Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Abbe Raven, president and C.E.O. of A&E Television Networks: Want to Lead? Steer Clear of Rarefied Air:
"Q. Let’s talk about hiring. How do you do it?
A. No. 1, for me, is instinct, and I have a pretty good track record. And it’s a gut reaction when I first meet somebody, and I very often go with my instinct. To me, it’s all about who they are as a person, their chemistry, their charisma and their gravitas. Usually, they have the experience or, at least on paper, look like they do, but it’s really about who they are. Are they right for the chemistry of our team? Do they have qualities that someone else doesn’t have? Are they going to mesh well in our corporate culture?
I ask traditional questions, but also a lot about how they were brought up, their family life, where they went to high school. I try to understand their family, try to understand what they’re passionate about. Very often, it’s not necessarily about work. It’s about something else that gives me enormous insight into who they are and whether they are going to be successful here.
I insist on breaking bread with anyone I’m going to hire who’s going to work with me. I really feel that by having a couple of meals with someone, you get a sense of who they are. How do they walk into a restaurant, how do they deal with a waitress, how respectful are they to people around them?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/business/26corner.html?_r=1
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Know Your Enemy: The People Who Block Buy-In; Harvard Business Review, 9/28/10
John Kotter, Harvard Business Review; Know Your Enemy: The People Who Block Buy-In:
"In our story, "you" receive some helpful advice in preparation for the meeting, identifying the different kinds of potential attacks and specific responses to each. With the support of others on your team, you're able to deflect the rocks and achieve a successful outcome. After the story, we discuss each of the attacks, what the underlying intent may be (for example, to kill your idea through endless delays, or with unfounded fear that it's too risky), and how best to deflect that particular kind of attack."
http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/2010/09/know-your-enemy-the-people-who.html
"In our story, "you" receive some helpful advice in preparation for the meeting, identifying the different kinds of potential attacks and specific responses to each. With the support of others on your team, you're able to deflect the rocks and achieve a successful outcome. After the story, we discuss each of the attacks, what the underlying intent may be (for example, to kill your idea through endless delays, or with unfounded fear that it's too risky), and how best to deflect that particular kind of attack."
http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/2010/09/know-your-enemy-the-people-who.html
Practical Diversity; Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/24/10
David Evans, Chronicle of Higher Education; Practical Diversity:
"In the past two years, we have asked them to help us define, for our particular circumstances and context, what skills and competencies our students most need to enhance their professional and personal prospects. In both of these sessions, the advisory council's clearest consensus developed around students' need to develop skills in working with people of differing backgrounds and cultures. What is often called intercultural competence, in other words, is for the members of the advisory council on a par with communication skills, critical thinking, work ethic, and integrity as a desired goal for prospective employees."
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Practical-Diversity/27178/
"In the past two years, we have asked them to help us define, for our particular circumstances and context, what skills and competencies our students most need to enhance their professional and personal prospects. In both of these sessions, the advisory council's clearest consensus developed around students' need to develop skills in working with people of differing backgrounds and cultures. What is often called intercultural competence, in other words, is for the members of the advisory council on a par with communication skills, critical thinking, work ethic, and integrity as a desired goal for prospective employees."
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Practical-Diversity/27178/
Monday, September 27, 2010
Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries; New York Times, 9/27/10
David Streitfeld, New York Times; Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries:
"Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/business/27libraries.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=anger%20libraries&st=cse
"Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/business/27libraries.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=anger%20libraries&st=cse
Saturday, September 25, 2010
A Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed; Harvard Business Review, 9/23/10
Peter Bregman, Harvard Business Review; A Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed:
"The more numerous our options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, and so we end up choosing none at all. That's what happens when we have too many things to do. We become overwhelmed and don't do any of them.
Over the past few days, I've tried a lot of different things to escape this conundrum, and here's what worked for me..."
http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/09/a-practical-plan-for-when-you-1.html
"The more numerous our options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, and so we end up choosing none at all. That's what happens when we have too many things to do. We become overwhelmed and don't do any of them.
Over the past few days, I've tried a lot of different things to escape this conundrum, and here's what worked for me..."
http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/09/a-practical-plan-for-when-you-1.html
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Be a Better Manager: Live Abroad; Harvard Business Review, September 2010
William W. Maddux, Adam D. Galinsky, and Carmit T. Tadmor, Harvard Business Review; Be a Better Manager: Live Abroad:
"Travel and living abroad have long been seen as good for the soul. What’s perhaps less well-known is that they’re also good for the company. People who have international experience or identify with more than one nationality are better problem solvers and display more creativity, our research suggests. What’s more, we found that people with this international experience are more likely to create new businesses and products and to be promoted."
http://hbr.org/2010/09/be-a-better-manager-live-abroad/ar/1
"Travel and living abroad have long been seen as good for the soul. What’s perhaps less well-known is that they’re also good for the company. People who have international experience or identify with more than one nationality are better problem solvers and display more creativity, our research suggests. What’s more, we found that people with this international experience are more likely to create new businesses and products and to be promoted."
http://hbr.org/2010/09/be-a-better-manager-live-abroad/ar/1
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Interview with Richard R. Buery Jr., president and chief executive of the Children’s Aid Society; New York Times, 9/12/10
Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Interview with Richard R. Buery Jr., president and chief executive of the Children’s Aid Society: Before Making a Big Splash, Learn to Swim:
"Q. What’s your strategy for finding mentors?
A. I’ve gone to people for various reasons — because they had an interesting job or because I admired their work or I heard them speak — and said: “You don’t know me, but this is who I am. This is what I’m doing. I’d love it if every few months I could come and have lunch with you, ask you some questions, and give me your feedback until you get bored or until I stop calling.”
And what’s been amazing to me is that no one’s ever said no to that. I don’t think anyone’s ever said no. It’s made an incredible difference in my career.
Q. What lessons have you picked up from your mentors?
A. Some are just around the importance of how you communicate messages. At Children’s Aid, one of the new challenges for me is that it’s much larger than other things I’ve done, both in terms of the number of people, but also our geographic reach. I’m used to roles where if I wanted to talk to everybody, I could actually talk to everybody, and that’s no longer possible. So just the importance of being clear and concise in your communication — not 10 messages, but two or three messages repeated over and over and over again in every way you can and every opportunity you have."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/business/12corner.html?_r=1
"Q. What’s your strategy for finding mentors?
A. I’ve gone to people for various reasons — because they had an interesting job or because I admired their work or I heard them speak — and said: “You don’t know me, but this is who I am. This is what I’m doing. I’d love it if every few months I could come and have lunch with you, ask you some questions, and give me your feedback until you get bored or until I stop calling.”
And what’s been amazing to me is that no one’s ever said no to that. I don’t think anyone’s ever said no. It’s made an incredible difference in my career.
Q. What lessons have you picked up from your mentors?
A. Some are just around the importance of how you communicate messages. At Children’s Aid, one of the new challenges for me is that it’s much larger than other things I’ve done, both in terms of the number of people, but also our geographic reach. I’m used to roles where if I wanted to talk to everybody, I could actually talk to everybody, and that’s no longer possible. So just the importance of being clear and concise in your communication — not 10 messages, but two or three messages repeated over and over and over again in every way you can and every opportunity you have."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/business/12corner.html?_r=1
Thursday, September 9, 2010
What Breed Is Your CEO? Randy Komisar on Leadership and Management; FastCompany.com, 7/27/10
Kermit Pattison, FastCompany.com; What Breed Is Your CEO? Randy Komisar on Leadership and Management:
"Kermit Pattison: What are the classic pitfalls you see entrepreneurs making over and over again?
Randy Komisar: Mistaking the difference between leadership and management. A lot of people believe the two are the same and believe that, because they have been effective or excellent managers, that they're capable of leading. While the two ideally come together, the qualities and attributes of a leader and a manager are not exactly the same.
In your mind, what's the difference between management and leadership?
Management is more operationally focused. It's more of a supervisory role of setting priorities, allocating resources, and directing the execution. Leadership is more forward thinking, more about enabling the organization, empowering individuals, developing the right people, thinking strategically about opportunities, and driving alignment. Mind you, the line is not black and white. But it's a classic mistake that because someone is a good manager that they'll necessarily be a good leader.
In early stage projects, the CEO oftentimes is effectively a project manager. I've seen some of those people over-think leadership--literally start to compound the challenges by thinking too big and not immediate enough...
So what does get you greatness?
When I am most successful, it's because the people around me have made me successful. It comes down to the fact that success is created by a group of people and not by any single individual. How do you get people to come together around a goal and objective and be great? It's establishing a sense of common purpose. Greatness doesn't come from a tactical sense of execution. Greatness comes having a vision that goes beyond yourself and even beyond the organization. "
http://www.fastcompany.com/1674779/randy-komisar-kleiner-perkins-caufield-byer-leadership-management-entrepreneurship
"Kermit Pattison: What are the classic pitfalls you see entrepreneurs making over and over again?
Randy Komisar: Mistaking the difference between leadership and management. A lot of people believe the two are the same and believe that, because they have been effective or excellent managers, that they're capable of leading. While the two ideally come together, the qualities and attributes of a leader and a manager are not exactly the same.
In your mind, what's the difference between management and leadership?
Management is more operationally focused. It's more of a supervisory role of setting priorities, allocating resources, and directing the execution. Leadership is more forward thinking, more about enabling the organization, empowering individuals, developing the right people, thinking strategically about opportunities, and driving alignment. Mind you, the line is not black and white. But it's a classic mistake that because someone is a good manager that they'll necessarily be a good leader.
In early stage projects, the CEO oftentimes is effectively a project manager. I've seen some of those people over-think leadership--literally start to compound the challenges by thinking too big and not immediate enough...
So what does get you greatness?
When I am most successful, it's because the people around me have made me successful. It comes down to the fact that success is created by a group of people and not by any single individual. How do you get people to come together around a goal and objective and be great? It's establishing a sense of common purpose. Greatness doesn't come from a tactical sense of execution. Greatness comes having a vision that goes beyond yourself and even beyond the organization. "
http://www.fastcompany.com/1674779/randy-komisar-kleiner-perkins-caufield-byer-leadership-management-entrepreneurship
True Leaders Are Also Managers; Harvard Business Review, 8/11/10
Robert I. Sutton, Harvard Business Review; True Leaders Are Also Managers:
"I am not rejecting the distinction between leadership and management, but I am saying that the best leaders do something that might properly be called a mix of leadership and management. At a minimum, they lead in a way that constantly takes into account the importance of management. Meanwhile, the worst senior executives use the distinction between leadership and management as an excuse to avoid the details they really have to master to see the big picture and select the right strategies.
Therefore, harking back to the Bennis theorem I quoted above, let me propose a corollary: To do the right thing, a leader needs to understand what it takes to do things right, and to make sure they actually get done."
When we glorify leadership too much, and management too little, there is great risk of failing to act on this obvious but powerful message."
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/true_leaders_are_also_managers.html
"I am not rejecting the distinction between leadership and management, but I am saying that the best leaders do something that might properly be called a mix of leadership and management. At a minimum, they lead in a way that constantly takes into account the importance of management. Meanwhile, the worst senior executives use the distinction between leadership and management as an excuse to avoid the details they really have to master to see the big picture and select the right strategies.
Therefore, harking back to the Bennis theorem I quoted above, let me propose a corollary: To do the right thing, a leader needs to understand what it takes to do things right, and to make sure they actually get done."
When we glorify leadership too much, and management too little, there is great risk of failing to act on this obvious but powerful message."
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/true_leaders_are_also_managers.html
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The New York Times Is Dead Wrong; Harvard Business Review, 9/2/10
Bill Taylor, Harvard Business Review; The New York Times Is Dead Wrong:
"Consider this amazing statistic, brought to you by a Web site called The NYTpicker, which pokes, prods, and otherwise critiques the world's greatest newspaper. For the month of August, the New York Times ran 78 obituaries, but only six were of women. For 2010 as a whole, the Times has published 698 obituaries — and only 92 were of women.
What's going on here?"
http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2010/09/new_york_times_dead_wrong.html
"Consider this amazing statistic, brought to you by a Web site called The NYTpicker, which pokes, prods, and otherwise critiques the world's greatest newspaper. For the month of August, the New York Times ran 78 obituaries, but only six were of women. For 2010 as a whole, the Times has published 698 obituaries — and only 92 were of women.
What's going on here?"
http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2010/09/new_york_times_dead_wrong.html
The Dirty Truth About Digital Fasts; Harvard Business Review, 9/2/10
Alexandra Samuel, Harvard Business Review; The Dirty Truth About Digital Fasts:
"Last year it was the staycation. This year it's the digital fast. "How I unplugged" — from Twitter, from a Blackberry, from the Internet, or at the behest of the New York Times — is the new "what I did on my summer vacation."
As people trade stories about how they survived, or even thrived, offline, I'm troubled by the underlying narrative, that our ability to unplug is necessary to prove that we're not Internet addicts. We're supposed to demonstrate our grasp of human relationships by our ability to relate face-to-face, as well as online. We're supposed to show that we can be present by being absent from the web."
http://blogs.hbr.org/samuel/2010/09/the-dirty-truth-about-digital.html
"Last year it was the staycation. This year it's the digital fast. "How I unplugged" — from Twitter, from a Blackberry, from the Internet, or at the behest of the New York Times — is the new "what I did on my summer vacation."
As people trade stories about how they survived, or even thrived, offline, I'm troubled by the underlying narrative, that our ability to unplug is necessary to prove that we're not Internet addicts. We're supposed to demonstrate our grasp of human relationships by our ability to relate face-to-face, as well as online. We're supposed to show that we can be present by being absent from the web."
http://blogs.hbr.org/samuel/2010/09/the-dirty-truth-about-digital.html
Corner Office, Interview with Anne Berkowitch, co-founder and chief executive of SelectMinds, a social networking company; New York Times, 9/5/10
Corner Office, Adam Bryant, New York Times; Interview with Anne Berkowitch, co-founder and chief executive of SelectMinds, a social networking company: Learn to Lead From the Back of the Boat:
"Q. What do you think are the keys to effective leadership?
A. It’s really being able to listen to people. So much of leadership, I’ve come to learn, is about getting a team to work together. It’s not about being smart. It helps, but it’s not about that. It’s really about being able to bring together a group of people, get the best out of them and get them wanting to work as a unit toward some goal post. I think the building blocks that go into that are listening to people, really understanding what motivates them and getting them to push themselves beyond their comfort zones.
And all of that is really having a basic psychological understanding and genuine interest in the people you’re trying to build a team with. I think if you come at leadership with an attitude of, “I’m going to do this, and these people are going to follow me and be my support team,” you’ll lose.
Q. How has your leadership style evolved?
A. If you think about how you steer a boat, it’s always from the back, and I’ve moved toward the back of the boat. Initially, my sense of leadership was to be the military general out in front of the troops and the first one rushing into battle. You have to be a leader. You have to be visible. People have to know that you’re in charge and that you’re leading the charge, but I think it’s got to be almost more of a support role.
Q. How did you learn that lesson?
A. Before founding SelectMinds, I worked in management consulting for 10 years. And that culture is very much about being smart and being visible and making sure everybody knows how smart you are. So I was molded in that environment, and then, when I became C.E.O. of SelectMinds, I really didn’t have much leadership experience. I led the way I had managed consulting teams. It just took a lot of false starts to learn that being smart isn’t the same thing as being a leader. We were going down the runway but the plane wasn’t taking off...
Q. What other things have you come to understand about leadership?
A. Ask a lot more questions and make a lot fewer statements. Leadership is really about asking questions and letting people answer them. I think it’s the only way you get your team to think. If you’re constantly talking at them, they don’t have to think. So, it’s the way to put them on the front line. My job is to get the questions out and have people answer the questions."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05corner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
"Q. What do you think are the keys to effective leadership?
A. It’s really being able to listen to people. So much of leadership, I’ve come to learn, is about getting a team to work together. It’s not about being smart. It helps, but it’s not about that. It’s really about being able to bring together a group of people, get the best out of them and get them wanting to work as a unit toward some goal post. I think the building blocks that go into that are listening to people, really understanding what motivates them and getting them to push themselves beyond their comfort zones.
And all of that is really having a basic psychological understanding and genuine interest in the people you’re trying to build a team with. I think if you come at leadership with an attitude of, “I’m going to do this, and these people are going to follow me and be my support team,” you’ll lose.
Q. How has your leadership style evolved?
A. If you think about how you steer a boat, it’s always from the back, and I’ve moved toward the back of the boat. Initially, my sense of leadership was to be the military general out in front of the troops and the first one rushing into battle. You have to be a leader. You have to be visible. People have to know that you’re in charge and that you’re leading the charge, but I think it’s got to be almost more of a support role.
Q. How did you learn that lesson?
A. Before founding SelectMinds, I worked in management consulting for 10 years. And that culture is very much about being smart and being visible and making sure everybody knows how smart you are. So I was molded in that environment, and then, when I became C.E.O. of SelectMinds, I really didn’t have much leadership experience. I led the way I had managed consulting teams. It just took a lot of false starts to learn that being smart isn’t the same thing as being a leader. We were going down the runway but the plane wasn’t taking off...
Q. What other things have you come to understand about leadership?
A. Ask a lot more questions and make a lot fewer statements. Leadership is really about asking questions and letting people answer them. I think it’s the only way you get your team to think. If you’re constantly talking at them, they don’t have to think. So, it’s the way to put them on the front line. My job is to get the questions out and have people answer the questions."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05corner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Thursday, September 2, 2010
[Podcast] The Biggest Mistake a Leader Can Make; Harvard Business Review, 8/31/10
[Podcast] Harvard Business Review; The Biggest Mistake a Leader Can Make:
"Through Imagining the Future of Leadership, a symposium at the Harvard Business School and accompanying blog series, expert thinkers gathered to investigate what is necessary today to develop the leaders we need for tomorrow."
http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2010/08/the-biggest-mistake-a-leader-c.html
"Through Imagining the Future of Leadership, a symposium at the Harvard Business School and accompanying blog series, expert thinkers gathered to investigate what is necessary today to develop the leaders we need for tomorrow."
http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2010/08/the-biggest-mistake-a-leader-c.html
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