Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

How NOT to Live a Life of Mediocrity

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

mediocrity>> Thanks to Damu for the comment on my Secrets of Managing Your Advisory Board post which spurred the posting below >>

It all starts with your thoughts, which often come from the influences we allow into our life.  Hence my counsel that everyone maintain their own “personal advisory board”.

My experience has been that not only is variety truly the spice of life, but is also the spark of innovation.  You want to continually surround yourself with people that will challenge you to grow, not folks that cater to mediocrity (or worse).  Family members often don’t make great advisory board constituents because their tacit adoration often hinders the opportunity for really deep insight.  Below are some of my experiences, which may or may not work for others.

First, create your own vision statement of what you really want.  I got there by answering these questions:

  • What do I really enjoy working on?  In other words, what could I be doing – as part of a job – that I really love?
  • What are some of the things in my life that I’ve really enjoyed and have brought me great joy/pleasure?
  • If I won the lottery, what are three things I would do?
  • What issues or causes do I care most deeply about?
  • What are my most important values?
  • What are the things that I can do at the “excellent” level?  In other words, what are things that others would consider me to be an “expert” or at least “really good”?
  • What are the things I’d like to stop doing or do to a much lesser degree?

The key to making this work is being brutally honest and transparent with yourself.  As you write all this out, general themes/trends will emerge from which you can craft your vision.  And, this vision statement is probably best kept private, otherwise, you will tend to lose a bit of edgy honesty if you know others will read it.  Too many people live lives based on what they think others think they should do – some call that relinquishing responsibility – I call it fear.

This personal vision is not static – simply a reflection of “where you are” and “where you want to go” at this stage of your life.

Next, create a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) assessment.  While the WT is typically used in business settings (competitors, market trends, etc.), here consider them in the context of your vision statement.  What truly are your weaknesses and the threats that will hinder you from realizing your vision?  This honest WT will set the stage for the most important people to include on your personal advisory board.

Who are some people that can help you further develop your strengths and realize the opportunities?  Identify two of these people by name.  Based on your weaknesses (which I prefer to euphemistically call “developmental opportunities”) and threats, who are people that can significantly help you transcend them?  List them by name as well.

Now you have your “target” list, go get them.  How?

While there are probably 1000s of strategies (and books) written on how best to “network and connect”, my philosophy is pretty simple.  Find the overlap of interests/passions between you and the other person, and then figure out how you can “serve” or “selflessly give to” the other person.  There is perhaps no greater joy than in serving others in a meaningful, impactful way (especially around shared interests).  Once you’ve created that bond, reciprocity naturally flows and doesn’t need to be an awkward “ask”.  Furthermore, most people feel honored to lend their “guidance” and “expertise” to others who genuinely seek it.

Now create a personal development plan, with specific objectives and timelines to define the (very) specific steps to make your vision statement a reality.  Then, start implementing.

While I rarely meet with my advisory board as a whole, I regularly meet with them individually to share progress against my plan and discuss strategies for enhancement.  And, just as your vision statement isn’t static, neither is your advisory board.  As you grow, your developmental opportunities will change and you’ll want to bring on different people, and so forth.

Continually surround yourself with the kinds of people (influences/energy) you want/need to help you grow.  A great quote I once heard (although I don’t recall the source) goes something like: “If you find you are the smartest person in the room, then find another room.”  A really effective personal advisory board makes that a reality.

I’d love to hear success stories from others.

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The Secret of Managing Your Advisory Board & Board of Directors for Success

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Long title, but another great topic hosted by the Entrepreneurs Forumwhere I again had the honor of serving as a panelist.

Along with Philadelphia lawyer (and jazzman) extraordinaire Steve Goodman, Neil Vogel (Recognition Media CEO and producer of the Webby Awards), Irv Safra (moderator and high tech speaker) and Marc Sinkow (Vistage Chairman and co-chair of the Philly 100) – we spoke about the nuances of Boards: how to use them, when to get started, issues to watch out for, how to find & keep the right members, and other related topics.

One of the great things about a room full of entrepreneurs is the incredible buzz of ideas and optimism. Pair them with information about how boards can potentially help them be more successful in funding, growth, strategizing, and even exiting – and we’ve got a plan for liftoff.

I spent some time discussing the concept of a “personal advisory board” which I’ve used throughout my career. To the audience’s surprise (as well as mine when I first began that board) was how easy it is to put together such an advisory group. There are a lot of really smart people who find great joy in helping cultivate talent. Many of them are very successful business executives who have learned a lot about what works, and perhaps even more importantly, what doesn’t work.

You can read all the great business and leadership books in the world (and there are plenty of them), but nothing will help you grow faster than real experience and hands-on guidance from and accountability to a personal advisory board. If you’d like more details on how I manage my board, reach out to me in email.

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Posted in Leadership | 2 Comments »

Radio Ga Ga

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Check out BlogTalkRadio’s Frugal Friday. It’s a great show that focuses on “all things Linux and Open Source”. I have the honor of speaking on this week’s show. It is hosted by Ken Hess and Jason Perlow (Linux superstar who I’ve worked with in the past), and airs from 6:30-7:30 pm (eastern) on Friday evenings.

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Posted in Leadership, Open Source | No Comments »

Sign of the times?

Monday, April 27th, 2009

I receive unsolicited resumes all the time, and I’ve yet to see one that really impressed me. As a matter of fact, not even a single email has yet lured me to open the attached resume.

Why is that?

It certainly isn’t through lack of purported “hard skills”

  • Generated 107% of $7.4 million quota in my first year with XXX
  • Closed many high-profile customers
  • One of the world’s best rainmakers

    Nor is it lack of “schmooze tact”

    • Dear esteemed colleague
    • Anthony, you won’t be disappointed by what you read below
    • I’m the strategic sales ace you are looking for

      I think I’ve seen and heard it all. Unfortunately, it misses the point.

      Do I want rainmakers or sales aces? You bet. But, if you can’t blow me away with your first entree into me, then you really aren’t either of those.

      What do employers really care about? Themselves and their businesses. So, while you may have generated a gazillion dollars in revenue for company XXX, tell me how that is relevant to me and my business. Show that you understand my challenges and directly correlate that to what you’ve done.

      And, in this incredibly interconnected world in which we live, you have no excuse for not getting an introduction from someone who knows the employer. Who are they connected to in LinkedIn? What organizations do they belong to or what interests to they have? Find the overlap with your network and take it from there.

      Are you following them on Twitter and working your way into that “circle”? When is that employer presenting their next webinar, and how can you ask the right questions there to get “noticed”?

      Everyone I know is so inundated by email. There is no way you are going to cut through the clutter without it being extremely relevant to the reader.

      So, to Mr. Strategic Sales Ace and Ms. Rainmaker, while you’ve succeeded in leading me to write this post, I doubt that was the outcome you were seeking.

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      Posted in Business, Leadership | No Comments »

      Unleashing Potential – Part 2

      Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

      The age-old business challenge: how to get the most out of people? We all know the different kinds of leaders from the coercive drivers, authoritarian rulers, coaching/affiliative partners, and so forth. A lot of good material is written on these archetypes and how to become a better leader. What I’d like to briefly share, however, is a slightly different twist: How to become a better follower.

      Not in a passive sheep-like sort of way, of course. In this context, I use the term “follower” to mean one observing and being attentive. The most successful leaders are, in fact, the most adroit followers. And in addition to being very good at following the various characteristics and potential opportunities of their particular market segment(s), they are extremely effective at following (observing) people, especially themselves.

      What does it mean to “follow oneself”? Self-awareness. As Daniel Goleman eloquently puts:

      Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s strengths and limitations and one’s values and motives. People with strong self-awareness are realistic – neither overly self-critical nor naively hopeful. Rather, they are honest with themselves about themselves. And they are honest about themselves with others, even to the point of being able to laugh at their own foibles.(1)

      But another key characteristic of self-aware people is the ability to tune into others. And tuning in to others gives us the ability to understand them – which of course leads to the opportunity to empathize, motivate, and enthuse.

      How do you get started becoming self-aware? It starts by honestly looking inward. It also helps to have what I call a “personal advisory board”. I liken this to a board of directors, where the company is You, Inc. These directors have “joined” because of what they can offer, and they have a vested interest in the success of the company (you).

      Your personal advisory board can obviously help you vet ideas, provide advice and guidance, create connections, etc. But, the board’s real power lies in its capability to help you grow you. We all have our obvious strengths and developmental opportunities. But we also all have what are known as hidden strengths and invisible blind spots. These “don’t know what we don’t know” areas provide the fertile ground for substantial growth.

      Once you’ve begun tapping into the unlimited potential of You, Inc., the ability to help grow others flourishes by design. And when you can get an entire organization of people who are excited, motivated, and driven to realize the vision you help articulate, you’ve not only unleashed incredible potential, but you’ve also become a world-class follower that others want to access.

      (1) Goleman, Daniel; Boyatzis, Richard; McKee, Annie; Primal Leadership – Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence; Harvard Business School Press; 2002; pg 40.

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      Unleashing Potential

      Saturday, November 29th, 2008

      Have you ever witnessed the hidden potential suddenly unleashed inside of someone? It can be life transforming, as exemplified in this true story.

      As a committee board member for People’s Light and Theatre Company, I was invited to attend a play that was being performed by neurologically challenged kids at a local school. The theatre director had been working with these children for several weeks preparing for the “big show”. One boy, with the most severe autism, sat non-participative through every practice and rehearsal, never uttering a single word.

      As the parents, teachers, and board members sat watching the play unfold, smiles abound as the costumed children did their best to remember lines, manipulate the hand-made props, and sing little songs about the planets in the solar system. Of course, the autistic boy sat off to the side watching it all unfold around him.

      The play had intended to reach its climax with all the children from each act singing, in unison, a piece about the Earth being the most important planet. And just as this “final act” was about to start, the autistic boy shocked us all.

      He stood up and walked to center stage.

      No one knew what to expect, and the entire audience as well as all the other children fell completely silent. It wasn’t just an “awkward silence” where we were waiting to see what would happen; it was more of a “concerned silence” along the lines of “is this boy OK?”

      After about five or six seconds, this boy, standing alone on center stage, lifted his eyes from the floor to the audience, and began singing. And not just mumbling words, but true, choral singing! Something immediately stirred in the other children, and they joined this boy and began singing along with him. Goosebumps ran down everyone’s spine, and of course there wasn’t a dry eye in the school. It couldn’t have been scripted any more dramatically, yet this was real life.

      Something had been awakened in this little boy, however momentarily, that enabled him to reach that achievement. Yet how many of us allow potential and passion to remain locked away deep within us? And what can we do to tap into that hidden reservoir?

      In my next posting, I’ll share what I’ve learned over a few decades of cultivating talent and unleashing potential, including topics such as:

      • Personal development plans (based on unique personality traits and skills)
      • Self-awareness and the role of a healthy ego
      • Personal advisory boards (and other components of encouragement and compliance)

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      How well do we really know ourselves?

      Sunday, September 28th, 2008

      Probably not as well as we think. And yet, truly understanding oneself is perhaps one of the most significant differentiators of great leaders from merely good or even poor leaders. This is the realm of emotional intelligence (EI or EQ), a term popularized by Daniel Goleman in his published books from the late 1990s.

      Components of EI include empathy, organizational awareness, inspirational leadership, influence, developing others, collaboration, conflict management, optimism, and the like. However, at the core, and perhaps most fundamental to EI is self-awareness. Being truly in touch with ourselves, our emotions, and how we process information is not a simple task. As Aristotle once said, “Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But, to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not easy.”

      When I first started my professional career, I quickly learned that the skills possessed by the most successful employees were not purely intelligence-based (everyone was very smart in the field I worked – electrical engineering), but rather what I called “soft skills”. The people who were full of passion, energy, and enthusiasm … the ones who worked very well in teams, had good personalities, and had a great sense of humor (whether overt or not) – these were the people who did very well. These people rarely, if ever, lost their temper and were able to easily resonate with others.

      To this day, when I interview people for a role in my company, I am much more concerned with their soft-skills than their IQ, grades, or particular degree. Of course raw intelligence matters, but only to a degree … it’s the soft skills that really tip the scale.

      But, in order to really hone those soft skills (which, by the way, can be learned and developed to a large degree), one needs to first understand their current baseline. And, the best way I’ve found to establish such a baseline is to “get a 360”. Getting a 360 is the process by which feedback is obtained from your peers, your bosses, your subordinates, and even your clients/customers (a 360 degree view of your world).

      Best if the feedback:

      • Is solicited from a broad range of individuals (not your best friends)
      • Asks the right set of questions to derive the essential characteristics
      • Is collected by a 3rd party organization that can effectively process all the data and “anonymize” the results

      I’ve had great success with both the Clark-Wilson types of surveys and most recently with the Telios Leadership Institute in Philadelphia, for which the managing director is Annie McKee, co-author of Resonant Leadership. But a word of caution is in order: the first time you see your processed 360 results, you may have a negatively defensive reaction. We tend to be unaware of many of our developmental opportunities (a term I much prefer to “weaknesses”), at least consciously. But, working with an experienced coach who can help build and monitor a personalized development plan is a huge step toward leadership greatness.

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      Posted in Leadership | 2 Comments »

      Cultural biases and our unconscious proclivities

      Saturday, August 16th, 2008

      I’ve written on this topic before and recently revisited the Project Implicit study at Harvard. They’ve built a virtual laboratory where “visitors can examine their own hidden biases.” The web tests measure which direction we subconsciously lean when it comes to certain “pairs” of traits. For instance, some of the pairings include fat-thin, native-American white, light-dark skin, and many more.

      A lot of people probably want to believe they don’t have a strong bias one way or the other. Unfortunately, the facts reveal otherwise. Now that nearly 5 million people have taken the test, here are some sad “truths”: over 80% of the experimenters subconsciously demonstrate negativity toward the elderly versus younger people. The same statistics apply for black skin to white skin. And, not surprisingly, most of the people who took the tests were initially unaware of their biases.

      So what is it about so many people’s thoughts and feelings that cause such disparities? Our heritage and upbringing? The media? And perhaps an even more significant question is, “How can we narrow the gap?”

      The deeply contemplative Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote: “Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.”

      Do you have any ideas on how we as a global society and massively interconnected populace can improve this state? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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      The Nature of Learning (and Remembering)

      Saturday, May 17th, 2008

      For the past several months, I’ve been serving as an Algebra tutor for my friend’s child. This kid is very gifted intellectually, but he suffers from pretty severe ADHD, and unfortunately Algebra is his last class of the day, right about the time when his lack of attentiveness and patience reach their peak. Couple that with an Algebra teacher who will be retiring at the end of the school year without much “student cultivation” interest left in him, and you have a recipe for failure … literally.

      What makes Algebra such a perfect study in learning is that you have the two fundamental brain concepts required for knowledge attainment – memorization and reasoning. The first getting the right bits of data stored in the brain, the second creating the logical (neural) connections between them. It’s fairly easy to remember (memorize) the equations such as the quadratic formula, but how you derive it and apply it is another matter entirely. And while I’ve long held that most education systems (the ones I’m familiar with) teach kids how to memorize and not really how to learn, I’ve never spent much time thinking about how to more effectively teach learning.

      The other day I was reading Josh Kopelman’s wonderful blog and I came across a Wired Magazine article entitled “Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm”. The article discusses the SuperMemo (super memory) program and its creator Piotr Wozniak (no connection noted to the Apple Computer co-founder). The concept is based on the scientific theory called The Spacing Effect that the essentially says that the ideal time to practice what you’ve learned is right at the time you are about to forget it. Any earlier than that is essentially a waste of time and energy, and any later is too late and you’ll be starting over. How to know when is the right time – that’s the engine behind SuperMemo. Supposedly by following SuperMemo’s techniques, you’ll retain information astoundingly better than by any other means. And there are plenty of people (both users and scientists) who are proponents of this technique.

      As for my tutoring sessions, the spacing effect is built in by default. It’s whenever I have time to meet with the kid since he doesn’t do any studying or practicing of Algebra between our sessions, and as noted earlier, there is no way he is paying attention in class. The question is, is it the right amount of spacing? I meet with him the night before every test and quiz, and any other times in between when I am available. The coefficients for the spacing effect are different for each person, and probably unique for each bit of information. But, so far, I’m happy to report that my student has aced every test since we’ve started. The big question is how much is being learned versus appropriately regurgitated during test time.

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      Posted in Leadership | 1 Comment »

      Speaking engagements

      Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007

      As people become aware of the possible applications of open source in segments of society beyond the technical field, I find that I’m presented with more and more opportunities to extol the virtues of open source. (Of course, I still love presenting to the techies as well.)

      Last week, I had the chance to speak at the Emerging Technology conference in Philadelphia. Presenting to a mostly technical audience on open source licensing gave me a chance to touch on the finer points of the topic, emphasizing some of the pitfalls to watch out for when using Open Source in production environments. I had a sharp audience before me, and they asked some excellent questions regarding potential litigation and the status of GPL 3.

      The next day, I cruised down to Washington, D.C. to talk about application modernization with a group of politicos—including Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and former Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker. This was a great opportunity to address concerns about open source in the public sector, where the applications used are often twenty-plus years old. Most of the original programmers are no longer around, making it difficult to add new features. In my talk, I emphasized the ways in which open source can greatly help with modernizing legacy applications. It was truly an honor to share modernization possibilities with such a distinguished crowd.

      Incidentally, while in D.C., I stayed at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, one of the nicest I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit.

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