Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

21st Century Leadership Advice from the Mid 20th Century

I have been reading David Halberstam’s latest (and sadly, last) book, The Coldest Winter.  It is an absolutely fascinating account of the political and military issues surrounding the US involvement in the Korean War.

Last night, I read a passage that I want to share it.  When President Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea, he appointed General Matt Ridgway to replace him.  Mr. Halberstam makes the following point about General Ridgway’s leadership style.

• “Ridgway’s concept of leadership was better suited for a more egalitarian era.  He tended not to impose his will on his men, but to allow the men under him to find something within themselves that would make them more confident, more purposeful fighting men.  It was their confidence in themselves that would make them fight well, he believed, not so much their belief in him.  His job was to teach them to find that quality in themselves.”

This passage was written about events that occurred in December 1950; 57 years ago.  If anything, this is a more “egalitarian era” than then.  Matt Ridgway’s ideas about leadership ring true today. 

In my forthcoming book, Straight Talk for Success: Common Sense Ideas That Won’t Let You Down, I argue that career and life success begins with self confidence – and this was before I read what Mr. Halberstam had to say about General Ridgway.  I believe that self confidence and a sense of purpose are key to success in any venture.  It was interesting for me to see that, like much of my common sense advice, I am echoing something from the past in my book on career and life success.

The common sense point here is simple.  Whether you are a leader in a large company, or a small business owner, find ways to help the people who work for you to become self confident and purposeful, and you’ll build a strong organization.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Leadership Solutions

Recently, I read a new book, Leadership Solutions, by David Weiss, Vince Molinaro and Liane Davey.  Leadership solutions is a follow up to their book The Leadership Gap.  In this book, the authors suggest that the leadership gap is as big, if not bigger, than ever and offer advice on how to close it.

Their idea on closing the gap is based on the concept of Holistic Leadership.  I like the ideas behind holistic leadership – if for no other reason, they are similar to what I present in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  According to the authors, Holistic Leadership has six elements:

1. Customer Leadership
2. Business Strategy Leadership
3. Culture and Values Leadership
4. Organizational Leadership
5. Team Leadership
6. Personal Leadership

They also suggest that leaders must have well developed skills in five areas:

1. Sensing
2. Creating
3. Implementing
4. Connecting
5. Advocating

In Chapter 5, they present a “30 Cell Grid of Holistic Leadership Behaviors: The Individual Dimension.”  This is a great concept tied to an unfortunate name.  Basically, the authors created a matrix with the five leadership skills on one axis and the six leadership elements on the other.  Each cell describes an important leadership practice.

For example, the cell at the intersection of “Creating” and “Culture and Values Leadership” says, “Describes the way of doing things that will engage employees and align them with the strategic objectives of the organization.”  An effective leader – one who closes the gap – will be proficient in the activities described in each of the 30 cells.

In Chapter 6, they present a similar matrix focused on organizational practices.  The cell at the intersection of “Creating” and “Culture and Values” says this.  “Leaders articulate a desired culture and values that will support the business.”

In Chapter 7, they present a similar matrix focused on the leadership culture of an organization.  The cell at the intersection of “Creating” and “Culture and Values” says this.  “Leaders understand that culture can be a competitive advantage.”

But they’re not done yet.  The appendix presents three gap analysis questionnaires that can help you assess how well you’re doing on each of the matrices.

Running a business is complex.  Too many books try to oversimplify this complexity.  That’s why I am always on the lookout for books and articles that embrace the complexity of modern organizational life and bring order to seemingly disparate information.  Leadership Solutions does an excellent job of this.  The matrices provide clear snapshots of what needs to be done in a variety of areas.  The gap analyses provide the reader with a clear idea of where he or she is being successful and where he or she needs to improve.

Leadership Solutions is a good book to keep near your desk where you can refer to it often.  It’s a great analytical too.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Common Sense Leaders Are Bucket Fillers, Not Bucket Drainers

In my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I suggest that high performing organizations and the people who lead them have four things in common:

• Successful businesses and the people who lead them develop and communicate a clarity or purpose and direction.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them engage the full commitment of everyone in the organization.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them skillfully execute the things that matter.
• Successful businesses and the people who lead them build strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with important outside constituencies.

I like the book How Full Is Your Bucket?  It makes some great points about how leaders can build an engaged and committed workforce.  The idea is simple, leaders can build an engaged and committed workforce by “filling the buckets” of the people they lead.

On page 15, the authors say:

“Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it's empty, we feel awful.

“Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people's buckets -- by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions -- we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others' buckets -- by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions -- we diminish ourselves.

“Like the cup that runneth over, a full bucket gives us a positive outlook and renewed energy. Every drop in that bucket makes us stronger and more optimistic.

“But an empty bucket poisons our outlook, saps our energy, and undermines our will. That's why every time someone dips from our bucket, it hurts us.

“So we face a choice every moment of every day: We can fill one another's buckets, or we can dip from them. It's an important choice -- one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness.”

Pretty good common sense, right?  If you agree, the question becomes “how do I go about filling the buckets of the people who work for me?”

Here are my thoughts on how leaders and small business owners can become bucket fillers instead of bucket drainers.

• Be courteous – say please and thank you.
• Be positive – look for things that are going right and build on them.
• Help others feel good about themselves.  Give praise when it’s due, help people when they are having difficulties.
• Ask people about their goals.  Show a genuine interest in them and their goals.
• Introduce yourself to people you don’t know.  Once you know people’s names, use them.
• Smile.

The common sense point here is simple.  These six simple common sense tips can help you become a bucket filler and not a bucket drainer.  Use them, and watch the commitment and engagement of the people you lead grow.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Talk to the People You Lead

I subscribe to Laurie Taylor’s Tips and Tactic’s Ezine.  The October issue had some great common sense advice for leaders.  “Talk with your direct reports for 30 minutes every week in order to open up communications and break down barriers to growth.”

I’ll say it again – this is great common sense advice.  However, I know very few leaders who actually use it.  In the ezine, Laurie told a story:

“When I was conducting a workshop on ‘Cracking the Code to Your Company's Growth’, I mentioned this tactic (talking with your direct reports) to my room of CEOs and managers. One manager raised her hand and seemed a bit annoyed. 'I have 8 people that report directly to me. Do you mean you expect me to spend 4 hours every week talking to them?'”

The answer to that question is an unequivocal “yes”.  It’s only common sense.  The most basic job of any leader is to help the people he or she lead to succeed.  You can’t do that if you don’t have regular, meaningful conversations with those people.

Unfortunately, too many managers and leaders think like the one in Laurie’s story.  When I challenge them on this, they usually say that they are too busy to meet with their people regularly.  When I probe a little further, I find that they are too busy because they don’t delegate properly.  Instead of spending their time teaching their people what to do and how to do it, and then holding them accountable, they either do the work themselves or spend their time looking over their people’s shoulders. 

Leaders can break this cycle by heeding Laurie’s suggestion and spending focused time with the people they lead.  In these conversations, they can teach people what they need to know, show them how to do something the right way, listen to their problems and concerns and help them succeed.

John Kelly is one of the best leaders I know.  He meets with the people who report to him for one hour every week.  Before he got promoted, he had 12 people reporting to him.  That’s 12 hours out of every week.  John tells me that those were the best, most productive 12 hours in his week, because he had meaningful, substantive conversations with his people.  He found that as a result of these weekly meetings, the people he led got more done with fewer problems and ended up taking up less of his time than they did before he started them.  John has fewer people reporting to him since he got promoted, but he continues his practice of weekly one to one meetings.

The common sense point here is simple.  Effective leaders spend time with their people dealing with routine things.  In this way, routine things don’t turn into big problems.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Common Sense Leaders Choose Their Words Carefully

As you know, I’m on a common sense quest (see my post of October 12 for more details).  I usually try to highlight the positive – places where I see common sense in action.  However, I must be having a bad week.  On Tuesday, I discussed Qwest’s non common sense policy of not repairing phone lines that don’t carry a signal when they get wet.

Today, I want to focus on something even more bizarre.  The October 15 issue of Newsweek had a quote from syndicated columnist Ann Coulter.  Ms. Coulter is a conservative Republican.  Here’s her quote.  “If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democratic president.  It’s kind of a pipe dream; it’s a personal fantasy of mine.”

Before I go any further, I must preface the following remarks by saying that I am not a big fan of Ms. Coulter and that this blog isn’t a political blog – it’s a business blog.  Having said that…

I’m incredulous!  I can’t believe anyone, let alone a woman would suggest that we take away women’s right to vote.  Women comprise more that half of the population of the US.  What kind of democracy doesn’t allow one half of the population to participate in the electoral process?  I would feel this way if Ms. Coulter or say, Howard Dean, suggested that we take away the vote from men in order to avoid any more Republican presidencies.

The reason I bring up this, is not to get into a political debate with conservative Republicans, but to make a common sense point about leadership.  It’s important for leaders to pay attention to what they say.  If you’re a leader, you’re under a microscope.  People are watching you all the time.  You pretty much have to get it right the first time.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle have learned this lesson over and over again. 

In many cases, business leaders find it more difficult than politicians to say, “I misspoke.”  The people you lead are watching you.  They listen closely.  They remember what you said the first time, not how you corrected yourself. 

The common sense points for today are simple.  Think before you speak.  Never speak in anger.  Don’t make outrageous statements unless you are prepared to live with them.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Remarkable Leadership

In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I point out that all successful leaders have four things in common:

• Successful leaders develop and communicate a clarity of purpose and direction for their organization.
• Successful leaders build an engaged and committed workforce.
• Successful leaders ensure skillful execution of the things that matter.
• Successful leaders build strong, mutually beneficial relationships with important outside constituencies.

Kevin Eikenberry, my friend, has outdone me.  In his new book, Remarkable Leadership, he lists 13 characteristics of successful, or remarkable leaders, as he calls them.  I’m listing them here in the hopes that I can entice you to purchase and read this book.  It truly is remarkable in its depth breadth on the subject of leadership.

Wynton Marsalis on Leadership

The July/August issue of Success magazine has an article featuring Wynton Marsalis’ thoughts on leadership.  If you don’t know Mr. Marsalis, he is the Founder and Music Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.  He has won nine Grammy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Music and was appointed a UN Messenger of Peace in 2001, and my wife’s favorite musician.  Since today is her birthday, I’ve decided to do a post featuring Wynton Marsalis.

In a sidebar to the article, Mr. Marsalis presents 15 leadership lessons.  Eight of these lessons apply to directly to leadership.  The other seven apply to anyone interested in becoming an outstanding performer.  As this is a leadership blog, I am posting Mr. Marsalis eight pieces of leadership advice here – as I listen to him on my iPod.  You can find the seven pieces of advice to apply to outstanding performance by logging on to my other blog, www.SuccessCommonSense.com.

Lessons on Leadership from Wynton Marsalis

• Belief in other people’s creativity allow people around you to be themselves and achieve their individuality.  If your staff members have the freedom to achieve as individuals, the returns will be manifold.
• Sometimes you have to make tough decisions and many times they are ugly.  It’s best to be very direct.
• It isn’t my way or the highway.  Learn to compromise and be flexible.
• When you’re a leader, sometimes you have to follow too.  Good leaders know they don’t have a monopoly on brilliant ideas.  Be objective and willing to follow insights you may have missed.
• Humility inspires people; organization inspires a staff.  Always try to give your staff clear plans and goals, but allow they room for self-empowerment.
• Respect the freedom of other people and their creativity.  Jazz music teaches that above all else.  Giving your staff the freedom to improvise opens the floodgates on innovation.
• You can’t look at any person and tell whether he or she can play.  All kinds of people can play.  Some of the best talent can be found in the most unexpected places.
• There is a limit to what you can demand from somebody else.  Nothing erodes the spirit like a boss who can never be pleased.

This is some great common sense leadership advice from Wynton Marsalis, a great musician and a dynamic leader.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

10 Traits of Effective Leaders

The October 2007 edition of Executive Leadership has an interesting piece entitled 10 Traits Effective Leaders Exhibit.  These traits were identified by David Traversi in his book The Source of Leadership.

I like what Mr. Traversi has to say, so I’m posting his 10 Traits here.

10 Traits Effective Leaders Exhibit

1. Self defined.  Effective leaders know who they are and what they believe in.
2. Visionary.  Effective leaders see possibilities.
3. Credible.  Effective leaders are competent and consistent and deeply trustworthy.
4. Inspiring.  Effective leaders are able to get others to follow them.
5. Caring.  Effective leaders are open-hearted and genuinely concerned about others.
6. Energetic.  Effective leaders keep their batteries charged.
7. Curious.  Effective leaders jump at the chance to learn something new.
8. Focused.  Effective leaders concentrate.  They stay in the moment.
9. Organized.  Effective leaders value clarity of thought and precision of language.
10. Brave.  Effective leaders make the tough calls and take risks.

In my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I point out that successful organizations build engaged and committed workforces.  Leaders who exhibit these 10 traits are likely to succeed in developing engaged and committed employees.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Common Sense Guy Special Edition on Leadership

Greetings from Nagoya Japan!

I know that I said I was taking a week off due to my heavy consulting and speaking schedule this week while I am in Japan.  But, it’s Sunday morning here, and I just read the Fortune article Top 10 Companies for Leaders.  Leadership development is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, so here are my thoughts on leaders and leadership.

In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I suggest that successful companies and the people who lead them have four things in common.

1. Successful companies and the people who lead them develop and clearly communicate a clarity of purpose and direction for the business.
2. Successful companies and the people who lead them develop and engaged and committed workforce.
3. Successful companies and the people who lead them skillfully execute the things that matter.
4. Successful companies and the people who lead them develop and nurture long term, mutually beneficial relationships with important outside constituencies.

I use this model – as a diagnostic tool and to develop appropriate interventions -- in my consulting work.  You can find a model of the diagnostic tool I use by logging on to www.BudBilanich.com.  Click on “What I do.”  Then click on “Management Consultant.”  Scroll down until you see the four color High Performance model.  Immediately under the model you will find my “Organizational Effectiveness Snapshot.”  These are the questions I ask to determine how well a company is doing, and where it needs to improve.

You can learn more about my thinking on my clarity, commitment, execution, relationships model by downloading the electronic copy of 4 Secrets (see the top of this post).

The Fortune article focused on how well companies develop leaders.  I have a forthcoming book called Straight Talk for Success that describes the five areas in which I think all people, especially leaders, must be proficient if they are going to succeed. I developed the ideas for Straight Talk on blog www.SuccessCommonSense.com blog.  My ebook, Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success, is a first draft of Straight Talk.  You can download an electronic copy of Star Power by going to www.SuccessCommonSense.com and clicking on the picture of its cover at the top right of this post.

Briefly, I argue that all successful people, leaders included, are skilled in five areas.

1. They are self confident.
2. They make a positive personal impact.
3. They are outstanding performers.
4. They have good communication skills.
5. They are interpersonally competent.

Self confident people and leaders have at least three things in common:

1. Self confident people and leaders are optimistic.
2. Self confident people and leaders face their fears and deal with them.
3. Self confident people and leaders surround themselves with positive people.

People and leaders with positive personal impact have at least three things in common:

1. People and leaders with powerful personal impact develop and constantly promote their personal brand.
2. People and leaders with powerful personal impact are impeccable in their presentation of self.
3. People and leaders with powerful personal impact know and practice the basic rules of etiquette.

Leaders who are outstanding performers have at least three things in common:

1. Leaders who are outstanding performers are technically competent.  They are lifelong learners.
2. Leaders who are outstanding performers set and achieve goals.
3. Leaders who are outstanding performers are organized.  They manage their time, stress and lifestyle well.

People and leaders with good communication skills have at least three things in common:

1. Leaders who are good communicators are excellent conversationalists.
2. Leaders who are good communicators write in a clear, concise easily readable manner.
3. Leaders who are good communicators are excellent presenters – to groups of two or 100.

Interpersonally competent people and leaders have at least three things in common:

1. Interpersonally competent people and leaders are self aware.  They understand themselves and their impact on others.  They use their self awareness to increase their understanding of others.
2. Interpersonally competent people and leaders build solid, long lasting mutually beneficial relationships with the people in their lives.
3. Interpersonally competent people and leaders are able to resolve conflicts with a minimal amount of problems and upset to relationships.

These are my thoughts on what makes for career, life and leadership success.  The ideas I presented at the beginning of this post are my thoughts on the four areas on which successful leaders focus.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  I’ll be posting again after I return to the US on October 8.

Have a good week. 

Bud

The Office

The second season of The Office begins tonight.  In case you’re not familiar with the show, it’s kind of like a TV version of Dilbert.  USA Today featured it as a cover story in its business section today.  The title of the article is The World’s Greatest Inept Boss. 

I’m not a big TV guy, so I have only seen one or two episodes of The Office.  I found it mildly funny in a disturbing way.  It’s funny because, while overdone, it features some of the non common sense leader behaviors that I’ve seen in my consulting career.  It’s disturbing, because it highlights just how bad some leaders are.

Steve Carell is the main character.  He plays Michael Scott, the boss in the office.  Michael has never read my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  He is particularly bad at the second tip – create an engaged and committed workforce.  He is constantly blundering.  Most of the gaffes that Steve Carell makes in his role as Michael Scott, could be avoided by the application of a little common sense. 

I’m going to watch tonight to check out what happens as the new season begins.  You can find The Office on NBC at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific time and 8:00 Central and Mountain time.  If you watch tonight, please leave a comment on this post to let me know what you think.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.