BULLETPOINT FOCUS REPORTS

FOR THE THINKING MANAGER

Managing Yourself

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Managing in a New Age The Recipe for Effectiveness Why Self-awareness Matters What do I Mean by Success? Finding What You Love Doing Building on Strengths Action Through Goals Getting More Out of Time Leveraging Conflict Succeeding with Imperfection Learning from Failure Are You Managing Yourself Well? References & Further Reading

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The Leadership Skills Portfolio

REPORT 2

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MANAGING YOURSELF
Do you know what it takes to be highly effective at work? Do you know what questions you need to ask, what issues you need to address to achieve fulfilment and lasting success in your career? The answers may be surprising. Chances are its not a lack of technical competence that will de-rail your ambitions. Its a lack of selfknowledge, a poor sense of direction and an unhelpful thinking style that will eventually sabotage your dreams, and leave you disillusioned with work.

BULLETPOINT FOCUS REPORTS

I N S I G H T
INSPIRATION

This is not a report about the hard skills required for leadership and management. Its about the soft personal qualities that every leader needs to explore and develop if they want to make a difference. In particular the report focuses on:
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understanding the value of self-awareness: and how its linked to effectiveness the imperative search for passion and meaningful purpose: and why its at the heart of everything successful leaders do and say identifying personal strengths and managing weaknesses: because its only by knowing and using your strengths that you can achieve your goals how to take effective action: through goal-setting, the purposeful use of time

SOLUTIONS
K N O W L E D G E
IN JUST

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PAGES

And if youre still not sure youre on the right track, the report ends with a questionnaire to help you assess, and then begin your journey to a more fulfilling work life.

MANAGING IN A NEW AGE

THE GAP AT THE TOP
Leadership is fast developing into a sellers market. McKinsey:
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Chapter 1

I want to understand human development. I think thats the new challenge. Human development will be an integral part of leadership curricula. Warren Bennis, management thinker. Bennis comment highlights two key themes in current thinking about what it takes to rise to the top of organisations in todays workplace:
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by 2010, there will be a 25% shortfall of senior execs in the critical 35-45 age group 75% of top execs say their companies are chronically talent-short across the board

its psychology, not accountancy that potential leaders need to master

understanding what makes people tick is the big leadership challenge in the 21st century

its character, not charisma that matters

signalling a return to old-fashioned values; the people destined for the best jobs in future are those with deeply held principles, values, ethics not superficial charm, magnetism; the overriding message: if you want to rise through the ranks, focus on becoming a better person rather than reaching for a quick-fix training course or a social band-aid; the new line of enquiry for the enlightened manager: How can I win peoples trust?, not the old Dale Carnegie, How can I win friends and influence people?

HEAD, HEART AND GUTS

But what talents do managers need to reach the top? in a recent Mercer Delta survey of global leaders, three core competencies were identified:
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Head: about cognitive skills providing strategy, direction, purpose Heart: emotional intelligence understanding, working with, developing others Guts: values - doing the right thing based on clear values

On the psychologists couch

So what is fuelling the shift onto deeper psychological ground where who you are is as important as what you can do? One answer - major changes in the underlying business environment in which:
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The explanation: while clever head leaders thrived in simpler time, leaders now work in an era of unpredictability, paradox, ambiguity; study found companies have lots of head leaders but few who can develop talent (heart), or have the courage to do the right thing (guts).

economies are fast moving from an industrial to a knowledge base in the early nineties, about 30-40% of value came from knowledge workers; now figure is 70%; means money is now invested in people not things; new wealth is in intellectual, social capital not plant, machinery talent management has become the critical leadership skill widely agreed the number one job of managers at all levels today is to recruit, retain, galavanise talent in the workforce old motivational tools have been rendered impotent carrots and sticks, incentives and punishments may work well on eg the production line, but dont work so well in the office; threaten your IT programmer with the sack if they dont write more code and watch them walk to the competition; offer a well paid worker a 5,000 raise and the lifestyle difference it makes is eg the opportunity to take three holidays this year instead of a quite sufficient two

LEADERSHIP WOES
And heres what is happening to head leaders with little understanding of heart, guts:
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COCA-COLA: long-time CFO Douglas Invester served only two and a half years as CEO; forced to resign for insensitive handling of people, external relations WALT DISNEY: Michael Eisner was boards golden boy until his ego ended up suffocating his talent ENRON: after turning an unspectacular natural gas pipeline firm into a financial powerhouse, winning himself places in several surveys of worlds top managers, Ken Lay went from Wall Street hero to public enemy number one in a few short months in 2002; accused of displaying psychopathic behaviour, his name is now synonymous with corporate abuse, fraud

But the other factor driving the greater fascination, exploration of self - the growing body of evidence that consistently demonstrates a link between managers personal qualities (as opposed to technical skills) and performance. The personal characteristics of managers have been shown to:
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determine effectiveness: estimates vary but studies have shown that between 45%-80% of leadership effectiveness is determined by personality, character account for failure: Leadership Forecast 2005-6 study of 4,500 managers worldwide found that one third of internally sourced leaders fail; the reason? poor people skills, lack of emotional intelligence; Cubiks found that a third of high-flying execs experience a period of sustained performance problems during what should be a promising career; cause? individual behavioural tendencies, a lack of self awareness, personal blind spots be more important than IQ: in a recent large-scale study, a mere 25% of the difference in employees job performance and a third of the difference in students average grades, can be attributed to IQ; creativity, luck and, above all, personality make up the other 75% drive high performance in enduring companies: personal traits are one of the strongest, most distinguishing characteristics of Built to Last companies which consistently outperform the stock market; at critical transition points, they have all been led by hugely determined but humble, modest, trustworthy people

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THE RECIPE FOR EFFECTIVENESS

People who achieve Mission Impossible
So what are the personal qualities, traits, behaviours of highly effective leaders that are clearly in such short supply but in such high demand? From the researchers who identified the worlds Built to Last companies, a new study provides an in-depth, detailed profile of Built to Last individuals. They are defined as people who:
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Chapter 2

OUT OF THE GUTTER

People who make a difference come from all sorts of backgrounds: NORMA HOTALING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FOUNDER OF SAGE: her organisation provides mental health, substance abuse services to survivors of prostitution, exploitation, trafficking; has won eg an Innovations in American Government Award, an award from the Peter Drucker Foundation; yet Hotaling:
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have made a significant difference: in their chosen profession, field, community have enjoyed enduring success: over at least a 20-year period; precludes the charismatic fly-by-nights with flash-in the-pan success

What this research found confirms what other leading management thinkers have been saying for some time. Highly effective, successful people who, time after time, achieve the seemingly impossible are people who:
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are high in self-awareness

they know themselves intimately, can see the impact their behaviour has on eg their colleagues, the people who work for them; are able to make accurate comparisons between their behaviour and that of others
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began working life in inauspicious circumstances: a prostitute and drug addict, she still has a plate, wires, screws in her skull to patch the beating she took when she dumped a pimp always kept the faith: even when she was told youre just a whore on dope, she always believed one day she would be in a place where she would tell people about the horror of life on streets kept persevering: eg to clean up her drugs habit, she got herself locked in a jail cell to detox one last time; when officials told her she was unqualified to launch SAGE, she asked for help from those who were; because she believed so strongly in what she was doing, incredible people came forward to help learnt she had to bring her whole self to work: even though she wanted to forget the past, stop telling her painful personal story, she realised, you cant disconnect what matters to you from your life ... to do what matters in a way that you are healthy, you cant pretend or deaden out like a machine ... you have to feel everything and use it

have formed their own personal definition of success

which typically is not about the acquisition of material success or status; neither do they rely on others to judge their success; the only person they allow to determine whether they are on track to their destination is themselves

have a strong passion, meaningful purpose to their work

which gives them a crystal clear sense of direction, a single-minded focus, and provides the engine that sustains their energy, fuels them through crisis

know their strengths

both technical and personal, and understand the importance of playing to them

set challenging goals

for themselves and others; goals are the road map which plot the journey to achieving their meaningful purpose
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use time effectively

a skill they do not learn on a superficial time management course, or from a textbook; its again their deep self-knowledge, their strong sense of purpose that allows them to prioritise, identify with ease the tasks most in need of their attention

value conflict
and use it to build frankness, honesty and trust; but they also control conflict so the focus is always on issues, never on people

manage their weaknesses

of which they may have many; but they face up to them, embrace them and, in many cases, even succeed in turning weakness into a positive asset

OUT OF COMFORT ZONE

HERB KELLEHER, FOUNDER OF SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: began as lawyer; then called in to advise on airline start-up; unexpectedly hit by populist desire to cure a perceived injustice - it was too expensive for ordinary people to fly; felt it was his moral obligation to do something about it; ended up going into debt, facing five years of litigation to get his vision off ground; became one of worlds most admired leaders, and provided blueprint for low-cost flyers.

learn from failure

adding to their stores of perseverance, resilience; recognising that failure is the price people must pay for extraordinary success, achievement

Boiled down to three bare essentials, people who lead fulfilling, high-achieving work lives: 1 find out what really matters most to them 2 find effective ways to take action, make things happen 3 think in a way that makes obstacles work for them And it all begins with knowing yourself.
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WHY SELF-AWARENESS MATTERS

What is it to be self-aware? Self-awareness is the ability to:
HOW THE SELF-AWARE GET RESULTS ...
JAY GARNETT, SNOWBEAM COFFEE: could see firm was in trouble culturally, organisationally - infighting among firms four divisions had resulted in lost customers; for three months Garnett swung between divisions trying to heal the problems to no avail; finally he examined own role in situation and:
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Chapter 3

self-observe: ie the ability to look at oneself coolly, objectively; to probe, analyse whole person, warts and all accurately compare ones behaviour against a standard or organisational norm: with the behaviour of colleagues, peers assess others evaluation of self: without resorting to defensiveness, fearing core self is damaged, undermined

asked for feedback: from employees, managers about what had gone wrong, why began soul-searching: after considering feedback, realised he had spent too much time in design, finance, customer projects; meant no one had been steering the ship; also realised that the thing he could do better than anyone else was to run leadership, organisation of company fired himself: from his extra jobs, delegated more to managers, employees; began focusing on his personal strength - galvanising people towards common goal, vision

Positively self-aware
And the reasons why self-awareness is such an important attribute for effective leadership? When leaders are self-aware they:
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know where they want to go: not just at work, but in life generally; inspires confidence in others - sense leader knows what they are doing; produces consistency of words, actions are powerful role models: of qualities at a premium in 21st century; its because theyve got their own act together, they are able to encourage, show others how to assemble theirs

So what are the behavioural traits of the self-aware - they:

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take control, responsibility: rather than eg looking for others to blame; means they retain sense of personal power, potency; believe ability to improve things is in their hands are open to learning, developing: because they feel comfortable: a) asking for performance feedback from staff, peers, bosses; b) handling negative criticism - they see it as criticism of what they do, not who they are; c) reflecting on feedback, making own judgement on its validity, the need to change behaviour, attitudes

Within a year, company was back on track. TOM PRISELAC, CEO, CEDARS-SINAI: had made special effort in his 26 year career at healthcare organisation to establish personal relationships with managers, staff; but in late 2002, a union effort to organise hospitals nurses opened Priselacs eyes to fact he was out of touch, that union had seized chance to capitalise on growing animosity, distrust between staff, management, so Priselac:
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TIME TO ACT
Manager realised (and staff feedback confirmed), he became bad-tempered under deadline pressure; instead of blaming staff, workload, boss, he:
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planned his work better - so he could be more in advance of deadline worked from home, behind closed office door when tight deadlines were unavoidable acknowledged weakness, explained new plan to staff - so they understood managers new behaviour, admired frankness, supported him in his efforts to change

began organisation-wide initiative: to find out how people had grown so far apart; insisted effort focused on how his actions had contributed to the rift realised hed gone into comfort zone: he had no meaningful contact with people he knew, didnt know lots of new staff at all began meeting everybody more regularly: in groups and one-to-one

play to their strengths, minimise their weaknesses: facilitated by a realistic grasp of their own capabilities; means the self-aware are less likely to set themselves up to fail they know, eg when they are being overstretched, when to ask for help; the self-aware certainly take risks - but they are calculated ones have the ability to speak accurately, openly about their emotions: although not necessarily effusively, confessionally; they are frank in admitting to failure, comfortable talking about their strengths, limitations, exhibit a thirst for constructive criticism can see how their behaviour affects other people: so they know when they are, eg demotivating, annoying, energising someone else have self-deprecating sense of humour: an ability to laugh at themselves, their mistakes; helps the self-aware de-personalise failure, view it, even embrace it as a necessary evil on the road to achievement

In 2005 employee survey, 85% of 8,000 polled said top managers were fair, honest trustworthy; 92% would recommend others to work at organisation - a 30% increase on 2002; by late 2004, union threat had disappeared.

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WHAT DO I MEAN BY SUCCESS?

Step one on the journey to self-discovery and effective self-management: work out where you want to go, what you want to achieve, what success means to you. The traditional understanding of success in management - its:
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Chapter 4

THE SUCCESSFUL ON SUCCESS

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the achievement of a series of challenging goals: eg turning around a weak

business unit, devising a killer product, seeing off a serious threat from a competitor

the accumulation of status, power, wealth: the visual symbols of success

The difficulty with this interpretation: you can be successful and still find work dull, uninspiring, in conflict with personal values. Unsurprisingly, this isnt how the truly successful define success.

Passion for meaning

The specifics are always different but, in broad terms, successful leaders talk about success as the by-product of work and a life that is:
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WARREN BUFFET: ... I always worry about people who say, I really dont like it (their job) very well but Ill do ten more years and then... I mean, thats a little like saving up sex for your old age! I tap dance to work and I get down there and I think Im supposed to lie on my back and paint the ceiling or something, like Michelangelo. I mean thats they way I feel. And it doesnt diminish. Its tremendous fun BRIGADIER GENERAL CLARA ADAMS-ENDER: You can survive without loving it but you will be second-rate. To spend any part of your career not knowing why youre there will take your power away

lit up and fuelled by passion

the single most distinguishing feature of enduringly successful people - they love what they do and what they do matters deeply to them; and that is the fundamental reason why they are able to produce sustained, mega performance; people who love the work they do with a passion spend twice as much time thinking about what theyve accomplished, how doable the task ahead is, how capable they are of it; they try harder, try more things, move faster; they come up with more great ideas and find opportunities to move on and contribute more than people who only do what they do to make a living

IS PASSION A LUXURY?
Some observations about the importance of loving what you do - its necessary for:
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infused with meaning

about the desire to make a difference, leave a mark; when you have meaningful work, you find answers to some of lifes big questions such as Who am I; what is my purpose in life; what is it I have to offer that is special?

underpinned by fulfilling, lasting, quality relationships

the enduringly successful look at their life and work holistically, in the round; solid relationships inside, and outside work are an important goal for them

career survival: Larry Bossidy: Only by loving what you do will you actually do more and do it better than the person sitting next to you. If you dont, well then, well find someone who does. Passion for your work is a competitive imperative emotional, physical health: the relentless irritation of not loving what you do makes people difficult to be around, undermining relationships, and has been clinically proven to chip away at health; an irony of modern day living: despite unprecedented wealth, there is a rising epidemic of clinical depression, suicide among wealthiest citizens in America, China, rapidly developing economies; World Health Organisation predicts depression will be second leading cause of disability by 2020 motivating top-class performance: fear is a big motivator but love lasts longer you can run a marathon at gunpoint but you probably wont win the race

focused on personal achievement not financial reward, public recognition

fame, power is never the goal, merely the outcome of pursuing a passion; for the successful, the reward for doing is the doing

A final research observation: success without meaning, or without a passion for work is possible - but its short-lived. Enduring success is always intertwined with passion, meaning.

Signs of meaninglessness
Would you describe yourself as successful? Are you on the right road to success? Signs that its time to stop and do a fundamental re-think of your working life if you feel:
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trapped, bored: work seems pointless, you feel restless, you cant shake off, change,
articulate whats wrong; you find that setting, achieving ever more challenging goals provides ever decreasing levels of short-lived satisfaction
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apathetic, depleted: you find yourself putting off tasks, dropping performance standards, dragging yourself into work, spending Sunday evenings dreading return to work on Monday like a square peg in a round hole: because you have to act in a way that isnt you, eg your instinct is for high-involvement leadership but the culture wont allow it ethically compromised: because your company eg treats employees, overseas
suppliers unethically, is marketing a new product, service you think is morally suspect

your personal life, relationships are suffering: a common problem with successful
people; but can you really be a success if a whole area of your life is in freefall?

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FINDING WHAT YOU LOVE DOING

PEOPLE ON A MISSION TO FIND THEIR PASSION (1)
JOE OLCHEFSKE: started life with interest in govt; in early 80s made what seemed like minor compromise: after graduating from Harvards Kennedy School of Government, went into public finance - to work not in govt but with govt; became successful but, 10 years later, realised he wasnt where he wanted to be; I didnt want to be a high-priced midwife. I wanted to be mother. It was never my deal. It was my clients deal. They were taking the risk. They were building hospitals, bridges and freeways, not me. I envied them for that; then, by chance, he met citys newly appointed education director, was offered job as top finance chief, partner in turning troubled school system around; later got the top job; hates the bureaucracy in his job but found that avoiding boredom shouldnt be the objective in finding the right work; its, how can I find something that matters to me so much, I can put up with the dull stuff? LORI GOTTLIEB: became rising TV exec but felt like fraud; left, giving herself three years to decide her chosen profession; eventually decided to train as doctor because she loved solving puzzles; her sparkling CV got her into a top med school but after two months, she dropped out; why? she realised she didnt like working with sick people; lesson? a passion has to satisfy your emotions not just your brain. RUSSELL CARPENTER: began working at NASA while at college; in exchange for his summers, they paid for his tuition, financed a PhD; now works as aerospace engineer on low govt pay scale but in job, environment he loves: bosses understand that his painstaking work wont produce results overnight; Carpenter is doing the work of his boyhood dreams; an interesting feature of Carpenters story: he never considered deviating from his dream; if he hadnt got into NASA through the front door, his plan was to try the back door.

Chapter 5

Not everyone has a readily identifiable life-consuming interest. In fact for most people, the search for a passion is just that - a search. Some principles to guide you to discovery:
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you have to work at it

most people dont get epiphanies, a blinding Road to Damascus revelation; only a faint urge guides them to their passion; the rest is down to hard work

you probably wont get it right straightaway

people who find their passion nearly all make mistakes before getting it right; nearly all discover latent talents that werent in their skillset at 25; thats because peoples deep life interests, the foundation for a meaningful work search, are hard to describe or measure until people hit their 30s, or even later

everyones idea of meaningful work is different

meaningful work is not a description reserved for jobs that save lives, change the world; work is meaningful if it has a strong purpose in your eyes, takes you to where you want to go; its unimportant if others cannot see the value or appeal

you have found passion when nothing else will do

passionate people dont say eg, If I dont become a doctor, Ill be a teacher; they may have a map with different routes but they all lead to the same destination; there is no compromise; theyd rather reach the right destination very late, by a different route, than get to the wrong destination early

loving your work doesnt mean its never dull

nearly all jobs have some boring, dull aspects to them; but if your work is meaningful, you can put up with, eg routine, because your eyes are set on a bigger prize, you recognise its necessary to take you to where you want to go

the search for meaning, passion is often triggered by personal crisis

its often after a major crisis that people start to look for more meaning in their life, begin to question whether their lives are going in the right direction; redundancy, a major failure at work, bereavement, divorce are all triggers for personal reassessment

And now to start your Indiana Jones voyage of discovery. But this adventure does not begin with action. It begins with an intense period of quiet reflection.

Understanding the process of reflection

Reflection: the process of engaging, stepping back from a problem, experience, taking time to deliberately and carefully review it, constructing meaning, drawing inferences, in four stages:

Stage 1: articulation
about defining the problem the mind will work on; often preceded by period of doubt, hesitancy, anxiety; clear articulation is often an insight; what questions help define problems, so ask, What has happened, what am I thinking, feeling, seeing that tells me I have taken a wrong turn at work, got my work/life balance out of kilter?

Stage 2: analysis
about searching for possible reasons for dissatisfaction at work; ask why questions, eg Why is it important I change direction, why am I in this situation, why am I putting eg money, promotion over my desire to do more interesting work?

I LOVE BEING A JANITOR

Janitors in one organisation were given responsibility to eg select materials suppliers, assess own performance, determine own criteria for cleanliness, work schedules; result: relationships, quality, morale soared.

Stage 3: formulating, testing of theory

which may solve problem; ask how questions, eg How can I change careers from accountancy to carpentry, how will I manage finances?

Stage 4: action
about deciding whether to act; ask more what questions: What are the implications of this for the future action, what should I do now; what is my first step? Have a look at the exercises opposite to guide your thinking.

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Chapter 5

FINDING WHAT YOU LOVE DOING contd

REFLECTING FOR PASSION

Below are three exercises to help you find your passion, a meaningful purpose to your work. Use them in conjunction with the questionnaire at the end of this report to ensure you are asking all the right questions, covering the relevant areas of your life.
EXERCISE 1: LOOKING AT THE PAST
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PEOPLE ON A MISSION TO FIND THEIR PASSION (2)

MARIANNE SZYMANSKI: President of Toy Tips, a consumer-focused international consulting firm that tests toys for appropriate age, development; as child, Szymanski eg, put on carnivals for Muscular Dystrophy Association in her garden, donating old toys as prizes, running games and gocart rides to raise money; after graduating, joined LEGO; when visiting stores, customers thinking she worked there, would ask for her advice on toys; so she started a business bringing together her two passions - children and helping others. BOB MCDOWELL: HR director: poured heart, soul into work for 25 years; then became demoralised after budget was slashed time and time again; middle-aged with financial responsibilites but decided to step down from job, trade security for personal fulfilment; spent eight months taking stock of life, reflecting; used personal, professional connections to help decide future; eventually took job in executive search but one where he was able to create his own unique niche: he now helps companies find employees who bring magic to business; has also ensured job has been designed so he can spend time with family, in exercise, pursuing interests. JOAO CARLOS MARTINS: aged 26, the star concert pianist was at top of career playing at Carnegie Hall to rave reviews; then while in the park training he fell, damaged a nerve, lost the movement of the fingers in his right hand; surgery, physical therapy could only help a little; afterwards he wouldnt look at a piano, became angry with himself, world, life, got divorced, fought with everyone, everything; sold all his pianos; couldnt sleep - knew something was missing from his life; entered world of boxing, became a manager; then one of his fighters, at the age of 37, won back a title he had previously held and something in Martins clicked - if this fighter could make a comeback so could he; after being away for seven years, he started practicising again; one year later he was back on stage at Carnegie.

draw your lifeline: beginning with childhood, plot the high, low points, events that caused great joy, sorrow; note the times you were most proud, excited, strong; the times you were lost, alone; highlight, in particular, the transition points, ie the times when things fundamentally changed for you now look at the lifeline and ask: what are some of the underlying themes? what seems to be present no matter what the situation? what values weigh in most often? most heavily when you make changes in your life? are you generally on a positive track or have there been lots of ups and downs? where does luck, fate fit in? switch your focus to the more recent past: and consider these questions: what has or has not changed at work, in life? how am I feeling? how do I see myself these days? am I living my values? am I having fun? do my values still fit with what I need to do at work and with what my company is doing? have my dreams changed? do I still believe in my vision of my future? do some freeform writing: to pull all your thoughts together and finish the following sentence: In my life I ... and now I ...

EXERCISE 2: DEFINING YOUR LIFE PRINCIPLES

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think about different important aspects of your life: eg family, relationships, work, spirituality, physical fitness ask what are my core values? in each of the aspects above; list five or six principles that guide you in life; are these values you truly live by, or simply talk about?

EXERCISE 3: EXTENDING THE HORIZON

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ask, what do I want to do with the rest of my life? write a page or two freeform or list all the things you want to do, experience before you die; ignore the practicalities imagine how your life would look in 15 years if you were living your ideal life: what kind of people would surround you, what might you be doing in a typical day; what kind of environment would you be in; speak your vision into a recorder, talk about it with a trusted friend; engage with the possibilities to change your life

And the strategies people use for reflection:

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taking time out of the workplace

in the form of eg holiday, sabbatical; research: people who take time off at their own risk rarely regret the decision to do so; another alternative - step off the fast track, give mind, emotions a rest by doing something different

getting third party help

eg some people join leadership development programmes which help people explore their dreams; others turn to trusted family, friends or to professional coach

creating a reflective structure

research: study of leaders from all walks of life found building reflective structure into lives is way they stay in touch with things that are important to them in work, life; means creating the time, space for self-examination; can be a few hours daily, a day, a month or a longer, concentrated period every year; can take form of prayer, non-religious meditation, physical exercise, eg, one CEO reserves eight hours a week for solitary reflection - an hour a day, two or three at weekend; during that time, he goes for long walks, rides his motorbike; another idea - form a reflection group with trusted people in or outside company to legitimise time spent thinking, talking, learning from one another in a safe environment

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BUILDING ON STRENGTHS
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRENGTHS AND COMPANY PERFORMANCE ...
GALLUP STUDY: asked nearly 200,000 employees in 36 firms, At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?; when employees strongly agreed with statement, they were found to be:
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Chapter 6

Finding out what you love doing isnt necessarily the same thing as finding out what youre good at doing. Your passion, meaningful purpose sets your destination in life. Your strengths though are one of the vehicles you must use to get you there. But how much do you know about your real strengths? According to Peter Drucker:
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most people think they know what they are good at - but they are usually wrong more often, people know what they are not good at - but even then, more people are wrong than right

50% more likely to work in business units with lower staff turnover 38% more likely to work in more productive businesses 44% more likely to work in units with higher customer satisfaction scores

The critical thing to understand about strengths: only if you play to your strengths can you become truly effective. You cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something you cannot do. Some strong themes from the latest research into employee development:
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people cannot learn to be competent in everything, anything

so eg, an unempathetic person cannot be taught to be more empathetic, an uncreative person cannot learn to be creative; practice does not always make perfect

... AND

THE BIG CLUE TO POOR PERFORMANCE?

trying to improve areas of low competence is a waste of time

because although training may result in performance improvement, it takes more time, money, energy to raise performance from incompetent to mediocre than it does to take it from first-rate to excellent

GALLUP then extended the research; asked same question to more than 1.7m employees in 101 companies from 63 countries; the proportion of employees who feel their strengths come into play every day? globally, the figure is a meagre 20%.

every person has talents which are enduring and unique

so trying to standardise, routinise, create uniformity in the way people think, behave is to miss the value buried in human complexity

each persons greatest room for growth is in the area of their greatest strength
so the question to ask of yourself, others is not, How can I compensate for what has been left out, but, How can I capitalise, draw out all the good stuff that has been left in?

GIFTED LEARNER
Not all talents are clearly visible, or present themselves early in life: HENRI MATISSE: unlike Picasso, his precocious contemporary, Matisse was 21 before he even picked up a brush; a lawyers clerk, he was recuperating from a bout of flu in bed when his mother, trying to lighten his mood, put a box of paints in his hands; the trajectory of his life changed almost instantly; with his energy buoyed up, he studied a how to paint manual every day; four years later, with no schooling but his own, he was accepted into the most prestigious art school in Paris, to study under master Gustave Moreau.

Wheres the gold?

Definition of a strength? It is: a) the consistent, near-perfect performance of an activity b) the product of talent, skill, knowledge. But how do you identify your strengths? Start with:

1 understanding how to distinguish between natural talents and what you can learn:
talents are about innate ability, giftedness; they are your naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling or behaviour; but having a talent for something doesnt necessarily mean you are already good at it, it is already a strength; it means you have the facility, potential to learn, develop it; that, with practice, and with the appropriate knowledge and skills, excellence is achievable

2 monitoring your behaviour: to identify your greatest strengths, latent talents, track what
happens when you:
O

THE

WEAKEST LINK
O

try a new activity: you know you have a talent for something if you, eg pick it up quickly, skip steps in learning, add twists, kinks you havent been taught yet, you become so absorbed in activity, you lose track of time; give yourself a couple of months before making a judgement make key decisions: when you make a big decision, write down what you expect will happen; later compare the actual results with your expectations; can show eg where you have an intuitive understanding, how accurately you can read people react under pressure: spontaneous, gut reactions to stressful situations often reveal the location of talent, strengths; so do instinctive responses to everyday situations; eg, if at a party, you are drawn to strangers, prefer to spend most of your time with people you dont know, the chances are you are a natural extrovert; if, on the other hand, you tend to seek out the people you know, resent the intrusion of strangers into your conversations, you show a natural desire to deepen existing relationships

Question often asked about strengths: if Im to focus on strengths, should I ignore all weaknesses? answer - tackle only those weaknesses that diminish, curb your strengths; eg the brilliant analyst who found more internal support for his work by learning to be a bit more patient, courteous with other staff.

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Chapter 6

BUILDING ON STRENGTHS contd

3 developing a strengths language: a sign we concentrate too much on whats wrong

with people rather than on whats right: the language of human weakness, frailty is rich, varied; the language of human strength is sparse; eg there are meaningful differences in terms such as neurosis, psychosis, depression, mania, hysteria, panic attacks but what is meant by good people skills, self-motivated? is a people person someone who is good at winning employee trust or someone who is a good networker? without more precise labels, the appropriate strengths cannot find their way into appropriate work roles Two additional tools for the discovery of latent or unacknowledged strengths:
MANAGING STRENGTHS
JUDI LANGLEY - a vice president of merchandising with womens clothes retailer, Ann Taylor found that tensions were rising between her and one of her merchandising managers, C; C had an analytical mind, intense nature creating overpowering need to know; if C learned of something before Judi had a chance to review it with her, she became very frustrated; given speed with which decisions had to be made, Judis busy schedule, this happened frequently; Judi was concerned Cs irritation was unsettling the whole product team, earning C reputation as malcontent; so Judi:
G

1 feedback: getting feedback from employees, bosses, customers is one of best ways to
build balance sheet of strengths, weaknesses; the danger: focusing on one or two hurtful, critical or fulsome comments, whereas the aim should be: find the pattern in whats been said

2 do a test: but use only in conjunction with other identification methods; biggest test, given
to 3m+ a year, is the Myers-Briggs Type Indication (MBTI); focuses on personality traits; another, gaining in popularity, is Gallups StrengthsFinder (www.strengthsfinder.com)

A TEST OF HUMAN TALENT

Gallup: all human strengths fall into one of 34 themes. Look at the descriptions below. Which apply to you?
1 ACHIEVER 2 ACTIVATOR 3 ADAPTOR 4 ANALYTICAL 5 ARRANGER 6 BELIEVER 7 COMMANDER driven, have constant need for achievement to feel good about yourself both in, outside work recurring question in your life: When can we start?; you opt for action over analysis live in the moment; dont see future as fixed destination; place created out of current choices always challenging others to prove it; you are objective, dispassionate, look for patterns in data enjoy managing variables in complexity; people ask, How do you keep so many things in your head at once? have enduring core values, are family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual; value high ethics in self, others take charge, dont mind confrontation, imposing views on others; in fact you need to share them, get others aligned behind your goals

acknowledged Cs strength: instead of eg lecturing C on how to control her need for info, Judi realised this weakness was Cs biggest strength and that it was impossible for C to rein in her instincts for long became Cs info partner: she committed to leaving C a voice mail at end of day with brief update; to make sure nothing fell through cracks they set up two touch base meetings a week; C now knew she would get info she needed if not exactly when she wanted it

8 COMMUNICATOR like to explain, describe, host, speak publicly, write; you like turning dry ideas, events into stories 9 COMPETITOR 10 CONNECTOR 11 CONSISTENT 12 CONTEXTUAL 13 DELIBERATIVE 14 DEVELOPER 15 DISCIPLINED 16 EMPATHETIC 17 FOCUSED 18 FUTURISTIC 19 HARMONIOUS 20 IDEATOR 21 INCLUDER rooted in comparison; instinctively aware of others performance - an ultimate yardstick for judging own believe things happen for a reason, that we are all connected to something larger so you wont harm, exploit others, are caring, accepting, a bridge builder balance is key; you treat people same regardless of status, see yourself as a guardian of equality, fairness look back to understand present; how did underlying structure build? how did person become who they are? careful, vigilant, private, see world as unpredictable, you identify, minimise risks, approach life with reserve see potential in others, like to help them experience success; look for ways to challenge them world is predictable, ordered, planned so you impose structure, routines, focus on deadlines, work through each plan diligently, precisely sense others emotions, see world through their eyes, share their perspective, want to understand them ask yourself everyday, Where am I heading?; you set goals to serve as compass, determine priorities like to peer over horizon, are fascinated, inspired by future; you see visions of what could be look for areas of agreement, hold conflict to minimum, try to find common ground, withhold strong opinions fascinated by ideas, love to discover simple concept explaining complexity, new angle on familiar challenges want to make people feel part of group, dont like exclusivity, hate idea of someone on outside looking in

STRENGTH IN ACTION
COLIN POWELL: gave speech to company leaders on character, leadership in which he eg, drew audience into intimate politics of Reagans Oval Office, put them across a table as Gorbachev announced perestroika, put them at end of phone as General Schwarzkopf reported on first air strikes of Desert Storm; talked casually, without notes, without bombast, weaving stories together effortlessly, compellingly; question that attendees asked at end was not, Where did he learn to speak like that? but, Where did that talent come from?; evidence of a strength in full flight: the performance is so flawless, it leaves bystanders in awe.

22 INDIVIDUALISTIC intrigued by uniqueness of people, impatient with generalisations, you instinctively focus on whats different 23 INPUTTER 24 INTELLECTUAL 25 LEARNER 26 MAXIMISER 27 POSITIVE 28 RELATOR 29 RESPONSIBLE 30 RESTORER inquisitive, collector of things - words, facts, books, quotes, photos, world is exciting by being varied, complex like to think, enjoy time alone for musing, reflection; you are introspective, a mental hum is a life constant love to learn, love process of learning; are energised by journey from ignorance to competence excellence, not average, is the key measure; others see you as discriminating, you spend time with people who appreciate your strengths generous with praise, quick to smile, on lookout for positive in situation; some call you light-hearted, people want to be around you - your enthusiasm is contagious pulled to people you already know, are comfortable with intimacy, want to deepen your existing relationships take ownership of anything you commit to, feel bound to see it through to completion, if you cannot deliver, you always look for ways to make it up to other person love to solve problems, analyse whats wrong, energised by eg breakdowns, bringing things back to life

31 SELF-ASSURED have deep down faith in own strengths, judgement; know you are able 32 SIGNIFICANT 33 STRATEGIC 34 WOO want to be recognised, heard, to stand out, to be known, admired as credible, professional, successful can cut through clutter to find best route, see patterns where others see complexity, you play out different scenarios, can evaluate obstacles, make selections stands for Winning Others Over; enjoy challenge of meeting new people, getting them to like you; strangers rarely intimidate you; you are drawn to them; you ask them questions, find common interest, build rapport

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ACTION THROUGH GOALS

A BETTING MANS GAME
WEYERHAEUSER COMPANY: found goal-setting improved productivity on production line but could it motivate scientists, engineers to attain excellence? firms four R&D directors disagreed; one advocated assigned goals, another participatively set goals, the third used a monetary bonus system, the fourth focused on public recognition; the resolution: to conduct an experiment with directors placing bets on outcome:
G

Chapter 7

You know what you want to achieve and you know your best tools for the job. Now its time for action. A distinctive feature of people who make a difference - their strong self-awareness, capacity for introspection - is never paralysing but matched by a highly effective action style. In particular they plan and set goals for themselves which are:
G G

audacious: showing high levels of confidence, optimism, strong belief in self-efficacy in keeping with core values: a distinctive feature of goal-setting of highest performers goals dont exist in parallel with their values; they are a manifestation of them; an extension of who they are, what matters to them

Into the goal mouth

How goal-setting raises performance:
G

the scientists were divided into nine groups the first three were given an assigned goal and either praise, public recognition or a monetary bonus for achieving it the next three helped set own goals and got one of the three rewards above the last three were urged to do their best and got one of the three rewards above finally a control group was also added; this group was simply kept in the dark
G G

focuses effort, attention: onto those tasks, behaviours that have an impact on goal achievement; makes prioritising work, time easier; the acid test: if I choose this task over another, does it take me further towards my goal? raises energy, motivation: research: in most situations, audacious but achievable goals encourage people to strive for much higher performance than general exhortations to eg, do your best, work harder sustains performance through difficult periods: when a crisis makes situation more
ambiguous, a roadblock to performance is encountered, eg a plant manager who was committed to developing a critical business strategy, spent hours of his own time developing IT skills so he could deliver on goal

boosts creativity: by again focusing the mind on what matters, eg managers at 3M encourage, nurture new ideas partly because they share a goal to produce 25% of yearly revenues from products that did not exist five years ago

The results:
G

those urged to do their best did no better than those kept in the dark despite a reward those who helped set goals had higher performance that those with assigned goals; why? they set higher goals than was the case when a manager set the goal unilaterally

But what difference goals make to your performance also depends on the quality of design. Performance-enhancing goals are:
G

difficult but achievable: make goals too easy and your performance wont improve, make them too difficult and you set yourself up for continual failure, disillusionment; a test of goal difficulty: difficult, achievable goals can probably be achieved by only 10% of people in a particular group; moderately hard goals are those with a 20% to 50% chance of achievement focused on time-bound output not input goals: a timebound output goal describes what you want to achieve, by when; not what you will have to do to get there; example of a timebound output goal, to improve my performance rating with my team by 30% within next 12 months; in contrast an input goal focuses on what you need to do to achieve success, example of an input goal, to hold weekly one-to-one meetings with my immediate team to review progress, assess motivation measurable: so you know what you are getting better at, where youve made no progress

WHAT GETS MEASURED GETS DONE

US GOVT AGENCY: achieved dramatic improvement in staff attendance by offering selfmanagement training programme in which people self-set goals for their work, attendance.

FOCUS - BUT ON WHATS IMPORTANT

HOW VERY AUDACIOUS
PRESIDENT KENNEDY: when he made his pledge to nation to put a man on the moon, no one had any idea whether goal was achievable, but idea inspired, galvanised not only President but also his administration, scientists, the whole country into energetic, enthusiastic bout of activity.
G

ROBERT LANE, CEO, JOHN DEERE & CO: concentrated attention when on first day in job, he put just one slide in front of whole management team; on slide was one number - 18,000; figure meant he wanted all of firms 18,000 employees to have written objectives within six months to further align teamwork in organisation MICHAEL DELL, DELL COMPUTING: spends lots of time, energy on setting right goals, analysing, measuring what makes, not what Dell think makes, a difference to customers; as teenager on paper round learnt people bought new things like newspaper subscriptions when they eg, moved house; his breakthrough idea: map data on customers life-changing events, fulfil their unique needs at different life stages

10

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GETTING MORE OUT OF TIME

Effective people also spend their time far more usefully than the average person. Research: only about 10% of managers use their time effectively, ie making difficult, seemingly impossible, things happen. The rest squander their time on ineffective activities that make little difference to the core business, falling into one of three patterns of ineffective behaviour:
G

Chapter 8

THE POWER OF A FOCUSED MIND

THOMAS SATTELBERGER: executive vice president, Lufthansa thought corporate university would be invaluable asset to his struggling firm; prepared detailed business case carefully aligned to company goals; met strong scepticism when made proposal to board; for next four years, worked to chip away at objections until firm launched first corporate university in Germany, the engine for driving change in company.

procrastination
identifying traits: procrastinators dutifully perform routine tasks, eg attend meetings, write memos, but fail to take initiative, raise performance, engage with strategy; they often delay action until window of opportunity is closed or coast along in chronically passive state of learned helplessness: they think they have no control over events so they do nothing; the root cause of procrastination? insecurity, a fear of failure

LEAVING IT FOR ANOTHER DAY

G

manager charged with developing survey didnt start project until deadline had passed: the nearer the deadline loomed, the more he busied himself with other projects, rationalising he had to clear his desk of less important jobs before he could start lawyer given key role in major merger project was initially excited about presenting to board; then task became overwhelming; he began imagining eg, losing his train of thought, saying wrong thing; so obsessed with idea of failure, he was almost paralysed

FROM DISENGAGED TO PURPOSEFUL

KLAUS KARL: software engineer, Siemens Nixdorf became disengaged after merger raised political infighting; found new job; then new CEO made call to arms: reminded staff of Siemens European roots, potential to beat US competition; announced he would give its technology-savvy young people an opportunity to take part in corporate strategic planning; Karls name was on list of bright young things fingered to join team, go on change agent programme at MIT for three months with top managers, including CEO; Karl turned down new job, committed to transforming company, energised by chance to devise, run his own change initiative; over next two years, he shook up middleware development dept, focusing on smaller portfolio of projects, allocating resources better, kept on trying to persuade people to use new set of analytical tools even when other managers laughed at him, walked out of his meetings; gradually attitudes changed; one outcome: a new product portfolio analysis system was completed in a recordbreaking three months.

disengagement
identifying traits: the disengaged are burnt out, lack the inner resources to re-energise themselves; seem unable to commit to tasks so approach the job half-heartedly; often practice form of defensive avoidance, ie rather than acknowledging, correcting a problem, they convince themselves it doesnt exist; disengaged managers tend to be tense, plagued by feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, anger, frustration; they deal with these emotions by withdrawing, doing the bare minimum, becoming easily overwhelmed by unexpected events

distraction
identifying traits: the distracted are well-intentioned, energetic but unfocused managers who confuse frenetic motion with constructive action; when under pressure they would much rather do something than nothing so can act like bulls in a china shop; they rarely reflect, so tend to be shortsighted, have trouble developing strategies, adjusting behaviours to new requirements; also frequently find themselves overcommitted: they get involved in multiple projects with good intentions but then interest wanes so end up firefighting, abandoning projects; may try eg to impress others with how much work they have

In contrast, effective managers put in more effort, achieve more in less time. And their distinguishing characteristics? Its back to a strong focus, bolstered by self-awareness, clear goal definition, and energy. Learn from the purposeful and:
G

look for what makes you special: dont try to do what everyone else does; play to your strengths, passions and ask yourself: how can I use my particular skill set, background to add value to the organisation; what can I do better than anyone else around here? focus on the big ticket items: instead of doing lots of unimportant things averagely
well, pick a few important, value-added things to do supremely well

use your goals as a compass: so when deciding whether to, eg pick a battle, attend a
conference, join a new project team, foster a new network, ask yourself, Does this activity add value, take me closer to my goals?

make yourself personally responsible: so when eg your favoured project is stalling

because a dept is slow to act, step in, take responsibility for kickstarting effort; key feature of the purposeful - they work from inside out, refuse to be discouraged by outside forces

husband your time, energy: instead of being at everyones beck and call; so eg refuse phone calls outside certain hours, work from home on certain days to focus on goals; also use exercise, hobbies, family to replenish depleted physical, mental, emotional energies
11

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LEVERAGING CONFLICT
TOO MUCH HARMONY
When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary William Wrigley confectionery king
G

Chapter 9

A surprising feature of high achievers - they seek out, throw fuel on flames of contention, and prize gloves-off, frank dialogue. Properly leveraged, conflict can:

draw out peoples best, most passionate, creative ideas

if people cannot say what they really think, brains, talent go to waste

be inspirational
because conflict creates a high-energy situation: when their ideas are under fire, people are forced to go away, carefully analyse their arguments, abandon or re-commit to their positions at a much deeper level; result: a more vigorous, informed ideas debate

BENEFITS OF CONTENTION
MIKE MCGAVICK, former CEO, SAFECO: used creative contention to change corporate politics; in old Safeco, people kissed up and kicked down; no one dared question boss; even a simple, I dont think so was seen as act of disrespect; under McGavicks watch, everybody who had an opinion was encouraged to voice it, become involved in discussion; strategy was to discuss, agree, conclude, move on, act with discipline; but he found getting balance was hard work: If people feel words like collaboration, alignment are newspeak for the old do what the boss tells you, then youve lost a lot of corporate value because the aggregate corporate value, in addition to our balance sheet, is the collective intelligence of the people were paying to come to work; but McGavick clearly got balance right in the end: under his stewardship, company went from making near-billion dollar loss to posting record earnings for company in just a few years.

But high achievers dont want to ignite bonfires, only a controlled burn: they may throw a match with one hand but they hold a bucket of water in the other to dampen unruly flames.

Keeping the gun smoking

The two leadership lessons for achieving a controlled burn:
G

struggle with the issue not each other: conflict is destructive when it becomes personally abusive; people may need a thicker skin but focus of debate should always be ideas, not people be seen to be open to conflict yourself: means eg taking valid criticism on the chin,
taking on board, responding graciously to what critics say, engaging in the debate without seeming cross, irritable, ensuring you dont overlook people who disagree with you for promotion, rewards

And the specifics of handling contentious meetings:

G

set the stage: so people dont feel as soon as they enter room, that they are going into war zone; so eg arrange seating in informal circle without a table, establish rapport, engage in some light-hearted chit-chat at beginning; kick off meeting by openly reminding people the objective is a free, healthy debate of ideas, positions; assure team that conflict is normal, desirable; cite cases showing positive outcomes from conflict; set out parameters of problem to be solved so everyone is on task agree some rules of engagement: which everyone subscribes to; suggest eg, parties must listen to each other without interruption for up to 10 minutes; attempts to personalise arguments, undermine others are not allowed

LEADING FROM THE FRONT

CANDICE CARPENTER, founder, iVILLAGE: committed to always promoting an environment in which exchanges are open, debate highly favoured; Carpenter lets people debate ferociously with her as CEO and even people who call her ideas stupid still get their fair share of promotions, rewards; result: a freeing effect on organisation where people feel that while you respect everybody for their intellectual position, the intellectual exchange is without boundaries.
G

LETS WORK TOGETHER

WARREN STALEY, CEO, CARGILL: when took over, wanted to counter a very bad cultural habit; when top team discussed topic, people often felt pressured into agreeing decision; then, to show dissent, theyd spend all their time sabotaging its success; meant that one decision would go to and from top table several times over; then team agreed to commit to a Discuss, Decide, Support strategy: everyone is given fair hearing, decision is taken and everyone works to make it happen; decisions can still be tweaked, changed but the energy is focused on getting it to work.

watch for early warning signs: that conflict is heading into destructive territory; signs the debate is getting personal rather than issues-driven: emotions start to run high, reason goes out of window, people are eg raising their voices, making snide comments, physically withdrawing by eg sitting back in chairs, away from table, silent, with arms folded try to re-engage: by eg asking silent participants if theyd like to comment, thanking the
vocal for their contribution but inviting others to speak

insist on cooling-off period: if attempts to get meeting back on track have failed, emotions still run high; but make it clear you expect different tone at next meeting

12

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SUCCEEDING WITH IMPERFECTION

The final ingredient for enduring success: a set of personal qualities, attitudes that ensure action is sustained, goals are met, the personal journey advanced. But, contrary to the popular stereotype, there is no identikit personality to sum up highly effective, successful people. And they are not as unflawed as some seem to think. Some myths about top performers - they:
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Chapter 10

BUILDING SOMETHING STRONG FROM SOMETHING WEAK

CHARLES SCHWAB: handicapped by learning disabilities he has been able throughout his life to find a way round his handicap, turn it into a strength:
G

are unerringly positive: with boundless, reserves of optimism, energy, exuberant selfconfidence; but while thats true of some, such people are a rare breed

are very clever: but in most cases, their IQ is no higher, and often a good deal lower,
than average

never make big mistakes: when in fact making mistakes is part of the reason why
successful people get to be successful

have no major personal weaknesses: when some spend a lifetime struggling to keep
weaknesses, disabilities in check

Becoming your own hero

A peculiar feature of the modern world: heroes in all walks of life are expected to be perfect despite overwhelming evidence they never are. Time to remember what the heroes of Greek mythology, Shakespearean tragedies deftly illustrate:
G G
G

fell badly behind in first year at college; dreaded people finding out his secret, getting thrown out of college; then realised he could exchange his strengths with those of other people; he created team of students who could be subject matter experts; the collected competences rendered individual weaknesses less relevant in business his need to get help, rely on others ensured that unlike other entrepreneurs he never pretended he was, or should be, good at everything; gave birth to effective teamwork in his financial services firm he has designed his own coping strategies to deal with disability; eg, when giving speeches, he has each phrase of speech typed in different size, style so when he looks at page, words dont run together; but he also speaks more from heart than from script; as result comes across as interesting, highly effective, confident public speaker

imperfection, weakness, of itself, is rarely the cause of downfall its the persons relationship to the imperfection that can lead to their undoing
G

What you can learn from the successful about managing weaknesses:
G

dont deny your flaws

because denial is often used to mask personal fear; and the more someone fears something, the bigger the space the fear occupies in their minds, the more power it wields in their lives; in contrast, being open about weaknesses diminishes their psychological importance, puts person more in control, better able to deal with problem

dont wait for a cure

a common mistake: to think that you have to wait to feel good about yourself before you can take action; but its not self-belief that triggers action; its action that triggers self-belief; the more things you try, the more work you do, the more you accomplish, the more selfbelief, self-confidence grows
JOHN CHAMBERS, CEO, CISCO SYSTEMS: relied on Spartan work ethic to help him graduate second in high school class despite dyslexia
G

turn your flaws into something useful

a distinctive characteristic of effective people: they not only find creative, inventive ways to circumnavigate their weaknesses, they then use the new skills, knowledge they pick up along the way to their advantage, neatly turning what appears as a weakness in others into a strength for them; in this way, working with weakness uncovers special talents, presents a novel way for the successful to become uniquely different, to break away from the pack

even now he hates receiving, writing long memos; so chooses instead to see people, speak to them personally; means he has built strong relationships with employees, managers; has far more of feel for what is going on in organisation than he could get from memos, reports uses his dyslexia to create visual images of complex problems; result - he can often see issues more clearly, explain them more simply than other managers

success wont make you like what you hate doing

another misconception about the successful: theyre on easy street where magically, all the things they once hated doing, are now done easily, with no discomfort; but if you dont like eg making speeches now, the chances are you still wont when you make it

THE WILL TO LIVE

JACK LA LANNE: long-time US health, fitness king suffered from depression all his young life, attempted suicide at 15; then changed life, lives of others, by finding, promoting exercise, good nutrition; claims he still hates exercise but hasnt missed a workout for 70 years; why does he do it? its a necessary evil; at 92, he says its whats kept him alive.

The lesson to learn from Schwab and Chambers: what starts out as an embarrassment may be the seeds of your genius.

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13

LEARNING FROM FAILURE

DONT STOP, NEVER GIVE UP
ANDREW WILES, PROFESSOR OF MATHS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: at age of 10, encountered Fermats Last Theorem, a seemingly simple problem that had stumped mathematicians for 350 years; for more than three decades, he become obsessed with finding solution: when classmates were flocking to rock concerts, he was studying; at the start of his academic career when others were teaching, publishing, he set aside all but a few classes, and disguised his single-mindedness by rationing the publication of previously completed work; despite long hours he made little concrete progress; then in 1993 after seven straight years, 15,000 hours of intense work, Wiles stood up at a conference in England to present his Proof in three lectures; by the end of the year he was one of People magazines 25 Most Intriguing People of the Year; according to the New York Times only 1 in 1,000 professional mathematicians are capable of understanding his work; but its not his brains that the Princeton professor attributes his accomplishment to; its persistence.

Chapter 11

More about how the personal characteristics of successful people differ from those of the rest of the population - they are:
G

more open
ie they are more imaginative, more receptive to new ideas, keener to hear what others have to say about how they can achieve their goals

more willing to take risks

lots of people listen to new ideas; not so many are prepared to put their money where their mouth is and act on them

The paradoxical result: successful people are more at risk of failure and in most cases encounter more failures at work than other people. So whats the relationship between failure and success? Failure is:
G

the price of chasing success

because people can never feel successful if they have nothing to overcome

the ingredient that sweetens the taste of success

the essence of success is strangely defined through the experience of failure; the more difficult events build and intensify, the greater the sense of deep personal, professional satisfaction and success when difficulties are overcome

But failure also offers some useful lessons. For those who take heed, it can teach:
G

resilience: the quality now thought to be one of the most reliable predictors of outstanding
leaders; in one study, all successful leaders had experienced at least one intense, often traumatic crisis in their careers, all had allowed themselves to be changed by the experience; all believed, in retrospect, that what they learnt in the crisis improved their leadership skills, made them stronger, more robust characters

more about passion: because the pain of failure often forces people to question what they care about in work, life, to reconnect with core values better lessons than success: argued success often makes people sloppy, that failure is a much better teacher, eg car industry known for resting on laurels when business is going well; only when it falters does it scramble to listen to customers, make things better

HONEY, I BLEW UP THE FACTORY

JACK WELCH, EX-CEO, GE: the stuttering son of workingclass Irish immigrants, Welchs mother explained stutter as the inability of his words to keep up with speed of his intellect; arrived at GE fresh from PhD course aged 26 as confident young man; but his first major achievement at GE as lead engineer was to blow up the factory: the explosion sending the chemical reactor through the roof, glass flying everywhere, employees running for their lives; Welch was then sent to explain incident to top boss; but all boss seemed interested in was: how did the work go wrong, did Welch understand why, could he now design the commercial plant hed just blown up?; the boss in fact did nothing but bolster Welchs confidence; the lesson Welch learnt and applied throughout his GE leadership: never go after anyone when theyre down; applaud risk, draw out every bit of learning from failure.

Tips for handling failure:

G

confront disillusionment and negative emotions

dont feel you should be immune to criticism, negative reviews; disillusionment is an essential first stage in the journey out of failure back to success; means confronting failure, talking through emotions with people you trust, avoiding those who overreact, catastrophise events; aim is to define reality, talk through feelings, not search for solutions

be clear about what youve learnt

failure doesnt have to jeopardise success; making the same mistakes over and over does

focus on big picture

because if youve been able to identify your passion, a meaningful purpose, the will, energy to pull back from the brink and keep persevering will prevail

concentrate on what you can control

and relinquish control of what you cant

dont bother with blame

blame saps self-belief, power; turns person into victim; better to identify the good that can be extracted from experience than focus on who, what is responsible

let go of what doesnt work

eg manager who tried to make boss pay for mistakes of previous one, learnt he wouldnt win by punishing his new boss for what he didnt get from old one

14

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ARE YOU MANAGING YOURSELF WELL?

Below are a series of statements which will help you assess whether you are on the right road to lasting success. How strongly do you agree with them? (4 = I strongly agree; 1 = I strongly disagree). The higher the score, the greater your chance of fulfilment in work, life.

Chapter 12

SELF-SCORE

ASSESSING PASSION, MEANING, DIRECTION

G G G G

4
STRONGLY AGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

I love my work There is nothing I would change about my job I am living a purposeful life. I am making a difference at work, home, in my community I can name one major life experience that has clarified my understanding of what is meaningful in my life I spend time in reflection on a regular basis I can clearly articulate my work goals, dreams, long-term destination I would describe my goals at work as very challenging, even audacious I never change my mind about where it is I want to go; what I want to achieve. I only change how Im going to get there I would be happy doing this work for my whole working life

G G G G

ASSESSING STRENGTHS
G G G G G G G

I have a clear picture of my strengths and weaknesses I know what I can do better than anyone else and where I add unique value I have taken several independent tests to help me understand my strengths, weaknesses I regularly seek feedback from bosses, peers, staff, family, friends I always devote some quiet time to considering the feedback I receive I never take constructive criticism personally I spend more time developing my strengths than trying to combat my weaknesses

RISK AND FAILURE

G

I encourage open, honest, frank debate and listen carefully to what people say even if they disagree with my position I can name several major risks I have taken in the last year I allow myself some emotional healing time after failure I would describe myself as resilient, persevering

G G G

OUTSIDE WORK
G G

I have good relationships outside as well as inside work I have lots of hobbies, interests which help me recharge my batteries, restore my energy levels when I am tired, disappointed My family, friends would describe me as someone who has a passion and clear purpose in life and is successful in all the major areas of my life

Managing Yourself - The Leadership Skills Portfolio Series Entire contents Copyright Bulletpoint Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form is unlawful.

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REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

Ambition: Why Some People are Most Likely to Succeed J Kluger Time November 14 2005 A Cross-Cultural Exploratory Study of the Linkage Between Emotional Intelligence and Managerial Effectiveness F Shipper, J Kincald, D Rotondo & R Hoffman International Journal of Organizational Analysis Vol 11 Issue 3 2003 The Eighth Habit of Greatness S Covey Executive Excellence January 2005 Engaging Mind, Body and Spirit at Work J Salopek Training & Development November 2004 Finding Meaning in the Organization J Raelin MIT Sloan Management Review Spring 2006 Hiring For Smarts J Menkes Harvard Business Review November 2005 Leader Self-Awareness and its Relationship to Subordinate Attitudes D Moshavi, F William Brown & N Dodd Leadership and Organization Development Vol 24 Issue 7/8 2003 Managing Oneself P Drucker Harvard Business Review January 2005 The Motivational Effects of Goal-Setting G Latham Academy of Management Executive Vol 18 No 4 2004 Now Discover Your Strengths M Buckingham & D Clifton Pocket Books Business 2004 Reawakening Your Passion for Work R Boyatzis, A McKee & D Goleman Harvard Business Review April 2002 The Secrets of His Success E Fenner Fortune November 29 2004 The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People* S Covey Simon & Schuster UK Ltd 1989 Succeed On Your Own Terms* H Greenberg & P Sweeney McGraw Hill 2006 Success Built to Last - Creating a Life That Matters* J Porras, S Emery & M Thompson Pearson Education Ltd 2007 There Must Be More to Work Than This S Overell Financial Times May 2004 What Great Managers Do M Buckingham Harvard Business Review March 2005 What Should I Do With My Life? P Bronson Fast Company December 2004 The Winning Edge P Doskock & C Flora Psychology Today November/December 2005 * Indicates books
Managing Yourself is published by Bulletpoint Communications Limited, Furness House, 53 Brighton Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 6RD, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1737 231431. Fax: +44 (0)1737 231432. Entire contents Copyright Bulletpoint Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form is unlawful. This publication reflects a synthesis of the references listed. Any opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Bulletpoint. Bulletpoint may occasionally make its subscriber list available to top quality third parties; please contact us if you do not want to receive their information. ISSN 1350-3197 Cover photograph supplied by photos.com
G G G G G

BULLETPOINT FOCUS REPORTS

The Leadership Skills Portfolio

OTHER REPORTS:

Communication Skills Appraising Performance Motivating for Success Building Employee Initiative Energising the Workforce Making Change Stick

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BULLETPOINT FOCUS REPORTS

FOR THE THINKING MANAGER

Managing Yourself

2 G 3 G

Managing in a New Age The Recipe for Effectiveness Why Self-awareness Matters What do I Mean by Success? Finding What You Love Doing Building on Strengths Action Through Goals Getting More Out of Time Leveraging Conflict Succeeding with Imperfection Learning from Failure Are You Managing Yourself Well? References & Further Reading

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5 G

6 G

8 G 10 G 11 G

12 G 13 G

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The Leadership Skills Portfolio

REPORT 2

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MANAGING YOURSELF
Do you know what it takes to be highly effective at work? Do you know what questions you need to ask, what issues you need to address to achieve fulfilment and lasting success in your career? The answers may be surprising. Chances are its not a lack of technical competence that will de-rail your ambitions. Its a lack of selfknowledge, a poor sense of direction and an unhelpful thinking style that will eventually sabotage your dreams, and leave you disillusioned with work.

BULLETPOINT FOCUS REPORTS I N S I G H T

INSPIRATION

This is not a report about the hard skills required for leadership and management. Its about the soft personal qualities that every leader needs to explore and develop if they want to make a difference. In particular the report focuses on:
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understanding the value of self-awareness: and how its linked to effectiveness the imperative search for passion and meaningful purpose: and why its at the heart of everything successful leaders do and say identifying personal strengths and managing weaknesses: because its only by knowing and using your strengths that you can achieve your goals how to take effective action: through goal-setting, the purposeful use of time

SOLUTIONS
K N O W L E D G E
IN JUST

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PAGES

And if youre still not sure youre on the right track, the report ends with a questionnaire to help you assess, and then begin your journey to a more fulfilling work life.