Cleaned My Desk Today

That is a good Friday feeling.  Wow, it was a tough week. 

I put on my coat, and after placing the wooden hangar on the silver hook mounted on the back of my door, I glanced  into the office, and it felt, oh, so good.  My wife was working late on this Friday, and it gave me a rare opportunity to get things in order.  

Typically, if I stay late on weekdays, the other offices and cubies are filled with colleagues.  Some are busy crunching those final touches on their reports, presentations, or research.  Other work spaces are occupied with the golden children, making certain they are seen working late by the correct people who can continue to support their career climb based on others thinking they put in so many long hard hours.  The rest of the office is cluttered with socializers with no where else to go.  Either way, it makes serious evening work difficult.  

There’s always that 6:30 knock accompanied by “hey, got a minute?”...Actually no, I don’t, but I guess because you already interrupted me, I can give you the other 45 seconds too.  Or there’s noise, commotion, or just other stuff making it difficult to focus on my stuff.  However, on Friday night, when no one wants to be around it was my time.  The other “weekday lions” had better things to do tonight.  It was the beginning of a great weekend.  I was the winner, marked by their absence. 

So on this Friday evening, as I glanced back after putting on my coat, I marveled at such a proud site.  My desk was clean, carrying a remarkable reflection from the 28th floor window overlooking the bright lights of an active city.  Casual onlookers might exclaim, “wow, look, he has a desk with a wooden top”!  Or, “better check the dumpster, he must have filled it.”  

But this time they were all wrong.  No dumpster diving, no desk designing.  Soon, they would all know where the stacks, files, and post it notes went.  This time rather than re-stack, file, or organize the yellows and blues, I actually found a better home for everything that had cluttered my desk while I was busy spending my week being important. This time I Delegated. 

Ah yes, the fine art of delegation.  It’s one of the time honored traditions and trappings that come with success.  You work hard, you get promoted, people work for you, and now you can delegate.  Delegate...I grew up thinking that meant giving people who work for you all the stuff you don't want to do, can’t do, or don’t have time to do.  Sometimes I learned delegating must have been a form of punishment towards people Boss’s didn’t like, or minions that had done something wrong, and now had to pay the price.

Somewhere, I learned delegating meant something more.  When I began to realize the value of hiring great people on my Team, [see “Hiring Up” http://bit.ly/gdPQvG from March 22, 2010] this delegating thing began to take a new shape and a new, more profound meaning.  What if...you actually invited people on your team to become engaged in each-others work?  What if you took this idea a step further and actually invited others to become engaged in your work? And just think, what if you made this work meaningful, made certain your team understood the assignment, motivated them, gave them feedback along the way, and shared in the rewards of a job well done?  I know this sounds crazy, but what if you didn’t micromanage their work?

Well, you’re probably already a step ahead of me in understanding where this thought took me. When I assess why I have been successful, in addition to hiring people smarter than me, I became passionate about engaging them in my work, my success, and my rewards.

Thinking back to that clean wooden desk, it was more than simply finding a better home for all the clutter. I very carefully considered who could help me champion each of these important tasks. Because if I was going to delegate these tasks and projects, they must’ve been important. Being an important task or project was only the beginning. Knowing it was meaningful, I need to make certain my team member had 100% clarity of the project. Realizing each of my employees was different than the other I had to consider what might motivate this employee to be as excited about this project as I was. I decided to make certain I could step up to the plate and help them along the way, (without micromanaging) because in the end I too wanted to make certain there was success to share.  

A Team member empowered through great delegation, will go a long way to ensure success...for them, the organization, and also for me.

1. Who has an uncluttered desk and empowered employees?
2. What can you do to delegate better?
3. Where do you learn how to delegate?
4. When is the best time to begin to delegate?
5. How can you empower employees when delegating?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Life Is Full Of Choices…Make One.

Collaboration...Teamwork...Delegation...Job Sharing...Cooperation...Empower...Partnership...Compromise...and the list goes on.  What do these words have in common?  Potentially they mean - “nothing gets decided”.  

These terms of the day, are all the rage.  However, inclusion of your Team and your Associates is more of an art than a science.  Because, all of this talk of sharing in the decision seems to also slow down the process of actually making a decision.

I was asked to help a new leader assimilate into her role.  It sounded simple enough as she had been an important part of the success of this office.  

Cynthia was the ideal choice to be promoted to Lead the regional office.  She had been with this industry leader for 15 years.  Her resume carried all the necessary signs of success.  Double major in marketing and business, an MBA, and high grades from her Team in her 360 reviews.  The Succession Planning program had highlighted the competency gaps between her current strengths and this new position.  An accelerated development program closed the gap quite nicely over the past 15 months.  Everyone loved Cynthia.  

During the assimilation we found mostly support for her and few surprises to work through in her Coaching agenda.  Although, I did feel some level of caution in my mind with one particular topic.  It seemed that everyone loved Cynthia too much.  Think about it.  Hasn't every leader you have followed had some flaw?  Hasn't every leader done something to promote some level of distaste or second guessing?  

I spent some time with the group trying to bring out this concern.  After some difficult pushing, pulling, and dragging, it finally came to me.  The culture of this office had slowly eroded to a picture perfect example of passive aggressiveness.  Everyone was afraid or unwilling to make a decision on their own, and the success of group meetings was built on a foundation of alliances, and coffee talk, making certain no one would be offended by the resulting group decisions.  Yes, everyone loved Cynthia.  She was  gifted at being passive, able to stay out of the fray of decision making.

I decided to let the group move in their chosen direction.  But, we agreed I would visit again for a followup in a month or two.  In advance of my planned re-visit, I was called by the home office to listen to their anxiety driven story.  It seems Cynthia's office was in trouble.  Production was down, customer service inquiries were diving downward, two key producers had quit, and their exit interviews told the story of an office frozen with no direction, no leadership, no answers to key questions, and day to day issues with no purposeful resolve.

As the group came into our room, the look was indeed different.  It was amazing how quickly the aggressive side to their culture had taken control.  This was one group of unhappy people.  But  everyone still seemed to love Cynthia.

Through our group discussions, and some affinity group coaching exercises, I was able to help the group reach some important conclusions.  Cynthia was not Leading;

• Don’t get me wrong, she was a Visionary, but what good is her Vision when the walls are crumbling around you after only 60 days on the job?
• She had Charisma.  Everyone still loved Cynthia.  Amidst the turmoil, Cynthia was still the fun one to be with.
• Cynthia was still Driven To Succeed.   She was the first one in the office, the last one to leave at the end of the day, and made it quite clear she logged more miles and met with more customers than anyone else in the office.  As the walls were tumbling down, Cynthia needed to make certain her own numbers were still up.  
• Cynthia was protecting the Relationships she had created over her 15 years with the company.  Relationships are important to a Leader...but at what cost?

Yes, Cynthia still had many good competencies and behaviors of a Leader.  But something was indeed lacking?

Cynthia had established a very rigid schedule of group and team meetings.  She had opened each meeting with a quick discussion of the words which would be key to their success.

• Collaboration...
• Teamwork...
• Delegation...
• Job Sharing...
• Cooperation...
• Empower...
• Partnership...
• Compromise.  

Yes, it’s those words again.  But one key phrase was missing.  She was ignoring the focus of “Decision Making”.  

Nothing was getting done.  It may have been a small symptom of a larger problem, it may have been a customer complaint, or it may have been a blowup between key employees.  But on this day, we came to realize Cynthia was not making a decision as their leader on most topics that came her way.

Yes, yes, yes...these are great words.  These are wonderful sets of Teamwork ideology.  But lets face it.  Someone must make a decision.  In the end, (or perhaps in the beginning, or even midstream) The Leader must be decisive.  The Rare Leader™ must be able to assess, analyze, and move toward a  solution using instincts, and be willing to take a risk where the absence of facts makes the better decision.  Life is full of choices…make one.

1. Who is responsible to make the decision?
2. What decisions never seem to be made?
3. Where can you go if you need to resolve a question?
4. When will you start making Decisions?
5. How will you change your behavior of avoiding decision making?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Connecting The Dots...

He handed me the envelope.  It was sealed, dated, and said simply Steve.  “Save this and open it when we finish our work” he said, with a slight upturned grin.

4 months earlier, Vince and I began collaborating on a strategic planning project.  Several weeks ago, he gave me this envelope.  Knowing him as well as I did, I knew this had something to do with the project.  So into my briefcase went the letter sized envelope, almost forgotten until today. 

Today, we met with the CEO to present our final report and recommendations.  We were very prepared.  Our respective Teams had done their research, compiled data, and aggressively challenged each other on options and final paths.  We were confident of the new direction the Organization needed to go, and now we needed to convince the Charismatic leader.  

As Vince offered a brief introduction of our agenda, I placed the thick deck in front of him.  The CEO placed his hands around the binder, and then slowly let it fall back on the table.  “Guys”, he said, “I want to take a brief diversion.  It may change the course of your recommendation”.  Great, I thought.  We did all of this careful work, and the CEO had been holding out some important information we should have considered.  But we did our homework.   We had open access to everything.  What else could there be?

The CEO’s eyes focused carefully on each of us in this moment of silence that seemed to last 15 minutes, and then spoke strongly and slowly...“I have decided to resign”.

Separate from our work, the CEO had realized the Organization needed to go in a direction he was not prepared or interested to lead.  His self assessment of his skills, his passions, and his own personal goals made it clear to him it was time for a change.

The meeting took an obvious turn, and the CEO was correct.  Throughout the next 45 minutes, he was able to predict almost every recommendation and path our Teams had decided upon.  The plan met his approval, but with his imminent departure, there was now an additional step required to make it succeed.

As we drove away together, I was still a bit shocked.  One of the issues Vince and I struggled with, was a concern about the CEO being able to successfully lead this new venture.  But how did he know?  Vince asked me if I still had the envelope he gave me.  I reached into my crowded briefcase and there it was, still sealed.  I carefully slid my pen under the glued seal and tore it open.  Inside was one piece of yellow legal pad paper, tri-folded.  I opened the page and there were three words printed in Vince’s handwriting.  “He will resign”.

“What?  How?  How did you know?”  I immediately thought the two of them had colluded, speaking secretly behind me.  Vince said, “I just have this ability to connect the dots.  I can’t explain how, or why, but I see things coming together very quickly and over the years, I have been correct most of the time”. 

I reminded myself that Vince was himself a retired President, CEO, and Board Chair of several very successful organizations. “But how did the CEO know” I asked?  

This CEO is a remarkable Leader.  On one hand he knows the organization, and the business very well.  All the research and data we collected and analyzed, he either knew previously or sensed.  While he sees the successes and achievements, he also lives with daily stress, roadblocks, and frustrations.  Think about the number of balls he is juggling at one time.  But most importantly, he has a wonderful ability to focus.  He takes all of these details and visionary trends both big and small, and like puzzle pieces, fits them all into the big picture.  

On the other hand, he knows himself.  He knows his strengths.  But most importantly he understands his weaknesses.  And in the end, he knows when it is time to walk away, and look for the next challenge he will passionately pursue towards success.

It’s like connecting the dots I asked?  “Yes...It’s just like connecting the dots...the correct dots.”

These are two Leaders who can accept and promote the ambiguity of leadership.  They can connect the dots, and put all the pieces together into the puzzle.  But most of all, as a Rare Leader™, they also instill this into their Team.

1. Who do you follow that can “connect the dots”?
2. What does it mean to “connect the dots”?
3. Where can you see “connecting the dots” as a leadership behavior?
4. When will you begin to “connect the dots”?
5. How can “connecting the dots” help you Lead?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

You Annoy Me! (But I have to Lead you anyway)

I was spending the afternoon riding in the car with a good friend.  This long trip could have been more expedient with a short flight, but my host was a road warrior, and he loved the drive.  

As we cruised comfortably at 70, I realized he also had an another motive.  He was considering retirement and was now looking back on his very successful sales career.  Knowing of my work with successful leaders and business owners, he asked me a striking question.  “Steve”, he quietly said...”what do you think is missing?  I mean, I’ve had quite a great career.  I want nothing more financially, and I have more respect than I deserve.  But what do you think Steve?  Based on your experiences with business leaders, is there one more mountain I should climb?  Is there one more war to win?  Should I close one more rainmaker?”

We had an engaging discussion of what might have been, what could be, and while we laughed, and we thought deeply, we were very open and honest.  I laughed the hardest at his response to a simple question.  I asked him if why he had never considered a position in management.  Never at a loss for rapid answers, he raised his voice and said “Cause they annoy me”.   They annoy you, I probed?  Yes...Yes, those people who don’t do it right.  Those people who always have stupid questions, those people who are lazy, those people who have no drive to achieve, those people who, who...Yes I said.  I get it.  People who would work for you would annoy you?  “Actually I find them quite frustrating” he said.  “I would not be a good Leader.”

I thought this was fascinating.  Not that he was annoyed by other people, but the concept that perhaps all high flyers, or all high achievers are annoyed by others they perceive are not up to their level.  But some of these potentially annoyed high flyers  are Leaders.  And some of them are very successful leaders.

So I ventured out into the world of these high flying achievers who were also successful Leaders and asked 2 questions.

1. Do you find some of the people you lead to be annoying?  (the universal answer was nearly 100% Yes)
2. How do you overcome the distraction of this annoyance?  (the answers to question #2 were not so simple)

Ahhh - How to overcome the distraction of being annoyed by the people you lead?  That is the question of the day.

In no particular order, here’s what I heard.

1. Because I have to...It’s my job. (ouch)
2. I believe in developing others.
3. I insulate myself from others when ever I can. (ooooh)
4. I love being around my Team.  I look to their innocence and inexperience as a grounding for me.
5. I have always felt the ability to be patient, and sensitive to others.
6. Leaders must believe others have untapped potential.  It’s my responsibility to find it.
7. If I respect and expect the best, they will learn and succeed...(and also stop annoying me)
8. If I show them I believe in them, they will reciprocate and follow me.
9. I listen without bias, using my eyes and feelings, and I reflect back to them what I heard them say.
10. I remember when I was there when I was younger...(and I knew I annoyed my boss)

In the end, the real truth is, we do get annoyed by others, but if we are expected to Lead, we must overcome this distraction.  After all, showing others we have the ability to handle frustrations such as annoying people, while at the same time we juggle lots of balls, manage stress, and keep the big picture in view, is part of what makes us a Rare Leader™.

1. Who annoys you at work?
2. What do you do to overcome the distraction of annoying people?
3. Where can you make a difference in someones life?
4. When can you change your attitude about people who annoy you?
5. How will you develop those who annoy you today?

      

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

War and Peace...or is it Peace and War

If you are looking for the latest discussion of Napoleon, Nicholas Rostov, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostov, or Princess Helene, you’ve googled the wrong War and Peace.  Tolstoy needed four volumes to tell the of the disastrous 1812 Russian invasion as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.  

We’ll identify the qualities and behaviors of a Rare Leader™ during Times Of Peace, and also during Times Of War, in a more abbreviated fashion.  So, why not read on.

Beginning in the later 1980’s, I realize I had switched my learning emphasis from technical topics such as labor negotiation strategies, self funded underwriting of medical benefit plans, or regulations relative to the financial securities industry.  My study interests shifted towards a discovery of why people are successful, and more specifically, who leads people to success...and how? 

We were coming off an explosion of interest in China.  Venture capitalism, technology, and restructuring the corporation were the rage.  But there was not really a focus on the competencies of leadership.  Historically, Leadership had grown out of the top producer being awarded from great achievements in sales, engineering, or finance with a promotion to the coveted corner office.  

Leadership was ill defined, and success in the roaring 90’s came a bit easier when the economy and business was good.  These Leaders were leading in Times Of Peace.  

I have read many books on Leadership.  Perhaps too many.  Early on, theories of Collaborative Leadership emerged, encouraging skills and attributes for cross boundary success.    Interpersonal connections were replacing formal systems of process. After all, who would argue against the common theory of “two heads are better than one”?  

When  the economy was strong, business was going well, and growth came as a natural progression, collaborative Leadership became a hallmark of success.  Transparency, open door policies, long term strategic planning, delegation, team building and even more theories expounded upon in the leading business books, encouraged this style of collaborative open decision making while in Times Of Peace.

Hello Recession...The times are a changing.  More, and more I see successful organizations able to react tactically, as they continue to find new avenues of success.  But with the problem solving process shortened, and economic challenges demanding fast decisive decisions, Leaders find themselves altering their behaviors of leading others.  

Sometimes, Leaders simply have to make decisions on their own.  This does not encourage a fall back to closed door meetings with secret agendas.  But it does encourage more strategic preparedness and interaction between key employees helping to prepare their Leader to be more decisive on behalf of the Team in these Times Of War.  Preparation, open discussions, careful research, communication, and support of individual decisions have become the bugle of a new call to arms.

A new competency of leadership has emerged.  The Rare Leader™ who has balance, poise, and ability to maintain composure through ups and downs, and  knows when to apply intellectual intelligence and maturity can Lead in times of both War and Peace.  The Rare Leader™ can not only differentiate between the two, but has the ability to draw upon both skill sets when needed, to Lead others.

Do you have this level of Emotional Stability as a Leader?

1. Who do you know that can lead effectively in times of both War and Peace?
2. What can you do to build your competencies to lead to during both Peace and in these times of War?
3. Where do you see success from Leadership in times of War?
4. When will you switch your style of leadership for these times of War?
5. How do you switch from the attributes of leadership during peace, to the skills needed to lead in these times of War?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Stuck In The Moment

I left a lengthy session with a client deeply involved in their strategic planning process.  When I say deeply, I mean way over the top.  They asked me to help them finish the plan.  They felt they were too close to the task at hand to hold themselves accountable to the finish line.

This is a company that has experienced great growth.  Ownership felt they needed to put some type of plan together rather than run in the direction of hot sales as they have on the past.  

So here they are - planning, and planning, and planning.  Meanwhile, the world and all of those hot sales are passing them by.  Everyone is committed to planning, leaving no one to keep the business flowing.  Operations are slowing down, designs  contain more errors, and the road warriors are not on the road selling.  All the key players are focused on planning their future.  And, just as they dove in and pursued the hot sales during the infancy of their company, they are now driven and focused on the planning efforts.  However, they have become “stuck in the moment” of all the planning...and they “can’t get out of it”.

In Leadership, there is a time to realize the balance between planning and execution needs an adjustment.  Todd the CEO, realized this at the quarterly review when studying the running 12 month reports on sales, backlog, errors, and manufacturing.  

Then he called me...

As we worked through activities of the past few months, it was clear the collaboration process and Team involvement on the strategic plan had taken leadership control away from Todd.  We worked through the symptoms to the core issues.  Todd found his leadership had been absent while he was allowing all the planning activities to take over the momentum of his Team away from their focus on execution.  

Todd was faced with two challenges.  First, he needed to get his Team engaged in the tasks at hand.  Secondly, the Team needed to put some of their planning to work and begin to execute some of their action steps.  

As time has passed, Todd is leading again.  Sales are coming in.  Quality is on track.  Manufacturing is in process.  And, there are  some elements of the strategic plan completed.

The Rare Leader™ is able to blend all twelve of the key behaviors, and balance them with, and against each other.  

The Rare Leader™ is also able to 

discern the fragile balance between planning and execution.

1. Are you “Stuck in the Moment”?
2. When you are stuck, are you able to “get out of it”?
3. How do you prevent getting “stuck”
4. What tools and resources can you use to identify and maintain the proper balance between planning and execution?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Taking One For The Team

Have you ever heard this acclamation?  

Someone feels so self involved that they need to declare that their action is necessarily not their first choice, but is for the benefit of others.  Why not add “praise me” to the end of the statement?  After all, isn’t that what you’re asking?  

You’ve let people know you’re taking action for their benefit but not yours, and it is outside of your character to do so.  Is this also declaring that what you’re doing is the “right thing”, but not “your thing”?  

Why can’t your actions simply be the “right thing”.  Does it matter who it is benefitting?  And, if you need to declare this as an unusual act, do you really need to ask for praise?  Are you that type of leader that craves feedback at this level?  If the answer is yes, you may want to sign out of this blog.  The challenges for you to become a Rare Leader™ will become too great over the next 9 months of study in our series together.  

Or, does this make you feel uncomfortable that you may have declared “taking one for the Team” in the past, and you now realize that it may not have been a moment of your greatest declaration of leadership?  Then I would invite you to continue to work with us.  

I find many “would be leaders” I have worked with to seriously stumble at this stage of discovering their gaps of developing as a Rare Leader™.  We can continue to develop your Visionary skills.  We can learn together to find a comfort level with being Decisive.  We can study the elements of better Delegation and encourage you to share your high Drive for Achievement.  

However, if you really have no core of Character that speaks to Integrity, then we have a point of disconnect.  

You are not alone.  We have all been challenged at some point in our lives to do the right thing, because we know its the right thing.  But life is full of decisions, and you must make one.  Will it be the right decision?

I was faced with such a challenge several years ago.  I was climbing the ladder of personal success in my career.  I had risen above comments from doubters about how a “school teachers kid with a music degree” could make it in a tough competitive business organization.  But I did succeed.  

Looking back I am confident I possessed many of the behaviors of the Rare Leader™ at this young age.  At my professional crossroads a question of Integrity was put before me.  

I worked for an organization that used the quote from their founder to guide everything they did.  He stated “customers will forgive you for errors of judgment, but they won’t forgive you for errors of motive, and we must have honesty in our business dealings and integrity in everything we do.”  

I was asked to take career ending action against several members of my Team.  It was clear this demand from my Leader had questionable motives and clearly was not a shining moment of honesty.  As the deadline for my response came due, my answer was clear as I submitted my resignation.  I could have made a bold statement that I took one for the team as I carried my personal things out the door, but I didn’t.  I learned that day that doing the right thing is simply the right thing to do.

Lets agree today, to stop taking one for the Team.   Next time...do the right thing, because it is the right thing.  You will be taking a bold step on your way to becoming a Rare Leader™.

1. Can you name a time you felt you “took one for the Team”?

If yes, was it really just the “right thing to do”?

2. Will you continue to follow me, and study the next 9 behaviors of the Rare Leader™?

3. Send me your stories of Integrity of Character.  If you want to remain anonymous from the blog readers, send it to me at steve@ovationleadership.com

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Hiring up

They always said the key to being a successful manager, is being smart enough to hire people smarter than I am. 

You have probably thought this through when hiring new people to work on your Team.  After all, the gaps that appear as we get older are pretty obvious.  How do we keep up with technology?   How do we absorb all of the changing data?  How do we begin to understand every product detail?  

Yes, we become so much smarter when we are willing to leave our ego at the door and bring new people to our Team who are smarter thane we are. But what does “smarter” really mean?  How is “smarter” defined?  

Is it all about the craft of the job?  Is it about engineering, finance, economics, design, marketing, chemistry, and technology?  What about Character?  Does it also make sense to hire people with more Integrity of their Character than we might believe we possess?  

If the theory about surrounding ourselves with smarter people makes us as leaders collectively smarter, than could it be true; that if we surround ourselves with a Team who thinks and acts out of a core belief of morals, values and ethics, that we might grow as a Leader with Integrity of Character?

I have been very fortunate to have worked with enormously successful Teams.  I credit my earlier successes to my Teams.  When challenged, I prided myself at saying...”I’m not sure of the answer...I’m just a school teachers kid”.  I loved the cynical answer I would offer when the brightest and the best of the senior leaders would challenge me, knowing I had much more humble beginnings than they had.  

But, I would always have the answer.  The answer was typically better than correct, and I built a reputation of someone you could count on.  But it was no secret that my Team was the key to my success.  We’ll talk more later on assembling that great team.  

How did I continuously assemble such great teams?  What was my secret sauce?

Here’s the recipe to my secret sauce.  I

 hire by the “rule of three C’s”.  

Core, Character, Craft.

When I set out to hire a new Team member, I focus on a discovery of what the candidate feels is the vitality of their core.  The core is that essence of why they believe they are given this wonderful opportunity to live the life they have been given.  This is where values, ethics, and morals are formed and realized.  That is...the Core of the candidate.  

Character is how the candidate can prove they “walk the talk”.  If they found values, morals, and ethics within their Core, then what choices do they make every moment, to live out this Core of who they are?  This is...the Integrity of their Character.

Craft is the easy part.  This is the intellectual side of the career journey.  Craft is the essence of learning, and experience  achieved through school, training, work experience, and applying aptitude.  The missing portions of their Craft can probably be acquired through additional training and other experiences.  But I have no ability to change Core and Character.  They either have it, or they don’t.  And If candidates do not have Integrity of their Character, I do not want them on my Team.

This secret sauce brings me great team members.  If the theory about surrounding myself with people better than me is true, then I have also surrounded myself with people who have a higher level of Integrity in their Character than I might have.  As a group, we’re contagious with each other, and we hold each other accountable to a new level of success. 

As a Rare Leader™, Integrity of Character is where we begin!

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Integrity of Character

Character of The Rare Leader™ represents the sum of his or her  very core. Values, experience, knowledge and wisdom complete the dimension of “who I am”.  The combination of morality, values and ethics create a strength your Character consistent of being true to values, and doing the right thing because it is the right thing.  This inner strength enables Teams and organizations to trust their leader, whose Character embodies this knowledge, comfort, and trust of their own personal Core.  

In the Rare Leader™, we call this Integrity of Character.

Integrity of Character embodies the Golden Rule, because it represents every gift of morality, value, and ethics we would hope to receive from others.  Kurt Senske in his book Executive Values stresses a roadmap exists for incorporating faith and values into organizational and business life.  Kurt professes “vision acts” where companies and leaders indicate and show a reality behind their words of acclamation of doing what is morally and ethically right.  When we as leaders make claim to Integrity, we better be ready and willing to walk the talk.

Jim Collins talks about the Integrity of Character in his bestseller Good To Great.  “In a good to great transformation, people are not your most important asset.  The right people are.” Good to Great companies place a greater weight on character attributes than on specific education, practical skills, knowledge, or experience.  

We found in the teachings of Marcus Buckingham that these skill based traits are teachable.  Character traits are ingrained.  Integrity of Character is the true measure of how you bring the core of your life to the surface for you, and those who choose to follow you.

This month our study of Integrity of Character will be exciting.  I  know it will make some people uncomfortable.  But maybe that’s how we discover and claim new opportunities for ourselves.  Integrity of Character is truly one of the remarkable behaviors of the Rare Leader™.  Join in on the blog.  E-mail us, and make certain your following us on Twitter.

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Is Charisma your Hero?

February is nearing an end.  I pause and look at the beautiful fresh snow in my yard, and think of the perfection in front of me.  No two flakes alike...Is that true of people?  Is that true of Leaders?

Charisma is one of the twelve behaviors of a Rare Leader™.  I look back on the variations of Charisma I have seen in just the past month and yes, - no two leaders are alike.  Here’s one example.

I was introduced to an aspiring rising star recently.  Going into the meeting, my host said, “I think you will really enjoy meeting her, she has unbelievable Charisma”.  My client friend knows of this study of the Rare Leader™ and our current pause at Charisma.  He wanted me to meet someone that he and others  frankly could not get enough of.

She and I had a wonderful first meeting.  It was as my host had predicted, almost as if we knew each other for years.  After  lunch, our host left us to the real reason for her request to see me.  She was seeking me out for some Executive Coaching advice.  As I waded through my quick assessment techniques, she quickly opened up to me.  “Look”, she said “Let me cut to the bottom line - I am about to lose my job and I never saw it coming.  I need to understand what went wrong...what did I do?”

Asking her to describe her background, her career, her passions, her high points and low points, she seemed to focus on knowing the right people, being with the right people, doing the right things with the right people, and had very little to say about putting her craft, skills and experiences to work.  Karen was an example of a rising star who fell in love with her own popularity and in all honesty, stopped working.  She did what came natural.  She used her eyes and her facial expressions to draw people in to an engaging conversation.  Her ability to remember the names of everyone who walked into a room was uncanny.    She made it a priority to be at the right place or event to be around the right people.  For Karen, she did not have to try to develop her Charisma.  My friend was correct.  She had it.

Trusting that her Charisma could make people believe she performed at a high level took Conger and Kanungo’s study of Characteristic Leadership into a new corner of the Leadership snowflake.

What Karen forgot to recognize, is that Charisma also needs to be authentic.  Authenticity is not limited growing Charisma from your heart, but it also means being authentic in what you do at work and at play, in essence your Craft, as well as what you do   with your Character.  Karen had in effect found herself guilty of an abuse of power of her dynamic Charisma.  She had made everyone around her believe she must be this good at work too.  But eventually it did catch up to her, and it cost her a nice career.

Where’s the lesson here?  Rather than focus on what Karen did wrong, let’s focus on the hero of the story.  Charisma is a very powerful behavior.  As Karen found, she could persuade everyone to believe whatever she wished about her job performance...temporarily.  This powerful behavior comes with responsibility.  Next month we will explore Character, and in future months we will look at the remaining nine behaviors  including Planning, Achievement, and Decisiveness.  The Rare Leader™ uses all of the twelve behaviors in a positive way, for the collective good of their Team, their organization, and themselves.  Charisma becomes a powerful and important tool in the Rare Leader™ tool box when Leading others in their Vision, making decisions, setting goals, and achieving success.

Next week we move on in our journey to study Character.  Number 3 in our detailed look into the 12 behaviors of the Rare Leader™.  But, while your waiting, try out this weeks questions.

1. How can you make Charisma a “hero” in your career?
2. How do you remain engaged in both Character and Craft as you grow your career?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.