About seven or eight years ago, I worked with the CEO of a global manufacturing firm.  We were in his office for about 2.5 hours (in theory for a media training but he didn’t want to because he was tired) so we talked mostly about his career.  I gently raise the oh-so-popular topic of a succession plan.  Did he have one?  Not really.  Who would be in line for his job?  Four or five people could be ready someday.  Did he want to discuss some high level coaching?  Yea, let’s talk about it in a months; too much going on right now.    

That night, he dropped dead of a heart attack. 

I don’t think the place has ever been the same.  The guy was the picture of health one day.  The next day, gone.

What happened next was interesting.  Two people have since sat in the corner office but they never really fit into the big chair.  You can blame them, but that would be too simple.  The circumstances were tough. 

The first guy walked into a place so stunned by the loss they simply couldn’t get their minds around a new leader with his own ideas.  His style was a mismatch; like sticking a square peg into a round hole.  

The second guy was worse; he had come up through the ranks but had been away in Europe for several years. He came back to a place that was angry and disillusioned.  The company was losing its way.  They had no confidence the second guy understood.  They would walk out of their own SLT meetings, get on email and start bad-mouthing decisions that had just been made.  There was constant jockeying for power.  It was a soap opera.  Good people left or retired.  The water cooler was grand central station.  Two and three levels down people tried in vain to figure out their own career paths.  With all the internal strife, important things like customer relationships suffered.  

I know you probably think I’m now going to lower the boom and launch into a lecture on succession planning.  It’s not necessary.  Everybody knows their company “needs” it. The question is why the process stops there.  Don’t get me wrong - there are meetings.  The HR people come in to meet with the senior leaders toting sophisticated leadership competency models, succession planning tools, charts with high potential names; and yet everybody leaves the meeting saying “Nobody’s ready to lead.”

Bad stuff happens-people die.  Good stuff happens- people decide to retire, play a little golf, take a sabbatical, start a nonprofit, spend time with the grand kids, travel, or stay home. 

Either way, the outcome is the same.  New People Must Step Up.

There are companies that do this well.  They invest early and often in promising talent.  They do more than sit around and talk about who they like (and don’t like.) They look at this as part of their legacy.  They really want to leave the place better in better hands.     

Still, it’s difficult.  Who wants to think about the end?  Many of us want to die with our boots on; some of us just can’t imagine playing golf all day.  And even if we know we’ll be ready to leave someday, most of us are so healthy and energized by our work that we feel younger than we felt 20 years ago. 

We’ll worry about it tomorrow.  Right now, we have the second quarter to deal with.  

I’m no psychiatrist, but I am an executive coach, as well as the CEO of my own small company.  So with that in mind I offer these thoughts to CEOs, Senior Leaders, HR professionals, Talent Management Specialists, Succession Planning Teams.  

When I started writing my second book, Motivate like a CEO, I had a chance to talk with a number of leaders about how they viewed their own leadership teams.  A lot of them observed their folks needed to learn to think, act, speak, and inspire others.  Hence, the book.   

I’ve thought about it a lot in the ten years I’ve been in this business and I believe more than ever that you can help people become great leaders.  Even if you bootstrapped your way to the top, you probably did have some help along the way, and if you didn’t you have to admit you might have benefitted if you had. 

Investing in people is a really good thing.  You can help good people become great.  They can to motivate, influence and inspire.  If you invest it will accelerate this development and build a strong leadership pipeline.

In our practice we always say we can tell if somebody “has it.”  It’s usually clear in the first coaching session that someone is serious, has the right stuff, and is going to take advantage of the opportunity.  They will emerge as the leaders of tomorrow.

To me, the formula is simple.  Invest a little training and development in a lot of people and see what sticks.  Pick out enough good people from that group, and invest more in them.  Pick out the best and invest a ton.  keep going. That investment will pay off.  

And everybody will sleep better at night. 

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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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“Be in charge of your own destiny or some one else will.”

-Jack Welch

Your destiny is determined each day by the path you choose.  But just having a goal and putting one step in front of the other each day isn’t enough.  You also need to let other people know what you’re doing.   That means communicating up, around, sideways and down the middle.

Let me give you an example.   A story about guy who had his eyes on the prize, but forgot to let his boss in on it. 

He told the story right before I got up to speak last night in Rye Brook New York to a group of IT leaders.  He had read chapter one of Motivate Like a CEO, realized where dropped the ball, and wanted to share it with everybody.

Turns out he and his technology team had worked feverishly to bring a project in on time and on budget.  He was proud of the fact that he’d been communicating exceptionally well with his team.  They were engaged in the work; in spite of some challenges they were excited and firing on all cylinders.  Trouble was- he forgot to tell the folks upstairs.   

He was so busy making sure those cylinders were firing that he failed to tell the executive team they were taking a trip. When he finally looped them back in, it became clear they didn’t understand what he’d been up to.  “Why are you spending so much time and energy on it?” they asked.  What a shame – a great effort without the applause.  Phase II?  Who knows if it will even happen?

What Went Wrong?

This story must have a familiar ring; I hear it all the time.  Your team loves you, they work hard for you, but somehow you and they aren’t getting the credit or the recognition you deserve.  Nine times out of ten it isn’t because you work for a boss who is a jerk.  It’s because of a simple failure to communicate up.

Communicating “up” is one of the most strategic aspects of the job.  You have to do it - for yourself - for your team - for your organization.  When you don’t, precious time, resources and effort are wasted. 

Ask yourself, this - in an ever changing world, where priorities are shifting, how can you possibly know that your activities are aligned today’s goals?  The only way to know is to have a robust dialogue going with the top of the organization.  

Remember This, When Briefing Top Executives

·         When you go in to give a briefing, be prepared, and be flexible.  Things may have changed.  Week to week, organizations are juggling a host of priorities and business realities.  Sure, in an ideal world, the company sets its sights on a target and focuses like a laser beam.  But we all know how difficult that is in this ultra volatile economy. 

·         That’s why you need to keep people in the loop - formally and informally.  Pick up the phone, send an email, schedule a meeting - be available - and don’t assume they know.

·         Be sure to ask questions and listen between the lines.  You may see heads nodding while the tone is less than enthusiastic.  That’s a signal.  Pay attention.  

·         You can still champion your project or idea if you believe in it.  Just be sure you can make a rock solid case for how it aligns with the company’s priorities.

·         Come in well prepared with facts and information that helps them see it the way you see it.  Your job as a leader is to communicate not just what, but why.

It isn’t Just Up - It’s Around, Sideways, and Down the Middle

I have a client who is living a nightmare right now - after six months of hard work a major project has been scuttled.  She and her team spent months planning, preparing and discussing with the top leaders of the company, only to have the rug pulled out from under them at the 11^th hour. Chaos has ensued.

Her team is not only deflated and demoralized; planned promotions will not take place; people will be moving to other parts of the organization; some may leave the company.  Perhaps most ruinous- it was a pretty good plan- so the benefits to the organization will be lost.

The issue really wasn’t just communicating up.  It appeared the top folks were on board.  Behind the scenes, however, some powerful forces who didn’t like it prevailed.  It all went down in about three hours.  This is what I like to call unpredictably predictable.  The post-mortem will show that the failure was in building alliances around the organization, going sideways and down the middle.

Maybe it would have happened anyway.  We’ll never know.

How To Avoid This Fate

• When you’re working on a major project, I recommend that you create a communications plan. 
• This document should live side by side with the project plan, or better still, inside of it.  
• Make a list of every single individual or group who can influence, touch, derail, question, wonder, doubt or decide something related to the plan. 
• Make a plan to circle around, ask questions,
• Listen between the lines, and be sure that you address head on not only the merits of an idea but the impact on others

As always, leave a reply if you’d like to contribute to these ideas on communicating up, around, sideways and down the middle.

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“Unless commitments are made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans”

-Peter Drucker

Yesterday a client canceled an appointment.  Big deal?  Depends.  Emergencies happen.  But I can predict with 100% accuracy whether a client is floundering or flourishing simply by whether he or she keeps these commitments. 

The flounderers do not call me directly, they have their assistants do it; the conversation usually goes something like this: ”So sorry, something’s come up with Mr. Flounder, we didn’t anticipate it.  I really apologize for the inconvenience.  Can we reschedule?”

When you’re having trouble meeting your commitments there are three reasons: 

1.  Failure to set priorities. 

2.  Activities not aligned with those priorities.

3.  An issue with commitment.

If any of the above sound familiar, read on. 

Failure to Set Priorities

If your issue is setting priorities, then it’s time to get real about what really matters to you.  The quality of your questions determines the quality of your answers.  Questions you might ask yourself are:

• What are my top priorities, really? 
• How will I accomplish these this year? 
• What will be the impact when I’m finished? 
• And how do I know that this is what I should be doing?”

Activities Not Aligned with Priorities

If you suspect that the issue is not priorities, but alignment, then it is time for tough love with your calendar.  Everything should be related to one of your priorities.  Take 10 minutes to spin through the next two months and see whether this is the case.  If not, it explains why you’re getting to the end of your days feeling frustrated.  

If it’s important enough to do, then it is important enough to put on your calendar.  Write in each activity related to a priority. Leave white space for meetings, calls, and emergencies (there will be plenty of those) and don’t allow yourself to fill it up with “nice to do” stuff.  If you aren’t sure, put it in as tentative, and don’t commit.   And, don’t allow anyone access to your calendar unless they are completely apprised of your priorities and you are absolutely assured they will run interference and guard your time like gold bars at Fort Knox.

An Issue with Commitment

If the issue is inability to commit, well, that’s a horse of a different color.  Short of taking up space on a therapists couch for a few years, what can you do to address commitment issues?  Remember there is a difference between interest and commitment.  I’m interested in learning to play golf, and what that means is I will probably do it when circumstances permit- when I’m traveling to a conference at a beautiful resort in Arizona I’ll set up a lesson with a pro.  However, I am committed to writing a third book.  I had a call with my publisher, McGraw Hill two weeks ago.  Last week I scheduled time to brainstorm book outlines and wrote three of them during that two hour period, and I will share those with my agent when we meet on Friday from 2 to 4 pm.  You get the idea.  As the saying goes, when you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, just results.

I’m interested in hearing from you about the challenges of meeting commitments.  It isn’t getting any easier - our companies have fewer resources, the time pressures are greater than ever, and the Blackberry vampires are sucking our time dry.  Hit leave a reply to offer real ideas about meeting commitments.

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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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In Chinese philosophy the concept of Yin Yang, often referred to in the West as Yin and Yang, is used to describe how seeming disjunct or opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent, giving rise to each other in turn. Dark and light; male and female; low and high are all manifestations of yin and yang.

In leadership one of the yin and yang principals that I see at work are confidence and humility.  As I’ve said in past articles, great leaders have both.  More accurately, the best have a perfect balance of both. 

Last night a CEO approached me after my speech to a Chief Executives Club.  He’s been through a tough year and is feeling beaten up.  He has lost his passion for the work, isn’t connecting with his customers, and his business is faltering.  His confidence has taken a beating.  Just a guess - he probably had good balance to start.  He seemed sincere, authentic, and thoughtful.  But without the confidence he appeared tired and depressed.  It is taking a heavy toll on his personal and professional life.  

The pendulum can swing the other way - sometimes we can become full of ourselves when confidence rears ahead.  We’ve all met people who start to “believe their own press releases” and think they deserve all the credit for their own success.  We stand on the shoulders of our colleagues, teams and mentors as well as the leaders who came before us.  If we forget to praise, thank and reward people eventually it will catch up to us and have the same destructive effect.

How’s your balance of confidence and humility?  With confidence, you are able to make decisions, take risks, move ahead, deal with setbacks, and tip the balance in your favor.  With humility you’re able to open up to learning, see where you can improve, learn from your mistakes, appreciate others and keep perspective on success.

Given all that’s happened in business, it wouldn’t be surprising if many of us have fallen out of balance.   But an improving economy won’t cure that.  We have to rely on our inner resources.  Geting the balance right, finding the yin and yang of confidence and humility will make us better leaders.  How will you balance these two traits in your professional life?  

I welcome your comments as always and also wonder whether this is a topic worth exploring further in a Teleseminar or Webcast.  Let me know about other topics that interest you, too.  Click on “leave a reply” below or email me at info@bates-communications.com  

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If you’re looking for an executive coach you may wonder how to find the one who is right for you.  It isn’t marriage but it is bigger than dating - you’re letting someone very important into your life.   It isn’t just dinner and a movie - it’s a relationship.  Finding someone to work with you on career success should be an interesting experience that that leads to great things. 

Of course you want an experienced, professional coach with a proven track record in helping people do what you want to do.  That narrows the coaching universe but it doesn’t fine-tune the process.  So let’s talk about some those finer points.  

First, working with a coach should be a positive, exciting and rewarding experience, so why wouldn’t you take the process seriously?  Don’t make the mistake of hiring the first person you talk with, or the coach who coached your friend.  Maybe they’ll be great, but how will you know if you don’t look around?  You wouldn’t believe the stories I’ve heard.  The other day someone told me she didn’t like her coach but couldn’t bring herself to fire him because she “felt bad.”  Look, you can hang on to a hairdresser, I suppose, if you can’t bring yourself to break up, but a coach is too important - you deserve to work with the best person who is a perfect fit.  

If you approach the hiring process seriously then you’ll dramatically increase the chances of finding a coach who will be well worth  your time, effort and investment.   You won’t regret the work involved in finding a coach when you start getting real results.  

There are similarities to hiring an employee, but there are differences, too.  Let’s look at the similarities first.  Just as hiring an employee you want a coach with the resume, aptitude and attitude.  It also has to feel right in the gut. You check their resume or bio, references and client list.  Then, you talk on the phone, and pay attention to the little things, and decide whether to meet. Over the years I know I’ve learned to tune in to a candidate voice, manner and etiquette on the initial call.  I don’t even set up an interview  even with someone who has a great bio, if they cannot comport themselves on the telephone.      

But back to hiring a coach -there are some differences that are important. For one, a coach works for you but doesn’t ”report” to you in the classic sense.  You don’t direct their activities, and they are not engaged in the day to day operations or working with other employees.  This is really a partnership with you.  That’s why it’s important to look for independent minded, confident, yet approachable coaches who can support you while telling the truth, no matter what.  They should be able to see your best qualities and also call you on behaviors and actions that undermine your success.  You need to feel a level of trust so that you are able to reveal aspects of your life and career that you would not discuss with an employee, colleague or boss.  

Let me pause to say that this article will provide 5tips, but there is much more.  That’s why I have available a complimentary hour-long audio program on hiring a coach, which you can download at no charge.  Contact Shellie Dunlap in my office: sdunlap@bates-communications.com and she will send you the link.

Below are 5 NEW tips not included in that audio program, on how to hire a coach who is right for you: 

Hiring a coach tip #1: Coaches are not “one-size-fits all”

Coaches have widely varying backgrounds and experiences.  Some are “life coaches” who hang out a shingle after retiring from a profession.  Typically you hire them on your own, to work with you on a range of issues, many of which may be personal growth.  Executive coaches like those in our firm are different - they typically are hired by you with the company’s approval.  They come in to work with you on specific professional development areas that you and your company have identified as essential to your success.  While they may also work with you on lifestyle, health or balance issues, they are accountable to both you and the company in achieving measurable business goals with timelines and outcomes.   And executive coaches may say they can work on any issue, but in my experience, this is simply not the case.  For example, in our specialty area of communications, we know other coaches might bring in videotape and try to coach a client on a presentation without experience doing it themselves.  This is why you need to have your goals in mind when you sit down to interview coaches.

Hiring a coach tip #2:  Coaching program models are different  

Every reputable coach should have a process that they can easily explain, which should include how you achieve results.  A reputable coach will start with an assessment that reveals your strengths and areas for development.  They should be able to expalin how they help you set goals, timelines, action steps, measurements and outcomes.  If the coach doesn’t discuss this in your initial meeting, don’t be afraid to ask.  Also ask them for examples of successes, failures.  One way to guide your decision is to present a problem or challenge and work together in a brief “coaching session.” I discuss this further, below.

Hiring a coach tip #3: Look Beyond the “Usual Suspects”  

Many times I’ll hear an executive or HR leader say, “We only work with the xyz firm for our coaching.  Our CEO has worked with them for 12 years and he likes them.”   While this kind of loyalty is a great endorsement, I’m not sure whether it happens for the right reasons.  Since there is no “one size fits all” as I mentioned above, the coach for the VP of Sales may not be the coach for the CIO.  The coach who worked 12 years ago may not be the fit for who you or your company have become.  One firm may have several coaches but that firm may also not address specialty areas.  Your company needs to build a list of recommended coaches and from time to time, interview new firms to see what they have to offer.

Hiring a coach tip #4:  Take the coach for a “test drive”

We’ve found that one interesting way to gauge chemistry is to spend an hour with a client and actually work with them on a defined project.  For example, if a client has a major board presentation, client meeting, we might go through our ‘audience agenda” system to help them analyze the audience interests and tailor the presentaiton so it resonates for them.  This is something many clients have never done before, at that level.  If the issue is communicating with a boss or employee, we ask questions that help us analyze the situation together, learn how the client has approached it so far, evaluate the obstacles, probe experiences in similar situations, and determine the outcome they want.  Then we can discuss options that could work.  This kind of hands-on approach will reveal a lot about how it would work, giving you a chance to assess the coach based on experience.

Hiring a coach tip #5:  Don’t settle - be confident you’re in good hands

Just as in all hiring, there is a moment when you know with relative certainty that this is going to be a good relationship.  In the past, when i’ve settled on an employee out of expediency, I have ignored warning signals. Settling is never worth it.  Especially in a partnership like this one.  Get recommendations from your company, interview a few, and talk it over with a trusted advisor, if that’s helpful.  You are not just entering into a business contract, you’re entering into a trusted relationship that should nurture your career and help you grow.

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I was reading Marshall Goldsmith’s blog and came across  ”4 Tips for Efficient Succession Planning” today.  One of the world’s most trusted executive coaches has finally put his finger on a big, broken piece of Leadership Development.   

In my experience, companies are way too focused on standard assessments and planning meetings, where they sit in a room, talking about their “top talent”, and moving young hi po names around on a board like puzzle pieces.  This is all part of “succession planning,” and Goldsmith says we spend far too much time doing it.  Instead he says, why don’t we start calling it “succession DEVELOPMENT.” 

“Plans do not develop anyone,” says Goldsmith, “only development experiences develop people. We see many companies put more effort and attention into the planning process than they do into the development process.”

If we focus on “planning” instead of “development,” we end up promoting smart, technical people who can’t motivate, inspire and empower people.  These leaders have business sense but hardly a clue about how to influence others and get results.  

After years of watching young leaders succeed and fail, I’ve noticed that the missing link for most of them is what is often called “executive presence.”  Executive presence is a combination of skills and qualities that make a person highly effective with others.  It’s often described as the impact you have when you walk into a room, engage in a conversation; it’s also how you listen, treat other people, behave in work and social situations, and even the way you dress.  

I think those things are important but the definition of executive presence is much broader.  It’s the knowing your leadership view, being able to speak your mind and articulate a big idea that excites others.  Even the strongest business mind will not be able to build a collaborative, innovative, progressive organization if they don’t know how to influence others and move them to act.

What too many companies are doing is sending their high potential leaders to a few courses and calling it development.  What they need to do is provide a structured, long term learning environment where leaders can learn and apply these communication skills in real time and real life situations.

If Human Resources groups charged with “succession planning” could get their companies to focus on the long term development of communication skills as an essential part of the leadership package, they would be pleasantly surprised at how these high potential leaders could quickly assimilate into new roles.   

This is the main reason we developed our Executive Coaching in Communications program.  Few coaches or courses are able to help leaders develop this critical skill.  Too often, leaders are told they need to improve their communication without being given a structured, long-term plan and resources for doing so.

In our program we focus on working with leaders in real time on real events, so that they learn to exercise this muscle - finding their leadership voice - and making it stronger.   If you’d like to learn more I recommend reading Motivate Like a CEO especially chapters 3,4, 11 and 12.   

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Maybe you’ve read Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado.  Parrado co-wrote the 2006 book Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, with Vince Rause. In Miracle in the Andes, Parrado returns to Piers Paul Read’s 1974 book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (which tells the story of the Uruguayan Rugby team who were alumni of Stella Maris College (Montevideo) who were involved in the airplane crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed into the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972).

 Miracle of the Andes, however, is told from Parrado’s point of view thirty-four years later.  Last week, I had the extraordinary opportunity to hear Parrado speak.  His gripping tale of survival in the harshest conditions imaginable held the audience in a state of suspension for almost an hour.  As in the book, he takes an introspective journey presenting both the jaw-dropping realities of the 16 survivors’ story and the life-altering lessons he learned from the experience.

While English isn’t his first language, Parrado never the less took us on a remarkable journey with flawless storytelling execution.  He is not a high energy, motivational speaker in the classic sense - in fact his presence on stage is utter calm.  Yet he is simply one of the most inspiring, powerful people you’ve ever seen on a stage because of his ability to allow the story to unfold.  He shares powerful insights and turns them into universal lessons for us all. 

Early on, you learn that the entire group of survivors went on to become very successful businessmen.  Why, you wonder.  He creates the question and then tells you that as a teenager he learned how to make life and death decisions.  As you hear his story you realize after this ordeal, nothing would ever be hard.  We suddenly appreciate how we, too, must be courageous, move ahead and keep going.

Few of us will ever live through such a harrowing experience, however, we can all appreciate and tap into the power of storytelling in our presentations.  Stories not only relate powerful points; they transform the psychological and emotional experience of the audience.  Leaders who tell stories know the power of relating experiences that allow others to share in the insights and learn from them.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of the crash, below this photo you’ll find an abridged version. If you’re interested in learning the art and magic of storytelling, I invite you to go to our web site www.bates-communications.com and find resources, including free articles as well as my book, audio programs and home study course on How to Speak Like a CEO.  Also don’t forget our next boot camp is coming up in October - our early bird rates are still available until early August.  www.bates-communications.com/bootcamp

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known less formally as the Andes flight disaster, was a chartered airline flight carrying 45 rugby team members and associates that crashed in the Andes on Friday the 13th of October, 1972. The last of the 16 remaining survivors were rescued by December 23, 1972. More than a quarter of the passengers died in the crash and several survivors of the initial impact had died of cold and injuries by the next day. Twenty-nine were alive several days after the accident, but the number of survivors was further reduced by an avalanche sweeping over their wreckage shelter.

The crash survivors, thinking they would be found and rescued within hours, a day or two at worst, had very little food and no way to make heat in the harsh climate, at over 3,600 meters (11,700+/- feet) altitude. Faced with starvation and the radio news reports they heard that the search and rescue mission for them had been abandoned, the survivors eventually fed on the dead passengers who were preserved in the snow. Rescue teams were not aware of the survivors until 72 days after the crash when survivors Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 12 day snow trek across the treacherous Andes mountains, found a Chilean huaso who guided them to safety where help was found for the other survivors still trapped at the crash site.

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So I’m reading the Conference Board Review article entitled, “Why Americans Don’t Trust CEOs,” and I’m thinking I’ve read about 164 similar articles lately on the lagging popularity of the Chief Executive Officer.  And then I’m thinking, if you’re in the corner office, you probably ignore it, but once in a while it gets you down.  Especially if you suspect your own employees feel this way about you. 

There are a number of studies out there that document how CEOs are less popular than dentists or lawyers.  The Edelman Trust Barometer even before the financial meltdown apparently found only 20% of Americans trust CEOs to do the right things for their companies and their customers.  They didn’t site any recent studies.

Several times in this blog I’ve talked about all the GOOD CEOs who are out there making difficult but appropriate sacrifices for their companies.  Many have reduced their salaries and spent long hours working harder than ever, to keep people employed and keep the doors open.  The fact that this has been the longest recession of our lifetimes means we’re living in a prolonged state of crisis, and that isn’t good for anyone’s physical or mental health.  

I guess Americans have always had a love-hate relationship with the person at the top.  CEOs have been revered and reviled.   I don’t mean we should have a pity party for CEOs, but if you’re a CEO who is feeling isolated and you don’t have the support you need, then your emotional state will have a significant impact on your health and well being - and that isn’t good for your company.  You can’t fake mojo.  You gotta have it to be a really great leader.

If you’re a CEO and you feel like you need to get your mojo back I have a few ideas.  

1.  Read Motivate Like a CEO - I know, I know, self promotional, but I wrote it because I realized that there are a lot of leaders out there who are motivated by purpose and passion.  They get up in the morning and can’t wait to get to work, because they love what they do and they love their companies.  Every CEO should feel that way.  If you read the book, you’ll see how they discovered their purpose and passion.

2.  Have some fun.  Take time to restore, regenerate and renew body mind and spirit.  I’m one of the worst offenders here but I’ve learned that my brain fires at about -50% when I’m not taking care of myself, and at about 150% when I take a few hours or a day or two to relax and do things I enjoy.

3.  Walk around your company.  Even in challenging times, people are basically optimistic, and they want to share their stories with you.  When get out there and talk to your team about their projects, you get energized.  Connect, praise, recognize and reward and you’ll not only make THEM feel better; you’ll feel better, too.  

4.  Get out and see your customers.  In this economy, everybody needs a little love.  Let them know you care.  You can pick up the phone and email, but being there is best.  As I always tell our team, there aren’t any customers here in the office.

5.  Spend a little more time with your family and friends.  It’s too easy to get mired in work when times are challenging; there is always an emergency.  Take an inventory of your calendar and decide what you can eliminate, what you can postpone, and go home.

By the way if you want to have some fun click here on Wikipedia and look at the countless definitions and uses of the word mojo

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