One of my favorite quotes is from Martha Graham, mother of contemporary dance. A reminder that there is only one of you and it’s time for you to step up and take action now, because tomorrow is not too soon.
“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, It will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. The world will not have it.”
GE’s Chief Learning Officer reveals “the 4 Skills for the 21st Century “
Do you use the same cell phone you had 5 years ago?
Do your teams deal with the same issues they had 5 years ago?
Most likely the answer is no. So why would you choose the same old leadership training?
Post recession, in the midst of globalization and ever changing markets, what does it take to lead?
That is the question I asked Susan Peters, Chief Learning Officer of GE, when we met in New York recently. She leads Executive Development for GE worldwide. With $1 Billion invested yearly in training its people, GE takes leadership development very seriously.
Susan spearheads GE’s 21st Century Leadership Task Force: a project to define the 21st Century Global Leader. What are Susan and her team discovering? The game has changed and there are 4 MUST HAVE skills to lead in our post recession world.
TO BE A 21ST CENTURY LEADER YOU MUST:
1. SEE BEYOND CORNERS. The 21st century leaders need to know how to deal with ambiguity and see beyond corners. They are leading in a climate of uncertainty with constantly shifting directions. Command and control hierarchies are dead. The vertical model is obsolete and leaders need to understand how to navigate through flat organizations.
KEY to see beyond corners: You track your ever changing landscape. You develop your fluency to read situations and people.
2. GET ENERGIZED WHEN DEALING WITH INFLUENCERS. The 21st century is a fast paced and deeply unpredictable environment. Influencers are no longer simply colleagues, partners, or competition. Today, influencers come out of the blue and are often outside of your organization.
As a leader you need to foresee and predict your influencers. Susan is clear that 21st century leaders must get energized by influencing influencers, they can no longer afford to dread dealing with them.
KEY to getting energized when dealing with influencers: You acquire the emotional intelligence to influence them. You develop fearlessness and gain clarity to deal with unpredictable influencers in a fast pace environment.
3. HAVE A GLOBAL MINDSET. No matter what country you are from, you need to have a global framework. That means that every executive from NY to Beijing needs to sit in a position of global leadership and view the world through those eyes.
KEYS to developing your global mindset: You cultivate the mental agility and deep fluency in global thinking and share that with your team.
4. LISTENS DESPITE THE BLACKBERRY ATTENTION SPAN. Susan revealed the results of GE’s most recent internal leadership study: leaders that stood out from the crowd had the ability to listen and be in the present moment.
Look around during your meetings, how many input streams are pouring into you at once? How many screens are you looking at? Leaders who have the ability stay present and truly listen, stand out from the crowd and can truly lead.
KEYS to overcome the blackberry attention span: You have the tools to quiet your mind and have the mental toughness to truly be present. You know how to LISTEN and BE in the moment.
GE’s 21st Century Global Leader findings will be rolled out early 2011 across 160 countries to ensure that their people are equipped to prosper.
What are you doing to make sure you are ready? Need help in developing your 21st Century Leadership Training? Contact me for a consultation. Lets find out what we can do together.
Do you mostly rely on your critical and analytical skills to get things done?
Have you always been told you were amazing, only to find out now that what used to bring you success no longer works?
Are you starting to question what to do next?
You might be caught in SILICON VALLEY’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET. Many senior level recruiters from star companies have shared their concern with me.
“We interview genius Director and VP talent who tell us “I’m just not challenged any more at my company. I’m not fulfilled. ”
They soar through the company ranks fast. 6 to 10 years later they are promoted to lead several teams. Their next success is based on their ability to clearly articulate their vision so others, of differing worldviews, can understand and execute.
They can’t.
They don’t have the Emotional Intelligence, EQ, to influence beyond their analytical comfort zone. They get frustrated. They are miserable, make others miserable, or jump ship.
This is a lose lose situation: the company does not get a return on its talent, the talent is not given the tools to grow.
The Secret:
We set up our talent to fail by not giving them the precise tools they need to succeed in their new roles. As a result, we don’t have qualified directors and VPs that can truly grow innovation and our companies.
DO YOU WANT TO BE A LEADER OR A LONELY NUT?
Several years ago, a Native Elder told me: “ When we lead with our intellect alone, we fall short of what we are here to accomplish. That is backwards. Our heart is our compass, the seat of our passion and directs us to our true purpose. The intellect follows and executes the heart’s vision. Anything else creates chaos.”
We, as a Silicon Valley tribe, cannot afford to set up our talent to fail. Do we want to continue to lock up this talent or unleash their brilliance in ways that benefit us all? We need to give them the EQ skills they need for us all to prosper.
LEADING ORGANIZATIONS START TO PULL ON HEART STRINGS.
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business launched a new program in 2007 which adds more focus in power dynamics and interpersonal “touchy feely” courses to their leadership curriculum, and equip their talent to jump to the next EQ curve.
Google is putting an emphasis on recruiting for Emotional Intelligence, in addition to critical and analytical thinking, to ensure they have the best DNA for their organization.
Star companies are positioning their talent for success by hiring leadership coaches who focus on developing Emotional Intelligence and organizational savvy.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
Simple: to get your teams to the championship and win, tap into the EQ skills to grow your influence.
WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?
A client rose fast through the ranks at a young age. His lack of EQ was costing him: in his ability to relate to others, gain trust, influence and inspire his teams to execute on his vision.
He was stuck. “I’m afraid that if I act different I may lose my edge and my upper hand. “
We created a 3 STEP EQ COACHING PLAN
1. Develop self-awareness. What is his impact on others? What is the price he pays when they don’t understand? We aligned his intent with his actions. He now projects a coherent message to his team. He builds trust.
2. Understand drivers and motivators. We gave him the tools to identify other people’s drivers. Now he has empathy. He is “relatable” and understands how to navigate the politics of flat organizations. He connects his vision to others’ needs to inspire them to perform.
3. Articulate his vision with a new language. We taught him how to identify and use precise language to express his vision in ways his audience can understand. He uses this with his teams, in negotiations, and the rest of his life!
With his new EQ skills in his toolbox, he fully contributes his talents to the organization in ways he could not fully before.
What are you doing to jump to the next EQ curve? Contact me for a consultation. Lets find out what we can do together.
Do you sometimes walk away from a situation because there is too much tension?
Do you shrink back when someone postures and is in your face?
Do you hope the elephant in the room goes away?
The easiest way to lose power is to give in to your uneasiness with conflict. By shying away, you stifle your voice, talent and genius. Your career, team and organization suffer. Not to mention, this Achilles heal is often used against you.
What a lot of people don’t know is that this is a common issue specifically with brilliant well-educated star performers. Where in your education and career are you trained to stand in the fire of conflict and get to resolution? Most often you are trained on resolution practices, NOT on how to develop the skills to increase your comfort zone with conflict, in order to gain power and get to the best resolution possible.
Your relationship with conflict is key to your success as a leader. Unless you are willing to walk through fire for your team, why should they follow you? Unless you can stand in the intensity of conflict, why should they trust you? As a leader you need to go that extra mile for your people.
IT’S TIME TO GET COZY WITH CONFLICT
A story I love to share as told by Harriet Rubin is how Andy Grove of Intel insisted that “his brilliant but shy managers attend a seminar they called “wolf school.” Attendees learned how to lean into a superior’s face and shout out an idea or proposal. By dramatically showing a fierce belief in themselves , they would convince Intel’s hard-nosed managers of the value of their idea. If they didn’t feel fierce, they had to pretend. The message: Act powerful and you become powerful. Teach your murmuring voice to howl.”
SO HOW DO YOU DO IT?
A client needed more resources for a project he was spearheading. This was his baby, he poured his heart and soul into this, and now it was time for him to pitch it internally and ask for more resources to add firepower to the deal.
I noticed that he was knocking on some doors and not others. As expected the doors he avoided were the fastest way for him to access resources AND would require him to sell upward and deal with conflict. I called him on it.
Do you know what the THREE BLOCKS THAT KEEP STAR PERFORMERS WEAK when it comes to conflict: taking things personally, needing approval “to be liked”, and getting blindsided in highly charged situations.
We created a playbook. I coached him on how not to take things personally. This was a true revelation for him. This skill alone helped him gain tenacity in all of his interactions.
We then worked on freeing him from his need of approval. This opened up doors in his mind for more possibilities. He became solutions focused and was able to track more plays than previously imagined.
Then I taught him tools to develop mental toughness so as to not give in to the emotions of charged situations. He gained clarity and developed the ability to tap into the power of observation, read people and circumstances. He became the eye of the tornado.
He completely transformed. Now he dives into situations that previously would have been uncomfortable to him. His expanded comfort zone helps him and his team prosper. He has developed a fluency in conflict. He is willing to stand in the intensity to get to resolution and lead his team. He knows that unless he does, there is no success.
Wouldn’t you like to be able to do that? Can you imagine how different your life will look when you don’t shy away from conflict?
If you are ready to step up your leadership game, contact me for a consultation. Lets find out what we can do together.
Have you ever given your power away to others based on their title?
Have you ever believed that performance alone would get you ahead?
Have you ever seen someone get promoted that you believe did not deserve it?
That’s exactly what Jeff Pfeffer, author of POWER, and I discussed on a sunny day in the heart of Burlingame. Jeff teaches “Paths to Power” the infamous course on the subject at Stanford’s GSB and I work with senior executives on issues of leadership.
We get along like a house on fire and discuss what most people don’t know, that top executives make mistakes that hold them back. Did you know that many believe that performance alone will help their advancement, they neglect to look at power dynamics before taking action, they give away their power to others based on their titles and roles, and weaken their power by not taking risks etc…
We also discuss what I call the power paradox : power is essential, yet high performers shy away from it. Eschewing power creates problems and career sabotage.
You don’t believe me? I challenge you to say the word out loud. POWER. What happens? Are you relaxed? Or does your throat constrict? Do you know what to do to have more power? Or do you take the “high road” and believe that your hard work alone is going to move your career forward?
Lets talk about promotion. This is a hot button for many. It brings up issues of fear, survival, self-worth and a common mistake: the belief that good work alone is sufficient to be promoted. NOT.
My talent in working with clients, whether individuals or teams, is to get them promoted and prosper.
A client had been working at her dream company for about 6 months when her first review kicked in. Her manager evaluated her on a ranking from 1-7 and she felt that it was not reflective of the quality of her work but did not dare say anything. Most people think this is no longer negotiable. NOT.
First as a coach I will share that everything is negotiable however, in my experience, women tend to assume certain things are off the table. You guess it…NOT.
Second, regardless of what people tell you, your review counts. It is a written track record of your performance. If you need to make changes address them with your manager pronto. After our coaching session she was able to muster the courage to speak up and get her score adjusted by 1 level.
We then put together a clear plan for her to grow her power base in the organization: growing her networks within the organization and outside, coaching her to read people and situations, encouraging her to deepen in her collaborative skills to acquire more power. Within 6 months she was in the top 5% ranking in leadership of her organization and she got her desired promotion to open up the first office outside of Silicon Valley head quarters. This would not have happened had she not dealt with her issues with power.
Here are three ways having more power can benefit you at work:
1. Today organizations are flatter and more global than ever before. To execute you need to work with and through others and wield more power and influence than ever before. What are you doing to get things done with and through your team members?
2. Power gives you access to mobilize resources so you can exceed expectations. How did you address that last negotiation for increased budget? How about promotion? Is your approach working for you?
3. Power helps you stay in the game. If you are a high performer, you are an agent of change. Your trajectory involves growing above the challenges you face. When you have right relationship with power you are unwavering in your vision regardless of what curve balls come your way. How did you handle the last time a key relationship said NO to your dream?
If you want to become fluent in the art of power and get ahead in your work, contact me for a consultation.
Taking a team beyond what they think is possible.
When coaching leaders on how to harness their influence to get things done, I’m often asked “What is an authentic leader?”
Here’s my answer. “An authentic leader is someone who successfully takes teams where they never thought they could go before, for the greater good of all. Teams choose to follow, not because of fear of punishment or need for reward, but because their leader has earned the team’s trust and proven to them impeccability of character. An authentic leader is fearless, has clarity, understands power, and has the tenacity and commitment to remain strong regardless of outside circumstances.”
Do you want to step up your game as a leader? Do you want to influence teams and earn their trust? Then ask yourself which of these qualities you need to develop more of now: fearlessness, clarity, power, tenacity, impeccability of character, ability to influence without using punishment or reward. Identify the quality and let me know how I can help you reach your leadership goals.
Are you curious to know the three principles that can drive your teams to the next level of performance and benefit your organization?
ENERGIZE: There are 24 hours in a day, your teams may not get more time, but they can get more energy. High performers need to learn the techniques to replenish their energy, stay focused and on task to fully deliver their A game – even at the 11th hour.
INFLUENCE: High growth organizations run the risk of becoming a collection of missed opportunities due to miscommunications. Give your teams the ability to grow their influence: to fully express, listen and connect with their collaborators across cultures, functions and geographies. Great influence helps them work through and with their teams to execute faster. Create an environment where the best ideas become contagious and are put into action for results.
PROSPER: Prosper is making success contagious throughout your organization. Help your teams develop a fluency in power: the ability to mobilize resources both within and outside of the organization to get things done. Support your talent in developing their power base with trust, integrity, and strong emotional intelligence. Create the next generation of leaders to help your organization have a greater impact.
Today I notice the buds on my favorite cherry plum trees. My grandmother Nina used to say “after the shedding of the old in fall and winter, there is a precious moment in time, a turning point when new life emerges: a sign of the bounty to come.” This comforting principle continues on, predictable year after year.
I’m energized and inspired….what if I apply the same principle of growth to my projects: shed the old, reclaim energy, and focus it on what I want to see flourish in 2010…just like these buds announcing the plums.
What do you think? Are you willing to commit to the success of your projects in 2010?
If so I invite you to join me:
Pricing brings up such confusion, fear, frustration, doubt. With infinite choice it’s easy to get stuck. Do you want help navigating through the pricing maze and gain clarity? If so check out Todd Sattersten’s free e-book you can download here. Fixed to Flexible e-Book.
Hello, I’m back from my travels, including from beautiful Mongolia – the land of the Eternal Blue Sky! You can look forward to some lessons in leadership from Mongolia! Until then come find me at Going Green West September 14-16 Tony Perkins’ Conference. See you there! Katia
