Making the living dead, or zombies as they are more commonly known, is not as hard you might think. In Voodoo folklore, where it all started, zombies aren’t dead at all (myth #1). They’re normal human beings, like me and you, that have been hypnotised in to a death-like state – in which the victim’s will is entirely subjected to that of the Bokor (a Creole word meaning: Manager).

Real zombies behave like regular people, but are completely unconscious (like old people in the supermarket). They’ve zoned out and switched off. In fact, the only way you can pick a real zombie out of a line-up is to look deep in to his eyes – where you’ll see the vacant, dispossessed emptiness you’ve seen a thousand times, staring back at you in team meetings, coaching sessions and performance reviews.

Every manager tells me that their team is Zombie free and every engagement survey tells me they are there in spades. Zombies are sneaky like that. If you have watched a lot of Zombie movies you probably think they are bumping around from desk to desk, devouring executive assistants, chewing on brains and groaning at the Cappuccino machine (myth #2). You wouldn’t think of them as sneaky. But they are. It’s not purposeful, obvious sneakiness. It’s subtle, under the radar sneakiness, because no one wants to be outed as a Zombie. It’s embarrassing. And potentially career threatening. When you apply for other jobs, put your hand up for a promotion or ask for a raise, the last thing you want is a reputation as a Zombie.

Here’s how to find the Zombies:

Zombies have questionable values and spend more time than you could possibly imagine trying to get you replaced (they certainly won’t get you promoted). They oppose your ideas – no matter how good they are, compete for your attention, avoid learning new things, rely on you mercilessly for basic ‘no-brainer’ stuff, and are risk averse. Zombies drain you of every last ounce of energy.

Recognise them now? Good, because when there are enough of them, they will turn you in to a Zombie. Meanwhile, Zombies won’t help you hit your numbers – or whatever key result you’re there to achieve – and they won’t help you reach organisational objectives or realise visions or missions. With Zombies, there is no upside.

In the movies you have to decapitate a Zombie to destroy it (myth #3). In business speak, you have to ‘fire’ them. But in these uncertain times it is not so easy to replace the head you just severed. And, even if you could, other Zombies will spread their discontent lickety-split (not a myth).

Zombie movies just wouldn’t work if they told the truth. If Zombie-ness could be reversed by a mad scientist it would take away all the tension. In real life, what wouldn’t we give to take away tension. We already have enough tension, thank you very much, so bring on the de-zombification instructions – only without the mad scientist.

How to de-zombify a Zombie:

Zombies are like Werewolves in one regard: they can be released by the one who truely loves them. In fact, it doesn’t really have to be a lot of love. Support and encouragement will do the trick. A little bit of care and attention. Empathy works too. Even a kind word can unbind the spell if it is done often enough.

I could go on but it would only complicate what is really very simple: Caring, supporting, encouraging, empathising, paying attention, giving feedback and a little non-competitive praise, being there. They all work. No training required or complex leadership theories to whiteboard. Just do it and watch people wake up and switch on. It’s a miracle.

Jason Moore is the Van Helsing of workplace Zombies – only without the fancy crossbow. He helps leaders create personal and organisational value by building a humanistic performance culture without the Zombies. Jason blogs his thoughts on making work a better place to work at www.newrulesofwork.com.

Follow @newrulesofwork on Twitter or download his eBook: Meeting of the Living Dead.

Most of the time it’s a serious question asked by a seriously confused and frustrated senior manager with a thumping headache (earned by continuously banging a real head against a metaphorical wall):

“Why don’t my &^%$ing managers coach?”

Apparently it’s a mystery, so vast and unfathomable, that the brightest and boldest of business are stumped. Having observed 1000′s of managers and noticed where they focus their time and energy, I can tell you, it’s no mystery.

Here’s the skinny on why managers don’t, won’t or can’t coach.

1. Many managers just don’t dig (love) it.

They’ll tell you it’s a time issue… but… when you measure managers by performance outputs and humanistic outputs (team member willingness to work, absenteeism, turnover, etc) the top 10% – consistent high performers – almost always find the time they need to coach – a lot.

On the other hand, the bottom 40% (what we call Group C managers) almost never coach and no matter what you take away from them to give them time, it will always be frittered away somewhere else (reports, emails, meetings, schedules and answering the same questions over and over are the most popular).

These managers really, really don’t dig coaching – it’s not part of who they are – and they really, really don’t want to do it. You can tell them what to do and how to do it (over and over)…  you can give them reasons why they should do it… and they will still creatively avoid doing it.

As part of our Humanistic/Performance Culture Diagnostic we assess how much managers enjoy coaching. Collectively, Group C managers have the lowest coaching enjoyment score… BTW so do their team members (who don’t dig being coached either).

“I flat out love coaching. There’s something there that’s real. You get your hands on it, and you can make somebody better than they were. That’s one hell of a feeling” – Tom Martinez (quoted from The Talent Code).

It’s a tough pill to swallow… but… you will not change these people and they will NEVER feel like Tom Martinez. Your effort will be wasted. Channel your energy in to (1) recruiting better next time and (2) fishing where the fish are: Group B managers.

Group B managers are the 50% with highly variable, mid-range performance and humanistic outputs: some weeks/months/years they do well, others not so much. Some team members love them, others hate them. They’re up one day. Down the next. Over the long haul, ups and downs even out to around 60-80% of the output of high performers.

This group is a sweet spot. Group B managers coach (a little) and they enjoy it more than their Group C colleagues (as do the people they coach), but they don’t make constant and consistent improvements (which they should)…

2. Managers won’t improve if no one tells them how to.

If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated or Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code you will have heard of Anders Ericsson, who studies how expert performers acquire their superior performance. To cut a long story short, the difference that makes the difference is what Ericsson calls Deliberate Practice. And you need, roughly, 10,000 hours of it to get really, really good.

Maybe 10,000 hours is too much to ask. Lets dial it down to 1,000 and go for reasonably competent. At 10 coaching hours a week it should take about 2 years to get there. Really? Two years to be a reasonably competent coach? Well, yeah. A two-day workshop and some forms just doesn’t cut it. You need a 2-year ‘action-learning’ coaching program (or less if managers coach more often), where the emphasis is on continuous improvement.

Here are 3 ideas we have found useful to get started:

• Teach managers how to practice deliberately (read the books mentioned above)
• Conduct structured group coach-the-coach sessions (with real, peer review ‘case-studies’)
• Regular feedback from the people being coached (based on behavioural frequency)

When managers don’t practice deliberately and continuously improve it is very easy to grow bored and ambivalent to the coaching process. It’s another chore. Both participants become unenthusiastic and commitment lowers – slowly at first, then all of a sudden. Without commitment to change, people won’t…

3. Managers can’t make a difference because people don’t, won’t or can’t change.

Coaching isn’t always the answer. When it works it’s because people are ready, willing and able to change. If they are disengaged or even just a little apathetic toward their work (or their manager) change will come slowly – if at all.

Coaching is suffering from ‘if-you-only-have-a-hammer-everything-looks-like-a-nail’ syndrome. It’s what training used to be – the go-to solution for almost every problem. What managers are failing to do is diagnose individual performance gaps. They are not analysing the root cause of under-performance before they proceed with a solution.

Imagine going to the doctor and being prescribed anti-biotics while you were in the waiting room. The prescription is only one part of the reason you’re there. Mostly, you go to the doctor for the diagnosis. Based on that, you might have a number of options to resolve the issue now and prevent it from reoccurring in the future.

Our research shows the average [frontline and middle] manager spends a little less than 10% (3-4hrs/week) of their time on one form of coaching or another (performance, skill, technical) and much less than one-half of one-percent (10 – 20 minutes, maybe) diagnosing the root causes of under-performance or disengagement across their team.

It’s not working.

About Jason

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness. Jason co-developed the Humanistic/Performance Culture – Performance Improvement Diagnostic (a performance improvement system that works across many levels of the organisation. The H/PC is a transformational – yet simple and practice – online diagnostic. It reduces risks, builds competence and drives business growth with evidence-based accountability and real-time feedback) and blogs his thoughtson making work a better place to work. Follow Jason on Twitter or download his eBook: Meeting of the Living Dead.

Great news. The war on talent is over. We lost. There just isn’t enough to go around. It’s possible a mountain of it is stored away in some government warehouse – along with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail – that may form part of a ‘Brave New World’ cloning conspiracy in the distant future – but for now, it’s time to retreat and start something new:

A war on incompetence.

After-all, the evidence is clear: there are far more incompetent managers than there are talented people.

BTW, If you’re an incompetent manager, it’s probably not your fault. Your  incompetence isn’t a reflection of your potential, intellect or personality. You just lack the skills/capability/know-how/beliefs/etc necessary to get the job done. Instead:

• You’ve been elevated to a position of responsibility (which indicates you’re more competent than you really are) without knowing what really works and matters most.
• You don’t want to let anyone down (so you want others to think you are more competent than you really feel) even though you don’t have the tools you need to be the best you can.
• And you’ve been on a leadership training course (so you should be more competent than reality reflects), but not shown how to convert these complex theories into practical solutions.

Which might just explain this: when we observe [frontline and middle] managers and correlate behaviour (what they do), beliefs (what they think they should do) and results, the lowest performing 40% have the same conviction as the top 10%. Despite the woeful performance of their team they are absolutely certain they are doing the right things right – which, of course, they are not. They are, in fact, doing the wrong things right: administration, controlling, co-ordinating and supervising, and blaming their poor performance on factors outside their control (which, of course, they are not).

On the other hand, average managers – those who have highly variable behaviours, beliefs and results, and who make up about 50% of all managers we have observed, are almost (but not completely) certain they are doing something right and pretty damn sure they’re doing something wrong. They’re just not quite sure what’s what.

This means: On any given day 8 out of 10 managers are either doing the wrong things right or the right things wrong. Only 2 are doing the right things right – and in all likelihood, one of them will be doing the right thing wrong tomorrow.

In other words: about 80% of managers are just about to screw up, or just did. Hence, the second rule of management: Don’t Screw Up. Which can to achieved when 4 commitments are made and kept:

Start by being competent and build from their. Tim Gallwey (the father of modern coaching) uses a great phrase: ‘the more you know, the more you know you don’t know’ (as you learn more about management you learn how much you don’t know). It is a life long journey, so what’s the hurry. Start by getting really good at the fundamentals of management, the rest will follow.

Take it seriously. How would you feel if I told you 80% of doctors, fire-fighters, pilots or even mechanics weren’t doing the right things right. It would be appalling. In one way or another these groups are all responsible for the well-being of people. So are managers. You are in a privileged position. You impact the lives of real people. Take it seriously.

Work hard. It isn’t possible [for frontline and middle managers] to manage effectively in the same number of hours your team members take to do their job. You have more responsibility. More things to do. And more competing priorities. Work/Life balance is all well and good, but we can not keep pretending it doesn’t require hard work and longer days (than our team) to get the job done.

Be humble. Ralph W. Sockman said it best: “True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be.”

About the Author

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness. Jason co-developed the Humanistic/Performance Culture – Performance Improvement Diagnostic (a performance improvement system that works across many levels of the organisation. The H/PC is a transformational – yet simple and practice – online diagnostic. It reduces risks, builds competence and drives business growth with evidence-based accountability and real-time feedback) and blogs his thoughts on making work a better place to work. Follow Jason on Twitter or download his eBook: Meeting of the Living Dead.

When we ask employees what causes them to be loyal to their manager they use short, simple words: support, encouragement, feedback, available. Ask them what causes disloyalty – where they advertise freely and frequently how hopeless, helpless or worthless he is – and you get long, angry sentences that vary in content, but are identical in spirit: my manager is missing-in-action.

Bear in mind our research shows that a little under half the people we ask are defined as Detractors (using a loyalty score developed by Satmetrix, Bain & Company, and Havard’s Fred Reichheld) when it comes to their manager – these are unhappy employees who can damage your brand through negative word-of-mouth and impede growth by under-performing and switching off.

That’s a lot of missing managers! Where are they? And why, given they are responsible for their team, aren’t they showing up?

Based on our research, observing 1000′s of [frontline and middle] managers and noticing where they spend their time and energy, we offer 3 reasons (more technically know as ‘excuses’) and suggest 3 commitments any manager can make to improve performance and switch people on:

Excuse 1. Managers don’t want to be there.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is many managers just don’t want to be there. When they signed up to be a manager it wasn’t to spend time managing people. Most first-time managers, where the problems all start, weren’t promoted for their people skills either (which explains why so many don’t have any). The qualities that get you promoted from an individual performer are inner-focused (determination, persistence, functional-competence). Great managers – with loyal, engaged and productive team members – are other-focused (supportive, encouraging, communicative), which you can only be when you actually turn up and spend time with others.

Excuse 2. Oh, the meetings we’ll go to.

Now, more than ever, frontline and middle managers are being dragged from one meetings to the next. Project meetings, product development meetings, change management meetings and meetings to discuss the forthcoming meeting meetings, to name just a few. All day, every day. Always exactly an hour long and almost always bullshit meetings designed to keep people from getting anything done.

It’s absolutely bonkers that so many managers are attending so many meetings. Sadly, the purpose of most of these meetings is to help the organiser not look complacent (when they actually are) or for attendees to look important (when, in fact, most people think you’re a complete twit for wasting so much precious time). If the bean-counters calculated the actual cost of all these meetings (total number of people-hours x average hourly salary) and linked them to bonuses I suspect the length of meetings and number of participants would plummet over-night. Just because people are there, at work, doesn’t mean they haven’t got better things to do than hang out in meetings.

Excuse 3. The Desk-jockey

PC is the new drug of choice for most frontline and middle managers. It is viciously addictive. Once it has you in it’s grubby little paws you are destined to spend your days gazing desperately in to your monitor: working on incredibly important reports that no-one reads or long, unnecessary email conversations about nothing very much or fiddling with spreadsheets or surfing the net or playing Minesweeper (that’s what they think you’re doing). It’s no wonder there is no time to get real things done. PC must be feed.

How to stop this?

Make 3 small, but critical commitments:

1. Want to be there. Right in the thick of it, with your people. You don’t have to do their job and you can’t afford to create a dependancy or get under people’s feet, but you have to want to be available more than you want to sneak off to meetings or get sucked in to feeding your PC. You’ll have to stay focused, because ‘showing up’ and ‘doing nothing’ look the same to the uninformed and you’re instinct will be to look like your doing something, even if it’s really doing nothing very useful.

If you don’t want to be there, that’s ok too, but maybe being a manager isn’t right for you (it isn’t, move on). And if you’re recruiting or promoting managers, find out what they think managing is all about, why they want it and how they’re going to make the leap from inner to other focused.

2. Avoid bullshit meetings. It isn’t as hard as you think. Prioritise team meetings (and make them count), performance planning and coaching sessions, block out your diary, share the responsibility for meetings with peers and shorten them (the meetings, not your peers). Learn more about avoiding bullshit meetings here…

3. Walk around. The first step, like any addiction, is to know you have a problem. Monitor how much time are you spending at your desk (and in meetings). Cut it in half. Then half again. Instead, get up and walk around. Let people know you’re available, give people feedback and coaching. Let people know when they’re doing a good job and correct them when your expectations and their actions don’t match. Walking around is a vessel for doing what matters most – not a leisurely jaunt around the office.

About the Author

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness. He is also an entrepreneur, author and coach. Jason co-developed the Humanistic/Performance Culture – Performance Improvement Diagnostic (a performance improvement system that works across many levels of the organisation. The H/PC is a transformational – yet simple and practice – online diagnostic. It reduces risks, builds competence and drives business growth with evidence-based accountability and real-time feedback) and blogs his thoughts on making work a better place to work. Follow Jason on Twitter or download his eBook: Meeting of the Living Dead.

There’s no doubt Gordon Ramsay can cook (even his Cesear Salad looked great) and he’s definitely charismatic. But there’s something about Ramsay as a leader that people are drawn to beyond his technical ability and charm.

We’ve all met charismatic people that can’t lead and great leaders that lack charisma. Through all the shouting, abuse and frequent use of the F-word Ramsay applies some basic leadership principles shared by most successful leaders that transcend charm and expertise.

So what is Ramsays secret recipe? Here are 3 principles that any leader or manager can learn from and apply immediately.1. Everyone know what’s expected of them.

La Lanterna is an authentic Italian restaurant in the middle of England, run by an Englishman, his best mate and a Polish assistant chef. Nothing much authentic about that. When Ramsay arrives the kitchen is filthy, the produce comes from the supermarket and the over-priced food is re-heated microwaved pap.

Ramsay is shocked by the level of hygiene. ‘No matter what you’re cooking’, Ramsay tells Alexandro, the faux Italian chef, ‘you have to stay immaculate’. Ovens should be cleaned after every service, the floor should be spotless all the time and left over food should be thrown away.

These are simple, obvious rules. And yet, no matter what the environment, if expectations are not clear, unambiguous, explicit and inflexible, standards will always slip. At best it can be described as human nature. Over time people begin to accept a slowly declining status quo as they slip into the comfort zone.

At worst, it’s the inevitable consequence of presenteeism, where the passion for the work just isn’t there. Ramsay asks the assistant chef at La Lanterna what she loves about food and cooking. Not surprisingly (she used to work at the Polish tax office) she is ambivalent and unconcerned about the beauty in food. She just couldn’t care less about the food, the customers or business she’s working for.

There’s no doubt Ramsay lacks tact and can be inappropriately abusive (which are themselves explicit expectations or norms in his profession – referred to as the ‘language of the industry’). Remove that and what remains are clear, unequivocal expectations that are reinforced frequently for the purpose of delighting the customer. Who wouldn’t want a business full of team members doing that? (minus the shouting of course)

My favourite Ramsay expectation is ‘mistakes stay in the kitchen’. The reputation of any restaurant is only as good as the quality of the food. If what’s on the plate doesn’t justify that reputation the food doesn’t leave the kitchen. It’s a great metaphor for the importance of on-going short-sharp skill development sessions (in team meetings) and coaching – a kitchen in which mistakes can be made and learned from… but, for the benefit of the customer, mistakes stay in the kitchen.

2. The way we do things around here is efficient and effective
At the Sandgate hotel in Kent the chef is spread across three restaurants. Upstairs it’s fine dining, on the terrace a New Zealand inspired beachfront BBQ and Japanese in the basement. The small team in the central kitchen cook 168 different meals and send them around the sprawling seaside hotel while customers wait hours for their meal.

When the clearly talented head chef is flipping burgers on the BBQ the fine dining menu is handled by a 21 year old and two teenage apprentices. The Sea Bass dish has 15 ingredients and the boys in the kitchen just can’t handle it.

Ramsay wants to simplify things. Close the Japanese restaurant and take the complexity out of the menu. And he wants to get rid of the ‘dumb-waiter’ and intercom system that caused so much miscommunication. Now, the waiters come down to the kitchen and talk face to face with the chef.

It’s not only the Sandgate. Episode after episode have similar stories. Ramsay knows that people can only thrive when the processes are simple and work. When they’re not it’s a recipe for low morale and endless complaint.

When we interview team members and managers ineffective and inefficient processes are a constant source of dissatisfaction. They grind people down.

Take the sales process as an example. CSO Insights, a company that benchmarks sales and marketing organisations, report that explicit sales processes are rare. In most organisations sales people are doing their own thing their own way, resulting in a wide variance. In some companies sellers are expected to adopt the formal process, but it is not monitored and improved so performance is unpredictable.

Back at the Sandgate Ramsay’s methods are paying dividends.The food is simple, the chefs are calm and everyone is working as a team. The owners ring-up 4 times last weeks Sunday lunch takings. Customers are getting fed quickly and leaving satisfied.

The quality of the food was already good and most of Ramsays minimum expectation had been in place before he got there. All he needed to do was basic process improvement to make the place run smoothly. And it worked.

3. We are all held to the same high standard.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time watching Gordon Ramsay to see how quickly and definitely consequences are mete.

That said, three things are clear:

• the consequences are always linked to the expectation (they are not arbitrary),
• it is very clear what the consequences are (you know what your getting yourself in for when you ask for his help) and
• everyone is held accountable to the same high standards.

Whether you’re the owner, the chef or the kitchen porter, there are no favourites, no privileged few and no exceptions.

These are just three of the many principles Ramsay and many other successful leaders apply every day. When expectations are clear, processes are effective & efficient and consequences are applied fairly and consistently leaders create an environment in which people thrive.

It seems like common sense, but it’s rarely common practice – and disciplined implementation of these principles (no matter how large/small the centre or team) will lead to best practice performance.

About the Author

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness and regularly facilitators leadership workshops. He is also an entrepreneur, author and coach. Jason co-developed the High Performance Leader diagnostic Tools (which help leaders uncover the causes of under-performance and disengagement in teams and work-groups) and blogs his thoughts on making work a better place to work.

Where did all the meetings come from. Now, more than ever, frontline and middle managers are being dragged from one meetings to the next. Project meetings, product development meetings, change management meetings and meetings to discuss the forthcoming meeting meetings, to name just a few. All day, every day. Always exactly an hour long and almost always bullshit meetings designed to keep people from getting anything done.

If your job purpose is to manage a team, surely the only essential meeting that you must attend is a team meeting. Ironicly that’s just about the only meeting the great bulk of managers don’t, won’t or can’t attend (or even organise) on a regular basis.

There’s really not that much to commend the founding fathers of industrial age management theories, but they did at least understand that the point of managers was to organise labor, which is to say… people.

Two hundred years later we’ve learned that in the knowledge age people don’t need to be ‘organised’ like illiterate factory drones, but there must be something more useful managers can do – other than hiding in little glass boxes, huddled with other absent managers, talking about work they haven’t done.

Not all meetings are bullshit. But plenty are.

Here are 6 proven ways to avoid or shorten those hours of your life you’ll never get back:

1. Do what matters first. Fill your diary with things that do matter: one-on-ones, coaching sessions and team get togethers, weeks in advance. Most managers don’t use their electronic calendar to schedule coaching and planning sessions, and they pay the price when other people take control if their empty schedule. High Performance Leaders know they can’t be in two places at once, so they block out chunks of time, even when they’re planning to just ‘be available’ for their team by sticking close to home base. People with packed calendars get left alone (to do their job). That’s exactly how the CEO’s PA keeps you out of his diary.
2. Send someone else (or have a revolving designated attendee). If there are 6 managers in your workgroup organise each manager to attend a different meeting alone. Then catch up on the ‘shop floor’ (not in a meeting room!) for 10 minutes (max) to share highlights and compare notes. Knowing she’ll have to report back a summary is good for the person attending the meeting because they would have otherwise been half asleep and forgotten the lot.
3. Huddle with your team of peers every day for 10 minutes at 8.30 to keep each other in the loop. If you’re booked in to the same meetings decide who will represent both (or all) of you and share the essentials tomorrow. Trust me, if you only have to hear the concentrated version, even as little as 10%, you’ll know more than most of the attendees, who’s brains were wiped clean at the start of the next meeting.
4. If you absolutely must attend, keep meetings to half an hour. It’s amazing how much gets done and how creative people get under a 30 minute deadline. The 60 minute meeting is an arbitrary number. It’s convenient because it fits neatly on a clock and most calendaring software defaults to an hour. Don’t get sucked in by these flimsy reasons.
5. In team meetings have a 15 minute rule. Conversation is like gas, it expands to fill the available space. People will go on endlessly about the same point if you let them. Allocate a maximum of 15 minutes to a topic.
6. Learn to listen. Like most people, when I don’t feel heard I will keep making the same point over and over. Listen, acknowledge and move on. You’ve all got more important things to do.

Remember, those meetings might make you feel important but, in reality, they’re keeping you from important work. Conspire with your team of peers to break the cycle of time wasting.

Manager absenteeism is the number one reason team members are disloyal to their boss. When their direct manager is missing in action team members get justifiably and actively annoyed. On the other hand, highly loyal team members value attributes that reflect availability.

It’s not possible to be supportive and absent. Managers can’t be encouraging and be in meetings all day. It is difficult to give feedback and coach if you’re not in the same room. Availability is the single biggest differentiator between high and low performing managers, between loyal and disloyal team members.

About Jason Moore

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness and regularly facilitators leadership workshops. He is also an entrepreneur, author and coach. Jason co-developed the High Performance Leader diagnostic Tools(which help leaders uncover the causes of under-performance and disengagement in teams and work-groups) and blogs his thoughts on making work a better place to work.

I don’t smoke, drink or do drugs. But I am an addict: Twitter and Leadership Guru’s (and the wisdom they dispense). It occurred to me I could combine my addictions and scratch my leadership wisdom itch while I keep track of friends. Not so easy, it turns out.

Only a few Leadership Guru’s are leading the way on twitter. Many that are on the twitter bandwagon dispense endless waffle about their incredibly exciting, important lives – “going somewhere important tweet tweet… at the airport tweet tweet… met another important person tweet tweet… ate sushi tweet tweet…” Yawn – I want wisdom, not drivel! I want to be inspired, not see blurry photo’s of another dimly-lit audience! I want to learn!

Here is my list of the leadership guru’s that make their 140 characters count: practical, useful and inspirational, with a reasonably good balance of wisdom and self promotion. I’ll keep searching and updating this blog post.

Follow @newrulesofwork on Twitter (click here) and I’ll let you know when more are added.

• Original 7 leadership guru’s to follow: @StephenRCovey @RickM @SirKenRobinson @kenblanchard @tom_peters @_robin_sharma @mikemyatt
• [UPDATE] 5.1.10 added @johncmaxwell @johnbaldoni and @orrin_woodward
• [UPDATE] 23.1.10 added @briantracy @tonyrobbins and @mark_sanborn
• [UPDATE] 20.2.10 added @RosabethKanter @alevit and @gretchenrubin
• [UPDATE] 22.4.10 added @lollydaskal @billgates and @mwbuckingham

If you can suggest others, please comment…

Leadership Guru’s that make 140 char count:

1. @StephenRCovey

You probably don’t need me to tell you this… Stephen Covey (the elder) is the author of the incredibly successful ’7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. He’s also written a pile of other books and is the leadership half of FranklinCovey. Tend to get only a few tweets from Stephen each week. Almost completely focused on leadership and the Covey approach.

What to expect:

• There are three constants in life… change, choice and principles.
• Pay the price on a daily basis to learn. Leep learning. Keep reading. Get educated. Be accountable.
• 5 reasons to teach: to learn better, to motivate you to live it, to increase your ability to listen, to legitimatize change and to bond.

2. @RickM

Rick Myers is the CEO of TalentZoo, the #1 site for Ad, Marketing & Media Professionals. You get a mixed bag from Rick, but when he tweets about leadership and managers, he’s right on the money. Usually a couple of tweets a day.

What to expect:

• Always struck by how many managers are complaining about an unmotivated staff. Too many managers ducking responsibility.
• Losing talent is like a swift kick in the groin. Fight to keep your best people.
• Too many people underestimate the power of time off. Time away from the office is good for the soul.

3. @SirKenRobinson

If you haven’t seen Sir Ken Robinson’s inspirational TED speech, you really should. In it, Sir Ken makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. All leaders and managers have a lot to learn from the mistakes and opportunities of our education systems. Ken mostly shares other links and ideas in his tweets, which are infrequent.

What to expect:

• Take a look at Conscious Capitalism.I moderated last year, couldn’t this year. Very interesting initiative.http://vimeo.com/7334395
• Ruminating on 3 wonderful days at Vancouver Peace Summit with the Dalai Lama http://bit.ly/1r5awX
• Being born a human being is a rare event in itself and it is wise to use this opportunity as beneficially as possible Dalai Lama

4. @kenblanchard

Ken Blanchard invented the leadership fable genre when he co-authored the classic: “The One Minute Manager”. His educational and entertaining seminars, book series and dedication to leading at a higher level are legionary. A few tweets each day. Mostly leadership and life wisdom, links and blog posts.

What to expect:

• Don’t hang around people that are miserable all the time… Life is a very special occasion, worrying will make you miss it.
• Leadership Development: New Study Shows Future Skill Gaps:http://wp.me/pq1jR-96
• Have a clear vision and direction, invert the leadership pyramid, and start becoming a Servant Leader… lead at a higher level!

5. @tom_peters

Tom Peters is an author and speaker with a lot to say about leadership, design and EXECUTION. Author of “In Search of Excellence” and many other interesting and engaging books. Tweets with passion… 6 in one day, then nothing for a week…

What to expect:

• I hate the term “behavioural economics.” Call it what it is: “Psychology”!
• Oh my god. Seth and I disagree. BIG TIME. On a marketing hierarchy list, he puts strategy 1st, execution last. My take: 100.00% backwards!
• ‘Tis a time of “matchless opportunity”–not to “nab customers from ailing competitors,” but to behave with decency and grace toward all.

6. @_robin_sharma

Robin Sharma is the author of “The Greatness Guide” and “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”. Usually 3 or 4 tweets per day. Mostly focused on educating about leadership.

What to expect:

• Leadership distilled down to 3 words: Make a difference.
• In these time of deep change, EVERY employee needs to see themselves as part of the leadership team!
• The difficult conversations you are resisting are the ones you need to be having.

7. @mikemyatt

Mike Myatt is a top CEO Coach and author of “Leadership Matters… The CEO Survival Manual.” Mike is a frequent tweeter, with many tweets each day. Very focused on leadership.

What to expect:

• Multitasking is tantamount to executive suicide as it leads to a lack of focus and initiative overload.
• Listen well, learn well, serve well and you will lead well.
• Reclusive leadership is non-existent leadership. You can not lead, challenge, motivate, or inspire while in stealth mode.

8. @johncmaxwell

John C. Maxwell is a bestselling author and speaker on leadership (Dr. Maxwell has sold more than 18 million books). Three of his books that have sold more than a million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Tweets are focused on leadership (mostly quotes from others) and life in general, some personal and links to new blog posts.

What to expect:

• Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it, and Virtue is doing it. -David Starr Jordan
• How far will I go to illustrate a favorite concept? New blog post: http://is.gd/5fuPE
• Discover your uniqueness, then discipline yourself to develop it. – Jim Sundberg, pro baseball player

9. @johnbaldoni

John Baldoni is an internationally acclaimed leadership author and speaker, Harvard Business Publishing columnist, and executive coach. Tweets are focused on leadership (mostly links to his column and blog posts).

What to expect:

• What can “Humpty Dumpty” teach us about recovering from mistakes? Read my Harvard Biz column athttp://bit.ly/6gKmWP
• Should leaders take direction from others? Check out “On Leadership” in the Washington Post.http://tinyurl.com/y9v4vrd
• You are invited to watch my new video, Lead Your Boss, the subject of my new book. http://tinyurl.com/yfz2oj5

10. @orrin_woodward

Orrin Woodward co-authored the NYTimes/WSJ Best Seller Launching a Leadership Revolution. Mr. Woodward speaks on leadership and personal growth across the globe. Orrin tweets frequently throughout the day and is mostly focused on leadership qualities.

What to expect:

• Too often we view learning as a period of life, instead of a way of life.
• Character is magnitudes more important than reputation. Reputation is based upon others opinions, character is based upon your facts.
• Have we ever thought that low self esteem is earned by low performance & that only through changed actions will esteem improve?

11. @briantracy

Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the world. He is the top selling author of over 45 books. Brian tweets frequently (mostly via his Facebook status) with a mix of quotes, links to posts and some marketing.

What to expect:

• The truth is that the future belongs to the competent.
• Here is my latest blog post “A Balanced Life-Part 1″ http://bit.ly/7rtM07
• Please take a look at the details for my upcoming teleseminar “Flight Plan.” This is going to be the best http://bit.ly/7ZzmjN

12. @tonyrobbins

Tony Robbins has directly impacted the lives of more than 50 million people from 80 nations with his work in the field of leadership psychology and peak performance. Tony also founded the International Basket Brigade, providing baskets of food and household items for an estimated 2 million people annually in countries all over the world. Tony tweets inspirational quotes and blog/video posts, usually a few tweets each day.

What to expect:

• Check out my free new video on how to make your new year/goals/dreams a reality http://bit.ly/8gkVgZ
• “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”—Darth Vader, Star Wars
• It’s a new year & a new decade. Remember Hesitation kills so many dreams. Take action today & create a new momentum for your life. best2U!

12. @mark_sanborn

Mark Sanborn is an international bestselling author and noted authority on leadership, team building, customer service and change. Mark’s book The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Make the Ordinary Extraordinary is an international bestseller. Mark tweets regularily on leadership and life topics, including quotes, blog post and RT’s.

What to expect:

• Thinking, considering, contemplating, discussing or deciding–none require the courage of doing.
• There is a small difference of effort between “good” and “excellent” but it makes a big difference to others.
• Free audio 10 Things You Can Do to Have an Extraordinary Year & Life http://www.marksanborn.com/series/10-things.php

13. @RosabethKanter

Rosabeth Kanter is a Harvard Businss School Professor and author of SuperCorp, a look at how a new generation of values-driven businesses do well by doing good. Rosabeth usually tweets 3 -5 a day on business and leadership related topics, including quotes, blog posts (her own at hbr.org and others).

What to expect:

• How & Why to Simplify! Build #simplification into biz strategy; people want it. http://bit.ly/d3Jvuh
• Values, Purpose, Meanings, and Expectations: Why Culture and Context Matter http://bit.ly/aqgG44
• “If you’re going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.” – quote for change masters. (Origin uncertain)

14. @alevit

Alexandra Levit is a business/workplace author and speaker with four published books (including New Job, New You) and a WSJ column. Alexandra’s goal is to “help people find meaningful jobs – quickly and simply – and to succeed beyond measure once they get there”. Usually tweets 3 -5 a day on career and work related topics (also communicates with other followers frequently).

What to expect:

• Are we educating for the right jobs? http://tinyurl.com/yh6hzy9
• Lots of fun on @animal‘s show this morning chatting about career change, Millennials, and a “higher power”
• Discover truth about what motivates us (it’s not what you think) on call w/ the AMAZING @DanielPink: http://bit.ly/50WvAb

15. @gretchenrubin

Gretchen Rubin is the author of the book The Happiness Project – a memoir of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happy. Gretchen usually tweets 3 -5 a day on career and work related topics (also communicates with other followers frequently).

What to expect:

• Take Time for Projects and Keep a New Family Tradition.: I’m working on my Happiness Project, and you could have o…http://bit.ly/cg1GRs
• Interesting: “What makes cities happy?” http://bit.ly/cMGxVx
• For Americans, unhappiness most likely to hit women around age 40; men around age 50  http://bit.ly/apIZmh

16. @lollydaskal

Lolly Daskal has spent over a decade providing business and coaching services to people from all walks of life. Lolly is also a speaker and  offers workshops focusing on personal and professional empowerment.  She is the author of hundreds of articles and columns and her first book is slated for a 2010 release. Tweets frequently and daily.

What to expect:

• in times of difficulty, slow yourself down, focus on the blessings hidden within your circumstances.http://bit.ly/2K1u87
• Lead from within: Your life is made up of small moments which have a large impact. http://bit.ly/2K1u87
• do you want to be safe and good or do you want to take a chance and be great?

17. @billgates

Bill Gates the philanthropist  and global thinker. Tweets are not specifically about leadership but touch on topics that go to the heart of leadership (or relate to a wider context of global leadership). Bill uses Twitter thoughtfully – shares links to talks, thought provoking articles and his The Gates Notes blog on a regular basis.

What to expect:

• Great talk w/MIT students, very thoughtful. Live webcast from @Harvard next. ustream - http://bit.ly/dhBwrH and on Harvard homepage.
• TED just posted Michael Specter’s (The New Yorker) talk -http://bit.ly/btCaTA – was very interesting, got people talking. Your thoughts?
• A great WSJ article on the benefits of increasing the school week – http://bit.ly/d06oAW – we should resist reduction as much as possible

18. @mwbuckingham

Marcus Buckingham was a senior researcher at Gallup Organization, where he studied the world’s best managers and organizations. Best-selling books include: First, Break All the Rules, Now, Discover Your Strengths and Go Put Your Strengths to Work. Marcus tweets daily on leadership, strength and personal updates.

What to expect:

• Just thinking: which would you rather put to the test–your nerves, your relationships, or your beliefs? Me? My beliefs.
• Time to plan Q2. I loathe projecting, but love visioning. Am still trying to sort the difference. Which one most invigorates u?
• http://nyti.ms/as2jA6 @ their best leaders show us a better future. @ their worst they pick on each other, & cry foul. I expected better

@newrulesofwork

Jason Moore consults on culture and leadership effectiveness and regularly facilitators leadership workshops. He is also an entrepreneur, author and coach. Jason partners with organisations to help them produce exceptional growth through extraordinary performance and blogs his thoughts on making work a better place to work.

What to expect:

• Instead of using misunderstood financial rewards that can be gamed try talking to people about the company, its strategy, & its priorities.
• Coaching is 1. playful activity 2. Positive reinforcement 3. expecting people will make progress 4. Setting and meeting high standards.
• Most of us share a common secret: We are afraid that we do not measure up and it is only a matter of time until we are exposed.