The former CEO of Sprint shared his leadership lessons one morning… A leader should be “classy.” Yes, you have competitors – respect them similar to how Larry Bird & Magic Johnson competed in the NBA. “No infrastructure in our country that is more important than the development of our workforce.” Invest in your people, not…
Cisco recently transitioned their CEO role after a long successful career by John Chambers. He was a leader who had a list of employees’ medical issues on his desk every day so that he could reach out to them personally. Their succession planning, led by a friend of mine, was to consider all options –…
Employees often create an “ideal image” of what a leader seems to be. When looking at an organization’s leader, employees tend to judge the book by its cover, because that is easier to digest than what is really “in the pages.” They ask themselves several questions. Does the leader: Care about me? Have high standards?…
Regis Chasse, a friend at Cap Gemini’s learning, has researched and written about digital learning. Three key takeaways are digital learning, business games and online communities: Employees are overwhelmed, distracted and impatient. Flexibility on where and when they learn is increasingly important. They want to learn from their peers and managers, just as much as…
In a survey of 200,000, BCG found that employees look for: Appreciation for work Relationship with colleagues, Work/life balance, and Relationship with boss Number 8 was salary. To help address these employee desires, Bersin by Deloitte advocates for transforming “talent management” to “people management,” with a renewed focus on corporate culture, engagement, environment, leadership,…
Purpose drives performance. This is how leaders unleash the power and drive of their entire workforce, while focusing that combined effort in one aligned direction. With purpose, employees bring their “whole selves” to work with passion and commitment (Source: Korn Ferry). This also results in them tapping into “discretionary energy” (i.e., going the extra mile)…
ghSMART conducted 15,000 executive interviews. Their findings: Setting priorities means saying “no” to things 80% of leaders say they struggle with getting the right people in the right roles (A team vs. B team) Align team to priorities, then remove those not aligned (C Team) Aggressively recruit (i.e., I heard Wal-Mart’s CIO put out recruiting…
I was facilitating a leadership development program for a global financial services firm, and the CEO spoke to the audience. Some key takeaways: Mitigate global external risks Price of oil decreasing by half Venezuela’s 100% annual inflation, which means corporate investments there decrease by 8-9% a month As Russia business expansion grows, the money falls…
I was delivering a leadership development program for a medical device company recently. The CEO came in to provide some of his key leadership insights: Leaders don’t have the full information to make decisions…this is not unusual; it is every day. There are no easy answers; otherwise, a problem would have been solved instead of…
Companies have struggled to break down silos and boost cross-functional collaboration, even though customers increasingly expect a single face. Once proof of the gains from collaboration become tangible, then culture change takes hold. The operating model has three steps: Stretch goals Define strategic targets at the group level Aim for breakthrough performance that no individual…
