Let’s talk about business leadership. Recently I was asked my opinion of General Motors and what I would do about their current challenges. I read on MSN today that they are evaluating their brands, Hummer in particular. Good thing I would say perhaps three years too late though. About four years ago I started to notice a lot of these aluminum bodied symbols of high end SUV. I am not sure I can properly describe my opinion of the brand so I will say no more on that. Around that time though I approached an H2 owner in a parking lot and asked in a friendly way, “how many miles per gallon does one of those get?” His answer: 6. “SIX man I thought it got at least ten.”

As I said in light of recent developments in oil cost you can understand why GM might be looking at options for this brand of vehicle.

Did you know that it the late 90’s GM stock traded as high as 89$ per share? I am no expert on things financial and I have no idea if they split the stock or not but seeing today’s value at $10.72 really speaks volumes to the challenge they face.

What is this institution to do? How do they reclaim their leadership role in the world of automotive manufacturers? If you were the CEO what would you do? What steps would you take?

I would love to hear your opinion…

In the coming days I will post my opinion on what can be done in answer to this question. In the meantime what is your opinion.

Contemplate well

Ron

Today we close out the question on inventory with Norman Katz. In this post Norman takes on a very difficult question regarding inventory levels. I will add here that in my experience the company that can figure out the optimal inventory level for their market will be far better off than their competitor. As they say cash is king and cashflow is the heart of a business. tying up too much cash in inventory can be heart stopping while too little can be customer losing. lets check out Normans perspective.

 I suspect the real question being asked here has more to do with how much inventory should be kept on hand and ordered each time.  While inventory level calculations and formulas can be found on the Internet, I think that the answer lies in a combination of science and senses.

If you don’t know the answers to all of the above questions, then start slow.  You’ll go through some trial-and-error, and you may have to discount your errors to get them out of your shop and make way for more appealing items.  Don’t over-commit to anything - especially purchasing large quantities from suppliers in exchange for discounts - until you begin to have a better knowledge of your customers and what’s going to sell and what’s going to sit.

Great advice from Norman Katz consultant and supply chain expert. If you want to contact Norman directly feel free to let me know at ronn.hurst@gmail.com or checkout his website at www.katzscan.com

lead well

Well two days ago we read Irene’s argument for leadership development, today she will share her model with us. This model has an elegant simplicity to it yet is complex and thorough in its deployment. I love the elements it represents as the clarity from each dimension of the model resonates deeply with the leader inside me. I hope that you too see the power of this model and engage Irene in a discussion on how to deploy this model in your own life.

“In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people; they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.” Ken Blanchard

Q Strengths develop not simply by appreciating our wins, strengths, skills and advancing our learning; but by changing the paradigm by also using our changes, challenges, stressors, transitions, turning points and even crises to build powerful insights, tools and strategies that help us develop:

QI-IQ-Enhanced mind power, greater whole brain thinking, the ability to think faster, better, farther, differently and more while building greater effectiveness and action-ability under stress.

Q2-EQ- Emotional intelligence or EQ/EI is our learned ability to understand and manage our emotions, understand the emotions of others while using our thoughts and emotions to inspire, engage and lead the best in ourselves and others.

Q3- SQ-The power within. Spiritual quotient, the intangible but powerful connection with one’s higher power, the greater good, the G-d force; a quotient that is critical because it puts our brains into the alpha state that is a critical driver of our other two powerful Q strengths.

Change the paradigm?  Fail forward?  Develop a different perspective about those actions and events that have traditionally been considered negative?  Yes, now more than ever before we need to cultivate the powerful habit, the new optic, eyesight or perspective that can help us see the changes, challenges, competition, stressors, transitions, turning points and even crises we face with new eyes that accelerate and sustain our 3Q Edge.

Are you ready to lead?  Do you want to become a change agent?  Is it time to live, lead and succeed to purpose?  Consider this, in every great challenge there is a great learning, it is our ability to step away from ego, to move past our need to be validated and cultivate our ability to become a problem transformer, a leader, a pioneer, a trailblazer that can help us move molehills and mountains.

“Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present.” Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City

The choice is yours, the time is now to get off the fence and decide if you will follow or lead by developing your Q strengths. Will you be challenged by what you can achieve by using your new eyes do develop your 3Q Edge™, or will you stay in the comfort zone and wait for the next wave of change to lead you?

Irene

So in the coming days you can expect to see other posts from Irene offering practical real world advice on how you can enhance your strengths in these three Q dimensions. If you have any questions or comments lets start the discussion. Irene is eager to engage with you and share how you can enhance your leadership effectiveness.

lead well

It is with this sentiment in mind that we post a special two part article. Recently one of our community asked an intriguing question about inventory. This is not a focus of the develop a leader dot com community yet in consideration of our need to balance execution and consideration we sought the advice of an expert and asked him to respond to the question. We are very fortunate to have Norman Katz agree to lend his years of expertise on supply chain to our community. If you want to learn more about Norman feel free to contact me so I can put you into contact with him directly.

In the mean time part 1 of our response to the question:

What should an entrepreneur be thinking about as they start a new retail business from an inventory management point of view?

First and foremost, get a computer system. A retail point-of-sale (POS) system that will track inventory and sales with integrated accounting features is a must. The ability to build a customer database is preferable, but an option that may not have value depending on the type of retail business.

Find an “all-in-one” POS system where the hardware is constructed all together AND is known to work with the software that must control the different pieces of hardware: cash drawer, pole display, receipt printer, credit card swipe, etc. You may find a POS hardware/software vendor that can hook you into a credit card processing service all together.

From a strictly inventory management point of view, I’ll start with some of the obvious:

1. Inspect goods as they arrive for damages and replacements; pay your supplier invoices based on the receipt of the right goods in the right condition.
2. Cycle count your stockroom and floor inventory to determine loss: theft from customers or theft from employees. Thus, do NOT use your employees to cycle count! Do this independently.
3. Protect valuable goods in locked cases on the floor and in locked cages or secure cabinets in the stockroom.

Some good practical advice for the community, especially those considering an entrepreneurial venture into the retail sales field. In the second part of this article Norman will discuss the more strategic question of inventory levels.

If you have a question on this post or any other for that matter contact myself at ronn.hurst@gmail.com or post a comment on the blog and we will be sure to get baack with you.

lead well

A few weeks back I shared with you that we were excited to bring to you the thoughts of world class leadership coach Irene Rivka Becker. It has taken a while for Irene to organize her schedule to post here on develop a leader dot com but here it is her first post. We wanted to introduce this post to you directly because it presents such a strong argument for the need for leadership development that we could not resist the opportunity to provide some commentary.   Irene couples the thoughts of well known leadership theorists, authors and real world leaders into a well written argument. I have been writing about, studying and applying leadership concepts for over two decades now and it makes me want to sign up to learn more about how to lead.

This post is split into two parts the first the argument, the second the model of leadership development Irene has successfully deployed with leaders around the world. You will find the follow up on July 4th. I hope you will enjoy reading this article as much as I did

Lead well

Ron

Developing your 3Q Advantage

The imperative to build and sustain greater personal, inter-personal and business leadership is not important, it is critical. And, yet most of us would agree that at a time when our access to knowledge, information, technology and training are unsurpassed in human history, leadership is conspicuous in its absence.●  “The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.”  Warren Bennis, Leadership Expert, Harvard Professor, Author

The enormous body of research around leadership clearly demonstrates that while the rare individual is born with the qualities of a leader, the vast majority of people learn to lead. 

However, learning to lead in a rapidly changing world, a flat and increasingly competitive workplace, marketplace and society means learning to see our strengths and our challenges, our stressors and turning points, our most difficult transitions or crises with new eyes.●”The real source of wealth and capital in this new era is not material things.  it is the human mind, the human spirit, the human imagination, and our faith in the future.”  Steve Forbes, Editor and Chief of Forbes Magazine, CEO Forbes Inc.

Leadership used to be defined by the ability to control and master the mode of production, but we are now living in a new world where the catalyst for business success is human creativity, potential, action-ability, effectiveness.  Inspiring, motivating and leading the best in ourselves.●”Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

The new leaders and those who aspire to greater leadership in their work and their lives need to develop three core strengths, three important competencies I call the Q strengths.  Competencies that help them see differently, see more, and see farther while actualizing the ability to create the vision, inspire, engage and lead the action that will take them forward, faster and better than ever before.What are these Q strengths? They are strengths I discovered in my personal and professional journey. Strengths that have helped me, and have helped my clients live, lead and succeed to purpose. Strengths that drive human passion, purpose and potential in the face of the multiplicity of changes, challenges, stressors and crises we face.  They are the strengths of pioneers who refuse to settle for complacency or mediocrity, and strive to open a new pathway, a powerful pathway to their greatest potential while inspiring others to do the same.  They are the catalyst for the mind share, the heart share that drives market share.

Irene
In part two of this post you will learn about the three Q’s that Irene has discovered and their importance in your development as a leader.

Lead well

Motivation

You know I have avoided writing directly on motivation for some time now. Yes I reference it, yes I nibble around the edges of the concept but a direct post where I say this is how to motivate your team in 6 easy steps no I have not done that. Why?

As I mentioned in the post hey-gallup-management-journal-good-job. I just do not believe that motivation can be sustained from an external source in a life giving, team building way. You can certainly introduce external forces that help encourage team members to be motivated sure, but motivate them directly no I do not believe you can do that long term.

How do you motivate people then?

Right this is getting confusing did not you just say you cannot motivate your team?

Yes I did my point here is that beyond creating an environment where people feel motivated there are actionable steps that can be taken to enhance a teams motivation level.

Choose the right people

How do you hire?

• We believe in the fog the mirror check Ron, if they breathe they are hired
• We believe in minimizing the pain Ron, if they have the skills we hire them quickly
• We don’t hire Ron, we just spread the workload around when someone leaves that saves money
• We hire the best fit Ron, we wait till we have both the skill fit as well as the culture fit

I have not honestly met anyone that would answer anything but the last two. Response three is a recipe for potential long term death so we don’t have to worry about that one either. Yet in truth I have witnessed individuals who do options one two and three all the time. There is little more stupid in my opinion as a leader than hiring someone for the wrong reasons. Hire the right person for the job, hire to culture fit, competence fit, skill fit, motivation fit. Do not simply fill a hole with the wrong person. It is stupid for the individual and the team.

Build the right team

So you are not hiring but are choosing a project team. Believe it or not the exact same criteria apply here. Choose your team for both culture and skill fit. Often I recommend selecting only the most motivated individuals for special project assignments. Treat the role as a perk for high performance. Shower appropriate praise on the team and individuals to build the demand for such assignments. Teams are not about equality and niceness they are about complimentary skills, performance, and the ability to work effectively together. Why the heck would you choose someone who would undermine this?!

Coach people to perform

They say patience is a virtue. Well it is also a necessary characteristic of a leader. We must have the patience to coach our team members to perform. I once listened to a Ken Blanchard webinar where Ken shared that he conducted a study. He asked managers what their primary expectations of their direct reports were. He then asked the same question of the direct reports of their manager. Surprise, surprise the lists did not match! Reality check: how does your team member know how they are doing against your expectations if they have not heard or do not understand your expectations in the first place?!

Provide your team clear expectations always and repeat them whenever there is a chance for miscommunication (that would be a lot!)

Then as your team members behave in ways that support the team’s goals give them positive affirming feedback. When their behaviors are inconsistent give them corrective feedback by focusing on the behavior and its implications not on the person.

By in large this process will work wonders for the vast majority of those who are on your team. It will not work for those who have their own selfish agenda and these people need a different approach ;-)

Lead well

Ron

First question that comes to your mind - “Is this Logan guy out of his mind?  I drive an Excursion an 8.1Liter V8 Yukon XL, a Hummer, a Suburban, a Land Rover…etc!”

Answer:  Quite possibly, yes.  It is a sad state of affairs when a guy who is 33 years old is remembering longingly back to his ‘youth’ when Daddy gave him a buck and sent him on a walk to fill up the gas tank for the lawn mower… and got to keep the change!  Frankly, I never expected that I would be talking like my grandfather at this age.

Truthfully, there are many ways that the reality of the $5.00 gallon of gas can be used as an advantage in leadership and management scenarios.  The question is, how do we turn this nightmare into a dream?  Well, if not a dream, at least put a little positive spin on it within your company.

The first thought that comes to mind is embracing the telecommuting model where appropriate.  There are two key concepts that have to be accepted in order for a manager to be able to manage remote employees:

• There are many jobs that can be effectively accomplished remotely
• There are many people who can handle the responsibility of self-management

These bullets are my opinion.  I am fairly certain that they fit the mold of reality.  I speak from experience, as I am sitting here in my home office in Oregon typing this while taking a break from my ‘day job’ in the mid-west.  I have also led a team of telecommuters in the past.  We were in Oregon, California, and Colorado working together to get the job done.

One of the things that I hear managers worry far too often over is the following, “I feel like I’ve lost control of my people.  How do I know that they are working?”

When we begin talking about the up’s and down’s of telecommuting, the first thing I tell folks is the following:  when I began telecommuting for the first time back in 2004, I was shocked at how fast I got my work done.  Without the office chatter, constant interruptions, bull-sessions, etc.

I was getting through my projects in 1/3 of the time.  At first, I did not know what to do with myself.  I felt like I was not contributing enough, when in fact, my productivity was on the rise.

So, a little solitaire?  So what!  An ‘in-cubical vacation’ one day a month?  So what!  We hire people to get a job done, right?  If the job is done, I am a happy camper — and a happy supervisor for that matter.  Do not think that the employee does not appreciate a little leeway in this scenario.  They quickly come to understand that they have a good thing going and their level of loyalty increases at the same time as their willingness to jump in and help wherever they can.

Now, what do managers screw up with telecommuters (me with my former employees as well)?

• Setting new telecommuters up for failure by not vetting them well enough, or giving not them a ‘trial’ period during which they can opt-out of the option — telecommuting is not for everyone
• Not keeping them in the loop
• Forgetting that they need “atta-boy’s” just like the rest of the team
• Not making sure that the telecommuter is taking breaks and lunches (yes, ensuring that they walk away from the desk)
• Plenty more, I am sure

If Telecommuting doesn’t work for you company, why not look into some ideas that are a close 2^nd?

• What about the 4 10’s?
• How about a night shift where people can drive against the traffic on the way to or from work?
• How about ‘paperwork day’ working from home twice a month for employees that this makes sense for?
• How about setting up a car pool bulletin board in the break room?
• Sell raffle tickets for gas cards?  Well, there are limits…

Are these good ideas?  Are the awful?  Let’s start a discussion that lets us find opportunities to embrace the $150 barrel of oil that can be viewed as something close to a raise in pay for our employees.

-Logan Cashwell

Logan@TheCashwells.com

How exactly would a leader go about creating this elusive characteristic of a high performance employee?

Is there something that can be done, some trick to use, strategy to employ? How do you do it?

I often wonder is those in leadership roles even ask these questions. Do they take the time to consider how their team is performing and what role they play in supporting performance? Do they just expect their team to do what they are told, what they are expected to do? Do they reward those who perform well or do they see that as the standard expectation?

Many questions, few answers thus far. In our post of June 22 we discussed how leaders create an environment where employees are motivated to achieve. When we consider engagement this is a very similar term. Engaged employees are highly motivated employees. These two go hand in hand. They are so often seem together they can often be considered synonymous.

I have a great deal of respect for the Gallup Q12 model which asks a series of twelve related questions that get to the heart of an employees engagement. Things such as expectations, resources, feedback, meaningful work and relationships are all referenced in these questions.  As I have mentioned before I believe every starting leader should be required to read First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Kurt Coffman. It is an important read for an emerging leader.

Rather than go into detail on this book and share my thoughts on it, I would like to hear from you. Starting in July we here at developing leaders will be sponsoring a series of virtual book application workshops. We will start On Monday August 4^th and continue on through September 15^th studying one chapter a week. In the next week the details of this plan will be announced. In the mean time pick up the book and get reading. First Break All the Rules

This is going to be great…

Ron

As the site grows we are finding that people searching for answers to some pretty practical questions are finding us here at develop a leader dot com. For instance as we were analyzing web traffic we found the following key word phrase and noticed that Google ranked Developing Leaders as result number 8.

What can human resource management do to develop leaders and managers?

This may seem like a “so what” moment but seriously this is not a question we have addressed in any way here on the site. So what the heck lets take it on shall we…

One of the challenges with HR management is that they tend to be on the sidelines in many organizations. They simply are not treated as equal partners in the organizational value chain. As a result many HR departments are treated as service providers instead of partners. How can HR managers develop leaders? Well first they need to look in the mirror and overcome the inherent disadvantage.

I have met many HR professionals. Some were excellent administrators, others fantastic empathizers, others strict policy makers and yet others create geniuses. What I did not see many of were those with substantial leadership ability, business acumen and technical HR skill. Many were simply not multi-dimensional enough to hold their own with other business leaders. This is a clear generalization I know yet there is an opportunity here. This is the point I wish to make, not the criticism but the opportunity.

Each business leader must bring their technical expertise; this is part of the price of admission. To gain the influence to develop the next generation of organizational leaders, you need to bring more. You must demonstrate through your capability and experience the ability to be an equal partner in the business enterprise. So learn to read a balance sheet, interpret a cash flow statement, cast a compelling vision, lead a team through a substantial change. You cannot settle for the opportunity to become an in-sourced training department. What will this lead to outsourcing of you and your department of course. Have you not heard of the trend of outsourcing the HR function?

Develop solid results in your area of expertise, and make valued contributions outside of it where possible. Volunteer to be a part of cross functional project teams and help bring in significant performances. Challenge the status quo by seeking out and changing tired old practices in collaboration with those in the organization you can count as allies. Most of all develop yourself into an expert leader with a reputation for delivering results. This is your best shot at a seat at the table where you can influence the development of other organizational leaders.

Lead well

I want to talk about the response from Anand Vidwansa a software engineer from India. What struck me about Anand’s response was the simplicity of it. No simplicity as in simple but rather as in elegant. Anand is a firm believer in the power of experience to learn.

Put yourself in trouble and try to come up with a solution. Experience is the best teacher that can not be earned by reading books.

Personally I don’t go out of my way to find trouble but I definitely do not shy away from it either. I think Anand is on to something very important with this concept… Experience is the best teacher.

I particularly liked the way Anand laid out his learning process.

I step up and take new challenges. I prefer to be more flexible and not bind to a certain set of rules. I have evolved through my experience and not by any mentor/leader. This has taught me so many things that I don’t think I would be able to learn otherwise.

The only addition I would make to his comments is the importance of reflection and adjustment. Remember the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Consciousness is a necessary element of experiential learning that most people overlook.

So as much as I loved Anand’s response for the elegant simplicity it represented it was missing some key aspects of development (reflection and adjustment) . I also felt troubled by the lack of new ideas or thoughts being injected into the learning system. Again we must learn to continue to be effective and learning the same things over and over again is not learning it is insanity. Anand did not claim this was the case for him, and I doubt it was. I make the point to say how critical it is to have multiple inputs into your learning process

Lead and learn well

Ron