Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Right Way to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”; Harvard Business Review, 1/17/14

David Reese, Harvard Business Review; The Right Way to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?” :
"Responses like these tell me little about how a candidate faces challenges and immediately implies a lack of sincerity. It doesn’t demonstrate to me how they think — beyond their ability to creatively avoid being honest or self-critical. It indicates to me that they’re not willing to stand up and say what’s not working — the opposite of what a startup needs. That’s why my recent interviews with college graduates have all started to follow the same pattern. I start with two sentences: “Forget what your career center has taught you about interviews. I want to have a real conversation with real answers, and I promise to do the same.” The candidates take a minute to evaluate whether I’m somehow tricking them. If they lean into their discomfort and take me at my word, the level of conversation improves dramatically — we have a great time getting to know one another in an authentic way. I’m not really looking to find out whether their organizational skills could use improvement, or that they struggle with presenting to large groups or even leading large teams. I’m trying to find out whether they have self-awareness; whether they are able to be critical; and most importantly, whether they’re able to tell the truth — when it’s difficult.
For those candidates who don’t buy in, however, I spend the majority of the interview trying to pry off their layers of canned responses. I leave the interview wondering: Who are you? And what’s worse — I’ll never know. Because they’ll never get the job."

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Simon Sinek on why good leaders are "fundamentally like a parent"; CBSNews.com, 1/27/14

Shoshana Davis, CBSNews.com; Simon Sinek on why good leaders are "fundamentally like a parent" :
One person with no problem reaching a large audience is Simon Sinek. He is an author and leadership expert. His TED Talk, "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," has more than 14 million online views. His new book focuses on those same issues. It's called "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t..."
He said that when workers “feel safe” and that leaders keep their employees interests in mind, the natural human reaction is to “look out for each other. We work harder. We’re more innovative. We offer our ideas and our best talents.”

If You’re Not Helping People Develop, You’re Not Management Material; Harvard Business Review, 1/23/14

Monique Valcour, Harvard Business Review; If You’re Not Helping People Develop, You’re Not Management Material:
"Good managers attract candidates, drive performance, engagement and retention, and play a key role in maximizing employees’ contribution to the firm. Poor managers, by contrast, are a drag on all of the above. They cost your firm a ton of money in turnover costs and missed opportunities for employee contribution, and they do more damage than you realize.
Job seekers from entry-level to executive are more concerned with opportunities for learning and development than any other aspect of a prospective job. This makes perfect sense, since continuous learning is a key strategy for crafting a sustainable career. The vast majority (some sources say as much as 90%) of learning and development takes place not in formal training programs, but rather on the job—through new challenges and developmental assignments, developmental feedback, conversations and mentoring. Thus, employees’ direct managers are often their most important developers. Consequently, job candidates’ top criterion is to work with people they respect and can learn from."

Wilson Center sale gets go-ahead from judge; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/28/14

Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Wilson Center sale gets go-ahead from judge:
"Judge Lawrence O'Toole of Allegheny County Common Pleas Orphans' Court issued an order Monday that allows a court-appointed conservator to sell the Downtown building to pay off a $7 million mortgage and other outstanding debt, stating he found "no other reasonable or cognizable option."
In doing so, the judge rejected a request by prominent Pittsburgh attorney E.J. Strassburger to serve as a new conservator on a voluntary basis in one last bid to save the near-broke center, named after the famous playwright who grew up in the Hill District...
At the same time, Ms. Fitzgerald stressed that the go-ahead on the liquidation did not preclude a savior stepping forward with a plan to save the center, which opened in 2009.
"I will listen to any and all reasonable proposals. If the African-American community or whoever comes up with something that works or makes sense under the circumstances, I'm going to consider everything," she said. "If there's a way the community can rally to keep the center here, I hope that somebody will come up with that kind of plan."
Beverly Weiss Manne, attorney for Ms. Fitzgerald, cautioned that any new plan would have to be "well thought out" and viable.
"They have to resolve all the issues. It can't be a kick-the-can-down-the-road plan. That's been the problem with the center the last few years," she said."

Sunday, January 26, 2014

HBCU Presidents Share Insight On Sustainable Leadership; HuffingtonPost.com, 1/25/14

Jarrett L. Carter, HuffingtonPost.com; HBCU Presidents Share Insight On Sustainable Leadership:
"Historically black colleges and universities have been at the center of a number of public debates on the changing culture of higher education. But with a new year of challenges ahead in financing, political mobilization and the redefining of value in higher education, many HBCU communities are searching to discover how to keep quality leadership, or to attract it.
Four sitting presidents shared lessons on sustainable HBCU leadership, with each giving their top impression of what it takes to build a long and successful presidency at a black college."

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Cracking the Code That Stalls People of Color; Harvard Business Review, 1/22/14

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Harvard Business Review; Cracking the Code That Stalls People of Color:
"It’s a topic which corporations once routinely ignored, then dismissed, and are only now beginning to discuss: the dearth of professionals of color in senior positions. Professionals of color hold only 11% of executive posts in corporate America. Among Fortune 500 CEOs, only six are black, eight are Asian, and eight are Hispanic.
Performance, hard work, and sponsors get top talent recognized and promoted, but “leadership potential” isn’t enough to lever men and women into the executive suite. Top jobs are given to those who also look and act the part, who manifest “executive presence” (EP). According to new CTI research (PDF), EP constitutes 26% of what senior leaders say it takes to get the next promotion. Yet because senior leaders are overwhelmingly Caucasian, professionals of color (African-American, Asian, and Hispanic individuals) find themselves at an immediate disadvantage in trying to look, sound, and act like a leader. And the feedback that might help them do so is markedly absent at all levels of management.
EP rests on three pillars: gravitas (the core characteristic, according to 67% of the 268 senior executives surveyed), an amalgam of behaviors that convey confidence, inspire trust, and bolster credibility; communication skills (according to 28%); and appearance, the filter through which communication skills and gravitas become more apparent. While they are aware of the importance of executive presence, men and women of color are nonetheless hard-pressed to interpret and embody aspects of a code written by and for white men."

Friday, January 24, 2014

Pennsylvania State System approves first plans for differing tuition, fees by campus; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/23/14

Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pennsylvania State System approves first plans for differing tuition, fees by campus:
"Efforts by Edinboro to attract out-of-staters were hampered by rules requiring it and Pennsylvania's 13 other state-owned universities to charge nonresident students thousands of dollars more to attend.
But a vote Thursday by the State System of Higher Education's board of governors to let Edinboro slash its out-of-state tuition to within a few hundred dollars of what Pennsylvanians pay could begin leveling the playing field, school president Julie Wollman said.
The experiment is already being watched by other border campuses within the State System that have faced enrollment losses since 2010, due in part to declining numbers of Pennsylvania high school graduates...
The board also approved a systemwide strategic plan setting goals through 2020, including a higher number of degrees and certificates awarded yearly, increasing working adult students and transfers and promoting more diversity and better graduation rates."

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Why Are American Colleges Obsessed With 'Leadership'?; Atlantic, 1/22/14

Tara Isabella Burton, Atlantic; Why Are American Colleges Obsessed With 'Leadership'? :
"Earlier this month, more than 700,000 students submitted the Common Application for college admissions. They sent along academic transcripts and SAT scores, along with attestations of athletic or artistic success and—largely uniform—bodies of evidence speaking to more nebulously-defined characteristics: qualities like—to quote the Harvard admissions website—“maturity, character, leadership, self-confidence, warmth of personality, sense of humor, energy, concern for others and grace under pressure.”
Why are American colleges so interested in leadership?...
As Lan Liu, author of Beyond the American Model, puts it in a piece for the Harvard Business Review, “Leadership is culture-specific. Unfortunately, this theme has been unduly overshadowed by the bias, which is often an American one, toward the pursuit of a universal model of leadership.”...
Certainly, it's worth asking if assumptions about “leadership,” culturally-specific and quintessentially American as they are, penalize candidates from different cultural backgrounds, where leadership—particularly among adolescents—might take different forms, or be discouraged altogether.
College admissions has come a long way in recognizing how candidates from different backgrounds and different levels of opportunity might present themselves differently. At its best, the holistic admissions process allows admissions officers to assess test scores and grades in context. But so too it’s worth looking at the context of the personal qualities admissions officers value. Do we need a graduating class full of leaders? Or should schools actively seek out diversity in interpersonal approaches—as they do in everything else?"

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Northern Exposure: A Q&A with Bill Ptacek on Leaving King County Library For Calgary; Library Journal, 1/20/14

Ian Chant, Library Journal; Northern Exposure: A Q&A with Bill Ptacek on Leaving King County Library For Calgary:
"After 25 years as Director of Washington’s King County Library System (KCLS), serving the suburbs and rural towns surrounding Seattle, Bill Ptacek is packing his bags for Alberta, Canada, where he’ll serve as CEO of the growing Calgary Public Library. You can read the official announcement on Infodocket here. Library Journal caught up with Ptacek to discuss his late-career move to the Great White North."

Conservator asks to liquidate August Wilson Center assets; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/21/14

Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Conservator asks to liquidate August Wilson Center assets:
"A former U.S. bankruptcy judge appointed to try to save the August Wilson Center for African American Culture has concluded that it is an impossible task under current circumstances.
In a report filed Tuesday, conservator Judith Fitzgerald recommended that the Downtown center be sold and its assets liquidated to pay off a $7 million mortgage and other outstanding debt. She said there is "simply no possibility of continued viability of AWC as it currently exists."
Ms. Fitzgerald made her recommendation, which will be discussed at a hearing Friday, after being rejected at attempts to secure funding for operations from the Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the McCune Foundation, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, and mortgage holder Dollar Bank.
The result of the meetings with those entities and others "led to the unfortunate conclusion that there is no financial support for continuing the long term operations of AWC, and AWC cannot continue to operate without that support," she wrote.
And without such funding or more time from the bank to put together a business plan to "rebrand" the $40 million center so that it can continue to fulfill its mission, there's little hope of recovery, Ms. Fitzgerald said.
"Thus, the conservator is left with an impossible task; that is, to conserve an entity that has no strategic plan and insufficient cash to operate -- and has run out of time," she wrote."

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Three Ways Leaders Can Listen with More Empathy; Harvard Business Review, 1/16/14

Christine M. Riordan, Harvard Business Review; Three Ways Leaders Can Listen with More Empathy:
"Instead, leaders need to start by really caring about what other people have to say about an issue. Research also shows that active listening, combined with empathy or trying to understand others’ perspectives and points of view is the most effective form of listening. Henry Ford once said that if there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put oneself in another person’s place and to see things from his or her point of view –as well as from one’s own.
Research has linked several notable behavior sets with empathic listening. The first behavior set involves recognizing all verbal and nonverbal cues, including tone, facial expressions, and other body language. In short, leaders receive information by all senses and not just hearing. Sensitive leaders pay attention to what others are not saying and probe a bit deeper. They also understand how others are feeling and acknowledge those feelings....
The second set of empathic listening behaviors is processing, which includes the behaviors we most commonly associate with listening. It involves understanding the meaning of the messages and keeping track of the points of the conversation...
The third set of behaviors, responding, involves assuring others that listening has occurred and encouraging communication to continue. Leaders who are effective responders give appropriate replies through verbal acknowledgements, deep and clarifying questioning, or paraphrasing...
The ability and willingness to listen with empathy is often what sets a leader apart. Hearing words is not adequate; the leader truly needs to work at understanding the position and perspective of the others involved in the conversation."

Monday, January 20, 2014

Leadership Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Entrepreneur via Reuters, 1/20/14

Entrepreneur via Reuters; Leadership Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"Today, we honor the memory of a visionary leader who changed American culture forever. As many people enjoy this long three-day weekend, take some time to really think about the leadership lessons and the legacy that Dr. King left behind.
The larger-than-life leadership lessons that Dr. King gave the world that are as important for entrepreneurs today as they were during Dr. King's life. It's a great way to remember why the banks are really closed today."

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Employees Who Feel Love Perform Better; Harvard Business Review, 1/13/14

Sigal Barsade and Olivia (Mandy) O'Neill, Harvard Business Review; Employees Who Feel Love Perform Better:
“Love” is a not word you often hear uttered in office hallways or conference rooms. And yet, it has a strong influence on workplace outcomes. The more love co-workers feel at work, the more engaged they are. (Note: Here we’re talking about “companionate love” which is far less intense than romantic love. Companionate love is based on warmth, affection, and connection rather than passion). It may not be surprising that those who perceive greater affection and caring from their colleagues perform better, but few managers focus on building an emotional culture. That’s a mistake. In our longitudinal study, ”What’s Love Got to Do With It?: The Influence of a Culture of Companionate Love in the Long-term Care Setting” (forthcoming in Administrative Science Quarterly), surveyed 185 employees, 108 patients, and 42 patient family members at two points in time, 16 months apart, at a large, nonprofit long-term healthcare facility and hospital in the Northeast...
Employees who felt they worked in a loving, caring culture reported higher levels of satisfaction and teamwork...
Surely not every manager will want to gather his team for a group hug every day (nor would every employee be comfortable with that). But there are many other ways to build an emotional culture of companionate love. We suggest leaders do at least three things. First, broaden your definition of culture. Instead of focusing on “cognitive culture” — values such as teamwork, results-orientation, or innovation — you might think about how you can cultivate and enrich emotional culture as well. Emotional culture can be based on love or other emotions, such as joy or pride."

Did Poor Communication Skills Do In Yahoo's COO?; Forbes, 1/17/14

Carmine Gallo, Forbes; Did Poor Communication Skills Do In Yahoo's COO? :
"New York Times reporters spoke to some of de Castro’s former colleagues, all of who described him as very smart. “They also said he was a poor communicator with an arrogant, abrasive manner.” One again we’re reminded of the critical role communication skills play in leadership. It’s why I write columns and books on the topic. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked to work with leaders who are described as smart, yet are uninspiring and unpersuasive.
Executives with poor communication skills don’t last very long while those who are committed to improving in the area outshine and, yes, often outsell their competitors. It’s the reason I stated in this earlier column that public speaking is the one skill that can boost your value by 50 percent in 2014. Good communicators also get noticed and rise through the ranks faster than average speakers. Two years ago I was invited by an executive at Coca-Cola to help improve his public speaking skills. Although he was a successful leader, he realized that being able to tell a more inspiring story and to deliver a more effective presentation would help him stand apart. Two years ago he was running a country division; today he’s running a continent for the company...
The point I’m making is that the most successful leaders I’ve met or who I’ve written about study the art of public speaking, persuasion, and presentations. They rehearse, they work on body language and vocal delivery, and they are relentless in seeking feedback on their performance. ”A person can have the greatest idea in the world, but if that person cannot convince enough other people, it doesn’t matter,” writes Gregory Berns in Iconoclast."

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Case for Hiring “Outlier” Employees; Harvard Business Review, 1/13/14

Robert D. Austin and Thorkil Sonne; Harvard Business Review; The Case for Hiring “Outlier” Employees: "A few months ago, software giant SAP announced plans to hire 650 new employees with autism. Yes, autism—even though people on what’s known as the “autism spectrum” are often seen as unemployable. They typically have trouble interacting with others and tend to engage in repetitive behaviors. Only 15% have full-time jobs. But this is no charitable gesture on SAP’s part. The company knows that some people with autism have an exceptional ability to focus on the repetitive, detailed work of software testing... Most companies don’t perceive the value of people with autism—or, for that matter, the value of other people who think or behave differently. Managers are unaware that outliers can create enormous value if they’re placed into environments that maximize their ability to contribute... Human society can’t afford to set aside people who are different. Their perspectives are desperately needed if we are to innovate our way through today’s global challenges."

Friday, January 10, 2014

Governor Christie: Leadership Begins With A Look In The Mirror; Forbes, 1/9/14

John Baldoni, Forbes; Governor Christie: Leadership Begins With A Look In The Mirror: "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?... I cite Henry’s behavior frequently in my coaching with senior executives as a means of cautioning them to watch their words. Its theme resonates today in the unfolding drama of Governor Chris Christie and traffic jams near the Fort Lee entrance to the George Washington Bridge. At the moment it appears as if loyal aides conjured up the traffic jam as a means of getting back at the mayor of Fort Lee who was not a supporter of the governor in his re-election bid last fall. One of whom, Bridget Anne Kelly, his deputy, has been axed. But the bigger question arises: what kind of leader is Governor Christie to surround himself with the type of people who would play politics with traffic as a means of putting the screws to a political opponent?... Unfolding investigations will determine the governor’s culpability but the lesson of watching what you say and more importantly what you do as a leader remains a paramount lesson for anyone who is in power. People watch what you say, but they watch even more what you do... It is not enough for a leader to talk a good game; he has to play the game fairly, too. That starts with recruiting the right people. Nearly every executive with whom I have spoken about hiring, always puts character first. You don’t hire someone and hope to reform him or her. You hire a stellar individual and leverage their integrity for the aims of your organization."

Monday, January 6, 2014

Management Be Nimble; New York Times, 1/4/14

Adam Bryant, New York Times; Management Be Nimble: "One of a leader’s most important roles is to boil down an organization’s many priorities and strategies into a simple plan, so that employees can remember it, internalize it and act on it. With clear goals and metrics, everyone can pull in the same direction, knowing how their work contributes to those goals... Rules of the Road Exercises to develop corporate values have prompted plenty of eye-rolls over the years, and can often yield little more than slick posters in conference rooms. But when developed and enacted in a thoughtful way, guidelines for behavior can help employees concentrate on the work at hand, rather than on navigating the stressful politics that arise when all sorts of bad behaviors are tolerated. Mark Templeton, chief executive of Citrix, a technology company, says its culture is based on three values: respect, integrity and humility... Many C.E.O.’s worked for a poor boss when they were younger, and say the experience deeply influenced their leadership philosophy. They want to create a culture of respect, because they know that people will shut down on the job and simply go through the motions if there is a culture of fear. Richard R. Buery Jr., C.E.O. of the Children’s Aid Society, said a bad experience with a former supervisor provided extra motivation to be in a leadership position so that he could influence culture. “One lesson I learned is the critical importance of being a good person and treating people well,” he said... John Duffy, chief executive of the mobile-technology company 3Cinteractive, has made respect one of the core values of his company. He says a zero-tolerance policy for disrespectful behavior frees up colleagues to challenge one another."

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Achieve Your Goals in 2014 — Here’s Research That Can Help; Harvard Business Review, 1/1/14

Gretchen Gavett and Sarah Green, Harvard Business Review; Achieve Your Goals in 2014 — Here’s Research That Can Help: "1. Successful people do nine things differently than everyone else. 2. The rest of us hold ourselves back in five major ways. 3. But don’t stress! Just change the way you think about stress. 4. To spot new opportunities, imagine yourself in the future. 5. And act like a leader before you are one..."

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Don't Fall In To These Leadership Traps In 2014; Forbes, 12/31/13

Scott Edinger, Forbes; Don't Fall In To These Leadership Traps In 2014: "I have been a proponent of the importance of leaders developing strengths as a means to improve toward excellence. After all, the best leaders are characterized by the presence of strengths, not the absence of weakness. That concept is illustrated in the article I coauthored for Harvard Business Review, called Making Yourself Indispensable. While it is clearly the path to developing the traits that allow a leader to stand out as remarkable, there are times when leaders need to address their areas of weakness. Some call these “derailleurs”, others call them “fatal flaws”, and still others, euphemistically, refer to them as “opportunities.” By any name, when those weaknesses overshadow a person’s strength, they have to be dealt with. In my experience reviewing the data in thousands of 360-degree feedback instruments and consulting with senior leaders, these are the biggest traps that render them ineffective... At the end of the day, the saddest part about leaders who routinely exhibit these characteristics is that they are often unaware of them and the impact they are having. These leaders tend to have a very different view of themselves that [sic] others do and that gap creates problems for them. I have had to have very direct conversations with clients about the implications of their behaviors and the consequences of not changing. Frequently, that feedback can be a self-correcting mechanism as few leaders show up each day wanting to do a poor job. Each of us needs to excel by leveraging our natural strengths and abilities. Peter Drucker pointed this out in The Effective Executive over 40 years ago, and that body of work continues to evolve today. But we also need to be mindful of avoiding these leadership traps. Your success will be determined by it!"