Great Executives: Email & The Art of Communication

The link to the title tells it all.
We know that great leadership is about distinguishing yourself, demonstrating the highest moral and ethical standards, and positioning yourself as an example for others.

The wonderous age of real-time digital communication and digital footprints has introduced a whole new set of tools that allow us to continuously gauge our corporate and government leaders.
The most striking sword of course is e-mail, an application that can undermine the most valiant of leaders. Best practices in executive leadership necessarily includes a focus on how, where and when we put our thoughts into writing.

Of course, the HP fiasco cautions leaders that telephones of any kind can prove harmful if not used properly, but great leaders can expect that anything they put in digital format (a word document, an email, a text message, an instant message) has a chance of appearing on the front page of tomorrow's newspapers.

Study Says 26% of Managers Aren't Trained To Manage

This week's WSJ profiled Rasmusssen Reports, a staffing company in NJ and a poll that it conducted which says 26% of managers surveyed "don't get enough training to handle their responsibilities..."---and the implication is that managers are saying "I need help to do my job and to manage people more effectively..."

While the report doesn't address how/why these managers were elevated to their current roles, it does underscore what Leadership IQ national reasearch studies keep pointing to: the biggest challenge facing just about every company is not just how to motivate underformers, but how to deal with slackers. Click on the link to this posting to find a good solution!

Profile In Leadership: An Oracle at Oracle

For those that missed WSJ Sept 18th profile of the turnaround taking place at Oracle---it provided a great case study in leadership--and how the most basic concepts can change the direction of the biggest battleships.

Its hard not to respect the accomplishments of Oracle Chairman/CEO Larry Ellison. He's an industry titan, runs a company that dominates its space, a self-made billionaire, and he has one heck of a yacht. But those accomplishments haven't come without Oracle getting across the board low scores on leadership practices. Ellison is known to be a screamer, a control freak and he's changed his senior staff more often than other CEO's turn in their Mercedes for a new model (and not always for a new Mercedes--but that's another issue).

As Oracle's dominance grew, the company's focus on customer service languished. In the old days, Oracle didn't seem to need to cater to customers. As software sales soared in the 1980s and 1990s, Oracle salesmen joked that they could simply sit back and take orders.

Per the WSJ article--and more poignant: "...Barry Libenson, chief information officer at industrial-products company Ingersoll-Rand Co. says Oracle used to have a "horrific" reputation for aggressively selling software and then ignoring the customers who bought it."

Ellison's strategy has been to snap up competitors--spending billions--with the goal of acquiring customers and up-selling them to Oracle products/services. The PeopleSoft deal is the most striking example. The PacMan strategy increased market share---but it also confused internal management, caused dissention at the top levels--and most importantly--disenfranchised customers---people that allocate IT budgets that amount to tens of millions a year. Customers would call Ellison's office directly to voice their frustration about the lack of service and support--and he didn't return the calls.

But Larry made the right leadership decision by elevating Chuck Phillips, the co-President. Chuck has a proven track record for focusing on the most important element to running any business: COMMUNICATING WITH CUSTOMERS. Under Chuck's leadership, Oracle initiated a completely new style of management that aggressively solicited and embraced customer input and feedback... The results so far: corporate customer perception has gone from harshly negative to positive, sales and market share have increased (of course, that's been helped by the PacMan strategy)---and shareholders and investors are voting with their checkbooks---Oracle's stock price is up more than 30% ytd--in an otherwise lackluster environment for others stocks within the sector.

Big Salute to Chuck Phillips--Semper Fi!

Another Common Myth Shredded: CEO Diplomas

As dutifully noted in Carol Hymowitz WSJ column--most CEO's of the biggest corporations didn't attend Ivy League schools--and most telling was the observation by Warren Buffet (University of Nebraska) : "I don't care where someone went to schoo...that never caused me to hire anyone or buy a business.."

Proving yet again that for those who think that leadership status is determined in the classroom---it actually starts in the School of Hard Knocks.

HP Board Crisis

I must be saying something right... click on link to latest issue of Red Herring and my observations on board room leadership...

Leadership Strategy That Never Goes Out of Fashion

Retailing may be one of the most difficult of industries when it comes to succeeding as a leader. After all, fashion trends will trend--which means you always have to stay in the curl of the wave.
A few missteps can cause even the biggest retailers to spiral, impacting everything from sales to brand value to employee morale and motivation.

When faced with the challenge of a sagging brand image, Ann Taylor Stores reached from within to promote Kay Krill to CEO. Today's WSJ profile spotlighted key lessons in leadership that transcend to any company that's dependent on staying in tune and staying in touch with consumers.

If you don't subscribe to the WSJ online, the title link may not work..but Kay's Top 5 Leadership Rules are illustrative of truly great leadership
1. Know Your Client
2. Have an action plan and secure buy-in from the senior leaders who need to execute the plan.
3. Evolve. Roll with the punches. Stay in the curl of the wave.
4. Constantly Communicate with employees at ALL levels.
5. Stay positive and optimistic--and display that optimism to all of those around you.

GroupThink: Brainstorming Is Good, Because Why?

How much time do you spend fostering team cooperation and input---because some textbook or manual told you that brainstorming in groups is the holy grail?

Hats off to David Freedman and Inc. Magazine for flushing out a myth that too many managers subscribe to.

CEO Scorecard: Bristol Myers Squibb Overdoses

One too many pushes of the envelope while under the microscope...That seems to be the reason why Peter Dolan was invited to step down from his job as CEO...

Per the nationwide research study that Leadership IQ published last year---the majority of CEO's aren't fired because of bad stock performance (well, Sumner Redstone is entitled try and prove that theory wrong)---and its unusual for a Fortune 100 CEO to get fired because they pushed the envelope too far while the company was still technically on probation in connection with violating other laws in the recent past.

Is Peter Dolan a sinister guy that didn't have any respect for authority and did what he had to do in a difficult business environment. .Hard to tell, but no doubt that the clock was ticking on Mr. Dolan for the past many months, and the mis-handling of how to deal with a competitors campaign to launch a cheaper alternative to the $3 billion a year Plavix will no doubt prove to be a text book case study...(in law schools, not business schools)

What Great Board Members Do Differently

Well, for one thing---great board members need to go to great lengths to make sure that invasion of privacy is covered in their E&O policies.

One would like to think that members of Fortune 100 boards read the newspapers and might have been following the script taking place in Hollywood where Brad Grey and other studio execs purportedly used a gumshoe named Pellicano to secure phone records of adversaries.. My 2 year old knows that the only people allowed to break the law and secure private information is Uncle Sam. They do it every day..sometimes with a warrant, sometimes without...a little intimadation and a little gold badge go a long way...

Whoever thought that it would be okay to track down a leaking board member by tapping into personal phone records failed to appreciate the legal ramifications, even if it worked...But it wasn't kosher.. This is NOT the mindset that you want from a board member...even if they all vote unamimously in favor of the idea... God forbid this type activity forces regulators to impose independent directors on every public company board.

CEO Golf Scores Handicap Share Return

I couldn't resist posting this story re: inverse relationship between golf handicaps and stock holder returns..... Segues nicely into Leadership IQ's landmark study "Why CEO's Get Fired"
... from USA Today

"...Golf Digest magazine Thursday releases its biennial rankings of the top CEO golfers, and a USA TODAY analysis finds that two-thirds of the best 12 have seen their stock perform worse than the Standard & Poor's 500 index in 2006...."

HP Board Sets New Standards in Leadership

OK, this week's disclosure that all but one HP Board member authorized violating the privacy of one of its shareholder-elected Board members (to determine if he was the source of news leaks to the press about this publicly held company) doesn't actually set new standards in leadership.

This kind of thing happens every day...if the leader of our country can do it, why can't the leaders of the biggest companies in America?

We're working on putting together a new survey....including a question..."If you thought a company employee was criticizing management on a blog, or if you thought he/she was using his home computer and personal email address to send messages that were critical of your company, and your corporate counsel said 'it seemed to be legal' for you to tap into the employee's home computer to find out if your suspicions were true, would you do it? Post your comments, or email me at mark@leadershipiq.com!