When the going gets tough...

The business environment for 2013 is proving itself to not just be difficult but also unpredictable.  So how does a self-respecting, goal oriented, anal compulsive executive figure out what to do? How about this prescription?  http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/10/19/insights-trachtman-market-views.aspx

Taking Time to Work On rather than In Your Business

As executives, we all fight "fires" every day, taking time away from the things we would like to accomplish.  Despite the tyranny of the urgent, we have a choice and there are things we can do to change this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/ceos-must-find-time-for-strategic-planning--heres-how-to-do-it/2012/03/20/gIQAdnQrVS_story.html

Wisdom Comes to Those Who Wait

As we get older a funny thing happens to most of us whether we like it or not. No, I'm not just referring to the changes in our physical bodies for it is clear that our hair loses it color, our skin its luster and our joints slow.  But as we age we all gain wisdom.  Wisdom comes from experiences and the lessons that we learn from our actions and their results over time.  Wisdom, unlike intelligence, seems to grow as we age and increase from our experiences.  While there certainly are some young wise people, wisdom seems to reside most in those who have lived longer.

In the United States particularly, we however work hard to ignore wisdom.  As our population ages, we find ways to take our elders out of the mainstream.  We move them out of business (ostensibly at age 65), out of industry, out of the teaching professions and instead relegate them to retirement communities where our focus is either to enable our elders to enjoy their golden years on the golf course or playing mahjong, or at least get them out of our way.  Viewed this way, our aging seniors carry an increasing burden on the remainder of our population.  Their health care is an increasing burden on our finances and their need for daily assistance redirects productive resources.

But we seem to missing the point and wasting a very power productive force in the way we have grown to treat our elders.  By farming their wisdom we can increase our productivity, leverage their experiences and move our society ahead in ways that we have never dreamed possible.

As we transition into the second decade of the twenty-first century, we must find ways to tap into this reservoir of wisdom.  While our seniors certainly will always need an increasing level of physical care, we must change our mindset on our aging from one of maintenance to one of leverage of their extraordinary capabilities to change our world for the better.  By exposing their wisdom in ways we have not yet considered, our country and our world can indeed become a much wiser place.

An Open Letter to Tim Cook

Dear Tim,

Congratulations on your recent promotion to CEO at Apple.  Obviously, we are all concerned about what this implies about Steve's health.  However, as his hand picked successor we have all the confidence in the world in the potential of your tenure.

Last week we saw the press you generated from your initial interviews.  In those, we heard you say that "Apple would not change" under your leadership.  While that may be what your loyal Apple employees, shareholders and the press wanted to hear, it raises many concerns.

It's very difficult to be the successor of an "imperial CEO."  Just ask some of the high profile successors to Bill Gates, Phil Knight, Larry Page and a host of others.  As the returning CEO at Apple, Steve certainly generated superhuman results, commanded a cult-like following, changed the course of consumer behavior, and in doing so resurrected your company from the ashes into one of today's most valuable companies. I'm sure this is a legacy you would like to perpetuate.  But if I were going to give you any advice as you take on your new role, it is BE YOURSELF!  Don't try to live in someone else's shoes.  Be authentic.  Even if it means changing the way things are done at Apple.

Steve Jobs is a once in a century phenomenon.  Perhaps history will record him in the same league as Einstein, Ford, Ben Franklin, or Edison.  You are not Steve Jobs.  So don't try to be.  Tim, you have much to bring to Apple.  You have been the behind the scenes architect of some of the most important parts of Apple's success.  But I fear that if you try to perpetuate Jobs-ian cult-like status you will fall flat on your face.

Being yourself will require changes that Steve would not have made.  Make them.  Be sure they are thoughtful and take into account the expected reaction from the loyal Appleonians.  Start with "Why".  Make sure the employee ranks, customers, and even the press understand your deep feelings for the changes and then proceed.

Don't expect immediate gratification.  In fact expect the opposite.  Human nature abhors change.  Most of your constituents will likely oppose your changes.  Be patient.  If you are as smart as you appear, the changes you make will be for the good.  Keep the faith; don't back down.

Apple is an important American icon, especially in this fragile economy.  Finding ways to cause Apple to grow and prosper is more important than ever.  Steve hand picked you for this job.  He probably was right.  Don't let us down.

Anniversary of 9/11

I’m not sure about you, but I was very moved by the commemoration events of 9/11 over the weekend.  Even going so far as to get tearful over recalling the Mike Piazza home run and ensuring story from back in 2001 (if you don’t know Mike, he’s a former New York Met’s player who hit a game winning homerun the night that baseball started back after 9/11.  He apparently touched the lives of many, including a family of one of the firefighters who lost his life as a first responder.)

But the purpose of my correspondence is not to be sappy.  It is to spur all of us to action. 

Since 9/11 we have fallen into an national malaise.  Our economy is in the doldrums.  Our politics have become quite divisive.  Our optimism is at an all time low. And the patriotism, caring, and goodwill that we experienced just post this horrific event has given way to a nation that is not nearly as cohesive as the one we felt at that time.  As I watched yesterday, I was frustrated and felt the need to do something. 

I thought back to what I did and said on that fateful day.  I was in London on 9/11 and only heard of the attacks when an administrative assistant at the firm we were visiting interrupted our meeting crying, just after lunch (UK time) with the news.  I felt powerless then, being 3,000 miles away from home, my family, friends, and my office.  So I fell back on the only thing that I knew was true – the way we treat each of our fellow human beings is something that we immediately and directly can control.

With all the uncertainty over what was happening back at home, I wrote a note to all my employees and friends that evening from my hotel room just off of Hyde Park in the heart of London.  I asked each to reach out and do a random act of kindness each day for at least one person.  Whether that be holding a door open, welcoming a stranger, giving blood to help an ailing person, or whatever else they could come up with.  I figured that whatever we did at a grass roots level might be contagious and might become more common place and perhaps even a way of life for us to deal with each other.  I didn’t expect this to solve all the problems of the world, but I did think it would be a small start.

As we look back at 9/11 from where we are today, it sure appears to me that we could use a little bit of extra kindness in our lives today.  So I will renew my request to you.  Perhaps with this small act we can create a movement that might just provide the tipping point we need to get our nation and our world back on track.  And if you pass this notion on to a friend, perhaps together we might begin to make a difference.

Lessons from our Country's Leadership

As we wind down towards what appears to be a short term resolution of our debt ceiling issue, I am feeling the same frustration as tens of millions of other Americans about the process of governing our country.  Along the way, I wondered, sometimes out loud, if there was anything we could learn in business or in life from this horrendous episode of our history.

The first lesson that I believe we can learn is that when you are in a position of power, taking advantage of that will always lead to future consequences.  President Obama did exactly the wrong thing when he had the once in a century opportunity to ram through healthcare legislation while holding a razor thin opposition-proof margin in the Congress.  While the legislation passed, he set himself and our country up for these unforseen consequences of the future.

Leadership Matters!  When times get tough and there is clear and devisive strongly and honestly felt disagreement, it takes a true leader to step up, let both sides vet their points of view and then force compromise.  Leadership requires sensitivity to feelings.  Leadership requires diplomacy.  Leadership requires discretion.  Great leadership does not call press conferences to air partisan feelings to the world.  Most great leadership takes place behind closed doors, not subject to the public scrutiny.  When you try to gain friends or politcal points instead of progress, you are not exhibiting leadership.

Hostage negotiating may solve immediate problems but carries with it a heavy price.  What we are seeing from factions of one of our political parties is clear and unadulterated hostage negotiation tactics  -- disregard of the consequences of not being able to reach an agreement.  Hostage takers set clear lines in the sand and are not willing to budge.  They hold the key to the results and know it.  They have a purely selfish or ideological rationale.  If you give in to a hostage taker they will ALWAYS ask for more.  Unless you are willing to bear the consequences of not coming to agreement, don't even begin the negotiation process with them.

Unfortunately, hostage takers often win.  In order to avoid catastrophic consequences (life or death in this analogy and the demise of our economic system in reality) our politicians overwhelmingly gave into the hostage takers.  The question now is: What is next?  With our economy still alive (some think barely), you can be sure our hostage takers will ask for more, continuning to hold our Nation's economy and political system at bay. Ultimately we are bound for a shoot out with dire consequences.  The only thing that is not clear is where and when.

Skipping a Level

There's a right way and a wrong way to have skip level meetings.  But meeting with staff members who report to one of your direct reports is a great way to ensure that you have open communication with your team and that you understand the issues that your team may be encountering at a very personal level.  While trust is a critical part of the relationship between a manager and an employee, I've always relied on "trust and verify" as the way to ensure that the trust remains solid.  The verify part, is to hear what's going on right from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Sometimes managers are reluctant to enable conversations between their boss and their direct reports.  Usually this is due to a lack of confidence or perhaps this trust issue that I mentioned.  But getting to a place where these meetings are part of a regular schedule is a very helpful process.

As I said at the outset, there is a right and wrong way to go about these meetings.  The right way involves building trust, setting this out as a standard process, and implementing it well by spending your time listening.  These go wrong when the manager begins to migrate from listening to telling.  When a manager skips a level and "tells" an employee what to do or directs them to a different place than perhaps their direct manager was suggesting, things can go awry.

Skipping a level and directing an employee is a clear way of disempowering the manager.  By introducing direction from a skip level above, priorities can change, authority becomes foggy, and the manager caught in the middle may likely be damanged.  Accepting negative comments about your direct report from their subordinate, even without acknowledging or acting upon them, can erode the foundation that a manager requires to with her employees.  So your conversation should be directed at gaining a clear understanding rather than imposing your way or offering up your authority.

Assuming you can pull this off without negatively impacting other management level relationships, you can learn important information about your organization that you might not otherwise receive.