RealTime Leadership

The global cellphone market is huge with many different players, but when I read this recently, it really caught my eye: 

Apple and Blackberry’s Research In Motion accounted for only 3% of all cellphones sold in the world last year but 35%of operating profits. 

It was a reminder of how innovation can really pay-off for a company.  This is why so many CEOs cite innovation as a key strategy, and so many companies include innovation as a cultural value.

Innovation is largely regarded as one of the last sources of competitive advantage in the global economy, especially for companies in the developed world.  In a 2006 IBM Global Study  on Innovation, Klaus Kleinfeld, President and CEO of Siemens AG said:

You can only win the ‘war’ with ideas, not with spending cuts.

I think his words are even more relevant today.  As a leadership development professional, how do we foster innovation?  How do we make innovation a central tennant of our employee culture?  How do we develop innovation skills in our workforce?

One myth that needs to be debunked is that of the mad-scientist working alone in the laboratory where a flash of insight leads to the next great innovation.   Most innovation happens at the ground level of an organization, close to the customer, not at the top or in some research lab.  Great ideas do not come to people in a flash of brilliance, rather they come into the world as “bad” ideas, or what you might call “not full formed.”  And the entire process of growing “bad” ideas into great ideas and then transforming them into actual innovation requires a team of cross-functional people.  

It turns out there is a clear set of observable behaviors exhibited by successful innovators that allow them to drive innovation within a team or organization.  These behvaiors were orginally discovered by A. J. Chopra, author of Managing the People Side of Innovation.  Chopra observed and videotaped hundreds of hours of meetings, conversations and brain-storming sessions as he followed around successful innovators.   He condensed the traits of maverick innovators into 8 Rules for Engaging Minds and Hearts:

1. Grow ideas, don’t mow them down.
2. Manage the ego agenda, don’t let it run the show
3. Practice the art of Hands-on Listening
4. Go Upstream…if you want people to change their course
5. Expose your ideas to criticism before they are fully grown
6. Involve people, but keep them off your decision turf
7. Acknoledge contributions to your thinking
8. Invite ideas only when you’re open to them

Source: Managing the People Side of Innovation (A. J. Chopra)

A. J. Chopra and I recently took these 8 Rules a step further and broke them down into 47 Innovation Practices.  We then converted these Innovation Practices into a 360-assessment.  So much of innovation is about how leaders interact with ideas and with other people, so it is critical for leaders to understand how they are perceived by others when it comes to fostering innovation.  Are they open to the ideas of others?  Do they really listen to the people who work for them?  By giving leaders feedback at the behvaior level and providing them with actionable recommendations for improvement, you can grow a culture of innovation at your company.

Almost everyone is familiar with Lance Armstrong’s journey from cancer survivor to seven time Tour de France champion.  In his autobiography, It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, he credits much of his success to the mental transformation he went through while enduring a gruelling treatment regimen and narrowly escaping death.  Throughout this phase in his life, Armstrong maintained his commitment to return to professional cycling, something he cared deeply and passionately about, and which gave him hope.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal talks about a new program that offers hope to cancer patients facing long odds for survival and suffering from depression.   The program is based on the work of Vickor Frankl, the Austrian doctor who describes his horrifying experience of survival at a Nazi concentration camp in his memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning.  In that book, Dr. Frankltalks about how, no matter how much is taken away from you, or how much suffering you endure, the individual can still choose their attitude toward situations and the meaning they draw from their experience.  Is is through the understanding that one’s life has meaning that many of the cancer patients in this program are able to continue to grow and have rich experiences even while facing their own death.  The article goes on to state:

We help cancer patients understand that they are not dead yet,” says Dr. Breitbart. “The months or years of life that remain can be times of extraordinary growth.”

In fact, anyone can benefit from reflecting on what’s most meaningful in life, he says. “Every human being wrestles with the question: How can you live knowing that you’re going to die? “Most of us are too distracted to think about it. But ask yourself, ‘What accomplishments are you most proud of? What do you want your legacy to be?’ It’s never too late,” he says.

I think the lesson here for leaders is two-fold:

1. As a leder, understand how you derive meaning in your life.  Sum up your leadership in six words.   Determine what is most important in your life – love, family, relationships – and how you’re going to make a difference.  I once consulted with a Fortune 500 company and they asked me to attend their leadership development course to see how it could be improved.  The course was called “Legacy” and it challenged participants to think deeply about the legacy they were going to leave, both in their personal and their work life, at the end of their career.  The participants in the room were deeply committed managers, many of whom had burned through marriages and spent years working 60 – 70 hours per week.   It was one of the most impactful programs I have ever had the privilege to attend.  Why?  Because it tapped into something extremely personal and powerful, our own search for meaning in life and the legacy we leave behind.  By understanding our own personal mission, we become much better leaders and are able to face difficult situations.
2. Help others find meaning in their life.  A good business leader understand that there is more to life than business.  Jack Welch recently said, “There is no such thing as work-life balance.”  That may work for him, but it doesn’t make me want to work for him.  Part of your job as a leader, and one of the key sources of meaning in your life, is to answer the call to service and help others achieve their personal mission and find meaning in their life. Robert Greenleaf’s classic, “The Servant Leader” describes how great leaders achieve results through service.

Taking the time to answer these big questions now, in the present, can pay-off for leaders in the future when disaster strikes and they face real adversity.  As the article says:

Many patients who have gone through the program say it gave them new strength to face whatever the future brings.

Soccer is by far the world’s most popular sport.  In many ways, soccer, or football as it is known outside of America, transcends the sports world and is deeply embedded in the culture of most countries.  The hype and media saturation of soccer is going to increase steadily as we approach World Cup 2010 in South Africa.  The Confederation Cup Final, June 28th featuring the United States versus Brazil, was an exciting prelude to what we can expect next summer. 

Given the popularity of soccer globally, it is surprising that the metaphor of soccer and language of the game has not permeated the culture of business and the body of work that makes up leadership development.  That may be about to change with the recent publication of “The Collaborator: Discover Soccer as a Metaphor for Global Business Leadership” by Winsor Jenkins.

In the United States, the use of sport metaphors in business is quite common, but they tend to be related to American Football (“we really need to ‘punt’ on this one”) or baseball (“it’s better to hit lots of singles and doubles.”)  The author makes a great case for leveraging soccer as a tool to teach managers how to lead in a global business environment.  Soccer has several advantages over football and baseball, at least when it comes to serving as a business metaphor:

1. It’s global.  You don’t have to “translate” your baseball metaphor so your team members in India and Dubai understand what you’re trying to say.  As Winsor Jenkins says in the book, “Soccer is imprinted in the world’s DNA.”
2. A soccer team is the ultimate self-directed work team.  Unlike most sports, a soccer team receives very little communication or direction from the manager or coach during the game.  Soccer teams don’t wait for the “play to be called in” or the “manager to change the pitcher,” rather the team is forced to respond to changing conditions as they happen on the field.  This requires a high level of trust, communication and collaboration from team members, exactly the kinds of conditions we expect of our global business teams
3. Soccer is not position driven.  A soccer team consists of 11 players, and they are called upon to play both offense and defense for the full ninety minutes of the game.  So a good soccer team, like a good business team, consists of well-rounded players who can be called upon to perform various skills and roles.
4. Just about everybody can play soccer.  To play soccer one does not need to be extremely tall, or extremely large, or even small for that matter.  Although it certainly helps to be in good physical condition, great soccer players come in all shapes and sizes, and that is one reason, the sport appeals to a much larger audience globally than any other sport.  Soccer attracts diverse players and a good soccer team is able to leverage the diversity of their team members (skills, talents, functions, personalities, age, race, gender and cultural) to achieve results and win games. 

When you add all of this up, the author says, ” Soccer provides the best example of what the interdependent nature of the team experience looks like.”

As you consider creating the next “high potential” program or leadership development experience, take a moment to reflect on how the metaphor of soccer might advance the learning objectives you set out to achieve.  People tend to assume that “what works in America is the appropriate way to deal with people working in Europe, South America and Asia for example.”  Given that most people around the globe grew up with soccer and already understand the leadership principles embedded in the game itself, why not leverage that knowledge to help new managers lead business teams that “score goals” for your company?

SOCCER’S GLOBAL BUSINESS OPERATING PRINCIPLES:
1. Focus On Team – Not Position

2. Understand That Everybody Can Play

3. Embrace Diversity

4. Rely On Each Other

5. Promote Both Individual and Team Values

6. Seek Skillful, Adaptable Players

7. Charge The Team To Perform The Work

8. Empower Players To Win

9. Coach Teams To Respond To Changing Conditions On Their Own

10. Develop Partners On The Field

11. Achieve Cross-Cultural Agility

Source: The Collaborator – Discover Soccer as a Metaphor for Global Business Success