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Bob --
Welcome back... was starting to worry. Great example of the process Ron Zemke taught when we mess up. Here is a blog I wrote about the approach(I think when you blogged about the UAL incident).
http://mckeeverandsullivan.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/when-we-mess-up/
Delta Airlines Shows How to Apologize
Please forgive my months of silence. I appreciate all the folks who have asked if I am OK (I am fine!) and who have urged me to start blogging again. You will start hearing more here about what I've been doing the last six months. The short story is that Huggy Rao and I have been working like...
The late Ron Zemke had a 5-step recovery process for service lapses.
1- An apology
2- Immediate reinstatement (make the service right, right now)
3- Symbolic atonement (bump the kid to 1st, give the family a free trip,waive a fee, ... something)
4- Empathy (acknowledge that slip-ups have real impact)
5- Follow up (do what you said you were going to do)
Simple to remember. Only thing missing is courage to empower the front line to invoke it.
United Airlines Lost My Friend's 10 Year Old Daughter And Didn't Care
My colleague Huggy Rao and I have been reading and writing about something called "felt accountability" in our scaling book. We are arguing that a key difference between good and bad organizations is that, in the good ones, most everyone feels obligated and presses everyone else to do what is in...
I am forever startled by clients who choose not to pursue the messy aspects of innovating -- be it products, services, strategies, business models, whatever -- and prefer a more predictable course that never yields breakthrough results. George Gilder said "Fail fast. Fail cheap. Win big." What can we do to help leaders and those at the front line to get past only hearing the word 'fail' and instead hear 'win big'?
Can You Handle the Mess?
Remember that speech from a Few Good Men where Jack Nicholson famously ranted at Tom Cruise "You can't handle the truth?" I was vaguely reminded of it when I saw this picture. It reminded me that, when it comes to creativity and innovation, if you want the innovations, money, and prestige i...
Tom Peters wrote of a return to the 3-martini lunch. For business to occur, one party has to say to another 'yes'. For great business to occur, one party has to say to another 'yes! yes! yes!'. Ideas that seem tame when sipping grape juice seem a lot more exciting when the grape juice is fermented.
Creativity: Another Reason that Having a Drink -- or Two -- at Work Isn't All Bad
Last April, I had fun writing a guest column for Cnn.Com arguing that having an occasional drink with your colleagues while you are at work isn't all bad: In addition to its objective physiological effects, anthropologists have long noted that its presence serves as a signal in many societies th...
"Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win - if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth and nice guys with no talent finish last." – Sandy Koufax
Are Incompetent and Nice Bosses Even Worse The Competent Assholes? An Excerpt from My New Chapter
Tomorrow is the official publication day for the Good Boss, Bad Boss paperback. It contains a new chapter called "What Great Bosses Do," which digs into some of the lessons I learned about leadership since publishing the hardback in September 2010. I have already published excerpts from the ne...
I focus on the consequences to decide whether to intervene. If the course we're on will do damage to the customer or the team, I jump in... fast. If it is a situation that will become a learning experience for the team, I stand aside and let them get on with it. [I have a cynical streak that occasionally thinks you can't teach anybody a damn thing, but you can create experiences for them to teach themselves.]
One other distinction: if it's just 'normal' fouled up (SNAFU), there's every reason to treat that as part of the game, what we're paid to do (make it work). I've always defined FUBAR as 'fouled up beyond all repair', which implies extraordinary measures to make it work (at our best, I sometimes think we can fix a rainy day). But it may beg the question if the situation is truly beyond repair. That's the exception, but it happens. Perhaps the toughest choice is that where you have to acknowledge failure, make amends, but move on.
FUBAR, SNAFU, Fast Company, and Good Bosses
My late father, Lewis Sutton, was a World II veteran. Like many of his generation, the things he learned and experiences he had -- from the terrors of the Battle of the Bulge to the joys of chasing French women -- profoundly shaped the course of his life. Part of what he learned was the langua...
I'm less concerned with the leader's selection process than in the leader's approach to leading. Is there something missing in the predictive leadership attributes tht drives us to make suboptimal choices?
Is It Sometimes Rational to Select Leaders Randomly? A Cool Old Study
This term at Stanford, I am teaching a doctoral seminar on leadership. Of course, this one of the broadest and most confusing topics on earth. I am not qualified to teach a seminar on love or religion; so, for me, this is the most vexing topic I can teach. The topic for the first meeting was ...
I had a similar view on Apple in my blog when the Fortune story ran: The Leader or The System?
http://wp.me/pCoO8-24
5 Warning Signs to Watch for at Apple
I declined several media inquiries to comment on Steve Jobs and the impact his departure will have on Apple. I did so because predicting the future of any company is always hard, but especially so for Apple where the secrecy is so severe. For example, although Tim Cook has stepped in and out o...
Love it, Bob. Got my creative energy flowing. [Now I can;t stop!!] Death to PPT!
A Talk On Fast Innovation, All In One Great Picture
A couple weeks ago, I did a talk on "fast innovation" at IDEO. I gave the talk from a powerpoint deck, but at the same time, while the audience and I discussed the the talk, there was a guy named Kevin Bain who does this thing called "graphics scribing." On a single big piece of paper, he drew...
I had a client (Fortune 10 company) that set a target of 16 months to accomplish something most companies took 18. They made it. When I asked the exec sponsor if he was pleased, he shared that everyone sat around for a year then put it in gear for 4 months. [The student syndrome: ask for more time to complete an assignment, but fail to start immediately because the extension means there's enough time.] While I agree that enabling success via small steps is important, bold goals generate focus, energy, and commitment to create what's often thought to be impossible.
Taking The Path of Most Resistance: The Virtues
I am blogging only intermittently as I am pretty focused on reading, talking to people, and generally fretting, worrying, and trying to structure the book on scaling constructive action that Huggy Rao and I are trying to write. I have been reading everything from psychological experiments on how...
This study made me uncomfortable, which is usually an indication that it is challenging my previous perspective. I get the charisma angle, but for me, it has a slightly different description. I think passion is the only thing that sells, so a creative type who is passionate about the possibilities of her creation is bound to attract followers. If the same creative leader is not as strong when it comes to producing the new idea, she can still be the leader if she uses her passion to enroll others with better production skills to the effort.
More Reasons Creativity Sucks: Creative People Seen as Having Less Leadership Potential
Ever since the days when I was writing Weird Ideas That Work, I have been careful to point out various ways that creative people suffer in comparison to their less imaginative counterparts. My focus has been largely on the differences between doing creative and routine work (see this post on wh...
Spot-on, Bob. It's all about perspective. Here are my thoughts, per a blog I wrote about a year ago:
http://mckeeverandsullivan.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/xenophilia/
New Research: We Are More Creative When We Help Others Than Ourselves
There is an interesting set of findings from psychological experiments that suggest we see others' flaws and strengths more clearly than our own (I wrote about this in Good Boss, Bad Boss) and that, on average, human-beings make more rational decisions when make them for others rather than thems...
The fundamental prerequisite for leadership is courage. A leader goes on to act in many ways, but without courage, nothing good results.
CEO Decision-Making: A Great Observation By Venture Capitalist Ben Horowitz
I have been reading through "Ben's Blog," which is written by Ben Horowitz of Andreesen Horowitiz (a firm that just raised 650 million, yikes!) He wrote a great post awhile back on how the firm evaluates CEOs. Read the whole thing, it is inspired. I especially love this part, because it is so ...
Spot on, Bob. Let me add my thoughts from a recebt blog:
http://mckeeverandsullivan.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/xenophilia/
Why a CEO Needs a Candid Advisor from OUTSIDE the Organization
I was reading through notes I took about six months ago during a talk given by a CEO of a large company, who was fired by his board because his firm had serious performance problems -- and was taking great risks -- that he never learned about until it was too late, and the firm was in deep troub...
Any chance their ticker symbol is GS?
I hand out copies of your book like valium pills
This quote is from an email I got from the head of a "conflict resolution" office at a large organization. She was talking about The No Asshole Rule. I wonder if the combination of the book and valium would be especially effective under some conditions!
I think you have found the title for your next book, but no regrets about going from 'that asshole guy' to 'that shitshow guy'.:)
Shit Show: The Phrase I Learned at Pixar
On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to be invited back to give a second Good Boss, Bad Boss talk at Pixar. I love Pixar. Not just because they are so cool, but because of the deep and relentless commitment to quality and humanity. If you have not heard it, I urge you to listen to this Fresh Air i...
Per Jim Collins, the corporate track has less ambiguity and more risk, while the entrepreneurial route has more ambiguity but less risk. So get used to having to make it up as you go, but be thankful that you have your hand on the wheel. Any time you need a booster shot of faith, reach out... I believe you will not only succeed, but hit heights you could have only dreamed about in your last life.
Seven Reasons I Can Use Your Help
Day 1 sucked. Day 2 sucked a little less. Maybe because I was getting used to it. Day 3 was fantastic. I wish all days were like day 3. Now it’s day 4, and I might get used to things being fantastic. After quitting my job and going independent, I am trying to start a new professional career o...
Urzua is the latter day model of Ernest Shackleton. I would love to know more about his background and experience, and look forward to the day when all the miners can celebrate their success.
Luis Urzua and the Trapped Miners: A Good Boss, Performance, and Humanity
I first wrote this post on September 6th. I am highlighting it today to celebrate the rescue and to show some of the nuances of Luis Urzua's impressive leadership. When people ask me for one sentence summary of a great boss, I answer "He or she promotes both performance and humanity, and strike...
Great list, Bob. Of the many wonderful comments, I am most aligned with the item from Anese about acknowledging you for who you are and not just what you do. There's a big difference between seeing a 'person' and seeing a 'resource'.
What Are Signs That Your Boss Cares About You?
My post on the power of bosses who take a moment to offer a simple "thanks" to people got me thinking about the more general question of little signs that your boss cares for you. Certainly, as my recent HBR article shows, when a boss "has your back" that is sign that he or she cares about you....
If the Management 2.0 wonks want to create a stir, it can be a healthy thing if it results in a greater number of managers acknowledging that we have (mostly) been doing it wrong and that we can put into practice sound principles that were available to us all along. I would welcome a perspective that embraces the duality of management: the hard stuff (systematic approach) and the soft stuff (it's all about the people). I also hope most would see that, as others have said, it's the soft stuff that is actually hard but has enormous power to transform our workplaces.
Why Bosses Ought to Be More Interested in What is True Than What is New
One of my favorite CEO's of all time is A.G. Lafley, who recently stepped down after running Procter & Gamble for a decade. There are many things I admire about A.G. His modesty and ability to listen — and I mean really listen, not just pretend — impressed me when I first met him in 2000, and whe...
The Scottish philosopher David Hume said "Truth arises from disagreement amongst friends.” My best business experiences come from working closely with people that I like... a lot... and with whom I agree on nothing. We achieve breakthrough results that way, and only predictable results when we let groupthink creep in.
Leading a Good Fight: Stories and Rules
If you read Work Matters, or my books or articles, you know that I believe that one of hallmarks of constructive team dynamics are healthy and respectful arguments over ideas. And I believe it is a hallmark of skilled bosses, especially when it comes to sparking creativity. For example, I have...
Shocked... shocked... that no one took advantage of the blog title and responded: "gunga la gunga", Bill Murray's inane but priceless line from Caddyshack. Big hitter, the Lama.
How Would The Dalai Lama Tell Someone To Fuck-Off?
One of the themes I have been writing about lately is on The Delicate Art of Being Perfectly Assertive. I have been focusing on this skill as a hallmark of great bosses, but I have been noticing lately that it is also a hallmark effective people more generally. I love working with moderately pu...
I think any systemic review is a great opportunity to find ways to make things better. So too for management systems. In our firm, we speak of our commitment to management 'with a discipline for the science and a passion for the art'. I think the science side of management is ripe for a transformation, to take the insights we've gathered and apply them in a self-sustaining way that doesn't feel like an intervention inspired by the current fad. As to the art, I agree with Bob that good bosses 100 years ago would most likely make good bosses today. My only fear is that some might conclude there is nothing new to learn... that's scary.
Bob's warning that 'not invented here' isn't as dangerous as 'not sold here' is spot on. I believe that every fresh perspective can identify distinctions that can help us. Chasing after them blindly is a fool's mission.
Tom Davenport on Great Decisions at Pixar
Check out Tom's new post at HBR on Five Ways Pixar Makes Better Decisions. As often strikes me when I learn more about a great company like Pixar, their success is grounded in knowing and consistently doing obvious but powerful things. While some management gurus are saying we have to reinven...
Strategy:Logistics as Approach:Deployment. In your strategy, you can talk-the-talk, but in deployment, it's where you walk-the-talk. It's (relatively) easy to know what to do. The moment of truth comes when you actually do it, the results you get are the real reward.
Strategy Is For Amateurs, Logistics Are For Professionals
I first heard this saying a few years back from Joe McCannon of the Institute for Health Improvement, who was campaign manager for an amazing effort by this non-profit to reduce the number of preventable deaths in U.S. Hospitals. It was called the 100,000 Lives Campaign, which according to most ...
This is another instance of not Either/Or, but Both (BHAGs and tactical support on the path to the BHAG). In the absence of a BHAG, the pervasive mindset too quickly degenerates into 'what's in it for me (and only me)'. With a team fully enrolled in the achievement of the hairy goal... because they were engaged in setting the goal... there is an energy that tangibly radiates 'we're gonna make this happen!' The daily support of the many steps to make it happen is what good managers practice, while reinforcing the value of where you're going.
Enough With The Big Hairy Goals -- Also Any Ideas About Assertive AND Effective Bosses?
I am continuing to dig into the details on my list at HBR of 12 Things That Good Bosses Believe. My post on point 3 appeared today, Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to mak...
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