Author: Joan V. Gallos

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Armchair Advice for Proactive Career Advancement

A fan of “Reframing Academic Leadership” wrote to share her enjoyment of the book. The Leadership Professor loves hearing what people take from books – especially the ones she writes.

The message ended with a question: As a female higher education professional who has had much success in the field, what advice would you provide to young women who are just starting their careers in higher education or are transitioning from middle-management to a larger leadership role at an institution?

My answer to the question below – good advice to men and women seeking strategies for proactive career self-management. 

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Dear Emily,

Big question for a Saturday afternoon! So, one big thought and five smaller strategies.

Big thought:  Don’t be afraid. I see too many people – and quite a few women at all career stages — afraid to speak up, especially if they are with senior folks, the boss, or big name faculty. Now having said that, make sure you know what you are talking about when you do enter the conversation; present what you say in a professional and compelling manner; and use every opportunity for participation to demonstrate that you are the kind of leader that others will want to listen to, learn from, and follow. Emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and executive presence (all of which can be practiced and perfected) play a big role in this. So think – well and deeply, about content and process, about substance and potential impact – before you act and then go for it!

Five strategies:

1.  Understand the political landscape and learn how to use it to your advantage. That doesn’t mean manipulate. It means knowing how to map the political terrain, understand how to forge good relationships, build coalitions with diverse individuals, solicit the support of allies (and introduce yourself to people who can serve in that role), ask others to help carry your message, see how you can help others (and build your political capital). Form relationships based on trust and give people an understanding the good work that you do. Those relationships will last a lifetime.

2.  Network, network, network for the joy of it. I thought I did a lot in my career. Looking back, I wish I had done more. You’ll learn a lot about diversity, organizations, higher education, and human nature – and meet a lot of interesting people along the way. Networking is ongoing – and not just when you need something. If you are shy, write down 5 questions you can have on the tip of your tongue to start a conversation with an interesting stranger. I still do this.

3.  Never burn a bridge. The world has a sense of humor, and people you wish you never had to see again will come back into your life for important work. And you never know when you will need to call on someone from your past for support or advice.

4.  Find your true talents, have confidence in them, and use them often. It’ll make time fly. The flip is also true – avoid trying to be the person that someone else wants you to be. It’s the fastest route to burnout. That doesn’t mean ignore feedback or opportunities to stretch yourself. It means find the groove that’s right for you. You’ll know it when you find it because it will feel good – and not just hard. 

5.  Proactively manage your career and work life so that you can grow and develop. Volunteer. Go the extra mile. Ask to serve on committees. Offer to take on an extra assignment. Ask your boss if you can take something off his/her plate. And, of course, deliver more than people expect when you do.

FYI, my blog archives contain a number of posts on women and leadership, as well as other related topics you and your students might be interested in exploring. 

P.S. “Reframing Academic Leadership” would love friends on Facebook.

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Managing the Occupational Hazard of Leadership

Leadership is emotional work. “There’s no leading without bleeding,” Jerome Murphy, professor and former Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, writes in the most recent Phi Delta Kappan.[1] “No matter what we call it — stress, agitation, loss, frustration, fear, exhaustion, shame, confusion, sadness, loneliness, hurt — there’s not an executive alive who can lead without experiencing emotional discomfort.” Anyone who has led – from the head or the foot of the table – knows exactly what Murphy means.

Leaders can’t escape this occupational hazard; however, they can be their own worst enemy in responding to it – turning inevitable job discomforts into personal anguish and self-doubt that erode focus and energy.

“In the privacy of our minds, we can make things worse by fighting our discomfort, getting hooked on our troubling thoughts, and scolding ourselves for falling short. As a consequence, we can sidetrack our work and lose sight of what really matters to us.”

The stage is set for unproductive denial (and an investment of psychic energy pretending we’re not uncomfortable) or negative self-talk (and worries about whether our discomfort is a sign that we’re a flop or, worse yet, no leader at all). “In the grip of mind chatter that sounds like a Greek chorus of naysayers, it’s not unusual to rehash the past, fret about the future, and hang ourselves out to dry,” concludes Murphy.

There are more productive ways to respond, and Murphy draws from psychology and Eastern thinking to suggest six.

1.  accept the emotional discomforts at the core of leading: “In doing so, we can hold them more lightly, believe them less resolutely, and take them less personally.”

2. acknowledge distress without clinging to it: “We can have our thoughts rather than be had by them.”

3. focus on changing behaviors, not feelings: “We can accept what we’re experiencing at the moment while still working to make things better.”

4. treat self with compassion, kindness, and care. “Both intuitively and through scientific research, we know that self-compassion is central to well-being.”

5. accept human imperfection: “Self-criticism is often accompanied by an irrational but pervasive sense of isolation — as if ‘I’ were the only person suffering or making mistakes.”

6. keep faith in core values: They remind us what’s at stake and put the inevitable discomforts in leading from and toward them in perspective.

Mindfulness training can help cultivate these habits of the mind. The leadership payback is clear: increased capacities for situational diagnosis, task focus, calm value-centered action, and resilience.

Our internal dramas may still be intense, warns Murphy, but we’ll witness them from a safe, nonjudgmental place where we can respond wisely.

[1] Jerome. T. Murphy. Dancing in the rain: Tips on thriving as a leader in tough times. Phi Delta Kappan (September 2011), 93 (1): 36-41.

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Lead like a Rebel: Be Your Greatest Self

Learnings, reflections, stories, and eulogies abound at the death of Steve Jobs. It’s no surprise. The guy really made a difference in how the world thinks about communications, beauty, technology, design, personal computers, telephones, music, virtual relationships, entertainment, movies, and more. Sure, he made plenty of mistakes – who doesn’t?  And by all accounts, Steve was headstrong, cantankerous, stubborn, a perfectionist, and a highly demanding (and sometimes over-controlling) boss. 

But he was also a visionary — a student of mindfulness who worked hard to be true to himself.  And at the end of the day, his authenticity drove his passions and creativity – and we all benefitted from that.

I repost excerpts from Nilofer Merchant’s reflection on Jobs’s real legacy: the reminder to design and live our own life. Interesting to think about why we so often forget that very important truth.  

What can you do right now to free your inner rebel? Focus your energies on the things that really matter to you?  Find the contribution that is yours alone to make?  No apologies. No excuses. No jumping through someone else’s hoop. No living someone else’s life.    

What are you going to do with your gifts and talents to make a difference?  I’m confident you’ll figure that out, and I’ll be cheering you on. I’d like someday to celebrate your impact and legacy of greatness, too.   

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imageWhile there are many things worth celebrating of Steve Jobs’ life, the greatest gift Steve gave us is a way to design our own lives.

In our society, thinking for ourselves is not highly valued. Our education model was designed with the 19th century more than the 21st century in mind. It reinforces fitting in and suppresses much of the natural creativity we start with. That’s how we go from drawing and acting and make-believe to PowerPoint. If we allow creativity at all, it is limited to arts and sports. "Real work" has us looking like a Dilbert character. Between the pressures of our teachers, parents, and ultimately co-workers, we often give up any search for personal meaning as we aim to belong to a tribe. After a while, we may not even believe we have something unique to offer. Rather than figure out what we are each about, far too many of us live within the boxes others define.

To live in a box defined by someone else is to deny our uniqueness. Each of us is standing in a spot no one else occupies. That unique perspective is born of our accumulated experience, perspective, and vision. When we deny these things, we deny that which only we can bring to the situation, our onlyness. And that is surely not the way the world is made better.

I’m reminded of the ad copy Steve initiated when he returned to Apple:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. (Apple Inc.)

The problem with being a rebel, a misfit, a troublemaker is that the masses will not be cheering you on. Rosa Parks might be a heroine today, but at the time, she lost her job. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. both had huge dissension within their own communities. It took Jobs years to come up with a turnaround strategy that showed what Apple could do. People forget the years between 1996-2001 where much of the market called him more insane, than insanely great.

But he knew that his journey was to apply what only he could — from his meticulous design methodology, to reimagining computing, to building a different type of company. He realized — and showed us — that our real job is not to conform to what others think. Instead, we need to recognize that our life’s goal is to find our own unique way in the world.

That is the fundamental gift of Steve Jobs. His insane greatness was to find his own journey and to live his life this way. He didn’t worry about being weird; he only wanted to be himself.  He was competitive, sure, but mostly against himself.

So I ask you to join me in honoring Steve’s greatness not by trying to be Steve, but by trying to be your greatest self.

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One Person Can Change the World: One Idea at a Time

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Take a Fresh Look at What You Do – and What You Could Do Differently

I like this post from Ken Favaro on the HBR blogsite.  I repost it below.  We’re always chasing new, new things when sometimes looking for creative ways to approach, manage, reposition, and understand our core business can make all the difference.   Enjoy – and take a fresh look at what you do and what you could do differently. Onward! 

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Organic Growth Is the Underestimated Opportunity

9:22 AM Wednesday September 14, 2011
by Ken Favaro

Sooner or later most companies find themselves struggling to produce growth. Often it’s because their business models have run their course (Yahoo!), or they’ve been overtaken by competition (Kmart), or they are being hit particularly hard by a stagnant economy (any durable goods company).

When this happens, they often react in unproductive ways. Some scramble to imitate successful strategies launched by competitors, like Microsoft did with its giant investment in Bing or Coca-Cola with its foray into energy drinks and waters. Some go for "game changers" — giant acquisitions that they hope will change their growth trajectory and how investors perceive them.

Others double down on their most loyal customers on the theory that they can build on an already strong market position and emotional connection. And all too many try to work their way out of the problem by launching multiple growth initiatives with the hope that a few of them will stick.

Most of the time, these efforts fail to reignite growth. So why pursue them? One explanation is that companies systematically underestimate opportunities for organic growth that are hiding in plain sight. We know of one business that had both a dental hygiene and retail battery business but missed the opportunity to combine those technical capabilities. Instead, they let a small startup develop the first low-cost electric toothbrushes.

Why do companies so often miss out on these opportunities? A big reason is that they often focus their organic growth efforts on their most loyal customers. But these, by definition, offer the smallest opportunities for organic growth because you already have most of their business. The big organic growth opportunity is with non-loyal customers who freely and frequently switch between competitors. For example, half of Starbucks’ customers buy only 40% of their coffee from Starbucks — they get the rest from places like Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. Getting more business from non-loyal customers is an enormous organic growth opportunity that is hidden in plain sight for most companies.

Focusing too much on traffic and cross-selling often goes nowhere for the same reason. I know of one giant retailer that was struggling to grow on a same-store basis. The problem was it was looking in many of the wrong places. The emphasis was on increasing "foot traffic" in the store and "crossing the aisle." It turned out that providing more value within categories — such as offering a greater variety of sizes or fashions in the women’s apparel aisle and more service for electronics customers in rural areas — offered greater opportunities for growth from existing customers, many of whom were also buying at other chains, did than increasing traffic or cross-selling.

Companies can ill afford to make these mistakes. Today’s business leaders have never faced the sustained headwinds we will see over the next decade, including chronic unemployment, the specter of stagflation, and the Great Deleveraging of governments and their citizens. The next decade will present a far more difficult environment for growth than the one we saw in the past three decades.

The good news is that most companies have a big opportunity of organic growth sitting in their core businesses.The opportunity is usually enough to double the top line over three-to-five years. But two-thirds of that opportunity is almost always found in only one third of the business. It takes faith and determination to find it. It is often hidden in less loyal customers, in how customers behave (not in what they tell you), in value propositions that are not fully delivered, and in markets that cut across the internal boundaries of companies’ own organizations.

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Positive Employment News: Hiring is Up

The ManpowerGroup recently released a report[1] on global employment trends. Their data reflect interviews with 65,500 employers across 12 industries in 41 of the world’s largest labor markets and measure employer hiring expectations for October through December 2011. The news is good – a ray of hope for us all in these tough economic times.

The report highlights include:

 

36 of 41 of the countries surveyed expect to add to their workforces over the next 3 months. The quality of life and political implications of employment increases are huge.

There are positive domestic prospects, as well. The U.S. compared favorably with dynamic markets like Brazil & Taiwan, and all three expect a net positive employment outlook of +5%.

In the Midwest, 17% of employers plan to increase staff levels, and more than 71% expect to maintain current levels.

Industries, such as Wholesale & Retail Trade and Manufacturing of Durable Goods, project net increases of 17% and 16% respectively.

 

Manpower’s report concludes with a reminder that employers continue to maintain tight control on staffing levels. This means ongoing pressures for employees across sectors to perform at greater levels with fewer resources.

The Leadership Professor suggests that we all take a deep breath, celebrate our contributions and hard work, and remember that strengthening and elevating our skills keep us competitive in tough times.  A review of the blog archives, anyone?

[1] Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, Quarter 4, 2011.

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Study Leadership with a Few Nights at the Movies

If you read my blog regularly, you know I believe we can learn much about leadership and life from the arts. 30 deans at the top business schools agree.  They offered their suggestions for a silver-screen curriculum on leadership, ethics, power, and relationships at work. Click here for their list and something about each film. 

Popcorn, anyone? 

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Naming the Elephant in the Room: Discussing the Undiscussable

Sometimes, a group will get stuck until someone is willing to name the “elephant in the room:” the uncomfortable topic that everyone is aware of but no one wants to talk about.

That topic can be about content or about how the group is working (or not working) together. Fear of conflict or unpleasant interactions often leads us to avoid sensitive topics or to beat around the bush so much that no one gets our message. Some of the most powerful contributions to teamwork involve the willingness to express uncomfortable truths.

You enhance your abilities to discuss the undiscussable when you:

Attend to process and content. You won’t recognize that the group is stuck unless you keep an eye on how the group is going about its work and on its progress.

Use yourself as a barometer. Use those knotty feelings in the pit of your stomach as a red flag that something’s off. Step back and ask yourself why the feeling?

Build in periodic reflections. Leadership guru Ronald Heifetz calls this “getting to the balcony:” stepping out of the fray on the dance floor and giving yourself a different perspective on the action. You’ll give yourself a better chance of seeing the big picture.

Search carefully for the elephant. This requires three things: (1) determining the obvious truth being ignored or unaddressed, (2) figuring out how to present the information so that others can hear and test your observation, and (3) determining when naming the issue will be most helpful to the group’s progress. [Review the last post on skilled candor: those skills can help here.] 

Avoid the sledgehammer. It can be easier naming the elephant with a less direct route. Humor, a well-formed question, or using yourself – expressing your uncertainty or lack of clarity as a way of engaging others in an exploration they might be hesitant to initiate — can accomplish the task with grace.

Frame the elephant in a larger story. Explain not only what you see but why discussing it can help the group make progress. You may see this more clearly than others.

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Creating a Truly Great Workplace

Tony Schwartz posted a piece on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network worth the read: The Twelve Attributes of a Truly Great Place to Work.

It’s important, Tony tells us, because more than 100 research studies have found that the most engaged employees are significantly more productive, drive higher customer satisfaction, and outperform the less engaged. The kicker: only 20 per cent of employees around the world say they’re fully engaged at work.

Tony’s meta-advice: employers need to shift their focus from trying to get more out of people to investing more in them. They do that by addressing four core human needs — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. His twelve suggestions for creating truly great workplaces are offered below.

My two cents: the first six are structural interventions that take special funding, policies, and time to get in place. The last six are things we can implement right now. They make a huge difference and enable people to bring their best to work.

I don’t know about you, but respect, appreciation, autonomy, clarity, meaningful contribution, and capacity to learn and grow go a long way for me. Which on the list speak most powerfully to you?  

  1. 1.  Pay everyone a living wage. We know the gap between CEO compensation and pay to those at the bottom of the organizational heap. No more need be said.
  1. 2.  Give employees a stake in the company’s success. Profit sharing plans, stock options, or bonuses tied to performance let everyone share the fruits of their labor. 
  1. 3.  Design safe, comfortable and appealing work environments with space for privacy, for collaboration, and for community building.
  1. 4.  Provide healthy, high-quality food, at the lowest possible prices – even in the vending machines.
  1. 5.  Create places for rest and renew during the day and encourage breaks. Naps can fuel higher productivity.
  1. 6.  Offer a gym, encourage employees to stay fit, and provide incentives to use the facilities during the work day for renewal.
  1. 7.  Define clear expectations for success, and give employees autonomy to do their jobs.
  1. 8.  Introduce “two-way performance reviews” where employees receive feedback and provide it to their supervisors without fear of retribution.
  1. 9.  Hold managers accountable for treating all employees with respect and care and for acknowledging their positive contributions.
  1. 10.  Enable employees to focus without interruption on their most important priorities and to think more strategically and creatively,
  2. ideally on projects that fuel their passions.
  1. 11.  Provide ongoing opportunities and incentives to learn and grow in job-specific skills and in softer interpersonal, leadership, and life skills.
  1. 12. Stand for something beyond profits: products and services that add value in the world and enable people to feel good about their companies.

 

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Strong Advocacy: Perfecting Your Skilled Candor

If asked, most of us would say that it’s good to speak up, tell the truth, and say what we mean. Yet we often fall well short of candor for two main reasons: fear and lack of skill. We’re afraid we’ll hurt ourselves or someone else. Do we tell the boss something he doesn’t want to hear? Do we tell our colleagues something that will upset or anger them? Should we admit we’ve made a mistake? Even if willing to speak up, if our attempts at candor are awkward, confusing or inflammatory, no one is helped.

A key element of skilled candor is describing your reality, not “the reality.” Speaking up openly and honestly isn’t the same as venting, shooting from the hip, bluster, argumentativeness, or attack – all of which prime others to resist rather than understand your message. It helps to remember the distinction between your truth and the Truth. When you say, for example, “This is how I see it,” you’re describing your reality. When you say, “This is how it is,” you claim to know not just your perception, but the Truth. No one knows your reality better than you, but anyone can claim to know the Truth at least as well or better than you do.

To describe your reality you need to know it and accept it as your unique take on the situation. A first step is reflection – looking within and asking yourself what you are thinking and feeling and why.

If, for example, you’re in a meeting and find yourself thinking, “This is all stupid. We’re going nowhere.” you could say that, but you’d be making a claim about the Truth that has little chance of being a productive contribution and may be very different from what others are experiencing. A brief reflection on what’s happening for you might reveal that you’re feeling confused and have lost track of what the conversation is about. That lets you say something like, “I don’t know how anyone else is feeling, but I’m lost. I don’t know where we’re going. Is it clearer for you than for me?” That statement shares your reality while giving others permission to see it differently. And it ends with a question asking others to take stock on how things are going.

You can strengthen your capacities for skilled candor when you:

Know yourself. Regular practices like journaling, meditation, or activities that encourage mindfulness build your capacities for self-reflection. Mindfulness is an important leadership skill, essential for monitoring your ongoing assessment of process – how you think things are going in your interactions with others – as well as content – the progress you believe you and others are making on the substance of the task at hand.   

Slow down your reactions. Recognize that they are just that – your reactions.

Cool your inner critic. Resist jumping to fast conclusions and ask yourself why when you do.

Use “I” statements, if necessary, to develop the right habits of the mind. It may feel awkward at first, but it’ll keep you honest and focused on what’s happening for you.

Leadership is all about effective relationships and strong communications. So remember, the goal in all this is to find ways to engage others in honest conversations that enable you and others to learn — about what’s happening for individuals, about what’s happening in the exchange, and about how to work more  effectively together.