Author: Real Leaders – Page 22

Is Elon Musk’s Illusion of Control Undermining Tesla’s Future?

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Real Leaders

This authoritarian, top-down approach rooted in mistrust and false assumptions goes against best practices. It speaks to an illusion of control that will undermine employee productivity, engagement, innovation, retention, and recruitment at Tesla.

One of Musk’s false assumptions involves the idea that employees “pretend” to work from home. In fact, research using both surveys and behavior tracking from the early days of the pandemic has shown that remote work resulted in higher productivity. More recently, academics demonstrated a further increase in productivity in remote work, from 5 percent in the summer of 2020 to 9 percent in May 2022. That’s because companies and employees grew better at working from home.

Yet despite this easily-available evidence, Musk wrote in another leaked email that those who work remotely are “phoning it in.” He highlights the importance of being visible and cites his own notoriously long working hours as an example.

Such a focus on visibility in the office speaks to a highly traditionalist leadership mindset underpinned by the illusion of control. This cognitive bias describes our mind’s tendency to overestimate the extent to which we control external events.

It’s especially prevalent in authoritarian executives who want to control their employees. They believe that having employees present in the office guarantees productivity.

In reality, research shows that in-office employees work much less than the full eight-hour day. They actually spend anywhere from 36 to 39 percent of their time working. The rest, according to these studies, is spent on other activities: checking social media, reading news websites, chit-chatting with colleagues about non-work topics, making non-work calls, and even looking for other jobs.

Musk’s desire for control is not simply emphatically unrealistic. It also goes directly against what we know is critical for productivity, engagement, and innovation for office-based workers: the desire for autonomy.

Studies show that we do our best work through intrinsic motivation, which involves autonomy and control over our work as a fundamental driver of effectiveness. Employees are most engaged, happy, and productive when they have autonomy. A key component of autonomy in the post-pandemic environment involves giving workers flexibility and self-control of where and when they work, rather than trying to shoehorn them into the pre-pandemic “normal.” And though Musk claims that forcing employees to come to the office under the threat of firing will help Tesla develop and make “the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth,” a study of 307 companies finds that greater worker autonomy results in more innovation.

Musk’s obvious lack of trust in his employees contrasts with the much more flexible work policies of other organizations. That includes manufacturing and tech companies where Tesla’s employees might go. Consider the manufacturing company 3M’s approach, which the company explicitly calls “trust-based.” The company allows employees to “create a schedule that helps them work when and where they can most effectively.”

As another example of a potential place to work for Tesla staff, Applied Materials, a high-tech manufacturer, developed an “Excellence from Anywhere” modality. Rather than a top-down approach, Applied has a team-led model, where team leaders work with team members to figure out what works best for each team and employee. Applied is adopting best practices to facilitate innovation in remote and hybrid work such as virtual asynchronous brainstormingto sustain a competitive advantage.

Tesla’s research and development staff might also consider working in more research-focused tech environments, such as the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. By adopting research-driven approaches, ISI put itself in “a leadership position in terms of figuring out how to do hybrid work” through maximizing flexibility and autonomy for its staff.

Study after study after study shows that anywhere from 40 to 60% of employees would look for another job if forced to come to work against their wishes. And I would gladly eat my hat if we don’t see increased quit rates at Tesla as a consequence of a forced office return. After all, there’s a reason why a member of the executive staff leakedMusk’s emails on returning to the office.

Indeed, we immediately witnessed pushback against Musk’s demands for an office return by employee representatives in Germany, which has the first worker’s union across the whole of Tesla. Those without union representation will vote with their feet. My information indicates that recruiters are already using Musk’s words to target desirable Tesla employees. Musk’s illusion of control and false assumptions will result in serious losses to Tesla and a gain for companies that are innovating about the future of work.

9 Ways To Make Cybersecurity Awareness Training More Engaging

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Real Leaders

Phishing was responsible for the highest number of cyber compromises in 2021. As a result, more and more businesses are investing in security training and awareness initiatives.

New evidence proves that regular training exercises can positively influence security culture and enable employees to defend against ransomware-laced phishing attempts and related social engineering attacks.

Having said that, nearly all (85%) of employees are disengaged at work. That’s why it is imperative for organizations to design programs that encourage training participation. Below are nine recommendations that can help:

1) Turn Leaders into Advocates

Everyone expects to see leadership ‘walk the talk’ and equally care about keeping their organization secure. That’s why senior management should actively participate in security training to help showcase their support for cybersecurity resilience. Nothing sells a security program better than noticing how leadership teams actively invest in security awareness and live-out security values.

2) Share Real-World Examples

Textbook training can be boring, but security doesn’t have to be. Humans, as a species, easily learn and apply values that are expressed in stories. That’s why it’s important that team members share their stories of successes and failures. Cite examples of incidents that happened in the past, how they missed early warning signs, how they were identified and in hindsight, what could’ve been done differently to prevent the incident from occurring. It’s always a good idea to show that as humans we are prone to biases and mistakes and even the best of us can be fooled by social engineering. Remind employees to not be embarrassed if they miss something and to always report anything suspicious.

3) Involve a Diverse Set of Team Members

Security is everyone’s business. Having a diverse set of trainers from different departments such as R&D, marketing, HR and sales, has many benefits. It makes training more representational whereby the trainer can describe a relatable use case or provide context that a traditional security trainer may have overlooked. It’s very likely that members of your security team are not the most effective communicators. Involve speakers that can communicate to a diverse set of workers in a manner they understand.

4) Include a Variety of Content

Security programs should consist of a variety of content that includes tabletop exercises, videos, quizzes, simulations, Q&As and short presentations. The idea is to break the monotony, encourage interaction and collaboration. For example, every training should use quizzes. Online quiz platforms (such as Kahoot!) help trainers create gamification in quizzes.

5) Make Training Fun and Rewarding

Training doesn’t have to be dull and uninteresting. Emotion is key to engagement. In fact, humor is known to have a positive effect on training. Reward people for their participation and interaction. Offer prizes and freebies. Give out prizes for answering questions correctly, announce a raffle or a giveaway at the end so that people stick around for the full session.

6) Design for Both Remote and Local Teams

Most organizations today have a sizable remote workforce. Ensure remote workers have an opportunity to attend; in fact, remote workers may need more focused training. If feasible, have a dedicated team hosting the remote community, handling any AV emergency and organizing quizzes, prizes and rewards.

7) Invite Key Vendors To Participate

Vendors will often agree to speak or sponsor (door prizes, food, beverages, etc.) a training event. Vendor speakers usually have credible experience spanning a number of industries and often bring along good content. The idea is not to make a sales pitch but to keep the content security-focused and vendor-agnostic.

8) Manage It Professionally

It’s always a good idea to plan for success. This means creating project timelines, designing communication plans and making sure everyone involved knows what their role is. If possible, get help from marketing or business teams that are experienced in running events. Record the event for those that are unable to attend. Ensure your event is right-sized — not too long, not too short, about sixty to ninety minutes is standard. Educate your audience beforehand on how phishing simulation exercises work, how they help the organization, and the frequency at which they can expect them.

9) Take Risks

The goal is to educate, entertain, and (most importantly) engage. You are investing in a long-term relationship with everyone in your organization. No training will run perfectly, and nobody will get it right the first time. That’s why trainers must experiment with different approaches, tools, exercises and content types to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Finally, never lose sight of key metrics. Metrics will help determine the success of a training program and justify its investment. Ensure you track behavioral changes over time (number of phishing incidents, activities being reported, ratings and surveys) and fine-tune your program where necessary. The end goal of security awareness training is not to check-off another compliance box off the list, but to strengthen the security culture and build a more cyber resilient organization over time.

Leadership: A Warriors Guide

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Real Leaders

As the world takes in the ravages and horrors of the war in Ukraine, it’s revealed an unexpected and heroic story about leadership.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emerged as the steadfast leader his country desperately needed, while Russian President Vladimir Putin’s iron leadership is in doubt. Yet within these real-time battles are also crucial, real-world lessons for every leader and business, says one lauded wartime author-expert, Christopher D. Kolenda — a trusted adviser to three four-star generals and two undersecretaries of defense. He became the first American to have both fought the Taliban as a commander in combat and negotiated with them in peace talks.

What comes to mind when you hear the word discipline? Most people think of punishment. They view discipline as a way to gain compliance and turn people into unquestioning automatons. This type of discipline is extrinsic, and it’s common in many compliance cultures.

But there’s a second form of discipline, one that you’ll find in the best military units: intrinsic discipline. Intrinsic discipline occurs when people advance the common good voluntarily. It comes about when people understand the difference between right and wrong and do what’s right—even when the boss isn’t watching or when times are difficult.

Intrinsic discipline is a powerful tool. It creates the trust that’s needed to promote organizational initiatives, it empowers your people, and it produces a durable competitive advantage—all factors that lead to success in business and on the battlefield.

However, intrinsic discipline doesn’t happen by accident. As a leader, you must develop it intentionally, or your teams will get stuck in extrinsic compliance. But where should you start?

1. Define and explain the common good.

The first step to gaining your team’s commitment to the common good is to define and explain it so your people understand what it is, why it’s important, and how the organization will get there.

Xenophon, a pupil of Socrates and an experienced military commander, was the first great thinker in the Western world to outline this component of discipline. According to Xenophon, the first step to intrinsic discipline begins with the leader, who must possess areté—a combination of character and competence—to gain support from followers even in times of great danger.

Xenophon explains that leaders must teach their followers the common good and the difference between correct and incorrect performance and behavior. Defining and explaining the common good will create clear expectations and explain why you’re asking people to do what they do.

“Obedience,” Xenophon tells us, “must be given voluntarily rather than under compulsion.”

2. Gain buy-in by building trust.

The second step is to gain buy-in by building trust. People need to trust their leader, the desired outcomes (your organization’s vision, mission, and goals), and how they’ll reach these outcomes (through values, expectations, and strategies).

As so many studies of human decision-making attest, people make choices based on emotion and then rationalize those decisions. Trust and mutual respect are what create this emotional connection.

Exceptional military leaders understand this. While admonishing the United States Military Academy Corps of Cadets to end the practice of hazing in 1879, Academy Superintendent General John M. Schofield crafted what’s now referred to as “Schofield’s Definition of Discipline,” which still must be memorized by all West Point cadets:

The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instructions and to give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey.

The one mode or the other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself, while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his inferiors, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

The takeaway? Leaders who are trustworthy and treat people with respect create an environment in which intrinsic discipline can emerge.

3. Strengthen accountability.

The third step is to strengthen accountability. Accountability means to be answerable. It’s a four-way intersection: up, down, and lateral. Everyone on the team needs to be answerable for doing the right things in the right ways.

Importantly, this includes you as a leader; accountability begins in the mirror. Leaders need to walk the talk and enforce standards consistently so that everyone sees that the standards are essential rather than arbitrary.

As Greek military leader Xenophon explains:

“Good workers get depressed when they see that, although they are the ones doing all of the work, the others get the same as they do, despite making no effort and being unprepared to face danger, if need be.”

Playing favorites and haphazard enforcement are morale killers—they indicate to everyone involved that the standards and expectations are arbitrary and unimportant. And Xenophon is quite clear that the leader, not the followers, is to blame if the expectations and their importance are unclear or selectively followed.

To illustrate this principle, Xenophon provides examples in his famous work Anabasis of two commanders during the expedition with Cyrus against the Persian king Xerxes in 401 B.C. Both commanders failed in different ways.

Clearchus, a Spartan commander, took pride in his severity, believing that soldiers should fear their superiors more than the enemy. Because his rule was considered arbitrary, many of his men deserted.

In contrast, Proxenus, a Boeotian and a friend of Xenophon, sought to win the love of his soldiers by withholding praise from wrongdoers instead of punishing them. He became an object of contempt, and his soldiers ran roughshod over him.

The bottom line

These three steps—clarity, buy-in, and accountability—are the foundations for intrinsic discipline. They interact like a Venn diagram: Clarity and buy-in without accountability mean that any good results are a matter of luck. Clarity and accountability without buy-in creates compliance only, and people won’t contribute their best. Buy-in and accountability without clarity creates the hamster wheel effect: a lot of activity but no movement toward your goals. Having all three in place helps organizations move from compliance to a deeply inspired culture.

7 Ways to Create a Security Culture at Work

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Real Leaders

The topic of security culture is mysterious and confusing to most leaders. But it doesn’t have to be. Perry Carpenter and Kai Roer, two veteran cybersecurity strategists deliver experience-driven, actionable insights into how to transform your organization’s security culture and reduce human risk at every level.

The security industry has struggled to define security culture for a long time. Security leaders talk about its value, but they tend to do so without precision — which can be incredibly confusing for business leaders.

Here’s our take on security culture, developed over many years at the intersection of two worlds: academia and “in the trenches” practitioners. Security culture can be broken down into seven components, which we refer to as dimensions. These dimensions are interdependent; each one influences the others.

Dimension 1: Attitudes

The attitudes your employees have toward security is a critical factor. When employees take a negative view, they’re much less likely to abide by the rules and act securely. This means that finding ways to foster positive attitudes toward security can be a great strategy to improve employee behavior and, ultimately, your security culture.

Ask yourself: To what extent do employees care about security? Are they positive, neutral, or negative?

Dimension 2: Behaviors

What employees see other employees do impacts their own behavior. Most people are likely to adopt the behaviors they see modeled by others when they’re in a group. We’re also very likely to do what we’re told by someone in authority, suggesting that leadership should be actively involved in security.

Ask yourself: What are considered acceptable behaviors? What do employees see others doing?

Dimension 3: Cognition

What employees know can influence their behavior. However, just because someone is aware doesn’t mean they care! And even caring doesn’t always translate to behavior. This is what Perry calls the “knowledge-intention-behavior gap.” Training is an important part of any security culture program, but it’s not the end-all.

Instead, consider training as only one of many tools in your toolbox. Support it with strong messaging from your executives and leadership teams, and make sure your employees understand why security is paramount.

Further support your training program through behavior design initiatives and by trying to foster other areas of influence, such as reward and reinforcement systems.

Ask yourself: What do employees know? How do they learn? How do they apply that knowledge?

Dimension 4: Communication

One of the skills of great leaders is their ability to communicate. Often, you’ll hear them repeat the same vision many times over, in many different forms and forums.

Great leaders recognize the importance of setting the agenda and repeating the message so that every employee can understand and relate. Security is no different: If you want it to happen, repeat your values often and find ways to make people talk about them.

Ask yourself: How is security communicated throughout the organization? To what extent is leadership involved? Is security considered a core value?

Dimension 5: Compliance

Organizations need rules to ensure employees know what’s allowed and what’s not. Some organizations are very good at implementing policies and incentives, whereas others are not.

If your security policies and procedures aren’t being followed, it may be because employees are unaware of the policies and procedures, or your policies and procedures are too difficult to follow, or because you need other methods and systems to support compliance.

Ask yourself: How well do employees adhere to policies and procedures?

Dimension 6: Norms

Norms are the informal rules, those policies of the group that aren’t written down and formalized. They’re “just the way things are done around here.” Unfortunately, people are more likely to follow norms than comply with your policies due to perceived peer pressure.

What’s the fix? Seek out any disconnects between your norms and your policies. Find ways to influence your norms to better align with policy. This is accomplished through a combination of communication, social pressures, behavior design, and traditional training methods.

Ask yourself: To what extent are security-related beliefs, behaviors, and values embedded in the norms and unwritten rules of the organization?

Dimension 7: Responsibilities

An organization where every employee actively takes part in the security program is a good organization. Empowering employees to make relevant security decisions during their workday is a valuable strategy.

Likewise, making sure employees understand that even a tiny action can make a huge difference is mission critical. Try to focus on the positive change the employee can make instead of dreaded and ineffective fearmongering.

Ask yourself: To what extent do employees feel empowered? To what extent will they help ensure that other employees follow the rules?

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging: A Leader’s Secret Strategy

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Real Leaders

Employees leaving in the Great Resignation say they don’t feel valued. Employees are downsizing their contributions, stating that they experience bias and don’t feel they can bring their authentic selves to work. Gallup estimates that active disengagement costs U.S. companies $450-$550 billion per year.

This begs the question for you as a leader: How do you keep and get the most out of your team? Whether you’re a supervisor or senior executive, knowing the answer to this question is the ticket to success.

The answer is establishing a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). As proof, World Economic Council studies confirm that diverse organizations outperform their peers who aren’t diverse across a wide range of key performance metrics, including profitability (25-36%), innovation (20%), decision-making (30%), and employee engagement (statistically significant).

This is because when diverse people are included and treated equitably, they feel that they belong and can bring their authentic selves to work. They feel comfortable sharing their different perspectives. And different perspectives are necessary for high-performing teams. That’s the value of DEIB – a means to the end that is superior organizational performance.

But how is diversity achieved? How are equitable and inclusive practices executed? How are people made to feel that they belong? All these occur through the efforts of skilled leaders.

Leaders who’ve acquired the secret weapon of leading through DEIB go through what Jennifer Brown calls the “Leadership Continuum.”

Phase 1

A leader is unaware of diversity and its value. The leader thinks diversity is compliance-related — something the government makes you do. It’s considered simply tolerating others. Ensuring that DEIB happens is someone else’s job, not the leader’s, so it’s not worth paying attention to.

Phase 2

A leader becomes aware of having a role to play in DEIB and begins looking into how best to move forward at the interpersonal level. The levers that a leader can pull at this stage of development are:

Showing respect for the opinion of every employee
Keeping quiet when appropriate
Challenging assumptions
Having empathy and humor
Interrupting any bias

Phase 3

A leader has shifted priorities and is finding a voice in taking meaningful action that supports others. This is moving away from an autocratic management style to a collaborative management style. The leader has shifted from acting in a private way to acting in a public way. The levers to pull to make this stage happen include:

Mentoring and sponsoring
Showing vulnerability
Taping into your “why”

Being cognizant of the unique challenges faced by diverse people and being available to help them through these challenges.

Phase 4

A leader proactively and consistently confronts discrimination. The leader uses an equity lens and ensures that everyone else uses that equity lens. The leader works to bring about change in order to prevent discrimination on a systemic level by evaluating how policies and procedures are implemented and followed. The levers at this stage are:

Examining norms with the goal of leveling the playing field at work and in life
Identifying and working to correct systemic inequities

Team members who feel that they’re included and supported will then:

Trust their leader and others on the team, which reduces drama and delays
Have clarity on what they need to do to contribute, which drives accuracy and coordination
Feel a sense of accountability for their work, which drives completion of tasks on-time and on-budget
Are more engaged because they know their work has meaning and impact, which drives productivity
Exhibit a winning attitude that drives engagement and innovation.

DEIB is a secret weapon for getting the most out of your team. Honing the skills to use this weapon comes from moving through the phases of unawareness, awareness, action, and advocacy. Granted, this takes time, but research proves that the results of leading high-performing teams are well worth an allocation in any leader’s schedule.

Becoming an Exceptional CEO is a Game of Inches. Impatience is Your Foe

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Real Leaders

“The only way to become good at something is to practice the ordinary basics for an uncommon length of time. Most people get bored. They want excitement. They want something to talk about, and no- one talks about the boring basics. Boredom encourages you to stop doing what you know works and do something that might work.” – Farnam Street

I’ve had my struggles with ambition.

For those familiar with the Enneagram tool for developing leaders, one of the nine Enneagram types is the Competitive Achiever, which describes individuals whose core motivation is to win or impress.

It has its upsides in that these sorts of individuals get a lot done and create much energy that sweeps others up in their endeavors.

But there is a downside. Impatience.

Over time, I have learned to wait. To not act. To observe and consider my plans more carefully before I pull the trigger. To not put the rush of achievement aside and find a wiser part of me, has a better perspective, and makes better-informed choices.

When it comes to building your CEO skill set, the truth is that it is a long journey. Not a taxing journey – quite the opposite. But becoming a stand-out CEO is not an overnight thing and requires inch-gains over a long period to build a set of competencies that are sufficiently advanced to meet the requirements of the CEO role.

My observation is that impatience can wreck the process of becoming a higher-order CEO.

The desire to move the needle quickly by demanding instant results gets in the way of building this nuanced skill set. Impatience is an energy rush that eviscerates the care, dedication, and fine attention to detail that separates exceptional CEOs from average CEOs.

Take internal communication as an example. You can bang out an email that lays out your requirements. Or you can craft a communique that has a story to it, references anecdotal evidence, uses descriptive metaphors, and generously shares your insight and struggles.

A quick email will do the job, but a communique will move people permanently by being compelling, persuasive, and enticing. The benefits will continue to pay dividends down the line and likely avoid the need for more directive and instructional communication.

You might question the ROT (Return on Time) of such efforts if you are impatient about your craft.

But take the long view and recognize the wisdom in the above quote. You’ll warm to the task, do it excellently, and take one more step toward becoming a higher-order CEO, aggregating the myriad benefits along the way.

5 Things Managers Fear About Zoom and Why They Shouldn’t Worry

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Real Leaders

Back in the days when people began studying how to improve companies, they recognized that managers could help their teams by spending a little more time outside of their own offices.

By walking around, visiting their employees, and having casual one-on-one chats, they could ideally learn how things were going and how employees were feeling. It was dubbed “Management by Walking Around,” or MBWA. Overall, if done well, it was an idea that worked by blending the two vital elements of 1) keeping the channels of communication open; and 2) supporting employees in getting their work done.

But now that Covid has unleashed the work from home and the hot desk era, what happens when those employees are no longer on the premises? This worry became a focal point of fear when examining the post-2021 new normal. How can a manager manage when the workspace has become fractured and remote? For many managers, this is a surprising twist on the path to digital transformation. They feel as if they’re losing their team, the solidarity of the business, and the control they once enjoyed. Even worse, they feel that they’re losing their identity as managers.

But in reality, it doesn’t have to be that way. The transformation is happening all the same because many employees have discovered that they prefer working from home — especially with the cost of the commute getting ever higher. If their job is based on using a computer and a phone, they’ve realized they no longer need to travel to an office to carry out their work.

Managers will still be able to manage, though, and they might even find that their jobs become easier. They can practice “Management by Zooming Around” (MBZA) — even though it’s not about Zoom per se. Zoom is just the brand that currently represents video chat technology in general. MBZA enables managers and employees to still enjoy focused chats, whether spontaneous or scheduled, using video conferencing, while also conveying the body language, empathy, and confidentiality that would take place in an in-person setting.

But MBZA still feels uncomfortable to managers who’ve become used to exerting their physical presence to establish the mood and structure of a team. Here are some standard pushbacks that management presents in their arguments against the hybrid workspace, along with the reality surrounding each.

Management argument #1: Removes opportunities for spontaneous conversation.

Reality: The next generation of collaboration technologies are already here. They replace the Zoom grid style with an environment in which people can exist all day without looking like cartoons. This informal in-office dynamic means spontaneous conversations are just as possible in the new virtual workspace.

Management argument #2: People can only focus on work when they’re at the workplace.

Reality: Many people are discovering that they can focus at home, even with children and pets around, and are consequently joining the ranks of those who’ve already been working from home productively for years. What’s more, the workplace has seldom been a place of focus, with interruptions and meetings happening daily. Most at-work employees discovered they could only get focus time if they hid somewhere else, like an empty conference room or a coffee shop. That says a lot about the actual impractical nature of an office.

Management argument #3: If my employees are working from home, I can’t see what they’re doing.

Reality: That’s true. But why would you need to? The goal is for an employee to get work done. Managers who have embraced the work-from-home approach are unanimous in their endorsement of letting team members work when and how they want so long as the work gets done. Work should be outcome based, not face-time based.

Management argument #4: Employees will slack off and avoid work if I can’t oversee them.

Reality: Managers who feel this way have a bigger problem on their hands than employee productivity. If there’s no trust in a manager-employee relationship, the good employees will simply leave. The work-from-home scenario is in fact a place where trust is established and reinforced.

Management argument #5: Coordinating distributed groups is too complicated.

Reality: No, it’s simply different. Distributed teams enjoy success when the meetings are immersive, sharing the same virtual space where they can all see each other. They also work best when everyone is remote, regardless of where they’re logging in from, including those who log in from the office.

It’s often difficult for people to move into new, unknown territory. To resist this, they hang on to the old ways for dear life. But history is littered with the grave markers of companies that refused to pivot, even when the marketplace offered them the opportunity. Hopefully, managers will perceive through experience and experimentation that there’s actually more to be gained from MBZA than they could have ever imagined.

Get on Top of Yourself: How to Recognize Your Disintegration Patterns

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Real Leaders

“Get on top of yourself.” A colleague muttered this phrase in the midst of an Enneagram debriefing session (note: if you’re looking for a profiling tool for you or your team, this is categorically the best I’ve come across in 20 years of doing this work). It made me think about the importance of maintaining consciousness when leading people.

Headline points:
• The relentless pressure of being a CEO makes maintaining awareness difficult
• Non-awareness of one’s patterns is understandable, but it’s also controllable and can be managed
• Not ‘being on top of yourself’ has real, immediate negative impacts: dark behavior patterns; ego dominance; and lack of discipline

So what does ‘staying on top of yourself’ amount to? The technical term (using Enneagram language) is being integrated v. being disintegrated.

Here are three simple tools to help:

Knowing how it feels when you are disintegrated is the most essential and clear sign: the former feels settled and grounded; the latter feels edgy and nervy, and there’s not as much in-between as you might think …
Knowing your disintegrated patterns is important (panicky, cranky, scattered, fractious, etc.) as the same patterns will likely show up in you until you one day leave this mortal coil
Having a way to step away, re-set, and re-integrate by way of a repeating practice (walking, clearing your diary, getting coaching, leaning into a confidant) is helpful and easily doable

The point is that all CEOs will disintegrate at some point or another – there’s no shame in it. But, just like the most challenging part of getting back into shape is getting that first trip to the gym done and dusted, so it works the same for CEOs: the slip into disintegration is pretty easily reversed.
But only if you have the above tools in place.

Don’t Let Narcissism Blind Your Leadership

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Real Leaders

You don’t have to search very far to discover examples of narcissism. Whether it’s yet another person in the Great Resignation refusing to return to the office and work for an arrogant supervisor, the guy sitting next to you on the plane complaining to the flight attendant because his seat won’t recline, or even the Slap Heard Around the World — heard around the world because it so closely mirrored the hubris we’ve been witnessing on the global stage.

More recently, a larger physical and economic power sauntering into the sovereign territory of a smaller one unannounced and attempting to strike it down—narcissism seems to be everywhere.

While the behavior of a few at the top can make it seem that we exist in a society characterized by conceit and entitlement, we also live in a society characterized by kindness, service, and generosity. Disproving the erroneous belief that we are predominately self-interested, we live in a society in which we feel better when we give to others—which activates the same reward center in the prefrontal cortex as achieving self-directed goals—than when we attain more for ourselves.

Good vibes notwithstanding, once again attesting that bad is stronger than good—meaning that we recall negative events much more rapidly and vividly than positive ones—sore thumbs stick out more than healthy fingers. Unfortunately, leaders who misbehave and diminish others become much more etched into our minds than those who are humble, self-effacing, and compassionate.

Its vividness piques our curiosity and makes us wonder where hubris comes from and how it takes us over, especially as we rise in status in our companies and organizations.

Narcissism and the Leadership Trajectory

I teach companies and organizations a leadership principle called “Nothing Blinds Like Success.” As social psychologist Michael Hogg has uncovered, leaders are elected or selected because they have internalized the group’s values, characteristics, and features.

Over time, however, something unfortunate happens: they shift from being prototypical and representing what the group most cares about to being expelled—socially at first and, eventually for most, physically—from the same group they used to represent so well.

Consider Robert Mugabe. After winning the revolution against the white Ian Smith regime in Rhodesia, the ZANU-Patriotic Front rebel leader became the prime minister of the newly independent republic of Zimbabwe in 1980.

Did Mugabe apply the caring and compassion for everyday Zimbabweans that caused his countrymen and women to follow him as a revolutionary in the country’s governance?

Not at all. Instead, he became a ruthless dictator who stewarded his country into becoming rated by the UN as one of the least habitable on the planet and a paragon of human rights violations for almost four decades until he was placed under house arrest in 2017.

It Starts on the Way Up

How do leaders go from regular folks to first to worst? It begins with their ascent. As they rise to power, their followers focus on everything they say and do. Why? Their livelihoods depend on it.

With all this attention on them, leaders believe they are larger than life. They start to believe their own press, to breathe their own exhaust. They start having thoughts such as, “I am extraordinary. That’s why I’ve risen to this role. That’s why so many are focused on my every move.”

As a consequence of this type of thinking, they stop paying attention to the people they lead. Social psychological research has found that leaders eat more than their share of the cookies, allow more crumbs to fall from their mouths, and eat with their mouths open more than their subordinates.

Why? The higher an individual climbs the ladder of success, the less they attune to and empathize with others.

Power and Our Brightest Stars

As with Mugabe and most of our leaders who are comfortably embedded in their roles at the top of their fields and become disconnected from the rank-and-file (Pope Francis, the first pope to refuse to live in the Papal Palace in over a century, is a notable exception), many leaders enact a code of living that most of us cannot even fathom.

Never have we been so far from understanding how those highest on the hill live. The CEO no longer earns eighty times—as they did in the 1980s—but now over six hundred times what the janitor takes home to their children made.

Many leaders allow their lives to become guided by delusion. Encircled by sycophantic followers rather than upright colleagues willing to share with them the real information of what’s happening in their organization that they desperately need to listen to in order to sustain their success, they live in a filter bubble almost entirely conceived by their imagination. When you live at the top of the pyramid, you’re only surrounded by air.

Understanding how narcissism can emerge within us as we grow in our careers is critical. This unfortunate byproduct of increasing our status over time can produce disastrous results for ourselves and the people with whom we work and live.

What can Business Leaders Learn From Apple’s 2022 Back to Work Policy?

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Real Leaders

Recently Apple sent their employees a letter asking them to come back to work at the office three days a week in late May 2022 (now delayed due to COVID resurging in the Bay Area, but employees must continue to work at the office two days a week).

It is a seemingly reasonable request, and as part of the plan, employees can work fully remote for “up to four weeks a year.” A group of current and former Apple employees called “Apple Together” are protesting the company’s new policy, and sent an open letter to company leadership demanding more flexibility.

What can business leaders learn from this Apple employee response about their role and the best ways to manage organizations?

As a successful software company founder and business consultant for 30+ years, this type of employee reaction was unthinkable. The leaders in charge would have considered this change not as a request, but something employees should accept as a standard policy or find another job (what Netflix said to employees when they recently announced their new content policy).

Executives should reflect on their roles today as organizational leaders and answer the question clearly…Who is really running their organizations? Judging by the declining levels of customer service at most companies, the customer is no longer the most important factor in establishing goals and policies…it is the employees. How did this happen? How did we get to a place where the executives at Apple are “begging” their employees to come back to work?

There are several drivers of this mind shift. Perhaps the chief cause is a break down in the relationship between leaders and followers. Today, the employees are given powers that traditionally were reserved for leaders. It seems that a generation raised by parents who catered to their Millennial offspring seem to think they have executive powers. I am not blaming the Millennials. Yes, many are entitled and lazy… so are many Baby Boomers. I blame the adults. Throughout my career, I hired, managed and worked with hundreds of Millennials (Gen Y)…including my daughter. And they are not all lazy and entitled as many Baby Boomers think.

But there is a large and influential percentage of this 26-41 year-old generation (born between 1981 and 1996)that somehow never got the message that they are not the boss of everything. The problem, however; is that this group has been conditioned by parents to believe they are equal decision makers. Parents abdicated their role as experienced decision-makers to those completely lacking in any life experience, which can unfairly set the children up to fail.

As a result, we have the employees at Apple telling the executives that they are not coming back to work, and leaders are not clearly saying no. Why? Parents and business leaders should really be making firm decisions based on their vast experience and responsibility levels (personal and financial), and communicate the new policy like Netflix did recently.

If Apple’s leadership team caves to their employees, it will be a recipe for organization mistrust. Traditional and working relationship of leaders and followers will be unproductively turned on its’ head.

In my experience, most people, including Millennials, want to go to work, receive direction from a boss, master new skills, and meet expectations set by the organization to move both the individual and team forward. It is incumbent upon leaders to define the organization structure, decision-making authority, and goals with roles and responsibilities clearly defined. This process is how trust is built, respect is created and productivity and fairness can create more wins for everyone.

Yes, times have changed, but human nature really has not. The “old-school methods” which I practiced as a parent and as a leader were simple. In general, people want to do well. They want to feel like their work is important, and their boss cares about their success. They want feedback, and to grow by learning from their leaders. Being a parent or business executive comes with great responsibility to create a culture of dignity and respect, which includes knowing when to say no.

If you want respect as a leader, listen to your team. Put yourself in their shoes in achieving the goals and expectations. I’ve discovered too often that what managers think takes ten hours to perform an assignment may in reality take 100 hours because of lack of clarity, resources, systems and team play. If a leader asks questions, the differences in expectations can be addressed to make real change, create real learning and ultimately build trust.

Clear communications by leaders ensures success for a team, company, society and a family working together. When my brilliant daughter was 7 years old, she informed me that I was not the boss of her. As a single dad, I explained to her very nicely and logically that I was for now. Years later, I hired her at my Aspire Software company, and she was one of our best employees. She now works elsewhere, and is highly effective and respected.

Based on what I was taught by bosses, expecting more from your employees makes the good ones feel valued and challenged. Isn’t this what we want as managers? Someone must be the boss or the organization will be held back by mistrust and lack of honesty that are essential to learn and perform.

What would you do if you were Tim Cook or a leader at Apple managing this pushback?

Elon Musk recently demanded that all Tesla staff return to the office full-time, according to an email sent to executive staff and leaked on social media. Musk said those who don’t want to come to office should “pretend to work somewhere else.”