A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part I
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part II
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part III
This third part will cover the review of the last three principles, namely Creativity, Integrity & Community. True to the subtitle of the book, the author takes off from the individual introspection about these principles.
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part II
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part III
This third part will cover the review of the last three principles, namely Creativity, Integrity & Community. True to the subtitle of the book, the author takes off from the individual introspection about these principles.
Regarding Creativity principle, the author says about being creative first and almost all of us are creative. But a few who are considered the most innovative are ready to take risk with their new ideas and go against the existing norms to deliver results. The author identifies four competencies of creativity principle and they are Discovering People's Talents, Uncovering the Organization's Talent, Developing People Centered Technologies and Rewarding the Soft Innovations. As usual he brings very apt case studies for each of these competencies of Creativity principle.
The case study on Todd Mannesfield, the then Executive VP of Disney Development Company takes us through how people's talents are discovered and nurtured to deliver great results. Disney Development, though is in real estate business, the stress is on the experience that too 'Disney experience', which calls for creativity from the sector which may not be as creative as entertainment industry. Todd believes in identifying the strengths of individuals and then he provides the right opportunities for the individual while reducing bureaucratic hurdles as much as possible. At the same time he provides, and emphasizes on, the right environment for the person and his talent to flourish to deliver great results. He particularly refers to Pareto's principle being used in wrong way generally, while leading people. Generally, 80% of the stress is laid on addressing the weaknesses of individuals while 20% is on leveraging the strengths. Here 80% stress is on leveraging individual strengths and 20% on overcoming or compensating the weaknesses, many time bringing the individuals with complementing skills and talents to compensate. Todd talks about his own nature of trusting people too early and too much and how he manages using the strength of his colleague. The case study also offers another instance, where in a financial executive who was a 'deal person' thrusted in detail oriented 'operational role'. The person was moved, wherein he could do the 'deals' rather than manage the operations, not only the person started elivering great results he kept on enjoying his role! The author brings in the advice of the proponents of 'strength based leading', Gallup on how to recognize ones weaknesses. I am finding this specific case study and creativity principle generally as more effective, probably because I myself am inclined towards creativity.
For Unraveling Creativity the case study of Sun Hydraulics is offered. It is a typical example of highly creative research and development division. As the stress is on creativity, the team structure has been implemented. To get the optimum results the people with high self awareness are chosen and are given free rein to deliver highly creative output. The case study is too extensive and short to understand the underlying mechanisms at work to arrive at the take-aways. This is one of the failings of the book, as I have mentioned earlier.Though the author mentions that the organization has been delivering extraordinary results consistently compared to the peers, the period covered is not much. The scalability of the organization is not known. I strongly suspect that the practices mentioned in the case study very specific to the research and development unit of the organization. In an instance an employee's frustration over one and half year's efforts to push her project is mentioned, though it was resolved. I believe 3M & Google's practices of intrapreneurs is more scalable model compared to the one mentioned here. I also believe Jim Collin's 10X Leadership model in his Great by Choice which talks of triad of Fantastic Discipline, Productive Paranoia and Empirical Creativity driven by Level 5 Ambition is a more definitive work.
Under Developing People Centered Technologies competency, Sidney Harman's Harman International Industries is covered. Harman's approach to infusing technologies is analysed to give an inside view into technology infusion in organizations. Harman notes that the technology infusion happens in 3 phases in organizations, first to speed up, later to increase efficiency or productivity in my view, lastly to increase the effectiveness. The implications on people, in my view are, initially further need of people for a given operation is curtailed, the people surplus in the organization are redeployed as much as possible and later different competencies are needed as the organization climbs up the value chain, respectively. Sidney Harman talks about providing continuous learning opportunities for the employees to be ahead of the technology infusion within the organization. Two specific instances of creative redeployment of resources are provided. One is about the wood punches being offered as clocks for charity and promotion purposes. And the other is about the people from production redeployed in their factory retail store to sell the products.Though these kind of initiatives offer solutions for the employees affected by technology infusion, this applies for the large non-managerial talent. Highly talented managers and leaders, in turn, the organization, will be benefited by intrapreneurial (in-enterprise entrepreneurial) initiatives like Google Labs, which in my view, is a rehashed version of what has been practiced for almost a century in 3M. In the high tech, internet, social media organizations, either the internal initiatives are addressing these aspects as in Intuit or the high growth or/and highly promising start-ups are being gobbled up for the talent or/and to have presence in the emerging 'White Spaces'. In a way, the book's in-depth assessment of underlying mechanisms is incidental on the availability of incisive analysis offered by the organizations in the case studies.
The case study of Beth Israel Hospital emphasizes on the competency of Rewarding Soft Innovations. It makes a strong case for leveraging the people's creativity for strategic advantage for the organizations. As everything else, whether technology, funds, etc., is available at the same cost for all the players in any industry. I believe, the management processes and systems dovetailed uniquely to leverage people's creativity so as to adapt to fast changing business environment determines the winners. At Beth Israel, to achieve respect and care for the patients, not only doctors, even the nurses and non-medical staff are respected. One of the ways adapted is to get the newly joined doctors to do the role play of the others ie. nurses & non-medical staff and let them in the hospital. That teaches the doctors the feelings of the other staff. Another way adopted is to make doctors, including the head, Mitchell T Robkin to serve the staff by donning their uniform once in a year. In my view, this mechanism helps in instilling real respect for the individuals. Additionally, it keeps the still-unconverted ones to be on guards! Robkin recounts an incident while he had food with one of his colleagues who had been a janitor in the hospital for almost two decades. It is heartening to note that the janitor had many children and all of them were highly accomplished professionals like doctors and professors. Though this digresses from the objective of inculcating creativity specifically. The incident throws light on determination and grit on part of even the employees at lowest cadres. This insight reinforces the quest to seek creativity and commitment from employees from all levels.
The next principle covered is 'Integrity'. This section is lunched with a quote from Forbes who famously said, 'I bet on jockeys, not on horses.' The leaders' integrity is cumulative result of their commitment, ethics, sense of fairness and justice amongst others. If the integrity of the leader is unquestionable, then it doesn't matter in which industry the leader plays. Though integrity is difficult to measure and also co-relate with results, most of the times short term ones, it acts as the force to keep all the stakeholders, shareholders, employees, clients (customers), society in optimum equilibrium to ensure great results for all. Different aspects of inculcating integrity, viz., promoting institutional fairness, fostering ethics, having courage and putting into action are addressed through case studies.
For Unraveling Creativity the case study of Sun Hydraulics is offered. It is a typical example of highly creative research and development division. As the stress is on creativity, the team structure has been implemented. To get the optimum results the people with high self awareness are chosen and are given free rein to deliver highly creative output. The case study is too extensive and short to understand the underlying mechanisms at work to arrive at the take-aways. This is one of the failings of the book, as I have mentioned earlier.Though the author mentions that the organization has been delivering extraordinary results consistently compared to the peers, the period covered is not much. The scalability of the organization is not known. I strongly suspect that the practices mentioned in the case study very specific to the research and development unit of the organization. In an instance an employee's frustration over one and half year's efforts to push her project is mentioned, though it was resolved. I believe 3M & Google's practices of intrapreneurs is more scalable model compared to the one mentioned here. I also believe Jim Collin's 10X Leadership model in his Great by Choice which talks of triad of Fantastic Discipline, Productive Paranoia and Empirical Creativity driven by Level 5 Ambition is a more definitive work.
Under Developing People Centered Technologies competency, Sidney Harman's Harman International Industries is covered. Harman's approach to infusing technologies is analysed to give an inside view into technology infusion in organizations. Harman notes that the technology infusion happens in 3 phases in organizations, first to speed up, later to increase efficiency or productivity in my view, lastly to increase the effectiveness. The implications on people, in my view are, initially further need of people for a given operation is curtailed, the people surplus in the organization are redeployed as much as possible and later different competencies are needed as the organization climbs up the value chain, respectively. Sidney Harman talks about providing continuous learning opportunities for the employees to be ahead of the technology infusion within the organization. Two specific instances of creative redeployment of resources are provided. One is about the wood punches being offered as clocks for charity and promotion purposes. And the other is about the people from production redeployed in their factory retail store to sell the products.Though these kind of initiatives offer solutions for the employees affected by technology infusion, this applies for the large non-managerial talent. Highly talented managers and leaders, in turn, the organization, will be benefited by intrapreneurial (in-enterprise entrepreneurial) initiatives like Google Labs, which in my view, is a rehashed version of what has been practiced for almost a century in 3M. In the high tech, internet, social media organizations, either the internal initiatives are addressing these aspects as in Intuit or the high growth or/and highly promising start-ups are being gobbled up for the talent or/and to have presence in the emerging 'White Spaces'. In a way, the book's in-depth assessment of underlying mechanisms is incidental on the availability of incisive analysis offered by the organizations in the case studies.
The case study of Beth Israel Hospital emphasizes on the competency of Rewarding Soft Innovations. It makes a strong case for leveraging the people's creativity for strategic advantage for the organizations. As everything else, whether technology, funds, etc., is available at the same cost for all the players in any industry. I believe, the management processes and systems dovetailed uniquely to leverage people's creativity so as to adapt to fast changing business environment determines the winners. At Beth Israel, to achieve respect and care for the patients, not only doctors, even the nurses and non-medical staff are respected. One of the ways adapted is to get the newly joined doctors to do the role play of the others ie. nurses & non-medical staff and let them in the hospital. That teaches the doctors the feelings of the other staff. Another way adopted is to make doctors, including the head, Mitchell T Robkin to serve the staff by donning their uniform once in a year. In my view, this mechanism helps in instilling real respect for the individuals. Additionally, it keeps the still-unconverted ones to be on guards! Robkin recounts an incident while he had food with one of his colleagues who had been a janitor in the hospital for almost two decades. It is heartening to note that the janitor had many children and all of them were highly accomplished professionals like doctors and professors. Though this digresses from the objective of inculcating creativity specifically. The incident throws light on determination and grit on part of even the employees at lowest cadres. This insight reinforces the quest to seek creativity and commitment from employees from all levels.
The next principle covered is 'Integrity'. This section is lunched with a quote from Forbes who famously said, 'I bet on jockeys, not on horses.' The leaders' integrity is cumulative result of their commitment, ethics, sense of fairness and justice amongst others. If the integrity of the leader is unquestionable, then it doesn't matter in which industry the leader plays. Though integrity is difficult to measure and also co-relate with results, most of the times short term ones, it acts as the force to keep all the stakeholders, shareholders, employees, clients (customers), society in optimum equilibrium to ensure great results for all. Different aspects of inculcating integrity, viz., promoting institutional fairness, fostering ethics, having courage and putting into action are addressed through case studies.
The case study of Donnelly Corporation under Dwane Baumgrdner illustrates how institutional fairness is promoted. The organization had been in shrinking market with shrinking vendor base in automotive component industry. Not only the consolidation amongst auto players was happening, the remaining players were keen to reduce their own suppliers. The industry was moving into providing higher and higher value added component systems to the large auto makers. The conflicting challenges are experienced from all the stakeholders, clients, suppliers, employees, shareholders and the society at large. The critical nature of integrity in establishing and sustaining trust between organization and all the stakeholders is emphasized. In my view, as society of human beings we need the shield of fairness to work in committed manner to deliver greater value for the fellow human beings. This shield is very much necessary while we look at the nature against us is largely unpredictable and jungle law prevails. Interestingly, there was an article about the research finding today (3Aug'13) about how mean and selfish individuals are weeded out in evolution of organisms. There is another study, which talks about purpose driven happiness called eudaimonic well-being is more beneficial to us at molecular level to ward off diseases and chronic sufferings! It looks like sermonizing has found a new channel, science! Dwane Baumgardner's advanced education in optics, psychology seem to have unique influence on his leadership style. He has access to employees at various levels and he has the knack of resolving issues between two layers much below him without imposing his own positional power in a fair manner. There is a mention of Scanlon's principles at play viz. Identity, which covers what the organization stands for, Participation by all the stakeholders in realizing the organizational goals, Equity, the equitable treatment of all the stakeholders, Contribution, contribution to meet the organizational goals and larger causes. This case study is one of the best here, which offers multiple takeaways.
Fostering ethics and entrepreneurship is represented by the chapter on Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) headed by J Robert Byester. I personally have gained a lot in learning through this. I have been an admirer of 3M's practice of encouraging intrapreneurship by offering stake in the internal ventures which leverage building new markets and thus adding to the growth. I find Google and Intuit's similar practices are variations of 3M's practice. SAIC has similar practice which has led to about 90% equity is owned by the employees, of whom more than 70% have advanced degrees! On ethics side, the case study covers how SAIC ensures that even inadvertent access to 'inside information' was shared with the organization concerned, though many times legally not required to share. This many times led SAIC to lose the orders. SAIC has a mechanism, where in at a time, thousands of projects are being entered into at any given point of time. A loss of a few projects which have potential ethical conflicts doesn't affect the organization much; meanwhile the organization maintains high ethical standards.
Having courage is represented by Roberta Achtenberg of US Department of Housing and Urban Development. the integrity and courage of the lady has been captured well to inspire the readers. Putting integrity into action is covered by the case study of George E Favre's Sacramento Bee.George voluntarily left two well paying jobs to keep his integrity intact though he didn't have a job and financial security for his family. His integrity is supported by his understanding family and also respected by his staff. In highly challenging news business the integrity is tested frequently. One of the mechanisms at play here is a monthly meeting of around thirty top people to address live issues. Integrity principle has been covered well in the book. It has good takeaways to use for leaders.
Community, to be precise, responsibility towards community is covered through different aspects ie., cultivating maturity, Inspiring pride and performance, Caring beyond self, being an environmental steward and transforming organization. Here, the author covers all social elements under community.
Under the chapter on cultivating maturity he takes up the case study of Leith Anderson of Wooddale church. Leith Anderson has achieved the maturity of seeing his own success through the success of others. He has the humility to admit that when 20 people may admire his work, even if one person considers him as a jerk, then that is a matter of concern for him. Not only the church is being well managed, it spun of many entities and helped many other churches to come up. Anderson is well aware of the modern business management principles. He applies them for the betterment of the members of the surrounding community.
Inspiring pride and performance is covered through Shirley DeLibero of New Jersey Public Transit Corporation. Galvanizing organizations, especially the service and that too governmental one is too difficult. Shirley did it very well and fast by bringing high discipline operations into the organizations. In my view, the critical task of quantifying success parameters, arriving at operational parameters, then communicating to the front end employees and ensuring adherence to deliver the best performance every day is no mean task! She was successful and went ahead to bring in a system to help community through alerts by the drivers! When an organization starts performing to the best standards through continuous operational efficiency and high effectiveness, then it can outreach to help the community too. Whereas the daily performance ensures pride in the employees, the pride drives them to help the community at large, voluntarily.
The case study on Caring Beyond Self provides insights on James Rouse's The Enterprise Foundation. His thoughts on the enterprises to be purpose driven first to deliver profits is an inspiring thought executed well. The foundation has proven beyond doubt in delivering living units to the downtrodden and yet making profits for the organization. Though purpose driven profits sounds to be oxymoron it isn't so for most of the organizations!
Being an Environmental Steward chapter covers Aveda's Horst M Rachelbacher. Aveda provides cosmetics based on natural ingredients grown out organic methods. They have been pioneers in such products thus caring for the ecosystem around us. Rachelbacher started as a hair stylist; from there he grew into an entrepreneur on cosmetic products after a visit to India. The concern for the environment is evident in every facet of the organization's operations!
Transforming Organization covers the endeavors of John Callahan in Allstate Business Insurance. It's an inspiring story of how,John Callahan turned around the insurance firm individual by individual in a painstakingly slow and depressing environment. It's a great example of perseverance and patience. In a way, though not a concluding chapter summing all the virtues and principles in the book. There are hints of such an effort. Journey of Callahan in changing the culture indeed offers inspiration for the reader to take up the journey of great leadership. The journey is not spectacular as one may expect; it's painful, extremely slow and most of the times a thankless job! But at the end of it, it is exhilarating! No doubt persistence and patience pay, ... handsomely. The insurance organization was highly resilient when the crisis in the form of Hurricane Andrew struck the insurance business.
The concluding chapter summarizes and connects the dots. Especially, the adoption of these principles by the leaders is likened to the leader's journey which begins in her/his mind and engulfs the whole organization to deliver great results. As I have mentioned elsewhere, though the book offers the laundry list of leadership principles; the case studies are captivating and inspiring. At the end, the author exhorts readers to adopt the leadership principles so that the employees chosen meet the criteria, the systems and processes need to develop leaders at every level. This is to adapt to the fast changing business environment.
It has been wonderful reading the book. many of case studies are inspiring ones and most of them are unusual ones. Though the book lacks the rigour; it is compensated by the exhaustive cases.
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part I
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part II
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part III
Fostering ethics and entrepreneurship is represented by the chapter on Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) headed by J Robert Byester. I personally have gained a lot in learning through this. I have been an admirer of 3M's practice of encouraging intrapreneurship by offering stake in the internal ventures which leverage building new markets and thus adding to the growth. I find Google and Intuit's similar practices are variations of 3M's practice. SAIC has similar practice which has led to about 90% equity is owned by the employees, of whom more than 70% have advanced degrees! On ethics side, the case study covers how SAIC ensures that even inadvertent access to 'inside information' was shared with the organization concerned, though many times legally not required to share. This many times led SAIC to lose the orders. SAIC has a mechanism, where in at a time, thousands of projects are being entered into at any given point of time. A loss of a few projects which have potential ethical conflicts doesn't affect the organization much; meanwhile the organization maintains high ethical standards.
Having courage is represented by Roberta Achtenberg of US Department of Housing and Urban Development. the integrity and courage of the lady has been captured well to inspire the readers. Putting integrity into action is covered by the case study of George E Favre's Sacramento Bee.George voluntarily left two well paying jobs to keep his integrity intact though he didn't have a job and financial security for his family. His integrity is supported by his understanding family and also respected by his staff. In highly challenging news business the integrity is tested frequently. One of the mechanisms at play here is a monthly meeting of around thirty top people to address live issues. Integrity principle has been covered well in the book. It has good takeaways to use for leaders.
Community, to be precise, responsibility towards community is covered through different aspects ie., cultivating maturity, Inspiring pride and performance, Caring beyond self, being an environmental steward and transforming organization. Here, the author covers all social elements under community.
Under the chapter on cultivating maturity he takes up the case study of Leith Anderson of Wooddale church. Leith Anderson has achieved the maturity of seeing his own success through the success of others. He has the humility to admit that when 20 people may admire his work, even if one person considers him as a jerk, then that is a matter of concern for him. Not only the church is being well managed, it spun of many entities and helped many other churches to come up. Anderson is well aware of the modern business management principles. He applies them for the betterment of the members of the surrounding community.
Inspiring pride and performance is covered through Shirley DeLibero of New Jersey Public Transit Corporation. Galvanizing organizations, especially the service and that too governmental one is too difficult. Shirley did it very well and fast by bringing high discipline operations into the organizations. In my view, the critical task of quantifying success parameters, arriving at operational parameters, then communicating to the front end employees and ensuring adherence to deliver the best performance every day is no mean task! She was successful and went ahead to bring in a system to help community through alerts by the drivers! When an organization starts performing to the best standards through continuous operational efficiency and high effectiveness, then it can outreach to help the community too. Whereas the daily performance ensures pride in the employees, the pride drives them to help the community at large, voluntarily.
The case study on Caring Beyond Self provides insights on James Rouse's The Enterprise Foundation. His thoughts on the enterprises to be purpose driven first to deliver profits is an inspiring thought executed well. The foundation has proven beyond doubt in delivering living units to the downtrodden and yet making profits for the organization. Though purpose driven profits sounds to be oxymoron it isn't so for most of the organizations!
Being an Environmental Steward chapter covers Aveda's Horst M Rachelbacher. Aveda provides cosmetics based on natural ingredients grown out organic methods. They have been pioneers in such products thus caring for the ecosystem around us. Rachelbacher started as a hair stylist; from there he grew into an entrepreneur on cosmetic products after a visit to India. The concern for the environment is evident in every facet of the organization's operations!
Transforming Organization covers the endeavors of John Callahan in Allstate Business Insurance. It's an inspiring story of how,John Callahan turned around the insurance firm individual by individual in a painstakingly slow and depressing environment. It's a great example of perseverance and patience. In a way, though not a concluding chapter summing all the virtues and principles in the book. There are hints of such an effort. Journey of Callahan in changing the culture indeed offers inspiration for the reader to take up the journey of great leadership. The journey is not spectacular as one may expect; it's painful, extremely slow and most of the times a thankless job! But at the end of it, it is exhilarating! No doubt persistence and patience pay, ... handsomely. The insurance organization was highly resilient when the crisis in the form of Hurricane Andrew struck the insurance business.
The concluding chapter summarizes and connects the dots. Especially, the adoption of these principles by the leaders is likened to the leader's journey which begins in her/his mind and engulfs the whole organization to deliver great results. As I have mentioned elsewhere, though the book offers the laundry list of leadership principles; the case studies are captivating and inspiring. At the end, the author exhorts readers to adopt the leadership principles so that the employees chosen meet the criteria, the systems and processes need to develop leaders at every level. This is to adapt to the fast changing business environment.
It has been wonderful reading the book. many of case studies are inspiring ones and most of them are unusual ones. Though the book lacks the rigour; it is compensated by the exhaustive cases.
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part I
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part II
A Review of 'Leading People' by Robert Rosen Part III
No comments:
Post a Comment