[We have been filing great articles we found online throughout 2011, and are sharing our impressions of some of the best of them as we start 2012. Here is another installment.]

The best intentioned new leader can “lose his way” as the comforts of power and prestige create a mindset of elevated personal talent and knowledge. We work hard in all of our leadership training to break this mindset, as an elevated sense of self-worth is usually counterproductive in building a highly productive relationships with co-workers.

We found support for our position in an opinion piece posted by Harvard Business School Professor Bill George. In it, George notes that as people settle into leadership roles, their behavior gets more outwardly confident, which can lead leaders to overwhelm their subordinates and wall themselves off from reality (or “the truth” as we often call it here at Bovo-Tighe.)

The leadership trap

What we like about George’s thinking is that he emphasizes that this behavior on the part of the leader is not a conscious act: It results simply through the power of the leaders’ own confidence and how they present themselves in public. Strength of conviction and personality are key drivers of how executives rise through the ranks (results aside) so you cannot disconnect that energy and commitment from how a manager chooses to lead. However, that person must learn to step outside their own head regularly to assess how their behavior affects the productivity of his or her team, and how much it may inhibit what we call Foundations of Excellence (that is: Unshakable Trust, the Pursuit of Truth and Communication that Counts.)

“Leaders who lose their way are not necessarily bad people,” writes George. “Rather, they lose their moral bearings, often yielding to seductions in their paths. Very few people go into leadership roles to cheat or do evil, yet we all have the capacity for actions we deeply regret unless we stay grounded.”

While most people value fair compensation for their accomplishments, few leaders start out seeking only money, power, and prestige. Along the way, the rewards—bonus checks, newspaper articles, perks, and stock appreciation—fuel increasing desires for more.

This, concludes George, creates a deep desire to keep it going, sometimes even to the point of breaching the ethical standards that previously governed their conduct.

George found a good quote from Novartis chairman Daniel Vasella (told Fortune magazine):

“…for many of us the idea of being a successful manager—leading the company from peak to peak, delivering the goods quarter by quarter—is an intoxicating one. It is a pattern of celebration leading to belief, leading to distortion. When you achieve good results… you are typically celebrated, and you begin to believe that the figure at the center of all that champagne-toasting is yourself.”

The key point that George makes that we liked: “When leaders focus on external gratification instead of inner satisfaction, they lose their grounding (which leads them to) reject the honest critic who speaks truth to power.”

Self-reflection: A path to more effective leadership

George notes that an executive that is able to keep the right perspective of his or her role within the organization will generate more productive work from those with whom the executive works. We agree. Keeping leaders grounded is a core principle of Bovo-Tighe, and that includes making them more aware of how their outward behavior affects . It keeps their focus outward, on the collective goals and accomplishments of the organizations. It leads to the sharing of credit and rewards, and keeps an attitude of “first among equals.” Great leaders understand that everyone on their team is both responsible for actions and results, and should participate in the rewards.

Executives cannot best accomplish this self-reflection alone, however. That is where great coaching and mentoring play a strong role, and where HR plays an active role in the process.

In every organization there must be a hierarchy in a decision-making process, but the people within that hierarchy must all maintain a mindset that they are not infalliable, that everyone can contribute meaningfully to making progress, and that titles by themselves do not confer extra talent or ability on anyone.

Professor George has a lot more to say about the psychology of leaders who had to fight and scrap to get to the top, and he gets a bit hyperbolic in his descriptions, but overall gave us a good reminder about how leaders must work hard to stay grounded and (relatively) humble in how they handle their responsibilities if they want to receive the maximum contribution from those with whom they work.

Throughout February, we are sharing multiple great sources of insight that we collected in 2011.

Here is a great post from the i4cp TrendWatcher that we find useful in discussing employee engagement initiatives with clients:

The link to the post.

The short version is that honesty and transparency in unsettled times pays off in spades for organizations. I4cp completed a survey that assessed relative openness of communication for the companies that participated in the survey. You will see in the summary chart below that high-performing organizations communicate better.

Source: i4cp TrendWatcher Blog

To quote from the blog:

“It goes without saying that – especially in times of economic uncertainty – employees want honest, straightforward information from the top. Frequent, transparent communication such as updates about the financial status of the organization, M&A plans and the road ahead can help keep employees engaged rather than distracted by worrying about what is going on. Employee-generated rumors move faster and farther through an organization than any official communication could hope to, so preemptive messaging can help slow or stop misinformation altogether.”

Companies that fear a “stampede to the exits,” a drop in stock price or simply decreased productivity if they share anything but good news with their organization are on the wrong side of business history.

Indeed, if bad news is honestly shared, it is more likely to energize employees to help save the day, either by redoubling efforts, sharing fresh ideas they were afraid to share before, and other productivity enhancers.

“We are all in this together” is a trite phrase, but organizations that truly communicate with employees build trust and loyalty, and make that phrase ring true!

[Hang with us: This a long post, but it makes a critical point about how the pursuit of truth is indispensible if leaders want their organizations to thrive long-term.]

The Kodak logo today - Fairly Generic

The recent reports of Kodak taking itself into bankruptcy highlight a classic tale of a successful, profitable company overwhelmed by the need to reinvent itself, and failing to take action fast enough to maintain its market position. In keeping with our belief that the Pursuit of Truth is critical to long-term survival in business, we see Kodak as a poster child for a company that denied the truth, and paid for it. We plan on reminding our clients about this on a regular basis to keep them focused on pursing truth in all aspects of their business, whether or not it fits their current business plan.

The Great Irony: Kodak invented the technology that destroyed it.

An older logo from the 1970s - Note the shutter and flash allusion

A Kodak engineer invented digital imaging way back in 1975. Indeed, the company continued to set the pace technologically in digital imaging for decades. Yet, somehow the commercial successes accrued to the camera makers at Canon, Olympus and others, not Kodak. They failed to dominate the new digital world as they had the analogue film world for most of the 20^th Century. Why? Because they never truly changed their corporate mindset that Kodak was in the film business. What should they have done? Their best move would have been a simple shift in corporate mindset: Redefine themselves as being in the imaging business rather than the film business, and put all their marketing resources to work to make sure consumers knew it. That clear change in positioning would have allowed them to retain their film business while simultaneously leading the move into digital. Ultimately they did try to expand what Kodak meant to consumers, but dragged their feet so long that camera buyers never took them seriously as a digital imaging company.

Kodak always had the technological capability to compete. Not only did they invent digital imaging, they were the first to stuff a high-resolution chip into a handheld camera, and were the first to get the price of a digital camera under $1,000. Astrophotography camera companies like SBIG makes cameras that are considered the top-quality choice for imaging by amateur astronomers. SBIG cameras rely on a Kodak imaging chip! Somehow these accomplishments have not repositioned the brand in the marketplace. Why? Blame poor marketing driven by the erroneous belief that the Kodak brand meant more than quality photo film to consumers.

In an e-mail just this week from i4cp, we found the following passage:

“We know from experience that sustained high performance is synonymous with, among other things, being ready for change – and having a degree of insight into what’s around the corner doesn’t hurt.”

That “degree of insight” comes from having the Pursuit of Truth mindset embedded in the organization.

The Truth: Digital was a Killer App

It is incredibly hard for an organization that is highly profitable to make dramatic changes. For Kodak, entire supply chains of chemicals, plastics and paper stood at the front end, and retail distribution at the back end. Add to that after-market film developing services, and you have a huge marketplace structured around the business of selling film. Actively taking steps to threaten such a profitable venture would have taken guts that most top managers don’t have in a publically traded company. Management cannot simply say “OK, now we are a digital imaging company” unless they drag the whole company with them. Only a strong leader with a real grasp of the truth about future prospects can pull it off.

It can be done, however. IBM has done it more than once. Xerox (ironically for Kodak) made the shift from copier company to imaging company, then on from there to “managed document services.” Apple has risen from the dead twice.

Kodak could have, too. The truth was that digital was eventually going to kill the film business, and Kodak management needed to internalize that reality and reinvent the company as the leading imaging company, grabbing the technology lead from their pals in the camera business. No one trusted this hard truth as the right path forward, and this led to poor strategic decisions that led to the sinking of one of the world’s strongest international brand into bankruptcy. Had Kodak bit the bullet and made digital technology leadership a central marketing tenet, I believe they would have retained a leadership position in the “Imaging Market” even while the film business faded away.

What truths are you denying in your industry? What external threats are you discounting because they don’t fit into your definition of your marketplace, or would upset your carefully crafted business plans? What are you in denial about???

If you want to find out, give us a call. We facilitate strategic planning that embeds a mindset exposes the truth and redefines it as opportunity rather than threat, positioning your organization ahead of the curve rather than behind it. The Pursuit of Truth mindset is the best defense against becoming the next “Kodak.”

A friend gave one of our staffers at Bovo-Tighe a Zen daily calendar as a New Year’s present, and he shared the quote from January 8, as it clearly resonates with our own emphasis on embedding a mindset that values obtaining and working with “truth” in everything that we do, professionally and personally. Here is the quote:

“To understand truth one must have a very sharp, precise, clear mind; not a cunning mind, but a mind that is capable of looking without any distortion, a mind innocent and vulnerable.”

~J. Krishnamurti

We believe this, and people who can truly achieve this mindset will be better at managing themselves and relationships with other people, and making sounder decisions because they don’t filter information through filters like prejudices and preconceptions.

And don’t be put off by the “innocent and vulnerable” mind. Take away from that phrase the idea that you must be humble about your own store of knowledge and experience, and always be open to “being proven wrong.”

You as an individual will always be “right” less often than you and your team will be “right” collectively.

If you still struggle with our key concept of “Pursuit of Truth” as a necessary companion to “Communication that Counts” and “Unshakable Trust,” call any of us for a refresher on our Foundations of Excellence development model.

If you don’t yet have a Bovo-Tighe connection, send us a note to sue@bovo-tighe.com and we will get right back to you!

Or leave a message at 707-751-0270 x106.

Happy New Year!

We have had a new article accepted by eZineArticles this week. It focuses on a core tenet of our Foundations of Excellence employee development model: The Pursuit of Truth.

As Dave keeps emphasizing, the “pursuit of truth” is not about being honest in your dealings with fellow employees. Honesty is embedded in another aspect of Foundations of Excellence, building Unshakable Trust. (It also has a role in the third leg, Communication that Counts, so honesty is a universally useful!)

The Pursuit of Truth Mindset has strategic impact.

To quote from the article:

“Business decisions are built on information. Decision-makers gather that information from their staff, who gather it through their day-to-day work. The quality of that information drives the quality of the decisions made. A critical factor in any leader’s long-term success is therefore to make sure the information he or she gets is the truth, and not some distorted version of the truth filtered to match their preferences or prejudices. Well-thought-out decisions based on bad information will be bad decisions.”

In short: A corporation that can embed a mindset that seeking, sharing and valuing what is truly going on within the organization and out in its marketplace will gain a competitive advantage over rivals that are still struggling with hidden agendas, blame games and pre-conceived notions that go unchallenged.

This is hard work. Most corporate cultures give lip service to such openness, but still have leaders who have “seen it all” and use their own vast experience to guide their future actions. The risk is that their past experiences may be out of touch with a marketplace and workplace that reflects new realities. If their team isn’t full of truth-seekers and sharers, these leaders only learn of their errors once the truth “hits the fan.”

The good leaders are constantly encouraging their teams to winkle these trends out and share the news, good or bad. Even bad news can lead to good outcomes, so reward the messenger regardless, and send him or her out to get more!

Here is the article link.

Perdido breaks its own record, closing in on 10,000 feet!

Bovo-Tighe celebrates with our client, Shell, on the accomplishment of their Perdido facility in establishing a new record for deepwater drilling at 9,627 feet below the water’s surface!

The well is located 200 miles southwest of Houston in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico. It is in the Tobago Field, which is just one of three fields producing through the Perdido drilling and production platform.

Here is a link to an article about it in Oil and Gas Online. The article notes that the previous record for deepwater drilling was also held by Perdido, so the folks at Shell and their partners have outdone themselves!

We have worked with a number of the employees involved in Perdido, so we are excited to hear about their accomplishments! We tip our cap to them!

People say never to judge a book by its cover, and it rings very true in corporate settings. All employees up and down the ranks are guilty of allowing superficial observations and subjective personal preferences drive their judgment, often unconsciously. Their internal perceptions always color reality, and obscure the truth that can often lie right in front of them. This is an issue we address in our own human development work under the banner of “the Pursuit of Truth” and it is the hardest change in mindset we must make in working with senior executives in honing their leadership skills.

We recently found a great example of rigid mindsets preventing people from seeing the truth about a situation in a book excerpt posted on Strategy and Business, the Booz and Company blog.

“We have met the enemy, and he is us!”

-Walt Kelly

The column, Our Own Worst Enemies, focused on how blindered managers can be about situations that don’t match their preconceptions, even if they claim to be open-minded and ready to “hear the truth.”

[Here is the article link. Registration is required (and recommended!)]

As S&B columnist Louis Carter writes,  “even executives who are open to outside approaches can fall prey to another, equally insidious error: They sometimes assume that best practices can come only from big, well-known companies that look and act like their own companies.”

The excerpt this article shares is from a book called The Responsible Business by Carol Sanford. Her example is so great because it is so stark. In it, DuPont plant managers were invited to tour a Kingsford charcoal plant and offer advice on improving safety.

DuPont Talked the Talk

“I once brought a group of senior managers from the DuPont facility to visit the Kingsford charcoal plant in Belle, Missouri. The contrasts were so extreme they were comical…The DuPont guys were well-dressed, button-down engineers in white shirts, walking through a plant covered in black dust being led by operators in t-shirts and red suspenders.”

The DuPont men were unimpressed by Kingsford and the managers they met, although they remained polite throughout the visit and very open to sharing their insights on safety. Afterwards, however:

“As we drove away the DuPont engineers gave me a dressing down,” writes Sanford. “Why did you bring us to such a backward place?” they wanted to know. “We thought you said we’d learn something here!” They catalogued everything they saw wrong with the facility, including that the plant manager had not even bothered to attend.”

Kingsford Walked the Talk

A short time later, the Kingsford managers requested a meeting to share all that they had done based on the DuPont men’s advice. What an eye-opener for the DuPont side! You can read the article for more details, but the rough-hewn Kingsford group had accomplished a lot in a short time, leaving the DuPont men to ask questions like:

“How [must] the Kingsford business have operated to have internalized and changed its systems so rapidly and completely?”

“I can’t imagine how you design a work system so that you can have a couple hundred people in a month change how they are working. I’d like to learn how you design that.”

“I don’t understand how you could build a whole safety system from the bottom up, without the plant manager having mandated it. I now want to understand that.”

“I don’t understand how the two men standing in front of me could make the technological, organization, and production changes needed without professional engineers to design them for them. I now want to understand that.”

The truth was, the Kingsford employees had their minds open and ready to accept views that didn’t agree with theirs. They were also fully engaged. As Sanford points out, the Kingsford manager let his supervisors lead the tour and ask all the questions, fully empowering them to take charge of the coming transformation. This led to a fully engaged workforce rapidly accomplishing a significant upgrade to safety procedures in a short time.

Faced with evidence, the DuPont men finally put aside their “preconceptions” and truly opened their eyes and ears to accept the truth, and saw how these down-to-earth Kingsford folks dressed in jeans, workshirts and suspenders could teach them a few things about seamless transformations and commitments to productive change!

Notes Carter, “Best practices can be found in surprising places, and the most valuable practices may come from companies that are most unlike your own. In fact, it’s the application of practices from other industries and entirely different companies that often leads to the biggest competitive advantage.”

Only when they truly commit to the pursuit of truth in all interactions, inside and outside the company, can corporate leaders truly uncover all the competitive opportunities and advantages available to them.

Let us know if you have similar stories to tell! We would love to share them here.