Rogue Leadership

by Paul Rosenberg

  I’m not just talking about time management; I’m talking about what you choose to engage with. When so much that crosses your desk seems amazing, fascinating, and fabulous, you soon discover that hardly any of it lives up to its promise. As we explored earlier in the book, taking a step back by going inward is critical.

  Your initial response creates the next trigger and another response, and quickly you can find yourself overwhelmed trying to process everything that comes at you. The result: You deprive your team of growth and opportunities as you try to handle it all. When leaders constantly react to overwhelm, they stifle their organization’s ability to be effective.

  So how do you simplify?

  Reduce the number of meetings, memos, and emails.

  Opt for one-on-one meetings as often as possible.

  Pick three key messages to communicate—never twenty.

  Every week, pick four things that will make it a great week and then execute them.

  Question everything you have committed to in your schedule and get clear on what value you get out of it. Do you schedule unnecessary meetings just because it’s expected? Do you make sure the right people get the information they need to make decisions? Do any actions come out of it?

  Use direct and clear language, especially in emails.

  Limit yourself to a predetermined number of words in memos and emails to staff. Think Twitter, and try to match their limits. Yes, this might be tough, but it’s great practice.

  Ask your staff to write executive summaries on all documents and to attach details for backup.

  Demand simplicity from those around you—especially in how they report to you, message you, or file reports.

  How you communicate is important; what you communicate is critical. The message received by your team cannot be overemphasized.

  Recap

  Part 6: Communicating with Simplicity

  Keep your communication direct and simple; the fewer words the better.

  Personal communication has greater impact than any memo or email.

  Confirm that your message has been received and there are no misunderstandings.

  Create alignment through key words or phrases, like a mantra.

  Ask those around you to be concise and brief in their reporting and verbal communication with you; set the expectation.

  Be consistent with your message—remember the one thing?

  Say you understand only if you really do.

  PART 7

  LEADING FROM THE HEART

  Leadership is all about emotional intelligence. Management is taught, while leadership is experienced.

  —Rajeev Suri, CEO

  29.

  The Power of the Playground

  Unleashing Innovation and Collaboration

  Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.

  —Joseph Chilton Pearce, author

  While playing golf today, I hit two good balls. I stepped on a rake.

  —Henny Youngman, comic

  Business is supposedly serious business. And so is life—if we make it that way. All young mammals instinctively love to play. Just think of little puppies or kittens, not to mention human children. Play helps train and shape the brain for the more serious business of living later on as adults. Play teaches us roles, communication, creativity, innovation, and, ultimately, pure joy.

  Play releases stress and creates common bonds and collaboration. No matter our background, socioeconomic status, or the car we drive, play deepens relationships and strips away formalities that stifle creativity and spontaneity.

  Play takes many forms. I remember my mother working at a psychiatric hospital as the head nurse. One day, she and other members of the staff sat with patients in the yard and participated in their painting session. A government VIP who came to discuss the work of the hospital joined the group, never having met my mom.

  Thinking she was a patient, he went over to her and, in a patronizing tone, asked her name.

  “Kati,” she replied.

  “And what are we doing today, Kati?”

  “Painting,” she said.

  “Do you like painting?”

  She nodded. “I love painting.”

  “You’re good at it too.”

  My mom asked, “Can I hug you?”

  “Of course,” he said, and she gave him a warm hug.

  He had assumed she was a patient and treated her accordingly.

  She ignored the VIP’s patronizing formality by continuing her playful attitude. When he realized who she was later in her office, it changed the dynamic of their conversation. In the meeting, the government official dropped his formal tone when addressing my mother. Her playfulness had softened his armor, and he opened up more.

  Comics on stage use improvisation as a form of playing with the audience. Some of the best comedy groups—such as the Groundlings, Second City, and Saturday Night Live—have used improvisation to create memorable sketches. Then why not use it in business to create something of value?

  The power of improvisation comes from giving each other permission to play and fail. Yes, you must follow rules within a defined structure, but this guides you to be creative while doing what’s best for the team. It must be handled skillfully—and that takes practice.

  Trainers and leaders in the business world often use improvisation to improve synergy and team building. Invariably, participants get a much richer experience than from a typical offsite brainstorming session with flip charts.

  The more open a structure, the more creative the results. Too many retreats have such a narrow, rigid agenda that they impede creativity, almost guaranteeing limited results before the day has even begun. How often does an offsite meeting actually lead to significant change?

  Of course, simply getting together away from the office routine can have its own benefits. Experiencing memorable moments together gives your team shared references they can draw on when they return to their desks in the “real” world.

  When I meet former colleagues from a company I worked with for twenty-three years, we don’t reminisce about the results. We talk about the time we spent together laughing or playing. No one says, “Remember our record year in last year?” or “How about that market strategy from five years ago?”

  Examples of shared memories from my own business life include a soccer game in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, where, as a goalie, I got kicked in the cajones; or the time we got snowed in at a resort and made snow angels.

  Much research documents the role of play in development, yet as adults, we tend to avoid play whenever we engage in business—reserving it for weekends.

  Whenever I ask leaders about who has influenced them and whom they trust, they often mention people they can laugh and play with. Having some fun together day to day typically ranks high on their list.

  In her article “Five Reasons You Need to Play More,” reprinted in part here, with her permission, my colleague Emma Seppälä writes:

  Research finds that fun seriously aids everything you want your mind to do. Submerged in the responsibilities of life, the seriousness of world affairs, and an ever-growing to-do list, we often forget to play. Animals, on the other hand, continue to play throughout their adult lives! We may believe that play is somehow no longer appropriate or cast aside as a frivolous waste of time. Research suggests, however, that play is essential to our well-being, creativity, and health:

  1. It boosts our creativity.

  2. It helps us think outside the box.

  3. It improves our health.

  4. It makes us present.

  5. It connects us.

  As I described previously, social connectedness is a fundamental need for human beings. During World War I, on January 1, 1915, a soldier in the front line sent home a f
amous letter that was first published in the London Times. It described the events of the Christmas Day truce: “The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The German officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.

  This striking story is a reminder that play—the ability to laugh and let go, to inhabit the present, and to be immersed in the mirth and lightness of being—can be an ultimate act of love and belongingness. It reminds us of play as an all-important element in leadership, one that create collaboration and a sense of belonging to something greater than oneself.

  Emma reinforces with clarity that there is power and value in play in the workplace.

  30.

  Creating a Shared Story

  We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.

  —Jimmy Neil Smith, storyteller

  In modern society, we often think money motivates the workforce. On the contrary, research shows that most workers feel more motivated by other, more meaningful rewards—such as feeling their labor makes a difference. If you create a shared vision, your employees will feel connected to a greater good and go the extra mile for you, willingly increasing productivity. “Who are we?” If that question can be answered at all levels, you’ve done your job.

  This effort requires more than circulating the mission statement and hanging nice motivating posters on the walls. Although knowing the organization’s mission is important, most employees don’t think about it in their day-to-day work—unless they happen to work for a very special company.

  If employees don’t hold the company vision in their hearts, even the best mission and vision statements will be ignored. They will look good only as PR on your social media feeds. Using corporate speak to communicate with employees alienates and demotivates them and often results in poor productivity.

  Typically, leaders roll out their vision and ask their team to buy into it. But it is much more effective if you empower your team to participate in creating the organizational mission. After all, your company relies on them to implement it.

  Warning: It takes more than going through the motions of getting input from everyone, filling up flip charts, and toasting work well done.

  Rogue leaders take a different perspective: They make sure the team feels connected to both the mission and the leadership—and that means reinforcing the leadership-team connection every day.

  Leaders achieve this by building a story—where employees identify as key characters in the organization’s narrative. Good leaders also recognize and reward actions that align with the mission and add momentum to the narrative.

  My first senior boss knew that instinctively. He quickly achieved quality connections with his team, and often across thousands of miles, without needing to frequently meet them face-to-face. He made it a priority to communicate with each of us regularly to ensure that we knew he supported us.

  Others were not so successful. I remember a labor negotiation with my Swedish employees. It went well from my perspective, but the UK boss who managed me protested that he didn’t like all the details Swedish laws require. He could see and appreciate things only from his bubble in the UK, even though the company was Swedish. He and I clashed constantly, but one thing finally got me in his corner: record-breaking results.

  We didn’t accomplish that by cutting costs or by insisting on unrealistic boosts in productivity. My team and I were successful by creating a shared story, one that still lives today among us whenever we touch base.

  WRITE THE STORY—DON’T LET OTHERS DO IT FOR YOU

  When I first met Ken McKenzie, managing director of Premdor, a large door manufacturing plant in the UK, he already knew what he wanted his company’s story to be. He wanted to be the dominant player in the market and go from 20 percent market share to a majority share. We talked about his company’s culture and why he would play an important part in achieving his goals.

  His workforce came from the surrounding coal mining area, so he had to deal with many long-standing labor issues and clashes with management. Major strikes and even violence had rocked that region. Ken wanted his workers to take pride in what they did and how they did it. Previous leaders had allowed the team to set the story as “we are the best of a bad bunch,” with a hard line between management and the workforce.

  Ken did things differently, focusing on five things: engaging effectively with the front line; creating business acumen for all team members; involving the entire supply chain; challenging old norms; and recognizing the workforce.

  The story he crafted focused on overtaking the competition, not by being the best of the worst, but by being the best of the best.

  All the parties involved had to earn one another’s trust, and this meant a major shift in how management and employees related to each other. At first, senior leaders stuck to their old ways, and frontline supervisors identified heavily as victims along with their people.

  Over time, Ken included more of the workforce in conversations and discussions, and he showed up consistently for them. Word traveled fast that the managing director sat down and openly communicated with and listened to a supervisor—in front of management and invited guests. This meeting between front line and the MD had such a powerful impact, it paved the way for fuller engagement with the entire team.

  By openly interacting with his team and treating them with respect, Ken reinforced the story he wanted for his company. He didn’t need to keep repeating it. Implicitly, he embodied it in everything he did. He demonstrated that he cared about his employees and wanted them involved in managing the business.

  TOUCHSTONING

  Ken knew how to tell a story: build it live every day in the workplace—then reinforce it in every hallway meeting. I call this approach “touchstoning.” It provides a common and familiar reference for people. They feel included.

  Remember our discussion about comedy and how we can use it as a tool—for example, using the callback technique (see “Use Callbacks” in chapter 21). Inside jokes link the comic with the audience.

  For a corporate story to work, it needs an underlying core message that connects every other message about the organization’s direction and identifies key priorities, especially your organization’s raison d’être—your purpose, your why.

  While on the shop floor, Ken would naturally refer to moments when the team or an employee stepped up or remind the team of where they were a year ago and how far they had come.

  Touchstoning keeps the common references alive and circulating in the lifeblood of the company. It creates daily opportunities to remind everyone why they come to work. Once you have the touchstoning references circulating, the messaging moves faster each time.

  MIND THE GAP

  Effective leaders know the power of “controlling the message.” This means making sure words and actions consistently match to create alignment. Without sufficient information, people instinctively fill in the blanks—usually with a negative spin. Far too many organizations leave these “message gaps” wide open, and as a result, the core message gets distorted and frustration and a lack of motivation become the norm.

  Demotivation can come about in a number of ways: the frontline worker who offers a great idea to improve the company yet never hears back, the executive left out of the loop on a new project, the unilateral decisions made by the top brass without input from the rank and file.

  Such motivational devastation can be easily avoided by making sure that everyone feels they matter to the organization and that the corporate story remains front and center at all times.

  THE HALL OF SHAME

  To create and maintain a motivating, all-inclusive story for your company, you would do well
to remove the following words and phrases from your lexicon:

  “You’ll know when we know.”

  “Not your pay grade.”

  “We are working on it.”

  “I didn’t think you needed to know.”

  “I sent you an email—you mean you didn’t you get it?”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

  “Great idea!” (then take credit for it later.)

  “My dog ate it.” (Well, okay, not that one.)

  Comments like these (often unintentional) make it harder to lead. They disconnect and alienate people. Be more mindful of the words you use, avoid clichés and put-downs; instead, develop the habit of using conversations with your team to reinforce the company’s most powerful messages. Be and act as your organization’s lead “storyteller.” You’ll be amazed by the difference.

  31.

  Cultivating Partner Leadership

  True leaders understand that leadership is not about them, but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves, but about lifting others up.

  —Sheri L. Dew, author and CEO

  Scoreboards, KPIs, and graphs all make performance visible and should form a part of any leader’s tool kit. Keeping track of progress and measuring scores (how well you meet your goals), while often overlooked, remain critical to any business.

  When you and your team understand the results, whether good or bad, you’re in a better position to make adjustments. Quantitative feedback helps keep everything on target. If you don’t know your progress score, you can’t play the game well.

  This information also helps unify everyone, whatever their role, and helps avoid the “us and them” mentality seen in many companies. Your company’s well-being should be the overarching driver for all action, across all departments. Fragmented decision-making often spells disaster for organizations.

  Values-based leadership creates the ideal work environment and thus leads to top performance. Employees as well as shareholders benefit. These values can be expressed in many ways in the workplace—for example, rewarding work mutual respect, opportunities to grow and develop, and benefits to the community.