What is your vision for how you will change or grow as a Leader between now and December 31st?

Pause to think about your answer before reading further . . . .

Labor Day is upon us.  A change of seasons.  With it, daily indications that the worst of the economy’s downturn is behind us.  Some leaders have been stuck in neutral with their companies — trying every trick in the book but unable to grow sales.  Others have continued to (painfully) cut employees and close stores — trying to stay afloat and ahead of the lenders.  And some have been weathering things well, but have shifted themselves into neutral for summertime.

Well, it’s time to get to work — opportunity awaits!  What is your vision for where you want to be 120 days from now?

One of my favorite depictions of a Leader challenging his troops to embrace a compelling and personal vision is found in the opening scene of the movie Gladiator, where Russell Crowe, as General Maximus, commander of Caesar’s armies, gives his Roman soldiers a pep talk just before a final and gruesome battle with the Germans.  The soldiers are primed for battle, heavy with armor, their horses chomping at the bit, the Germans across the way taunting them, ready to kill.

“Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops.  Imagine where you will be, and it will be so.  Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead! . . . Brothers . . . what we do in life . . . echoes in eternity!“

Where do you imagine you will be in four months?  What will you be doing that will make you more effective as a Leader?

I encourage you to get a solid picture in your mind before you return to work next Tuesday.  As always, here are some thoughts to get you started:

• Check your emotions. That’s right, check in with your emotions because they have such an impact on your actions.  Do they tilt positive or negative right now?  When it comes to vision, positive emotions create a content state of mind that is open to all ideas — negative ones tend to close down creativity, leading to “tunnel vision.”  A positive outlook also enables more complex and flexible thinking.  If you’ve been fighting the funk, figure a way out.  When I am struggling with negative emotions, I will often turn to a longtime, trusted friend for an up-lifting conversation.

• Connect with your purpose. Why are you here?  Why are you essential?  Who is counting on you?  To do what?  The business challenges of the past year have forced many of us to drift from our core purpose as a Leader and its time to get re-centered.  It has been 120+ days since I last wrote a Leadership Learning blog post.  During a vacation two weeks ago I realized I had drifted over the summer from my primary business purpose to “coach, speak and write to Leaders.”  Returning to write this post represents my attempt to re-connect with my purpose.

• Clear the clutter. Inventory your last few days.  What activities did you spend time on that were a distraction from your primary leadership role?  Why are you doing them?  Do they consume 20 percent of your time? 50 percent?  Is there someone else that should be doing them?  Isolate the admin and “busy-work” that others could do and get it off your plate.  I’ve taken the step of hiring a new assistant who will begin to take over my travel arrangements, scheduling, finances, research and certain administrative tasks involving clients.  My goal is to reduce my involvement in such activities from 40 percent of my time down to 10 percent or less by December.

Louis Nizer was a noted Jewish-American trial lawyer who, among other achievements, wrote a New York Times best-selling book,  authored the forward to the Warren Commission report that investigated JFK’s murder, and helped create the motion picture ratings system as general counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America.  Nizer had this great thought on vision –

“A man’s life is colored by the dye of his imagination.”

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Note to Friends: If you (or someone you know) have ever wondered whether Leadership Coaching is right for you, “Who Needs an Executive Coach?” at Forbes.com is a short, to-the-point article that could help you decide.  At no charge or obligation, I always offer a one-hour initial coaching conversation that gives a Leader a better idea of what coaching is and how it can make a difference.  Call or email me if you want to know more!

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FORWARD THIS TO A LEADER.

Many of us are looking backwards and lamenting.  We grieve what has been taken away, either from us personally, or someone we know:

• our retirement account
• our job
• our house
• our club membership
• our assumptions about the way life works
• our confidence that we know what we are doing

We tend to place our security in these things.  And now they have been stripped away and we stand naked, embarrassed, vulnerable.  Lamenters find themselves in one of the five stages of grief:  Denial – Anger – Bargaining – Depression – Acceptance.

If you’ve been able to reach Acceptance, then you are pretty close to the bridge that takes you forward toward invention.  Inventors have stepped out of paralysis with the past and are engaging the future.

The ‘rising tide that lifted all boats’ over the past years has now receded and grown choppy at the same time.  And it’s been choppy not just for you, but for for EVERYONE — your competitors, your employees, your customers.  This presents opportunity for Leaders to exploit.  The game is shifting.  Leaders and their companies can move boldly to lead the shift, or they can stand still and try to survive as one of the shifted.

As we observed in a previous post, effective Leaders are always leading the shift — by innovating, developing, keeping their eyes on the horizon.

To one degree or another, we’ve all been lamenting over the past few months.  And on any given day right now, we probably find ourselves bouncing between lamenting and inventing.  The Leadership question then, is,

How can we spend more of our day inventing?

Here are some thoughts to help you move forward:

• Get fearlessly oriented to the future. It’s coming, whether you are ready or not.  It will be different. But instead of being scared because it’s unknown, embrace that difference for the opportunity it presents.

• Recognize that experience can be a liability. Dartmouth Professor Vijay Govindarajan has been studying leadership experience for the past 25 years.  In a recent  Wall Street Journal article, he remarked that companies “overestimate the value of experience.  Experience becomes a liability in times of change.”  I remind my Leaders frequently — What got you HERE won’t get you THERE.

• Identify all your long-standing assumptions. Assumptions, which drive our behavior, generally remain unspoken, hidden from sight.  Get all your assumptions out in plain sight — how you make money, how your competitors compare to you, why customers buy your products.

• Question those assumptions. Do they still stand up to scrutiny?  Do they help you?  What are some new assumptions you need to add to the mix?

• Gather as much intelligence as you can. Top Leaders are getting out of their office and talking with customers, employees, industry analysts and others to expand their perspective on the changing business environment.

• Develop your plan. Recognize anything you do right now — using old methods, developing new ones — carries risk.  Realistically assess the risk and move forward accordingly.

• Hustle. The Leaders I know who are bullish on their future are very active right now.  I think tee times will be easier to come by this summer.

Years ago, the Roman Leader Cicero summarized the choice between lamenting and inventing this way:

“Let us not go over the old ground, let us rather prepare for what is to come.”

Where do you find yourself right now — lamenting or inventing?  How is this impacting your Leadership today?

FORWARD THIS TO A LEADER.

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How Staying Positive Is Good for Business

Geoff Ramsey—CEO, Co-Founder, eMarketer

We’re bombarded by it every day of the week. The news media is shoveling a constant stream of bad news to us in the form of economic reports, surveys of plummeting consumer confidence levels, company layoffs, negative earnings announcements and decimated marketing budgets.

This drip, drip, drip creates a tremendous imbalance in our perspective. And since the news is fueled by a very real economic crisis, many of us are prone to see the glass as not just half empty, but 98% empty. But that’s not a recipe for success, or even survival.

The answer lies in seeking a balance—anchoring yourself to reality while focusing on every glimmer of hope and opportunity you can find.

Here are few practical things you can do to achieve this balance, for your sanity and your business.

1. Understand Your Locus of Control

To paraphrase feel-good guru Dr. Wayne Dyer:

“There’s no sense worrying about the things you can’t control, because you can’t control them. There’s also no sense worrying about the things you can control, because you can control them.”You could put the economy in the first bucket. Very few of us can do anything to directly remedy the global downturn. As for the second bucket—the things that fall directly under your control—realize that worrying about them won’t actually make things any better. In fact, worrying will likely keep you immobilized. Instead, just get on with what needs doing. Eyes on the task.

2. Tighten the Spigot

To alleviate the imbalance, make a practice of limiting your reading of business and economic news, particularly the negative kind, to only that which promises to edify, inspire or instruct you in ways that can enhance your business, or at least keep you in a positive, forward-moving frame of mind. Does it really help your situation to dwell on the detailed misfortunes of other companies or leaders, whether in your industry or not? Choose to read the article about Amazon’s remarkable 18% rise in revenues during the past quarter, and how they did it. Skip the one about Home Depot laying off thousands (unless you’re Lowe’s).

3. Focus on the Opportunities

Use all that time you’ve freed up by not reading doomsday articles to explore opportunities amid the obvious problems. In fact, for every challenge you’re facing, there is probably a corresponding opportunity or two lurking beneath the surface.

If your marketing budget is slashed, for example, how can you use this as an opportunity to eliminate or reduce programs, vendors or even people, a move that in flusher times would be harder to justify? Now is the time to eradicate the marginal and double-down on the core. It’s time to answer the question, “Which are my best bets for sustaining revenues and achieving return on investment?”

OfficeMax’s holiday season Elf Yourself campaign came from the need to creatively promote the business supply store, when Bob Thacker, SVP of advertising and marketing, knew he couldn’t match the spending of bigger rivals Staples and Office Depot. Now among the most famous viral campaigns, Elf Yourself was one of a dozen quirky experimental Websites Mr. Thacker set up to engage consumers. The sites cost about the same as producing one 30-second TV spot. And Elf Yourself is such a hit that for three years running, millions of Americans have been putting their face on an animated elf’s body and creating a viral sensation.

The campaign was inspired by research showing that consumers saw the business supply category as “lifeless” and undifferentiated. Mr. Thacker sought to differentiate his business in ways that engaged consumers in an intimate and fun experience.

4. Leverage Data to Construct Opportunistic Experiments

You can generate more opportunities for your business by immersing yourself in data. Relentlessly mining data nuggets can lead to powerful insights, and eventually (if acted upon) successful programs.

Direct your staff to pore through primary internal research, especially customer and Web analytics data, as well as secondary market research and trend data, with the goal of identifying potential opportunities, both large and small. Use the data to build hypotheses that can be tested inexpensively, often online. Through relentless iteration, and of course careful measurement, you will discover new ways to move the needle.

Interestingly, 39% of marketing professionals in a Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) survey in January 2009 expected to increase their use of market research this year. The same number expected to hold market research steady, and 22% were looking at cuts.

In a separate study, by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), only 24% of marketers defined their firms as digitally savvy.

Tellingly, the No. 1 reason given for being behind the digital eight ball was lack of experience, cited by 59% of respondents. But we all know the best way to gain experience is to go out there and do something.

5. Invest in the Future

The tendency in crisis times like these is to hunker down and focus all attention on the here and now. Prudence, however, would suggest spending a little time each week planning for the future—for when the economy picks up (and yes, it will, eventually).

There are two benefits to this tactic. First, it will help keep you focused on the positive, even if it’s in anticipation of future success. Second, you and your company will be in a much stronger position to take action at the first signs of an uptick. While others, including your competitors, are scrambling, you will be two steps ahead and ready to take advantage as the economic momentum shifts.

The five steps above can help you stay balanced, positive and open to opportunities as they arise. Don’t let yourself succumb to the pervasive negativity, which can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In this economy, your business’s or brand’s market share may—or may not—go up. But you will assure yourself of the latter result if you do nothing but wallow in the mire of ugly headlines.

“I don’t care how hard this period is. You have to have the combination of believing that you will prevail, that you will get out of this, but also not be the Pollyanna who ignores the brutal facts. You have to say that we will be in this for a long time and we will turn it into a defining event, a big catalyst to make ourselves a much stronger enterprise.”
—Jim Collins, management guru, as quoted in Fortune, February 2, 2009

Marathon runners and Tour de France racers know it is on the steepest hill, when the challenge is most difficult, that leadership changes hands. Such is our opportunity now.

Geoff Ramsey is CEO and co-founder of eMarketer. He will next be speaking at the iMedia Brand Summit taking place February 8–11 in Coconut Point, Fla.

I’ll never forget those words, barked at me by the Captain evaluating me on a dusty, hot morning at Fort Knox, Kentucky, early in my officer training.  I was leading a six-man team of fellow officers through a series of Leadership Simulation Exercises — the Army’s version of leadership training scenarios like you might encounter in an Outward Bound-type setting.  We had a problem, in this case, getting our entire team to the other side of a “room” laced with tripwires and “explosives,” that we had to solve in a limited amount of time.  Rapid-fire assessment, delegation, direction-setting, monitoring and action were demanded in a pressure-filled, time-limited environment.  The grade would be either Mission Accomplished or Mission Failure — no in-between.

Sound like one of your days at the office?

I recall teetering at a weird angle on one foot trying to avoid a tripwire when our evaluator simulated my death.  At that moment, most of the rest of my teammates were standing behind me, where they had been offering ideas and waiting for direction.  As the remaining minutes ticked down, the “survivors” struggled in confusion to reorganize, designate a new Leader and make a fresh attempt at crossing the room.  They failed to complete the mission.  I failed as a leader.

I learned an important lesson that morning, a lesson that resonates today as I work with Leaders trying to survive and thrive amidst the chaos and challenge of our current business environment.  I was out front, trying to solve the problem myself.  I was caught up in the doing.  I was not leading.  You might say I was managing.  It’s a lesson I refer to as “Understanding The Leader’s Place”  — knowing the place that only the Leader can stand in.

In this Place, the Leader has a unique perspective on the challenges at hand.  The Leader is able to see what others cannot; able to deploy the best talent instead of being the best talent; able to think about what’s next instead of being consumed with what’s present.  He or she is in the fight but not necessarily at the front of it.

So here is the great temptation that tugs at Leaders everywhere right now.  Sales are down.  Renewals are struggling.  Old ways of doing things are not working.  Customers are demanding new service and product offerings . . . at lower prices.  The temptation is for Leaders to vacate their leadership place and step into the thick of things as a manager.  CEOs who came up through the sales ranks return to being the company’s lead salesman, instead of leading the whole company.  CEOs who created the company’s core technology return to tinkering with the technology, at the expense of leading the company.  Leaders revert to being great managers instead of . . . leading the company.

Much has been written over the years about the distinction between leaders and managers*.  But let me borrow from a list developed by Warren Bennis in his leadership classic, On Becoming a Leader, to provide you a checklist for assessing which place you stand in today.  CAUTION: some of these require more than a moment of thought . . .

The manager administers; the Leader innovates.

The manager is a copy; the Leader is an original.

The manager maintains; the Leader develops.

The manager focuses on systems and structure; the Leader focuses on people.

The manager relies on control; the Leader inspires trust.

The manager has a short-term view; the Leader has a long-range perspective.

The manager asks how and when; the Leader asks what and why.

The manager has his eye always on the bottom line; the Leader has his eye on the horizon.

The manager imitates; the Leader originates.

The manager accepts the status quo; the Leader challenges it.

The manager is a classic good soldier; the Leader is his own person.

The manager does things right; the Leader does the right things.

Have you done more managing or leading today?  If the answer is “managing,” then who’s in the Leader’s Place?  What steps do you need to take to spend more time in The Leader’s Place?

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I’d be interested to hear your observations on leading and managing;  leave your Comments on the blog for others to learn here.  And if you think this could be helpful . . .

Forward this to a Leader.

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* ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:  One of my earliest readings that continues to be relevant was John Kotter’s HBR Classic: “Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?“  Though geared toward entrepreneurs, Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited captures this distinction in story form.  More recently, The Leader Within, co-authored by Ken Blanchard and three others, devotes a section (see Chart 6.1 on page 172) that synthesizes the past two to three decades of literature on this topic.  It is a helpful summary and one Leaders should be familiar with as they lead themselves and their managers. Let’s be clear, an organization needs both Leaders AND managers!

Back in early December, I scribbled down a bullet list of tasks I was going to get done in the “down-time” of Christmas and New Year’s weeks.  As it turned out, the past two weeks ended up busier than I expected, and I hoarded any down time for reading – NOT journaling about 2008, not cleaning out old files, not updating my LinkedIn profile, and NOT setting goals for ’09.

So I come into this fifth day of the new year definitely feeling five days behind.  I think I’ll read some more . . . .

What are your plans for the new year?  How will you be as intentional as possible in defining this year, as opposed to passively letting the year define you?

Here are a few thoughts for you if you’re feeling the nudge to put some stakes in the ground.

Gaps and Bridges. Three key questions:
a)    What is my present reality today?
b)    What is my desired reality tomorrow?
c)    What are the bridges to close the gap between “a” and “b?”

These are the basic blocking and tackling exercises that I use every day with my Leaders . . . but I often forget to apply them to myself.  One aspect of my present reality is that I keep talking about writing a book.  My future desired reality is that I have a finished book that does the talking.  One of the bridges to close the gap is sitting for thirty minutes at the beginning of every day and . . . writing.

Simplicity. I have a lot of gaps I’d like to close in my life.  The reality I have discovered is that I can realistically, whole-heartedly commit to only one or two game-changing gaps at a time.  Less is more.  If I have a long list, I simply rank them by priority and focus on completing #1 and maybe #2 before going on to #’s 3 and 4.

Creativity. Why are some of the items on my ’09 list the same as my ’08 list (I was supposed to have that first book draft finished last September!)?  There can be a lot of reasons for this – my most common, and real, excuse is that I don’t know “how.”  I have the desire and discipline, but I just don’t know how to take the next step.  This year, I have some new insight from a book given to me by one of my Leaders – Peter Block’s The Answer to How is Yes.  It has been a while since a book has engaged me as this one has – evidenced by underlines, scribblings and dog-ears.  Block’s premise is that in attempting something new (i.e. bridging a new gap) we typically ask the question, “but how do I do it?” as if there is a prescribed, proven way that I should do something.  If I am seeking to simply imitate others, or other companies, then okay, I find the answer and copy them.  But in so doing, I stifle my creativity and eliminate the possibility for breakthroughs and game-changers.  Instead of asking “how?” or “what works?” we first need to be asking “what really matters?”  This book defies a short summary.  Read more here and decide if it could be useful to you and your company*.

What really matters to you?  Your company?  How will you change the way the game is played in 2009?

I have a request of you.  I would like to reach more Leaders with these writings.  If you find them helpful, please forward them to other Leaders and encourage them to subscribe by clicking one of the SUBSCRIBE buttons in the right-hand column of this page.

Also, I appreciate your comments.  They provide helpful feedback.  You can either reply to be directly or post your comment publicly at the bottom of each blog post.

CEO, CFO review fine print in company’s debt covenants — “No Blindsides.” This is a fast-growing company that risked getting derailed by it’s lenders if certain debt requirements are not met.  The minimum ratios seemed almost inconsequential when they were agreed to a year ago, but have taken on new significance in the current credit market.  This Leader is taking some dramatic steps NOW to insure the company avoids any pitfalls associated with its working capital.

President manages wind-down of real estate firm; begins planning “NewCo.” This industry veteran of past housing cycles recognizes he needs to be poised when the market regains its footing and plans to be at the forefront of the recovery.  In building “New Company,” he draws from the best practices of his old firm and uses this re-creation opportunity to innovate and make it even better.

Technology CEO reassures employees with company-wide e-mail. “So, what about money?” he queries in a Friday afternoon message.  “We have improved our own cash position over the last 90 days . . . We have no debt, and we still have a line of credit. We are keeping communication lines open with our bank, our CPA, and our attorney. We have managed expenses, while investing in new business development.”  Now there’s a way to intercept those whispered questions and rumors at the water cooler.

Ad Company CEO spearheads industry-wide message of opportunity amidst doom and gloom. Recognizing companies will be spending less on advertising, but they will not stop spending altogether, this Leader is joining with other marketing industry heavyweights to begin changing the conversation about the bleak ad outlook.  In a collaborative white paper to be presented at a major industry conference next month, he writes that clients still need to spend on advertising, but those dollars need to be more efficient than ever.  This CEO’s actions have energized his employees and given them a renewed sense of purpose amidst the economic downturn.

CEO goes on the road to build business. This CEO, who has a gift for selling, recognized the need to get out from behind his desk and in front of potential clients.  Following targeted investment in public relations and social networking which generated new leads, he is knocking on more doors and getting audiences with new prospective clients around the country.  He’s bullish about his company’s future.

President shakes up purchasing. This retail president, recognizing that centralized purchasing at corporate had led to excess or irrelevant inventory in his stores, convened a task force of store managers to re-invent the purchasing process.  The new system should lead to higher quality, more timely inventory in stores, reducing wasteful markdowns.  The store managers, who know their local markets better than anyone at headquarters, now have a voice in choosing the products they are charged with selling.  They are more motivated to sell than ever.

Leader doesn’t wait for response, develops Plan B. The Founder of a successful Florida service company has been waiting to hear back from potential investors in a new company that will be an extension of his existing enterprise.  With the markets leading many investors to sit on the sidelines, this entrepreneur is developing a significantly scaled back Plan B that will require less capital, but still enable him to expand his enterprise.  Instead of wasting several months hoping to hear a “Yes” on Plan A, he’s moving now to develop an alternative that will be more feasible to fund.

Are these Leaders affected by the same news you and I are reading?  Of course.  But what are they doing to create their own headlines?

They’re refusing to stand still and wait to see what will happen.  Instead, they have decided to make things happen — to act, instead of being acted upon.

They are innovating.

They know where they are at risk, and they are managing that risk.

They are keeping their employees informed.

Where necessary, they are quickly moving through the grief associated with unwanted change and taking the next step towards something new.

Make your own headlines here . . . . Leave a Comment on what you’re doing to Lead amidst this ailing economy.

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I have suspended my Wall Street Journal subscription.  This isn’t a permanent move — just two weeks.  I really enjoy the Journal.  But after scanning the headlines in the left column yesterday morning and finding these words . . .

declining

worst

worrying

weakest

fall

massive . . . losses

fall

defaults

largest . . . outflows

slowdown

cautious

. . . I realized my mind needed some new thoughts. 

If I am to innovate and adapt in my study and speaking and writing and coaching on leadership, I’ve got to feed my brain with different, stimulating inputs.

So I’ll use the 30-45 minutes I invest daily in reading yesterday’s bad news for some new books that have been resting on the mantle in my office, waiting to be explored.

What are you feeding your mind?

Leave a comment here.

Forward this to a Leader you know.

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A Partner frustrated with his partner.
A Partner frustrated with HIS partner.

A CEO frustrated with her COO.
A COO frustrated with his CEO.

Boy, I run across these scenarios too often. I use the word “frustrated” because it represents the middle ground between “I want to have a future with this person” and “I’ve had it with this person.” We want to continue working with them, but doing so is . . . well . . . frustrating.

I’ve learned the Leader who is frustrated probably bears some of the responsibility for being so.

The antidote is another word: “expectations.”

Expectation: the Latin roots are “ex” (out) + “spectare” (to look at). To look out at.

Reminds me of that important Leadership word – “vision.” My “expectations” of you are tied to my “vision” of how and what and when I expect you to perform. When you don’t perform as I expect, I get frustrated with you. But here is the test:

Have I communicated my vision/expectations to you? Do you understand them the way I understand them? Are we on the same page? How do WE know?

So, think of expectation of an individual as a personal vision statement for that person. Consider these steps:

1. Communicate clear expectations. Ram Charan, in Execution, says, “Along with having clear goals, you should strive for simplicity in general. One thing you’ll notice about leaders who execute is that they speak simply and directly. They talk plainly and forthrightly about what’s on their minds. They know how to simplify things so that others can understand them, evaluate them, and act on them . . . .”

CEO Handicap: Not being clear in their own minds as to what they want from the individual.

2. Confirm through feedback. Have a dialogue to be sure all of what you are saying is being heard. This can be as elementary as the “What I hear you saying is . . .” technique, or more subtle in the form of “draft a plan for this in your own words and let’s review it together.” Figure out some means of confirming feedback.

CEO Handicap: Not taking the time to confirm alignment.

3. Inspect for follow through. Hold accountable. One of my favorite sayings from my Army officer days: “If you don’t inspect, don’t expect.” A.G. Lafley, Proctor & Gamble’s CEO, who some have described in the past as ‘Mr.-Rogers-like,’ says, “I have high standards and high expectations, and I expect everybody to be as committed as I am. . . . I hold people accountable.[i]”

CEO Handicap: Not having the difficult conversations early enough to communicate the individual isn’t meeting expectations.

4. Monitor and give feedback. Your followers have the right to know what you expect from them. And they crave feedback. Few employees willingly desire to do shoddy work. They want feedback to know if their effort is being expended in the right direction. And if they are doing a great job, they love the praise.

CEO Handicap: Failing to maintain ongoing channels of communication that insure everyone is aligned with expectations.

Are you having a frustrating time with someone you depend on to get things done? If so, I’d be interested in having a conversation to help you think through solutions. Give me a call.

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Here’s a book that taught me some new things. Maybe it will be of interest to you . . .

Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin. Making sense of all the new options in online marketing (blogs, videos, social media, search ads) for your company. Identifies 14 trends shifting the marketing landscape right now.

On Tuesday of this week, I met with the President of a 600-person company that finds itself right in the crosshairs of the current real estate – capital markets mess. The day before, Monday, he had let 10% of his employees go — a move that was emotionally difficult, but necessary. In the last three months, this Leader has seen the landscape of his industry shift radically.

What struck me as we talked was the peace and confidence he projected. Even more significant was the clarity he had about his company’s focus. “Everyone knows we are focused on two things between now and December,” he said, and pointed to the whiteboard behind me, opposite his desk, where the guidelines for the coming months were written. This Leader knows where he is steering the company as the landscape around him shifts.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal did a Q&A profile on Burger King’s CEO, John Chidsey. BK has had its own turmoil in the past few years, with a revolving door for CEOs. Chidsey is the 12th CEO in 20 years. But the company recently reported a 12th straight quarter of sales growth. Chidsey’s top guideline for steering his company:

“Focus on the two or three major drivers that will make the biggest impact on the business.”

Where does your focus need to be? I try to avoid one-size-fits-all solutions. Each company has its own unique set of challenges that require creative leadership by its CEO. But here are three areas you might want to look first:

1. Re-connect with your customers. How have your customers’ needs or wants shifted? At this week’s staff meeting, ask a different question – “What are our customers telling us?” “Where are they experiencing pain right now?” Better yet, get on the phone, call your three biggest customers yourself and ask the questions.
2. Know your numbers. (This is especially critical for Leaders who don’t “enjoy” numbers.) Numbers are the dashboard display for your company. They tell you how fast you’re going, when you’re going to run out of something, and they warn you when a key component is broken. What are your numbers telling you? Jim Collins advocates knowing THE NUMBER for your company. Read more in chapter five of Good to Great.
3. Engage your team. Unless it’s your corporate policy to only hire non-thinking, obedient automatons, you probably have a wealth of information walking around outside your office. Engage their thinking, their observations, their ideas. And they want to be engaged with you. They need to know your perspective.

Which leads to a final point. Even if you have adjusted and feel confident in the current climate, you must continually pass this confidence on to your employees by communicating with them. There are many circumstances outside your company that can distract the focus of your employees right now. When they go home at night, your employees are hearing of others who are losing their jobs, their homes, their confidence.

A clear, meaningful vision from their Leader gives them a place to focus. An ancient Proverb says –

“When there is no vision, the people stumble over themselves and perish.”

How have you shifted? Where is your focus? How are you inspiring others to follow?

Let’s see . . a stock market that no one can forecast . . . a presidential race completely up for grabs . . . and a 31 year-old trader who just cost his company $7.2 billion.

What a great time for Leaders to step up.

I read a great story last week about one Leader whose company is thriving amidst a crisis that has tanked most of the rest of his industry.

Loan application volume is at record levels for this national mortgage company; hiring has resumed in the past two months; booked closings for 2007 were $1 billion over 2006, and the company has just made two acquisitions.

Surviving? Or Thriving?

The Leader – Dan Gilbert.

His company, Quicken Loans, is the nation’s largest Internet mortgage lender, and was just listed at #2 on Fortune magazine’s annual list of “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

Quoted by Tom Walsh in the Detroit Free Press, Gilbert offers this advice:

“It’s all about communication. When we were in crisis mode last August and September, we would send out one or two company-wide voice mails a week to [4,000+] employees, telling them what was going on. Our people appreciated that. . . . Too many companies, when they’re challenged, go into lockdown mode, and that’s when people get upset and fearful – when they don’t know what’s going on.”

Walsh goes on –

“Gilbert always has stressed the importance of corporate culture, drilling it into each group of new hires with an orientation speech that can run well over two hours, mixing motivational exhortations to greatness with stern warnings – ‘If you don’t show a sense of urgency, if you don’t return every phone call promptly, we will find you. We will root you out.’”

Here are 3 tools I’ve observed great Leaders leverage in the midst of uncertainty or crisis:

1. Focus, not Worry. Fear follows in the shadow of uncertainty. And fear threatens to paralyze a Leader with worry. Effective Leaders acknowledge fear of the unknown, but then use it as a catalyst for focused effort. If you do not sharpen your followers’ focus, they will wallow in worry. This is why sergeants make their soldiers dig foxholes.
2. Outward, not Inward. Leaders must be seen and heard from. It is difficult to over-communicate in times like this. An absent leader allows fears to run rampant and rumors to replace guidance. A favorite saying of crisis management teams is, “the truth will set you free.” Acknowledge the “brutal facts” of your situation and go from there.
3. What you can Control. Much of the chaos of uncertainty lies outside the boundaries of your company. Effective Leaders focus within their Span of Control, as opposed to worrying about outside factors they cannot control. This doesn’t mean foolishly ignoring the current business environment, but greater Leadership ROI comes from fully exploiting the talent and resources that await your direction.

We’re on a bumpy road in the midst of a storm at night. It’s a great time to be a Leader.

I’d be interested to hear how you are leading in the midst of uncertainty.

- The Washington Post, 12.1.07

The Leader: Joe Gibbs, President and Head Coach.

The audience: players and coaches of the Washington Redskins football team.

The challenge: Leading the team in the aftermath of player Sean Taylor’s sudden death.

What talk have you given to the players in your organization in the past 30 days? What was the challenge? How would the reviews have read on your leadership performance?

I heard this review last week of a leader’s message at his company’s holiday party –

“Made me want to puke.”

Something about an absence of authenticity. The audio didn’t match the video.

The need for Leaders to communicate clearly with those that follow is ever present. Interestingly, this topic has been coming up a lot in my conversations with Leaders over the past few weeks.

• Two companies are merging and the two Leaders must communicate their motivations and excitement to the newly combined staff
• The President of a national real estate development company must re-assure his people as they face a new climate of uncertainty
• The CEO of a fast-growing digital company must both applaud the year’s results and re-set the bar for greater growth challenges ahead

Strategist David Woods says “companies don’t need more communication. They need more clarity.”

• Clarity of the vision of the company.
• Clarity of where the company is going (long term and short term).
• Clarity of how the company will get there.
• Clarity of individual roles and how those roles create value toward the vision.
• Clarity of how roles must intertwine in order to achieve extraordinary results.
• Clarity of how the company will hold itself and each individual accountable.

How do you achieve more clarity in your communications so that you don’t sound like an adult in a Charlie Brown movie – “BLAH BLAH blah blah BLAH?”

How do you “touch” your listeners? This is an immense topic, but I’ll offer three thoughts:

1. Integrity is required in your physical, intellectual and emotional presence. Does your audio match your video? What is the rest of your body saying while your mouth is moving?
2. Emotions trump intellect when it comes time to act. What is your audience feeling and what do you want them to feel? How do those feelings manifest in you? Are you honest with your audience?
3. Stories trump concepts for clarity. People remember a story. People can see themselves in a story. What chapter of the story is your company in? How can you empower your message by telling a story?

Finally, here’s a no-lose proposition for your message to the company in the next week.

Express gratefulness.

You’re a Leader only because others choose to follow you. Express your thanks to them. Pause, be fully present, and speak from your heart. Tell a story of something you remember them doing for you or the company this year. This works in group settings, or one-on-one. Try it.

May the Blessings of this Season be yours.