Author: Joan V. Gallos

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Shimomura’s Art: Moving Beyond East-West Stereotypes

I’ve recently discovered Roger Shimomura’s art. It’s gorgeous, engaging, and provocative – and can be found in the permanent collections of over 80 museums. (Thanks, Brian!)

It’s also a powerful vehicle for thinking about the East-West stereotypes we hold and about how they interfere with our capacities to connect with those different from us.

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Shimomura’s paintings, prints, and theatre pieces address sociopolitical issues for Asian America, and many have been inspired by diaries kept by his late immigrant grandmother for 56 years of her life. They also reflect the artist’s own experiences, including as a child in a U.S. internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II.

Oh, the power of art to provide opportunities to discuss the undiscussable!

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It’s human nature to have assumptions and to try and understand others by grouping and evaluating them against the standards and culture that we know. When that process anchors us in bias and fear, we and the world are in trouble.

Take a look at Shimomura’s art. It’ll enable you to appreciate more deeply what that really means.

His pieces speak about the pain in being objectified, misunderstood, excluded, and dehumanized. Equally important, they remind us of all the everyday missed opportunities to connect with others whose differences can make our world richer, brighter, and deeper. 

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Global Leadership: Conquering the Fear of Differences

Days have been filled preparing for our Executive MBA international residency which begins in three days.  We’re going to China. Part of my preparation involves enabling 40 experienced leaders, most with little international experience, to appreciate and respond to cultural differences without paralysis. 

It’s key to their career advancement and professional development. It’s essential for all in a global world. 

As we move closer to the departure date, students have begun acknowledging their fears of anticipating a vastly different world and of the unknown. Some report dreams of not knowing what to do or of being lost in the China-size crowds, others feelings of losing the control over their lives that they have at home.

These are powerful admissions – and they are right on. We all fear the unknown. Human nature loves predictability, and we all want to believe that everyone thinks and sees things just like us. They don’t and that’s OK – and we’ll be OK in a world where that is true. Accept that, and you’ve got the global citizen piece down cold.

How do we take in and use all the knowledge about cultural differences that we can gain through reading and studying without freezing our capacity to act?  The quick answer: with patience, persistence, and humility. It’s like learning and integrating anything new into effective practice.

Preparation helps – the better you know something, the better able you are to call it into play when you need it. So does remembering the Joan Gallos 2 Rules of Thumb for Learning Any New Behavioral Skill:

  1. 1.  go slow. Add anything new and you’ll need to be more deliberate – less automatic – in doing it. It will feel awkward, and you will feel clumsy and ineffective. It may be counter-intuitive – to slow down and to do something that’s awkward and uncomfortable in order to be more effective. But it’s the only way.
  1. 2. be patient with yourself. This is especially hard for successful people: you’ll make mistakes, feel lost, or be scared. It’s OK. Stay open. Figure out what works and doesn’t. Keep trying. And have a sense of humor. You are the only one taking yourself so seriously!

And remember: people are people are people.  When we talk about an increasingly diverse and global world, we tend to focus on differences. Comparing and contrasting how other cultures are different from ours is a good way to recognize and break out of our narrow mindsets about life and the world.  But bottom-line: people share a common humanity. 

Approach any meeting with authenticity and an open heart, and you will connect well with others – even if you struggle with language or customs. Be curious – ask. Relationships are built on connection and conversation.  Make a mistake?  Step on a cultural toe?  Stay alert and respond as you would to any friend.  An honest and humble “Oh, my apologies, please” will go far.

You know more than you may realize about conquering the fear of differences. 

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Becoming a Roz Savage: Leading Like You Want to Be Remembered

Roz Savage is a fascinating woman. Next month, if all goes well she will become the first woman to row solo across the Indian Ocean and the first to solo “the Big Three:” she already has the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans under her belt .

The rowing the distance in solitude, ambiguity, and potential danger is inspirational. It takes a lot of planning, courage, persistence, and self-confidence. Equally interesting is the process that got Roz out of her business suit and into her small boat.

“I worked as a management consultant for my entire adult life, despite knowing from the very first day that this was not the career for me.”[1] Her peers were all becoming consultants or investment bankers after college graduation, and Roz followed the crowd. “The pay was good, and it would do as a stopgap until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.”

You guessed it. Years later – eleven to be precise – Roz was still a consultant and increasingly unhappy by her own admission.

“Who I was on the inside didn’t match the besuited management consultant I had, almost inadvertently, become on the outside.”

She decided to take stock and engaged in a classic life clarification exercise. She wrote two versions of her obituary: the first as she would like to be remembered, and the second as she would be if she stayed on her current life course. Comparing the two gave Roz courage to make a change.

“So I pared life down to the basics to find out what really mattered to me, to find out what was left when I was defined by who I was, not by what I owned or who I was with.”  Roz experimented with different businesses and projects, but none fit quite right – and she knew this time around to let go of those. In the process, she discovered her passion for extreme rowing and environmental work. The rest, as they say, is history.  

Are you living the life you want? Are you doing things that really matter to you? Are you excited and happy to get to work each day?

The answers matter to you. They also matter to those you lead.

Leadership is about passion and commitment. It’s about inspiring others to find that in your shared work. If you are just pushing the papers, playing the role, or waiting for a paycheck, others will know. Your capacity to influence diminishes, and the days go by.

So what’s your leadership legacy going to be?  What do you want to be remembered for? Are you on a track that will get you there?  If not, what are you waiting for?

[1] Roz Savage (2011). “My Transoceanic Midlife Crisis (I quit my job and ended my marriage to row the Atlantic. Adrift and alone, I found a woman I never knew). Newsweek Online. March 20, 2011. Accessed March 28, 2011 at http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/my-transoceanic-midlife-crisis.html

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Gender at Work and the Case of MIT: Progress Has its Drawbacks

12 years ago MIT acknowledged it was a hostile place for women faculty. The university became a national model in higher education for addressing gender equity. Its mea culpa encouraged other institutions to evaluate their treatment of women faculty, and the National Science Foundation and the National Academies launched major initiatives to increase opportunities for women in science.

Much has been done at MIT in the last twelve years: systematic efforts to hire women faculty have doubled their numbers; structures give women a seat on all university committees; year-long pauses in the tenure clock, full semester leaves for all with a new child in the home, campus day care, and subsidies for childcare during business travel support work-life balance; women hold important campus leadership positions (including university president); salaries, lab space, resources, research support, and teaching loads are now more equitable; and more.

Progress? Absolutely. But a recent MIT evaluation notes unanticipated consequences.

“Because things are so much better now, we can see an entirely new set of issues,” admits Hazel Sive, the Associate Dean in the School of Science who led one of the committees preparing the report.[1]

The new issues include perceptions that women’s promotions and hiring reflect affirmative action, not hard work and personal accomplishments. With so few women faculty, they can lose half their research time serving on campus committees. Tenure extensions and terms off favor male colleagues who use the time for research and lucrative consultancies, not childcare – creating new professional inequities. Lingering stereotypes keep women navigating a “narrow personality range” of not too aggressive or too soft.

What’s the learning in all this?

On gender in the workplace: we may have come a long way, baby, but we have miles to go before we sleep. Societal perceptions and organizational policies still result in unequal playing fields for women professionals. Inequity may be subtle, but it’s there. We have our head in the sand if we deny that.

On leadership, I see two key learnings. First, every leader needs strong skills in systemic thinking. Change one policy or practice, and there will be consequences elsewhere. Effective leaders anticipate the  implications of their decisions – and engage others in helping them see their own systemic blindness.

Second, strong leaders take on tough issues. We’ll never make progress on a complex issues like gender equity if leaders across organizations and sectors play it safe, or worry about making mistakes. Leadership is all about taking a stand.

MIT admitted gender inequity hasn’t been eliminated on its faculty, but there’s been progress — and there will be more. That’s something to celebrate.  

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/us/21mit.html

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Long Marriages and Good Leadership: A Toast to Respect, Openness, and a Good Sense of Humor

Today’s my 30th wedding anniversary, and it feels appropriate to toast the day by musing about the similarities between a good marriage and good leadership.

Learning about both has been a work in progress for me; and the wisdom in a short article on wedding toasts in a local magazine, The Hills, caught my eye as relevant to the task.

So with a tip of the hat to its author, clinical psychologist Michael Seabaugh – and apologies if my applications, interpretations, and edits push beyond his intent – I share a few of his toasts.

They’re intended to keep a marriage on track, but they’ll also work to sustain the strong interpersonal bonds at the heart of good leadership. Leadership is, after all, the product of a relationship between leader and follower that is based on shared commitment, mutual respect, openness to learning, and passion for a common goal.  Sounds a lot like a good marriage to me!

May you find delight and growth in constant conversation. We learn about others when we talk openly and regularly with them – and about how they are growing and changing.  It’s especially important to continue the dialogue when we’re hurt, angry, busy, or sure we know it all – the very times we are most apt to pull back.

May you always know the supreme value of paying attention and paying respect. All relationships require tending. We respect others when we give them our time.

May you always listen. Making assumptions about others is human nature, but any couples counselor knows it is also one of the biggest spoilers of a good marriage. Seabaugh has a favorite quote from George Bernard Shaw on this: “Do NOT do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.”

May you always remember that your individual problems will always be your collective problem. This is a basic truth in teamwork and a tenet in systems theory. Heed the advice to refrain from telling your partner “That’s your problem.”

May you never forget that curiosity is always better than defensiveness. Ask for an explanation and listen. You may learn something important about the situation, your partner, and yourself. Let me tell you, it’s not easy but it’s a skill worth developing.

May you always have the good sense to find interesting what your partner finds interesting. An open mind and a willingness to experiment have the added benefit of expanding your world.

May you always remember the value of laughing at each other’s jokes, of maintaining a sense of humor about your own and your mate’s foibles, and of finding shared laughter in your observations of the world. Wear life loosely and cultivate a strong sense of humor. Both will serve you well in love and in work.

Happy anniversary, Lee!

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Surviving and Thriving in Post-earthquake Japan: In Praise of Self-Organizing Teams and Leadership from the Foot of the Table

News from post-earthquake, post-tsunami Japan has not been uplifting, but a recent story is a major exception. For students of leadership and organizations, it’s also a powerful illustration of the impact of leading from the foot of the table and of organizing and empowering others to take charge of their lives.

It’s well worth digging up the New York Times article for a full read. Here’s why.

When the tsunami hit, the tiny fishing village of Hadenya was cut off from the rest of the world: bridges, roads, phone lines, and cell phone services were gone. It was bitter cold. Homes, buildings, and vehicles had been destroyed. Food and fuel were thin. Those who ran to a hillside community center and escaped the crushing waves had no idea of the extent of the devastation – or whether others knew of their survival.

What did the stunned and frightened villagers do? They organized, and informal leadership created a communal spirit, division of labor, and focus on survival that enabled the isolated villagers to carry on unassisted for 12 days, to care for the young and weak, and to sustain hope and health.

With sophistication and a clear view of the amazing devastation, the group responded to the informal leadership of Osamu Abe, 43, who was known to others because of his job as head of a local nature center. Mr. Abe went into action. He mobilized school children to erect tents so residents could rest outside during the aftershocks. Groups were formed to gather water from the marshes and firewood from the debris to boil it. He asked a nurse to set up a makeshift clinic for those in need. Daily lists of tasks were formed, and jobs were assigned.

Some scavenged for food and found a truck washed up by the waves that contained edible products. Others drained gasoline from smashed cars or kerosene from destroyed fishing boats for cooking and heating fuel.

Some boiled water, cooked, cleaned, and created tidy order in the shared community center space. (The photo of stacked supplies in the gymnasium is the epitome of neatness.)

A surveillance party set off over the hill to alert the nearest and larger local town of the villagers’ survival.

There was much to be done, and everyone was needed. For the few who initially refused to participate, Mr. Abe offered them “positions of responsibility” which he was happy to report indeed motivated them.

The story of Hadenya was not an isolated incident. Japanese authorities note that the spontaneous self-organizing and informal leadership seen there characterized other small towns and shelters, and the relationships and structures formed will serve villagers well when relocated into new housing miles away.

So what do you take from the Hadenya story to inform your leadership? Your willingness to face seemingly insurmountable challenges? Your ability to rise to the unanticipated?

The moral of the story for me: never under-estimate the power of the human spirit, the ability of individuals to mobilize and channel it, and the capacity of groups with shared interest to make a difference.

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Responsible Service: Key Learning from the Current World Crises

News from Japan grows darker by the hour, and happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa tell no better story.

All raise questions about the meaning of real leadership, the trust and transparency that must be part of all healthy leader-follower relationships, and the importance for leaders to accept their responsibility to serve the larger good before they serve themselves.

It is tempting when title or influence dub us the leader to think that the job is all about us: what we want, what we can do, what we want others to do. That couldn’t be further from the truth. A leader’s work is to put ego and self aside so as to facilitate the power and possibility of shared commitment, shared vision, and creative solutions to nagging problems that are better than any a leader or a follower working alone could devise.

That’s the magic at the heart of leadership. Two (or more) heads are always better than one.

When leaders serve for personal gain, when they deny others the honest information or influence they need, when leaders act to preserve their power and pockets, when they make decisions to guard their reputations or ego at the expense of others, they are far outside the leadership realm.

Let’s not forget that truth. We see it so clearly today in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and other Middle Eastern hotspots. And when we look closely at the crisis in Japan, there are plenty of questions about the lack of transparency and about how and why decisions are being made (or haven’t been made thus far).     

It’s easier to judge when we stand as critics, viewing crisis or deadly conflicts from afar and evaluating the choices and ethics of the leaders involved. But what about how we enact our own everyday leadership?

How will we remember that leadership is all about responsible service?  If we do, we’ll avert our own crises – and deny our critics the pleasure of all those negatives judgments from afar.

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Top Ten Trends that Leaders Need to Know: Planning for a Complex Future

In my last post, I suggested we can all become more creative and flexible leaders by anticipating and planning for an increasingly complex future.

I took my own advice and looked ahead five years, identifying major changes that will impact leaders  across sectors and industries. My top ten (in no particular order):

  1. 1.  The mainstreaming of green globally. We’re all getting smarter about what we are doing to ourselves and the planet.
  1. 2. Unprecedented consumer empowerment. Everyone is a potential global critic who can generate a groundswell with a few strategic clicks and posts.
  1. 3. Increases in mobile technology development and use. Apps and more apps. E-book readers. Smart phones. I-pads. Notebooks. We’ve only just begun.
  1. 4. A rise in social media outlets and use. Young people are constant users. Professionals are Linked In. Baby boomers (and everyone from my old hometown, it seems) adores Facebook. Wait until the boomers retire. There’ll be no stopping their capacities to befriend – and they’ll join their children and grandchildren in wanting more.
  1. 5. The decentralization of power. The Middle East and Northern Africa offer important national illustrations – and they are not the first nor the last. Ordinary citizens armed with a desire for freedom and justice, cell phones, and access to the internet generated twitter revolutions that dethroned entrenched power (Egypt, Tunisia), put nervous leaders on alert (Jordan, Saudi Arabia), and made scared despots sink to the lowest levels (Libya). Organizational hierarchies, look out.
  1. 6. A rise in entrepreneurship. Kauffman Foundation research found new business startups at record levels in 2009 and remaining there today with an average of 565,000 new businesses formed every month in the U.S. The trend involves men and women, older and young, urban and rural, domestic and global, large and small enterprises. New competition is right around the corner.
  1. 7. The empowerment of women. Women are the majority in U.S. colleges, universities, graduate, and professional programs – and that trend grows worldwide. They are securing a voice and a vote in places where that has not always been the case. They are creative entrepreneurs with a responsible heart, as micro-financing stats demonstrate. They live – and shop – their values.
  1. 8. A new career ethic. Gen X and Y want advancement, learning, and challenge – and will jump ship to get it. Second career folks seek opportunities for contribution and significance. Women look for balance. We’d all better be looking at new ways to retain and train a productive workforce.
  1. 9. Shared knowledge and collaborative markets. Open sourcing is no longer only for hipsters and geeks, and crowdsourcing is a viable business model taught at Harvard and MIT. Younger generations like to connect and share all with the world: they’ll want to do business that way, too.
  1. 10. The growth in online retail. The stats are rising. Options are multiplying. Even the fearful are dipping a toe in the water. I just bought a travel blazer for my China trip while writing this post! 
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In the Age of Uncertainty: Creativity Trumps Traditional Leadership Talents

IBM recently interviewed senior executives about their work, talking with more than 6,600 in 75 countries across 60 industries for the company’s newly-released C-Suite Studies research series. Three findings are of particular note:

  • 80% of the CEOs saw their world becoming increasingly complex
  • 51% of those in the C-Suite – CEOs, CFOs, CIOs – felt unprepared for the rising uncertainty
  • 60% of those interviewed identified creativity as the most important leadership trait for top leaders over the next five year, trumping traditional managerial skills like influence, global thinking, and integrity.

What did creativity mean to the executives interviewed? It translated into traits and talents like “operational dexterity,” speed in understanding and taking action, a willingness to experiment, the capacity to create flexible and responsive organizations, resourcefulness, innovative outreach and customer service, imaginative problem solving, and more. Are you ready for the challenge?

You can enhance your leadership creativity with some diagnosis and scenario building: get a handle on your possible futures and anticipate how your organization (and your competitors) might get ahead of the crowd. Here are five key questions to launch the process:

  1. 1. What are the major challenges or changes you see coming down the pike in the next five years for your organization? For your industry? In your key markets?
  1. 2.  How do you anticipate your competitors will respond?
  1. 3.  What could your organization do to respond more effectively?
  1. 4.  How easy would that be given your organization’s history and current culture?
  1. 5.  What can you do to help your organization turn the potential threat of change into a positive business opportunity?

Play out different ways that your organization could respond and how you might facilitate that and see what the consequences of each strategy might be. It’s easier to manage uncertainty and make good executive judgments when you’re feeling confident that you’ve already thought deeply about your options.

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The Sexual Politics of Materialism and the Good Life: The Case of the Little Third

Along with growing economic and social opportunities in China is the rise in divorce and philandering. There’s an equal opportunity explanation for both.

A mistress – or a “little third” as she is known in China – now seems de rigueur for men of rising affluence and status. China Daily and the New York Times reported, for example, that 90% of provincial- or ministerial-level officials found guilty of corruption in the past seven years also confessed to having engaged in extra-marital affairs – and some cities have even ordered their officials to stay faithful to their wives.

Young women see a married lover as a way to a better life: cash, a car, and a condo. The stars have aligned for trysts – but wives are finding out, getting mad, and wanting back their fair share of their misspent common assets. Rapid social change and economic gains are making for strange bedfellows in China today, literally.

China is in the process of revising its marriage law in response; and we’ll soon know the soap opera-like details as to whether a wife can sue her husband’s mistress to recover goods, the mistress can sue her lover if he reneges on financial promises, or the wayward husband has any recourse in any of this.

It’s an interesting case history about culture and change in China, but the story also raises larger questions for us all. Why the interplay between materialism and sexual politics?  What does it mean? Where have we seen it before?  And how in our own countries and cultures do we play out the same dynamics in our bedrooms? In our boardrooms?

Are sexual liberation and exploitation bourgeois sports: predictable activities fueled by affluence and the growing desire to consume – things and people? Do they feed the development of a distorted sense of power, property, and entitlement – or vice versa? Do they warp our shared views of responsibility, professionalism, and an ethic of care?

The case of the “little third” is raising debate across China about the erosion of traditional values with the pursuit of materialism — about the definition of a good life and the costs to a nation and a culture in pursuing unbridled economic prosperity and material comforts at a head-spinning pace.

What’s the good life for you today? What are the costs? Any internal debates about that?