LEADERSHIP - January 2012 Leadership is the key influence of people in all aspects of life... Hello Welcome to a new year with many new TE membership benefits for you... View over 20 recent interviews, videos and articles on Leadership HERE In This Edition: LEADERSHIP - January 2012 Leadership Research A Great Leader is a Servant Executives and Roles Available NOW Top 2 Leadership Interviews of 2011 Total Executive TV Register Now* Test Your Brain Search by Subject Leadership Research Picking People who Perform Total Executive have interviewed over 500 innovative SME owners and recruiters for corporate, enterprise and government to learn where leaders are selected and the key to future competitive advantage in Australia and overseas here A Great Leader is a Servant A Great Leader is Inspiring Desmond Tutu talks about ultimate leaders who inspire and serve here Executives and Roles Available NOW BREAK OUT OF SCHOOL... Get ready for accelerated change... Here are a small selection of the executives and roles Total Executive have access to NOW EXECUTIVES AVAILABLE: International CIO/CEO - experience financial sector with top 200 - focused on transformational change with technology HR Manager - Social Sector - Previously Corporate CEO - understands how to lead and motivate people Successful Entrepreneur - looking for concepts for VC and take to market Forex dealer - looking for a change Retired chairman of global supply chain organisation - ready to network many more ROLES AVAILABLE: Operations Manager - Sydney Digital Communications Analyst - Brisbane Business Development Manager - Asia Pacific General Manager - Wollongong Production Manager - Sydney Director of Communications - Melbourne many more We now have over 250 businesses, corporates and enterprise considering the executive members within the Total Executive network for future positions available in Australia and overseas For further information on any of these executives or roles above - OR, to confidentially discuss future roles Contact Us Top 2 Leadership Interviews of 2011 The top 2 Total Executive Leadership Interviews of 2011 as judged by Total Executive members were: Influence More Powerful than Control John Denton - Managing Partner of Corrs explains why "It's all about Influence rather than Command Control" here Responsible Leadership is about Creating a Legacy Paul Thorley, CEO Capgemini talks about the future of business and developing a legacy here To learn more about our leadership interviews that were runners up click here To discuss how our leading providers are improving organisational culture - for executives and their staff - Contact Us You can now benefit from Additional Benefits with your Total Executive Membership Contact Us for these services below... Complimentary Cultural Alignment Analysis here   Member benefits when booking events - including these events here   Complimentary Vision Assessment here   Save 30% off Business, Trade and other Publications here now   Save money and time with Global Executive search for contractual and full time engagements here   Complimentary Business Analysis here   Your complimentary 2012 subscription for peers and partners is available now here Total Executive TV Have you been enjoying Total Executive TV? Check out our growing video library here Register Now* Your peers and colleagues can currently register for complimentary 2012 Total Executive membership here saving $495:00 Test Your Brain Have you tested your Brain lately? Test your level of reaction skills here View a history of Brain Tests here Search by Subject Search the Total Executive Knowledge Bank by key subjects we cover here

You are receiving this membership newsletter because you have previously been a client when we have introduced you to publishers, coaching organisations and other companies providing services supporting executives and their staff. Or, you have been in communication with one of our team and confirmed that you would be interested in learning more about Leadership, Sustainability, Responsibility, Technology and/or Communication via our newsletter. If you believe you have received this email incorrectly, you may select to unsubscribe using the link below   Email: Info@TotalEXEC.com.au  Phone: +61 (0) 408 844 009 Total Executive Suite 102 370 Kingsway Sydney, NSW 2229 Add us to your address book Copyright © 2012 Total Executive All rights reserved.

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Hello  As part of your 2011 membership provided by Total Executive, we occasionally have exclusive invitations to unique leadership workshops, forums and events... The complimentary information sessions and networking options described below are hosted by Social Leadership Australia - created for leaders who are looking for new methods to work beyond the limitations of formal authority and create lasting solutions to entrenched problems... If you are not in Sydney at these times, we recommend you invite your senior colleagues and peers. Look forward to seeing you there. Kind regards Grant Leaders need to see the real world - not the inside of a classroom. Why would you send your best people into a refugee support centre,  public housing estate … or a remote Aboriginal community … or a prison to learn about leadership? This is what Social Leadership Australia does with over 500 leaders from Government, NGOs and Top 500 companies each year and here's why: “Extraordinary …a once in a lifetime experience … the most challenging and most valuable development experience I’ve had in my career.” —Simon Terry,  General Manager, NAB “Without a doubt the best post-graduate program that I’ve ever attended. I got enormous value out of my MBA but this was much deeper learning.” —Rod Douglas, CEO, SuccesSystems The Sydney Leadership Program. Challenge yourself. Change your world. Join us for breakfast or evening drinks and hear Robbie Macpherson, Head of Social Leadership Australia, explain why a dynamic leadership program that combines the Adaptive Leadership model with teaching in the community is having a bigger impact than most other classroom based approaches. If you are working with increasing complexity and change; if the toughest issue you face is actually beyond your four walls; if the projects you are driving require cultural shifts or changes to values and behavioural norms, then Sydney Leadership just may be one of the best professional development opportunities you have come across. Download the Sydney Leadership information brochure HERE. Join us for a complimentary breakfast or evening introductory session Breakfast Session: Tuesday 6th September 7:30am to 9:00am Stockland Learning Centre - Level 2, 133 Castlereagh St Sydney OR; Evening Session: Wednesday 21st September 6:30 to 8:00pm The Benevolent Society - Level 1, 188 Oxford St Sydney Bookings: Call (02) 9339 8057 Or, email Leadership@bensoc.org.au It will be great to see you there. Yours sincerely, Robbie Macpherson Head, Social Leadership Australia Limited Bookings Available...   To book or invite one of your senior staff - simply reply to this email with your preference of breakfast or evening session, OR Email Social Leadership Australia HERE To discuss involvement in future Total Executive programs please Contact Us

You are receiving this membership newsletter because you have previously been a client when we have introduced you to publishers, coaching organisations and other companies providing services supporting executives and their staff. Or, you have been in communication with one of our team and confirmed that you would be interested in learning more about Leadership, Sustainability, Responsibility, Technology and/or Communication via our newsletter. If you believe you have received this email incorrectly, you may select to unsubscribe using the link below Email: Info@TotalEXEC.com.au  Phone: +61 (0) 408 844 009 Total Executive Suite 102 370 Kingsway Sydney , NSW 2229 Add us to your address book Copyright © 2011 Total Executive All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

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Hello With Your Total Executive Membership you have access to the largest executive network in Australia including Yourself and 15,000+ Total Executive Members Our extended network via our partners We are often asked if we provide recruitment services? That is not our standard business - though we know and partner with the best providers... And we have introduced some of our clients to executives with specific skills in Australia and overseas through the Total Executive membership network. How well are you connected given serious employers who are recruiting are aware of the information shown HERE We highly recommend you register and upload your CV with: Executives Online Six Figures (It costs you nothing and these are two of the top executive recruitment networks) Contact Us - we provide additional links to future employment and contract options Kind regards Grant Are you connected with the most innovative executive search network in Australia with options of international engagement? Executives Online delivers fast-track executive resourcing - Interim Management, Project Management, Change Management and Permanent Executive Recruitment. Their services are unique - you will be contacted if your skills match new positions and contracts available. They have been helping senior executives be placed QUICKLY into global positions. Why are they so successful? - They are FAST and they Save Companies Money in their recruitment processes. Their database is global, multi-sector, specialising in low cost, fast-tracked recruitment of all management and C-Level executives, both interim and permanent. We recommend you register now so they can consider you for a large volume of upcoming executive positions - it costs nothing and only takes a moment. REGISTER HERE Six Figures is Australia's leading jobsite for Executives, Senior Professionals and Professionals. The site provides an untapped source of talent for savvy hirers with Complimentary Standard Job Ad Postings and paid Featured Job ads. You should also REGISTER HERE for their complimentary membership.

You are receiving this membership newsletter because you have previously been a client when we have introduced you to publishers, coaching organisations and other companies providing services supporting executives and their staff. Or, you have been in communication with one of our team and confirmed that you would be interested in learning more about Leadership, Sustainability, Responsibility, Technology and/or Communication via our newsletter. If you believe you have received this email incorrectly, you may select to unsubscribe using the link below Email: Info@TotalEXEC.com.au  Phone: +61 (0) 408 844 009 Total Executive Suite 102 370 Kingsway Sydney, NSW 2229 Add us to your address book Copyright © 2011 Total Executive All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

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"This movie - Rise of the Planet of the Apes, through it's engagement with creatures emotions via the very clever replication of eye contact has the ability to impact the psyche of the human race and encourage a change for the better"

Grant Crossley

Are your leaders connecting with the inner desires of your staff - a willingness to connect with our environment, community and nature...

How are your leaders engaging staff?

Are they communicating sincerely - looking them straight in the eye?

Are they still tied up with the antiquated historic style of management - ruling by Carrot and Stick?

So your staff always need to watch their back...

Do your leaders leave staff distant?

Wanting to start an Uprising?

Or, do your leaders engage with compassion...

Encouraging engaging conversation...

Building an environment of collaboration

Is your business encouraging engagement with community, staff and our environment as is an underlying theme for Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

Think about how your leaders are engaging with staff? Do they need a helping hand?

If so, Contact Us to discuss Responsible Leadership

And make sure you check out this Movie of The Year:

http://www.apeswillrise.com/

All images above sourced from http://www.imdb.com

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Hello  Welcome to our July 2011 Membership Newsletter with a variety of Exclusive Total Executive Member Benefits (highlighted below)* for You Clarify Your Identity Clarify Your Identity before starting your Mission Hans Tempel - CEO of Mercedes explains how your first step is to Clarify Your Identity in order to lead from the front here To discuss how our leading providers are improving engagement and direction - for executives and their staff - Contact Us Escaping the COLD* During the Cold it is time to Invest in the Warmer Climate Far North Queensland have had their experience of tough times - Now executives can support the north. View some ideas available where Total Executive membership benefit offers are available as shown here A couple Great places to stay where Total Executive can help provide the best deals for your family and staff include: Port Douglas - The Sheraton Mirage Details on what they have to offer are here Cairns - The Sebel Details of what they have to offer are here Much more of what is available in the region is shown here Executive Survey* You can Help Enhance the Relationship between clients and providers - then view survey results Join the hundreds of executives who have helped provide a platform of engagement between clients and their providers globally here Leadership Articles Is Anger a Symptom of Depression? Rhondalynn Korolak talks about how depression can result from anger turned inwards here View dozens of recent leadership articles here New Home for Consultants* Do you work SOHO? Consider a new complimentary service option... Consultants in Sydney now have access to offices where they can collaborate with fellow consultants, benefit from complimentary services and more... To discuss benefits available for Total Executive members further contact us Communication and Technology Articles When is it Time to Sack your Customer? Selective Marketing is on the right foot and ready to boot! Learn more here View dozens of articles on communication here Fight the GOOD IT Fight Learn how to fight the Malware here View dozens of technology articles here Total Executive Interviews and Reviews What Executives are Thinking about Leadership Kelly Magowan, CEO of Six Figures talks about how executives have been starting to protect People rather than protecting Profits here View dozens of interviews and reviews with leaders here Total Executive Exclusive Educational Benefits* Total Executive members have access to exclusive benefits when studying, like those shown here Contact us to discuss exclusive benefits for your staff and direct family members Upcoming Events with Exclusive TE Member Benefits*... Your Total Executive membership entitles you to receive exclusive benefits when booking and attending conferences, events and forums. To book any program below with Total Executive benefits simply reply to this email with your contact details... we arrange the rest for you. LEADERSHIP For the Real World Complimentary Breakfast about the latest skills in leadership engagement for Total Executive Members available here Relationships are built through Communication Each of us have a distinct method of communication Book with exclusive Total Executive benefits here View the full programme calendar here To have your event promoted Contact Us Have you Trained your Brain Lately? How is your Information Processing? Measure your Mind Here View many more Brain Training Exercises here Register Now* Your peers and colleagues can currently register for complimentary 2011/2012 Total Executive membership here saving $495:00 Search by Subject Search the Total Executive Knowledge Bank by key subjects we cover here

You are receiving this membership newsletter because you have previously been a client when we have introduced you to publishers, coaching organisations and other companies providing services supporting executives and their staff. Or, you have been in communication with one of our team and confirmed that you would be interested in learning more about Leadership, Sustainability, Responsibility, Technology and/or Communication via our newsletter. If you believe you have received this email incorrectly, you may select to unsubscribe using the link below Email: Info@TotalEXEC.com.au  Phone: +61 (0) 408 844 009 Total Executive Suite 102 370 Kingsway Sydney , NSW 2229 Add us to your address book Copyright © 2011 Total Executive All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

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Hello  Total Executive occasionally have exclusive invitations to unique leadership workshops, forums and events... The complimentary information sessions and networking breakfasts described below are hosted by Social Leadership Australia - created for leaders who are looking for new methods to work beyond the limitations of formal authority and create lasting solutions to entrenched problems... If you or your colleagues in Queensland Australia would like to attend, please have them contact us and we will look after the rest. Look forward to seeing you there. Kind regards Grant Why would you send your best people into a public housing estate … or a remote Aboriginal community … or a prison to learn about leadership? That’s what we did with more than 200 leaders from Government, NGOs and Top 500 companies in 2010 alone. And this is the sort of thing they had to say about it: “Extraordinary …a once in a lifetime experience … the most challenging and most valuable development experience I’ve had in my career.” —Simon Terry,  General Manager, NAB “Without a doubt the best post-graduate program that I’ve ever attended. I got enormous value out of my MBA but this was much deeper learning.”  —Rod Douglas, CEO, SuccesSystems I’m writing to invite you to come along to one of our forthcoming information sessions about the Queensland Leadership program and discover how Social Leadership Australia’s unique approach to learning is delivering some of the most powerful leadership development programs in Australia. Queensland Leadership is our flagship leadership development program in Queensland. Each year it brings together a cohort of up to thirty high-talent, big-thinking individuals from across the business, government and not-for-profit sectors to learn what it means to exercise real leadership—leadership that works beyond the limitations of formal authority, leadership that helps create new, lasting solutions to entrenched problems. If you are working with increasing complexity and change; if the toughest issue you face is actually beyond your four walls; if the projects you are driving require cultural shifts or changes to values and behavioural norms, then this may be one of the best professional development opportunities you have come across. At the heart of Queensland Leadership is the Adaptive Leadership model developed by Ronald Heifetz and his colleagues at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  Having worked almost exclusively with this model in all our programs since 2002, we at Social Leadership Australia are some of Australia’s foremost Adaptive Leadership practitioners. But we take this model to a new level by bringing the learning into the community, because we believe leaders need to see the real world, not the inside of a classroom. A comprehensive information booklet about Queensland Leadership is available on our website: www.benevolent.org.au/leadership Join us for a complimentary breakfast on one of these two dates: Thursday, 28th July 7:30am to 9:00am The Benevolent Society, 9 Wilson Street, West End, Queensland OR Thursday, 11 August 7.30am to 9.00am The Benevolent Society, 9 Wilson Street, West End, Queensland Contact Social Leadership Australia to discuss further and book: amandam@bensoc.org.au or 07 3170 4618 Yours sincerely, Robbie Macpherson Head, Social Leadership Australia Limited Bookings Available...   To book or invite one of your senior staff or colleagues in Queensland - simply reply to this email with your preference of breakfast session, OR Email Social Leadership Australia HERE To discuss involvement in future Total Executive programs please Contact Us Email: Info@TotalEXEC.com.au  Phone: +61 (0) 408 844 009 Total Executive Suite 102 370 Kingsway Sydney, NSW 2229 Copyright © 2011 Total Executive All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend Update your profile

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View the latest Total Executive newsletter for June 2011 below with lot's of benefits for members... Hello  Welcome to our June 2011 Membership Newsletter with a variety of Exclusive Total Executive Member Benefits (highlighted below)

Complete our survey on Improving Partner Connections here

The 6 C's of Leadership - Jon Scriven - Qantas Group Executive of People and Corporate Services

Learn how to have good conversations and the five critical things to know about building high performance workplaces here

You can Help Enhance the Relationship between clients and providers - then view survey results

Join the hundreds of executives who have helped provide a platform of engagement between clients and their providers globally here

Creating Individual Futures - A New Perspective on Career Management

Charles Brass talks about how a new breed of consultant and counsellor has emerged in the recruitment field here

View dozens of recent leadership articles here

Do you work SOHO? Consider a new complimentary service option...
Consultants in Sydney now have access to offices where they can collaborate with fellow consultants, benefit from complimentary services and more...
To discuss benefits available for Total Executive members further contact us

Designing Connected Brands

Is your brand connected with the customer? Learn more here

View dozens of articles on communication here

IT is about creating new products, Not just Cutting Costs

A global CIO study shows the web has enabled many businesses and corporates to develop new products and profit centres using IT as explained here

View dozens of technology articles here

Is Policy our Roadmap?

Graeme A Kraehe AO, chairman of Bluescope and Brambles talks about the carbon tax here

View dozens of interviews and reviews with leaders here

Contact us to discuss exclusive benefits for your staff and direct family members

Your Total Executive membership entitles you to receive exclusive benefits when booking and attending conferences, events and forums.

To book any program below with Total Executive benefits simply reply to this email with your contact details... we arrange the rest for you.

MULTIPLIERS: How the Best Leaders Inspire their Team
Liz Wiseman explains how multipliers get more done with fewer resources in:
Melbourne
Sydney
Brisbane

Relationships are built through Communication
Each of us have a distinct method of communication
Book with exclusive Total Executive benefits here

View the full programme calendar here

Do you avoid Distraction? Measure your Mind Here

View many more Brain Training Exercises here

Email: Info@TotalEXEC.com.au  Phone: +61 (0) 408 844 009

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© 2011 Total Executive All rights reserved.

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Competitive advantage through people has always been a goal of modern leadership and becomes more critical as product and price differentiation narrow.  Traditionally, the role of creating more skilful and focused people has been given to HR and training.

Research tells us that classroom training (whether it be real or virtual) is only appropriate for 15% of development needs  (Rummler 1995).  Not only does this cause concern about the use and abuse of training events, it also raises the tantalising question of what is appropriate if training is not?

The broad answer is workplace rather than classroom development.  To explore this more closely, the researchers seem to indicate that regular interaction, rather than one off events, leads to enhanced skills and increased performance.

The diagramme above has been created as a result of applying a range of performance improvement techniques to varying organisations over a 20-year period (www.prosell.com).  It indicates that with a “clean sheet of paper” (i.e. no preconceptions or bad habits, as with new starters or new roles), people can more easily accept, in a training environment, that specific skills and approaches are correct and need to be mastered.

With individuals that already have a perception of what is right and wrong and in some cases extremely entrenched opinions, a different approach needs to be used.  Not only do we need to explain why new skills are needed, we also need to sensitively reassure people that they and their (old) skills are not redundant, but need to be adapted and updated.  If we are attempting to change behaviour, as opposed to initiating it, coaching is shown to be a more effective tool.

In order to develop further the rationale for this model and the positioning of coaching, we need to be familiar with the relationship between management intervention and performance/behaviour change.

The US organisation Technikron conducted research into the level of intervention needed to drive behavioural change.  (Technikron work with performance measurement and feedback systems in contact centres.  The research was conducted in 1997.)

They concluded that to change behaviour the manager needed to interact with the individual, on average, 2-3 times a week.  This raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of more traditional performance management tools, such as annual appraisal and performance reviews (Appraisals – A Good Investment?  Prosell Research, 1993).

Whereas we accept that most good managers talk to their people more often than just at appraisal time, our experience tells us that this is not a series of regular interactions which are carefully planned to reinforce changes in behaviour and provide input (coaching), when needed.

Coaching also has greater impact in terms of immediacy of resolution and as such, should be a primary development tool.

Danger of re-training 

There seems to be growing evidence that organisations accept that people will go through the same training (level and subject matter) at regular intervals (apart from compliance training).  This implies a number of unhealthy traits within the organisation:

• there is no consequence for not applying skills in the workplace; and

Once this becomes accepted practice it also has an impact on the quality of training delivered.  If people are not measured in their application of what they have learnt, then the training does not need to ensure comprehension, let alone competence.

The other major implication is centred on who is nominated for training in the first place.  Research suggests that the primary reason for training is performance discrepancy or skill weakness.  Those with skill weaknesses or areas for obvious development are not those who implement training well and willingly in the workplace.  There is clear evidence that, “those who need it most use it least” (Dettaman and Steinberg, 1993).

Questions must therefore, be raised about both the economics of re-training and the validity of the practice.

The Skill Development model and its implications

The model opposite shows that individuals go through three stages when acquiring skills.  Typically, the first and last stages, those of awareness and application, are workplace activities and in the main, management responsibilities.

The two figures on the left hand side of the model above illustrate important points.  The 35%-40% marks the point where people end up after training (on a competence scale of 1%–100%).  This means that the majority of the acquisition of competence takes place in the workplace.

This is broadly accepted within the training fraternity.  Whereas training allows people to explore new ways of doing things and hopefully exposes them to “best practice”, it does not create experts.

If expertise is acquired in the workplace and not the classroom, then we must accept that specific things need to happen in the workplace.  Primarily, people need to be coached and given feedback on their competence.

Our 20 years experience tells us that, proportionately, the following time and effort needs to be expended to successfully take an individual through the skill development process:

• Awareness     25%
• Practice         35%
• Application     40%

The second figure (5%-9%) is where the research tells us people end up if nothing is done in the application phase.  This is typically between unconscious incompetence and conscious incompetence.  This typically happens with 4 – 5 months.  This is a startling figure and perhaps explains why many people in business have a cynical view of the value of training.  It seems they are right.  Without specific application strategies, companies are wasting between 91 and 95 cents of every dollar they spend on training.

Practice and Feedback

It is commonly understood that people develop skills through one primary mechanism, practice and feedback.  Conventional training tends to be squeezed for time and it is inevitably the practice sessions that are sacrificed.  Too much content and not enough practice creates uncertainty in application, through issues of confidence and competence.  If a person cannot, through practice, feedback and practice again, achieve a point of competence (“I have practiced this to the point where I feel competent to do it in the workplace”), they have no confidence in applying skills.  The implications of this are that many people (over 75% in one study) actually avoid applying skills trained because they have no confidence that they will be effective.  Those organisations that use coaching as a development tool do not seem to face these issues.

Near and Far Learning

Noted behavioural scientists, Detterman and Steinberg, published a book in 1996 entitled Transfer on Trial.  The book focused on the issue of learning transfer (the measurable transfer of learning and skills from classroom to workplace).  Their research had concluded that 86% of training did not transfer effectively.  There were a variety of reasons for this – measurement, support, feedback (all key components of coaching).  They also spoke about the difference between near and far learning as a critical issue.

Far learning means completing exercises which are broad, generic and explore our understanding of principles.  Detterman and Steinberg’s research concluded that people found it difficult to relate broad principles to specific work situations – and as a result did not apply skills effectively.

Near learning produces significantly better results.  Near learning is practicing the specific skills needed, through customised and intelligently constructed exercises, so that the individual is practicing exactly what they are being asked to do in the workplace.  Coaching is the ultimate example of near learning – it says to the individual, “We are going to practice this until you feel you are doing it effectively and then evaluate as you do it live”.  As a result it is significantly more effective in ensuring learning transfer.

Performance Management and Coaching

Performance management practices (appraisal, review, goal setting, etc) all become uncomfortable, bureaucratic exercises if those responsible cannot add value and direction through coaching.  If neither party feels value is being added by the other, then both parties view the process as lacking in worth and tend to avoid it.

This also is reflected in a more serious deficiency that is commonly observed in management practice.  If a manager cannot rectify a performance deficiency they seem to imply that this is not their responsibility but solely that of the individual.

These situations end up with a management style of “I point out your weaknesses and you have to fix them”.  If one considers the fact that research tells us that the main reason people leave jobs is dissatisfaction with the way in which they are managed (Institute of Directors, UK survey, 2001), then managers’ inability to coach and develop may be having a much more serious impact.

Conversely, a good coach does more than just coach.  In order for a coach to be effective they must have a reasonable grasp of:

• Performance management;
• Motivation;
• Counselling;
• Development and support;
• Evaluation and feedback;
• Performance measurement;

Feedback also tells us that competent coaches add value to staff and have much better relationships with their people.  Creating a competent coach therefore, also creates competency in a number of essential areas.

Edward Johnson, one of the founding members of the Johnson and Johnson empire, was famously quoted as saying, ‘Leadership is cause, all else is effect.’  Leaders of people must all be aware that it is their behaviour, not the training department, which determines whether your people will out-perform the competition.

References

Douglas Detterman and Robert Steinberg, Transfer on Trial: Intelligence, Cognition and Instruction, Ablex Publishing, 1993

Geary Rummler and Alan Brache, Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space in the Organisation Chart, 2^nd ed, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, 1995.

Source:

Peter Fullbrook, Founder, Prosell

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When it comes to e-mail, there is not a lot of things that shock me anymore.  I have seen inboxes with 28,000 e-mails in them. I have seen people who send e-mails to themselves to remind themselves that they need to action an e-mail already in their inbox. I have seen people who have given up and just deleted the lot!  But in a recent workshop on e-mail management at one of the big four banks, a participant shared how his team had been involved in a project to reduce the size (and therefore cost) of their mailboxes.  All of the support and maintenance for these was outsourced, so the costs involved were very tangible.  In the end, by decreasing the size of 100 mailboxes in the team, they have created a saving of $20,000 to $30,000 per year!  Staggering!  Imagine that across the broader organisation of 22,000 mailboxes.

That must be a drop in the ocean though, compared to the actual cost of e-mail in productivity terms.  Another recent conversation with a senior management team within a global financial institution uncovered the fact that these senior managers, who all wanted to spend more time with their people or working on strategic initiatives, were spending up to 5 hours per day just on e-mail.  They were drowning in a sea of CC’s, distribution lists and inbox noise.  And what about the cost of overfull and messy inboxes, the cost of searching for that critical but elusive e-mail you received last month, the cost of spending the first half-hour of the day deleting enough e-mail in response to the dreaded “Your mailbox is full” message.

E-mails cost time, and not just the recipient’s time, but also the sender’s time.  If the e-mail is internal the organisation may pay twice, if it is not adding value!  My goodness, I thought that e-mail was meant to be making us more productive.  The good news is though, it still can.  Although e-mail volumes have shot up for most workers, and become a large contributor to long hours and stress, it is still a fantastic way to communicate, and get information from A to B (or B, C,D and E all at once).  The trick to making e-mail work for you, rather than you working for it, is in understanding its traps and applying a set of principles to managing it.

The common e-mail traps and how to avoid them

E-mail is a core part of modern work life, and whilst it has improved the speed and efficiency of communication enormously, it comes with baggage attached (excuse the pun).  The common e-mail traps that I encounter with workers across the board are:

Making e-mail # 1 – E-mail has become our prime focus during the workday, and often outside of core work hours too.  We must remember that it is just a part of our role – a tube for getting information from one place to another.  It is not the main game, and not what we will be measured against come the end of the year.  We need to learn to make e-mail management a part of our day, to deal with it at regular intervals, and then to put it away to focus on our priorities and commitments. 

• Turn off e-mail alerts and alarms, they are just distractions from other work
• Check e-mail at regular intervals, between 3 and 6 times per day
• Check handheld e-mail devices at appropriate times, but turn off when it is time to focus

Too many e-mails – 30, 50, 100 per day and counting.  I recently worked with two poor souls who were getting over 1000 e-mails per day! Ridiculous!  Many feel that they cannot control what is sent to them, but with some concerted effort and creativity you can slash the deluge to a more manageable flow.

• Get off unnecessary distribution lists and e-mail subscription lists
• Discuss your expectations with your team about when and what to CC you on
• Set up e-mail rules to automatically delete or move (file) informational e-mails
• Send less e-mails (you will receive less as a result)

Overfull Inboxes – Messy, overfull and back-logged inboxes cause stress, delays, confusion and rework.  Many workers use their Inbox as a to-do list, and the act of checking e-mail is often an advanced form of procrastination.  The inbox ends up as an unruly mix of stuff you have not looked at yet mixed in with existing e-mails that need action, or should be deleted or filed. For the truly in-control e-mail manager, the Inbox is a delivery dock.  And just like the delivery dock of a supermarket, it should be cleared, to zero, weekly, if not daily.

• Set up a simple filing system (1 – 10 folders) to keep necessary e-mail

Poorly written e-mail – One of the stresses associated with e-mail is the irrational feeling that we need to respond to every e-mail.  We know this is not true, but it feels that way sometimes.  But, even with the percentage that we do need to respond to, time can be saved by learning to compose e-mails in a clear, efficient manner.  The clearer your e-mail is to the reader, the more cut-through you will have, and the more likely they are to action your e-mail in a timely way.  Remember, your e-mail for them is probably just one of 100 that day.

• Write clear subject lines with impact – most people scan, so stand out from the crowd
• State any actions required and due dates in the first line or two of the e-mail

In a world where time is money, and human resources account for the largest chunk of any organisations overheads, it seems a no-brainer to get better at managing the effect that e-mail has on our productivity.  Rather than organisations putting pressure on staff to work longer hours to get things done, why not focus on helping them make their core workday more productive.  The savings could be huge, and I promise you, everyone will be happier!

Source:
Dermot Crowley - Founder
Adapt Training

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Hello  Welcome to our May 2011 Membership Newsletter with a variety of Exclusive Total Executive Member Benefits (highlighted below)*

Complete our survey on the Sustainability of Business here

Total Executive Views
Two recent articles on Total Executive Views:

Creating a New Normal - How do you Do it?

How individuals and organisations respond to life changing events will determine the outcomes they experience.
How do you move forward from catastrophic events like those experienced in Queensland, Christchurch, Japan and many other countries this year?
Leaders of organisations can learn a lot from how successful response to devastation is conducted.
Learn more here

Scan the World for Strategic Advantage via Innovation

Consider how to make your business authentically local as the global speed to innovate for future business growth is accelerating as explained in the video here

As an Executive - are you getting the best executive offer available for your personal skills?

As a Recruiter - are you accessing the full market of quality talent - in the most effective way?

Total Executive have a new partner that can help you move forward efficiently here

Brainstorming is DEAD!

Do you get maximum future benefit from your internal communications and idea generation?

It's time to forget the Brainstorm and start Facilitating Action as shown in the Research Study here

Have you received the best deal for your communications and media spend?

Learn how we can help you communicate with business decision makers in the Innovation Community here

Is your business erring on the edge of HOMOPHYLY?

How familiar are the people around you? Check out a common problem in leadership explained on video here

View dozens of recent leadership articles here

With all the Huff and Puff about Climate Change you may expect an article on whether celebrities should sell new government policies under this heading...

NO:

Our sustainability survey is:

How Sustainable is your Business? - Complete the 1 minute survey here
You can receive complimentary professional feedback from Total Executive vetted providers.

Is Someone Else Getting all your Media Attention?

Are you taking advantage of all the millions of dollars of complimentary coverage available as explained here?

View dozens of articles on communication here

How Healthy is your Digital Consumption? Could you have ADHD?

I came across this article and thought the media were making fun of people with disabilities.
Though, how does this relate to you?

View dozens of technology articles here

Keys to Successful Entrepreneurs in Eastern and Western Cultures
It's time to forget the Brainstorm and start Facilitating Action as shown in the research study here

Leadership begins with Good Communication and Trust
Broni explains how communication needs to provide information on what you want to achieve across business here

View dozens of interviews and reviews with leaders here

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Hargraves Congress 2011
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Hargraves Congress 2011
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Getting Results Without Authority
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The Dharmesh Test is a quick, simple set of yes/no questions to gauge the likelihood of long-term success of a SaaS (Software as a Service) company.  It is inspired by the highly popular “Joel Test” for measuring software development teams.  [Disclosure: I am an angel investor in Joel’s company Stack Overflow]

Now, if you know me, and you know Joel, you know that I'm no Joel.  He's smarter and is a better writer.  So, why did I have the audacity to write the "Dharmesh Test"?  Because I'm passionate about SaaS companies and have spent the better part of the last 6 years studying them and learning from folks that should have written this article.  And, I've taken what I've learned and applied it to my own company, HubSpot -- which is doing very well and scores a respectable 13/16 on the test (yes, I've got work to do).

This is alpha Version 0.80 of this test.  Will be iterating on it based on community feedback.

The Dharmesh Test: 16 Questions For Better SaaS Companies

Or stated differently, have you resisted the temptation to have custom code for an individual customer or small group of customers?  Ideally, in steady state, the same master code-base would be servicingall customers.  Any customizations are done through application configuration or via APIs and plugins.  If you have different versions running temporarily to test new versions with a subset of customers, that’s fine.

2. Do you have a free trial?

Not only does a free trial increase your likelihood of getting more customers, it often improves the simplicity of the product.  Many companies can’t have free trials because the product is just too complicated and requires too much human assistance to really “try” it. That's a bad thing.  Freemium (where you have a free version of your product that's feature-limited, not time-limited) counts too. 

3. Do you track key metrics like CAC, LTV and cancellation rate?

CAC = Customer Acquisition Cost. This is the total sales expense and marketing expense (salaries, programs, etc.) over a specific period (lets say a month) divided by the number of customers acquired in that month.

Cancellation Rate / Churn Rate:  A percentage calculated as the number of customers that cancel in a month divided by the number of customer at the beginning of the month.

LTV =  Lifetime Value of a customer.  Based on how long the average customer is expected to stay (a function of cancellation rate) and the average revenue.

The reason these numbers are important is simple:  They are the key metrics that will help you drive a SaaS company.  It answers questions around how much capital you need, how much you should be investing in product, whether customers are generally happy (or not), etc.

Example:  KissMetrics gets this stuff (because that's what they do.  And, if you're not yet reading David Skok's For Entrepreneurs blog, you should be.  Brilliant material on this topic.

4. Are your prices published on your website?

It is decidedly sub-optimal if people have to get a custom quote or talk to a human just to know what your price is.  Increasingly, the market values simplicity and transparency. If you’re not providing easy access to information, potential customers will go elsewhere.

5. Can people start paying you (become a customer) without interacting with a human?

The way of the world is frictionless web sales.  There's nothing quite like the joy of having your revenues go up and 4:00 a.m. in the morning on a Saturday -- without anyone having to talk to anyone.

6. Do you make more money from users that are getting more value?

Is there some “variable” component to your pricing?  Do you charge based on number of users, storage, frequency of use or some other metric?  If you have the ability to make more revenue from customers over time (without having to upsell them), that’s high margin business and very desirable.  By the way, the ideal state is when there are "in product" upgrade paths.  Customer reaches a certain limit and "upgrades" (starts paying you more) without you having to do anything.

7. Does your application have a simple, clean API (Application Programming Interface)?

The web is not just about connecting static websites — it’s now about connecting applications.  Without an API, your application is an island.  It’s unlikely that you will be able to meet all the needs of your customers.  An API allows you to integrate with third-parties (and they to you) to deliver a more complete solution for the customer. These kinds of integrations are also great ways to spread the word about your product (the more people that integrate with you, the more reach you have).

8. Can customers export their data out of your system?

To get more people to use/buy your product, you need to reduce not just the barrier to entry, but also the barrier to exit.  The product should be what keeps customers to stay with you — not data lock-in.  If you try to use data lock-in, fewer people will pick you in the first place.

9. Can you deploy (and rollback) a new version of the software in one-step without downtime?

This is to measure the effectiveness of your technical operations and software release tooling. Companies that have easy ways to deploy/rollback software tend to have more confidence and release more often.  Companies that release often tend to do better than those that don't.

10. Is there an online community where users can interact with your team and with other users?

Ideally , everyone in your company should be interacting with customers.  Especially developers.  And, customers should be able to talk about you (even if it's negative) online and interact with other customers.  [Note: I'm not talking here about "automatic" online venues that form -- but something that you are actively fostering and encouraging]

11. Do new developers commit code on their first day at work?

This is partly to measure how difficult your development environment is to setup and what controls you have in place.  If it takes 4 days for a developer to get their development environment setup, something's wrong.  If you’re too scared to have a rookie commit code to production, because it might bring the entire system down, something's wrong (you haven’t built a strong enough safety net yet).  It shouldn’t be that easy to break your system.  [Nod to Eric Ries for this one].

Example:  Cheezburger Network doesn't show new employees where the bathroom is until they've committed code.

12. Do you release code to production at least once a month?

This is to check whether or not you’re agile.  The challenge these days is that everyone thinks they’re agile, so asking "are you agile" is ineffective.  The proof is in the pudding.  Real agile teams release code — frequently.  Everything else is secondary.

13. Do you maintain a centralized backlog of new product ideas, bugs and issues?

Ideally, not only would you have a central database of ideas, but you'd provide the ability for customers to submit ideas and vote on other people's ideas. 

14. Do you regularly run A/B (split) tests?

Great SaaS companies are great at testing and deciding with data.  You should be running regular tests (as in several times a month).  Example tests: Should we remove this feature (does anyone care?).  Should we increase our price to $75?  

So, how did you do?  Given that this is "alpha build 1" of the test, what additional questions should I have included?  Are there any that you think aren't relevant that should be removed? 

Example: A company that does this really well is FreshBooks. If you run into Mike McDerment, ask him about how they built their product to facilitate testing.  (He probably won't tell you, but doesn't hurt to try).  I also think SEOmoz (hi Rand!) does a great job at this.

15. Do you invest in design and user experience?

Customer expectations (even for B2B companies) are high on the web.  Having crappy design might be OK if you happen to have a product that people can't help but use -- but most of us are not in such forgiving circumstances.  Great design not only helps you attract customers, it helps you keep them -- and get referrals.  Profitable design is when you spend effort in design that is centered around your business objectives. 

Examples:  I like Campaign Monitor a lot.  Heck, even their API documentation site is beautiful.  But there are other examples.  There's the ever-popular 37signals

16. Does your company or product have a personality?

This is the squishiest of the questions -- but it's important.  Great software companies today have a personality and a voice.  They're distinctive and remarkable.  Whether it's through their blog, through the copywriting in the product (like error messages), or through in-person interactions, some companies just have personality.

Examples: Take a look at Wufoo or ZenDesk does.  Quirky?  Yes.  Effective?  Absolutely.

----------

So, how did you do?  Any questions you think are unimportant and should have been left out?  Any you'd add?

Source

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Performance●Productivity●Profit

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The developing world’s rapidly growing middle class, which includes about two billion people in a dozen emerging economies, spends $6.9 trillion a year. McKinsey research suggests that, during the next decade, their annual spending will rise to $20 trillion, a very big market indeed—twice current US consumption, in fact.

Such consumers will give early winners in the consumer product sector a chance to gain lasting advantages. Consider what happened in Europe and the United States at similar points in their development: in 17 product categories, McKinsey found that the 1925 US market leader remained the number-one or number-two player for the rest of the century. These companies include Kraft Foods (Nabisco), in biscuits; Del Monte, in canned fruit; and Wrigley, in chewing gum. To learn more, read “Capturing the world’s emerging middle class” (July 2010).

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Performance●Productivity●Profit

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Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal

A Gap store's 'buy one get one' deal, or BOGO, offers 60% off a second item.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tick-tock, watch the clock, stores are telling holiday shoppers.

Looking to inject a sense of urgency into the holiday shopping drill this year, many major stores are running their own versions of the online "flash sale," cutting prices, in some cases for just a few hours at a time.

While many holiday consumers refuse to pay full price, retailers are trying to outdo one another by encouraging shoppers to spend more, but without giving away the store. Elizabeth Holmes discusses some of retailers' most popular discount tactics.

It's Math Time for Shoppers

View Interactive

See how well you understand some of the types of deals retailers use during the holiday season.

• More photos and interactive graphics

Limited-time offers are just one item in the battery of sales events, "savings passes," buy-one-get-one-free offers and volume discounts that retailers are letting loose at the height of the December shopping season.

Companies want to outdo rivals and encourage shoppers to spend more than they might have otherwise, but without giving away the store. The stakes are high, with holiday sales contributing as much as 40% of annual revenue and 50% of annual profit.

With harried shoppers hard-pressed to do the math, retailers put a lot of psychology into their holiday prices. They decide which numbers will be most enticing, and whether "50% off" sounds better than "buy one get one" offers—known as "BOGO," in industry parlance.

Gap Inc., for example, offered 50% off everything in their stores until 10 am on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The next day, it was selling kids' clothing for flat prices of $5, $10, $15 and so on. That meant girls' tulle skirts, with a full price of $29.50, were available for $15 on Saturday—25 cents more than on Friday, when they cost $14.75.

View Full Image

Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal

At Macy's flagship Herald Square store, a percentage-off promotion—30% off plus an extra 20% off—doesn't add up to 50% off.

Similarly, at Gap's Old Navy division, jeans promoted in previous years at 50% off the full price of $29.50 were promoted this year at $15. "The lift in sales is significant," says Tom Wyatt, Old Navy president. "The customer can see [the price] from 20 to 30 feet away."

That was a switch for shoppers accustomed to buy-one-get-one-free deals and steep percentage discounts. In the past few days, Gap has been combining BOGO and percentage-off, with "buy-one-get-60%-off-the-second" offers throughout its stores. And late Tuesday, Gap announced on Facebook that from Dec. 15 through Dec. 20 it will take 30% off everything in stores plus a "bonus deal" each day.

A few major retailers have found ways to buck the discounting trend, making the most of signs that consumers may actually lift holiday spending this year following two years of thrift. SaksInc. is discounting cashmere sweaters and fall designer fashions for the holidays, but it also is running fewer sale days and offering fewer and smaller discounts, says Stephen Sadove, Saks chief executive. At American Eagle Outfitters, men's flannel shirts are priced at $29.95, up from $24.95 last year, according to Wedbush Securities retail analyst Gabriella Santaniello—an example of a retailer trying to "go to certain areas, or categories, where they feel customers will pay" fuller prices, Ms. Santaniello said.

View Full Image

Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal

American Eagle Outfitters offers a flat price with a BOGO spin.

But in most of the mall, it's an all-out bargain war, with stores carpet-bombing shoppers with deals. On Monday, at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., Aeropostale Inc. was promoting discounts of up to 70% on its teen apparel. AnnTaylor Stores Corp. has been offering 30% off all full-price merchandise in recent days, compared with an offer this time last year of 40% off one full-price item.

Retailers count on buyers' cognitive shortcuts to spur sales. A recent study showed that when shopping in a store, by catalog or by website, people are likely to spend more when they see high prices around them, on items completely unrelated to what they want to buy. And merely setting prices with the number nine at the end, whether it's $1.99 or $99.99, can make consumers feel they got a deal.

"People tend to be cognitive misers," says Jeff Galak, assistant professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. "You don't have time to process every single digit that comes your way. So you use the left digit of a price."

Flash sales—taking a page from members-only fashion websites like Gilt Groupe and ideeli, which surged in the recession—are one way stores limit pain. Last Saturday, starting at 6 a.m.,J.C. Penney ran "7 hour steals" offering cotton bath towels for $3.69, reduced from $7.99, and 70% off gold and sterling silver jewelry. On Monday, Gap Inc.'s Banana Republic stores were offering 40% off full-price sweaters from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, teen retailerAbercrombie & Fitch gave online shoppers until 8 p.m. eastern time Tuesday to qualify for a $25 gift card by spending $100—an offer that the retailer last year was extending from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Timing discounts to expire makes shoppers feel lucky, says Prof. Galak. "Exclusivity is really what drives it," he says. "People feel like they're getting a deal."

These kinds of sales are hard for stores to execute, with frequent price changes likely to confuse customers and require more manpower. Kohl's Corp., which changes its promotional offers several times a week during the holidays, has installed all-electronic signs in 100 stores showing prices that are updated automatically through corporate headquarters. The intent is to let customers know exactly what they will pay without eating up a lot of employees' time, says Kohl's CEO Kevin Mansell. ("The response we've had from consumers is spectacular and the improvement it's given us, in terms of productivity on payroll, is dramatic," Mr. Mansell says.)

For consumers, though, evaluating deals isn't easy without a calculator. Shoppers at J.C. Penney last weekend qualified for a "JCP cash" coupon by spending more. Discounts of 20% were expressed as $10 off a $50 purchase, $15 off a $75 purchase, and $20 off a $100 purchase. With much of the store on sale, it would take a lot of purchases to hit the dollar marks.

In one Black Friday ad, Sears promoted wool coats priced at a flat $39.99, a radar detector at 50% off and a refrigerator with an impressive $1,300 off. The big number is eye-catching, says Frank Luby, a partner at Simon-Kucher & Partners, a Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm. Retailers seek "bigger, more impactful, context-specific numbers," he says, even when the math works out the same.

F.Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal

So many ways to save? Retailers are bombarding shoppers with deals.

Offers that encourage volume purchasing—whether it's two-for-the-price-of-one or discounts that escalate with money spent—play into consumers' determination to get the best bargain possible. Macy's Inc. calls them "multiplier deals" and uses them only on sales-event days during the holidays, says Martine Reardon, executive vice president of marketing and advertising. "You don't want to overuse a good handle," she says. "The customer gets tired of that. The novelty wears off."

With these kinds of offers, retailers are saying, "I want to plant in your mind the idea of buying larger volume," says Sean Ryan, a partner at management-consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Percentage discounts may not have that effect.

There's something a touch absurd about holiday bargain hunting. Retailers love to promise "savings," even though they really want shoppers to spend more. Consumers, meanwhile, often buy more than they need to get the "savings," forgetting that the best way to save money is to walk out of the store.

"Perhaps one of the most serious socially irresponsible things marketers do is discounts," says Robert Schindler, professor of marketing at Rutgers University-Camden's school of business. "Marketers are playing on our weakness, to our detriment."

 

—Karen Talley contributed to this article

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Performance●Productivity●Profit

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Recently I had an interview with Michael Ullmer, Deputy CEO of NAB (National Australia Bank) who explains Responsible Leadership is first and foremost about doing the right thing.

Image Source

Sometimes in organisations people get bound up and make things too complicated.  But if you sit down and discuss a particular challenge - forget about the policies and procedures - and ask if you were to solve this by just doing what you feel is right - what would you do?

It is interesting how framing it as simply as that often allows people to identify insightful ways of solving a problem that also meets the policy requirements, without being distracted by the minutiae.

Many large organisations struggle with such a simple notion.  You could ask whether the banking industry would have the current public relations challenges if issues were viewed through the lens of 'doing the right thing'.

The second dimension of responsible leadership is that it drives long term sustainable growth in shareholder value - this is something I believe very strongly.

This is not an altruistic perspective - this is about doing what is in the best long term interests of shareholders.

So while responsible leadership may have altruistic components this alone is not sustainable from a business perspective.

Looking at the current situation in the banking industry, many have been turning a tin ear to the legitimate complaints from external constituencies.  This may lead to a new regulatory overlay that can damage long-term value for shareholders.  Whereas proactively 'doing the right thing' has the potential to get ahead of the curve, enchancing reputation, and thereby creating long term shareholder value.

For example, NAB, by removing unpopular fees like those on unauthorised overdrafts, has improved relationships with customers and increased engagement with our staff, leading to increased advocacy for our brand.

As a result, a year down the track, we  have seen a very significant increase in net new account openings.  There has also been a significant lift in the volume of mortgages we are writing.

We are doing the right thing by our staff, investing heavily in development of our leaders in a holistic way – as individuals and in context of what is relevant to us as an organisation.

One program has been ‘The Leader Within’ run by Manfred Kets de Vries from INSEAD to see what motivated people as leaders and what their true beliefs are.  This has had a profound impact on staff as they discovered what future they wanted from their roles.

This is about getting people to align their true inner feelings and drivers with the organisational objectives.

Two years ago we introduced the Enterprise Leaders Program for our top talent where we have assembled a faculty of professors from the leading business schools to build capacity to drive value at an enterprise level.

We have also worked with the Benevolent Society to introduce into our development programs elements addressing ethical leadership and engaging with the community.

This is about developing people, as individuals, through formal learning, mentoring, coaching and the like, and importantly working on specific projects that build capability.

We have graduates working on community projects supporting organisations such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to address key strategic issues that develops their skills in complex problem solving, project management and teamwork.  At the same time, the community organisations get access to skilled resources that help them take their organisation forward.

So to me, responsible leadership in a business context is about taking a long term view and recognising that doing the right thing by your customers, community and staff is key to delivering long term sustainable value for shareholders.

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 Last week I met up with Ha-Dieu Ford. Ha-Dieu is the Chair of Women in Finance in Victoria, a position she has taken on with a wealth of experience in the financial sector since completing initial financial studies in the 1990's.

Our discussion revolved around Ha-Dieu's thoughts about Responsible Leadership which is one of her core interests with being Effective in Business.

Ha-Dieu explained that Responsible Leadership is about focusing on a style of business across all sectors that incorporates:

• Communications
• Outcomes
• Results and
• Feelings

To start, leaders need to move away from blame and take personal responsibility for outcomes and mistakes. It important as leaders that you ask yours questions on how you are contributing to your own professional development, your team, your stakeholders, your industry and our organisation.

If we look at how this has worked with Ha-Dieu since commencing with Women in Finance, everything began with first understanding the business model and key proposition for their member base.

From perspective as their Chair, Ha-Dieu needed to ensure the organisation continued to deliver benefits to increase their participation and engagement with members through an effective framework. This framework began with creation of their vision. This vision commence with understanding why drove the industry to a platform like Women in Finance and a vision for the future of Women in Finance.

Developing their future vision also required looking back at what had worked and what had not worked during the bull markets prior to the GFC and how this knowledge could be incorporated into a new focus.  2010 also brought about a refocus on quotas and diversity issues in the business world which greatly assisted the value of the work of Women in Finance and there was an increase focus organisations looking at Women in Finance as an external outsource solution/program to address the diversity criteria for organisations.  This was a perfect opportunity for Ha-Dieu to review the field of sustainability for her organisation.

Stepping back from the value generation included considering 'Why would I join as a Member?' whether as a woman, man, business or corporate.

Underlying this whole thought process the key consideration of Responsible and Ethical Leadership was part of all key decisions.

For example, introducing new member benefits program to introduce a mentoring program for women was considered key to contributing to the professional development of women in the financial sector. 

Another new member benefit initiative was the introduction of a public speaking club (using Toastmasters International program). This was seen as very important for facilitating networking & professional development of members in their networks.  Whilst the some of the key goals of the Women in Finance platform’s was about professional development and professional networking for middle to senior management, men have been encouraged to participate in the member benefits program and represent 10% at various networking events and forums.

Even when looking at the mentoring program, the stakeholder who reported to receive the most benefits from the program was the men who participated as mentors.  Ha-Dieu believes that to create change and a paradigm shift, it’s important to engage and include men in the process.

When asked about the importance of a Sustainable Future:

Sustainability is an important part of being a responsible leader. Not just in the essence of being green. Sustainable future depends on leaders providing security for their organisation into the future. This was one of the lessons from the past where funds were poured into other areas like speakers rather than the most important areas - like programs to benefit members i.e. website and branding, mentoring, toastmasters public speaking.

As a responsible leader, Ha-Dieu believes any membership organisation should continue to look at ways to spend their money effectively and to continually increase member benefits, whilst identifying gaps and meeting the needs of their corporate members.

More leaders are looking for ways to invest time in contributing to networks through valuable communications that lead to collaborations and even sharing of IP. Thereby, the future of Women in Finance will look more about how to support their networks with business orientated events that invest in members needs - like mentoring - to complement valued speakers who now speak without requiring payment.

Returning back to what Ha-Dieu sees as the key attributes of a responsible leader, Ha-Dieu explains...

"It all starts with values... skills are secondary."   Whilst experience is important, it’s easier to acquire new skills but difficult to teach people values.

Ha-Dieu believed skills and experience are important as your need that to effectively execute strategy, management and marketing for the business.  However supporting this is her values based approach to decision making and believes that this is important element building the organisation and aligning with the vision of the organisation and stakeholders. 

Some of her core values include the following:

• Integrity
• Accountability
• Innovation and Marketplace differentiation
• Gratitude - supporting those who support you

Values based leadership incorporated into the abilities of responsible leaders enable the ability to contribute continuously to changing markets, whilst always the “How Questions” How can I add more value to the organisation, the members, the committee and the industry?”  Support and recognising all those who have contributed toward their future success and everyone they impact upon.

And that brings us to the final element that Ha-Dieu sees very important for a responsible leader - feelings.

As a Responsible Leader, if it feels right, you are likely to be on the right track. The whole concept of feelings is embedded in our psyche and communications. There are many terms that even become a little clichéd in our current society - like 'Gut Feeling' or 'Speaking from the Heart'.

The truth is our feelings guide us and responsible leaders are connected with values that help others before themselves. If it feels right as a responsible leader, continue what you are doing and adjust as required.

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Performance●Productivity●Profit

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What’s interesting is that today you’re seeing spin-offs which are becoming more and more private sector–like, which illustrates the importance of state-sponsored capitalism. Although the government is the main engine for economic development, what you’re seeing is the spinning out of wholly private entities that are injecting the kind of dynamism we need in our economy—which helps us move away from state sponsorship as the main source of innovation. For example, Mubadala is 100 percent owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. But if you go a level down, to our portfolio companies, six or seven have already gone public through an IPO. That’s how we move away from 100 percent government ownership to create opportunities for nongovernmental actors. Obviously, each of those companies has tendrils and networks that reach even further into the economy and away from state-sponsored capitalism. So while state-related entities will be important in our part of the world for the foreseeable future, there is a clear direction toward increased private-sector innovation.

The Quarterly: Let’s talk about Mubadala’s health care partnerships with Imperial College, Cleveland Clinic, and so forth. How did those happen?

Al Muhairi: If you spend time in Abu Dhabi or the UAE, you know that there’s a clear need for world-class health care. Lots of patients travel abroad to get health care. And as we thought about creating businesses, we always felt that we would distinguish ourselves by offering best-in-class service—in addition to doing things that hadn’t really been done before. Take, for example, the Imperial College London Diabetes Center in Abu Dhabi. Here, we did a couple of things that were quite new.

First, we imported a very common business concept, the “one-stop shop,” into health care before other folks did, at least in our part of the world. Managing diabetes doesn’t mean managing a single disease but, rather, managing multiple conditions. We asked ourselves, “Doesn’t it make sense to have cardiologists next to nephrologists and ophthalmologists and podiatrists so that they can work with the endocrinologists on the front line of diabetes treatment to address the disease holistically—instead of what used to require eight different trips to a hospital?”

The second thing we did—and, again, this is very simple, but nobody had really done it before—was to design the diabetes center from the inside out. We wanted to make sure that folks could navigate the building in a manner that reflected the way their condition was treated. We designed the center in a circular pathway so that patients could start with endocrinologists, followed by cardiologists and other specialists, and then be done in an hour and a half. This was really quite game changing, quite revolutionary, from our perspective.

And the success of the diabetes center has prompted us to look at creating more relatively small, self-sufficient centers of excellence around Abu Dhabi, both from a patient-services and a support-services perspective. Our goal is to create an integrated health care network, anchored by the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi—a tertiary health care facility fed by a network of specialist centers that reinforce one another, all of which ultimately puts the patient at the center of the experience. It’s a very simple but powerful idea, developed jointly with our partners, that has worked spectacularly well. It’s not a particularly large investment for us; it’s actually one of our smallest. But it’s a home run in terms of returns on invested capital—and from a social-impact and a personal-satisfaction perspective it’s had an outsized impact across the community and the region.

The Quarterly: How would you describe the general progress toward the 2030 plan?

Al Muhairi: It’s too early to declare success, but there’s no question we’re heading in the right direction. Mubadala, as a reflection of that vision, is still quite young. Yet we’ve grown from a handful of people in 2002 to the 600-plus we have today, not counting the subsidiaries, and that’s really astronomical growth. Managing that growth, managing the cultural elements that propel you from A to B, managing the people issues and the institutional framework for reporting and cash management—these are all things we’ve had to look at, and we’ve had to learn very quickly as an institution. It’s been challenging but gratifying.

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