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Posted Jan. 9, 2012 12:42 p.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
"The National Leadership Index 2010, compiled by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, showed that American's confidence in their leaders was 'significantly below average' for a third year in a row." From Values to Action, page 3.
What did Harry Kraemer do? He did something that feels unusual—subversive, almost—in light of the air of mistrust and criminality that pervades big business. "When in the past nine months have you ever heard a corporate executive apologize?" marvels William W. George,* the recently retired CEO of medical-instrument maker Medtronic Inc. The answer: almost never.
*You may know Bill George from his own leadership books Authentic Leadership, True North and Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis.
Baxter's response to its filter crisis wasn't perfect. But Baxter's CEO owned up to the situation. He told the truth. He took responsibility when it would have been easy not to. His company took a $189 million hit, and he recommended that the board reduce his bonus. In other words, Kraemer did the right thing.
Now, being involved in any way in the deaths of over 50 people is certainly nothing to be proud of—quite the contrary. But acting with dignity, doing the right thing, accepting responsibility and making things right (as much as possible) in the midst of tragic events is something a company can take pride in. Contrast it to the shameful responses by BP, Halliburton and Transocean to the ecological disaster in the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, where absolutely no one would take responsibility and their are still fingers pointing and lawsuits flying in every direction.
And Harry Kraemer not only did the right thing in response to the tragic events in Europe, Kraemer did the right thing with regards to the company he led, recommending that his bonus and the bonuses of other company executives be reduced in response to the incident. Imagine for a minute Wall Street executives stepping up to take responsibility for the financial crisis and suggesting their bonuses be cut to to help re-capitalize the banks and repay the American taxpayer, or Congress asking for their pay to be docked until they could find a way to break through their legislative gridlock and put America back to work. The mere idea of our leaders sacrificing their pay, position or power, of their taking a hit for the greater good or taking a firm stand for what seems so obviously right, is so nearly unfathomable that it has been the realm of Hollywood since Mr. Smith went to Washington. Mr. Kraemer suggests, and has proven, that we can lead with our values and a sense of decency in the everyday—even if the day rarely has a Hollywood ending.
Since leaving Baxter in 2004, Kraemer has refined this values-based approach to leadership into a teachable formula as part of the staff at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and From Values to Action outlines that approach for the rest of us. He has boiled it down to four very human and close-to-the-ground principles: Self-Reflection, Balance, True Self-Confidence, and Genuine Humility. These are seemingly simple principles, but they can be hard to live. It amounts to "doing the right thing rather than being right," which means setting aside one's ego, questioning and considering all approaches and angles even if they seem antithetical to you, and still having enough sense of self to make a determined decision and stand behind it.
It also means taking responsibility if that decision doesn't lead to the desired outcome or when something goes wrong, even if you can sweep it easily under the rug or find someone else to blame. It is during these difficulties—what Kraemer labels the three 3C's of Change, Controversy and Crisis—that your leadership becomes most important, that doing the right thing matters most. Even when it's hard, especially when it's hard, those around you—whether they be family members, teammates, co-workers, employees or constituents—need you take up the mantle of responsibility rather than shirk it, to address problems head-on instead of covering them up or deflecting blame. It is in those times, times like these, that it is especially important hold your head high and maybe even stick your neck out a little, to do the right thing not only for your own integrity, but for the integrity of the entire organization and everyone in it. As Harry Kraemer said way back in 2002 when he was interviewed by Fast Company:
Leadership is a delicate blend of self-confidence and humility. You have to have the self-confidence ... But self-confidence without humility becomes a problem. I may be the CEO. But part of that was having a few skills, and part of it was luck. Part of it was the man upstairs. So I'm no better than anyone else. Self-confidence and humility: Blend those two together, and you have someone who has a good chance of leading effectively.
Ninety-nine percent of people want to do the right thing. I've got 48,000 employees, most of whom care about the environment, or they have parents, or they are parents. I'm representing them. I've got 48,000 people who assume that we're going to do the right thing.
Wouldn't it be nice if all of our leaders felt the same way? I'm not as naive to think that "the right thing" is always an easy thing to find, but I am naive enough to think that we can at least try.
LeaveSmarter with Peter Sims
Posted May 26, 2011 9:43 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
We were overjoyed to have Peter Sims in town earlier this week for our LeaveSmarter* series. We first became aware of Peter when he coauthored True North with Bill George, which was a favorite of ours when it came out, and one of our bestsellers in 2007 and 2008 (and, coincidentally, Bill was in town to speak about True North at a previous LeaveSmarter event). So, we were really excited when we saw Mr. Sims had a book of his own coming out. That book is Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, released last month by Free Press. The book is based the idea that you don't need a big idea to get into or change your business; you simply need to take small, experimental steps to see what works and consolidate small victories. Or, as Peter puts it in the introduction to the book:
Little Bets is based on the proposition that we can use a lot of little bets and certain creative methods to identify possibilities and build up to great outcomes. At the core of this experimental approach, little bets are concrete actions taken to discover, test, and develop ideas that are achievable and affordable. They begin as creative possibilities that get iterated and refined over time, and they are particularly valuable when trying to navigate amid uncertainty, create something new, or attend to open-ended problems. When we can’t know what’s going to happen, little bets help us learn about the factors that can’t be understood beforehand. The important thing to remember is that while prodigies are exceptionally rare, anyone can use little bets to unlock creative ideas.
As you can see from the pictures below, the event was held in lovely environs, amongst the "Man at Work" collection in The Milwaukee School of Engineering's Grohmann Museum . I took video of the event, but I am no video expert, so we'll have to wait until Jon gets back from BEA next week to see if it's up to par and get it on the site. In the meantime, you should check out Peter's Little Bets manifesto at ChangeThis.
*We began our LeaveSmarter series in 2006 to bring nationally recognized business thinkers and their books to our hometown. M&I Bank approached us soon after the first event to discuss partnering with us on the series and, along with local law firm Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, they have been the series sponsor ever since. If you're interested in partnering with us to create a future event, let's talk. You can contact me at dylan[at]800ceoread[dot]com.
In the Books - Off to the Printers VII
Posted Jan. 7, 2010 10:15 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
In today's installment of past articles from In the Books, we have something from Robert Morris—an independent management consultant and one of the most knowledgeable business book reviewers in the country. In the essay below, he discusses the best leadership books of 2008.
Real-World Lessons in Leadership BY ROBERT MORRIS
The authors of the best leadership books published in 2008 draw heavily upon a wealth of real-world information, both their own and others’, notably corporate executives and leaders in other fields. There seems to be common agreement among these authors that a smart person learns from his or her mistakes whereas a wise person learns from others’ mistakes. These experiences with failure also seem to produce (for lack of a better term) wisdom from which other important lessons can be learned.
Robert Thomas offers a case in point. In 2002, he and Warren Bennis wrote Geeks & Geezers, in which they shared what they learned from various leaders who were asked, “Why are some people able to extract wisdom from experience, however harsh, and others are not?” Without exception, the 43 leaders they interviewed (who ranged in age from 21 to 93) underwent and eventually survived what Bennis and Thomas characterize as a crucible: a process of “meaning making” of especially difficult events that galvanized them as human beings (as precious metals were treated by alchemists in the Middle Ages) who would later become effective leaders. In the more recently published Crucibles of Leadership, Thomas shifts his focus to exploring “what life is like inside a crucible.” As the dozens of personal accounts he provides clearly indicate:
“Crucible experiences are not only defining moments; they can also be a valuable starting point for discovering a form of practice closely attuned to an individual’s aspirations and motivations—something I refer to as a Personal Learning Strategy. That is, crucibles trigger a search for meaning: Why did this happen? Why did it happen to me? What should I learn from this for the future? Handled properly, crucibles can catalyze a vigorous and sustained interior dialogue that leads to deeper self-understanding and enhanced performance” (7).
In this context, I am reminded of Albert Einstein’s observation, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” All great leaders are lifelong learners, and wisdom is the most valuable result of those efforts.
In How the Wise Decide: The Lessons of 21 Extraordinary Leaders, Bryn Zeckhauser and Aaron Sandoski focus on the importance of developing sound judgment. They clearly agree with Noel Tichy and Bennis who assert in their book Judgment that effective leaders “not only make better calls, but they are able to discern the really important ones and get a higher percentage of them right” (15). That is certainly true of the 21 “extraordinary leaders” whom Zeckhauser and Sandoski examine in this book. Each demonstrates mastery of six core decision making principles. For example, the importance of routinely consulting primary sources, pursuing firsthand information wherever it took them. They “listened with purpose” during group meetings and one-on-one conversations to fill in their information gaps. They demanded and praised candor. Before making any major decision (i.e. a “tough call”), they took into full consideration all relevant information, from as many different perspectives as possible, to ensure that the decision was not only legal but also ethical. Yes, the proverbial “buck” stopped on their desk, but only after enduring its own crucible of intense, broad-based scrutiny.
Geoff Colvin set out to answer this question: “What does great performance require?” In Talent Is Overrated, he shares several insights generated by hundreds of research studies, and finds that one of the key insights they reveal is that all great performers “make it look so easy” because of their commitment to deliberate practice, often for several years of trial and error. Colvin duly acknowledges that deliberate practice “is a large concept, and to say that it explains everything would be simplistic and reductive” (7). His insights offer a reassurance that almost anyone’s performance can be improved, sometimes substantially, even if it isn’t world-class. Talent is overrated if it is perceived to be the most important factor. It isn’t. In fact, talent does not exist unless and until it is developed... and the only way to develop it is (you guessed it) with deliberate practice. Whenever Ben Hogan was asked the “secret” to playing great golf, he replied, “It’s in the dirt.” Colvin leaves no doubt that deliberate practice “hurts but it works.” To anyone who lacks sufficient self confidence, he reassures, “what the evidence shouts most loudly is striking, liberating news: That great performance is not reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone” (206).
What are the best management books of all time and what lessons can be learned from them? That is a question that Chris Lauer and
the editors at Soundview Executive Book Summaries set out to answer. Their conclusions are provided in The Management Gurus. (Note: Space limitations do not permit a full list of the authors and their books. Many who check out the list will no doubt take issue with selections and omissions.) Lauer and his associates decided to focus on specific works, most of which are recently published and representative of the “gurus” who wrote them. They make brilliant use of a standard format that consists of a brief introduction to the given author or co-authors, the given book’s table of contents, “The Summary in Brief” followed by “What You’ll Learn in This Summary,” and then “The Complete Summary.” What amazes me, frankly, is how much coverage is provided in a series of 15 chapters, each devoted to one or a combination of business thinkers; also, having already read and reviewed most of the exemplary books, I can attest to the fact that there was no effort to “dumb down” the material. Moreover, the length of each commentary is significant. For example, 15 pages devoted to John C. Maxwell (Winning with People), 16 pages to Bill George with Peter Sims (True North), 17 pages to Bo Burlingham (Small Giants), and 18 pages to Kenichi Ohmae (The Next Global Stage). Obviously, these summaries are necessarily incomplete, but certainly not “thumb nails.” There is more than enough information to help a busy executive to decide whether or not to read them and perhaps seek additional sources, several of which are identified in the brief introductions.
Many of those in my generation wish Stewart B. Friedman’s Total Leadership had been available 25 years ago so that we could have more thoroughly reflected on and then explored the relative importance of four domains in our lives—work, home, community, and self—to determine (a) whether or not the goals we were pursuing in each were in sync, (b) also in sync with the other goals, and (c) and how satisfied we were with what was happening in each and all domains. Oh well. Here’s my take on a few of Friedman’s key points. All “total leaders” possess great strength because they do what they love, drawing upon the resources of their entire (four- domain) life. By acting with authenticity, they create value for themselves, their families, their businesses, and their world. By acting with integrity, they satisfy their craving for a sense of connection, for coherence in disparate parts of their lives, and for the peace of mind that comes from strictly and consistently adhering to a code of values. Meanwhile, they “keep a results-driven focus while providing maximum flexibility (choice in how, when, and where things get done.) They have the courage to experiment with new arrangements and communications tools to better meet the expectations of people who depend on them.” (11).
At the same time, each “total” leader does everything she or he can to help others (at work, at home, in the community, and for themselves) to become aware of whatever adjustments may be necessary within her or his own domains; to have a sense of urgency about making those modifications; to decide to commit to appropriate action that will create for each a different, better future; to solve whatever problems they encounter when pursuing the giving goals, meanwhile sustaining commitment despite any barriers, delays, distractions, etc. Total leaders also ensure that “people who depend on them” have the support and encouragement they may need by celebrating incremental successes while resisting “slippage.”
Although many of the exemplary executives discussed in these and other outstanding business books are prominent CEOs, please keep in mind that their organizations as well as all others need results-driven leadership at all levels and in all areas. I think it is also important to realize that even the most highly regarded CEOs are flawed human beings, as they would likely be the first to point out. Those whom Robert Thomas interviewed remind us that “crucibles” of hardship and heartbreak need not be incinerators. Bryn Zeckhauser and Aaron Sandoski are convinced that you can gain wisdom by mastering the same six core decision-making principles that proved so invaluable to the 21 “extraordinary leaders” whom they discuss. There is also much you can learn from what the “management gurus” share in their books. Meanwhile, Geoff Colvin wants you to remember that “great performance is not reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone” if there is a total commitment to deliberate practice. And Stewart Friedman suggests that, yes, great performance is possible in all four domains of your life—work, home, community, and self—if you can summon and then sustain the courage and determination to get your priorities in proper alignment. No one can balance everything in each domain, but you can balance what is most important in all four of them. These domains are not separate. Rather, they are interdependent, and together they give you and your life definition... and meaning.
800-CEO-READ's Decade-in-Review
Posted Dec. 31, 2009 9:45 a.m. by sally-haldorson
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
It's an admittedly worn device to use the alphabet to organize one's thoughts, but when reflecting over the past decade and trying to distill the most notable events and objects that affected our company and also the publishing industry and business sector into a brief blog post, I found such a device to be quite helpful. As Jack put it when we initially discussed writing a decade-in-review post, not only is it like opening a can of worms, it seems like whenever one harkens back to the Millenium, one can't help but get sidetracked into thoughts about 9/11. But of course there were many more ups and downs that we've all been a victim and/or a participant in, and this list is an attempt to do that chaos a little bit of justice.
Amazon (may not have its origins in this decade, but grew from 1.6B in 1999 to 19.1 in 2008; Annual 800ceoread Business Book Awards (Inaugural 2007); Erika Anderson, founder of Proteus International, Inc., author of Growing Great Employees, and great friend of 800-CEO-READ who introduced us to a new in-office vocabulary (2007)
Blue Ocean Strategy (our decade's Best Seller, 2005); Bill George, author of three 800-CEO-READ best sellers, Authentic Leadership (2004), True North (2007) and Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis
ChangeThis (website presenting ideas via manifesto PDFs adopted by 800-CEO-READ from Seth Godin, 2005)
Disasters, natural and otherwise (Dot Com Bust, 2000; 9/11, 2001; tsunami, 2004; Hurricane Katrina, 2005; banking, 2009)
Enron bankruptcy (2001); Eight years of George W. Bush (2000-2008); Election of Barack Obama (2008)
Farewell, Schwartz Bookshops (2009); free/freemium changes everything; Facebook leads the herd.
Good to Great by Jim Collins; Green, Global and Google become top trends
Heath Brothers’ Made to Stick (2007) introduced us to a new language for the creation of ideas
InBubbleWrap offers free business books from 800-CEO-READ (2005); In the Books, 800-CEO-READ's yearly review of business books (2007); It's Your Ship by D. Michael Abrashoff (2002), an 800-CEO-READ bestseller with legs.
JackCovertSelects reviews (Inaugural 2000); Joy Panos Stauber, design extraordinaire and great friend of 800-CEO-READ.
Kindle (2007) and the advancing threat (revelation?) of digital books.
Lay-Offs (2009), Levitt & Dubner’s Freakonomics (2005), The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (2006); 800-CEO-READ's LeaveSmarter events (2006) kick off in Milwaukee.
Mega-Sales of Oprah’s Recommendations, Harry Potter & the Twilight series, lend hopefulness that books still beguile.
New York (book launch, company party, annual awards fete, 2009)
The 100 Business Books of All Time (written & anguished over during 2008, published 2009)
PechaKucha – 800-CEO-READ becomes the Milwaukee host for this exciting new way to present ideas in 20 images in 20 seconds (2008).
QbQ! The Question behind the Question by John Miller (2004), an 800-CEO-READ best seller that tapped into the perceived absence of personal accountability.
Rich Dad books populate the decade as the best selling personal finance books; Rehiring & Remodeling (2009)
Seth Godin (Unleashing the Idea Virus 2001 to Purple Cow 2003 to Tribes 2008); Strengths-based management books and strategies from Gallup.
Todd Sattersten (consultant 2004 - coauthor, 2008 - president, 2009), The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2000); Twitter
Used books on Amazon (2001); The Ultimate Question by Fred Reichheld (2006) became the basis of some important questions we asked of our company and our customers.
Visit 800ceoread's Daily Blog for daily business insight (2001).
Wiki-anything; The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki (2004) and The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (2005), two books that changed the way we think.
X-treme changes to news and publishing industry
You're a blueberry (2008), an 800-CEO-READ inside joke that encapsulates the relationships of the 800-CEO-READ employees.
Zero percent. The likelihood that 2010 will be anything but another exhilarating ride.
Okay, so in terms of adhering to the alphabetization of this list, some are a bit of a cheat. And some inclusions are events that had a direct effect on our company internally, but most were important occurrences felt by everyone in business. If there is anything I missed, feel free to add in comments.
Happy New Year everyone!
2008 Best Sellers
Posted Jan. 20, 2009 2:00 a.m. by tom-ehrenfeld
In The Company - 800 CEO Read Blog
Below are our 2008 Best Sellers (links open in new windows/tabs)
1. How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...in Business and in Life
2. It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
3. The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
5. The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google
6. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
7. What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
8. Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop the Focus and Strategy to Uncover the Life You Want
9. Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want
10. Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming
12. True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership
13. We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business
15. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
16. How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership
17. Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything
19. The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It
20. The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation
21. Outsmart!: How to Do What Your Competitors Can't
22. Mass Career Customization: Aligning the Workplace With Today's Nontraditional Workforce
23. Rules to Break and Laws to Follow: How Your Business Can Beat the Crisis of Short-Termism
24. Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower
25. Think Big, Act Small: How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive
