connected kids

How to get things done when you do not have the power

2013-04-15T23:49:00.002+02:00

If you want to get results from those who don't report to you, you need at least to outline a vision of what’s expected of people and make their work effortless, right?

Not everyone can or should become a leader. But when leaders come up short, the problem may have less to do with them than with the organization. Did you ever asked why traditional organization squanders the leadership talents of those who don’t have leadership “roles.”

According toby Gary Hamel and Polly LaBarre, a company that strives to build a leadership advantage need an organizational model that gives everyone the chance to lead if they’re capable; and a talent development model that helps everyone to become capable.

So what does it take to enlarge the leadership capacity of an organization? Two things are at the heart of the Leaders Everywhere Challenge: to give many more individuals the opportunity to lead (even when they lack formal authority) and energize individuals to inspire others and multiply their impact. Among these individuals would be are seers, contrarians, architects, mentors, connectors, bushwhackers, guardians and citizens. Are you one of them?

Please, download the Leaders Everywhere Cheatsheet and share it with your friends and colleagues.

Leadership substance

2013-04-10T00:08:00.000+02:00

Want to become a relevant leader? Bookstores shelves groan with what resemble indoctrination manuals: you can consult Professor Kotter What Leaders Really Doa summary of what he thinks of a leader’s duties, or any of the works unlocking the mysteries of the leadership management arts by revealing The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,The Leadership Challenge, etc.

However, we‘re all leaders and our whole lives are filled with leadership opportunities. We can be leaders in all we do in our work and in our daily lives when teaching others or learning from others. We know what we think leaders should do, right?

Few of us truly understand how to turn ourselves and others into great leaders. One company—the Jesuits—pioneered a unique formula for molding leaders and in the process built one of history’s most successful companies.

In Heroic LeadershipChris Lowney reveals that Jesuits eschewed a flashy leadership style and focused in 4 unique values that created leadership substance: self-awareness, adaptability, service attitude and heroism.

The very last thing early Jesuits would have considered themselves to be was leadership pundits. Instead of talking about leadership they lived it. Accordingly, they have a lot to say about who leaders are, how they live, and how they become leaders in the first place.

Big data

2013-03-25T23:25:00.000+01:00

Customerdata is your biggest advantage. Smart businesses learn about data, and try to build up models from them. Amazon’s e-commerce system learns about customers and adapts offers to their preferences.

Everyone is talking big data; the difficulty is putting data to use. How does data help aviation industry to make money?

How aligning data with operations and strategy is a quest?

The hardthing is training the algorithms, not so much running them. Training the algorithms is oversimplified – it is coefficients in an algorithm. Once you figured out what they are, what you are left with is a very simple mathematical formula.

GE flight quest challenge tries to improve the ability to estimate which flights will be delayed. People have a complete picture of the US airspace over a two month period, and they have to make predictions for every flight, when each one will land and when each one will arrive at the gate.

For an industry that invented solutions to the most complex problems and some of the most successful customer’s loyalty programs it’s quite disheartening to see it struggling for survival. The irony is that most frequent flyer programs provide incentives in the wrong side of the equation – they encourage people to pile-up the miles in the hope they will redeem them.

Customer’s loyalty programs are rich in information about what people want to buy. So airline ancillary revenue should not be about baggage fees and should aim to create value prepositions based on increasingly real time information about customer preferences and needs and using that information to targeting services. Here are some other questions that airlines can start askingthemselves.

What do you think about?

2-step strategy

2013-03-19T07:00:00.000+01:00

At work, do I have an opportunity to do what I do best every day? The more I ponder the question the more complex it comes.

The 2-step strategy is based in two core assumptions. First, each person's talents are enduring and unique. Second, each person's greatest room for growth is in the areas of person's greatest strengths.

Thus, the first step is to know you and, of course have the courage to be yourself.

Know what your strengths are, and try to find a job that plays to some of those strengths.

Then, when that's done put strengths to work. Pick a company, institution or an vocational undertaking that have your values, so you will be comfortable getting up every morning and going to work and giving it your all.

I am always striving to reach the second step.

Don't apologize!

2013-03-14T12:00:00.000+01:00

I believe that skill at Apologizing is nothing short of a "strategic competence

Tom Peters

Don't apologize! my boss once told me. I think this was a very controversial advice.

Apologies come with several problems says Jay Heinrichs that’s the author of Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion First, apologies focus on the past reminding people of what you did. Second, apologies rarely satisfy people.

People often demand an apology more as vengeance than as any way to improve matters. The problem is, an apology is never enough for an angry audience. Instead…

Instead, you need to be in a position of strength so that you can solve the problem and get past the screwup. So how to g ive a meaningful apology ? In line with Mark Goulston, M.D., a business psychiatrist and a executive consultant author of Real Influence: Persuade Without Pushing and Gain Without Giving In. The crux is this: you can't be sincerely empathic towards and angry at someone at the same moment. In other words, you can't walk in someone else's shoes and step on their toes at the same time.

Is there someone you need to apologize to? If there is, don't just say you're sorry; give them a Power Apology. It has three parts:

1. Admit that you were wrong and that you're sorry. Hint! most labor attorneys will advise you not to say you're wrong to anyone, because that might lead them to have something they can use to sue you. If that is the case, you may just need to stop at saying you're sorry.

2. Try to really put yourself in their shoes!. Show them you understand the effect it had on them.

3. Present a plan for restoring awesomeness. Tell them what you are going to do differently in the future so that it doesn't happen again. This reassures them that you will truly try to change your behavior in the future — not just keep apologizing after every blow-up

Will you tap the wink on your next screwup?

Photo credits:butupa

Innovation Leadership

2013-03-12T20:02:00.003+01:00

“Companies find success when they put aside their own problems and start caring about everyday people”- Dave Patniak

Innovation involves looking at new way of doing things. Although innovators can be brilliant inventors, they often emerge from just looking at situations from an alternate perspective: IKEA challenged orthodoxies in the furniture industry and Nintendo challenged conventional thinking in the video game industry by making their WII more physically interactive.

Innovation leadership involves adopting certain styles of leadership to influence employees to produce innovativesolutions that can change an entire industry, a product or a service.

Leveraging strengths your own resources and competencies is a driver of innovation. THY is leveraging its location to expands its international operation. For some connecting markets the location of Istanbul as a connecting hub is better than those located in the Gulf region. Moreover, the size of Istanbul is much bigger than the size of the new hub cities in the Gulf region of the Middle East. Leveraging competencies and resources, involves just that, leveraging what a company know how to do well along with resources it can bring to bear.

Observing trends and experimenting help companies understand unarticulated consumer needs and ways to satisfy an unmet need or a current frustration of a consumer, in other words companies must walk on its customer’s shoes. Key driver between customer service and customer experience is innovation, innovation in turns relays on superior customer understanding, and that in turn comes primarily from employees.

The key is that top management is aware of internal and external customer. Within the organization, in my opinion, leadership role is to set a tone that fosters a culture that embraces innovation. Innovation occurs at the intersection of disciplines, departments and roles and a supportive leadership is the enabler of innovation.

What CEOs should learn from horsemeat debacle?

2013-03-07T00:00:00.000+01:00

The current front-page sub-contractor controversies surrounding mega-retailers liability for the horsemeat debacle should not obscure an ultimate take-away for corporate leaders: companies must take responsibility for ensuring that products and services provided to them by third party suppliers are of high quality.

In this era of complex supply chains- where simple, vertically integrated structures, responsible for all parts of the value chain are thing of the past.-, the question of who guarantees quality is absolutely pivotal. Thus, taking such responsibility is crucial for preventing events with the potential to adversely affect the reputation of a firm.

Business leaders must establish robust processes not just for qualifying third party vendors, but for making sure that there is integration of those suppliers in a strong quality culture with close company oversight of quality management and processes.

When everyone in the workplace speaks the same language of quality — employees and contractors alike — everyone can work collaboratively, safely and effectively.

BP's liability for the gulf explosion is, currently in the eye of a media and legal hurricane. Boeing has been a huge business story this year due to the grounding of its new 787 Dreamliner for fires in ion-lithium batteries made by a Japanese company.

As asserted by B. W. Heineman firms must treat subs as if they were virtually part of the parent company and must take operational responsibility. Doing this right helps to avoid the endless, expensive, time-consuming and debilitating after-the-fact fights about who was at fault.

It is unclear what the resolution of the Boeing controversies will be. But business should act on a core lesson from the above examples: they must ensure that their corporations take full accountability for quality of the goods supplied assuming the role of a guarantor of quality.

The irony is, as M G. Jacobides utters, that CEO’s often fail to see the huge strategic leverage that their role as certifiers of quality provides them; they only see the short-term pain of legal liability and company value destruction.

No pain, no gain.

Emotionally neutral, 10 tips on how to succeed at negotiations

2013-03-05T00:00:00.000+01:00

For years now, win-win has been the paradigm for business negotiation. The “fair” way for an agreement that meets the legitimate interests of each side to the extent possible, resolves conflicting interests fairly, is durable, and takes community interests into account.

Nevertheless In Start with No Jim Camp a leading global expert on negotiations teaches us that if an offer doesn't meet our expectations we should walk away.

Anyway, herewith there are 10 tips I’ve gathered from Jim Camp and other experts about negotiations and I think will help to control negotiations and prepare ourselves for anything:

have a mission and purpose. Without it, you’ll get nowhere at the negotiation table.
to position your proposal as the best solution to their problem, and to help build up a vision you need to gain as much information as possible, but
disclosing too much information prematurely and talking too much convey the subconscious message: “I’m desperate for an agreement.”
never pledge for time, pledging for time signals to the other party that you’re not in the driver’s seat.
calling someone “Mr.” after he’s already given you his first name, takes you down a notch in the power hierarchy.
stay calm, an overly enthusiastic and excited person always give the party across the table the advantage.
it’s better off to set aside biases about the other party and their position; keeping your mind open and genuinely curious help you to focus and rise above the mental clutter
carpe diem: empty your mind of all past or future thoughts, and simply and calmly try to stay present in the moment. Being in the present moment enables you to ask smart questions and really listen to their answers and observe them
negotiating correctly means the other party will invite you to close before you force a decision
rational problem solving approaches are impossible to use when emotions are high. While needy negotiators raise their voices, negotiators who simply “want” lower theirs. A confident negotiator always allows the other party to feel comfortable and unthreatened. One way Abraham Lincoln put people at ease was by telling stories. Lincoln’s calming effect could immediately lower the emotional levels in a room, which helps everyone’s effectiveness at making better decisions.

I hope you find them useful

Assess conflict before attacking it

2013-03-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

The word conflict comes from Latin conflictus act of striking together. Learning how to handle, manage, deal with, and/or resolve conflict is a critical skill for any leader, right?

Savvy leaders know it's critical to assess a conflict before attempting to resolve it. Conflicts of emotions, needs and values each have to be handled differently; each type of conflict requires a different approach Dan McCarthy writes.

When you face a conflict of emotions then a "let's fix the problem" won't work. You'd be better off if you use your active listening skills to deal with their emotions first. On the other hand, the key skill to use when resolving a conflict of needs is to re-frame the conflict to a win-win solution that satisfies needs. Nevertheless, if a conflict of values is the case, then forget to fix it, it rarely, if ever works.

Dan McCarthy is the Director of Executive Development Programs at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics (WSBE). He is also a blogger at www.greatleadershipbydan.com

Is it Adios, Abertis Airports?

2013-02-25T00:00:00.000+01:00

" #Airport privatisation: The ‘R’ word (renationalisation) hangs over the world’s privatised airports" bit.ly/Xz4BFL
— Pablo Roux (@pabloroux) 24 de febrero de 2013

The UK is not averse to renationalisation. In the bank sector the United Kingdom renationalized a couple of banks when they threatened to implode the economy, and in the transport sector it renationalised the East Coast Rail Line , when it got into financial difficulties. But renationalization is not a word often associated with the privatized airports business.

Now politicians in Wales are about to do just that with the airport serving that nation’s capital city. The rationale was that such an arrangement would enable the government to develop a more coherent approach to its national infrastructure planning, and integrate the airport into its wider economic development strategy. The airport is now expected to be nationalised in March-2013.

Overall, the events at Cardiff are not so much an investment issue as they were in Bolivia (though they have played a part). How do these developments reflect on Abertis the Spanish Infrastructure group that operates Cardiff?

As can be seen in the table below, Abertis’ airports business has been growing in terms of passenger numbers, revenues and EBITDA, through to year end 2011.

But now Abertis’ CEO Francisco Reynes says the company is studying the possible sale of its airports division as part of its “diversification strategy” and has hired Citigroup and AZ Capital to study options for the business, with Mr Reynes stating: "We're open to any option".

A report in CAPA's Airport Investor Monthly in Aug-2010 had gone so far as to ask ‘Is it Adios, Abertis Airports? , has the article been a premonition?

Sources:

"Abertis may sell airports division" feb-20th-2013, http://www.bdlive.co.za/world/europe/2013/02/20/abertis-may-sell-airports-division
"Abertis defends its Bolivian record" Steven Thompson; tue, 19 february 2013; http://www.airport-world.com/index.php/home/general-news/item/2340-abertis-defends-its-bolivian-record?dm_i=ECC,1A438,8HWQ9R,4CWW5,1&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=f840c
"Adios Abertis airports? ; Capa; 21st july, 2010
"Airport privatisation: the ‘r’ word (renationalisation) hangs over the world’s privatised airports" Capa; 24th Feb 2013
http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/airport-privatisation-the-r-word-renationalisation-hangs-over-the-worlds-privatised-airports-98578
"Expropian en Bolivia la filial de Aena y Abertis, gestora de los tres mayores aeropuertos" http://www.hosteltur.com/134600_expropian-bolivia-filial-aena-abertis-gestora-tres-mayores-aeropuertos.html
"Abertis busca una nueva estrategia para su división de aeropuertos" http://www.hosteltur.com/134600_expropian-bolivia-filial-aena-abertis-gestora-tres-mayores-aeropuertos.html
"Three UK airports may be sold by Abertis" http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/02/24/three-uk-airports-may-be-sold-by-spanish-operator-report/

Customer Service Vs Customer Experience

2013-02-23T22:49:00.000+01:00

The difference between standard customer service and customer experience is making an emotional connection with a client, right?

Companies that provide a “world class” customer experience have the ability to personalize the service as much as possible to meet the customers’ needs or offering a customer a solution to a problem

Of course, “the personalization aspect of a service” can’t be quantified, measured or described in a manual. But companies that provide a “world class” customer experience are world class in all respects; to its employees, to its customers, to its community.

To become a “world class” employer a company must be recognized as an employer of choice, which according to the author of What's the Secret: To Providing a World-Class Customer Experiencerequires 4 main characteristics: providing a great place to work, providing great training, having superior customer service, and offer unlimited opportunities for its employees.

The last attribute is where many companies fail, right? And I think the third one underlays corporate culture, which begins with leadership, and it’s evident at a small top end businesses (Ritz-Carlton) and at high volume ones such as Amazon.

Does your firm fulfill the 4 requirements?

Saving the little fish from being swallowed up

2013-02-19T22:33:00.000+01:00

Cost pressures, and the increasing complexity of health, make health industry consolidation inevitable and smaller practices unworkable in the long run because larger groups can run more efficiently and provide cheaper care. Of course, consolidation could be a threat to patients because it can dilute a unique patient experience.

However, Mayo clinic has seen an opportunity where others see a menace. Moreover, Mayo clinic proposes a paradigm of integration that will reduce cost of care and be much more efficient without renouncing to give patients around the world access to best practices from more than 100 years of experience, that’s one of the pillars that hold up Mayo strengths.

"We can stay connected to patients at a distance either before we see them or
after we see them, to keep them at home and reduce the cost of their care, yet retain the connection with the Mayo clinic”, Mayo clinic CEO John Noseworthy says.

In accordance with a strategy defined on its strengths that if were outlined in a single phrase the most appropriate will be: “to be available to people everywhere to help them live healthier lives and to help them understand their risks of serious illness” Mayo has devised a plan: Share what they know with people everywhere with a remote digital model.

SAVING THE LITTLE FISH FROM BEING SWALLOWED UP? It seems simple: to identify a threat, see an opportunity where others see a menace, and to trust in one’s strengths to devise a plan to succeed.

Photo credits: Flavio

How hubs beat bad weather

2013-02-16T17:10:00.000+01:00

Amid the hoopla of American Airlines and US Airways merger announcement, a lots of frequent flyers, a handful of chambers of commerce leaders and a few airport CEO’s, should be worried about what's to come.

When an airline decides to shift flights to other hubs, the loss of hub status can erase the value of investments, leaving behind thousands of people unemployed and terminal buildings that once accommodate millions of passengers empty. Of course, it’s up to the airport operators to build airport expansion on having a large transfer hub, but it corresponds to the airlines to set up homes inside.

When an airport is configured for something that's way more than the size of your community justifies in terms of origin and destination traffic, there is a risk not only for the operator ROI and for the region prosperity. Except the airport operator lure the airline to stay with cheaper fees, or local government have made the strategic decision to constantly incentivize airlines to keep flying through that airport.

Thank godness, if an airline do cut service in its hub, here in Mallorca we have such a strong market as well as great weather, which means far fewer delays, that we're confident that another airline either existing or a new one that maybe hasn't come into the market ... would say, `That looks like a good profit for us, let's come into Mallorca.

Valuing relationships is always about time

2013-02-14T13:00:00.000+01:00

Bring to value relationships is always about time.

What does your network think about you? Everybody knows that success is built upon excellent relationships. So, why so many people devote for winning more relationships than nurturing those already won? Needless to say, I think, is about time.

Here are a few tips to build upon relationships I've jotted down while browsing the Internet:

Be a lovecat, and that means offer your wisdom freely, and be helpful.
Get to know people on an individual level. Don’t stop on what they look like or where they work or who their parents are.
Relationships are like conversations a 2 way street, is dull if you are not engaged. Add a connective tissue. What excites someone that overlaps with what you also love is a great bridge. Start the conversation by commenting on their work, and just being there. Always have a condensed and simply story to retell about you.
Relationships are just like work. Spending a week in a job you hate is as dreadful as spending a week with a person you don’t like. When you find the right person as a job not amount of time is enough.

Needless to say, I think, is about time. Good relationships don’t just happen they take time, patience and people who really want to be connected.

How do businesses get the attention of the influential Millennials?

2013-02-11T19:06:00.001+01:00

Litmus: Digital Millennials from Resource

The phrase Generation Y first appeared in an August 1993 Ad Age editorial to describe teenagers of the day, which they defined as different from Generation X, and then aged 12 or younger as well as the teenagers of the upcoming ten years. Generation Y, is also known as the Millennial Generation

They’ve been called trophy kids, entitled, narcissistic, the worst employees in history, and even the dumbest generation But, how do businesses get the attention of the influential Millennials?

To answer the question, according to one article in Resourcelnteractive Litmus, there are 5 key rules to keep in mind when marketing to Millennials.

Keep it real: be authentic. This generation not only wants to do business with authentic companies providing products, but they also desire constant new product offerings. For example, Millennials love eBay, because it is "always fresh."

Hear me out: Millennials want to be heard. The Millennials want to interact with companies that listen to them and them in their decisions. For example, this group likes Amazon.com, because it offers user reviews, and therefore is perceived as a company that listens to its customers.

Be original or not be: Millennials thrive on creativity. They enjoy limited editions, exclusives, and so forth. Again, they like excitement, freshness, and originality, so frequent updates to offerings greatly appeal to this group.

My way...now. Millennials want control over the purchase interaction, they are Impatient. They want everything now. Apple's iTunes Store is an example of an offering that caters to this need of everything to be on the purchaser's terms. Specifically, an Individual can select her songs, download them, and enjoy listening to them through her iPod at any time of the day or night. Not only is it better than a brick-and-mortar store that closes, but even when one purchases CDs via the Internet, one has to wait for the purchase to be shipped. Apple's iTunes store is truly 24 hours; one can not only purchase, but also enjoy the purchase instantly.

Entertain me: Millennials want to be entertained. Viral events that drive buzz and can be shared are favored by this generation. Brand need to create a: Did you see that? Reaction.

Technical savvy, multitasking and optimistic, Millennials are ready to deliver economic opportunities to brands that make the effort to engage them in the brand experience.

What Does Sales Mean Today

2013-02-07T23:03:00.000+01:00

What percentage of your work involves convincing or persuading people to give up something they value for something you can offer?

7000 adults surveyed in the US answered that 41% of their work consists in influencing people, in other words persuading others to give up resources in exchange for something else.

I’ve just put down Daniel Pink‘s latest book To Sell Is Humanand I liked it.

More than introducing novel paradigms, Pink offers practical advice read for anyone who wants to Influenceother people.

Many of us may be involved with sales in one way or another, right? but it happens that we don’t like it very much. When people is asked “When you think of ‘sales’ or ‘selling’, what’s the first word that comes to mind?” most of the responses are overwhelmingly negative. Of the top 25 adjectives, only 4 were positive. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now.

According to Pink doing sales in a world of information is now about 3 issues:

Attunement: The ability to take someone else’s perspective. Having a sense of where people are coming from.
Buoyancy: The capacity to deal with rejection.
Clarity: The ability to share understanding of complex situations with clarity. Identifying problems people don’t know that they have.

Also Pink underlines that there are three abilities one should learn to be a good salesman: Pitch, Improvise, and serve

Anyway, if you are interested in look into the subject I recommend you to read the book.

Photo credits: Guijarro 85

Storytelling is front page news

2013-02-04T22:22:00.000+01:00

Among the softer leadership skills, I highlight one as old as mankind, that’s storytellingor teaching through metaphors. Storytelling is extremely effective in educating and persuading teams.

Storytelling helps the organization’s collective consciousness assimilates new knowledge and insights while reinforcing established ones. These stories foster its culture and philosophy.

Storytelling draws on the power and principles of history. Andrew St. George, a senior fellow at Aberystwyth University’s School of Management and Business, points that many commercial organizations would benefit from thinking more deliberately about how to foster it collective memory. Many organizations that lack a strong collective memory wind up ignoring they own wisdom in uncertain times, and a plausible antidote is making time for storytelling.

Andrew St. George also suggests that collective memory made of informal experiences of leadership and stories about what individuals did in situations big and small provides inspiration for new challenges. For example, the experience of a Special Forces commander in tackling Somali pirates – and his emphasis in the forty separate scenarios his team contemplated ahead of the engagement - underlined to everyone listening the Royal Navy meticulous attention to detailed and exhaustive planning. Definitely, storytelling is a very active way to open eyes to problems.

What Frugal Innovation Is?

2013-01-31T21:36:00.000+01:00

The best innovators focus on getting rid of stuff, and developing products and processes that deliver memorable and meaningful results with the least effort possible, writes Matthew E. May: "They adopt a 'less is best' approach to innovation, removing just the right things in just the right way in order to achieve the maximum effect through minimum means," he explains

Inspired by the phenomenon of “Jugaad” in India, innovation gurus have now popularized and globalized the concept of “frugal innovation” as a polycentric and improvisational mindset that can inform various product and business model innovations.

Frugal innovation has become the new hallmark for the art of creating maximum value with minimal resources.

But, What Frugal Innovation Is?

1. Frugal innovation is breakthrough.

2. Frugal innovation generates social value.

3. Frugal innovation is [a strategy] to face austerity.

4. Frugal innovation calls for a jugaad mindset.

5. Frugal innovation means doing more with less.

6. Frugal innovation is the ability to generate business while significantly reducing the use of scarce resources.

7. Frugal innovation is a radical way of doing business.

8. Frugal innovation is a business paradigm.

9. Frugal innovation allows producing solutions in a costly effective way under extreme resources constraints.

10. Frugal innovation is about never giving up!

Read more

Photo credit: Meanest Indian

About Collaborative Decision Making and Leadership

2013-01-29T00:00:00.000+01:00

Collaborate comes of latin collabōrātus, equivalent to col- a prefix meaning “with,” + labor “work” + -ātus -ā- thematic vowel + -tus, -ta, -tum past participle suffix. This is: work with. A recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of more than 2000 decision-makers from around the world found that two thirds had, in the past 12 month, worked in collaboration with at least one other organization.

So what are the benefits of greater collaboration?

The report suggests four:

Acquiring better skills and knowledge
Getting greater influence and impact
Gaining a high internal and external reputation
Becoming more efficient and effective

Brian Maynihan BAML C.E.O.’s concluded: “Harnessing the power of connections is a force for great good that fuels scientific breakthroughs, remarkable economic achievements, and social progress”

...But Is today's leadership model able to adequately drive greater collaboration?

Management gurus are producing new measuring devices, for instance: the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) project has surveyed more than 17,000 managers in 62 countries to identify cultural differences that leaders ought to know about. Americans are unusually assertive, apparently, and Brazilians surprinsingly unconcerned about the future

My point is: if leadership has a secret sauce, it may well be humility. A humble boss listens: not only to underlings, but also to his customers. Abraham Lincoln once observed “nearly all men can stand adversity but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

Photo credits: Jon Gosier

Engineers Rising in Ratings

2013-01-24T00:00:00.000+01:00

According to Gallup, the research company, in a December poll, the research company found that in the U.S.A. the only people held in lower ethical esteem than members of Congress were sellers of cars.

It wouldn't be wise extrapolate these December poll results to Spain, though in my mind wouldn't differ very much. Anyway, Gallup has tested the perceived honesty and ethics of engineers too, and this year -- with an honesty score of 70% -- engineers are at their highest rating to date, up significantly from their previous high of 62% in 2009. The current rating ties them with doctors for third place. it worth saying Gallup first measured engineers in 1976 and their ratings have been as low as 45% in 1983 and 1991.

Who’s more honest — Congresspeople or engineers?

Why has blogging attracted so much attention?

2013-01-22T15:49:00.000+01:00

In the computer age, you can get more than a reasonable amount of exposure by maintaining a blog. Despite the buzz surrounding Facebook and Twitter, a blog remains the hub of social media marketing.

Why has blogging attracted so much attention?

If answer doesn't come easily you can look for in the last edition of The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil. The phenomenon is built around 3 things scale, speed and impact:

1. Scale: When Technorati arrived in 2002 it counted just fewer than 13.000 blogs. In early 2005 a Gallup poll had found that 7% of USA Internet users said they were ‘very familiar’ with blogs although 62 percent didn't know what blogs were. In 2009 Blog Pulse tracked 126 million blogs on the Internet. As of January 2012, BlogPulse is no longer available so I cant bring an updated figure as January 2013

2. Speed: Telling a story as you see and share it instantly, Blogs are instant and 24/7. You own it, manage it and control it.

3. Influence: Blogging’s Impact on Politics is more than evident.

I would add a fourth,

4. Feedback: The increased ability of consumers to create and publish their own content suddenly comes under the spotlight of companies that can learn about the buzz around its brand or product.

In words of Bob Lutz It's more important than ever [in a period of crisis]to open the door wide, speak as honestly as possible and listen to your customers.

If you're responsible for creating engagement for your brand - and if the question is "to blog or not to blog?" , then get this book.

Note BlogPulse is no longer available so I cant bring an updated figure as January 2013

Let’s Talk About Leadership

2013-01-16T23:27:00.000+01:00

Leadershipis easier to talk about than to do. James Cherry, believes the ability to engage people is the cornerstone of leadership, he states clearly: Without engagement you have no hope to ever achieving the objectives of the organization” G.S. Hart goes a step further when he says leadership is about getting people to exceed their expectations…

In a conference that took place a while back Adrian Furnham, professor of psychology at University College London has expressed that to avoid pitfalls leaders needed to have insight into their own strengths and weaknesses. Aligned with the later view is Hart’s point of view “The first step is to be the very best you can be, because you can’t lead anybody if you can’t lead yourself.”

General Schwarzkopf encapsulated one of his views on leadership in the following quote “Do what is right, not what you think the H.Q. wants or what you think will make look good”. Hart brings an example for "doing the right thing": If the rules say one thing, principally related to people, and you genuinely believe in that person, sometimes it takes courage to do the right thing and give that person a second chance. Because we have all made mistakes and as leaders, it’s your job to pick them back up. Doing that let people see that you are human and that there is a human side. It doesn’t mean that you don’t set standards. It is important to develop a shared common way of working at all levels across an extended management team. But to lead with your heart first is a further step to getting people to exceed their expectations.

Leadership skills have to be developed and cannot be “bought off the shelf”. One thing that can be the hardest for young leaders is to trust the people you lead, it is about letting go and doing their jobs anyhow, allowing people to make mistakes. Of course, leadership is easier to talk about than do, as you have to balance three things at the same time: strategic thinking and getting on with people to get the job done. But as Gen. Schwarzkopf once said if you must be without one, be without strategy.

Don’t mistake being decisive for being rigid

2013-01-09T22:38:00.000+01:00

Weren't today's leaders to exhibit confidence and competence, people would never set to sail to their destination.

Don't mistake being decisive for being rigid. People need clear, crisp direction from its leaders on important issues. But sometimes this could lead to hubris, greed, and a mantra of selfishness

Were the leader to err, would he admit his failure?

If a leader is flexible enough to change direction he or she won't be afraid to take a sharp right turn because let's say "These are trying times and our flight plan needs revisions"The problem arrives when winds changes and the mantra of selfishness fools the leader preventing him to set the correct crab angle.

Note: the crab angle is the angle between the course and the heading that is required for the aircraft to track that course when there is wind.

Emotions Revealed

2013-01-02T19:10:00.000+01:00

A few years ago, one of the world’s leading experts on behavior analysis and interpretation, Dr. Paul Eckman, was asked to help the U.S. State Department train personnel to conduct visa interviews with foreigners seeking to visit the U.S.A. One goal was finding those who might be lying. Another was to identify those who intend to engage in terrorism.

It’s not a secret that security is a big bottleneck in the travel process; however, there is ample scope for improvement, right? The challenge is focused in an attempt to change travel experience and the goal is to offer a walk through experience without interruption…unless a treat is detected.

To screen passengers in an airport environment the odds are now staking on the side of behaviors detection techniques. Eckman said training identifies 40 different behaviors for the aviation security officer to observe, included in those 40 behaviors are the micro-expressions officers must know and might make an individual stands out from everybody else. But in the meantime, while the sophisticated screening process human and technological layer are trimmed, we’ll be continued removing belts and watches at airports

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!

2012-12-28T16:18:00.000+01:00

Photo credits: Yaruman5

A friend told me that sometimes it is not wise to save 15 percent if along the way the company lost competitiveness. What he told me is in my mind an example of why innovation is a crucial element to pay attention in regard to the process of creating customer added value and gain in competitiveness.

As you know the purpose of an air taxi company is to “fly anytime, anywhere”; A kind of a bit special air- taxi is a fractional ownership aviation company, this is an air-taxi where a customer buys an amount of flight time per year with a promise to deliver a flight within a lapse of time of request. The production system is a pull-based-one, driven by the “fly whenever it suits the client” that pulls on a chain in which each link pull on the one preceding. But, as consumers gain access to services and options like flying from the airport that’s most convenient for them or reaching airports that aren’t available on commercial routes, they become more demanding requiring services to be made available on their terms rather than when is convenient for the business to deliver them. As an outcome, to be competitive equals to seek equipment that brings added value in respect to capacity and/or safety enhancement in maintain an entry corridor to airports most of which are poor navigation-aids- equipped regional airports.

So as my friend told me once do not throw the baby out with the bath water! Sometimes it is wiser to invest a little more if that way the company gains in competitiveness.