed, companies need to see innovation not as something special that only special people can do, but as something that can become routine and methodical, taking advantage of the capabilities of ordinary people, especially those deemed by Peter Drucker as knowledge workers. It is easy to put it off because you are rewarded for today's results, because the organization doesn't seem to support or value innovation, because you don't know where to find ideas, because innovation is risky, or because it is not easily measured. But these are excuses, not reasons. We have both observed and practiced innovation as a process that all leaders can use and continue to improve. It is broader, involves more people, can happen more often, and is more manageable and predictable than most people think.

But making innovation routine involves people. In real life, ideas great or good do not seamlessly work their way from silo to silo. No, from the instant someone devises a solution or a product, its journey to the market (or oblivion) is a matter of making connections, again and again. Managing these interactions is the crux of building an innovation organization. In a phrase that will recur throughout this book, innovation is a social process. And this process can only happen when people do that simple, profound thing -- connect to share problems, opportunities, and learning. To put it another way, anyone can innovate, but practically no one can innovate alone.

When you as a leader understand this, you can map, systematize, manage, measure, and improve this social process to produce a steady stream of innovations -- and the occasional blockbuster. Innovation is not a mystical act; it is a journey that can be plotted, and done over and over again. It takes time and steady leadership, and can require changing everything from budget and strategy to capital allocation and promotions. It definitely requires putting the customer front and center, and opening up the R&D process to outside sources, including competitors. But it can be done.

And no, belying another myth: Size doesn't matter. Innovation can happen in companies as large as P&G, Best Buy, GE, Honeywell, DuPont, and HP and as small as my father's    shoe store in India. I remember vividly how we used to sit up on the roof to get a whiff of relief from the evening heat, talking about what to do better and how. When I was nine years old in 1948, we changed the game of the shoe business in Hapur, the town where we lived and our business was located. Even though we had no sophisticated understanding of branding -- in fact we never used the word brand -- we named a line of shoes "Mahaveer" (after my cousin) and targeted it at the "rich people" largely associated with the local grain trading exchange, the second largest in India. We persuaded manufacturers to produce a special line of shoes for this target audience and became number one in town in less than two years. The profits from this innovation funded my formal education in India.

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From the book The Game Changer by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan Published by Crown Business;  April 2008;$27.50US/$32.00CAN; 978-0-307-38173-6

A.G. Lafley is the chairman and CEO of P&G, which is consistently recognized as one of the most admired companies in the world and a great developer of business leaders. A.G. was named CEO of the year in 2006 by Chief Executive magazine and serves on the boards of GE and Dell. His first opportunity to manage a business came when he was in the Navy and in charge of retail and services businesses for ten thousand Navy and Marine Corps people and their families. After the Navy he went to Harvard Business School, and then joined P&G following graduation. He started as a brand assistant for Joy in 1977 and was appointed CEO in June of 2000.

Ram Charan is the coauthor of the bestseller Execution and the author of What the CEO Wans You to Know, Know-How, and many other books. Dr. Charan grew up in India, where he first learned the art and science of business in his family's shoe shop. After earning his M.B.A. and D.B.A. from Harvard Business School, he taught for a number of years at both Harvard and Northwestern. He now advises the leaders and boards of companies around the world, including GE, DuPont, Nokia, Verizon, and the Thomson Corporation. What people around the world proclaim are Ram's practicality and the value he provides in helping them solve business problems. For more information on Ram Charan and his work, visit www.ram-charan.com.

Fireside Chat with Dan Pink - The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

What has Dan Pink's book got to do with the Rocky Horror Picture Show? You'll have to listen to this podcast to find out!

During this 23 minute podcast, I chat it up with Dan Pink, author of The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. Dan's book is the first American business book written in manga - a Japanese comic format. The book is a gas to read and the career coaching is timeless and immediately implementable. We talk about manga, we talk about strategic career advice, we talk about how Marcus Buckingham is a bauble-head, and we talk about Diana. Who's Diana? Listen and find out. Check out the website for Johnny Bunko here and check out a super cool movie-type trailer for the book here.

Dan's last two books are well known and likely on your bookshelf. They are A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation.

You can listen to my podcast with the Dan Pink by clicking here:

You can also download an MP3 version of the podcast here: MP3 Download

 

And just a reminder.....

Here is the Podcast Feed for the entire Fireside Chat podcast series:

To see the complete list of podcasts in this series, select the Podcasts and Webcasts category on this blog or see the list on my main website here.

You can also find this series on iTunes (and several other podcast sites), just search under my last name for Fireside Chat.

Too Gruesome for a Business Book?

Just putting the finishing touches on Hip and Sage, and I thought I would ask your opinion. Is the following paragraph too gruesome for inclusion in a business book? It is the opening paragraph of an essay I am including in the book called, Tragically Hip (a funny look at the perils of going overboard with technology):

Sally was found in her fifth-floor condo face down on her computer keyboard. An orange Goddard College hooded sweatshirt and blue levis covered – like a pillow case covers a straw - her sucked in decomposing body. A pair of $300 Bose headphones were stuck to her red curly hair and ears. Her computer screen – still on - was filled with dozens of unanswered pop up IM windows and her Skype menu indicated that she had missed 47 calls. The coroner guessed that she had been dead for weeks. A few days prior, the police received an anonymous phone call from someone who was worried that screen name BikerChic64 from Seattle, WA, might be in some kind of trouble. Detectives worked with computer technicians at the King County Crime Scene Unit to determine BikerChic64’s identity and address. 

Developing Great Managers

I found out through an email today that I have another book available. This is utterly ridiculous, but I had completely forgotten about it! And I really like this one, too. I have not gotten my copies from my publisher yet and you know what they say, "out of sight, out of mind." Funny, this person - who endorsed my book - got his copy from my publisher before I got mine. Hmmm.....

It's called:

 

Developing Great Managers: 20 "Power Hour" Conversations that Build Skills Fast

My regular readers know I am a fan of informal training. I like training to become a part of the day, I like development to happen at every staff meeting. This book offers 20 informal developmental conversations that trainers, coaches and managers can start using today. Includes a CD with reprintable handouts. Copy and go.

No PowerPoint presentations!
Each Power Hour has a one-page handout - one page only.
No PowerPoint presentations! Oh, wrote that already.

If you are a manager, train managers, or coach managers, or love reading about management, check it out. If the training that your training department offers is boring, get them a copy.

Thanks. My cat Paris, who refuses to eat anything but premium food, thanks you, too.

Boring books - better on CD

I have been experimenting with listening to audio books for books I cannot get through in written form. I am a pretty shallow reader. I find it tough to get through books that lack action and intrigue.

For pleasure books, the answer is simple - pick better books!

But there are several classic books that we all should read and should digest and should learn from. Case in point - the little book on writing, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. This tiny book is the standard for learning how to write. I have tried and failed to read it a million times. Maybe two million times.

And then I found it on Audible in audio form! It is read by Frank McCourt, and his Irish accent makes for a more interesting listener experience. I imagine we are sharing a dark and tan at the pub, talking about punctuation. Perhaps we will take a break now and then to play a friendly game of darts.

I downloaded the audio book, burned it on CDs, and have been playing them in my car on the way to meetings and appointments. It works! I am getting more out of the little book than I ever could reading it with my two eyes.

Want to improve your writing? Check out the The Elements of Style at Audible here.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book and CD: "brevity is a by-product of vigor."

Whoa - such a great wee sentence! I would love to be told my writing is vigorous.

I shudder to think what I have been missing by not getting into this little gem before now.

The Right Decision Every Time

I was doing some research and came across a piece I wrote up for a project a couple years ago with the folks over at 800CEOREAD. For the piece I interviewed nine authors, Luda Kopeikina was one. Luda wrote the book, The Right Decision Every Time: How to Reach Perfect Clarity on Tough Decisions. The piece offers a lot of good thoughts on decision making, so check it out.

The Clarity State

A good decision can save a company and a poor one can cause it to sink. Everyday, managers and leaders make decisions and each one changes the company in at least a small way. Some of us agonize over decisions, whereas others make them quickly with ease. I have met managers with excellent judgment and have known some with a few loose screws. Training courses suggest we use cumbersome decision trees and root cause analysis. While these methods are useful, they do not address the mental game of decision-making.

Luda Kopeikina is fascinated by the dynamics of decisions. Why are some leaders able to make better decisions than others? What makes decisions easy or difficult? The results of her research and insights are detailed in, The Right Decision Every Time: How to Reach Perfect Clarity on Tough Decisions. To research for this book, she spoke to over 100 CEOs from companies of various sizes and industries. When I spoke with Luda, I was struck by her wisdom, wit, and warmth. She has been a sought after leader, expert, and consultant for many years, including stints as a VP at GE under Welch and a CEO; her extensive experience shows through in her suggestions.

I found Luda’s comments about the differences between mature leaders (in terms of both years and experiences) and those with less seasoning very fascinating. She found that mature leaders have more mental control than junior leaders. She measured physical focus by hooking the CEOs she interviewed to a computer program. The mature leaders were focused and calm even when they had major meetings or urgent issues to resolve later in the day. Luda also found successful and mature leaders to be very reflective. They evaluate their decisions and learned from them. They believed that learning from the past is the best way to pursue mastery.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Luda’s research was how she chose to define a correct decision. A correct decision occurs when the decision maker is totally congruent with the decision. Luda chose not to measure whether a decision is correct by the outcome because we can’t control the consequences, we can only control how well we look at the problem or opportunity. She found that mature leaders, those who made more successful decisions, wholeheartedly agreed with her definition. Less experienced leaders tended to define decisions by their outcomes. I thought about how I measure the success of my decisions and can see that my perspective has changed as I have developed. Luda is correct; what is most important is how well we approach, analyze, and evaluate decisions. We will never know all the information, so it is critical that we make the best use of the collective intelligence that surrounds us. In the end, we need to feel good about our decisions.

As Luda interviewed and observed leaders, she began to see a state of being that enabled them to make decisions with ease. She calls this the “Clarity State”. Here’s a brief excerpt from The Right Decision Every Time:

“The key to reaching clarity is the ability to focus your physical, mental and emotional resources at will on a certain issue. With such focus, you can identify the right choice faster, more easily, and with greater certainty and internal alignment. It is a practice that can be acquired. This book presents the elements of this practice. The objective of this book is to present techniques that enable you to reach clarity on difficult, strategic decisions with greater effectiveness, thus increasing your decision-making mastery level. This is the book that I wish I could have read at the beginning of my career.”

The “Clarity State” then, is a measurable state of mental, physical, and emotional coherence that focuses our inner resources. Luda’s suggestions include how to reach a “Clarity State” and how to combine this level of awareness with sound decision-making principles to make the right decisions. Using her process, Luda reports that 93% of CEOs made clear choices, resolving current decision situations within an hour and a half after focusing on them. This is impressive as some of these decisions had been pending for weeks or months.

Characteristics of the “Clarity State”:

•    Things become clear and fall into place.
•    Emotional relaxation.
•    Mentally focused.
•    A feeling of contentment.

When we see clearly and align our thinking with our decisions, we are more productive and determined. We are also able to communicate our decisions more clearly. People can sense our clarity and assuredness; thus, they become more likely to support and enroll in the change. In her book, Luda offers several techniques for getting into and maintaining the “Clarity State”. Many middle managers do not allow for the time and energy needed to enter the Clarity State. They remain exhausted which hinders their ability to make the best decisions. Here is a brief list of the “Death Habits” familiar to most managers. Luda says that these habits get in the way of decision making and clarity:

•    Death Habit #1 - Multitasking: “In the current business environment, where there is more work in each job position than can be handled, we are taught to multitask. Conventional wisdom says, ‘Never lose a moment-if you are talking on the phone, scan your e-mails at the same time.’ The result is that we never have time to focus! This habit is in sharp contrast to the behavior that peak performers in sports train to achieve. Successful athletes know that when every physical and mental resource is focused, your power to perform multiplies tremendously. In order to outperform others, you have to learn to focus your resources!”

•    Death Habit #2 - Be Competitive: “Do not misunderstand me. Competing with yourself is a great habit-pushing yourself to excel at your job, learn new skills faster, develop new competencies, or whatever challenges you want to conquer is a habit worth nurturing. Few people during their lifetime exhaust the resources hidden within them. There are deep wells of strength in each of us that are never used. Learning to tap into this inner power is a worthy pursuit. But the way people understand the conventional wisdom is ‘Be competitive with others.’ In such an interpretation, the measures of progress become outside metrics—an assessment of your performance by others, comparing your status with the status of your coworkers, and so on. The problem is that these outside measures are usually outside of your control. Striving to measure your progress by outside metrics undoubtedly creates stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety and worry. The more you strive to deliver results according to outside metrics, the more stress and pain you create in your life.”

•    Death Habit #3 - Work All the Time and Do More: “We are becoming a nation of workaholics. With the advances of cell phones and the Internet, our work is with us all the time— at the dinner table, at the outing with the kids on the beach, and so on. If we let it, our workload can consume us, proliferate stress, and, as a result, lead to continuous operation at a lower brain capacity. You need to save some mental, physical, and emotional resources to regenerate, think, and strategize for the future.”

Whoa! I think most managers would say their days are defined by multitasking and working too much. Many companies strive to create a competitive environment where success is defined by the number of hours worked and the amount of effort expended. I think Luda is making an excellent point that it is time to challenge the current status quo and question whether this is the best, correct, or proper way to work. Her research clearly shows that the best leaders don’t get caught up in this business craziness.

These things get in the way of our focus and clarity--both of which are crucial for decision making. I asked Luda about the biggest barriers to sound decision making. She offered these five common obstacles:

1.    Lack of a clear objective – not knowing what you are trying to accomplish.
2.    Lack of clear constraints – parameters related to the decision are not established.
3.    Difficulty in dealing with emotions.
4.    Lack of a clear perspective – unable to define the right context for the decision.
5.    Difficulty of select among options – reducing complexity.

Of these barriers, a lack of a clear perspective and  objective were the most common and troublesome.

I have heard from many managers who feel frustrated when their senior leaders do not make timely or effective decisions. I asked Luda what advice she would offer to managers in this predicament. Here is her response:

“I don’t think that there is much they can do to convince the boss to make a decision. If the leader is uncomfortable, he or she has not reached clarity. The absence of a decision is a decision. If possible, you can proceed as if the decision has been made. Get the people orchestrated and ready. Most likely it will cause a reaction. You might learn a lot including that you don’t want to work for the boss. Trying to convince the boss will backfire.”

In my experience, every time a senior manager feels pressure to make a decision, he or she ends up becoming more entrenched and uncomfortable. So while we want to be helpful, trying to convince our boss to do something might make our situation worse.

I’ve only scratched the surface of the topics that Luda and I discussed. Her ideas are fresh, but also based on many years of experience and research. I would love to shadow Luda Kopeikina for a day, because I know it would be an amazing learning experience.

Tips from Luda Kopeikina

1.    Leadership is to a very large extent an exercise in self-development. The great leaders that I have met all worked on developing themselves first; everything else came second.

2.    Carefully select your “Master Mind” group. A great leader is not the one who knows every aspect of the job. He or she is the one who can motivate people to get the job done with passion. Carefully select your team, because the caliber of people on your team will determine the magnitude of your success.

3.    Have a clear overarching objective at all times. Over and over again I find managers who are lost in the midst of everyday happenings, emergencies and details. Realize that if you are one of those managers, you are not going anywhere significant. Make sure that you set a clear objective for yourself, your business and your life and always have it in front of you.

4.    Face your fears. Stop worrying and start acting. Fears of failure, criticism, and rejection are just examples of fears that have the power to stop us in our tracks and induce indecision and procrastination. They sap our vitality. Convert this worry energy into planning and acting. In many cases, any decision is much better than no decision.

5.    Develop “Vision Power.” No leader can succeed without a fully developed sense of vision power — the ability to not only imagine the future but also to find the most effective path to get there.

About Luda Kopeikina:

Luda Kopeikina is an experienced business leader, entrepreneur, scholar, and author. She founded Noventra Corporation in 1999 and spent six years at General Electric in various vice presidential positions where she had an opportunity to work with Jack Welch and observe his methods in action. Later she was President and CEO of Celerity Solutions, Inc. Interactive Week's 1998 Executive Worth Survey ranked Luda within the top 20 CEOs of US high-tech public companies for her performance and total return to shareholders. Luda is a Chairwoman of MIT Enterprise Forum of South Florida and serves on the Board of Directors of several companies. She is also a prominent business speaker and author. She speaks on topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, clear business decision making and leadership. Luda holds a Master's Degree from MIT's Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow. She also holds a Master's Degree in Computer Science from St. Petersburg University, Russia, and completed a Ph.D. thesis in Computer Science there. In 2004 she was appointed a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Luda’s website is www.ludakopeikina.com.

About the Book:

The Right Decision Every Time: How to Reach Perfect Clarity on Tough Decisions. Published by Prentice Hall, August 2005. ISBN: 0131862626