Management Craft

Leadership and the Presidential Candidates

Kevin Eikenberry offers this interesting post called, Which Presidential Candidate is the Best Leader? He has written a lot about leadership and is now applying his model of 12 characteristics to the candidates in a survey you can participate in. It will be interesting to see what Kevin's survey comes up with! Here are the characteristics of remarkable leadership according to Kevin:

• Champions Change   
• Communicates Powerfully   
• Builds Relationships   
• Develops Others   
• Focuses on "Customers"   
• Influences Impactfully   
• Thinks & Acts Innovatively   
• Values Collaboration & Teamwork   
• Solves Problems & Makes Decisions   
• Takes Responsibility & Accountability   
• Manages Projects & Processes   
• Sets Goals & Supports Goal Achievement   

Does your candidate pass the test? You can read more about these in Kevin's book called Remarkable Leadership.

I don't like to talk politics on this blog but I do have just one beef. Actually, I have many beefs, but will share only one. I am very disappointed in how UNPRESIDENTIAL Sarah Palin has seemed in TV interviews and the debate. Sure, she is likable and charming and sometimes funny, but I could not see her sitting across the table from other world leaders and representing us well. She seems more like a spokesmodel than a serious candidate.

What I find most interesting about politics is how people use very different criteria for selecting leaders. I bet that if we were held to the same standards for voting that we have for hiring people, things might be different. As it is, we engage in discriminatory "hiring" (selection by voting) because many of us use non-job related criteria for selection.

That said, if the theory of the wisdom of crowds is correct, we will still tend to get it right most of the time - as a collective.

Let's Spend Two Great Days Together in DC or Dallas!

Preview: This post tells you how to join me (and David Zinger and Terry Starbucker) in Dallas and DC for exciting conversations about state-of-the-art management.

ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) asked me to partner with them to provide a kick butt two day conference on developing great managers. My book by the same name is apparently a very popular seller for ASTD and they want to extend the conversation about management development.

The design for this two day conference is very cool.

It is a two day workshop whereby the participants will create and share many (maybe dozens, depending on the group size) of Power Hours - ready to take back to their workplace and use to help develop great managers.

What are Power Hours? A power hour is a one-hour informal learning conversation that is designed to get managers into discussions that will help them generate and implement new/renewed ideas to move the business forward and build their management and leadership craft.

All of the participants will get access to everything that's generated during the two days - no licenses, no limitations. Bottom line: Participants will leave the two days with years worth of management development materials and the ability to easily blend power hours into their training regimens.

Managers who develop managers, trainers of managers, and HR professionals are the target audience for this conference. Anyone interested in management and leadership will love it.

But there is MORE. You will work with me for most of the two days, but there will be a guest speaker - who I am calling the provocateur - that will spend 2-3 hours with the group talking about:

The new management skills and requirements - what are the emerging management topics that ought to be a part of your training programs but probably are not yet? Emerging, new, cutting edge, under recognized - we will be focusing on creating power hours for NEW or underdeveloped management topics.

That's why I am calling the guest speaker a provocateur - he will provoke our brains and create head spinning goodness that will then lead into our creative work for the rest of the conference. This is going to be an energizing two days.

I am thrilled to tell you that my guest speakers are people you might know and read on a regular basis! My "provocateurs" for this conference are:

David Zinger! David will be joining me in DC (Alexandria, actually) on December 9th and 10th.

Terry Starbucker! Terry will be joining me in Dallas on December 4th and 5th.

David and Terry are amazing and I am really looking forward to working with them. For those of you wondering how to pitch your desire to attend this conference to your boss - how does this sound?

When I come back from this conference I will have with me many hours of management development training we can use, reproduce and modify with no additional costs or caveats. No licensing, nothing more to buy. I will be set for great material for the next year. And I will be creating this material with a group of very smart professionals and we will be sharing all the work. This is an ASTD conference, so we can trust that it will be top notch and valuable.

And besides, with the strong economy and the drastic drop in fuel costs, the travel expenses will be very low. The take-aways from the conference will make this well worth the travel and conference expenses.

And besides, nobody gets any real work done between Thanksgiving and Christmas anyway, so I might as well go to the conference.  Early December is a great time to go because it will give me lots of information I can use to help us kick off a great 2009.

And besides, our current training topics are lame - the same ole stuff. People are sick of it. Our training could use some updating, this is a new world and managers have a lot more to deal with than they used to.

How about it, will I see you there? Drop me a note if you register.

Oh, here's one more thing that might really appeal to my blog readers - on the evening of the first day, I will invite you to an informal chat in the hotel lounge - we can talk about whatever you want.

I hope you join me. Let's do some great work together! You can find out more information about these conferences on the ASTD website here.

Also, pass this post along to the fine folks who work in your training departments, OK? (Especially if you think their training could use some updating.... :-)

Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Here's your not-so-subliminal visual.

Walk for the Animals 2008

I pause this management station for a brief announcement. I will be walking in this year's Walk for the Animals, which benefits the Seattle Humane Society.

If you live in Seattle, come join us. You can register here.

If you don't live in Seattle, but would like to support my walk and the humane society, you can do an online pledge here.

Here's a funny wee story. Some of you know that Bill and I have three dogs and two cats. I thought I had a husky greyhound mix named Venus. I recently sent her DNA in to be tested (they can tell you what breeds make up your mixed breed) and found out that she is German shepherd, whippet, and Doberman! She's still a doll even if she is not a husky.....

Let's meet in Santa Clara!

I will be speaking at the Santa Clara University on Wednesday, October 1. Here is a description of the talk/workshop (it's longer than a talk, shorter than a workshop) from the SCU website:

Generating and Catalyzing Breakthroughs at Work featuring Lisa Haneberg

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
9:00 - noon (continental breakfast begins at 8:30 am)
Price: $99, includes continental breakfast and a copy of Haneberg's book, Two Weeks to a Breakthrough
Benson Center - Mission Room (lower level)
Santa Clara University campus

What if you could spend just a few minutes a day and make a big difference in results? What if you could ask a couple questions and be the catalyst for breakthroughs for others? During this high-energy presentation, Lisa Haneberg will share a simple system you can put into practice immediately to achieve breakthroughs in results, improve energy and momentum, and help others rapidly move forward toward reaching their goals.

In this program, Haneberg will introduce you to an ingenious system and set of tools that will help you:

• better understand the nature of breakthroughs at work
• zoom in on goals
• get big results from tiny pockets of time
• learn how to catalyze breakthroughs

Participants will leave with a set of easy actionable techniques they can start using right away to generate breakthroughs.

As you may have picked up from the description, this session is open to the public and there is a charge of $99. If you are in need of a boost, a recharge, the right amount of inspiration and practical tactics, please consider attending. And if you do, please make a point of coming up to say "hi" before or after the talk begins. You can register on their website here.

I endeavor to make this session a catalyst for everyone who attends. I hope to see you there! Flap, flap, flap.

    

Paper, Plastic or Gucci - Reusable Grocery Bag Wars

I think the next hot corporate logo item is going to be the grocery bag. Here's why.

Bill and I went to the West Seattle Farmer's Market this weekend. Oh, one thing you should know first is that the City of Seattle recently passed a law that - as of January 2009 - grocers will have to charge 20 cents per bag for either plastic or paper bags. The law seeks to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags (and to offset costs for garbage collection and conservation programs).

Back to the farmer's market.... As you might expect, the local farmer's market attracts the most "granola" audience within our community. And those of us who are fringe granolas (granola served with an Egg McMuffin chaser) go to the market with our greenest side out.

As we climbed into our biodiesel car, we grabbed a Whole Foods reusable grocery bag (this sentence reads more granola than fringe, I admit, but we make up for this in other devilish ways of consumption). It looks like this.

While at the farmer's market, I noticed the grocery bags that people were carrying. I would guess that 90% or better brought their own bags and many were branded reusable bags. Some people went old school granola and used baskets. All the local grocery stores are selling these bags for anywhere from a little more than a buck to several dollars. What's interesting is that I noticed people noticing people's bags.

We are so fashion oriented, and I fully expect a big war for the designer grocery bag market. Here is a colorful bag from Trader Joe's.

And here is a plain jane model that might appeal to the die-hard granolas:

Incidentally, you can find a HUGE variety of reusable grocery bags on ebay. And there are lots of options on Amazon.

So how about you? Why not create logo grocery bags and hand them out for the holidays (filled with food and some other goodies). Here's one place to get your bags made.

Just be careful to give away bags that are cool - either because they look nice, have good grocery carrying features (gussets, long handles, reinforced bottoms), or because they represent state-of-the-art green. People will be watching what we use to carry home our beanies and weenies.

Managers, want to be seen as uber hip? Give away reusable grocery bags at your next staff meeting. OK, that was just my lame attempt to tie the topic of this post to management..... :-)

Here's what my logo bags might look like - what do you think? One note, I recommend darker colored bags as they will hide marks from food - like carrot top rubbings. Hey, it's a serious problem.

HR Commercials on CNN Boring - Not What the Profession Needs!

When I travel, I watch CNN in the evenings to catch up on things since I watch so little TV at home. Tonight I noticed a TV commercial promoting HR Professionals....

It was so boring!

This is not what the HR profession needs. If they want to help improve what people think about HR professionals, putting a lifeless commercial on CNN is not what they should be doing.

Get HR folks who are doing cool work to talk at TED.
Tell stories about HR professionals who are so good they became rock star CEOs.

Great work gets noticed. Only lame ducks need to buy ad time on CNN and air boring commercials.

Today is "Take Your Dog to Work Day"

But what about the cats? You know I love dogs, I have three, but in my office are two cats.

Here are my wonderful office cats. Take your cat to work, too!

Studies have shown that companion animals help lower our blood pressure (except when they are naughty) BUT that cats lower our blood pressure more that do the dogs.

Why? My guess is that the difference is caused by the purring. When a purring cat sits on your lap, it is like a teenie-tiny massage, and although it might be hard to notice, I bet our hearts enjoy the vibration.

Here is Paris on top of my file cabinet. Ready to help keep my files in order.

Here is Siam (she's newly adopted, as a pal for Paris), surveying the roads for the FedEx guy.

Cats are so helpful!

Fireside Chat with Michaele Weissman - God in a Cup

Did you know that coffee has more aromatics than most other foods? Check out this podcast!

During this 23 minute podcast, I chat with Michaele Weissman, author of God in a Cup: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee. This is another great summer read. If you drink coffee and/or are interested in fine foods, you will enjoy this podcast and the book. Michaele goes deep into the world of the high-end specialty coffee industry - an exploration that takes her to several countries and behind the scenes of a enigmatic slice of the world.

You can listen to my podcast with the Michaele Weissman 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.

Butterfly Flap - Journey's New Lead Singer Arnel Pineda

I am captivated by the story of the new lead singer for the band Journey, Arnel Pineda. They interviewed the band on the Sunday Morning Show  this  morning.

Journey's founder found Arnel, who was born and lived in the Philippines, on You Tube. He was in a cover band in the Philippines and a fan had loaded up several songs from their performances.

One thing led to another and Arnel was asked to come to California to audition to be the new lead singer for Journey.

Arnel had been, at times, homeless, eating street scraps, and sleeping on benches. Now he is the lead singer for Journey and he was found on You Tube.

This a fascinating. But there is more.

The other Journey band members are so jazzed about Arnel - his spirit, his passion, his story - that they feel invigorated and renewed as creative artists. In the Sunday Morning interview, one band member said that knowing Arnel makes him want to be a better human being.

They have released a three CD set that includes 11 new songs (comes out Tuesday).

I am blown away by the butterfly effect in action here. Imagine all the little flaps that occurred to make this happen. What are the odds?

Crazy-wonderful things can happen when we - and those around us - flap, flap, flap.

Will you sponsor me with a pledge at Write-O-Rama?

I am asking for pledges for this fund raising event for the Richard Hugo House (Seattle based nonprofit dedicated to the development of writing arts). All the details are listed below. If you have been a reader of Management Craft, please consider a small pledge for this good cause (it is tax deductible and you will get a receipt in the mail directly from the Richard Hugo House).

I would like to get to the $500 total pledge level or better. Please help! If I get to the $500 level, I will share what I write at Write-O-Rama on the blog. If I get to the $1,000 total pledge level, I will video tape me dancing for joy and post the video on the blog (I know, some of you are wondering if this is really a reward...I was quite the disco queen back in the day, I will have you know...I even won a $100 dance contest at the local ABC Liquor Bar in Tampa, FL when I was a broke college student).

What is the event? Write-O-Rama

Write-O-Rama is a full day of hour-long workshops offered to anyone who wants to write by the creative writing teachers at Hugo House. On June 7 we will hold over 30 writing workshops, and to sustain you as you write we will also have free food, beverages, two open mics, and a wrap party following the last session. Guests will have the opportunity to generate new writing, meet fellow writers, share their work, sample the work of Hugo House writing teachers and find new motivation to write.

How does it work?

Write-O-Rama is a benefit for Hugo House. So participants must raise at least $45 through pledges from people. (If 100 people raise $100 each, fireworks will ensue. Let's be clear about that.) Registration starts at 9:30 a.m. and the first workshops start at 10 a.m.  The wrap party begins at 5 p.m.- right after the last sessions of the day.

Pledge me! Here's how.

Because I am doing this "virtual" (and not handing you the pledge form to fill out), I will need you to do two things:

1. Email me with your pledge amount and your full name, address, and telephone (my email address is lhaneberg AT gmail DOT com). This is the information that would be on the pledge form. I will write this information in for you. The Hugo House uses this info to send you your donation receipt. And since I have your mailing address, I would not be surprised if you get a wee thank you something from me, too. :-)

2. Send me your pledge by June 6th. You can do this three ways. First, you can snail mail me a check made out to Richard Hugo House (email me for my mailing address). Second, you can pay me directly using Paypal (my paypal pay address is lhaneberg AT gmail DOT com). Just put Write-O-Rama in the description field. A third option is to donate directly online on the Richard Hugo House site. If you want to do this:

Go here: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=911718383

Under designation put: Write-O-Rama

Under dedication put: Lisa Haneberg

Choose the option to send me a confirming e-card so I can attach it to my pledge form.

Regardless of the payment method, your pledge is tax deductible and you will get a receipt. For your reference, here is a what the pledge form looks like (you can download the form to see it here):

Thanks so much for your support!