7 Disarmingly Simple Truthsabout organizations and leaders to help you change the world : 7 Disarmingly Simple Truthsabout organizations and leaders to help you change the world 1 © Copyright 2012 IntelliVen LLC
7 Disarmingly Simple Truths About Organizations and Leaders that will help you Change the World : 7 Disarmingly Simple Truths About Organizations and Leaders that will help you Change the World Get Loose – Top leaders turn off of autopilot and break through conventional boundaries
Get Clear – Know what problem you solve, for whom, why, how, and how well
Get Aligned – Decide what kind of leader to be and collect followers
Plan Change – Decide what must change, why, and how
Do & Review – It pays to pay attention
Get Help – No one does much alone
Focus – Act intentionally, persist variously
Grow – Scale to increase value, impact, and opportunity 2
Get Loose : Get Loose 3 Top leaders turn off of autopilot and break through conventional boundaries
Nine-Dots exercise : Nine-Dots exercise Why is this problem hard for some people to solve?
Solve it
Solve it with 4 lines 4 Connect all 9 dots using straight lines
without retracing any lines or lifting the
writing implement.
To solve with 4 lines requires breaking through the imaginary wall implied by the array of dots : To solve with 4 lines requires breaking through the imaginary wall implied by the array of dots 5
Nine-Dots exercise : Nine-Dots exercise Why is this problem hard for some people to solve?
Solve it
Solve it with 4 lines
Solve it with 3 lines 6 Connect all 9 dots using straight lines
without retracing any lines or lifting the
writing implement.
To solve with 3 lines requires changing the size of the dots relative to the lines : To solve with 3 lines requires changing the size of the dots relative to the lines 7
An alternate solution for 3 lines using the same principle : An alternate solution for 3 lines using the same principle 8
Nine-Dots exercise : Nine-Dots exercise Why is this problem hard for some people to solve?
Solve it
Solve it with 4 lines
Solve it with 3 lines
Solve it with 1 line 9 Connect all 9 dots using straight lines
without retracing any lines or lifting the
writing implement.
A 1-line solution breaks the paradigm of the line’s width : A 1-line solution breaks the paradigm of the line’s width 10
Another 1-line solution breaks the paradigm of the medium on which the dots are placed : Another 1-line solution breaks the paradigm of the medium on which the dots are placed 11
Other 1-line solutions : Other 1-line solutions 12 In non-euclidian geometry all lines are the same line and connect at infinity!
Nine-Dots exercise : Nine-Dots exercise Why is this problem hard for some people to solve?
Solve it
Solve it with 4 lines
Solve it with 3 lines
Solve it with 1 line
What if it were a dot-connecting business with lines being cost? How would you maximize dot-connectedness with minimum lines? 13 Connect all 9 dots using straight lines
without retracing any lines or lifting the
writing implement.
Maximum dot-connectedness with minimum lines : Maximum dot-connectedness with minimum lines 14 12 points of
connection with
no lines
A first-grader came up with this solution : A first-grader came up with this solution 15 16 points of
connection with
no lines
Summary : Summary We operate on autopilot and place imaginary boundaries everywhere
Great leaders see past boundaries to find new solutions to everyday problems that create and deliver new value from existing resources 16
Get clear : Get clear 17 Know what problem you solve, for whom, why, how, and how well
Get clear about what problem the organization solves for whom, why, how, and how well : Get clear about what problem the organization solves for whom, why, how, and how well 18 The purpose of an organization is to solve a problem for a customer
Most people relate well to one or two of the three dimensions
It is hard to think in three dimensions
If you do get to think in three dimensions it is hard to stay there
Example Market-Problem-Solution : Toms of Maine provides: for: in order to: WHAT WHO WHY Example Market-Problem-Solution 19
Get aligned : Get aligned 20 Decide what kind of leader to be and collect followers
A leader… : A leader… 21 Sets Direction
Aligns Resources
Motivates Action A leader also:
Develops
Holds
Nurtures
Communicates and
Drives to achieve
a vision 3
Key leader responsibilities : Key leader responsibilities Keep the mission, long-term vision and operating status, goals and objectives clear and visible both inside and outside of the organization
Set up, manage and nurture relationships with outside stakeholders including the board, investors, founders, bankers, public, partners, etc.
Take care of the assets of the organization and strive to maximize their usefulness to generate the best possible return to stakeholders
Find and develop opportunities for step-function increase in the rate of growth (e.g., entirely new markets, offerings, channels, partners, acquisitions, etc.)
Resolve operating issues and crises that arise
Identify and drive what is most important to change next
Personally do that which must be done and that no one else can possibly do 22
The Dream : The Dream 23 With growth comes:
More impact
More opportunity
More value created
More jobs
New things for growing professionals to learn and do
The Reality : The Reality 24 Graphics Developed by:
Bouzha Cookman, Partner
Catlin & Cookman Group
The leader(ship) must constantly decide what is most important to change next and to make that change happen in time : The leader(ship) must constantly decide what is most important to change next and to make that change happen in time 25
In the face of turbulence that comes with growth and changing internal and external circumstances there are three options : In the face of turbulence that comes with growth and changing internal and external circumstances there are three options 26 Graphics Developed by:
Bouzha Cookman, Partner
Catlin & Cookman Group No change — most of the time no-change is the right answer; constant change would be chaos and could be disastrous
Change a little —always only changing a little leads to “creeping incrementalism” and eventual vulnerability
Change a lot — if you always do only what you have done to be successful up to now you will surely fail (eventually)
The Full Reality : The Full Reality 27 What must change next? Graphics Developed by:
Bouzha Cookman, Partner
Catlin & Cookman Group
There are many ways to lead : There are many ways to lead 28 Decide what kind of leader to be and then collect followers
(see: Lessons from a Dancing Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ)
A team of aligned leaders has awesome potential : A team of aligned leaders has awesome potential 29
No one can do much alone; the best results come from a win-win synergy that binds a few strong players : Leaders of any size organization (i.e. 20 to 200,000) who get a small group (3 to 7) of strong players all pulling hard in the same direction for an extended period can accomplish anything! They all:
Seek to accomplish the same thing
Have immense desire, drive, capacity, and competence
Have complementary skills and compatible orientations
Have instinct and innate drive to work with the others
Always give all the credit for any success to everyone else in the organization No one can do much alone; the best results come from a win-win synergy that binds a few strong players 30
Conscious development of leadership structure improves the odds of success : Conscious development of leadership structure improves the odds of success 31 Sets intent consistent with personal,
organization, and owner goals;
Builds & aligns team;
Plan & drive to implement Upper
Manager Middle
Manager Middle
Manager Middle
Manager LEADER
Plan change : Plan change 32 Decide what must change, why, and how
The core leaders, management team, and future leaders use the Change Framework to determine what to change next : The core leaders, management team, and future leaders use the Change Framework to determine what to change next 33 What really good things happen if we change? What really bad things happen if we do not? change? What we must do to achieve the Target state
A Roadmap for Change : A Roadmap for Change 34
Do - review : Do - review 35 It pays to pay attention
Slide 36: 36 Implement a regular, cyclic projection cycle Set what to track
along the way to
achieving
overall success Project Next Define measure of success
Get help : Get help 37 No one does much alone
A “reach-out” support structure improves the odds of success : A “reach-out” support structure improves the odds of success 38 Sets intent consistent with personal,
organization, and owner goals;
Builds & aligns team;
Plan & drive to implement Upper
Manager Middle
Manager Middle
Manager Middle
Manager CORE GROUP LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY 3-7 top execs aligned to accomplish objectives as a cohesive unit:
With established relationships
With desire, drive, capacity, and competence
With complementary skills and compatible orientations
With instinct and innate drive to work with each other
Who give credit for success to everyone else
Who are driven to grow and empower others over time 10-30 current and future leaders being
developed to manage and spearhead change;
Each member is important to the others
Have mutual, but differing interests and abilities, roles, and assignments
Participate in a series of workshops to relate to each other re: what's working, what's not, what has been learned, and what's next.
Establishes each member's importance to the others
Forum for the Core Group to set the pace, keep everyone committed and on track Mindset: Chairman
What are you trying to do & how is it going? How do you know?
Challenge thinking; Give advice
& counsel
Areas of concern:
• Individual & collective focus & goals
• Consistent point of accountability
• Access to resources ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD LEADER Inside the organization Outside the organization
grow : grow 39 Scale to increase value, impact, and opportunity
Doing things right early increases the odds of long-term growth and success : Doing things right early increases the odds of long-term growth and success 40
With growth in size and complexity: add just enough structure for maximum effectiveness : With growth in size and complexity: add just enough structure for maximum effectiveness 41 Dot.Com IBM
Accenture Federal Government
Electric Utility Larger organizations need more structure
In small organizations each person does a lot of different things
With growth, people need to specialize and processes & systems are required to get things done well. Your Co
focus : focus 42 Act intentionally, persist variously
A portfolio of projects yields poor odds for one person’s success in any of them : A portfolio of projects yields poor odds for one person’s success in any of them 43 PROs:
Working on many things seems like it should increase the odds that at least something will go right
If nothing goes right you can blame it on being too busy
Time is spent based on interrupts from email, texts, tweets, calls, conversations, knocks on the door, etc.
Leads to “Hero complex” CONs:
Goals are not met because each gets too little time, attention, and effort
Work real hard but get little done
Get tired, lose confidence, feel ineffective
Inflated sense of self importance
Focused effort increases the odds of success : Focused effort increases the odds of success Sort projects in priority order
Spend all time on highest priority project until one more hour does not further raise the odds of success
Guarantee that if things don’t work out another project will be assigned…and if that one doesn‘t work out yet another will be assigned and so on
If six projects fail then it may be time to look for another job
With limited resources, don’t try to get everything right but be sure to get something right! 44 See Big Rocks article
Slide 45: Distance from center => how developed one is
in that dimension of life. 45 Work Golf Spouse Civic Exercise Spiritual House Stuff Friends Reading Yoga SELF Personal Strategy 4
Slide 46: Connecting the dots shows where a person is at a point
in time. 46 Personal Strategy 4
Slide 47: Dashed lines show where a person would like to be along each dimension.
Flow is achieved as one works hard to make progress in a specific
area. 47 Personal Strategy 4
Great leaders ask people to do what they like and what they are good at in order to achieve alignment and increase the odds of happiness and performance : Great leaders ask people to do what they like and what they are good at in order to achieve alignment and increase the odds of happiness and performance 48