Upsize Your Leadership

Building Trust Builds Customer Loyalty Research consistently confirms that customers will pay more for a product or service if they trust the provider. Companies should therefore cease on every opportunity to foster a climate in which trust can flourish. Customer loyalty never takes root where trust in a brand or company is low. And trust takes shape only in settings where ethics are held in high regard. This episode explores five factors which are particularly powerful in determining whether customers will trust a company enough to be loyal to it. These are basically common-sense principles. But it's always worthwhile to be reminded of them so that they are not allowed to languish. A PDF transcript of this program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2509-trust-and-loyalty.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Staggering Challenge of Rebuilding Ukraine For the first time in years, the possibility of peace in Ukraine is in the headlines. Ignored in most media coverage, however, is the immense complexity of getting the country back on its feet economically, industrially, and in terms of fundamental services. In this episode, I examine realities that are unknown by most Americans, but are momentous challenges that Ukraine's postwar government must confront. The price tag for meeting these challenges is as great as the price tag for the war itself. Yet little is said about them -- or known about them -- outside of Europe. Not the least of these issues is a nation that will have a disproportionately small population of young families, which creates demographic imbalance for decades to come. With relatively few young families, Ukraine has an exceptionally small replacement population of children and teens. Rebuilding any economy with a shrinking population is a staggering task. Unlike nations who have made the investment to allow disabled workers to be integrated into the workplace, the infrastructure in Ukraine (and Russia, as well) is horrendously inadequate to accommodate people with physical liabilities. With hundreds of thousands of people now maimed by the war, the available workforce for rebuilding the nation will be terribly lacking in numbers. The podcast takes up other related postwar issues. A transcript is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2508-postwar-ukraine.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five Essential Mindset Changes as You Climb the Management Ladder Have you known people with tremendous promise as managers or leaders whose careers got derailed and they never rose to the heights that they seemed destined for? No doubt you have. And as a leadership development coach, I've seen plenty of them. Of course, we could cite hosts of reasons why this happens. From what I've observed, failure to make appropriate change in one of five mindsets may be the single greatest the single greatest contributor to derailed careers. In this episode, I chronicle these five and explain why they are so pivotal in determining how high up the ladder you can climb. A PDF transcript of the program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2507-management-ladder.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four Things that Pacesetting Leaders Get Right Our business world is not merely competitive. It's hypercompetitive. Run-of-the-mill performance is no longer acceptable. To stay ahead, companies need leaders who build and maintain sustained high performance. Over two decades ago, I began studying leaders who had done that very thing. I started to identify common denominators in organizations – both profit and nonprofit – which had attained exceptional, pacesetting performance. Even more importantly, I began to condense what I learned into models and methodologies which I could share with clients. Along the way, I came to realize that I could categorize the leadership principles for achieving peak performance under four headings: ·    People       Alignment       Culture ·         Engagement Recently I've embarked on developing an online course entitled how to be a PACEsetting leader, with the letters P-A-C-E intentionally capitalized. These letters form an acronym consisting of the first letters of the words people, alignment, culture, and engagement. In this podcast, I survey critical leadership traits under each of those headings. They are indeed the pillars that support PACEsetting leadership. A PDF transcript of this program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Supreme Court Decision That Changed Nothing The Future of the Beneficial Ownership Information Report Remains Uncertain After bouncing around in district and appeals courts for months, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its mandated Beneficial Ownership Information Report had their first day before the Supreme Court this month. On January 23, the Court lifted a temporary restraining order (TRO) which had suspended enforcement of the reporting requirement since December 2. But perhaps for the first time in the history of the Supreme Court, the justices lifted a TRO and their decision made no practical difference whatsoever. I trace this strange development in this episode and lay out the possible scenarios which may play out in the weeks ahead with the CTA. I look at the question, is the Beneficial Ownership Information Report going away? Or coming back? Some 30 million small business owners are waiting to find out. You can download the script for this program at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2505-boi-coming-back.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Managers Should Always Remember About Their People One of the shortcomings of modern accounting systems is that they have no mechanism for showing the capability and dedication of your workforce as an asset on a balance sheet. Workers appear only as liabilities: payrolls due, cost of benefits, Social Security obligations, etc. Yet workers are the manager's most valuable asset. That's one of seven things that I feature in this podcast about the relationship between managers and workers. Seven things which should always be front-of-mind for anyone in a managerial position. A transcript of this program can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2504-seven-things.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five Ways Managers Can Combat Distrust in the Workplace Recent studies confirm that worker distrust of the company and its managers is solidly entrenched. These studies found that fewer than half of employees trust their manager. And only one in three trusts upper management. In today's episode I examine some historic roots of this distrust. It gained its foothold in the business and corporate world in the 1980s. I trace what happened in those years that provide the backdrop for the kind of distrust that has plagued companies ever since. A printed copy of today's podcast is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2503-workplace-distrust.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beneficial Ownership Information Report The Latest Legal Maneuvers As I predicted in my podcast two weeks ago, the court challenge to the Beneficial Ownership Information Report has now made its way to the steps of the Supreme Court. At the time of my previous podcast regarding this case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had given assent to a nationwide temporary restraining order on the Corporate Transparency Act, which is the legislation authorizing the BOI Report. In this episode, we look at what happened within hours of the podcast going live and in the days since. Presently, the Supreme Court is in the early stage of deciding whether to override the Fifth Circuit's decision. Today's episode looks at possible scenarios which could play out, depending on what the Court decides. I also sound a warning about a proliferation of scams that try to trick small business owners into filing their Beneficial Ownership Information Report with bogus firms who take the owner's money, but never file a report. You can download a transcript of the podcast at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2502-boi-latest-turns.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why I Quit Asking People for Buy-In Here's What I Want Instead I've dropped "buy-in" from my leadership vocabulary. I guess I've led to many initiatives where people "bought in," but never became engaged. We all buy into great causes, but never become actively involved. For example, everyone buys into the value of ending world hunger. But only a few ever take up the fight personally. Both within organizations and in the broader life of our communities, far more ideas and initiatives languish because of insufficient engagement than because of insufficient buy-in. Personal engagement demands personal investment. The investment may be in the form of time, energy, talent, imagination, money, or resources. Buy-in requires only mental consent that an idea or initiative has merit. In this episode I explore what leaders must do to bring about worker or volunteer engagement. Too often we focus on why workers are not engaged. A far more profitable exercise is to discuss whether we as leaders are doing what we should to elicit engagement from those whom we lead. A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2501-buy-in.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beginning shortly after Thanksgiving, I've been on a roller coaster ride, along with the owners of about 37 million other small businesses in the U.S. Constitutional challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act have been making their way through the court system. In rapid-fire fashion judicial decisions have been made, then reversed, followed in short order by a reversal of the reversal. The result is widespread confusion as to what the status of the Beneficial Ownership Information Report is at present. In this episode, I bring you up to the minute on that question. A transcript of this podcast is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2411-boi-twists-and-turns.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tales from a Total Solar Eclipse in Siberia Two Very Funny Stories I live just north of Dallas, so we are in the direct path of this month's complete solar eclipse. It's all the buzz around here. I'm sure that the event will spin off lots of personal stories as people relate what happened around them during the eclipse. But I doubt that any of these stories will top two of mine from my last total eclipse. And they won't be nearly as funny. The stories occurred in Siberia, where I was conducting a series of workshops along the Op River. I think about them often, because they revolved around two of the most humorous statements I've ever heard. So, I'm taking a departure from my normal topics for this podcast to share them with you. I believe you'll get a good chuckle from them. A PDF transcript of this program is available for download at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

War in Ukraine: What the Final Outcome May Look Like Now that the spring thaw has begun in Ukraine, the year's most intense season of combat is about to start. How will this war end? It's almost anyone's guess. But whatever the outcome, it will be shaped by the influence of the backstories which we've focused on in the last three podcasts. With this episode, we bring the series to a conclusion by examining the prospects for both Russia and Ukraine, however the war happens to conclude. Putin believes that time is on his side, that he can persist in his efforts until he wears down Ukraine and exhausts the resolve of Ukraine's allies, so that he has the upper hand in dictating the terms which eventually bring the conflict to a close. A host of practical questions will shape the contours of any final settlement. One of these is whether Ukraine, economically depleted and with a population millions smaller than when the war began, would have the manpower and wherewithal to defend its borders should they be restored to their prewar status. And if Ukraine does not regain those border, the its future may well hinge on the answer to one question: how many of its ports can Ukraine reclaim through combat or peace negotiations. With its economy centered on grain transport, and with only the port of Odessa still under its control, the resolution of this issue is pivotal to Ukraine's viability after the war. In this wrap-up episode, I explore a host of questions along this line. A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russian Perspectives on the War The Historical Backdrop This is the third program in a four-part series examining historical and cultural factors which shape the backdrop against which the war in Ukraine is playing out. Having devoted the first two programs to Ukrainian perspectives, in this one we shift to how Russia views both the war and Ukrainians themselves. For reasons which I explain in this episode, there is a paranoia that is characteristic of the Russian people in general and its leaders in particular. They have long seen themselves as surrounded by enemies, both east and west. Historically, they have built vast buffer zones of territory to protect their European centers from invading forces. Traversing those buffer zones exhausted Napoleon's men and supplies in 1812, then did the same to Hitler's armies in the Second World War. The war with Ukraine stems in large measure from a resurgence of that paranoia. During the Cold War, the Warsaw Pact, controlled from Moscow, buffered against another invasion from Germany or France. Ukraine buffered against attack from the Mediterranean. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, with former Warsaw Pact nations joining NATO and Ukraine declaring its independence, these strategic buffers were lost. With Ukraine moving to join the European Union and perhaps NATO, the last semblance of a buffer zone disappeared. Early on, as the Warsaw Pact fell apart, Russia could do little to counter its reversal of fortunes, because Russia itself was in such social turmoil and economic chaos. The calamitous fall of the Soviet Union was a sore blow to Russian nationalistic pride, even among those who were not particularly fond of the Communist regime. Putin has been successful at merging that injured pride with the historic sense of paranoia to justify reclaiming Ukraine as Moscow's own vassal. Human nature becomes more determined when its pride is injured. And paranoia will motivate people to take irrational measures. All that comes together in the way that Russia is prosecuting this war. And because of these factors, finding a workable peace settlement, short of Ukraine's complete annihilation, will do little to ease Russian paranoia. And being fought to a stalemate by a supposedly second-rate power will only add to Russia's injured pride. At best, therefore, any peace settlement promises to be a recess from hostilities, not the end of them. _________ You can download a PDF transcript of this program at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ukraine's Newfound Patriotic Zeal An Unintended Gift from Putin It's clear that neither Vladimir Putin nor his war planners ever anticipated the strength and the tenacity of Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion. A war which the Russians expected to last a few hours or days has now entered its third year, and Russian offensives have been stymied month after month. What explains this Ukrainian determination to in the face of what would appear to be overwhelming odds? It stems in part from a sense of nationalism and patriotism which the Ukrainians have developed for the first time in their history. Prior to the invasion, Ukrainians had a sense of pride in their country and their culture. But they had never been united around patriotic fervor. The war has changed all that. In this episode I explain how this happened and what it implies for the future course of the war. I also explain why the Ukrainians are likely to fight on, even if their aid from the U.S. and western Europe dissipates entirely. A PDF transcript of this episode can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, I worked extensively in both Russia and Ukraine. I managed offices and staffs in both countries and interacted closely with everyone from the most common laborers to top government officials. Not only that, my duties required me to travel widely in Russia and from corner to corner of Ukraine. I became intimately acquainted with how Ukrainians feel about Russia and how Russians feel about Ukraine. In spite of their cultural, historical, and linguistic commonalities, I soon learned that Russians tended to view Ukrainians with disdain, and Ukrainians tended to view Russians with resentment. Those deep-seated, historic feelings aggravate the challenge of finding a solution to the war now raging in Ukraine. Yet, most Americans -- even otherwise well-informed political commentators -- are either unaware of this attitudinal divide or disregard it in analyzing the conflict as it has unfolded. With this episode, I undertake a series of podcast programs dealing with this attitudinal divide and other critical backstories which make resolution of this conflict highly complex and perhaps impossible. Even if one side triumphs militarily over the other, the tension -- and now, outright animosity -- will live on. I give this first episode to the roots of Ukrainian resentment of Russian rule. I zero in on two events in the 20th century that permanently poisoned Ukrainian outlooks toward their huge neighbor to the north. A PDF transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Action Agenda for Every Leader This is the fourth episode in a series examining the meaning of leadership. Previous programs explored the people-centric nature of leadership and the orchestrating role of purpose at the heart of the leader's endeavor. This final episode in the series examines the three-part action agenda which every leader must carry out. First is to rally people around the purpose. Then motivate them to pursue it. And third is to mobilize them to achieve it. I discuss the importance of each of these functions and why their success depends in large measure on the leader's personality and strengths. As a leader, where does your effectiveness lie? In rallying people to your cause? In motivating them to get behind it? Or mobilizing them to make it happen? The first two of these functions are people-centered. The third -- mobilizing -- is process-centric. The most successful leaders move effortlessly from motivating and inspiring people to managing processes, and vice versa. Others are not so versatile. They excel at engaging and inspiring people, but pay insufficient attention to the process side of leadership. And naturally, there are leaders for which the opposite is true. They are superb at managing processes, but weak at bringing out the best in their people. You will find the analysis of these dynamics quite thought-provoking. You can download a transcript of the episode at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How We Developed a Muddled Concept of Leadership In my early 20s, when I began conducting trainings on leadership, few books on the subject existed. The business world was somewhat exclusive enthralled with management, and that was reflected in the inventory choices at the typical bookstore. It would be another 20 years before Warren Bemis and others began publishing works which drew a sharp distinction between management and leadership. The popularity of their books touched off an steady outpouring of leadership books ever since. The explosion of interest in leadership toward the end of the 20th century resulted from a striking change in the American labor force. At the outset of the century, workers were largely uneducated and somewhat limited in their skill sets. By the end of the century, the workforce was highly educated and thoroughly advanced as skilled specialists. To bring out the highest performance of a worker community like this, companies had to adopt a more people-centric approach from those which had prevailed just two generations before. Leadership filled that bill. But the way that corporations initially attempted to create a leadership culture had an unintended consequence. The concept of what it means to be a leader became somewhat muddled. It In this episode I trace how that happened and elaborate on three questions which I developed to determine whether someone is indeed a leader or merely wears the title. This episode not only expands on those questions. It also explains the historical influences which made them important. A PDF transcript of the episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/transcripts/2404-muddled-concepts-of-leadership.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Implications of Viewing Leadership as Art Last week we began parsing the definition of leadership which I developed 20 years ago: Leadership is the art of rallying people around a shared purpose, then motivating them and mobilizing them to achieve it.. In that episode, we examined the import of the terms "people" and "shared purpose." This week we take up a third term: "art." Last week we examined two key terms from my definition of leadership. This week we take up a third term, "art." Leadership is far more akin to an art than a science. And because it is, there are no objective measures by which to judge a leader's work, no more than there are objective measures by which to judge an artist's work. People either like it or they don't. In fact, people might like the results a leader gets, but dislike the leader's style or personality. And since their judgment of the leader is entirely subjective, it is not easily refuted. Leaders must therefore have a strong enough sense of self that they are not knocked off course by criticism that is uninformed, mean-spirited, or the product of personal prejudice. A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2403-leadership-as-art.htm, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leadership: Anchored in People and Purpose Any quick search on the internet will uncover dozens of definitions of leadership. Some are more appropriate to leadership at very high levels than they are to leadership in day-to-day life. About 20 years ago, I developed a definition intended to capture the essence of leadership wherever its found: Leadership is the art of rallying people around a shared purpose, then motivating them and mobilizing them to achieve it. At the heart of this definition are the words "people" and "shared purpose." Those two terms capture the essence of what leadership grounds itself in. It is ultimately about people -- rallying them around a cause, motivating them to lend their effort to it, and mobilizing them to carry it out -- and the cause itself, the purpose. For leaders to be effective, they must never grow lax in either staying involved with their people and rivited to their purpose. A transcript of this program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2402-leadership-anchor-points.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Minimize the Adverse Impact of Unintended Consequences on Otherwise Good Decisions In every arena of life, what once seemed like great decisions turned out, in hindsight, to have brought about unintended consequences. Often these consequences imperil the benefits which the decision was to provide. As managers and leaders, finding solutions to problems is our daily task. But when a solution leads to adverse unintended consequences, at times (to quote an old adage) the cure is worse than the disease. This episode explores a variety of scenarios in which otherwise good decisions led to negative consequences. Then it offers suggestions on how to minimize the frequency with which this development occurs. No one can foresee every consequence which will flow from a decision. But careful application of these suggestions will reduce the number of unexpected problems which emerge once key decisions are implemented. A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't Let Disruptive Interruptions Poison Your Attitude In my management trainings, I often ask people to identify the things which have surprised them most about being a manager. Toward the top of their list is often the problem of disruptions. They came into management unprepared for how many times a day their work on critical projects would be disrupted. At times they feel that they don't get one issue settled before three or four others are demanding immediate attention. They can therefore go hours on end without spending more than a token amount of time on their primary responsibilities. The result is that their frustration builds steadily and they become increasingly impatient. They begin building resentment toward the party or parties responsible for the disruption. And the resentment spills over into their actions and their tone of voice. In this episode, I share lessons which I've learned from letting disruptions frustrate me. It's certain that disruptions will never go away. But they don't have to aggravate us to the point of frustration and resentment. A transcript of this program is available at https://www.usizeyourleadership/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

our Mistakes Companies Make in Defining and Casting Vision Have you ever read a book on management or vision which did not include a section on the importance of vision? It's hard to think of one. Vision-casting is a standard topic anytime management and leadership skills are discussed. As a C-Suite leadership coach and a business consultant, I've coached scores of clients through the process of articulating their vision and mission. I've worked alongside hundreds of others as they put a corporate vision into effect. From that experience, I've noted a pattern of recurring mistakes which people tend to make in vision-casting. In this podcast, I look at four of the most common ones: Failing to have clarity on the distinction between vision and mission Choosing a vision statement which is not particularly "envisionable" Reducing vision to little more than a slogan, motto, or tagline Not being rigorous in communicating their vision repeatedly Because corporate vision is so vital to success, putting it together well and communicating it properly is essential in any mission-driven organization. A transcript of the program may be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's that time of year again. Time to set goals for the year ahead. Soon everyone will be putting together their New Year's resolutions. But by this time in 2024, how many of those resolutions will have become reality? Odds are, most of them will not. Many factors contribute to the failure. One of the most common, however, is inadequate focus on the goal itself. Many factors contribute to this loss of focus. Life comes at us in torrents, engulfing us in countless distractions. A friend of mine describes it as "being nibbled to death by a duck." No one nibble takes much out of us. But collectively, they draw our attention away from the things which are truly important. In this episode, I offer some guidance on implementing personal goals in a way that enhances their odds of success. In particular, I argue for limiting how many of goals which we set out to accomplish in any one-year period. Further, I recommend sequencing the pursuit of those goals in such a way that, at any given moment, we are working on no more goals than we can focus on intently. What I suggest is no panacea. It is, nonetheless, a simple and practical way to keep our most important personal goals in sharp focus at all times. You can download a transcript of the podcast at https://www.UpsizeYourLeadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Planning from a Different Viewpoint Texts and courses on planning abound. And they all call for starting with a clear definition of the desired outcome. Once that eventual outcome is defined, they tend to use a methodology which calls for starting at the present and building systematically toward that goal. In this episode I propose an alternate approach, one I've used for decades to great effect. It calls for beginning the planning process at the point at which the outcome is achieved, not at the present. Instead of building steps sequentially from the present to the future, this alternative approach starts at the end of the process. It then builds steps sequentially from the desired outcome back to the starting point. I call it "planning backward." As conventional planning defines a step in the process, it asks, "What must happen next?" The approach which I'm suggesting takes an opposite tack. Once it defines a task, it asks, "Before this step can occur, what must be in place?" In the podcast, I spell out the distinct benefits of this technique, especially when planning entails a large numbers of moving parts. With so many considerations to account for, planning forward from the present can easily fail to recognize and make provision for one or more critical components. Later, when these neglected elements are recognized, timetables for the plan are disrupted as accommodations are made to address them. Planning backward minimizes that risk. This podcast explains why. A transcript of the program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Surprised by the Loneliness of Leadership No One Warned Me About It The old adage "lonely at the top" has more substance to it than most people imagine. Although many leaders never combat pronounced bouts of loneliness, many do. I have been one of them. And when I began talking about my loneliness with other leaders, I was amazed at how many of them wrestled with it, too.Yet, having discussed the problem with upwards of a hundred senior executives, I'm yet to find a single one who was forewarned it before they entered senior management. And I should add that, while loneliness is not isolated to the top tiers of management, it's particularly common at that level. Or so it seems from my personal experience and observations. Why is that the case? Much of it has to do with the nature of the job. When lower and middle level managers run into thorny situations, they have managers above them who can serve as a sounding boards or advisors. As we move up the management ladder, however, the number of managers above us grows steadily smaller, until at the C-Suite Level, we have only peers to draw on. Experienced peers, no doubt. But not necessarily any with proven experience in our specialized field. And if the problem we face centers on problematic relationships with other members of the C-Suite, we are genuinely on our own. I use this episode to examine the dynamics and ramifications of contending with loneliness as a leader. A transcript of the program can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Collaborative Decision-Making: The Positives and Pitfalls For thousands of years, hierarchical management styles reigned unchallenged. Then, early in the 20th century, a literate and often highly-educated workforce emerged. They were no longer content with the top-down management of traditional organizational structures. They wanted a voice in decisions. This led to the first experiments with collaborative management styles. Very quickly, this new approach created impressive results in engagement, creativity, motivation, and morale. As a result, collaborative management styles have grown steadily in popularity for more than a century. Yet, for all of its benefits, making decisions collaboratively does hold the threat of some distinct pitfalls. This podcast identifies five of them and highlights what managers must do to avoid them. A transcript of this episode can be downloaded at https://www.leaderperfect.com/episodes/2323-collaborative-decision-making.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Innovation Starts with the Right Culture Genuine innovation unfolds through a process of trial and error. It takes time. It takes tireless effort. It takes money. In a word, it entails a lot of hard work. The hard work begins, however, long before the trial-and-error process is underway. The initial hard work is creating a culture which is primed for innovation. Not all are. Innovation always involves change. And to deserve the name "innovation," the change must be significant enough to disrupt the status quo -- either the status quo in general or the status quo within the organization which adopts the innovation. That was the theme of my previous episode. However, not everyone is eager to embrace change. They prefer to keep things stable and predictable. When resistance to change is ensconced widely, it impedes or totally thwarts any effort at innovation. Thus, for innovation to thrive, leaders must first cultivate the cultural soil. This episode identifies eight qualities which they should strive to embed in their corporate culture to make it a promising place for innovation to blossom. A transcript of the episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Innovation Has No Shortage of Imposters We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages proclaiming some new product or service labeled as innovative. Being innovative has broad appeal. Indeed, when companies outline their core values, innovation appears on the list more often than any other quality. It even outranks integrity and respect. Yet, when we delve into what companies are calling innovation, it's soon evident that they often confuse innovation with mere ingenuity or inventiveness. Ingenuity is often no more than a clever or imaginative solution to a pressing problem. Innovation is far more than that. In this episode, I examine five criteria which must be met for something to be properly called an innovation. I do not take up this theme to be picky about word choices. Rather, it's to protect the true meaning of innovation in the popular mind. Our world faces monstrous challenges. They beg for innovation. But if we debase the word "innovation" so that mere ingenuity and inventiveness pass for it, we lose the ability to talk about innovation in a meaningful way, because any improvement can pass as innovation. It behooves all of us, therefore, to protect the integrity of the term "innovation." This first step in that direction is to gain clarity on what the word itself means. This episode strives for that goal. A transcript of this episode can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Constitutes True Integrity? I have a friend who has been known to say, "If you can fake integrity, you can fake anything." Whenever he throws out that line, it gets a laugh. There's something comically nonsensical about combining the words "fake" and "integrity." Integrity is the bedrock on which healthy societies are built. Yet, we seldom delve deeply into what the word means. We generally describe it in ways that make it almost synonymous with honesty and truthfulness. And indeed, a person of true integrity will be honest and truthful. But integrity entails far more than being honest and truthful. In this episode, we examine the hallmarks of what constittues genuine integrity. A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leadership Rises and Falls on Credibility Both managers and leaders are charged with getting things done. How they get things done is one of the key contrasts between managing and leading. Managers always occupy some slot in the organizational chart. As a result, they have what I call positional authority that allows them to compel compliance with what they want done. Leaders, however, do not always have positional authority. It's common to find people within an organization who hold no managerial title, but whose judgment and expertise are so respected that a following gathers around them. They man be described in a variety of ways. As opinion leaders. As thought leaders. As subject matter experts. Whatever our name for them, they have the ability to make a telling impact on how the organization functions and the kind of culture it spawns. And they exert this influence, not because they have any power to compel, but because they have telling influence. The source of this influence is credibility. Without it, no one can lead. And credibility, in turn, rests on three considerations: the leader's character, the leader's competence, and the leader's ability to achieve desired concrete results. This podcast takes up these three considerations and examines how they contribute to optimizing a leader's credibility. A transcript of the program is available through the index at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's podcast, I interview Jeremy Ryan Slate about his recent book From Unremarkable to Extraordinary. One of the nation's preeminent podcast hosts, Jeremy has interviewed hundreds of highly successful men and women, many of them internationally renowned for their influence and accomplishments. From these 1200 or so interviews, he has gleaned a dozen traits which all of these successful people have in common. These traits form the framework for his book. In this episode he shares the thought process that went into choosing these traits and his aspirations for how the book can be most beneficial for ordinary people who choose to become extraordinary in their life pursuits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Values, Beliefs, Principles How They Interact to Shape Your Life Even though I've taught principles of values-centered leadership for decades, I was well into that process before I recognized the complex conceptual framework within which values function. And each of our values has its own unique framework. For reasons which I outline in this podcast, I began referring to this framework 20 years ago as a molecule. At the center of the molecule is a value. Surrounding this nucleus are our beliefs which we hold about the value. Then, attached to each belief are principles which we derive from that belief -- principles which dictate how we should implement that value in our approach to life. I refer to this construct as a VBP molecule. Values, Beliefs, Principles. I first introduced it in 2006 in my book Leadership and the Power of Trust. Since then I've fleshed it out extensively in keynotes and trainings. It helps me provide clients with a more comprehensive understanding of motivation. We've long recognized that all motivation is based on values. That is, we are not motivated to pursue anything which has no value to us. This would imply that behavior (which is prompted by motivation) is the product of the values which we cherish. In reality, however, behavior is not the direct by-product of a value or particular set of values. Behavior is a by-product of what we believe about those virtues. And the pattern of our behavior stems from the principles which we deduce from those beliefs. Therefore, we do not change behavior by changing people's values. We change behavior by helping them change what they believe about their values. When beliefs change, principles change. And when principles change, behavior changes. A transcript of this podcast is available for download at UpsizeYourLeadership.com. That same link will give you access to a downloadable graphic which provides a visual depiction of the VBP molecule. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Life-Shaping Advice from Two Major Mentors What My Two Most Important Mentors Taught Me Over the course of my life, I've had a variety of mentors in a number of different ventures. Two stand out as having had a particularly telling impact on my career and on me as a person. In this episode I relate two maxims which they instilled in me and describe how these maxims have shaped my life immensely. One has made me far more effective at building strong teams in organizations which I've led. And it has contributed in large measure to the success of these endeavors. The second has expanded my grasp of the world around me, so that I can make better decisions and offer clients wiser counsel. Both of these maxims are just as valuable for anyone else as they have been for me. And they are especially valuable for those in leadership. The first maxim is this: We all have a flat side on our wheel someplace. The sooner we can identify that flat side and build people and systems around us to compensate for it, the sooner we will be successful and the more successful we will be. The second is: Read wisely. Read widely. Read well. The podcast shows how both of these maxims have empowered my work as an executive leadership coach, keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant, not to mention my effectiveness in a variety of high-demand leadership posts. A transcript of the episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Most Neglected Aspect of Change Management We've all heard the adage, "People don't like change." What I've found is that people don't dislike change so much as they dislike the way it is often implemented. It's easy to confuse their discontent with the implementation process as resistance to change itself. No one can survive in today's world without accommodating change. But accommodating it and accepting it are two different matters. While we have a vast array of books, seminars, workshops, and podcasts on managing change, there is one aspect of change which these programs rarely address. And it's a major contributor, I've found, to people's discontent with change initiatives. Thomas Sowell famously noted that there are no solutions, only tradeoffs. That's particularly true with major change. Something must be given up in order to take advantage of the benefits of the change. But if what must be given up is something treasured or enjoyed, the tradeoff brings sadness. And if leadership fails to take that sadness into consideration, they are likely to misread a worker's reaction as opposition to change, when in reality, it's mere hesitancy to embrace something new until there has been time to process the loss of something they value. This episode explores the "sad" side of change. It looks at a classic example of a company which failed to do so, and the dysfunction which resulted put them out of business. A transcript of this program is available for download at https://www.upsizeyourleadership/transcripts/2315-sad-truth-about-change.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Makes Freedom Vulnerable Historically, mankind has been more inclined toward political leaders who are autocratic than those who protect liberty and freedom for their people. The fact that America has kept the idea of personal freedom alive for 12 generations is an unprecedented human event. Yet freedom always hangs by a precarious thread, even after enduring for nearly two-and-a-half centuries. It is forever threatened by what I call the deceptive allure of authoritarianism. As Erich Fromm explained so powerfully in his book Escape from Freedom, maintaining a society based on genuine principles of liberty is a daunting task. Freedom mandates personal autonomy and self-responsibility. And being responsible for self often brings more anxiety that some people can bear. They are therefore forever susceptible to the enticing claim of authoritarian leaders that they can eliminate whatever gives rise to the anxiety. This promise inevitably proves false, because autocratic leaders cope with their own anxiety by imposing repressive and intrusive regimes. More than one electorate, however, has been seduced by the the illusory promise of authoritarian movements. Today's episode delves into the intrapersonal dynamics which bring such leaders to power. It highlights why the greatest threat to democratic governments is not a takeover by an external enemy, but by the internal threat of citizens quietly acquiescing to authoritarianism. A transcript of this episode is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2314--allure-of-authoritarianism.htm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Capture the Full Potential of Delegation The Secret Is in the Preparation Done properly, delegation is one of the most powerful weapons in the manager's arsenal. Done poorly, it results in untold problems later on and no small amount of lost productivity, momentum, and effectiveness. When delegation is unsuccessful, it's usually before insufficient care was given to the preparation phase of delegation. Indeed, I'm struck by how many online guides on effective delegation don't even mention a preparation process. In my judgment, however, the preparation phase is even more important than the execution phase. When preparation is done properly, making the actual delegation is teed up for success. Without that preparation, delegation is typically performed in a "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants"fashion. And that approach is fraught with endless possibilities for miscommunication or confusion about expectations. Therefore, in this episode I offer an eight-point checklist for making proper preparation for delegation. The checklist is workable in any delegation situation and in any type of organization. A transcript of today's podcast can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bring Out the Best Thinking in Problem-Solving Wherever you exercise your leadership, one of the highest expectations of you is that you will be an effective problem-solver. As leaders, much of our problem solving is in group-settings, where controlling the process can be a challenge. Strong personalities and opinionated voices frequently exert themselves so forcibly that they take over the discussion and drive the solution which they want, not necessarily what the group wants. In today's episode I examine a six-phase problem-solving structure which minimizes the opportunity for problem-solving exercises to be derailed by personalities or lack of an orchestrating focus. This structure assures that every aspect of a problem-solving endeavor is given due time in a setting where everyone can be heard. The structure I describe is adapted from Edward de Bono's book 6 Thinking Hats, an approach that has been used globally to tackle thorny geopolitical issues. If it is helpful in problem-solving scenarios such as that, it's certain a technique that can benefit any of us in problem-solving roles. A transcript of today's podcast can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2312-imaginative-problem-solving.pdf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Use the Problem Solving Technique of a Creative Genius No one questions the creative genius of Walt Disney. What most people don't know, however, is that he developed a three-phase process to maximize the creativity which he brought to decision-making. It was the process his studios used for decades to make some of the greatest innovative breakthroughs in the early history of the film industry. In this episode I explain his method in detail and examine the neuroscience which explains why his techniques were so effective. His problem solving approach is simple to understand and easy to implement. And it's equally effective for both group and individual decision-making. A transcript of the show is available at https://www.upsize-your-leadershipcom/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leadership Succeeds by Getting These V's Right As a youngster, I stared many a time at flocks of geese flying high overhead during migration season. Every goose was committed for the long haul. Later in life, I came to see leadership -- particularly strategic leadership -- as a long-haul enterprise. That reminded me of those geese and their characteristic V-formation. As I toyed with the idea of flying in V-formation, I came to realize that effectiveness at long-haul leadership depends on how well you utilize a cluster of priorities whose names all begin with the letter V. Names like Vision and Values. But other less obvious ones, as well. I take up some of those words in this podcast, which encapsulates ideas which I have shared in keynotes and trainings for over 20 years. Vision and values, as you might expect, are pivotal elements of this presentation. But so are some other "V" words you might not have thought of. This episode is sure to give you new perspectives on your leadership role. A PDF transcript of this program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2310-fly-in-v-formation.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Praising Character Is as Crucial as Praising Achievement Bringing Balance to Personnel Reviews The path to the top, in the opinion of most, is to be an achiever, a top performer. That view is drummed into us from childhood. In elementary school, recognition and honors go to those whose achievement is superior. There are few awards, if any, for stellar character. The closest to it are good conduct awards, which are themselves more of a reward for performance than character. And this pattern of rewards continues through our education and into our careers. Interestingly, periodic employee reviews have come to be called "performance reviews." Have you ever heard of companies or organizations conducting periodic "character reviews"? This suggests that our culture puts much more stock in a a person's achievements than in his or her character. In fact, we tend to praise people almost exclusively on the basis of performance. But when we criticize them, we're prone to ascribe their shortcoming to some flaw in character. It seems that serious conversations about character take place only when it breaks down. I take up the ramification of these tendencies in this podcast. And I suggest an approach to evaluating employees that is a marked departure from how reviews are typically conducted. A transcript of today's program is available at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Strategy for Rebuilding Accountability This is the fifth and final episode in a series of programs on growing concerns about an emerging accountability crisis in America. In this episode, I offer my thoughts on how leaders can strengthen accountability in their organization. The strategy aims at countering a situation which is increasingly common: workers who are capable and talented, but whose accountability is lackluster. For whatever reason, they entered adulthood without a mature commitment to being accountable. What I suggest is not a quick-fix approach. Rather, I look at a three-part strategy which grows accountability gradually and incrementally. Each part of the strategy centers on some aspect of tasking our people and reviewing their performance. At every stage, the strategy draws on motivational techniques which will profit leaders anywhere, even if their organization does not have accountability issues. The strategy is easy to grasp, simple to implement, and straightforward maintain. But it does require long-term commitments from leaders to model the way and to conduct frequent informal conversations with those who report to them. You can download a transcript of this program at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com/episodes/2308-rebuilding-accountability.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Counteroffensive against Declining Accountability Mark Twain is remembered for saying, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." For three episodes I have been talking about the erosion of personal accountability in our nation. With this fourth episode in the series, we start doing something about it. I invite leaders to join a counteroffensive aimed at regaining the ground which accountability has lost. Not a wholesale, frontal assault, mind you. Something more akin to low-key guerilla warfare waged in the leader's sphere of influence. And our first priority as leaders in this effort is to serve as role models of responsive, responsible accountability. Most of the episode is devoted to showing why modeling the way must be a lead initiative if we are to restore a healthier degree of accountability. I offer a practical personal exercise which provides a benchmark on how well our current conduct as a leader equips us to be a stellar role model of accountability. It helps us identify where we need to improve our own accountability so that we can serve as a stellar example. I then discuss essentials of using our personal example to maximum effectiveness. A transcript of the episode is free for download at https://www.lUpsizeYourLeadership.com/episodes/2307-modeling-accountability.htm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Accountability Seems to Be in Retreat In the previous two episodes, I've discussed a variety of factors which produced a broad-based perception that personal accountability is greatly diminished. In the last episode, I looked at three cultural trends which have aggravated this decline. These are: side-effects of family breakdown growth of a victim mentality massive urbanization Today I examine three additional contributors. political polarization a lost ethical consensus derived from Judaeo-Christian ideals radically shortened business lifespans Here's a summary of how these three work against the interests of personal accountability. Political polarization has produced the most pronounced social division in our history, with the sole exception of the Civil War. And the distrust which springs from deep polarization inevitably undermines our sense of accountability and responsibility toward those on the other side of the polarizing divide. Simultaneously, a long-standing ethical consensus built on Judaeo-Christian ideals has weakened appreciably, shouldered aside by a broad embrace of moral relativism. American churches and synagogues historically promoted a vibrant message of individual responsibility and personal accountability. But having steadily lost influence and attendance of late, they have fewer opportunities to promote responsible, accountable living. As for the third item on our list -- radically shortened lifespans for businesses --its adverse impact on accountability may not be obvious. How could shorter business lifespans weaken accountability? The impact is subtle, but powerful nonetheless. Compared with businesses historically, companies today are extremely short-lived. The average survival time of companies on the S&P500 is 18 years. Five decades ago it was 61 years. Employees have little assurance that their company will be around for them long-term. They therefore anticipate little benefit from being deeply loyal to the company. And without that loyalty, they may settle for compromised standards of accountability in their work performance. In the next episode, I turn to strategies which leaders should pursue in response to declining accountability. Accountability may be in decline, but it's by no means dead. It's waiting to be rejuvenated by capable leaders. A transcript of this episode can be downloaded at https://www.upsizeyourleadership.com by following the menu link to Episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Diminished Personal Accountability: Contributing Factors to a Growing Issue Everywhere I go, it seems, I hear people expressing dismay at what they see as a decaying sense of personal accountability in American culture. Many factors contribute to the decline. This episode is the second in a multipart series which analyzes these factors from historical, sociological, and psychological standpoints. This episode traces the adverse impact of three of these factors on personal accountability: Structural breakdown of the American family -- with 18 million children living in single-parent homes, the stability of marriage and family is clearly on shaky ground. Yet family is the very institution which has historically instilled a sense of personal responsibility and accountability in the upcoming generation. Growth of a victim mindset -- increasingly in recent years, aggrieved parties are quick to describe themselves as a victim. By its very nature, however, a victim mentality minimizes one's sense of personal responsibility for what has befallen us. Someone else is to blame. But without a sense of responsibility, there is little sense of accountability. Expansive urbanization -- one by-product of urban sprawl is a feeling of anonymity, i.e., living as a nameless face in a massive crowd. Because anonymity fosters emotional detachment from those nearby, it likewise invites us to shirk our responsibility and accountability toward them. Later episodes in this series will delve into leadership's role and options in combating a rising tide of non-accountability. The initial programs, however, are examining root causes for our growing accountability crisis. A printed transcript of this episode is available at https://www.UpsizeYourLeadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Accountability in Dwindling Supply? I overhear more and more conversations of late about accountability. Most of these are discussions of what people perceive as an increasing lack of personal accountability in our culture. After listeners began urging me to speak to this issue, I decided to give the subject more than a single episode. Instead, I'm planning a series of programs on the topic. This first installment touches on several issues. First is the importance of leaders making honest assessments of how well they serve as exemplars of personal accountability for their people. Second is the role that accountability plays in building trust within a community. Third is relationship between personal accountability and a personal sense of self-worth. And fourth, the role of families in establishing a strong sense of accountability and self-worth in their children. This episode initiates a number of themes which will be explored more fully in later installments of this series. A printed transcript of this inaugural episode can be downloaded at https://www.UpsizeYourLeadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No nation has ever been as entrepreneurial as the United States. More people in the U.S. aspire to be entrepreneurs than anywhere else on earth. Far more people take a stab at being an entrepreneur than succeed at it. The failure rate is staggering. And a primary reason for failure is the lack of an entrepreneurial mindset. People are attracted to an entrepreneurial career because they see the attraction of it. And the life of successful entrepreneurs is especially attractive. Dazzled by the glamorous promise of entrepreneurial success, however, they often fail to see the demand which being an entrepreneur puts on those who seek that way of life. About one person out of five who approaches me for coaching has an entrepreneurial ambition. What the majority of them lack, however, is an entrepreneurial mindset. The truth is, successful entrepreneurs think differently from other people. It's this mindset, far more than the product or market or team that they choose, which will determine whether they achieve their dream. In this episode, I examine five key characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset. I look at how each characteristic is attractive and enticing. Then I examine lurking dangers which are not always apparent to the outside observer. My purpose is not to discourage entrepreneurialism. Rather, my aim is to help people ask whether their entrepreneurial mindset is sufficient to help them weather those dangers when they arise. A transcript of this episode is available at www.UpsizeYourLeadership/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leadership and the Power of Trust A (New) Best-Seller Evidence is everywhere that trust is in low repair in our nation. Polarization is deep, and it touches almost every field of human endeavor and opinion. For almost 20 years, Dr. Mike Armour has been addressing our world's growing problem and how it impacts the world of business leadership. His 2006 book, Leadership and the Power of Trust, has been re-released in an updated and expanded second edition. And within weeks it became an Amazon best-seller in five fields of business and leadership. In this episode he offers a summary of the book's message about Trust-Centered Leadership. And he highlights the subtitle of the book, How to Build a High-Trust, Peak-Performance Organization. He then shows how one of Microsoft's most pivotal teams used principles from the book to make stellar improvements in performance and effectiveness. The final part of the podcast examines questions which reviewers have put to him recently about the book. He then shares the answers which he offered to these probing questions. A transcript of the episode is available in a PDF format at https://www.UpsizeYourLeadership.com by clicking on the link to Download Scripts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Vital Role of Second-Tier Leadership Sometimes we call them the "number two" person in the organizations. Sometimes we jokingly refer to them as the "second banana." They are those people who are positioned just below the top leader on the organization chart. Often they are in that slot because they are being groomed for the top position some day. A great many, however, like that post for an entirely different reason. They don't desire the spotlight themselves. But they find great fulfillment in helping the person in the spotlight truly shine. They have no ambition to move further up the ladder. They are quite happy where they are. Rarely do we celebrate such second-tier leaders. The gain so little recognition that to the outsider looking in, they may appear invisible. Yet top leaders often get credit for successes that were less due to their own effort and more due to what their second-tier leader contributed. That certainly held true in my own career in top-of-the-organization positions. As I admit in this progress, I'm as guilty as anyone of not giving proper recognition to the second-tier leaders who made my success possible. Many of them are dead now, which means that I can never make amends. But perhaps I can repay some of the debt I owe them by urging others to not duplicate my mistake. Find ways to recognize, honor, and celebrate those "second bananas" whose contributions have gone unheralded far too long. As I say at the conclusion of this podcast, there's nothing second class about second-tier leadership. You can download a PDF transcript of this episode at https://www.UpsizeYourLeadership.com/episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Stark Contrast in Leadership Styles At the outset of the war in Ukraine, I produced two podcasts in which I forecast some things about the conflict which would surprise the world. I based my predictions on years of experience managing offices and distribution centers in both Russia and Ukraine. Since then, events have unfolded much along the lines of what I anticipated. What no one foresaw, however, yours truly included, was how effectively the Ukrainians would mount a decisive counteroffensive. The rapid liberation of the Kharkiv oblast will serve as a case study in military academies and war colleges for decades to come. It is one of the most striking examples of strategic deception and operational security in history. To pull off a feat like that requires leadership of the highest caliber. Therefore, at the request of several listeners, I'm using this episode to offer updated analysis of the war. And I'm focusing primarily on the total contrast between the two armies in terms of leadership styles. In addition, I examine the historical and cultural roots behind these contrasting styles. For a transcript of this lesson, go to https://www.leaderperfect.com/podcast and click on the link to Download Scripts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not everything that is called "innovation" deserves the title. I frequently hear things referred to as innovations, when in reality they seem to be more nearly a singular instance of ingenuity, improvisation, or inventiveness. Marketing has served to blur the distinct nature of innovation. It constantly bombards us with announcements of some "new and innovative product." As a result, we have come to think of anything fresh and dazzling as innovation. In today's hyper-competitive business culture, success -- if not survival -- depends on the ability of an organization to be be characterized by agility, speed, and innovation. In this episode, therefore, I look at the basic question, "What is innovation?" And then I step you through some of the factors to be taken into consideration if you are to create an culture of innovation in your business or company. I also lead you through the backstory of how an engagement at Microsoft gave me an entirely new perspective on the process of innovation. A PDF transcript of this episode is available at https://www.leaderperfect.com/podcast. Simply click on the link to Download Scripts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Kind of Corporate Culture Is Your Leadership Perpetuating? Wherever humans begin a protracted association, a culture automatically emerges. In fairly short order, some things will be valued, Others will not. Unwritten rules will begin to govern the way things are done within the group. The result is a de facto culture, that is, one which was not purposefully promoted. It simply evolved by chance. Most corporate cultures fall into this category. Unfortunately, de facto cultures have a strong tendency to become dysfunctional, even if they were not at first. No leadership responsibility is more urgent than preventing dysfunction in their organization. They must proactively nurture a culture which is healthy and constructive. To do so, they must develop, articulate, and inculcate an orchestrating ideology which will produce that kind of culture. An orchestrating ideology is that set of beliefs, values, assumptions, outlooks, and attitudes which determine characteristic patterns of behavior within the organization. All cultures have an orchestrating ideology. In de facto cultures, the orchestrating ideology is implicit. It must be discerned by drawing implications from the behaviors which are condoned or encouraged in the day-to-day life of the organization. Wise leaders never settle for an implicit orchestrating ideology. First they make the implicit ideology explicit by identifying the unspoken tenets which it seems to endorse. Then, having given it explicit expression, they critique it, amend it and modify it as necessary to transform it into the most suitable ideology for the future which they envision for their organization. This episode examines the building blocks which go into shaping the orchestrating ideology of any corporate culture. It identifies eight of these elements and shows how they should be woven together in defining the fabric of a health culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices