Ron D Carlson - Leadership Cameos

E-Advisor

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:15:00 +0000

E-Advisor So you have already arranged to meet with a business advisor once, twice or three times a month.

You meet, review your progress, get your homework and go back to work. What about all those questions that arise in between meetings?

How do I handle....?
What would you do about....?
A customer just did this, now what?

You have a question and you just need an answer right away, you need to settle the question and get on with your business now, not in two or three weeks.

Finally, there is a solution: E-Advisor. Unique among business advisors, we offer a service connecting you electronically to your advisor so you can ask questions in between meetings. Read more about it here.

Ten Ways to Improve Your Business AND Your Life

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 02:52:00 +0000

As we approach the end of the year, my inbox is flooded with suggestions for making New Year's resolutions.. Most are fluffy and feel good about life OR about business. Most however, don't seem to marry the two together, most miss acknowledging that your busines is part of your life and you can only find limited success in your business if your are not also finding success through that endeavor in your life. This list of Ten Ways to Improve Your Business AND Your Life is a simple starter to do just that. Enjoy reading the list over at my website, www.cooadvisors.com

Born To Make Mistakes

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:43:00 +0000

We tie ourselves in knots trying to work out how to both live our lives and run our business. This comes up nearly every day in speaking with clients I coach. In this, we are creating our own problem by being our own worst enemy! Where did we learn to expect our businesses to run perfectly when life does not? Life is full of ups and downs, tries and fails, success and so-called failure. Read more on this on my website, www.cooadvisors.com

Signs of a Crippled Leader

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:29:00 +0000

I just enjoyed this piece from the Leadership Collaboratory on signs of a crippled leader.

http://linked2leadership.com/2012/03/28/7-signs-confidence-is-fading/

Monica Wofford writes of "Seven Signs your Confidence is Fading". I enjoyed this short piece as it speaks to an area generally not addressed, namely a leader losing confidence.

"Few are willing to discuss the very element that can quickly cripple a leader: Confidence."

7 Signs

1) Focused on Favorite on the Playground
2) Taking Things Personally
3) Getting Defensive
4) The Fear Factor
5) Reacting in Response
6) Quick to Hire, Slow to Fire
7) Too Much Letting Go

As you read through these, you'll find that you've seen most at play at various times in your career but perhaps not come to the conclusion that these are symptoms of a larger issue.

I particularly liked #1, focusing on the favorite. A leader on their game knows that not everyone will like all that they do. Being liked is not the criteria for leading. A good leader needs to be respected first. A leader with declining confidence though may spend more and time and focus on the local favorite as a boost to their own declining sense of confidence and morale. I've seen this one and the symptom was right on the money as an indicator of a larger confidence issue.

Hometown Reality Check and Dreaming Big

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:08:00 +0000

I recently visited my growing up hometown back in the midwest for a family get together.

Late one night, I went out for a walk in the pleasant night air and found myself walking from the home where I had grown up to the grade school where I spent important, formative years in school.

If you have the opportunity to do the same, I encourage you to. You may well find as did I that along your walk, you meet a number of your dreams and intentions from being a youngster. Some could be from the ball field, some the library, some the park, some the neighbors house with your best friends.

At first, it seemed that some of the dreams had not been met. While I didn't ever want to be a fireman, becoming a renowned scientist was on the list. That didn't become a line I pursued.

As I continued the hometown walk, I realized the obvious, I had pursued dreams, some just different than the earliest ones but no less valid and no less successful.

In fact, some pursuits followed much bigger dreams than ever imagined before. I simply had never reached back into my memory stores to update the tally.

By the end of the hometown walk-about, I felt refreshed and at ease. My present and past much more congruent and without contradiction or feeling of loss that I hadn't become what I thought I wanted to be.

I realized that I had become a much bigger something. I had walked into a much bigger dream.

Leaders need to have dreams not only for their work as leaders but most importantly for their life. It's important to check in with your dreams and update what has and hasn't changed since last viewing.

An effective leader is acting from the strength of the entirety of their life and the strength of dreams pursued whether entirely fulfilled or not is a powerful backing for their action.

Take your walk about reality check and realize how you too have bigger dreams in which you succeed.

Is Extreme Government Makeover Really Extreme?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Last time, we introduced Ken Miller's work called Extreme Government Makeover. Unlike many waste cutters and efficiency improvers, Ken comes from government service. He cut his process improvement teeth working to reduce the waiting lines at the Missouri DMV. After that, he spent a decade on the road as a consultant.

He claims to have learned a great deal about what works and what doesn't from his combined experience in government and as a consultant.

At the root of his approach is his view that most attempts to cut waste out of government are doomed to fail because they focus on exactly the wrong aspect. The cost cutters usually cut the people first because in a service industry, that's the most visible expense.

The problem is the cutting the people doesn't fix the gummed up processes of government. An example here are the long waiting lines at a DMV. Cut down the number of staff and the lines just get longer.

Miller contends that citizens are mostly not wanting reductions in the capacity of government to do good. They want the potholes filled, the license plates renewed, the deeds filled etc. What they want is that this is done more efficiently.

His argument is that you need to change the efficiency approach entirely. Don't bash the government employees as most are hard working and loyal people. Use his approach to fix the processes that don't work and then the costs will reduce and the citizen customers will be more and more happy with their government.

I find the approach refreshing and in line with what Dr. Deming taught in the early days of process improvement work in the 1940's. 94% of the problems are not due to people!

After the approach, I would say that the techniques recommended seem to be mainstream process improvement tools.

If you are interested, read more about Ken Miller on his blog: http://kenmillerblog.info/2009/05/extreme-government-makeover/

What's Behind the Buzz about Transforming Government

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:10:00 +0000

Most leaders have by now been exposed to a veritable alphabet soup of quality improvement initiiaves. There were Quality Circles, TQM, SQI and CQI; remember those? I do and have even taught them.

Now LEAN and Six-Sigma are the popular intiatives to reduce waste and improve efficiency. LEAN had it’s genesis in the Toyota Production System Kaizen philosophy. This approach has been applied with notable success in an improvement resistant sector, healthcare.

Now we have an increased call to drive waste out of government, to reinvent it, make it more like business and so on.

This is not actually new, news though. Take this quote: "We don't want to get rid of government. We want it to work better and cost less. We want it to make sense." Sounds current, doesn’t it. That’s actually from then Vice President Al Gore.

Many people, when asked, feel there is waste in government and often epitomize this perceptions with the snapshot view of the highway contruction worker leaning on a shovel.

The core question about transforming government is where to begin and that involves identifying the problem which may lack the convenient simplicity of popular sloganism as most lasting problem solving does.

In the next post, we’ll explore views from quadrants as diverse as the 9/11 Commission and the Missouri Drivers’ License Bureau about the state of government.

Checklist "Feel Good"

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:09:00 +0000

Let's face it, many of us like lists. They can help us get organized and stay focused. I find that there is also a downside. Lists can also enable us to "feel good" that we've got it, been there and done that. Whoa nellie, not so fast.

Here is a good example. Frank Bucaro wrote a nice piece in Linked2Leadership entitled "Leadership and Ethics, the Eight Great Habits" (Linked2Leadership 8/16/11)

http://linked2leadership.com/2011/08/15/the-great-8-habits/

Taken as a set of self-reflective pointers, I found it stimulating. Take this one: "How am I a better person because I am part of this organization?".

No, I'm not talking about spieling off a trite or politically correct response as to a situational interview question. Really, am I? The answer some days might be "no" and a trend of same speaks to time for change in capital letters.

Taken as a checklist, I find the list quickly loses it's value for me and descends into triviality. I don't spend much time daily reviewing lists such as this one. What I do is look for challenge points that catch me.

When one does, I nab it and work it until I find my own journey as a leader has progressed over, under, through and beyond the hurdle. Then I look for the next one. If nothing catches you in this list, toss it. If it does, that might be your next diamond in the rough.

Here is the list:

Start building ethical habits by using these 8 reflection points each day:

1. Find every opportunity to practice the virtues of integrity, trustworthiness, honesty and compassion.
2. Ask yourself this: "How is my organization better today because I am in it?" And "In what ways?"
3. Weigh out your actions in order to cause more good than harm. (Consider the short-term vs. long-term consequences of your actions.)
4. Ask yourself this: "How am I a better person because I am part of this organization?"
5. Remember to treat each person with the dignity and respect that every human being deserves.
6. Be aware of whom you benefit, whom you burden , and how that decision is made.
7. Find and name strengths of the organization that can help you become more human.
8. Practice getting beyond your own interests to make the organization stronger.

Linked 2 Leadership: The Leadership Collaboratory - Leadership Clarity: Can They See You Now?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:20:00 +0000

Linked 2 Leadership: The Leadership Collaboratory

Leadership Clarity: Can They See You Now?

July 22, 2011 at 12:03 AM

Though it seems a clichéd notion improving your company culture starts at the top, you have to lead by example. Is what you say what they see? To make sure, just lead by example to improve your organizational culture. Be Somebody Real If you're a leader who promotes a company culture of "do what I [...]

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Leaders: Take Your Business Back!

July 21, 2011 at 12:03 AM

I often hear from managers that employees have more power than their bosses. Studies have shown that the majority of workers in North America do not want to move into a management role. The trend toward servant leadership and participative management has created a lot of very good results, but in many cases it has also created chaos, [...]

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Gaining Influence as a Leader

July 20, 2011 at 12:03 AM

So, you decide that you want to build additional influence at work. What’s one to do? Maybe you want to gain greater influence with a particular group of people, such as your peer group or your team members, or even a group of more senior leaders. Or maybe you want to exert greater influence over [...]

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Finding the Right Dose of Chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:26:00 +0000

A few months ago, I stumbled on to Sam Parker, writer of a blog with no fluff inspirational leadership messages (and services).

In a recent post, he writes about performing a professional value evaluation. Huh? I've never seen one so this picqued my interest.

In typical Sam Parker fashion, no fluff, he says ask yourself whether your work:

	"1.		creates a positive buzz about you and your work?
	2.		makes others want you as a part of their team?
	3.		makes your employer cringe at the thought of losing you?
	4.		makes your patients (or colleagues) excited about referring you to others?" That's pithy. His argument is that if your work loudly proclaims value, you are creating economic and job security in trying economic times. While it's not something I consider daily or even weekly, I think his points are valid. You can read more about Sam Parker at www.givemore.com My view about external inspirational messaging like Sam Parker's is that each person needs to find how much they need in their "diet" to continue in a progressive, leadership balance. It's like chocolate, for some people, a little goes a long way. For others, daily consumption is just right. With external leadership inspiration, you need to find the right dose of chocolate for you. For me, a little bit now and then is what is useful.

Preparing Leaders in the Face of the Unknown

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:44:00 +0000

A recent editorial* in a healthcare trade magazine by National Center for Healthcare Leadership staffers posed the question whether our leaders today are being prepared for the future.

At first, I thought the piece called "Timeless Truths" would lead to a cheer-leading piece about helping those following in your footsteps and so on. Garman and Harris Lemak who wrote the piece took a more challenging line. They argued that lack of resources and the unknowns facing us are not excuses to fail to prepare tomorrow's leaders.

They challenge that if you as a manager don't have resources for development, identify where in your organization it's already taking place and support it becoming more effective. "Our task is less to 'turn on the spigot' and more to guide the water that's already flowing in the directions that will be most effective."

As to preparing in the face of the unknown, Garman and Harris Lemak argue to work on the timeless basics, collaboration skills, performance improvement and relationship building as keys that will be essential ingredients of leadership success regardless of the face of the future later revealed.

I set down the piece determined to look again for where the leadership water is already flowing.

* "Timeless Truths" may be found in the May 2, 2011 edition of Modern Healthcare, page 25.

Did I Remember?

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:43:00 +0000

A recent radio story about a prominent national leader led me to remind myself that you never know when an encounter you have will have a powerful influence on another person.

Here is a case in point. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was recently asked what prompted her toward a life of striving that broke through barrier after barrier opposing the advancement and fulfillment of women. She then became the first and only woman ever elected to be Speaker of the House of Representatives.

To the question, she responded that back in an early school debate class exercise, each student had to pull out a slip of paper from a bowl and then debate extemporaneously on the question written on the slip of paper.

Nancy Pelosi's slip asked "Do women think?" and it has haunted, urged and propelled her since. It is highly unlikely that the debate class teacher ever imagined the impact this exercise might have.

By the end of the radio story, I was left wondering how often I forget that any encounter I have as a leader can have a powerful impact on another person or, it can be just another forgettable encounter.

Lesson from the Coffee Pool on Being Right

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Fri, 20 May 2011 01:46:00 +0000

I recalled an early life experience that reminded me of a lesson about managers and leaders.

One day as a young boy, I saw the local Scout Master jaywalking. This was a man I admired greatly and here he was possibly breaking the law. Each of us has similar examples of discovering that others we look up to aren't perfect. As we grow older, we construct more sophisticated mental assemblies to hand these little contradictions and get over them.

Or do we?

Early in my professional career, our hospital got a new CEO. Several months into his tenure, I was in the Executive Suite arranging meetings with his senior assistant, She told me how very impressed she was with the new boss and it floored me. It wasn't anything I expected from a seasoned, top of the line assistant. She said he always chipped into the coffee pool.

The other day, when I saw a manager fill up their cup at the office coffee pool, I wondered they chipped into the pool. The contradiction wasn't all worked out after all.

This recent manager who didn't pay didn't do anything wrong but arguable could have as I didn't see him pay. I simply hadn't seen him do it right. If inclined toward the negative, I could have walked away from the experience assuming that he had as the conclusion was potentially open to interpretation.

For a manager seeking to also be a leader, it's not enough to be doing the right thing. The leader must also be noticed being right. At first, this seems trite.

Perceptions are very strong, particularly if negative. If a manager is perceived not to be right, even in a small, seemingly insignificant area like the coffee fund, their standing as a leader drops. If the right deed is done but not noticed at least sometimes, the perceptions in others may run to unfortunate and inaccurate negative views, sadly so, but true in my experience.

My attempts at being a more effective manager and leader include making deliberate actions that I would have taken anyway but now making them publicly at least part of the time.

I am seen at least some of the time, paying into the coffee pool.

The Missing Truth of the Bryde Whale

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:04:00 +0000

As the summer fair season approaches, I was reminded of a childhood experience that didn't turn out how I imagined it would at a midwestern state fair where I grew up.

The sign advertised "See the REAL Bryde forty foot long whale". I couldn't resist. I followed the line past the ticket booth as the other paying guests and I waited our turn. Slowly, we approached the exhibit which turned out to be a semi-truck trailer. My suspicions were starting to rise but still, hope prevailed.

As we made our way into the trailer, our eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light.

There, in a long tanks stretching from one end of the trailer to the other, was a very dead Bryde whale floating in some preservative solution.

True, it was a "real" whale. And no, they had not said see the real, "live" whale. I had presumed that because, at that point, my only interest was in seeing a live whale and my perspective assumed that that's what everyone else would want to see. Therefore, that's what would be shown I thought.

That was not the truth, not the whole truth anyway.

As leaders and managers, we are often confronted with dealing with portions of the whole truth. Sometimes, because we simply can not reveal the full story to others. Sometimes, sadly, because there is power in withholding the critical elements of the full picture and we withhold for advantage.

The latter will generally backfire colossally in time as the missing truth is discovered and trust evaporates.

The former, the act of disclosing part of the picture when some aspects can not then be spoken, can be accepted if the groundwork has already been laid. For example, when a staff member is let go due to disciplinary action, it generally is not appropriate to reveal the exact nature of the action. There were differences and they are gone and it's time to move on.

Other staff are much more likely to accept this if the track record is already in place that you have demonstrated again and again that the portion of the truth revealed is relevant, accurate and in general alignment with the fully details later revealed.

The story of the missing truth of the Bryde Whale reminded me of the importance of telling a portion of the truth that is an accurate reflection of the whole truth rather than a twisted version true only by it's omission.

4/18 21st Century Transformation by Asif J. Mir

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:20:00 +0000

21st Century Transformation by Asif J. Mir

Decentralization

April 17, 2011 at 7:53 PM

Decentralization means helping lower organizational units set goals and then giving them the responsibility and authority to meet these goals. Decentralizing can mean giving each of your managers profit goals for their own departments and then allowing them to make the necessary decisions to reach these goals.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

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4/17 Lead2XL

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:22:00 +0000

Lead2XL

Executives: Leaders or Managers?

April 10, 2011 at 11:31 AM

We need to stop viewing executives as leaders or managers because leadership and management are functions or activities, not roles. Executives occasionally lead and manage but so do all other employees.

4/17 21st Century Transformation by Asif J. Mir

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:22:00 +0000

21st Century Transformation by Asif J. Mir

Changing Buying and Selling Processes

April 16, 2011 at 10:41 PM

Winning companies are all focused on speed to market, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction—whether buying or selling goods, services, and solutions. Today, many leading companies are changing their selling processes and tools, including the following actions:

Expanding self-service sales via Web-based sales catalogs of products and related services available to buyers.
Creating customized electronic interfaces between themselves and their strategic customers to facilitate rapid order receipt and order processing. Typically, sellers provide their most favored customers with preferred pricing or large discounts.
Offering multinational companies global pricing policies for products and services with economic-related adjustments, i.e., variations due to labor rates in specific countries or regions, inflation or deflation, value-added taxes, etc.
Developing standard statements of work, acceptance criteria, and standards intervals for consistent on-time delivery worldwide.
Understanding the buyer's business needs and budget in order to develop customized solutions priced to fit the buyer's desired business case.
Providing financing to buyers to help them purchase products when required.
Offering extended payment terms to customers, well beyond the usual net—15 days, or net—30 days to net—90 days or net—180 days.
Developing Web portals to facilitate rapid and direct communications between sellers and their strategic partners.
Providing countertrade, offsets, or counter purchases, in order to secure large purchases.

These actions are just a few of the many innovative process changes, tools, or unique business arrangements that sellers are using to build successful partnerships with their best buyers.

Availability of Warranties

April 15, 2011 at 10:20 PM

In countries where consumer rights are protected, the seller makes the written warranty terms available to the prospective buyer before the sale. The text of the warranty is often displayed next to the product, or on the package in which the product is enclosed. Warranty terms can also be collected in notebooks in the department that sells the goods and may even be microfilmed, so long as the prospective buyer can readily use the microfilm reader. The maker of the warranty is required to make the text of the warranty available to sellers in forms that sellers can readily use, such as providing copies of the written warranty with each product, or on a tag, sticker, label, or other attachment to the product, or on a sign or poster. These warranty requirements also cover catalog and door-to-door sales.

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Refreshing and Thought Provoking Writer on Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:20:00 +0000

I just discovered Mitch McCrimmon who writes pithy and challenging posts
on leadership and management. Here are a couple recent Tweets:

"Why do we persist in calling executives leaders when leadership is
an occasional activity in which all can engage?"

"Leading by example is odd, it doesn't fit the usual model of leadership;
it just sells the tickets for the journey."

I'll post his RSS feed here and I believe you will agree that these are not the

 usual leadership rehashes.

In case you'd like to follow him on Twitter too, his address is:

Twitter feed
@MitchMcCrimmon

The Fairness Conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 02:21:00 +0000

One mark of a leader compared to a manager is how they handle "the fairness conversation".

We've all faced this one. An employee comes to the office and points out that xyz isn't fair. It could be that they don't get a shift differential but other positions do or that they don't get comp time.

The question then becomes, how does their boss respond? New managers seem to often sympathize with the employee and then give the "but what can I do, it was decided on high, that's the way it is" conclusion.

A more seasoned manager may be more nuanced. Measuring "fairness" doesn't mean that every person gets the same deal, some are hourly, some are salaried, some get lots of overtime, some little and so on. Beyond that, what may seem "right" to one person, may not at all to the next and even if it did, could be completely unwieldy to implement.

The seasoned manager may include "it is the way that it is", but would include that with the greater context that compensation (and mostly, "fairness" questions seem to distill down to compensation in some fashion, even if it's who works harder) is not a measure of human worth but a best attempt to compensate employees for their work.

Leadership Cameos

noreply@blogger.com (Ron D Carlson) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:12:00 +0000

In casting my mind over the richness of experiences I'd had, including those as a senior executive, I realized that many of the gem perceptions about leadership appeared in small moments. This blog is an attempt to capture some of them