Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog

Cashless Transactions

Bartering is alive and well and serving an important function in today's economy.

As the global economy continues to limp along and credit markets remain tight, a growing number of individuals and businesses are resorting to barter as a way to secure goods and services, move excess inventory and attract new customers without laying out precious cash.

The popularity of cashless deals tends be countercyclical to overall economic conditions, fading when times are good and growing when things are bad.  But with some economists saying that the recent recession was so deep and long-lasting that it is likely to spur an extended period of frugality, bartering activities in the U.S. will probably persist and flourish well after economic growth resumes.

Business-to-consumer bartering is often used as a promotional tool with unpaid volunteer "buzz agents" talking up products and services to friends, acquaintances, and even total strangers in exchange for perks and gifts.  These buzz agents are encouraged to spread the word via chat rooms, blogs, tweets and other consumer-driven media as well as through face-to-face contact.

When it comes to business-to-business barter, there are two types of deals: retail barter, which involves small and medium-size companies swapping goods and services via trade exchanges; and corporate barter, which involves large companies trading either directly with each other or through corporate barter companies.

It should be noted that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has clear-cut guidelines regarding barter, which are detailed on its Web site.  Essentially, the IRS treats barter income as equivalent to cash income, so executives and consumers should keep careful records of barter deals.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2010

 Seth Godin: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Corporate Resilience Through Outside-In Think and Do

Even as the global economic crisis begins to ease, managers everywhere are still facing the most turbulent market conditions since the Great Depression.  Focusing on creatively delivering something of value to customers--instead of doggedly pushing a rigid portfolio of products and services--makes a company inherently more responsive to market shifts; a competence that's especially important when firms must be prepared to radically alter what they sell and how they sell it.

Not every company will necessarily need or want to shift their perspective to an "outside-in" orientation, but in companies that already experience dynamic interdependence between units or where customer dynamism necessitates sophisticated and flexible responses, outside-in thinking is the ultimate goal--and the way to keep companies healthy.

The question isn't "What can you do for me with what you have?"  The question is "How can you meet my needs?" Period.

Organizations that answer that question satisfactorily, are the most likely to escape the commodity trap.  They maintain an outside-in perspective on their business, putting themselves in customers' shoes and forging strategic, seamless partnerships with multiple groups: suppliers that can provide key solution components or perform important functions; allies that offer complementary products and services; and even customers themselves, which get involved in developing the very offerings they buy.

This calls for a firm to integrate itself with numerous players that provide key inputs, while at the same time orchestrating the multiple outputs needed to serve the customer.  Truly resilient, customer-centric firms must use the first four levers--coordination, cooperation, clout and capabilities--to dissolve boundaries between their own internal silos even as they forge connections to external partners.

The fifth lever, connections, helps companies achieve sustainable customer-centricity by leveraging the extraordinary value of effective partners.  For instance, Apple only offers a small number of applications for its iPhone but because of its partners, it can offer ten thousand applications. 

Firms offload noncore activities to strategic partners so they can focus on the activities that give them the sharpest competitive edge, or they partner with key allies to provide offerings that, when combined with their own products and services, deliver even more value to customers. 

No product, service or function is so "sacred" that it must be kept inhouse.  By codeveloping products through tightly integrated relationships, successful companies and their allies have cultivated long-term relationships with the most important partner of all: the customer.

Source:  Ranjay Gulati: Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business  Through interviews with more than 500 executives over a decade of boom-and-bust economic cycles, author Gulati uncovered five key levers that pry open silos, expand mindsets, build partnerships and help an organization recognize and shift internal barriers to move toward ongoing resilience.

Will Executive Women Marry?

A sea change in relationships is taking place as everyone adjusts to the new reality of women being better educated and in some cases more preferred than men in the workforce.  Especially unsettling to some men is their role as second-best earner in the family.  As a recent Pew Research Center report documents, 22% of men with "some college" are now outearned by their wives, up from 4% in 1970.

Social scientists agree that the education mismatch these women executives experience with men is a significant player behind the increase in college-educated women choosing single motherhood.

This mismatch signals the emergence of a phenomenon studied more commonly in the animal kingdom than in the human one—the "operational sex ratio," the scientific term describing what happens when one sex outnumbers the other.  In human populations, gender balances can tilt following world wars or times of migration (think California Gold Rush), resulting in a shortage of men or women of marriageable age.  Currently, the most blatant outbreak of the operational sex ratio is playing out in China, where sex screening or, worse, infanticide has led to an estimated 32 million more males under the age of 20 than females.

The situation in the U.S. is the sex in short supply—in the pool of the college-educated—that makes the rules.  Women are feeling the pinch from years of gender imbalances on college campuses, where today nearly 58% of all bachelor's degrees and 62% of associate's degrees are earned by women.  Given that women prefer to find a well-educated, reliable earner as a husband, this creates a simple math problem.  Well-educated women can't find enough equally or better-educated men to marry.

Today, more and more well-educated women have to ask themselves: Am I willing to "marry down"?

Source: The Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2009

Women, Know Thyself

Each of us is defined by many things – our emotional habits, our belief systems, our pattern of thoughts, our cultural upbringing, our preferences, our motivations, our style of relating to others, to name a few.

Some characteristics we share in common, some we don’t. What we need to function well will often be quite different from what someone else will need. This is where self-knowledge and personal insight comes in.

There is a big advantage in knowing ourselves and the type of environment in which we feel nurtured. But there is also a huge advantage in knowing how a partner, a child, or a co-worker thinks, feels and sorts information. Once we recognize that not everyone is like me and that each of us sees the world through their own lens, we will quickly realize that individuals will approach similar situations differently. It is not necessary that they do it just like me.

You cannot afford to miss the richness that comes with understanding your own personality and the benefit it brings to relationships.

Let’s face it: you are the most interesting and important subject in the entire world. You will always be at or near the center of your world. It’s a comfortable place to be!

So, one of the most exciting experiences lies in gaining a fuller understanding of just who you are.

 John G Agno: Women, Know Thyself: The most important knowledge is self-knowledge.

Challenge Ideas, Not People

Those who resist your ideas will undoubtedly outnumber your supporters at first, but persistence pays off.  Begin by challenging “the way we’ve always done it.”  

At the same time, you may find it uncomfortable to challenge those in authority. It’s a natural feeling. The trick is to challenge assumptions, not the individuals in positions of power.  Focus on ideas, not personalities.

Push Back

Not all bosses want to be led. Some fear their authority will be undermined.  Others are so insecure that leadership from below is a threat that must be stamped out at all cost.

These obstacles shouldn’t prevent you from trying to lead your boss, when appropriate.  Observe the following guidelines:

· Stick with the facts. Build your arguments with evidence.  Make sure your research is on point.

· Ask others to challenge your premise. Before presenting your ideas to your boss, find people who can play devil’s advocate and explore your assumptions.

· Don’t confuse causation with correlation. Just because there’s a link between two issues doesn’t mean one provoked the other.

Dealing with a Jerk Boss

In some cases, all of the best data in the world won’t convince your boss that you’re right.  If he’s a jerk, he’s probably insecure.  He acts tough because he’s afraid of losing his job and control over others.

Jerk bosses cannot be reasoned with, so don’t even try.  You can roll over, fight back or leave.  Choose wisely.

Bounce Back

Ultimately, what really matters is how we recover when things don’t go our way.  Resilience gives you the strength you need when faced with rejection.

Review:

· What happened?

· What could I have done better?

· What did I learn?

The resilience to bounce back from a raw deal distinguishes those who succeed from those who become stuck, bitter and angry.  Remain focused on goals and engaged in the process of fulfilling them.

 John Baldoni: Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up

What's Needed to Lead Up?

To lead up, you must:

· Establish trust by following through on your commitments; be impeccable with your word; do what you say you’ll do.

· Connect with others authentically and honestly.

· Get out of the spotlight; share the credit with others.

· Demonstrate that you can think and act for the boss by taking initiative and following through.

· Use common sense; think before you act; listen to others.

· Do what’s practical to help the organization achieve its goals.

You will also need to think and act strategically:

· Challenge the status quo and conventionality.

· Reframe opportunities.

· Get out of your box and out of your cubicle.

· Turn information into knowledge.

· Deal with ambiguity and uncertainty.

Assertive Diplomacy

Taking initiative requires assertiveness, confidence and decisiveness. But too much assertiveness (i.e., aggressiveness) drives people away, discourages collaboration and causes people to resist your influence.

Urge managers to practice “reflective assertiveness,” a quiet confidence and power. It emerges from experiences, including one’s trials and triumphs. You must:

1.   Listen first, showing that you value others’ ideas.

2.   Keep it low. People know where power lies. You don’t need to advertise it.

3.   Act decisively.  

 John Baldoni: Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up

Leaders Emerging from the Middle

Those who succeed at leading from the middle are artful, skilled managers who:

· Establish goals

· Plan projects

· Organize people

· Execute projects on time and on budget

To accomplish this, you must rethink what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do it.  In essence, you’re not acting for yourself, but for the good of the organization.

According to John Baldoni, author of Lead Your Boss, managers who lead up demonstrate they’re aware of the bigger picture.  He urges readers to ask themselves:

1.   What does the leader need? The boss is responsible for motivating people to get things right.  What does she need to do her job better?

2.   What does the team need? Teams don’t always pull together because egos get in the way.  What if you stepped forward and helped bring everyone together?

3.   What can I do to help the leader and team succeed? Perhaps you can take on more responsibility or step back and let others rally. Maybe you can sacrifice a personal need that allows the team to conquer a challenge.

 John Baldoni: Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up

Leading from the Middle: Managing Up

There’s a lack of trust in senior management, according to a survey by the human-resource firm Watson Wyatt:

· Only 49 percent of employees have trust and confidence in their senior managers.

· Just 55 percent say senior leaders behave consistently with core values.

· Only 53 percent believe senior management has made the right changes to stay competitive.

Clearly, much is going wrong in the workplace, which presents middle managers with unprecedented opportunities to step forward and offer course corrections.

What’s Happening

You see a problem. There’s a clear need for action within a certain time frame. You’ve discussed the issues and possible solutions many times with your boss, and she has agreed with your way of thinking. For unexplained reasons, she hasn’t acted or given you the go-ahead. What do you do?

This could be a situation in which you take action and lead your boss. You develop a plan on your own, gather data (both pro and con), suggest a course of action and ask permission to move forward.

In doing so, you’re filling a leadership void through prompt decision-making and follow-through. You’re demonstrating what it takes to “manage upward,” or lead your boss.  But you’ll soon discover that you need buy-in from more people, including peers and subordinates.

You’ll have to become a leader without authority—an ambassador sans portfolio.

Shifting from Vision into the New Economic Reality

Leaders are either made or broken during defining moments in history.  As we slowly recuperate from the worst financial crisis in decades, a new economy has emerged and many companies are struggling.  Some companies have failed.  Others are fighting to survive.

Rising to the top are those who are leading their teams, departments, business units, companies and enterprises through these unprecedented times into this new economic reality.

Coach as Strategic Partner: For Leaders and HR Partners

Whether you're an internal HR coach, an executive coach or a department head within an organization, your job is to focus on the long-term goals of the company, build a positive corporate culture, encourage your associates to do the necessary tasks that will help the firm build a viable market presence.

Most CEOs are asking their executives to be more strategic.  Strategic thinking is about taking that step back to ponder the purpose (vision or mission) of any exercise, project or meeting. 

Strategic thinking considers a broader point of view, connectivity to shareholders and other functional groups, and includes having an "end game" in mind.  Being both strategic and a good business partner requires some time, but like planning any project that requires preparation, in the end you'll find you save time when your up-front planning has been thorough.

Whenever we can visualize the finished product or outcome ahead of time, we are halfway there already.  The ability to feel and experience the success before we reach it sets the project in subconscious motion.

Whether you are participating in a group or are talking one-on-one, it is all about helping others make better decisions.

Strategic thinking and systems thinking are two valuable 21st-century skill sets.  Partnering and collaborating skills are critical to achieving the corporate mission since all the work is done through relationships.  This book helps you build your capability in these skill sets:

 Timi Gleason: Coach As Strategic Partner

How major banks and securities firms are using your bailout money

Major U.S. banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their people about $145 billion for 2009, a record sum that indicates how compensation is climbing despite fury over Wall Street's pay culture.

An analysis by The Wall Street Journal shows that executives, traders, investment bankers, money managers and others at 38 top financial companies can expect to earn nearly 18% more than they did in 2008—and slightly more than in the record year of 2007. The conclusions are based on an examination of securities filings for the first nine months of 2009 and revenue estimates through year-end.

Despite the past year's financial crisis and the ensuing bailout, banks will be paying out a record $145 billion in bonuses, which tops bonuses from 2007.

The surge in bonuses comes barely a year after the government bailed out the U.S. financial system amid the worst economic crisis in generations. This year major U.S. banks and securities firms are poised to pay their employees a record amount in compensation and benefits—about $145.85 billion, according to the Journal's analysis.

The growth reflects a rebound in the banking industry's revenue to pre-crisis levels. The firms in the analysis are on pace to report $450 billion in revenue, a 25% increase from 2007. Overall, pay is on pace to be equivalent to about 32% of revenue, a decline from 40% in 2008.