Posted by Peter Samardak on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 @ 08:52 PM
Sports figures are often forced into a leadership role they do not want, nor can fulfill. I have heard some basketball players even make the statement, "I am not a role model. People shouldn't follow me." I can't remember who exactly made that statement, but I often think of business leaders, managers and current golfers who neither fit the role nor know how to maintain their leadership.
Recently, Bob Moffat, a former executive in IBM was arrested for insider trading and, having personally met him, I found him to be approachable, to have seemingly high values and to be driven. I guess the real question is, what does someone with high values look like? Is it a visual? Not hardly. Maybe that's it, he was so driven there was a fear of falling short of expectations. Maybe with the pressures of success, or the pressures of not failing were too much. Maybe it was simply greed and ego. Ego, its a funny dynamic which enters into everyone's life from time to time.
Once you start comparing yourself to others, you are either behind or ahead. I'm not sure at what time or age you reach a point where you are happy with you. I am sure Maslow identified it as self-actualization. However, it seems that today's mediocre leaders find excuses to blame everyone but themselves. Its always been somebody in their lives who caused them to do whatever it was. I remember a series on TV where "the devil made me do it." Guess what, its no excuse.
There is no excuse for harming others. There is no excuse for poor leadership. There is no excuse for not taking responsibility and not motivating others to excel. There is no excuse for letting people go because you could not identify the unique skills they had and capitalizing on that strength.
Leaders need to be able to synthesize the differences, turn it into an innovative driving force and then getting out of the way enabling those who are empowered to excel.
True global leadership is unique because it recognizes even some of the deep seated cultural differences which have existed and then turns it into a knowledge base driving excellence. Leadership is not easy. Nobody said it would be.
Posted by Hilka Klinkenberg on Sat, Aug 08, 2009 @ 10:27 PM
Mind your manners and make millions...so reads the headline of Stefan Stern's review (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5300a858-7c9f-11de-a7bf-00144feabdc0.html) of a new book, The Cost of Bad Behaviour, by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath. Having spent many years teaching executives how to mind their manners (http://www.etiquetteinternational.com/), especially if they go abroad, I can attest to the veracity of the authors' message. Companies can lose millions in revenue because of the behavior of their executives and representatives.
Good manners lubricate relationships whereas bad manners can lead to client attrition, bad press and investor revolt, not to mention a toxic workplace. A few sniping cliques or an arrogant manager will result in staff ineffectiveness and high turnover. There's an old saying that employees join companies and leave managers. It should be obvious, then, that management training with 360 assessments, especially in the area of Emotional Intelligence, should be compulsory. However, too many companies are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to addressing these ‘soft skills', especially in this economy. When times are tough, relationships can be a deciding factor in a company's success or failure.
Global coaches and consultants are acutely aware of the value of good manners in fostering international business relationships. Yet companies still send managers abroad as a way to remove them from a toxic situation in the home office. Adding the cultural component to an already toxic manager is a sure-fire speedway to failure. Relationships in business are crucial overseas where an executive can be judged harshly on his appearance, attitude and actions, and that can undermine the trust necessary to build successful relationships.
Before an executive goes abroad, extensive efforts should be made to ascertain that he or she is the right person for both the job and the culture. That person should be given all the support needed to help make the cultural transition. Why is this so important? Simple. A company won't lose just one or two clients or employees, it will ruin its reputation permanently in that market. All the time, effort and money that had gone into opening the market will be lost.
Unfortunately, as Stern writes in his review, "the book is a bit short on what the victims of unpleasantness should do about it." Etiquette writers are very good at telling you how to act properly; they seldom teach you how to react properly when you have been treated badly. Role-playing serves in this scenario to both to forestall negative situations and to correct them, and is an integral part of the learning process. When simultaneously combined with ongoing coaching efforts, the client making the necessary changes is supported overall. To dismiss either the coaching or the training component, especially where cross-cultural challenges are involved, is to increase the likelihood of incurring the "Cost(s) of Bad Behaviour."