Jodie Fisher, Actress

Jodie Fisher, an actress who appeared in several R-rated movies and on the NBC reality show “Age of Love” may never have thought her resume would include bringing a major technology company to its knees.   But it happened on Friday when Hewlett Packard’s board of directors forced CEO Mark Hurd to walk.

After Fisher wrote a letter claiming sexual harassment, the board investigated, concluding no on the harassment, but yes, there was a problem. Hurd violated company policy by falsifying expense reports.  They weren’t happy that he concealed his relationship with Ms. Fisher, and paid her when there was no legitimate purpose.  

Move over Tiger.  Self-destruction always finds a new poster-boy.  Tiger is officially old, old news, especially since he can’t find his game to save his life.  Hurd’s legacy now becomes just another tragic story about a swift end to a great career.  Shake your head and wonder.       

The board did the right thing, of course, even though initially people were questioning it.  They had ethical issues in the past.  The policy was crystal clear.  And Hurd had championed it.  HP’s standards of business say employees should pose a simple test as they decide whether an action is appropriate: “Before I make a decision, I consider how it would look in a news story.”  

It’s particularly painful for HP employees and investors, since Hurd is said to have brought a period of consistency and outperformance.  Those who watch the company credit him for the most successful corporate turnarounds in American business history, posting five years of blistering profit growth and iron-fisted cost cutting. The stock outperformed the broader market by 101% over his five-year tenure. 

But you can’t let the CEO’s stink all over the company, period.  As a director, your duty is to protect the brand. Yes, Wall Street is chattering now about how uncertain HP’s future is.  But long term, the company will survive.  In fact, on Monday, some analysts were calling it a buying opportunity as the company is well positioned and the stock relatively cheap.   

Still, there’s a lesson here, about how the CEO brand and the company brand co-exist, sometimes uneasily.  Like Tiger’s wife, HP’s directors knew the marriage was doomed.  Mirroring the self-respecting Elin, they called it what it was and I doubt they will ever look back.  Hurd will be hurting all the way to the bank with an exit package reportedly worth $35 million; his once glorious CEO brand suffers a mortal wound.  But HP, while vulnerable without a succession plan, will come out fine.   

Short term, it will be rocky; company executives will have to go into defensive posture as they have, assuring the street that they will stay the course and aggressively pursue their strategy for new markets and products.  Investors may wait until they recruit the new CEO to pass ultimate judgment.  But the board should be lauded.  They didn’t flinch.  

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Carl-Henric Svanberg, Chairman, British Petroleum

There are easy targets and then there are easy targets.  I almost hesitate to write about Carl-Henric Svanberg, Tony Hayward and the bunch, because the entire media world has already aimed, fired and riddled the bulleseye with bullets.  What else can be said about this hapless gang? 

On the other hand, since my thing is communication and leadership, I do want to comment because there are lessons here.  Aside from how stupid can you be.   

The Chairman of BP has been nowhere to be found for the first 60 or so days of the oil spill.  when he got a call summoning him to the White House to pony up with billions for the restitution fund, he came out of his cave and spoke just like a cave man.  I am referring of course to his reference to the victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as “the small people.”

It took only minutes for the thing to go viral which meant of course they had to issue the ever-popular press release apology.  Svanberg apologized for having spoken “clumsily” to reporters.    

”What I was trying to say - that BP understands how deeply this affects the lives of people who live along the Gulf and depend on it for their livelihood - will best be conveyed not by any words but by the work we do to put things right for the families and businesses who’ve been hurt.”  Nice try, but no amount of wordsmith-ing is going to make up for a blunder the size of the Gulf.    

If it had just been this one gaffe then people might attribute it to the language barrier (Svanberg is Swedish), or a stressful slip of the tongue.  However, it was only the latest of several BP executive “gaffes” during the eight-week controversy.

Tony Hayward, BP CEO

Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn’t get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP’s CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.  The social media networks lit up as Gulf Coast residents remarked they’d like a day off from the onslaught of oil on their coasts.  What could the BP spokesman say?  It was the first “day off” Hayward had had since the April 20th oil rig disaster and he has a keen interest in this annual race.  And, this came after a misstep not long ago when he told reporters that he just wanted his life back.  He was forced to apologize.   

So how did it happen?  Of course these guys have never lived under the withering scrutiny of worldwide press and the democracy of the 24-7 blogosphere.  They’re used to coming and going pretty much as they please and saying what they think.

At the same time they seem to be utterly unaware of the impact their words and actions have on others.  As with every corporate crisis, it’s usually not the mistake that kills you  (although this one is bad).  You become Public Enemy Number One because you don’t appear to have any sympathy - strike that - any awarness whatsoever of the plight of others.  

As we speak, some adjunct professor is drafting a case study for Harvard Business School and it’s the easiest thing he or she has ever written.  Only this one won’t be that brilliant Tylenol case that everyone has studied for twenty some years.  This will be a case study in how everything can go wrong some of the time. 

It would be easy to conclude that these guys don’t just have tin ears.  They seem to have forgotten where they came from.  I have no idea whether they grew up with privilege, but they weren’t always kings of their world.  At some point along the way when people uttered the word “CEO” or “Chairman” to them you have to believe they thought, wow, wouldn’t that be great someday?  To have the opportunity to lead a company?  What an awesome responsibility.  What a privilege.

As the author of two books with CEO in the title (Speak Like a CEO, and Motivate Like a CEO) I’m often asked to “defend” those titles.  “How many CEOs really communicate well?” People will ask.  Or, “How many CEOs do you know who really motivate other people?” 

I’ve never spoken publicly about this, but my editors at McGraw Hill were also doubters - more than a little concerned about the choice of title for book #1.  “CEOs don’t have a very good reputation,” one remarked when we were debating what to call it.  I assured them that most of my clients were very interested in getting to the C suite or were already there.  That turned out to be true, as it became a business best seller. 

One reason I love working with leaders is because the vast majority of them love their companies and understand pretty clearly what an impact their words and actions have on others. They are keenly aware that they have a responsibility to those who work for them, live in their communities, and buy their products.  Unfortunately they aren’t the ones who make headlines. 

If you are lucky enough to get to sit in the proverbial corner office, fly on the corporate jet, and play golf at the nicest country clubs,  I think it’s worth cultivating an attitude of gratitude.  If you haven’t done that lately, and you know whether you have, then pour a little humility into that cup of coffee along with the milk and Splenda.  A sense of entitlement is the underlying attitude that leads to shooting yourself in the foot.  One mistake is a gaffe.  A bunch of them that occur because you are acting like the emporer who has no clothes is foolhardy.  

Don’t get me wrong, I think if you are smart and work hard you should get what you “deserve.” The good life is a good thing.  But when you run a company, every day you must to get up and thank those hard-working lucky stars of yours and be thankful for the people who make it possible.  Cultivating that attitude will prevent you from developing the mindset that gets you into trouble when your company is in peril.

I hope – really I do – that eventually things turn around for BP because of the good people who work there and the thousands who invest in BP stock in their retirement portfolios.  Nobody is rooting for BP to fail.  We need oil, we need profitable companies to create jobs and make our economy run like the wind.  I just hope as BP is writing out the check they’re remembering that in the grand scheme of the big wide universe, we’re all pretty darned small.    

 

 Svenberg's comment on "small people" : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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What’s a CEO to do when confronted with an irritating little gnat of a technology blogger who won’t let her off the hook about her company’s poor performance? 

In the case of Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz the answer is… let it rip.  She stopped the curmudgeonly interviewer in his tracks (and drew guffaws from the audience) when she dropped the f-bomb in response to a line of tough questions that compared her unfavorably to Steve Jobs.  I guess she thought it would get him off her case.  Nice try but now the world is now watching on You Tube.  

Didn’t I just write about this You Tube thing…like…. six days ago?

Bartz has a flair for colorful language and you can’t blame her for playing Mama Bear Yahoo - protecting her company cubs from the bad, bad media.  She’s been on the job 16 months.  In today’s ADD world that’s a life time.  She hasn’t performed a miracle yet.  Yahoo’s stock price has been tanking and the press hasn’t been so kind.  Pressure on. 

Then again, the Bold-Ms.-Bartz did make the decision to get on that stage.  I would assume some poor soul in the Yahoo-land communications department was savvy enough to tip her off that this dude Michael Arrington isn’t a fan.  It wasn’t gonna-be-no-love -fest.  

Bartz: I’ve been at this company 16 months. and so I’m supposed to have an iPad, iPod… I mean, c’mon. You are involved in a very tiny company [pause].

Arrington: Very tiny.

Bartz: And it probably takes a long time to even convince yourself what the hell to do. So I don’t want to hear any crap about something magical that the fine people of Yahoo are supposed to do in this short time. So f___ off.”

Interestingly, some people are falling all over themselves praising the blunt Ms. Bartz.  Guy Kawasaki, a  Twitterer-extraordinaire, tweeted, ” I respect Carol Bartz even more now..” @GlennF tweeted, “I especially like how Carol Bartz doesn’t play the marketing-speak messaged CEO. She destroys Arrington there.” Another, @Segphault, wrote in a tweet, “Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is awesome.”

This has nothing to do with women by the way.  A few weeks ago Vice President Biden also made headlines when he slapped President Obama on the back with a congratulatory “this is a big f___ing deal.” 

I’m beginning to think I need re-examine my media training program all together.

Really.

I used to videotape executives just to show them that the APPEARED A BIT IRRITATED at the tough questions we threw at them.  I would make them to watch and advise them to keep cool.  A little passion is always good.  You don’t want to look like you don’t care.  But letting them get under your skin is generally counterproductive.  They focus on your emotion and stop hearing your message.

The pressure of running a public company with a once-glorious-now-somewhat-tattered brand-name notwithstanding, I still think it’s better when you’re in control.  And once again, I’m not claiming to be any kind of saint in the profanity department.  My dad, a common sense Midwest country lawyer always used to let it rip in the house, and tell me cussing sure as hell isn’t the worst sin.

But back to basics, people.  You are a leader.  What do you want your company’s culture to be?  And what do you want your leadership BRAND to be?  Carol Bartz seems like the kind of gal I’d enjoy having a beer with.  Her people may be mighty proud she’s standing up for them.  But the f-word will forever be tattooed on her precious executive reputation.  With an exclamation point.

Just something to think about.

YaHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 Carol Bartz, Yahoo CEO: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I was talking the other day with one of our executive coaches, Margie Myers, about what makes people sit up and pay attention.  She told me about this hilarious cartoon that appeared in the New Yorker back in the 80’s.  It’s called What Dogs Hear.  Being a dog lover I went looking for it.    

When I saw it I realized - it isn’t just about dogs.  Is it?    

Imagine that dog is YOUR AUDIENCE.  (I know, I’ve had some ”dog” audiences too, but I am not meaning to insult dogs or audiences here. Simply trying to make a point.)  They are really trying to listen.  But they can’t hear.  It isn’t their fault.  They’re trying, they really are.  You just aren’t speaking dog language. 

If you want your audience to sit up and pay attention and maybe even give you a big kiss after your presentation, your only hope is to talk to them -about them.   

The other day I took a look at the first draft outline for one of my client’s presentations.

Blah Blah Blah.  It didn’t need a tweak - it needed a shredder. As in a do over. So we hauled out the Audience Agenda exercise from Speak Like a CEO, and I asked him to switch chairs.  That often helps people change perspectives -move out of their own mindset into the mindset of the audience. I asked him to imagine he was the CEO of his company.  What was on the guy’s mind? 

He came up with three questions - 

• How can we seize new market opportunities this year?
• How can we improve our profitability?
• Do we have the right people on the team to do it?

Voila.  An outline for a talk that will get a CEOs attention. I predicct he’ll be all over it like a dog on a bone.

Please don’t be a blah blah blah speaker.  Take time.  Do the 180 thinking.  Write down the issues on your audience’s mind.  Build your talk around that. There, isn’t it simple? 

Woof!

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“‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”        

                                                              - Lao-tsu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

A few weeks ago, I was having a heart to heart with a CEO needs to get out his office more often.  He wants to become an ambassador for his company.  More accurately, he knows he needs to.       

Like many bosses, he would rather stab himself repeatedly in the thigh with a sharp pencil than give a speech or interview to a reporter.  This is an accomplished executive who has led the transformation of the company, bringing an innovative new product to market, growing the customer base, cutting costs and improving profitability.  His credibility with employees and the board is rock solid.  It’s just that the company is kind of a best kept secret.  The story needs to be told.  This is a great time to do it.   

The real issue isn’t time, because as CEO, he determines how he spends his time.  The issue is mindset.  He’s used to organizing his calendar one way; this change requires a significant modification in behavior and priorities.  He knows he needs to do it and wants a coach to make it  happen.  ”I need someone to hold me accountable for getting there,” he says.

Changing your mindset isn’t like changing your shirt.  It requires a goal, commitment and a plan.  It isn’t enough to have the intention; you have to put these activities on your calendar every day.  If your schedule is filled with executive team and employee meetings, it isn’t going to happen.  Once you set the intention, you must schedule the intention and then honor the intention.  It won’t be comfortable at first.  It isn’t a familiar routine.  As my client observed,   “This will be a significant change in the way I spend my time.”

Changing a mindset is a little like standing at the foot of a mountain looking up and wondering, “How the hell am I supposed to get all the way up there?”  It seems insurmountable.  You can either turn back and head home or you can commit.  That means you draw up a plan, buy some gear and hire a crew to go with you.  You break down this overwhelming goal into doable tasks.  These are the steps that keep you from becoming paralyzed, staring at the mountain and saying, “It looks awful cold up there.” 

If you’re having trouble breaking down a big goal into smaller tasks, one approach is to imagine you’re already there.  Some of you who read my blog regularly know I suggested this ”looking back” exercise right after the New Year.  The idea is to imagine it’s 2012, just about two years from now.  You’re already up at the top of the mountain.  How did you get all the way up there?

When I posed the question to the CEO, he said, ”Well, I guess I started by deciding that I was going to go.”

“Good start,” I said.  

“I cleared my calendar several months out and starting scheduling time with the coach and the marketing team,” he said.   

“What else?” I asked.

“They booked me to speak at several events this year, so I had deadlines on my calendar,” he continued.

And so on.

By imagining that you have already achieved a goal it becomes so much clearer what you really need to do to succeed.  Instead of seeing obstacles, you see results, and the obstacles melt away. Once you “know” what “worked” you feel motivated.

Our CEO has started working on what I like to call a”Speech in a Drawer” (see Speak Like a CEO, Secrets to Commanding Attention and Getting Results).   We set a date by which the first draft will be finished for rehearsal.  Coaching dates are already on the calendar to write and develop stories that highlight his company’s accomplishments and lessons learned along the way.  He’s already started to relax; it will get easier as we go.  He’s already thinking, “Okay, I can do this.”  If you have a copy of Speak Like a CEO, refer to Chapter 16, pages 183-189 for five sample coaching plans you can implement on your own.

As you check off tasks you start to feel differently.  Not only are you achieving important goals; you are transforming your self image.  By starting with the end game belief (not just a far off goal) and scheduling activities you already know “worked,” you are able to identify important milestones, and that in turn energizes you and helps you commit to the process.    

Recently I listened to In Search of Excellence guru Tom Peters describing his drive from a home in Tinmouth VT to his other home, in Boston.   Obviously he is well-versed when it comes to imagining goals and milestones.  Peters gets out of bed and leaves between 3:15 and 3:30 a.m. because he really hates traffic.  (Having spent 9 years in television getting up at the same hour I can tell you that is a brutal hour to drag yourself out of bed but it is heaven to drive in Boston at that hour.) 

What gets him through the trip is marking the milestones.  Peters knows precisely what to look for at each stage of the trip. A house 17 miles from his Vermont house is 10% of the way; a restaurant where he can get a cup of coffee is a quarter of the way to Boston.  By anticipating and marking the milestones with visuals, he is able to stay awake and engaged. 

Think about what you’re trying to accomplish right now.  What are the milestones?  How will you see them?  what will mark your arrival?  The best way to do it is to put them on your calendar.  It’s a visual checklist.  Seeing things; knowing they’re just around the corner- well, that’s highly motivating. 

As always I welcome your ideas and suggestions on getting there.  What has worked for you?  Hit leave a reply.  

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On Sunday the Obama team fanned out to deliver their talking points - and you have to wonder whether they’d had their coffee- or even glanced at the weekend ”talking points.”  On the topic of jobs “saved or created” (which in and of itself is a ludicrous concept, impossible to prove or substantiate) they simply didn’t have their stories straight.  The Keystone cops look like a well-oiled tactical team by comparison.

By mid day Sunday, the three White House advisers had appeared on the Sunday news programs with three vastly different estimates of how many jobs could be credited to President Obama’s Recovery Act.

Valerie Jarrett: “The Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs.” (playing it safe)

Robert Gibbs: It…“saved or created 1.5 million jobs.” (the middle guy)

David Axelrod:  It has…”created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs.” (swinging for the fences)

Read the full scripts of their comments on Politico by clicking here. 

What Went Wrong?

Not only did the three amigos fail to sync up their fairytales and agree on a manufactured number, they further eroded their credibility with the spin.  Is there an American not in a coma who isn’t aware that the “real” unemployment rate is about 15% right now?   Even Obama’s ardent base of supporters must be wondering which planet these folks are living on.  I took this statement off of the Bureau of Labor statistics web site:

“In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged. At the start of the re-cession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million, and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent.”  

The Obama gang is also losing ground trying to persuade Americans that jobs are suddenly ”job one” for the administration.  Two weeks earlier, prior to the seismic shift in politics called Scott Brown, was there any question that health care was “job one.”   Confused?  Or just seeing right through the rhetoric?

Business Leaders Are Also Acting Stupidly

If you read my blog regularly you know that I don’t often comment on politics.  However, there are so many lessons for business that I simply cannot ignore what’s happening now. 

A good friend recently suggested I should actually write a book called “How Stupid Can You Be.”  The more I think about it, the more I like it.  This book could write itself. 

Who can forget the image of the CEOs of the major automakers flying in on private jets, and then putting their hands out for a taxpayer bail out?  

And, what about the four most powerful bankers telling a congressional committee that they were “victims of circumstance”  unable to anticipate the near collapse of our financial system and therefore should not be held responsible for their role in upending the global economy.  I’m not saying there isn’t plenty of blame to go around but these types of answers make your brain hurt.

 . 

So the Obama administration has certainly not cornered the market on stupid pet tricks.  Businesses  make the these mistakes all the time.  And I believe the root of it is that some people are just arrogant enough to think people aren’t paying attention, or don’t care.

 How to Avoid this Stupidity:

• Do what’s important first
• Acknowledge contradictions
• Protect your integrity
• Give an honest analysis
• Don’t make up the facts
• Don’t be tone deaf
• Stop treating people like idiots 

As always, I welcome your thoughts…

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Last night Jeff Taylor and I were invited to speak to the Harvard Business School Alumni Association.   When you share the stage with Jeff, get ready for a great ride because he’s cool and he’s got cool stories.  You  should have been there watching the audience as he described taking a dare to ski three miles towed by a blimp, at 30 MPH in a quest to break a record set by the flamboyant Richard Branson of Virgin. 

As founder of Monster.com Jeff has a lot of these stories.  In 1999 when Monster.com was just hitting its stride but certainly not yet “monstrous,” he spent a fortune to buy Super Bowl ads which flopped.  You might remember the ads depicted kids saying things like, “When I grow up, I want to claw my way into middle management.” What happened?  “We were being ironic.  It didn’t work with a bunch of guys drinking beer in front of a game.”  Ultimately the ads kept running, caught on like mad, and rest is history.  

There were more stories.  At the 2002 Winter Olympics Taylor spent four million bucks to build a snow labarynth and it was the warmest on record.  Just in time as the snow was melting the Today Show called and he got four minutes on live TV.  ”Matt ran through the thing in no time and thought no big deal.  Al was holding a flag just stuck in the middle,” says Taylor.  “Katie gets stuck, backs out, starts again, and says now she gets it.  Sometimes in your career you have to back up and start over.  It was incredible,” says Taylor. 

As often happenes when I go out to speak, I get more than I give.   Watching Jeff regale this crowd of Business School grads (though he himself took 23 years to graduate from college) was more fun than anything else I’ve done this week, or this month for that matter.  Here’s a CEO who gets it on so many levels. 

When I interviewed him for Motivate Like a CEO last year, he told me that he had noticed as his company grew, his role changed.  He went from founder to CEO to Chief Monster, his favorite role, where he went out and built the brand by going everywhere he was invited and speaking to just about anyone who would have him.  He got really good at speaking.  Not only is he a great storyteller, he openes up and shares everything - humor, emotion, personal insights, reflections - it’s no holds barred.  A lot of people in the audience might have assumed that he was a natural, but as he told me last year, and as he told the audience last night, he works at it, and keeps working at it.  He says he  really believes that Woody Allen line about 80% of success is about showing up.  “I just got back from Iceland where I was invited to judge an entrepreneurs contest.  They’re trying to save Iceland.  Why do I go?  I’m not sure.  But I’ve been showing up for a long time and it works.”

Jeff has two companies now - Eons - an online community for baby boomers, and a spinoff called Tributes.com for online obituaries.  If you’ve read Motivate Like a CEO you know that coming up with big ideas and inspiring others to get behind them is one of the characteristics of successful leaders.  One of the best questions last night were about where leaders get these “big ideas.”  “I have ideas all the time - I’m in the shower, I get an idea, and then I get out, and I forget.  I have to get back in the shower to find the idea,” he says.  “I wake up in the night, with a pad of paper next to the bed, and write them down.”  Of course everybody HAS ideas, says Jeff.  It’s those who ACT on them who make things happen and attract other people who are excited about them too.

You know the blimp ski story?  Jeff says the coolest thing was that as he was bumping along, he was hit by a huge wake left by a barge and wiped out.  All 500 of his employees were gathered in the cafeteria watching it live.  They went wild.  They loved it.  Working for Jeff was like that.  “We had the absolute best culture at Monster.  People loved working there.”  What you have to appreciate about Jeff is he gets that.  When he dons his skis, or builds snow forts, he’s out to have fun, and he also knows how his employees will feel about it.  He’s their leader.  

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Leadership guy Jon Gordon is writing about a timely topic. The author of  Playing to Win, What the Best do Better Than Everyone Else, and Training Camp, Ten Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and team with Positive Energy, writes this week that “There was a time in most of our lives when we had no fear-that feeling when we jumped from the jungle gym and slammed our little bodies to the ground.”  He says we “felt there was nothing we couldn’t do.”  Yet somewhere along the way Gordon notes that we start to understand what it means to be fearful, and “let fear into our lives.”  And this of course, changes the way we approach our careers and our lives.

This is a timely message.  Even the most intrepid, courageous leader has been battered by tough economic times.  No question that the downturn has helped us focus on the highest priorites, improve efficiency, and execute with fewer resources.  Yet now is not the time to operate in fear. It’s time to screw up our courage, dive in the pool, and encourage our teams to do the same.  We’ve need to break away from the negative energy that is feeing our fears and insecurities; stop listening to the inner voice that says we shouldn’t or can’t.  As Gordon says, “go after our dreams.”  What’s at stake is not just the opportunity in front of us.  Living in fear can become a habit that keeps us stuck for the rest of our lives.

If you “play to lose,” and communicate this to others, then everyone in your organization will do the same.  That’s why everytime you speak with your direct reports, your teams, and your organization you need to get focused and feel the courage. People aren’t just listening to the words, they are reading between the lines.  You can’t fool them.  Take charge of your emotional state before you speak.  Communicate wih confidence. Invite others to make courageous decisions.  Make them believe in themselves.  Encourage them to lose the fear. 

As I’ve discussed in Motivate Like a CEO, leaders are the keepers of the emotional life of their organizations.  In challenging times, they must take control of their emotions and lead the way.  If you are a leader, now is the time to take an emotional inventory, before you stand up to speak.  Get in touch with your own courage, and then, light a fire; make them believe. If you live and work with zeal and act with courage they will do the same. As Gordon puts it, “overcome fear and adopt a play to win mindset.”   

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This week I’ve been thinking about that saying, “lead by example.”  The origin of this well-worn standard is a Chinese proverb, yi shen zuo ze, which means ”to set a good example,” or “set yourself as the standard.”  For thousands of years people have known that a leader’s actions must match his or her words.  As I have discussed in the 8 principles of Motivate like a CEO, great leaders walk the talk. 

But is that enough?

Yes and no.

If you work in a high functioning organization, chances are your leaders walk the talk.  They live the values.  It comes from the top down.  Leaders who live the values inspire others.  

This brings me to posting your values statements on the wall.  This is a form of communication, but it isn’t the answer to creating a values based culture. People believe what they see and hear from their leaders, not what they read on a poster. If one leader in the organization is acting by a different set of rules, people will see that individual as an outlier.  However, if employees see that more than one leader living by different standards, that’s a trend.  They’ll scoff at the values and their cynicism will foster a negative, demoralized workplace.  

So of course, leaders have to live the values.  But is that enough?

Not really.  Why?

Because in a large organization, most people don’t get to meet you.  They certainly don’t see you every day, every week or every month.  In fact, they may go years without ever shaking your hand.

However, most people will be invited to a business meeting and hear you speak; they may receive emails from you; they may hear from their own bosses about how you’ve handled certain situations.    

This is why a leader has to not just lead by example, but also talk about examples of how the organization are living by its values.  If you can’t have lunch with every employee, you need to connect with them in a personal way through the stories of the organization.  You can do this through speeches, presentations, videos and even email and blogs.  

Tell stories that demonstrate how successful people in your organiztaion are walking the talk.  Collect these stories routinely and then share how teams and groups have been living the values.  Once you start to do this people will tell you more stories about living the values and you’ll soon have a collection of these stories to share. 

The ability to share compelling stories with points through speaking and writing is a critical leadershp skill.  if you’re not sure how to find stories - think of a time when your team has faced a difficult situation.  Perhaps you disappointed a customer and had to “do right by them.”  Perhaps someone working on a project had to go above and beyond.  What happened?  Why did the team or individual make that decision?  What was the outcome?  How did it illustrate the values? What did the team learn from that experience?  How can others apply the lesson?

These are the stories that you need to share with your organization.  For your next presentation, investigate three examples of how the organization has succeeded, and analyze how those successes are tied to your values.  It will be well worth it, because when people hear a story, they remember the story, and then they remember the point.

So living by example is only half of the battle. The rest is sharing the stories with others. 

以身作则
yǐ shēn zuò zé
To set a good example / Set yourself as the standard

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Even the most seasoned, experienced professionals can find their hearts racing and their palms getting clammy as they walk down the hall to the boss’s office.  If you are:  a. laying awake at night worrying about how it’s going to go, or b.  not sure how far you’ll get before you’re interrupted, or c. afraid you’ll be flummoxed by a tough question, then it’s time to analyze what’s happening.

Let me make 5 observations about mistakes people make when meeting with the boss.

Observation number one:   You probably aren’t prepared

Most managers and leaders are woefully underprepared for these exchanges.  I’m frankly shocked at how little thought they put into shaping their proposals, writing their comments or practicing out loud.  What is more important that a meeting with the CEO or the board?  What are you doing that would take priority over that?  If you’re not spending time preparing and practicing, it’s because you’re avoiding it, not because you’re too busy.  Too busy is a myth.  Too busy means you don’t have your priorities straight. 

Observation number 2:  It’s a huge mistake to treat this as a game.

Your goal cannot be to simply get in and out without saying anything controversial—playing it safe will never get you ahead; your goal is not to out maneuver your colleagues – you may win a round but with a good boss, you’ll lose when you’re not part of the team; your goal is not to get the boss to make the decision – any good CEO wants you to make your own decisions – based on sound evidence and a logical plan. 

Observation number 3:   Most people aren’t in tune with the CEOs agenda

Just the other day I heard the story of a well respected Chief Information Officer who went in to tell the CEO about a great idea he had.  This was something that would require an investment up front but had the potential to create tremendous efficiencies within six months to a year of implementation.  To the CIO it seemed like a no brainer, so he was quite shocked when the CEO said, sure, I’ll approve it, but I still expect you to reduce your overall budget by 10%. 

Has something like this happened to you?  Have you gone in thinking you have a strong case, only to get a monkey wrench thrown into your perfect plan?  You walk out thinking what just happened?  The problem is you’ve set your own trap by not tuning in to what matters to the CEO right now.

Observation number 4:   Your CEO is looking for answers.

You need to have some.  Let me give you an example.  I know the new president of one division of a financial services company.  This guy is smart, analytical, thoughtful and articulate.  Only one problem.  He prepared a presentation but he came in with just questions, not solutions.  The CEO finally stopped him and said, Listen, if you want me to tell you what to do I can do that.  But is that what you want?  Or do you want to decide?  It was a moment of truth – a moment of empowerment – the president was grateful but also learned a lesson.  Come in with answers.  You may get shot down but you need to take a stand.  That’s what leaders do. 

Observation number 5:  Winging it is just plain dumb.

You may think you have your ideas in your head, that you know the project, understand the issue and can talk about it in your sleep.  Then what happens.  The meeting starts, you’re rambling, your answers are disjointed, you can’t remember key facts, and you’re fumbling opportunities to make a powerful point.  In short, you’re winging it, and that’s suicide.  There’s a big difference between confidence and overconfidence; between self assurance and arrogance.  The person who doesn’t prepare well is not confident or cool; he or she is simply not doing what it takes to succeed at the executive level.

Meetings with the boss are a chance to show your potential and shine.  If you know how to prepare you will significantly reduce the fear factor and ace the meeting.

This week, I’ll be posting a new series of how-to communicate audio Podcasts on I Tunes, - including a longer version of this article with tips on how to build your confidence in speaking with the boss.  It isn’t posted yet, but look for it later this week.  Simply go to www.itunes.com and  search for Suzanne Bates. 

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