"The best leaders convene conversations. They set the stage that enables others to develop solutions."
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Jack and Suzy Welch say it simply: “You have to schmooze.” They point out that you must schmooze early and often, well before you need the relationship. In today’s reading “Schmooze or Lose: How the Lost Art of Negotiation Led to a Shutdown”, which first appeared in Linkedin, they note that building relationships is what you must do all the time. “It has to be a massive part of your job.” You just have to spend time walking around, having coffee, sitting an
"I don’t care if you like each other right now, but you will respect each other, ” said Coach Herman Boone to his high school football team in the movie Remember the Titans.
We have all had experiences when we’ve been trying to sell a new idea of strategizing as to whether to invite the critics, the naysayers, the we’ve-tried-that-before colleagues, etc.
Many leaders spend many late nights in the office, sacrifice their own resources, etc. all to increase the likelihood of success. Sometimes this comes at the expense of people’s health, their families, and their sanity.
Most of us have experienced team members taking the discussion at a meeting off-track. It could be to a topic not on the team leader’s agenda, either the written one or the one in only the lead’s head. Or, it could be to an aspect of a topic on the agenda that has already been addressed, etc. The Tuesday Reading today, ”Dealing with Team Members Who Are ‘Off-Track’“ <
It’s hard to be a good judge of people. Because it’s hard we often, almost exclusively, depend on extrinsic markers academic scores, results in previous jobs, job titles, salary, etc. We can also add extrinsic measures from social media – how many friends of Facebook, followers on Twitter, or who we know in common on LinkedIn.
Colin Shaw, CEO, Beyond Philosophy, a customer experience consultancy, shares insight on how to be sucessful.
Shaw notes that in his work life he has had some “great managers and some real idiots” and that he could learn from both. The good managers he copied and he did just the opposite of what the idiots did.
In his essay he provides six pieces of advice:
In “Forget The Mission Statement: What’s Your Mission Question?”, Warren Berger challenges us to consider responding to a set of mission questions instead of writing a mission statement that is so general it can apply to almost anything. He argues that mission questions provide a reality check on whether you are staying true to what you stand for and aspire to achieve.
A key theme of the 2013 MOR IT Leaders Conference was that we are entering a time when disruptive change is the norm. Given that change will happen whether one participates or not, those who actively resist it will hinder their organizations’ progress and imperil their careers. For the conference participants, the message was clear: It is time to focus on the big picture and be sure that you and your unit are doing the right things for the future of the University and its students. It is time to develop the individual skills you need to ensure success for you and your university.
