by Deborah Leverett | Nov 8, 2013 | Blog, Uncategorized
This past week I attended an Austin Roundtable luncheon for business owners . The speaker, Ed Perry, President & COO of DrillingInfo, has been described as one of today’s most enlightened business leaders. A very successful businessman, he is committed to share what he knows and has set a professional goal of helping create one million successful, principled entrepreneurs before he dies. In a highly informative presentation, Ed emphasized the importance of leadership especially during times of high growth. Among his many great points, the most fascinating to me was his definition of an authoritative leader as opposed to dictatorial leadership. The authoritative leader: has a high degree of emotional intelligence has a ‘come with me’ mindset is goal-driven is inspirational is decisive – ‘someone has to take the lead’ is tough but fair focuses on doing what’s right – not on being right Favorite quote from Mr. Perry: “When you’re wrong, don’t get into a fight to prove you’re right!” How do you make sure those in your organization’s leadership positions are authoritative and not dictatorial?...
by Deborah Leverett | Oct 25, 2013 | Blog, Uncategorized
Mozart – @ age 7 wrote his first symphony. Joan of Arc @ age 17 led an army defending France. Fred DeLuca @ age 21 co-founded Subway with $1,000 in the bank. John F. Kennedy @ age 43 was inaugurated as 35th POTUS. George Foreman @ 45 recaptured heavyweight championship of the world. Willie Shoemaker @ age 54 won Kentucky Derby. Ray Krock @ age 57 founded MacDonalds. Grandma Moses @ age 78 started painting. What are you waiting for? Happy Friday!...
by Deborah Leverett | Oct 18, 2013 | Blog, Uncategorized
In a positive way, of course. With a highly-educated workforce, there still seems to be ignorance around the fact that an action always causes a reaction. To succeed in the workplace, understand which behaviors will bring success which ones will be destructive. Here is Mature Behavior 101: 1. Be punctual – don’t just show up – show up on time and be punctual about your commitments. 2. Be conscientious about your work: do your work well and thoroughly: you waste (steal) your employer’s time when you spend time idly on computer/social media. 3. Do the hard tasks first. 4. Do everything you do with excellence. In the words of Henry Kissinger to his subordinates: “Is that the best you can do? If it isn’t, do it over.” 5. Be the leader – the adult in the room – don’t gossip about other co-workers nor about your boss. 6. Help remove obstacles for others whenever you can. 6. Examine your own behavior by answering this question: If everyone in the company had my work ethic and attitude, would the company be better than it is now or worse? Happy Friday!...
by Deborah Leverett | Oct 4, 2013 | Blog, Uncategorized
You are probably aware of the Lessons from Geese leadership story: unity, teamwork, shared purpose, clear roles, everyone flying in lockstep from point A to point B. It is a good analogy, but hardly typical of what happens in change leadership. What is needed is a very different set of skills: creativity, risk-taking, mavericks courageous enough to challenge the v-formation. Leading change is comparable to leading a group of explorers on Mars: the map can be less than perfect, it will end up costing at least three times as much as you forecasted, and you cannot be sure where you will be after 30 days. The one thing that gives the change leader freedom to sleep at night is knowing he or she has the right people – experts and professionals who have the freedom to communicate up with critical information and feedback when it looks like the team is off course. Change happens when every member actively participates in the process. Successful change leadership is impossible without the growth and development of individual capabilities, attitudes and behavior. Leaders go first and model the way to take calculated risks. The mantra to the team: find a new way of doing things and do it at twice the normal rate. That will definitely give you a guaranteed result of more mistakes! Know that when you see mistakes during a change initiative these are signs that people are trying new things. Change leaders know this and support this behavior. Very different behavior than flying in a v formation. What’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the ...
by Deborah Leverett | Sep 24, 2013 | Blog, Uncategorized
In my neighborhood there is a printing and shipping service business – their advertising uses the word high-quality to describe their standards. High-quality are not the two words that come to mind when I think of them. My experience has been machines down, not enough staff, confusion over orders, ‘we can’t do that”, ” we can’t have that done by then” type of service. They consistently waste my time and make me less productive. Fortunately, a UPS store opened up in the same area, so I started using them for mailing and shipping- being their customer is easy and gets easier all the time. Smiling faces, my information already in their database, and since they now partner with USPS (when did that happen?), they give me a wide variety of shipping options. Kinko’s FedEx is a printing service that I will drive out of my way to use. Their response, “No problem, we will have it ready” is music to my ears especially when I am down to the wire on a deadline. And, they actually do what they say they will do and do it when they said they would. They have yet failed to deliver — I now trust that they won’t waste my time. Plus, they are super helpful. These two businesses consistently save me time and make me more productive – it is a great feeling. My former boss and mentor, Tom Segesta, current GM Four Seasons Chicago, taught me when you can save someone’s time and make them more productive, you have made their lives better, and they will love your for it. It...
by Deborah Leverett | Aug 2, 2013 | Blog, Uncategorized
Not just anyone can be a change agent – it takes a certain set of skills, behaviors and attitudes to take the lead in a change initiative. And, by take the lead, I am not only talking about the executive leadership. I am also talking about the unofficial leader on the front line who decides to step up. Being a successful change agent doesn’t depend so much on successful managerial experience as it much as it depends on a certain attitude. One has to be excited by the unknown and become best friends with chaos: “Success will come to those who love chaos — constant change —
not to those who attempt to eliminate it.”
– Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos The most successful change leaders become the change: “an unconventional outsider who becomes the physical embodiment the desired culture” -John Kotter and James Heskett, Corporate Culture and Performance There is always an unspoken, naive expectation from my clients that I will hand them a book with 10 steps to successful change. It doesn’t work that way because every change initiative is different, and it is the pathfinder who gets this job done. They not only find new ways of doing things for problems that have never happened before, but they have to build the path to do it and get others to join in. It takes an enormous amount of time and effort and the pathfinder can even find himself or herself at odds with the boss because management can want both continued excellent performance while at the same time expecting new ways of doing the job...
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