Leading When Things Are Not Going Well

In general, I have a dislike of most "leadership" books written by coaches (and former coaches) of sports teams.  They are usually just a cliche` fest, with annecdotes of feats of coaching brilliance that are supposed to impress us and teach us how to be leaders.  For the most part it's a tome that stokes the ego of the old coach.  They just don't have much substance to them.  Having said that, here's one that I think is an exception......

People reading this blog/email who know me well, know what an absolute "nut" I am about Ohio State and Ohio State football.  And with that knowledge they must be thinking.. "Miller has lost his mind".... with what I'm about to share.

This entry is about a new book that has come out by and on the career of Bo Schembechler.  For those not familiar, Bo is a legend at the University of Michigan (the most bitter rival for my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes).  Bo's redeeming qualities are that he was born and raised in Ohio, and spent time as an assistant coach at Ohio State.

The one thing we "Buckeyes" always knew deep down.... there was a true affection and respect in both directions when Bo was the coach at Michigan.  The rivalry was intense... but the respect was just as big.

Here's a brief excerpt from the book in which he talks about some profound learning he had as an assistant coach at Northwestern when they lost every game one season.  It's a powerful story. I've also included a link to the longer, more detailed version.

Be well.   /jef

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http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2007/10/leading_when_things_arent_goin.html

Leading When Things Aren’t Going Your Way

In Bo’s Lasting Lessons, authors Bo Schembechler and John Bacon relate a story from Bo’s early days coaching. He learned a lesson about leading when the heat is on from his boss from his boss and mentor Ara Paraseghian that he carried with him the rest of his life. Here's that excerpt:...

... Before Ara arrived, Northwestern hadn’t had a winning season in five years, but in his first year Northwestern went 4-4-1, and everyone was encouraged. But in Ara’s second season, 1957, everything went to hell. We lost nine games—every single game we played! For a coach, that’s just about the most difficult situation you have to face. ....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Jeff Miller

Innovative Leadership Solutions

jeff@inleadsol.com

http://www.inleadsol.com

---------------------------------------------

 "Gramma said when you come on something good,

first thing to do is share it with whoever you can

find; that way, the good spreads out where no

telling it will go.  Which is right." 

             - Forrest Carter,

               The Education of Little Tree.

_______

 

Join a National Conversation about Energy

Ni Hao from Ningbo, China. I have now lived through my second typhoon. Fortunately
we were not in the direct path, but we did get a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of rain and
wind.

One of the blogs that I have book marked is the National Coalition for Dialogue and
Deliberation (http://www.thataway.org/). This week they posted information on the latest
National Issues Forums that the Kettering Foundation is supporting. It is on energy.

Kettering has been supporting issues forums like this for many years, and they are always
well done. So if you have some passion and/or interest in our useage of energy, you may
want to check it out. Heck, maybe you can host one of the session. Info on how to
connect is below.

Be well... /jeff
--------------------------

Join a National Conversation about Energy

The Kettering Foundation (www.kettering.org) and the National Issues Forums Institute
(www.nifi.org) are inviting people and their communities to become part of a national
conversation about energy and the choices that face the public and policymakers. The
Kettering Foundation and Public Agenda will be preparing a national report detailing the
outcomes of 2007 public deliberative forums held around the country using the National
Issues Forums issue book titled The Energy Problem: Choices for an Uncertain Future.
Groups or individuals who have led forums on this issue, or who are planning to, are
invited to help make the upcoming report as representative as possible of the national
conversation.

There is still time to help your community, organization, school, or group, be heard in a
national deliberative conversation about energy. The Energy Problem issue book and free
moderator guides may be ordered by calling 800-600-4060. If you would like more
information about how to convene a forum on this topic in your community contact Ginny
O´Connor at oconnor@kettering.org or 800-443-7834, extension 870. Information from
deliberative forums- especially completed post-forum questionnaires- are welcomed
through November 15th, 2007. The information from forums held around the country will
be included in a national report that will be released to the public and presented in
Washington, DC.

If you have had a forum on this topic, or have one scheduled, please contact John Doble
or Stella Lee at Public Agenda, a not-for-profit organization that will be reporting on public
thinking in this year´s energy forums, at JDoble@publicagenda.org or
SLee@publicagenda.org. The completion and return of post-forum questionnaires will
also be an important source of information for the upcoming report. Downloadable
questionnaires and more information about the issue book can be found at
http://www.nifi.org/discussion_guides/detail.aspx?catID=6&itemID=7743.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff Miller, Ph.D.
Innovative Leadership Solutions, Inc.
6526 Oxford Drive
Zionsville, IN 46077
office: +1 317-733-8635
via Skype: jeffmiller79
http://www.inleadsol.com
------------------------------------------
e-mail: jeff@inleadsol.com or
miller.3293@osu.edu

- Vist the "ShareAndLearn" blog at:
http://jeffsshareandlearn.blogspot.com
- See the ShareAndLearn e-archive at:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/shareandlearn/read

"Change happens from the outside in but transformation happens from
the inside out." - Dan Burrus
.

Hello from Ningbo

Ni Hao

Greetings from China.  I'm in Ningbo at the Ningbo Institute of Technology. For those who didn't know, I'm here on a two month teaching assignment for the University of Indianapolis School of Business.  A strong partnership between these two schools has been developing for some time now.

I've been here for about 24 hours, so I don't have a lot to share. But here are some initial things I've seen on my way in.

-  I spent a night in Hong Kong prior to my final flight into Ningbo. My hotel..... The Disneyland Hollywood Hotel.  Seemed a bit surreal, but there were Mickey silhouettes all over the place. The Hong Kong airport is like a giant upscale shopping mall.....  you can find darn near anything there (outside of maybe appliances or home improvement items).

-  Even though ownership/management/governance of Hong Kong was returned to the Chinese by the British government, Hong Kong still has their own currency. So I had to exchange US $ for HK $..... and I had to also get Chinese Yuan. 

-  Now, here's the interesting thing... a variety of newspapers were made available to us as we boarded the plane to Ningbo.  As we were preparing to land the flight crew actually took back EVERY newspaper that was on the plane.  I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.

The people we've met here at NIT have been great. They are working hard to get us set up in our apartments and make us feel as much at home as possible. The welcoming dinner last night was pretty spectactular....

First comes the selection of the dinner items....  the only way I can describe this is to think of a showroom at a car dealer... only instead of cars it has tables of assorted menu items, and in the back of the room is several layers of tanks with various kinds of sea life that you can also choose.

As you enter the room, you are greeted by a host with a small handheld device.... the host walks around the "showroom" with you and enters into the device the items and quantity of each that you desire.  Once the ordering is done, your party is then taken to a private dining room for the meal....  which, by the way, is no short simple thing.

Picture a large round table that seats about 12. The center of the table has a large glass disc that rotates (where I come from they are called lazy susans).  Entree after entree is brought out... so I've learned already.... small portions as there is much more to come. Everything I tried was good.... and in a couple of cases I decided not to ask what I was eating!!!. 

Also part of the evening's protocol is toasts..... lots and lots of toasts.  The host will make one to the entire group, and then many additional ones are made... to the entire group and also in smaller side toasts.  So it's quite possible to consume a fair bit of wine if the group is particularly toast happy.

It was a wonderful evening and a great welcome by our NIT hosts.

That's all for now.... I do anticipate sending additional periodic "e postcards" like this while I'm here.

Be well.... /jeff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You are on Jeff's ShareAndLearn e-mail list.

These are periodic notes from Jeff on items he feels

are worth sharing. Sometimes humorous, sometimes

provacative, and sometimes just fun. Hopefully you'll

find something useful, or at least thought provoking.

We are all LEARNERS, and we can all SHARE. So,

feel free to share this message with others. Also...

don't hestitate to send me items that you think are

worth sharing.

To have your name removed (or someone added),

simply go to http://www.topica.com/lists/shareandlearn

Jeff Miller

Innovative Leadership Solutions

jeff@inleadsol.com

http://www.inleadsol.com

---------------------------------------------

 "Gramma said when you come on something good,

first thing to do is share it with whoever you can

find; that way, the good spreads out where no

telling it will go.  Which is right." 

             - Forrest Carter,

               The Education of Little Tree.

_______

 

An Organization's Most Important Person

Greetings from an extremly hot central Indiana. It's so hot here that the schools decided to let out early today.!!!!

This item was in a newsletter that I get from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I thought it to be pretty "right on" so I want to make sure I pass this along to you all.

Be well, stay cool and enjoy the rest of your summer (you northern hemisphere residents).

jeff

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Leadership and Change

Talking with the Receptionist, Pausing When You Speak and Other Secrets of Leadership SuccessSeveral years ago, while visiting a regional branch of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global career management services company, then-president Stephen Harrison was stopped short by "Ray," his COO. "You didn't greet the receptionist," said Ray, who went on to explain that "a receptionist is a corporate concierge. They will talk to more important people in a day -- suppliers, customers, even CEOs -- than you will talk to all year." Harrison, speaking at the recent 11th annual Wharton Leadership Conference, contends that small acts like this are part of what makes for an ethical corporate culture. He was joined at the conference by public speaking coach Richard Greene, author of Words that Shook the World: 100 Years of Unforgettable Speeches and Events.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1792.cfm

Misc. Resources

Hi folks. Usually I try to keep these posts to a single topic. However this one contains links to a variety of really good resources that have come across my screen in the last few days. So, in no particular order, here are some interesting things for you to check out.

Workplace Challenges Among the Generations: This topic holds great intrigue for me. There are lots of resources out there, but three that I recommend looking at are:

• Harvard Business On-Line
• Center on Aging and Community at the University of Indianapolis (be sure to see their new study on the Aging Workforce
• The Generational Imperative

Questions: I've become a strong proponent of using questions to evoke deeper thinking and as a way to facilitate lasting change. Here are some resources on that front.

• CIO Magazine: Questions to Make You a Better Leader
• World Cafe

Blogs and Wikis: I'm now in the "wiki" game. I'm still trying to learn how best to use them, but came across a fun little video that helps to better understand what a wiki is and how it works. I've even started a wiki for my colleagues in the Association of Leadership Educators to continue a discussion we started last week. It looks like a pretty useful tool for collaborative work.

Here are some useful blogs that I look at often:

• http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/
• Lead Quietly
• How to Change the World
• Change Management Blog
• Whole System Innovation: the Blog
• Smart Communities

The really nice thing about Blogs and Wikis is that with RSS feeds they are very easy to keep up with. (They tell you when they've been updated).

That's enough links for now. I hope you find some of these useful.

Be well. /jeff

Leadership Myths

I've just returned from the annual conference of the Association of Leadership Educators. This is a group that has been in existence since 1991. It's a group that I really have enjoyed my time with. I'll be writing more about the conference in a later blog entry.

In the meantime, the following came across the last couple of days.... I find this most intruiging. I also find myself agreeing with much of it.

Be well... /jeff

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The Half-Truths of Leadership

Leaders have far less control over organizations than people believe, but they can be more effective if they understand leadership myths and use them to their institutions´ advantage.
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/bmag/sbsm0605/feature_leadership.html

The Science of Team Success

Scientific American has an interesting e-newsletter (Weekly Review) that I subscribe to. It almost always has fascinating articles. The current issue is no exception.

In an article entitled: The Science of Team Success, they write about a growing body of research shows that groups can systematically enhance their performance.

The various e-newsletters of Scientific American can be accessed here. They do have some fascinating stuff.

Be well. /jeff

Poetry and Business

Who would have thought that these two things might actually appear in the same sentence. I find the item that I've linked most intriguing.

This excerpt comes from a newsletter that I receive from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Leadership and Change (Podcast with Transcript)

Dana Gioia on the Close Connection between Business and Poetry Dana Gioia(pronounced Joy-a) claims to be the only person in history who went to business school to be a poet. Having earned a degree from Stanford's Graduate school of business, he worked 15 years in corporate life, eventually becoming vice president of General Foods. In 1991, Gioia wrote an influential collection of essays titled, "Can Poetry Matter?" in which he explored, among other themes, the nexus between business and poetry. Since 2002, he has been chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts where he has overseen programs aimed at making Shakespeare and poetry recitation more popular in the U.S. Gioia, who is a speaker at the Wharton Leadership Conference in Philadelphia on June 7, talked about these ideas with management professor Michael Useem and Knowledge@Wharton.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1745.cfm

You can subscribe to the Knowledge @ Wharton newsletter here: Sign Up

Be well. /jeff

Visual Thinking Tools

Anyone who has spent time with me in training or in a class, knows what a proponent I am of using visual tools to help better understand situations. We live in a time when it's too easy to get lost in a deluge of information.... the beauty of visual tools, is they allow us to more clearly see through all the data.

For several years now, I've been a user of a mind mapping program called Mind Jet. I've even created a version of my resume (above) with it. It does generate interesting looks and conversation. The folks who produce this software are getting ready to release a new, even more robust, version.

If you want to learn more about this tool, you might want to sign up for a free webinar that's being offered on June 5. Here are the details: Idea Mapping: Jamie Nast Hosts Free Mindjet Webinar - June 5, 2007. I think this could be a pretty good session.

Be well.

Ciao Venizia and Asolo

The neuroleadership summit certainly has pushed my brain cells.... I'm still processing on it, so don't have much to share at this point...

I will say this... there is some compelling neuroscience research that supports some specific ways in which leadership can be taught/developed. This is what I'll be following up on for my own work, (and sharing here).

I must say, the location was quite an amazing place... Asolo is about an hour drive from Venice. The history of the place is deep.... many of the giants from Italian/World history spent time in this lovely corner of the world. Here's a link to some info on Asolo.

Ciao from Italia.

NeuroLeadership

What is this? I'm not entirely sure, but I will be finding out very soon. As I type this, I'm taking a break from packing for a flight to Venice (Veniza) Italy. I will be attending the "NeuroLeadership Summit" in Asolo.

What I know at this point is that we're going to hear a lot of cutting edge stuff related to brain development, the wiring, how its formed and how it can be reshaped. And we'll be coupling that with what we know about good leadership development work.

It's going to be interesting to see where this leads.... I'm excited about it as I think it's going to be a most mind stretching experience. Here are a couple of resources I'm reviewing in preparation:

The Neuroscience of Leadership
Webinar on Neuroscience of Leadership

Be well. /jeff

Toxic and Bad Leaders

On Monday, I posted an item about "neurotic" leaders.... to continue the theme of leadership styles that most of us would not prefer to work with here are some links to info on the concepts of Toxic Leadership, and Bad Leaders.

In order to better understand the more positive aspects of leadership and the various theories of leadership, it's probably quite useful to take a look at the shadow or darker sides of the concept as well. I'll refrain from commenting on any of our current "leaders", but I'm sure if you look through these resources you'll realize just how often we find ourselves surrounded by these less than ideal leaders.

Jean Lipman-Blumen has written: "The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why We Follow Destructive Bosses and Corrupt Politicians - and How We Can Survive Them", (New York: Oxford
University Press), 2005.

An article by Jean on this concept can be found at: Ivey Business Journal

Here's a most provacative exceprt from the article:

The real tragedy of the human condition is not that we all must die, but, rather, that we choose to live by grand illusions, rather than to face our fears. Hence, we fall into the clutches of toxic leaders who promise us the moon, knowing full well they cannot deliver. In the worst of all cases, toxic leaders fall under the spell of their own grand illusions and believe that they can.

The second resource on the darker side of leadership comes from Barbara Kellerman and is called: "BAD LEADERSHIP: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters" (Harvard Business School Press, September 2004).

A short synopsis of the book says: "Bad Leadership argues that it's time to embrace a more honest, holistic view of leadership that acknowledges the dark side of human nature and its impact on leaders and followers alike. In a departure from conventional thinking, Barbara Kellerman contends that bad leadership is not an aberration, but a ubiquitous and insidious part of everyday life that must be carefully examined and better understood." "Kellerman identifies two fundamental categories of bad leadership - ineffective and unethical - and highlights the seven types of bad leadership that are the most prevalent: incompetent, rigid, intemperate, callous, corrupt, insular, and evil."

Here are some resources that Harvard has availabe on Bad Leadership. It includes links to additional items and a video of Kellerman.

That's all for now... especially about the "less than desireable" sides of leadership. Coming next.... NeuroLeadership. Stay tuned....

Be well.

Neurotic Leadership

Okay... over the next couple of weeks you'll be seeing several postings from me on the topic of NeuroLeadership. (more on that in the coming days).

Today, I'd like to point you to some interesting work coming out of Pepperdine that takes a look at neurotic styles of leadership/managment. Or to use language from Star Wars.... "the dark side" of management.

Here's an excerpt from the article, plus the link to the entire piece....

Effective executives strive to manage their firms using sound management practices. They lead by developing strategy and implementing it. They adopt strategic management practices that rely on logic, rational decision making and inductive sense making. Productive work places are planned, orderly, caring, team-based, and learning-and-development-oriented. Collins and Porras[1] and Collins[2] advocate managerial styles that build long lasting endurance through use of rational and thoughtful processes. However, there are managers who may mean well, but whose styles are anxious and idiosyncratic. Their neurotic styles tend to undermine and obliterate the effectiveness of their organizations and people and lead to reckless results.

Link to article: "Seven Neurotic Styles of Management" Have you ever worked for any of these styles??? I hope not, but I'm guessing most of us have at one point or another.

Be well.... /jeff

In the Beginning....

Okay... so this isn't as big a deal as "the big bang"..... but it is a beginning for me. My entry into the Blogosphere.

I currently run an e-list that is hosted on Topica.com. My intention is to ultimately move all of that over to here. In the meantime, if you'd like to subscribe to the "ShareAndLearn" e-mail list, just click here: http://www.topica.com/lists/shareandlearn On this page you will find a subscribe button, and you'll find a link to the archives of this list. That will give you a pretty good idea of the kinds of things (and frequency) that are posted.

This blog will pretty much continue in the spirit of the shareandlearn list. It's meant as a way to bring cool, innovative, and thought provoking ideas together in one place (at least for me). The rest of you are welcome to join up as well.

Each posting of the ShareAndLearn List always ends with two quotes. I share those here as just another way of introducing to you the spirit and inspiration behind this.

Be well.... /jeff


"Gramma said when you come on something good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find; that way, the good spreads out where no telling it will go. Which is right."
- Forrest Carter, The Education of Little Tree.

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists
- Eric Hoffer