She said the presenter gave her a boatload of new ideas and energy for her to expand her current business campaign using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. From her energy, I got the feeling the presenter not only hit a home run, but he also brought in the other three players (he really knows his stuff)!

So what did I do after we spoke? I immediately went to LinkedIn and tried to link with the presenter. Guess what happens?

I get this response: “Rich, Great to connect. So you know, based on a session you once did at the local library, you inspired me to start a company, build a website, promote myself on social media which resulted, among new business, in being asked to join an MBA program. I would enjoy the chance to let you know what you did if you would like to know. But thank you very much for all you did.”

We then had a roundtable tweet-fest on Twitter to let everyone know what happened!

What did this teach me?

1. You never know who’s listening when you present.
2. You never know how your words can impact another person.
3. The world is getting smaller every day.
4. I need to get out even more and present.
5. Always reach out to people whenever you hear their name.

You’re not a CEO.

You’re not a GVP, AVP, MVP or VP.

You’re not a Senior Director, Partner, Manager, Owner, etc.

You are a Bonus Delivery Officer.

Your primary role in your position is not to deliver on projects, motivate the team, present information, or hob-nob with the hoi-poloi.

You are a Bonus Delivery Officer.

You may ask: “What is a Bonus Delivery Officer?” It’s a person who delivers bonuses to their people — it’s that simple.

The problem is most managers — from someone who only has one direct-report to the CEO — do not see themselves as Bonus Delivery Officers (or BDO).

A BDO is someone who ensures via financial planning and sheer determination to reward their staff. With MONEY. Not the phrase, “You’re lucky you still have your job.” They need to keep their eye on what I call “What’s Left” or Revenue minus Costs.

Unfortunately, most companies and their executives are graded by a number of other measures which don’t trickle down the MONEY. How many organizations in the past few years have delivered reductions in pay or flat payouts while upper management and major shareholders still receive outlandish payouts and bonuses?

Get where I’m going? What I’ve described is not a healthy enterprise. And sick enterprises easily control and keep their people during bad times (because there’s nowhere else to go), but when times begin to turn around and improve — WATCH OUT.

You’re going to see a tsunami of your best and hardest-working people leave to better-performing and better paying positions. And they will never look back.

Why am I so harsh? Because it’s the responsibility of the people in the higher echelons to deliver profits — by planning, anticipating the market, understanding the consumer, and managing all the moving parts. But for many years, they have been caught with their pants down and their hand in the till — a “Whoops, sorry” attitude, a “We’ll do better next year” attitude, or a “Sorry, I have to do this to YOU” attitude.

No more. The world is changing AGAIN. Get ready for the Tsunami. 

The idea for this post came from a good friend and client — Thanks LB!

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Are you a bonus delivery officer or want to learn how to become one? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands of people (just like you) and have helped them keep their focus on what’s important in their career — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

“In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” 
— Warren Buffett

If you don’t know Warren, he’s an American industrialist and philanthropist widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often called the “Oracle of Omaha”, he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world’s wealthiest people (third wealthiest person in the world as of 2011).

So he knows what he is talking about.

It’s interesting Warren places integrity first. In today’s work- and marketplace, the focus is centered on intelligence and energy. How much do you know? What experience do you have? What have you done? Are you willing to spend 10-12 hours a day (and more) knocking it out of the park for me?

But we always forget about integrity. A definition of integrity — ”Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”

Let’s be honest — how many times do you experience a concerted effort by management to adhere to moral and ethical principles? Where everyone displays a powerful moral character? Where people don’t lie and endeavor to tell the truth in their business dealings?

I’m not saying the marketplace or workplace is totally devoid of integrity. But it does take a back seat to profits, targets, stock price and power. Not even a back seat . . . it’s in the trunk with the spare tire.

In the wake of all the turmoil with Wall Street, Washington, and many boardrooms, (and even on Twitter lately) we all need to begin to make harder choices based on integrity. Who we invest in, who we purchase from, who we do business with. 

And sometimes we need to look within for our anchor to integrity — because sometimes we fall short. We need to also pay attention to our own actions and decisions and how they impact others. 

Whatever we do, we will continue to face ethical challenges. It’s how we react to them that counts.

What do you do to stay ethically anchored?

That’s right. I’m not kidding.

Today . . . this minute . . . this second . . . you can be a CEO. In fact, you always have been a CEO and always will be a CEO.

You never realized it.

You are the CEO of YOU, Inc.

And if you don’t start regarding yourself that way, you’ll never attain the success you deserve.

Here’s the skinny — Even if you work in corporate or own your own business, you need to shift your thinking towards a more centric state of mind when it comes to work. If you are the CEO of YOU, Inc.:

• How’s your stock doing? Up, down, flat? What are you doing to get it to rise?
• Who knows about your company? Do you frequently market YOU internally and externally to key movers and shakers?
• What’s your message? How is it being interpreted? Is there any misinformation out there?
• Who are your competitors? How are you mitigating their threats? What are they saying about you?
• Who are your customers? What are they saying about you?
• Who are your partners? Are you educating them regularly on how they can help your company?
• How is the marketplace for YOU, Inc.? Is there a high demand for your services? Is it waning? Is it dying?
• How can you clone YOU? Delegate non-essential duties to subordinates?

The minute you make a mental shift from dutiful employee/entrepreneur to CEO status, you’ll find you will focus on different areas left fallow for months/years beforehand.

And you’ll start to see your new company do better and better and better. Try it. I promise you, you’ll like it.

This has been another installment in my ongoing series, “Are You A Catalyst?” — today’s focus is how to “Be A CEO”.

Image provided by Robert Scoble (my hero!) at Flickr.

You’re moving on up.

Making your way up the ladder, dodging bullets, using every last bit of your intellect and motivation to deftly ingratiate yourself with key decision-makers.

It’s a high-wire balancing act many executives go through to grab the golden ring. What are some of the techniques used? Based upon many hours of advisory with C-Level clients, here are the two major tenets that bubble to the top:

IQ – Intelligence Quotient (or Tactical Intelligence)

You have to have the chops, the intellect, the experience, and knowledge to make it through the first hurdle. It’s that simple. Many executives whine and complain when they hit a very real glass ceiling, but in the end, it’s their fault. They haven’t done the requisite homework and they’re trying to bribe the teacher with an apple. Bottom line, you have to put in the hours, the sweat and tears to adequately build a firm foundation of tools to leverage in the myriad of situations that arise. Some are:

• Financial – This is all-important - I can’t tell you how many executives I would watch sit in meeting and clearly see they had no idea what was in front of them on our financial projections. Know this area cold.
• Operational - Know how the organization works inside and out. Sit at home and map out your operational chain from start to finish. Where are the dependencies? What past decisions are holding the company behind? What areas might take the company to the next level? If you are unsure or unclear about one or more of these connections, talk to your people and LEARN.
• Marketplace – What’s happening in the outside world? Who are the key players? What are the market forces at work – are they playing fair or are they slowly (and possibly illegally) undermining your position. Think holistically. Get out there and mix with your peers, understand the levers that make the world go round. What is the competition doing and how do you master the game of chess with them every day?

EQ – Emotional Quotient (or Emotional Intelligence)

This is where most C-Level executives fail. What got them to this position (IQ) is now failing them. For some positions (CFO, CIO), all their hard work to make it to the table is now useless when they need to use skills other than IQ:

• Communication – Communicate clearly and concisely. But communication is a two-way street, you need to listen too.  Listening is an art – shutting your mouth (and mind) to focus your full attention to those who are giving you critical information.
• Motivation - Every word, every order, every instruction must be nicely wrapped to motivate your people. Of course, sometimes you have to bark, but if you find yourself barking most of the time, step back and see how to manipulate your direct report’s levers so they want to make things happen and not undermine you. How do you grow your direct reports, your staff, and your organization through motivation?
• Empathy - The hardest one of all – in addition to communication (which is overt), understand those signals to allow you to ‘listen in’ and help your people with their problems and obstacles. Ferret out those signals and dive into what is holding them back and help them. You also have to be patient to allow the natural flow of the company to run it’s course. Too many executives forget there are forces you cannot control.
• Sales – You have to have the ability to mix all three of these areas together and move people into action inside your organization and outside too (prospects into clients, retention and extension of current clients).

Here’s a great book to read on this topic.

What other elements do you feel play a key role in defining you as CEO material?

Let’s be candid — In this climate, it’s usually a waste of time to send out resumes. They go to people who can’t actually hire you. You want to talk to people who can. So here’s what you do:

Step 1: Identify a few companies (start with 3) who employ people who do what you do. Then identify people who supervise those people. It does not matter in the slightest that those companies are not hiring.

Step 2: Do some research on that person. See if they’ve been interviewed anywhere, just received a promotion, or have been connected in any way with the company’s success (new product, release, uptick in stock price, etc.).

Step 3: Carefully construct a letter to each person you identified in Step 1, writing something like this:

Dear Mr/Ms _____________

I just saw your interview in BusinessWeek a few weeks ago and was very interested in your new focus on Pet Underarm Deodorants. It’s quite a new niche for your company and it brought up a number of questions that interest me since I am in a related industry — I wonder if I might have a few moments of your time.

Please understand, I’m not asking you for a job. I’m just looking to talk to a fellow colleague in the marketplace. Your insight would be invaluable and the meeting would be very brief.

I will call your office next week in hopes of scheduling an appointment. I understand that you are very busy. The meeting will take no more than fifteen minutes of your time. I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely, [you]

Most important of all, DO NOT include a resume.

When your letter has had time to reach its destination, make the follow up phone call, and pleasantly request the meeting. Reiterate that you are preparing for a job search and are only seeking advice and feedback. Most people are willing to give 15 minutes. (My clients average well over 50-60% of the meetings they ask for.)

If they hesitate, offer to buy coffee at a nearby spot, and remind them how valuable their input would be.

It’s that easy. Tomorrow, we’ll cover what you do when you actually meet them. Stay tuned!

Experts believe social media presents good opportunity for businesses to connect with their customers.

By Fayazuddin A. Shirazi at Chief Executive Online.

Although industry analysts are increasingly advocating the usage of social media by companies, CEOs apparently are going easy on the suggestions. As against the increased usage of social media – such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and the fast growing blogs domain – by general public, CEOs are still lagging behind in adopting to such emerging trends and technologies.

Writing for his blog “My Three Cents”, Ken Makovsky, CEO and President Makovsky + Company, a NY based global investor relations company believes, CEOs are losing, what he calls, a powerful opportunity to connect with their customers by ignoring social media.

Commenting on a recent research piece which pronounced most of the CEOs to be social media slackers, Makovsky thinks social media is a rapidly growing community and CEOs should identify and align themselves with these emerging technologies.

The research by UberCEO.com, a blog watch on CEOs, found most of the Fortune 100 CEOs they surveyed were social media hermits. Out of the 100 CEOs analyzed only two had twitter accounts.

Eighty-one percent of chief executives did not have a personal Facebook page. Only 13 had profiles on the professional networking site LinkedIn. Three-quarters of the CEOs did have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those had limited or outdated information, such as incorrect titles, or failed to provide sources. While some CEOs contribute to other blogs, not one Fortune 100 chief executive had his or her own blog, writes Makovsky.

However, recent research data from Nielsen revealed that people are spending more time on social networking and blog sites than ever before. Nielsen research found the number of minutes spent on social media in the United Sates is doubling over the past year. “Despite an increase (82 percent) in the total number of minutes spent year-over-year and average time per person (67 percent) year-over-years, the CEOs are still staying aloof from the rapidly growing social media community,” wonders Makovsky quoting the Nielsen and UberCEO report.

So why is that CEOs are wary about social media? Experts believe CEOs fear, their open dialogue could spell potential trouble for them as they are closely watched by the law and the governance agencies.

“No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely, but they’re missing a fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience and raise their company’s visibility,” Sharon Barclay, editor UberCEO.com told Reuters, referring to financial reporting regulations aimed at protecting investors.

Experts feel unless CEOs are motivated to use the social media themselves, they really cannot know what it is.

“You (CEOs) can’t understand Twitter, Facebook, or blogging by reading an article in a magazine or a report from your CMO. Sure, they can tell you what they are, but you won’t be able to truly understand how they could change your business unless you actually use them,” George F. Colony, CEO Forrester Research and the self-proclaimed CEO Guru had observed in his recent blog posting. He says the only way CEOs can understand social technologies is by using them.

“Social is like sex. It’s fun to talk about and read about, but you can’t truly comprehend unless you do it,” Colony noted in his blog posting at Counter Intuitive CEO.

According to Colony, the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, uses social extensively and now has 300 customer service representatives at the company on Twitter. Why? As Tony says…”People don’t relate to companies, they relate to people.”  “This is important insight. You, the 57 year old CEO may not use social, but that doesn’t mean that your customers don’t use social. You are not your customer,” Colony points out referring to Tony Hsieh’s view.

Makovsky believes, while not every CEO has the skills, inclination or regulatory freedom to blog, it’s worth remembering that the social media represent a powerful opportunity for a company — or virtually any other entity— to really connect with its most important stakeholders.

“Yes, much of the social technology is a titanic time waster. And yes, much of the technology is crap. But there may be real value here for your company — something that you can’t grasp unless you engage with social,” George F. Colony pointed out.

Part Five of a series on Ethical Leadership — many more to come.

Have I lost my mind? Honestly — the idea of making the press your friend is obscene!

Hear me out — there is a logic to my madness.

When my team coaches businesses on the inner workings of their business, we ask them to develop a Mastermind group. A group that includes a tax accountant and an attorney. Why? In addition to the visionary participants (marketing/sales), as a business owner you need trusted individuals who will tell you the truth — and don’t have an agenda — because they stick to the FACTS.

Now I will lay all my cards on the table — certain parts of the press are unreliable, sneaky, and downright corrupt (like all areas of business). But there are certain areas of the press who are ethical, forthright, and just. Reporters who stick to the facts and tell it like it is — whether it is good or bad news. Finally, reporters who are in it to report the NEWS and not just get the juicy story.

Those are the people that you sidle-up to and make friends. Why?

Because they are ethical. And they will keep you on the straight and narrow. It is always refreshing to surround yourself with people that will not only massage your ego, but trusted advisers who will tell you the truth AND let you know when you venture into unethical territory.

Now let’s be honest — you don’t have to tell them everything. But if you get a trusted editor or publisher that you meet for lunch on a regular basis, you can be assured that they will tell you what’s on their mind.

And that my friends, is worth its weight in GOLD.

Part Four of a series on Ethical Leadership — many more to come.

“The higher the buildings, the lower the morals.” – Noel Coward

In the past three parts of this series, I’ve endeavored to lay out ways for leaders to strengthen their ethics and how to apply it to their leadership style. Some are hard and some are easy. This is an easy one:

Get Philosophy into your life.

It could take many forms – religion, classes, books, people, etc. But a strong dose of philosphical study in your life will allow you to become more grounded and keep you thinking about past, present, and future ethical positions. Some suggestions:

1. Religion – If you are at all religious, hit a church, synagogue, or organization to reacquaint yourself with the ethical and moral teachings of that religion. It’s not taxing, doesn’t cost a lot of money, and you surround yourself with a lot of people who believe the same way you do. And when you hit an ethical pothole in the road, you can lean on them to send you on the straight and narrow once again.
2. Books - Read! There are thousands of philosophers out there. If you like the classics, dive into them. If you like the moderns, there are many to choose from. I especially love the ethical textbooks from college – they present differing points of view of an ethical choice – and they really make you think (email me for a list of great texts – richgee@richgee.com).
3. Speakers – Go to one of their meetings. Listen and see how you can begin to incorporate some of their teachings into your life. The worse that can happen is that you don’t agree with their position – you can then walk out.

By taking this first step, it allows you to always have an ‘ethical rudder’ on your life – it will guide you in your business and personal life.

A great WSJ article by Sarah Needleman, who has interviewed me a number of times — Enjoy!

Executive coaches report steady demand for their services despite the recession. Individual and corporate clients say the one-on-one counseling is critical for career success, especially during tough economic times.

Coaches typically are hired by companies, at $300 an hour or more, to hone the management or communication skills of senior leaders and rising stars. Even with the recession, many coaches say some companies are retaining their services to help them get lean and efficient. Coaches also said they are seeing an increase in individuals hiring coaches on their own.

Eric Chaffin, a 38-year-old partner at law firm Bernstein Liebhard LLP in New York, has paid coach Dee Soder out of his own pocket on a retainer since 2003, and has no plans to stop. “In a down economy, it’s particularly important to have someone on your side,” he said. “Instead of 10 client opportunities this year, there might be five. You have to make each one count.”

Mr. Chaffin said Dr. Soder, founder of the CEO Perspective Group, an assessment and advisory firm in New York, helps him with tough career and practice decisions. For example, in 2003, she helped him weigh job offers from private firms after his four-year stint as a federal prosecutor. He chose a law firm that represents plaintiffs in consumer and shareholder cases because he and Dr. Soder thought it fit well with his blue-collar family background. Last year, he shifted to another plaintiffs’ firm, Bernstein Liebhard. Recently Dr. Soder advised him on how to work with clients who are hurting because of the recession. Mr. Chaffin said Dr. Soder gives him a different perspective than business associates. “Most lawyers think alike,” he said. “She’s helped me understand some of the characteristics of my clients and their motivations.”

Executive coaches say they’re being hired by more individuals like Mr. Chaffin, a trend that has helped offset tighter budgets at some corporate clients. Dr. Soder says the number of her clients who are individuals paying on their own has nearly doubled since November. Wendy Alfus-Rothman, founder of Wenroth Consulting Inc., a New York executive-coaching firm, said more individuals are scheduling monthly, rather than quarterly, sessions.

A 2007 study commissioned by the International Coach Federation pegged annual revenue world-wide for the industry, which includes life, career and executive coaches, at $1.5 billion, with about half the study’s 5,415 respondents in the U.S. Of the respondents, 58% reported executive coaching as their specialty.

Coaches say many companies still use their services to retain top talent and support senior leaders while coping with smaller staffs and recession-starved budgets. Amber Romine, director in global human capital at consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC’s Washington, D.C., office, said she fields a steady stream of requests from clients looking for referrals to executive coaches. Gene Morrissy, a management psychologist at RHR International, said demand in the executive-coaching practice of the Wood Dale, Ill., organizational-development firm is up 10% from a year ago.

Denver telecommunications provider Wide Open West Inc. in January canceled merit raises for this year and suspended company matching contributions to employee 401(k) plans. But this year the company will spend $25,000, about what it spends every year, on coaching for three managers. “Our fundamental belief is you have to develop your greatest assets, which are your people,” said Colleen Abdoulah, chief executive.

Humana Inc., a Louisville, Ky., health insurer, also is protecting its coaching program. Humana this year will spend between $17,000 and $30,000 for six months of sessions for each of about 50 senior employees, said Jeff Nally, who heads the firm’s executive-coaching initiative. The meetings cover areas such as how to build an executive presence, communicate ideas and influence others. “Even in a recession, developing talent in key roles is still important,” said Mr. Nally.

Still, Humana is trying to trim coaching costs, which totaled about $25,000 to $50,000 in past years. The company now encourages participants to conduct more counseling sessions by phone, which saves money on coaches’ travel fees. And rather than hire outsiders to assess coaching needs, senior executives and human-resources leaders conduct assessments of more junior employees, which cuts the length of engagements by an average of three months.

Some small-business owners use coaches as sounding boards. Nancy A. May, president and chief executive of BoardBench Cos. LLC, a four-employee advisory firm in Norwalk, Conn., pays her own way to meet periodically with Dr. Soder. Ms. May says she relies on Dr. Soder for honest advice.”You wouldn’t go to somebody junior and say, ‘I’ve screwed up, what do I do?’ she says.

Ms. May, 50, began working with Dr. Soder about a year ago on ways to improve her interactions with clients, among other issues. Sessions are held over the phone, and occasionally in person, twice a month for up to an hour. “At times I have a big personality and the enthusiasm can sometimes be off-putting to somebody who’s more of an introvert,” says Ms. May. “My coach is working with me to manage that based on the personalities of other CEOs or board people I might be working with.”

Ms. May says she has noticed changes, particularly “how people are stopping and listening, and being drawn into a conversation with me a little differently.”

Paula M. Zwiren, president of Allied Title LLC, a small title-insurance firm in Flanders, N.J., said she was inspired to seek coaching after attending a seminar led by a group of women business leaders. Ms. Zwiren, 33, meets quarterly with Dr. Alfus-Rothman for about two hours. “An executive coach helps you identify things that help you be in control of your destiny,” she said.

Ms. Zwiren said Dr. Alfus-Rothman, whom she pays about $3,000 a year, has improved her communications skills. “You have to be very direct at the executive level, very concrete,” she says. “She helps me with my power of persuasion.”

Executives and senior professionals interested in executive coaching should research prospective coaches carefully because the industry isn’t regulated, said Kay Cannon, a past president of the coaching federation and an executive coach in Lexington, Ky. “You want to make sure the individual has some kind of coach-specific training,” she says. For example, many ICF members are certified as master, professional or associate coaches, which means they’ve undergone between 60 and 200 hours of training.

Ms. Cannon also recommends asking for referrals to past clients and getting a sense of whether you have chemistry with a coach before agreeing to a long-term commitment.

Part Three of a series on Ethical Leadership — many more to come.

In Napoleon Hill’s bestselling book, Think & Grow Rich, he introduces a practice called The Master Mind Group.

As an executive who wants to succeed, you should regularly assemble a grouping of professionals who will help you learn, understand and grow.

They could be an attorney, an accountant, a financial planner, a marketing/pr consultant, etc. At the end of the day, you need a grouping of smart individuals who know their areas cold and can help you with any problem, situation, or opportunity that might arise. You meet with them on a quarterly basis, off-site, usually for a full day (you also pay them for their time).

Let’s look at this idea through a lens to pursue a highly ethical leadership style:
Can you use this Master Mind Group practice to help you maintain (or regain) your high ethical standards? Yes, you can.

Look at the makeup of the group. You need highly reputable professionals that abide by ethical standards in their respective vocations. Now we all know that there are some miscreants who buck the system ethically (we are not talking about them) — we want the best, the brightest, AND the most ethical.

Choose an attorney, accountant, or financial planner of the highest ethical standards . . . Why? Because they will steer you straight ALL THE TIME. Adopt a ‘Definite Purpose’ as an objective to be attained by the alliance, choosing individual members whose education, experience and influence are such as to make them of the greatest value in achieving that purpose.

There isn’t any use in forming a Master Mind Alliance just to have someone to chat with. Your Master Mind will fail if you don’t have a strong motive behind it, and it’s up to you to plant that motive in the minds of the group members. Your allies for this group should be chosen for their ability to help you get to where you are going. Do not choose people simply because you know them and like them.

You want the hard truth — you want these members to steer you straight and give you valuable advice.

When you have established rapport, you will find that ideas will flow into the minds of each of the members and likewise into your own mind. When the Master Mind is in effect, it produces ideas that would not come to your mind alone. I have had that experience many times when sitting in on the many groups of which I am a member on a consulting basis.

But in the end, you want these professionals to keep you on the straight and narrow and to help you when you are pulled into shady territory by investors, the board, your peers, etc. You need a voice of reason to help you navigate these treacherous waters.

By Peter G. Spanberger at Directors and Boards.

When companies become an “employer of choice” they are in an enviable position of much more easily attracting the best and the brightest. Boards can work in the same direction to become a “board of choice” and reap the benefits of more easily attracting outstanding board candidates. What steps can a board take to accomplish this?

If a candidate is outstanding he or she will have done a thorough analysis of the caliber of the board under consideration. A board needs to have already done such an analysis and understand what makes it a board of choice. This self-knowledge forms the basis for selling an outstanding candidate on the desirability of the board.

Boards often underestimate their positive attributes and find self-analysis difficult to do. Once done, however, this self-analysis can provide each current board member with a deeper understanding of the board’s strengths and positive attributes. This has obvious benefits for the current board members and makes it easier for a candidate to discover these attributes. It also gives the board ammunition with which to “sell” outstanding candidates. The analysis will also reveal shortcomings that can then be addressed.

When boards do such an analysis they typically find that the positive attributes run the gamut from obvious to more subtle. Some of the obvious board attributes involve compensation and reasonable time demands. An analysis can reveal the degree to which the board makes it easy for members to do their jobs. Are board members provided with the needed information in a timely manner? Another obvious component involves the right amount of support in terms of travel, accommodations, etc. These are necessary, but not sufficient, attributes for attracting outstanding candidates.

More sophisticated boards take their analysis to a deeper level and focus on some of the more subtle components that would make a board attractive. They recognize that outstanding candidates will assume that the obvious components are present. Outstanding candidates will focus on some of the more subtle dimensions. Strong candidates will consider the prestige and competency
of the current board members. They will ask themselves how much pride they will have in being a member of this particular board.

Are the other board members people from whom this outstanding candidate can learn? Is the process of the board characterized by acrimony rather than harmonious and constructive discussion? Does diplomacy and respect permeate the boardroom? Is the board a place where challenging issues and intellectual stimulation occur? These are some of the more subtle attributes that outstanding candidates require and “boards of choice” must manifest.

Such a self-analysis can be enriched by understanding the reasons why strong candidates are or are not interested in the board. It is essential that the recruiter or a nominating committee member go deeper in their discussions with candidates. Going deeper means not allowing the individual just to give it an obvious reason for turning down the opportunity but to get to some of these more subtle factors that influence their decision. Fundamentally the individual has to read between the lines of what the candidate is saying. This additional step can provide significant insights about perceptions of board functioning.

Similarly, if board members leave or when board members’ tenure expires some type of exit interview can be revealing about the presence or absence of these subtle factors. It might also be revealing to interview board members who have been off the board for a few years in order to gain further understanding of the presence or absence of these factors that would be attractive to particularly strong board candidates.

Sophisticated boards take these types of steps in order to be a compelling board opportunity for outstanding candidates.

Just as companies work diligently to become an employer of choice, boards can do the same. For a board to become a board of choice it is necessary to engage in self-analysis and what makes it a compelling board opportunity. This analysis will deepen the understanding of current board members as well as be a selling point to prospective board members. When completed, the board will have positioned itself so that it can attract candidates of the caliber necessary in today’s complex business environment.

There’s striking disagreement on the shape of the economic upturn – being touted are ‘J’, ‘L’, ‘V’, ‘U’, ‘W’ or even a ‘saxophone shaped upturn’, however what’s sure is it’s coming. With the upturn – welcome or not – is a complete shredding of the workplace rulebook!

By John Blackwell at Management Issues.

Today’s workplace consists of finely balanced interdependencies between people, space, technologies, culture, and management practices. It demands HR professionals talk fluent real estate, real estate professionals talk fluent talent and collaboration, technologists talk fluent culture, and managers be fluent in trust, agility, and social connection.

Get it right and the workplace is a vibrant, inspiring place that motivates creativity, innovation, and untold performance levels. Get it wrong and it’s dull and disenfranchising, with staff bored by the tedium.

This isn’t some abstract theory – everyone reading this article will, at some point, have experienced a dull workplace and equally will have experienced a vibrant one.

The current economic turmoil has brought about a unique combination of factors that’s not merely overturning workplace rules, it’s completely shredding the rule book!

Prominent factors in this upheaval are:

1. Unemployment: In OECD countries, unemployment has risen from 6.8% in 2008 to today’s 7.8%, and is projected to top 10% by 2010. While any unemployment is distressing, the impact on remaining staff is possibly more dramatic.

How drastic? Research suggests that half of staff have lost trust in their employer and almost as many – 46% – would leave at the earliest opportunity if they had the chance.

This distrust is rooted in staff eyeing ranks of empty desks and an assumption that they’ll voluntarily “pick up the slack”. Staff are also disenfranchised over the lottery approach to downsizing and the lack of visionary thinking about alternatives. When cost avoidance is today’s corporate mantra, this discontent and churn could prove financially crippling.

2. A Shrinking Talent Pool: It’s a myth that restructuring is creating a labour market awash with talent2. A shrinking talent pool: It’s a myth that restructuring has created a labour market awash with talent. More than 60% of white-collar unemployed are turning their back on corporate life and investing redundancy monies in starting entrepreneurial businesses. Having walked away, this talent won’t be returning corporate life.

Clearly, these far-reaching changes to the traditional workplace demand precision metrics and a structured, scientific approach. Everyone involved must be ‘on-board’, and have a clear view of the 4 P’s of change;

Purpose – why change, what’s in it for me?
Picture – what will it look like after the change?
Plan – what’s the timeline and what should I expect?
Part – what’s my part and what’s expected of me?

Factor in a 17% decline in ‘prime-age’ labour (due to decreasing birth rate, increasing adult education, etc), this represents a notable shrinkage of an already rarefied talent market – something that the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions is projecting won’t return to ‘normal’ until 2020!

3. Virtual working: Staff are juggling a three-fold increase in project volumes since 2004, compounded by increased matrix working and the outsourcing of non-core activities, which is leading to an explosion in virtual working.

We’ve projected that, by 2010 staff will be spending just 5% of their day in the same place, on the project, at the same time as their colleagues. 95% of time will be spent working alone, at a different time, place, or on a different schedule.

Consequently, managers have a far looser understanding of their teams, and must rapidly learn how to migrate from command-control to mentoring, motivating, and coaching.

4. Unsustainable office utilisation: Prior to the economic downturn, office utilisation was typically hovering around 50%. One of the first casualties of the recession was corporate real estate values, which has dropped by more than 44%. At the same time, almost every organisation is being forced to – or taking the opportunity to – optimise headcount.

This has created the perennial conflict between dwindling occupancy and the inability to shift surplus real estate – a direct outcome being plummeting office utilisation of 20% or lower, and dispersed staff finding themselves forced into ‘intra-office virtual working’.

This commonly leads to reduced business ‘fluency’. Just consider, if you’re more than four metres apart, the chance is you’ll not know the other person in the office.

Shredding the workplace rulebook presents both formidable challenges and great opportunities. We’re entering the ‘era of interdependence’. A time when all business dimensions – HR, physical space, technologies, culture, and management practices – must work in harmony to deliver effective performance.

The recent Workplace of the Future report shed considerable insight to how organisations are responding to changing work practices. Of the 1,100 business leaders interviewed, 83% perceive significant change, however only 61% have successfully changed in the past, a gap that has trebled since 2006.

The report found that organisations financially out-performing their comparators are investing in radical interventions, broadly grouped into two areas – trust-based, and socially connected workplaces.

Trust-based workplaces allow staff complete temporal and spatial autonomy. Socially connected workplaces actively encourage staff to engage and collaborate with likeminded people far beyond traditional work boundaries. This significantly improves the response to weak signals – competitive and creative developments that might otherwise have been overlooked.

However, change needs to be tempered with caution – it mustn’t be dismissed as merely ‘engineering’ processes or tasks, it’s a complex problem of co-evolution at multiple levels (individuals, the community, the environment etc).

A mechanical approach is by its nature dehumanising, and you must remember you get out what you measure. If you set targets, staff will attempt to realise the targets at all costs, ignoring context or the unstated goals that the change was hoping to realise. An awful amount of resource can be wasted managing a measurement system rather than letting the workplace flourish.

We all have a stake in addressing the current situation – organisation and individual alike – in creating a brighter, smarter, and more vibrant “workplace of the future”. And all of us can take immediate steps to embracing this new order.

Little is written about the options available to CMOs to progress beyond their role as marketers and become key players at the executive committee level.

At the Rich Gee Group, we frequently run into many C-Level executives who want to progress to the top rung and help them develop a strategy on what they should be doing to make themselves credible contenders for the CEO berth.

Spencer Stuart has a great report (click here for the PDF) that outlines each of the 10 ways to prepare for a role as a CEO:

1. Take on a general management role in an emerging market
2. Broaden your skill set at every opportunity
3. Gain experience in at least one non-marketing role
4. Get involved in as many mission-critical, non-marketing projects as you can
5. Demonstrate your credibility and track record as a commercial leader
6. Develop close working relationships with other functions
7. Work with the CFO to value the company’s brand assets
8. Hone your communication skills
9. Learn to make the tough decisions
10. Find a mentor who is already a CEO or in a general management position

It’s a great read. Enjoy! – Rich

I frequently visit the Egon Zehnder International site for their thoughts on Leadership. Here’s a seminal report by Kokkong Chan on rating your CFO:

A Chief Executive Officer in today’s competitive economy can only be successful if complemented by a high calibre CFO. The traditional view has been that the CEO provides strategic direction and leadership to an organisation, whilst the CFO supports him/her with numbers and reports. Subtly, though, there has been significant evolution in the CFOs’ role in that relationship.

In an interesting piece of research by Dirk Zorn of Princeton University, he has found that the CFO role continued to gain increasing importance over a period of 40 years, as a result of various legal, economic and capital market changes. Significantly, the journey from “finance executive” to “CFO” over that time was characterised by greater reliance on the professional judgement, strategic and commercial acumen of the CFO.

The corporate collapses of the last few years leading to recent legislative changes and shifts in corporate governance expectations and the increasing savviness of investor shareholders have further added to the complexity. The tension between governance and leadership has never been stronger. Added to the brew are a myriad of other areas in a CFO’s role that are equally important but have remained out of the headlines.

Consequently, the role of the CFO today can be so varied and broad and expectations so seemingly contradictory that the essence of what constitutes a strong CFO is easily muddied. Yet one of the most important decisions that you will make as a CEO is to select a strong CFO.

I have distilled four key elements for what sets a strong CFO apart from the rest. It includes views of several senior finance executives that we have spoken with on this topic, as well as the views of various external sources.

1. The “intrapreneur” – An “intrapreneur” is someone who constantly seeks to identify opportunities to create value within an organisation. Like an entrepreneurial CEO who constantly identifies and takes advantage of market opportunities, strong CFOs look for internal (and sometimes external) ones. This attribute, referred to by Margaret Johnsson in her piece published in Strategic Finance, requires highly commercial and strategic minds. These people see trends and patterns within the organisation, the effect of external shifts on the company and identifies areas of disconnect that spurs them on to decisive action. They may recognise financial leakages in the form of undisciplined expenditure, or the potential to generate new revenue streams or plug revenue losses that may have been identified by initially attempting to understand a puzzling bit of analysis or the recognition of a trend. Frazer Mackenzie, CFO of Coles-Myer puts it this way, “The CFO has a heavy commercial emphasis – he or she looks for reasons to do things, rather than reasons not to.

This ability is not gained from text-books. Rather it is the consequence of years of experience in honing business judgement – using numbers in making decisions, watching others make decisions, comparing intended to actual outcomes and understanding why.

2. The “Line Manager” - The finance function as a “support” function is fast fading. CFOs that manage their function with a “line mentality” are often far more effective and more valuable to the company. In a company like Qantas for example, the need to make pro-active treasury decisions such as fuel hedging means that there are times when the finance function needs to be more aggressive and assert greater leadership in major corporate decisions. Colin Storrie, Deputy CFO of Qantas describes it like this: “The challenge is to step out of the back-office to proactively helping the business. The modern CFO is not just a custodian, but a value-adder.” A recent study by Booz Allen in the US of 1650 senior finance executives found that fully three-quarters of all respondents believe that focusing on top-line growth will contribute more to earnings than cost-containment. One of the conclusions of this survey was that CFOs played key roles in the company’s growth, and in executing projects that lead to that growth. The line mentality also extends to managing people. Strong CFOs have strong teams. They are motivated because the CFO injects a sense of purpose into their teams, helping them understand that their actions are somehow connected with the top and bottom-line results.

3. The “Confidant” - The quality of trust between a CEO and his/her CFO cannot be understated. The CEO must feel completely at ease to discuss thoughts and ideas, no matter how cursory they may be, with the CFO. Likewise, the CFO must have the confidence in the strength of the relationship, built on mutual trust and respect, to push back for a robust discussion. We asked Mark Fitzgerald, CFO of Crane Ltd, how this works between him and his CEO, and he says, “Greg comes and sits in my office and runs through 20 ideas a week and I tell him if they are good or bad ideas. He uses me as a sounding board, a reality check.” Of all people in the company, it is the CFO who will have the most accurate and up-to-date information about the company’s actual performance. No surprise then that this “reality check” expectation is often associated with them. To what extent this relationship is deepened is largely driven by the CEO. CEOs must feel firstly, the quiet confidence that the CFO is completely on top of the numbers, that there would be no surprises; and secondly, the ability to discuss options and issues in confidence, and receive the value of a robust discussion with someone who is truly a thought-partner.

4. The “Conscience” – This last role has gained the most prominence of late, but is, in the light of all the above, the most problematic. This is not a new idea. All professional accountancy bodies emphasize integrity and healthy skepticism as the hallmarks of the true professional. In the CFO position, however, this expectation is greatly magnified. By virtue of market expectations and professional calling, therefore, CFOs are often seen as the guardians of corporate governance. Yet one can envisage times when this might be at odds with the desire “add value” or be a “thought partner to make it work”. Colin Storrie describes this well when he called it a “conundrum”. He says, “The modern CFO needs to prove that he is not just a custodian, but a value-adder, not just an objective scorekeeper. There is a mixing of the business leadership role with the governance role and it is difficult to balance the two. There is a need to somehow add value whilst maintaining integrity.” The perception that others have of the CFO add to this dilemma. He says, “Anything that you say would be perceived as having gone through that governance mindset. So it is important for CFOs to keep that reputation.” Strong CFOs handle this “conundrum” exceedingly well. Whilst it is often difficult for them to articulate how, our observations have been that they have found in themselves a way to balance out the tension – mostly through years of experience working on various commercial issues that are not clear cut. They have managed to combine the ability to know the extent of “gray” that an organisation should work within, to define a virtual boundary, and then to have the ability to influence others to keep within it.

Of all the people in the management team, the CFO ought to be the “soulmate” of the CEO. The CFO is the repository of actual corporate information. He or she has the regulatory knowledge and the closeness to the business to be able to judiciously use that knowledge to help the CEO form corporate decisions. He or she can help the CEO to greater heights or be woefully unimpactful and unhelpful. How well do you feel supported? How good is your CFO and when was the last time you had a good hard look?