Here’s one for you org behaviorists out there.

I’ve been thinking about this for awhile: An organization’s values, strategy, culture and competency model should all be the same.

When asked their opinion of the above, a smarty I know said they thought it too extreme. He sees the organization as a tree and the values, strategy, culture, and competencies as different branches. Different branches of the same mighty oak, all contributing to the organism’s growth but not exactly the same. Made sense to me.

But then I came across the HBR article from awhile back, The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It described Jobs’ famous devotion to simplicity. He constantly pushed until the essence of whatever product Apple was developing was reached and anything unnecessary was eliminated. Cutting clutter was always a focus, resulting in elegant devices that include the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

What else needs to be said?

Now I’m even more convinced that an organization’s values, strategy, culture and competency model should be boiled down, de-cluttered, clarified, and yes, be the same.

Simplify.
Align.

Your thoughts?

Clouds over the Atlantic Ocean

My change playlist is for life in a world of rapid change. It’s also a good idea to take time to recharge so we can better handle the day to day craziness.

Do you know what really recharges you? Only you can answer that one. I asked some friends what they do to relax and rejuvenate in these times and here’s what a few of them said:

• walk in the woods
• meditate
• stare at the ocean
• yoga
• church
• a long run
• spa day
• massage
• hanging with friends, family and/or kids
• reading

For me, it’s a music festival. Figure out what you need and schedule it. You have to make it happen because rarely is anyone else going to do that for you.

Don’t skimp on this one if you’re in for the long term.

I would love to know what you do to really recharge.

always a good day at the fest

I am so looking forward to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this weekend and next because it is a time of inspiration and renewal. For the jazzfest faithful, the fest is a spiritual cleansing and creative catalyst.

Music.Is.Powerful.

Are you re-inventing? Or, I guess the better question would be Who’s NOT re-inventing right now? That’s life in a world of rapid change.

You can harness the inspirational power of music to support and fuel transition. How so? Stop listening to anything that reminds you of the situation you are leaving – whatever you’re done with – and listen to something different. Does not have to be new music, just new to you. Don’t forget about Pandora and Spotify as low cost, no cost sources for new and different music.

NPR featured songs about change in a story last week.

Below is my always growing list of songs about change. Make yourself a change playlist and then listen to it a lot.

And, don’t stop thinking about tomorrow…

• A Change Would Do You Good – Sheryl Crow
• Roll the Bones – RUSH
• Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac (especially the version on The Dance featuring the USC marching band)
• I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty
• The Power of Goodbye – Madonna
• Owner of a Lonely Heart – Yes
• Uprising – Muse
• Sing the Changes – The Fireman
• Roll with the Changes – REO Speedwagon
• I Will Not Be Broken – Bonnie Raitt
• Fly One Time – Ben Harper and Relentless7
• Above the Bones – Mishka
• Brand New Day – Sting
• Cool Change – Little River Band
• Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) – George Harrison
• Dog Days are Over – Florence + Machine
• Changes – David Bowie
• Hold On – Wilson Phillips
• Big Girls Don’t Cry – Fergie
• Burning Down the House – Talking Heads
• Already Gone – Sugarland
• You Get Knocked Down – Chumbawumba
• Should I Stay or Should I Go? – The Clash
• You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – Lisa Marie Presley
• Changes IV – Cat Stevens
• Everybody’s Changing – Keane
• Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys
• Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise – Avett Brothers
• A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
• What Doesn’t Kill You – Kelly Clarkson
• Not Ready to Make Nice – Dixie Chicks

Would love to know your favorite songs of change.

view of a kaleidoscope

The other day we tried a nearby restaurant that recently opened. The manager greeted us when we entered and then he walked to the back and chewed out the waitress in plain sight. We stood there embarrassed, trying to figure out if we needed to be seated or order at the register. The waitress ran right past me with big tears in her eyes. Later, after we sat down, I heard the manager in the kitchen yelling “I’m not being mean; I’m a good teacher and coach! Nobody wants direction anymore”. I wrote it on a napkin so I wouldn’t forget his exact words.

The Ohio State Leadership Studies of the 1950s identified two main factors or leadership behaviors – initiating structure and consideration. This restaurant incident is an example of initiating structure – a manager defining actions and how tasks should be accomplished. Consideration refers to interpersonal and relationship behaviors such as being friendly, approachable, treating others as equals, and showing concern for people’s welfare. It was not demonstrated.

In terms of emotional intelligence, one of the most popular leadership concepts today, this manager seems low in social skills (i.e., managing relationships to achieve desired outcomes) as well as empathy (i.e., understanding other’s feelings). These are two of the five original dimensions of EQ identified by Daniel Goleman.

A long history of leadership research exists. I see the various theories, models and frameworks building on each other, providing different perspectives, and serving as mirror pieces in the kaleidoscope for analyzing it. The value is that defining the behavior is a good first step to improving the behavior. It is handy to know a variety of ways to conceptualize leadership because situations differ and one size does not fit all.

Would love to hear your thoughts on leadership and its development.

age – what does it mean?

Last week I wrote about the stereotype out there that old people are not tech savvy. I want to go on record saying I believe this to be false. Most of the savviest techsters I know are around my age, meaning their 40s, 50s, and 60s. I do know plenty of brilliant younger techies as well – my fabulous tech master Victoria Potts Keale just one of the many.

But, I believe the stereotype that all young people are tech savvy is also false. Here’s my experience with the college-age crowd. While teaching at LSU, I gave a bonus point to students who connected with me on linkedin. I did it because many did not know what linkedin was and I thought they should. Very often I would be their first connection. As that was several years ago, I figured students were probably more current now. However, I recently met a new college grad who was in the job market and had only just discovered linkedin. She told me it wasn’t something covered in her degree program.

Now linkedin is not the be-all-end-all of tech knowledge, but it’s pretty useful if you’re looking for a job.

So many people just don’t ‘fit’ the stereotype that it’s hard for me to see age and tech hipness as related. It’s also more evidence that judging another based on a demographic characteristic is a bad idea.

Just sayin.

Would love to know your thoughts on age, technology and stereotypes.

Downton Abbey

As a Downton Abbey fan I am fascinated by the underlying theme – the question of adapting to change and modern technology. The show’s producers are meticulous about getting every detail of history correct but to me it’s a study of contemporary times.

Lord Grantham is actually that person who can’t get the hang of voice mail or e-mail or smartphones and texting. The Dowager Countess is simply appalled by facebook and twitter. Maybe the new way is crass or common or not proper but failure to adapt may be much worse. Do you really want to be the one responsible for the loss of Downton?

Last week I wrote about Carol Dweck‘s work on mindset and here’s a quick review.

• People with a fixed mindset believe basic qualities, like intelligence and talent, are fixed traits. They spend time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. In addition they think talent alone creates success—without effort.
• People with a growth mindset believe that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work and that brains and talent are just the starting point. They also love learning and possess the resilience necessary to accomplish great things.

I bring this up again because having a growth mindset is important to successfully dealing with today’s rapid change. As a coach, I have clients in their 40s and 50s trying to figure out where they fit into the new world of work. They are concerned about their age and being perceived as old. I have to say that the stereotype of old people not being tech savvy is alive and well. And the reality is that most employers want job candidates who are fluent in technology.

So if you are > 35 and not already a stereotype buster, how do you develop that fluency?

Get out there. Create a profile, page, account, whatever. Connect. Lurk around social media sites and observe how people interact. Go to forums or other virtual places where people discuss what you don’t know. Listen to podcasts. Read the FAQs. Take classes. I guarantee you there is a free teleclass or webinar on whatever bit of technology you don’t understand.

It’s not always easy. People who ‘get’ technology and benefit the most aren’t necessarily blessed with some special tech ability. They just have the mindset to figure it out. They don’t dismiss and reject it or throw up their hands and wail ‘I don’t understand’. They keep at it until they figure it out. They just do it.

Hmmmm. Could that be the tagline for an entire mindset (in addition to Nike of course)?

Would love to know what you think about mindset or Downton Abbey.

what is your mindset?

Every now and then someone says to me “you are just so smart you can do anything” and that really irks me. I know it is meant as a compliment but the logic of the statement seems to discount all the hard work I’ve done as well as the reality of failure which has happened before and will certainly happen again.

For a long time, I could not articulate why this bugged me so but the work of Carol Dweck and the idea of mindset provides the framework I’ve needed to explain it. Dweck is a researcher at Stanford and based on twenty plus years of research has identified two distinct mindsets – fixed and growth. For a good overview of the concept, listen to an interview with Carol Dweck here.

From her website:

• People with a fixed mindset believe basic qualities, like intelligence and talent, are fixed traits. They spend time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. In addition they think talent alone creates success—without effort.
• People with a growth mindset believe that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work and that brains and talent are just the starting point. They also love learning and possess the resilience necessary to accomplish great things.

Someone who says “you are so smart, you can do anything” likely has a fixed mindset and attributes success to a fixed trait. They believe people have it or they don’t. People with a growth mindset believe talent can be developed, know they can improve, learn from mistakes, and almost get a buzz from the challenge.

I’ve been thinking a lot about mindset because last week I participated in New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. The crowd was a great mix - old, young, black, white, Asian, Hispanic and pretty much every other facet of diversity out there. I talked to artists and fashion designers and musicians as well as attorneys and MBAs and yes, even academics! A VERY diverse group indeed. Monday’s keynote speaker, Walter Isaacson, traced the history of entrepreneurship in NOLA and eloquently pointed out its relationship to diversity and creativity.

NOEW brought many diverse types together but we were all connected by a common mindset – a growth mindset. People were there to learn, develop, and connect. Some had failed before, many knew failure was a distinct possibility, but everyone was on fire about their idea. It was great to be part of such a gathering.

One final thought – mindset can change. Someone with a fixed mindset when young can absolutely develop a growth mindset later in life.

Would love to hear what you think about mindset.

whoosh – it’s gone

Whoosh. Another week gone and no time to write. So instead of my thoughts, I’m sharing the thoughts of others that have stayed with me. Hope something from this list makes you think too.

• About how we value ourselves. Thanks to Laurie Foley for sharing this.
• About feminism, Leaning In and where women are at (as in where y’at?). Thanks for sharing Michele Woodward.
• About how Tony Schwartz’s writing really resonates. Thanks for the reminder Christine Assaf.

Would love to hear what you think about any of these.

along the road

A favorite question of my mentor Michele Woodward is Why did you draw this experience to you?

A client of mine is a great example and here is his story. Hal did sales for 10 years at a company with a co-worker who was described by people as a ‘pompous, arrogant, condescending, know-it-all, blow-hard’.

Hal moved on to another opportunity and quickly made a big sale to a fast growing business and then in succession made several more. One of the owners told him they had purchased the same and similar products from another company in the past but really couldn’t stand doing business with that organization because of an extremely arrogant sales person.

Why did Hal draw 10 years of working with his former colleague? Because he needed to really understand what arrogance looks and acts like.

Why did you draw this experience to you? is such a revealing question.

Unfortunately, some lessons take a long time. If pain and frustration are involved, even a brief period seems like forever.

And about the bad stuff – it’s not a failure but a lesson on the road to figuring things out. I believe I heard Tom Peters explain that in Silicon Valley having worked for failed start-ups is a positive because so much is learned from those experiences.

Would love to hear what you are thinking.

escapee #1

My heart is still pounding. I just drove past my sister’s house on the way home from Wal-Mart. Her dogs had escaped the yard and were running down the very busy street. I stopped, ran, grabbed and returned them to inside the fence. She was not home

This right place, right time situation happened because while at the store I decided to slow down, to not rush through like a maniac, to smile at people and endeavor to have a pleasant grocery shopping experience. I even chatted with the cashier for an extra minute because no one was in line.

That’s why I was there at that very moment. If I had passed by 30 seconds before or 30 seconds after I would not have seen nor saved the pups because those two are very fast.

escapee #2

Sometimes when you focus on making the most of things, even a mundane task, you end up where you need to be at the exact right time.

Whew.

Have you ever had a right place/right time experience?