The True North exercises:

• Introduction Exercise
• Chapter 1: Your Story Exercise
• Chapter 2: Losing Your Way Exercise
• Chapter 3: Your Greatest Crucible Exercise
• Chapter 4: Knowing Your Authentic Self Exercise
• Chapter 5: Practicing Your Values and Principles Exercise
• Chapter 6: Your Motivations and Motivated Capabilities Exercise
• Chapter 7: Building Your Support Team Exercise
• Chapter 8: The Integrated Leader Exercise
• Chapter 9: The Purpose of My Leadership Exercise
• Chapter 10: Empowering Other Leaders Exercise
• Chapter 11: Honing Your Leadership Effectiveness Exercise

Discover Your Leadership in Your Life Story

During your early years, which people had the greatest impact on you?

My parents and teachers had the greatest impact on me. Both of my parents are in leadership positions, though each varies significantly in leadership style. Their range has taught me to consider a range of techniques for any given situation.

A handful of teachers also made an impression, such as my fifth-grade teacher and her weekly Poor Richard’s Almanac quotes (”An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, “A penny saved is a penny earned”, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, etc). I love quotes, those little nuggets of wisdom. Perhaps that love originated from fifth-grade.

Starting with your earliest memories, which experiences marked turning points in his life?

There were many. First, I was a quiet, introverted kid. Then a series of fortunate events evolved me into, surprisingly, an extrovert. The change has been so striking that I sometimes wonder if my true nature is to be an extrovert and my childhood environment nudged me into being an introvert. (Not that there’s anything wrong with being an introvert. Extroversion and introversion are merely where you get your energy and place your attention – from other people or from yourself.)

Once that foundation was set, my first true taste of leadership came in college. In my junior year, I became the public relations officer of a student-run community service organization. Then its president in my senior year. Leading a team of intelligent type-A officers and student volunteers like myself was a remarkable experience. I had to learn how to deal with my weaknesses, hone my strengths, delegate, communicate effectively, motivate officers and volunteers already swamped with school work, coordinate social events, and grow the organization.

The next turning point was becoming an engineering manager at Yahoo! (YHOO). At the peak of this role, I managed a small organization of 22 developers and first-line managers. The experience allowed me to hone a set of management techniques & principles that have become my management style.

The latest turning point has been launching WebMocha, where my leadership role evolved from leading teams to leading a company with business partners. In this role, I was fortunate to find partners who complemented my strengths and weaknesses, and I theirs. A whole new set of leadership behaviors had to be refined here, such as managing workers, dealing with client projects, winning the hearts and minds of prospective clients, managing finances, working towards profitability, etc.

There was also another significant turning point – a nearly fatal accident while skydiving. That profound experience taught me to appreciate life and view it graciously. It’s also made me realize the importance of being myself, of being authentic. Because when I’m on my death bed, what do I want to be proud of: having lived my life as someone else or having lived my life as myself?

In which experiences did you find the greatest inspiration and passion for leadership?

Any instance where someone in my team achieved greatness, success, recognition, or reached his/her own goals has been inspirational. I was fortunate enough to experience this over and over again while at Yahoo! The high I received was way better than any drug, lemme tell ya.

Looking at patterns from your early life story, what people, events and experiences have had the greatest impact on you and your life?

These questions are a bit redundant, huh? My parents and teachers had a significant impact on me. As did the events I described in the last two questions.

Can you identify instances where you were dissatisfied with your leadership or received constructive feedback from others about it?

There are a few poignant moments at Yahoo! that I regret. Having 22 members meant being responsible for evaluating the performance of many direct reports. That was more than I could handle. Arguably, it’s more than anyone could handle. As a result, some of the members I didn’t know as well didn’t get fair & accurate performance evaluations.

In one case, I had a developer with great potential, provided he had the proper guidance. Unfortunately, there were too many other priorities at the time. When review time came, he was dissatisfied with his evaluation and didn’t feel like he was working to the best of his capabilities – which was absolutely true. He ended up leaving my team and becoming a senior developer on another team. Thankfully, he was able to reach his true potential there, unlike in my team, where I feel like I failed him.

Has there been an instance in your life where you felt like a victim?

Nope. I’ve always felt that I have control over my life. The bad situations I’ve gotten into are my fault, and it’s my fault if I don’t learn from them.

Do the failures or disappointments you experienced earlier in your life constrain you, even today, or have you been able to reframe them as learning experiences?

They are definitely learning experiences. Fantastic learning experiences too. While some past experiences were very unpleasant, they’ve made me who I am today and I’m happy with who I am today. After all, “we remember some of what we are told, a little more of what we read, and almost all of what we experience.”

The Journey to Authentic Leadership

Do you currently view your life and leadership as a destination to a certain point or as a journey in which you seek to maximize your learning and experiences?

Life is always a journey. If you reach a goal or destination, then it’s time to set another goal and return to the journey.

The journey can be made much easier if you learn from previous mistakes. Otherwise, you’re doomed to repeat them. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like repeating dumb mistakes over and over again.

What are the most significant leadership experiences you have had to date and what did you learn from them?

The major life turning points I wrote about above are also some of the most significant leadership experiences I’ve had so far. From becoming the president of a student-run community service organization in college, to an engineering manager at Yahoo!, then to the principal of WebMocha, I’ve learned a lot from these wonderful experiences, which I’ve written above too. Cheers to redundant questions.

What experiences do you need to develop your leadership to take it to the next level?

The next step in my leadership education is becoming a successful entrepreneur. Fortunately, I’m already on this path with WebMocha.

If you are just entering a new phase, have you assessed the goals and experiences you would like to have during the phase?

Yes. My goals are sustainable profitability and growth from WebMocha. The experiences I’m going to learn from this journey will be invaluable.

Do you think you need to make any adjustments to your personal and leadership development as a result? If so, what are they?

I will definitely need to make adjustments. My leadership experience has been mainly people-based, as opposed to business-based. While managing a business shares many of the qualities needed to manage people and teams, there are also notable differences too. This is what I will need to learn.

This will include greater reliability on intelligence business managers & leaders in my social network for wisdom & advice. I am fortunate to have a good and varied network. As my schedule eases up, I look forward to meeting with each of them regularly.

How can you take your previous experiences and apply them more optimally to your leadership now?

The failures I’ve had will be an important lesson in the future. I know that being an entrepreneur is difficult and fraught with challenges. Failure is a certainy. Success isn’t.

How would you answer these questions?

Related posts:

1. Reading True North: Introduction Exercise
2. Management as Parenthood
3. Can Managers Create Satisfied Employees?

We remember some of what we are told, a little more of what we read, and almost all of what we experience.

I don’t even remember the exact phrasing of that line. Instead of “some,” “a little more,” and “almost all,” it might have been percentages like: 25%, 50% and 100%.

It’s a good quote. At least, the sentiment behind it is sound. Everyone learns differently, but at the core, we all learn best by doing.

And sometimes, by doing and failing – because nothing is a better teacher than the harsh burn of a mistake.

I want to say Jack Welch said this line, but I can’t find a reference to it anywhere. Does this line sound familiar to you? Know what the exact wording is, or who said it?

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Lateral thinking is “the solution of problems through an indirect and creative approach.” At it’s most basic level, lateral thinking is like looking at something at a different angle. With the screen up, your laptop proudly displays this web page. If you close your laptop, you can appreciate it’s slim design. Look even closer and you can see the vent, screws, and various ports.

Here’s an example of how it helps with problem solving:

Say you’re building a new house. Someone just asked you to make the living room brighter. What do you do?

A common answer is to add more windows. Or expand the size of the current windows. That’s nice and straight-forward thinking.

However, if you were to employ some lateral thinking, and no doubt some of you already have, you might come up with answers such as:

• Paint the rooms white.
• Put in a sky light.
• Put mirrors in the room.
• Add lots of recessed lighting in the ceiling.
• Change the placement of the room so it faces the direction with the most sunlight.
• Set the room on fire (that’ll sure make it bright, and hot!)

If you sat down and really thought about it, I’m sure you could add more to that list. The primary mental activity is looking at the question in a different way, a different angle. Reframing it, so to speak. Instead of viewing it from a carpenter’s perspective, you could answer it from an electrician’s perspective. Or a firefighter’s perspective. Or a young child’s perspective. All of these could give you distinctly different answers. That’s lateral thinking.

How can this help your business? It can help with brainstorming business ideas, whether they be new features, new products, new services, or enhancements on current offerings. It can help with your marketing campaign, especially in social media and viral marketing, where clever and creative hooks can expand your reach exponentially.

It can help with your operations too. Take a look at your current distribution system. Or product development process. Or accounting system. Look at it from someone else’s perspective. Are there ways to improve those processes? If you tore down all preconceptions and assumptions, are there new alternatives you hadn’t considered before?

So don’t forgot to think outside… I mean, think laterally. Employ lateral thinking. It will expand not only your business, but your mind.

Photo by: Dan Morelle

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Ah, here’s a gas station. But aww damn, I have to walk over to the mini mart to get my frosty beverage? I’m a lazy man of convenience. Screw that.

What I want is to be able to get my frosty drink right here at the gas pump. It could be as simple as a vending machine. I might think twice about heading into the store, but while waiting at the pump, I’m primed for a convenient impulse buy.

Speaking of impulse buys, I’m feeling snacky too. Some potato chips would hit the spot. A snack machine at the pump would be paradise next to the soda machine.

Why take the extra steps when I don’t have to, right? Extra steps in real life are like extra clicks in digital life.

Convenience for impulse buyers isn’t the only reason to consider drinks – and snacks – at the gas pumps. Safety is also a concern too.

If it’s a sketchy neighborhood and you’re driving alone at night, perhaps you’d rather stay by your car than to walk into a mini mart. Vending machines by the gas pumps wouldn’t just be a convenience, they would also be a safety measure too.

There’s also the potential extra revenue to be had. In this economy, what kind of business owner wouldn’t want that?

So be nice to your customers and your wallet. Consider offering drink and snack vending machines by your gas station pumps. On a hot day like this, I’d sure buy something!

Photo by: ^riza^

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As a manager, it is your job to remove the roadblocks that hinder your team’s path. Even if the roadblock is themselves, such as fear, anger, confusion, frustration, misunderstanding, or a mistake. A roadblock such as missing information is easy to resolve. Just get them the information they require. A roadblock such as fear is harder because you’re dealing with a psychological issue.

So how do you deal with such an issue? Reframing.

Reframing is an extremely powerful technique. It involves changing one’s perception of a particular situation from a negative, disabling one to a positive, enabling one. For instance, a mistake is really a teachable moment. Something you fear is really a chance to overcome that fear. Someone who’s angered you is really a chance to better understand that person.

Let’s take a more concrete example.

You are John’s manager. John has been working with the manager of another team for weeks now. The other manager, Bill, has been micromanaging him, despite not being John’s direct supervisor. It is known amongst the department that Bill is a micromanager, as he does this to his own team too. It usually doesn’t effect you and your team, but on this project, John needs to deal with Bill and thus encounters his micromanaging style.

You’ve spoken to Bill several times about this. After each talk, he eases up a bit on John. But after a few days, he’s back to his old ways.

What can you do about this?

1. Keep on talking to Bill and reminding him about his behavior every few days. This would be time-consuming, however.
2. Talk to Bill’s boss. Recommend that Bill be sent to a management class. If he’s on a critical project, he may not be able to go, even for a few days. Or his boss may not agree with your suggestion.
3. Get Bill off the team. Talk to his boss and the overall supervisor of the project. Recommend that Bill be replaced. That may be a long & ardorous process, depending upon the politics involved and the policies of your company.
4. Talk to John and reframe the situation for him. First, talk to Bill and find out why he’s micromanaging. Get to the fundamental psychological issue. Perhaps he’s a new manager and is very nervous about his job. Explain this to John and help him to understand Bill’s point of view. Since Bill is insecure, he wants lots of communication. Work with John to come up with some low-impact processes that give Bill all the information he wants. Perhaps a daily status report or issue-tracking tool will assuage his insecurities.
5. Talk to Bill and reframe the situation for him. Understand his point of view, world view, and motivations. Relate to him how his micromanagement style is effecting the team. Offer alternatives, such as daily stand-up status meetings, issue-tracking tools, or other project management techniques. You could even suggest management training or self-help books to Bill directly.

I’ve been in this situation before. My approach was both options four and five. I talked to both John and Bill to help them reframe their behaviors and perceptions. In my scenario, we set up daily stand-up status meetings. This gave Bill all the information he needed to feel comfortable and got him off of John’s back. As a result, John was much happier and more productive.

The downside was requiring a fair bit of upfront time from my busy schedule, especially on the part of Bill. I had to talk to him several times in a supportive, non-threatening manner. I related to him my struggles as a new manager and how I dealt with a perceived lack of communication and control, then helped Bill with solutions.

For John’s part, he had believed that Bill didn’t like him. He didn’t realize that Bill was insecure in his role and simply wanted more information, which he was glad to provide. Understanding Bill’s point of view also encouraged John to provide more details in his status reports.

I essentially reframed the situation for both John and Bill. I helped them both understand the other’s point of view, then worked with them to set up solutions.

Reframing is a powerful technique that can be used by managers to enable their teams to become more effective. It is the art of changing one’s perception of a particular situation from a negative one to a positive one. I was able to use it to make the lives of John and Bill easier. Hopefully it can help you on your projects as well.

Photo by: Sundials by Carmichael

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I’m staying at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel right now. It’s a fancy place with all kinds of nice amenities. Sans wifi.

I had the same experience with Hilton and Ritz Carlton.

Do you know who does offer free wifi? Discount hotels like Radisson. Even Best Western offers free wifi.

So why don’t hotels where I’m paying a premium offer a service that their lower-priced competitors have made a commodity? Is it the cost of operating such a system? Security issues? Infrastructure issues? Or do they just not want to?

As a business traveler, I always look for a hotel with free wifi in the rooms. (Today’s trip isn’t for business, by the way.) Having it in the public area is not acceptable, nor is paying for the wifi. Fortunately, since discount hotels offer free wifi, I’m getting a great deal – an inexpensive hotel plus free wifi!

P.S. How funny, I’ve ranted about this before. See how much it bugs me? C’mon hoteliers, get with it!

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Each chapter of True North is preceded by a set of leadership exercises. I thought it would be fun to post my answers here as I went through this book.

The first exercise helps you “think about the basis for your leadership and the process you need to go through to become an authentic leader.”

The True North exercises:

• Introduction Exercise
• Chapter 1: Your Story Exercise
• Chapter 2: Losing Your Way Exercise
• Chapter 3: Your Greatest Crucible Exercise
• Chapter 4: Knowing Your Authentic Self Exercise
• Chapter 5: Practicing Your Values and Principles Exercise
• Chapter 6: Your Motivations and Motivated Capabilities Exercise
• Chapter 7: Building Your Support Team Exercise
• Chapter 8: The Integrated Leader Exercise
• Chapter 9: The Purpose of My Leadership Exercise
• Chapter 10: Empowering Other Leaders Exercise
• Chapter 11: Honing Your Leadership Effectiveness Exercise

What leaders, past of present, do you admire most?

• What is it about them that you admire most?
• Which of these leaders do you consider to be authentic leaders?
• What can you learn from their leadership?

Damn. Those are tough questions. The leaders I admire are:

• Jack Welsch – I admire the advances he’s made in the field of management and his dedication to the craft, as well as his desire to share that knowledge and encourage others to succeed, as evident in how often General Electric (GE) executives were sought after by other companies.
• Warren Buffet – I admire his sensible & long-term thinking about the investment industry and his desire to give back & teach the community.
• Bill Gates – I admire the fact that he was able to build one of the most powerful & impactful companies in the world, become the richest man in the world, then dedicate his life to humanitarian causes. Criticize him all you want, but his philantropic efforts have been enormous.
• Joel Spolsky – I admire his dedication to his craft and the thought leadership he provides through his blog. It’s obvious he loves what he does and is always challenging himself and his company to do better.
• Matt Mullenswag – I admire how he built a viable business on open-source software and attracted a huge community of developers & evangelists around something he personally cares deeply about.

To me, they are all authentic leaders. Looking at this list, I also notice that they all:

1. love what they do
2. believe in what they do
3. give back to the community

Those core facets are what I admire most about them and what speaks “authenticity” to me. Hopefully I can emulate them and be half as good a leader as they are.

Thinking back over all your leadership experiences in your lifetime, which ones are you proudest of?

I was once the president of a cultural community service club in college. One of our activities was a street carnival that required a tremendous amount of work, especially for a busy college student with a double-major, two jobs, and officer responsibilties for a second club.

On the day of the carnival, I overslept, exhausted from my schedule. When I woke up in utter panic and rushed over to the street, I saw the carnival operating as scheduled. It was my job to meet the vendors and get them set up. So what happened?

My officers happened. They saw that I wasn’t there and stepped in to take over. At the time, I saw this as a failure of mine, but when I look back, I’m deeply proud of my team and what we did. The event also raised a lot of money for a church and their efforts to help the homeless.

During my time as an engineering manager at Yahoo! (YHOO), I had the pleasure of working with a large team of talented developers. There are dozens of seemingly small but important incidents that occurred over my time there.

For instance, there was the developer we considered a long-shot who floundered in his role for a while. Despite his performance, I always felt he was destined for more. I tried to give him as many opportunities as I could to shine in the form of side projects. One day, he was offered the perfect role for him by a team who had seen his side projects. He is now flourishing in that role.

There’s another developer who was a rock star, but didn’t realize it. Fortunately, neither did our competitors, with whom he was also interviewing. I was able to attract him to our company. I wasn’t even hiring for my team; I just knew he’d kick ass and wanted him in the company somehow. And he has definitely kicked ass.

Then there was the developer who didn’t have the solid experience we needed, but had an extra quality that intrigued me. Since hiring him, he’s risen to one of the top developers in the company. People try to woo him all the time now.

I wish I could go on – the developer who had the aptitude and eagerness to be a leader herself, and with some training, is now leading an important project; the developer who flailed nervously in his first role, then left to start his own successful company; and the developer who wanted to learn a different role and with some encouragement, training, and the right opportunities, has made it there. All of these are moments that fill me with pride whenever I think about them. I’m smiling right now as I type this.

Think about the basis for your leadership and the kind of leader you would like to be as you answer these questions:

• What qualities do you bring to leadership?
• What leadership qualities would you like to develop further?

My leadership style is that of a teacher. One of my former developers even called me his therapist and our one-on-one meetings as his therapy sessions.

I also regard myself as someone who is able to identify talent and harness it, through encouragement, reframing, training, discipline, and proper positioning. Wearing this hat, I told my team I was their agent and they, my rock stars.

While that’s great and all as a people manager, what I need to build now are my business management skills. Although I believe being good in business is largely a product of one’s knowledge of psychology (dealing with employees, customers, vendors, and other stakeholders is an interpersonal art), the ability to read a company’s key metrics is important in determining its financial & operational health.

Although I’ve always believed that I could hire someone who is smarter than me to do that, I feel I should also have that skill to some extent.

Asses yourself against the five dimensions of an authentic leader:

• Do you understand your purpose?
• Do you practice your values?
• Do you lead with your heart?
• Do you demonstrate self-discipline?

I understand that the search for a purpose can be a long, philosophical, and even spiritual journey for many people. For me, I believe a person can also choose their own purpose. I’ve already chosen mine – to improve our society fundamentally through education. The road is tough and I have a long way to go, though I’m thankfully not alone.

Everyday, I apply my values to my life. I believe that being a parent is one of the most difficult, important, and rewarding roles a person could ever play. To be a good parent, I need to be a good role model. To be a good role model, I need to live my life with honor, compassion, understanding, adaptability, discipline, and values.

Although I tend to be a cerebral thinker who decisively weighs all alternatives, if I don’t believe in an organization or goal, I cannot work in or towards it to my full extent.

Back to being a good parent, the overall sentiment is one of self-improvement. Self-kaizen, so to speak. Included in such a personal journey is constant self-discipline, the pillar for a strong mind and strong body. I don’t believe you could be an effective parent, or business owner, without self-discipline.

Do you feel that you are more effective as a leader when you are authentic, or does being authentic constrain your leadership effectiveness?

Being authentic is vastly more effective. If you are true to yourself, you’ll be able to lead with your most effective skills & talents, therefore making you a more effective leader.

Are you consciously developing your leadership abilities at this time?

I’m developing my leadership skills (as a business owner, father, etc) all the time. Also, I’m reading this book, aren’t I? Wink wink.

How would you answer these questions?

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I don’t know about you, but I relish every chance I get to sit down and talk with them. Sometimes they’re full of ideas that can evolve my business significantly. Other times, they offer helpful criticisms and relevant complaints that can improve the way we do things. Even the most bitter complaints are useful – they teach us What Not To Do.

Plus, during the non-business-related general chit-chat, I learn something new about my customers each and every time. About their lives, their aspirations, their view on life, or even their favorite TV shows. All of it is delightfully fascinating to me.

This week is all about meeting with customers and doing market research. I’ve only conducted a few personal interviews so far, but already it’s been amazing. Customer research FTW!

Photo by: Stig Nygaard

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