Leader Pathways

Shenkman Making Two Presentations at UNM Mentoring Mentoring Conference

2011-09-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Michael Shenkman, president and founder of Arch of Leadership, Professional Leader Mentoring (www.leadermentoring.com), will be presenting two papers at the 20100 Mentoring Conference, sponsored by the Mentoring Institute at the University of New Mexico, and the International Mentoring Association on October 26, 2011.

In a morning workshop, Shenkman will discuss his own experiences in "Creating an Effective Mentoring Program."

In the afternoon Shenkman will introduce important concepts in mentoring the diversity of creative aspirations, mentoring that inspires people to take up roles such as leading, but also those of artist, mystic and prophet.

For information about the conference, contact Nora Dominguez: noradg@unm.edu

For information on Shenkman's talks, contact michael@leadermentoring.com

Thoughts from the Arch of Leadership On Steve Jobs’ Departure

2011-09-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

If a leader’s impact is measured by the sense of loss and disorientation his or her
departure evokes, then Steve Jobs is certainly a leader in my life. He has held that status for
me ever since I began this leader mentoring work in earnest 15 years ago. I preferred him as
a leader exemplar to his peer Bill Gates, whose Microsoft was riding high as Apple was still
struggling. Now, of course, the situation is reversed.
I remember vividly how, ten years ago, I was sitting in a living room in San Jose, CA,
in the heart of “Apple Country,” with a group of female Apple expatriates, who are now
major executives in other Silicon Valley companies. I was introducing the idea of leader
mentoring, and when I asked about Jobs as a leader, they universally derided his irascible
personality and abusive behaviors. Every one proclaimed her glee at being out of his
company. At this point Jobs had just returned to Apple and so the curtain had not yet risen
on his second act. I replied then that being a great leader is not necessarily the same as being
a likable person, and that creating followers to fulfill a vision sometimes meant acting in
unfriendly ways. No one was swayed.
I do not so much feel vindicated by what has happened since as much as I harbor the
suspicion that in his second act Jobs became a better leader. His irascibility didn’t go away.
But in terms used by the Arch of Leadership, I would say that in his first go round, when
these women experienced him, he was quite immature, and in his meteoric rise to stardom, he
had skipped over the most important developmental processes that take place in Arch One,
the Arch of “Effectiveness.” He had vaulted straight into being a leader of the type we
describe as being in the Arch of “Vision and Organization” (the second Arch), and didn’t
know how to handle it.
In leading as in life, skipping over developmental stages has its perils. In the second
arch one identifies one’s vision with the company and embodies its aspirations. The
young Jobs took
that as license to embody the organization’s success and ambitions. This was all hollow
for him, and it brought him down. He had never learned the lessons of Arch One or built
his Arch Two behaviors on that foundation. In Arch One he would have learned (1) to
connect the depth of his story to a leader’s path, (2) to understand how a leader’s brand
affects people’s lives, and (3) to fully appreciate the decisions people make when becoming
followers of a leader. For Jobs the price he paid for this skipped over development -- being
fired from his beloved company – was sent into exile.
I think he learned some important lessons about Arch One leading during that time in
the desert. His experiences with NeXT computer and Pixar brought him into immediate
proximity to great minds, whom he had to trust and follow. A vein of acceptance opened in
him, and he came to better (if not completely) appreciate how his brand created followers and
what value those followers brought to envisioning and accomplishing complex and
challenging endeavors.
In his Commencement address to Stanford in 2005 Jobs mentioned his brush with
death. His talk was entitled, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” It is worth hearing
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA). The talk concentrated on how to stay
creative; and we all know Jobs is the very essence of “creative.” But I can’t help but feel, and
he never has said this, that his time in the desert, away from Apple, also made him aware of
the importance of followers who actually do the work that the very act of creating followers
makes for a more expansive and encompassing vision of our humanity. His acceptance of his
leader role and his growing appreciation of followers allowed him to forge a link between
vision and self-trust so that great, mortal energy could be unleashed throughout the
organization.
In other words, he grew up as a leader and learned to create followers in exactly the
terms we mean it in the context of Arch One: bring together creative, capable, energetic
people -- who could go anywhere, who have a surplus of choices at their disposal, but who
choose to be a follower of this person – and allow them collaborate on transforming
possibilities into realities on a large scale, affecting as many people’s lives as the vision and
the competence to implement it permits. This is how Apple, under Jobs’ leadership came to
vie with Exxon/Mobile as the world’s most valuable company.
Interestingly, unlike his peer Bill Gates, Jobs has not engaged in philanthropy and
Apple is not connected to any charity. This might seem cold or dismissive of our human and
social needs. But somehow it bespeaks of Jobs’ deep belief that the human endeavor needs
not just help and succor, but it also needs a drive solely and ardently dedicated to opening up
the human endeavor to a completely new vision of itself. That drive is his gift. That
dedication to giving to something so large as the improving way we do certain things in our
lives and making them more enjoyable is why Steve Jobs’ leading can be felt by someone as
remote from him as I am.
Still, from the perspective of the Arch, I also notice that there is no mention of a
mentor in his narrative. Despite his growth as a leader, deep down, at some level, I think he
feels that his vision alone is sufficient, and that communicating it only takes place in the
success of its products. To me, that signals a pathos that lurks in Steve Jobs, that keeps him
in the mode of being an iconic leader, and also keeps him somewhat a “prisoner” in his
astoundingly lofty creative tower. What might a mentor have imparted to Steve Jobs? “The
life of leading,” a mentor might have said, “embraces followers, and that this act, too, is
creative, maybe the most creative. Accept it, and celebrate.”
What might a mentor mean in your life? Do something that Steve Jobs may not have
done: work with a mentor. The Arch of Leadership makes it easy for you to do this by
providing programs and opportunities that are readily available to you, wherever you are
along the path. Visit www.leadermentoring.com and see just how unique a contribution a
mentor ca make in your life of leading.

Tom Friedman: People WANT Liberal Arts

2011-06-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

In considering the last post, on the value of liberal arts for leaders, one might apply the "free market" ideology that says, liberal arts are under siege because students don't want them. Given the pathetic education many are subjected to prior to college (in a recent survey, only 17% of 12th graders could provide a name for a picture of the 16th president of the US: Abraham Lincoln!!!!), that is not surprising. It doesn't validate this ideology, but certainly puts on display one of its results.
That said, however, there is strong evidence that at least among some college students, liberal arts are desired.
I refer to today's (June 15, 2011) column by Tom Friedman in the New York Times. He cites world wide excitement for the classes (now available on line at www.JusticeHarvard.org) of Michael J. Sandel of Harvard. He is a teacher of political philosophy. People in the US, China and elsewhere, line up hours in advance to attend his lectures. Friedman goes on to say, "Sandel’s recent book — “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” — has sold more than a million copies in East Asia alone. This is a book about moral philosophy, folks!"
What is going on here? In Asia, at least, Friedman quotes enthusiasts who say Sandel's excursion into humanities and critical thinking offers antedotes to mechanistic, rote, technical learning. He cites these reasons for the course's popularity:
"One is the growth of online education, where students anywhere now can gain access to the best professors from everywhere. Another is the craving in Asia for a more creative, discussion-based style of teaching in order to produce more creative, innovative students. And the last is the hunger of young people to engage in moral reasoning and debates, rather than having their education confined to the dry technical aspects of economics, business or engineering."

Friedman concludes the article by quoting Sandel:

“Students everywhere are hungry for discussion of the big ethical questions we confront in our everyday lives,” Sandel argues. “In recent years, seemingly technical economic questions have crowded out questions of justice and the common good. I think there is a growing sense, in many societies, that G.D.P. and market values do not by themselves produce happiness, or a good society."

Amen.

I guess what bothers me is that this notion expresses a minority opinion, at least as reflected in the actual decisions so-called "educators" (or panderers) make in terms of educational priorities and material resources.

Anyway, it is synchronicity at its best when such confirmation arrives so soon after venturing a thought.

THE HIDDEN VALUE OF LIBERAL ARTS: NURTURING OUR ASPIRING LEADERS

2011-06-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

THE HIDDEN VALUE OF LIBERAL ARTS: NURTURING OUR ASPIRING LEADERS
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
W.B. Yeats

I recently addressed an audience of faculty, students, administrators and guests from my alma mater, Dickinson College, in Carlisle, PA. The substance of my talk centered on the idea that a liberal arts education informs, guides and deepens a leader’s aspirations.
In the meantime, the value of a college education is being challenged. In all the conversations on the subject, the notion that a liberal arts education nurtures our leaders’ aspirations does not even show up.
Take, for example, an article by Louis Menand, in the June 6, 2011 issue of The New Yorker.
He cites three “theories” for investing in a college education:
(1) gain qualifications to enter into elite professions;
(2) provide people with “norms of reason and taste,” in order to provide social coherence; and
(3) learn the specialized skills needed in advanced economies.
These reasons refer exclusively to the economic value of a college education, as providing a means to increase earning power. Most theories about the value of a college education take these tracks. There is a fourth theory out there, voiced meekly and almost apologetically, which rhapsodizes about the humanizing value of a liberal arts education. This theory mitigates the downside of the economic value theories by elevating the opportunity for a better quality of life over the earnings one accumulates in a lifetime.
My proposal adds a fifth theory to the mix: a liberal arts education (in particular) provides graduates who envision taking on roles as leaders with the tools to enrich, cultivate, sustain and promote their aspirations.
Aspirations are things of air: they are not designated in career paths; professions do not certify them; and they are not guaranteed by trends. Aspirations break through given circumstances and strive to offer people something more expansive and more encompassing than existing social and economic, or technological and institutional arrangements provide.
To act on their aspirations, leaders come to rely on very substantial, deep and well-grounded skills of character and self-trust. To fulfill those aspirations requires a commitment of steel, to be sure; but it also requires envisioning wider worlds, and then envisioning a reasoned, sensible, grounded narrative if those aspirations are to be realized. And leaders also need to learn how to recover, reset and start again when they fail. To be sure, such aspirations do not require a liberal arts education, but, I would argue, such an education greatly increases the likelihood that a life of leading will not collapse into cynicism, despair or paralysis.
How so?
A liberal arts education provides aspiring leaders with key resources. Among these are:
(1) a breadth of knowledge that spans different discourses, cultures and different fields of endeavor, so that a vision of their cross-fertilization is possible – a basic requirement for organizations operating in complex economies;
(2) a sense of the depth of commitment needed to bring a great idea to fruition – this we learn from accounts of all the great struggles that other leaders have endured;
(3) a profound sense of being able to learn what needs to be learned in order to meet high standards and exacting goals; and
(4) a deep source of recourse for refreshment, revitalization and restoration that will be needed when leaders confront inevitable failures and setbacks, and when the world changes beyond recognition, seemingly instantaneously.
When looked at from this perspective, the standard theories only account for the most superficial of “economic values,” and do not even glimpse the underlying and most essential value of all: nurturing the aspirations of leaders.
We do indeed have a crisis in education. But the real crisis for me consists of not seeing what it takes to prepare the myriad leaders we need in every nook and cranny of our complex world. The crisis consists of neglecting the unimpeachable, irredeemable value of studying, learning and reflecting on the great figures of humanity -- exactly what a liberal arts education demands. This deficit starts accumulating long before a student goes off to college. It starts with the reduction of early education to the mechanics of teaching to the test.
By devaluing what the liberal arts offer – science and math, but also history and literature and philosophy and critical thinking -- we are asking our future leaders to proceed blindly into the complex, multi-faceted, highly international and financially integrated world they aspire to change. It is not that a liberal arts education is the only way to nurture and sustain a leader’s aspirations; but it is the best way we have come up with so far.
Are we so willing to be blinded by all that glitters that we completely miss our most important asset: the leader’s aspiration? What else, besides those aspirations and the hard work they impose, builds our shared future? How much is educating, enriching and nurturing those aspirations worth? How much does neglecting that education cost?
What are your thoughts about the value of a liberal arts education? If you are a leader who has this experience, what has it meant to you? Maybe you could offer some words of encouragement to parents who are concerned about the costs or students who are concerned about their income prospects.
Place your comments on the blog: leaderpathways.blogspot.com, or on the Leader Mentoring Facebook page.

Leader Mentoring: A Different Conversation

2011-02-24T11:14:00.000-08:00

For both mentors and mentees, entering an Arch of Leadership leader mentoring
engagement for the first time can be disorienting. The people in our program are there
because they care about leading, have succeeded in leading, or want to succeed. But when at
the table, in their conversation, neither mentor nor mentee is a leader. Mentoring is a
different kind of conversation – for both parties. A short list of comparisons between the
roles of leaders and mentors shows how different the two processes are.

   1. Leaders are expert in forming collaborations that accomplish goals successfully.
   Mentors tend to aspirations. These delicate states of being need to be coaxed into
clarity, nurtured with reflection, recollection and self-trust, and need to survive beyond any
limited goal.

   2. Leaders must act with resolve, in the heat and complexity of the immediate
situation.
   Mentors must cultivate in the mentee an awareness of the kinds of feelings,
spiritedness and resolve that leaders need in their hearts and souls, if any goal of merit and
significance is going to be reached.

   3. Leaders have their own goals to put into practice.
   Mentors have only the mentee’s aspirations at heart. If a mentor approaches the
conversation with the same intense focus as a leader on meeting a goal, the mentoring bond
will be broken.

   For these reasons and others, confusing leading and mentoring can place the
conversation at cross-purposes, and dilute the outcomes for both participants. While informal
mentors who are cultivating new leaders are apt to make this mistake, the professional,
trained Arch of Leadership mentors do not.
   The confusion runs two ways. Leaders might think they are mentoring to make the
mentee like them. No. Many people who approach us to be mentors feel qualified for this
work because of their track record in successfully solving practical problems. They are
surprised to find that Arch of Leadership mentors bring success to the table, but they also
bring more to the engagement. Mentees can get confused as well. Some might think: “This
mentor sitting across the table from me is worthy of my respect, and she is taking the time to
listen to me, but won’t give me advice or clues as to how to solve my problems or meet my
deadlines and goals.”
   Mentors who have been successful leaders would love to offer their two cents’ worth
on solving that problem, but to be successful mentors they must put aside their desire to
dispense advice. Instead of thinking about solutions to problems, mentors sense, identify and
reinforce the qualities mentees can call upon within themselves in order to survive and even
thrive in the challenging life they have chosen, the life of leading. The mentor then lays out
what the mentee can anticipate by taking up the life of leading (long after the immediate
problem is passed). The mentor senses the mentee’s attitude about life, and judges whether or
not that person is willing postpone or even sacrifice some ambitions in order to engage in
something more expansive and more encompassing. Finally, the mentor tests whether or not
the mentee has, exerts and nurtures the energy necessary in this life.
   For a successful mentoring engagement, both mentor and mentee must resist the siren
call to fix problems. Success in the mentoring conversation happens when the anxieties,
pressures and pitfalls of everyday leading are put aside, by both mentor and mentee; when
daily “doing” is deprived of its power to enthrall and overwhelm; when the mentor forgets
his sense of accomplishment and the mentee lets go of that crushing sense of urgency.
   Mentoring takes a step back from the front line for a moment. Together, mentor and
mentee realize this: because mentoring allows aspiration to rise to the fore in a clear,
informed and definitive way, leading happens.
   Contact us to see how the professional mentors at the Arch of Leadership can
transform your aspirations into a commitment to the life of leading.

Creative Leaders Need Not Apply

2011-01-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine and Arch of Leadership mentor sent me an article (from the Boston Globe, by Kevin Lewis, January 16, 2011) that summarized the findings from a study about to be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology: (Go to: Creative Leaders Need Not Apply -- my title) "Those who were perceived to be more creative were perceive to have lower leadership potential.... Organizations may face a bias agains selecting the most creative individuals as leaders in favor of selecting leaders who would preserve the status quo by sticking with feasible but relatively unoriginal solutions."
Does that surprise you? It doesn't surprise me.
Why do we mentor leaders? To many it may seem that these people are blessed, the fortunate ones, the ones who made it. Aren't we just picking out and skimming off the cream for our attentions? Our answer is emphatically NO.
Leaders worthy of the name risk their careers and positions every day in order to transform visions of what is possible into real products, services and organizations that offer more expansive and more encompassing possibilities for others. They are often shot down, as this article makes clear; they often fail, as I have said in other articles (See, for instance: "Sincere Failures"). These creative leaders aren't often the "stars" who are hand-picked for succession. These are the people who are driven by their excitement for a new way, by their disturbing concerns that demand new approaches, and in order to act on these, make themselves vulnerable to the whims and judgments of others, most of whom have the status quo and shareholder dividends in mind.
The people we mentor are those who have tasted exactly what this article describes and instead of knuckling under have decided to lead others in order to make their living worthwhile and their efforts a matter of giving something and contributing something to the larger world.
My heart breaks to hear my own perceptions validated on such a large scale that it warrants publication in a major research journal. I feel for the way these creative people's spirits are wounded; I feel for the loss of initiative and vision that organizations perpetuate.
Our mentoring is intended to support the creative spirit in our leaders. By helping them discover the roots of their self-trust (see the blog post, "The King's Speech," for instance), we want to help these people find their voice. Our mentoring helps these people to see that their resolve to lead is important and does mean something to those around them. We help these aspiring souls crystalize a leader brand that inspires others take on something great -- whatever the risks.
So despite the discouraging scene this study validates, I am eternally grateful and personally and professionally enriched every day that I meet with those leaders who refuse rejection and take up that sacred mission of making the world more expansive, more encompassing, more alive, for us, for others, for the earth.

"The King's Speech," a MUST See.

2011-01-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

Self-Trust is the sine-qua-non of leading.
We describe it as a state of resolve in which a leader, relying on recollections of experience, values and aspirations, encourages followers to take that next worthy step, accept what has been accomplished thereby, and learn from it.
This movie may seem to be about George VI's stuttering, but it is about self-trust, most of all, and the role of mentoring in helping someone attain that state.
George VI's stuttering, the film reveals, relates to a childhood devoid of loving care, encouragement and hopefulness, and filled instead with pain, derision and repression. Sounds very British!!! Just kidding.
The king could not move beyond his faltering speech until he 1.) accepted that someone was worth spending time with; 2.) accepting that this person cared about him; and 3.) that he had to delve into his recollections of how he became a person who stuttered in order to take up a position of self-trust that no longer required that tripping hesitation.
In the case of the king, the physical presence and urging (coaching) of the mentor was essential. Self-trust for the king meant that out of the blue, someone who was completely different than him saw him as worthy, courageous and kingly.
Most of us do not have to get to that haughty level of acceptance, but we do struggle to accept our worthiness anyway. The din of criticisms (You don't have to live the life of that 5-year-old," Lionell the mentor said to Berty) from our childhoods, the wounds of fresh failures, the wilting glares of the skeptical make self-trust a difficult enough attitude to attain. But self-trust does not entail perfection, and when leading bold endeavors, it cannot. Taking that one step, up to the microphone, or into that next risky task is far enough. And including the hesitations and doubts and fears in that stepping out is part of it all.
Then, self-trust asks that we learn from what has transpired -- not just the mistakes (as though that will be all that happens), but from the successes as well. Those successes pave the way for the next step, and the next, and by learning from them we can impart some sense of the expansiveness of what we can bring to this life for others, for our communities and for the earth.
Long live self-trusting leaders.
See this move, "The King's Speech."

A Conversation on Self-Trust

2011-01-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

   Welcome to the New Year.
   One of the joys of the holidays is receiving cards sent by friends from far away, from
parts of life left long ago. One of those missives came to me from Jane Kane (her real name
withheld on request). I have known her and her husband for more than thirty years.
Following up with each other on the states of our lives, she responded to my work on leader
mentoring with a thoughtful reflection.
   Her comments demonstrate what I saw as “self-trust” in action, and I thought the
readers of Leader Pathways might enjoy our exchange:
   Jane: “For the past eight years I’ve been a boss, a nurse manager, a director of a 25-
bed inpatient psych unit. I work my tail off, but not in managing so much as leading I like to
think. Here’s one of the quotes I just harvested that rings true for me for the work I do:
   ‘All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: It was the
willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This,
and not much else, is the essence of leadership.’ — John Kenneth Galbraith
   “Which is to say that people want somebody to be in it with them [my italics – MS],
and take the lead facing the hard stuff, the unknowns. It’s not so much the content of my
answers to the questions I get asked, but that I am willing to give answers. Daily I am
approached: Jane, I have a question. I got answers, I say with humor, but even so, just that,
and the anxiety goes down.
   “The usual answer is that yes, what you were thinking is spot on. Good job. I have a
phenomenal staff and we have a norm of respect and support for each other. There
supposedly is this thing in nursing called lateral violence. It’s a hot topic, with articles and
conferences. I have no patience with it. I think it is ridiculous and exaggerated because I do
not see it here where I work, but folks from other systems tell me, ‘Oh it's real.’ Co-workers
stressed and unsupported, screwing each other with competition, rage, etc. That’s so sad to
me.”
   Michael: “I think your humor opens the way for people. You really get it: You lead
because you are able to make that next, difficult step seem to be what is exciting and joyful
to do. You and Gerry [a name I am using for her husband] always did that for me, always
uplifted my life with that sense that ahead something sparkling awaits.
   “Thus, I see the Galbraith quote, which is right on the mark, from the other side: A
leader is only needed when people are in a state where change is upon them. When that is the
situation, anxiety is the primary and dominant state that they are in – along with excitement
and curiosity, for some. When you offer your humor, they see a leader who exhibits ‘self-
trust,’ a state in which she has just as much anxiety as everyone else, but takes a different
approach to it. She proceeds with resolve, trusting that each step will be worthy and will offer
up something from which everyone learns, and so improves on the next step.
   “Some people retire from jobs, but ‘Arch Three Leaders’ like you and Gerry never
retire from life. Whatever form that leading takes, wherever you and Gerry go, leading
happens.”

   Thinking of Jane and her constant, irrepressible humor, I am reminded that great
leading is not a matter of grave pronouncements on the one hand or prosaic motivators on the
other. Great leading exhibits steady, modest resolve that is ready and willing to take the next
step and accept that it is worthy. A worthy step is one that may be imperfect, but enables
people to learn and see forward to the next step.
   Great leaders often exhibit exquisite humor. I think of Lincoln, who used stories to
ease people to the next step. Of course, with speeches like the Gettysburg Address and his
second inaugural, he rose to transcendent levels of eloquence. But it is his self-trust, lived
lightly with humor from day to day in his endlessly dire decision-making, which kept his way
clear and open to a grander vision. (To appreciate this, I recommend strongly that you read
Eric Foner, Fiery Trial, as well as William Lee Miller’s Lincoln’s Virtues and President
Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman).
   Self-trust comes first, before the vision. It is a matter of living close to and at ease
with minutiae, answering one question at a time, so that a real concern, a real sense of what is
at stake, can mold the heart and soul to the terrain ahead. It is that resolve that keeps one’s
feet on the ground even as one’s hopes are given wings.
   And so I wish the readers’ of Leader Pathways good humor, self-trust and great
leading in 2011.

The Unbeatable Leader/Manager Combo

2010-11-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

In today's NYT Business Section Steve Lohr wrote an article that lays out a seminal idea of great importance for leaders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/business/07unboxed.html?_r=1&ref=business
The article apparently tells us that after a time, companies that are apparently so different, come to resemble each other. In this case, the ultimate-corporate-establishment company, IBM, and the iconoclastic consumer-oriented company, Apple, are compared.
Who cares.
The article is seminal and interesting for another reason: for the point that it makes about the fusion of managing and leading, at its very best. In both cases, in both IBM and Apple, Lohr points out, bold, creative, dynamic leadership combines with outstanding management to produce great companies each in their own sphere, companies that endure, change and grow, and are at the pinnacle of corporate performance in their respective fields.
Apple's leadership is easier to see, i.e., Steve Jobs. This is a leader whose vision of electronically enabled everyday life (a "bicycle for the mind," he said at the time of Apple's founding, and hasn't wavered since) is backed up by absolutely top flight operations management. Their inventory, for instance is kept at a seven day supply instead of the industry standard 30.
IBM's leadership is a little harder to see but it comes from the CEO "Palmisano and his team" setting and implementing "the deployment of scientific research and technology to tackle big challenges for business and society..." Not a bad goal.
They have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their "Smart Planet" advertising campaign, Lohr points out. He quotes a consultant who says, "Sure, its marketing, but it's also a big idea..." Big ideas are what leaders make possible.
Five IBM scientists have won nobel prizes and the company (remember the old Bell Labs?) win prices in computing, materials science and mathematics, Lohr states.
I think the point is not at all that two companies look like each other. The point is that two exceptional organizations have bold leaders who take their organizations seriously, dedicate resources to its advancement (not just making money), and to spearheading worthy efforts that affect the world. Maybe efforts of this scale take on a certain resemblance, but the point is so few organizations get to look this way. Leading that offers a vision, I would contend, are also amenable to organizing because the followers all work for the sake of the whole, for the collaboration to succeed.
What these companies do in order to nurture great leading and translate that into dedicated, proficient managing/following needs to be in the news every day -- one story at a time, so that their ways, IBM's and Apple's become the standard we all can apply.

Leadership: A Relationship Apart

2010-10-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

The framework offered by the Arch of Leadership shows how leading sets in motion a different kind of relationship, a relationship apart. “Apart from what?” you might ask. By the standards offered by one anthropologist, leading is a relationship apart from all models of the ways humans interact with each other.
   In a recent article in The New Yorker (10/11/10), Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink and The Tipping Point) cites the work of anthropologist Alan Page Fiske, who describes four models people use “to guide the way they interact with each other.”
* Communal Sharing offers people free access to each other’s resources and property.
* Equality entails reciprocity.
* Market Pricing finds a “value” point at which an exchange can be made.
* Authority Ranking is a hierarchical relationship of subordinates giving way to a higher authority.
   I had a sinking feeling as I read this list, because all these models presuppose that life is a zero-sum game. They assume that we are merely agents who allocate set amounts of resources, then merely decide who will give up what, and on what basis.
   Leading stands outside of this zero-sum, dead-end arrangement. Instead of limited resources, leaders see opportunities and prospects for abundance. Instead of seeing people as divvying up the remainders, leaders envision how giving creates something greater than what had existed at the start – no strings attached. The leader offers a unique relationship: give of your time, talents, energy, sweat, courage and insight, along with others, to this vision of what is yet to exist, and magic happens!
   Leaders fully grasp that they create followers by completely sharing their own aspirations. Such sharing might seem to resemble the communal model, except for one big difference: what leaders and followers share doesn’t exist yet. All that exists is the aspiration to create.
   And so, the respective value of the people in the endeavor is not what they are worth now, but what they give throughout the process. There is neither exchange nor reciprocity: there is giving out, offering an effort worthy of the endeavor, and then giving out some more.
   And finally, the leader’s sway is in effect only as long as the aspiration is alive for everyone. Temporary hierarchies do form, from moment to moment, as people align around tasks that are intended to help accomplish the goal. But these temporary hierarchies then realign when different tasks have to be done. Leaders throughout the organization rise and drop back as the process unfolds from one phase to another (what I call “kinarchy”). The “top” leader keeps the aspiration alive through all the changes, phases, progressions and setbacks, and gives of his energy and resources so that everyone stays in the game. The leader’s “authority” is based on how much energy and vitality he keeps flowing among all the participants.
   People who live the life of leading have stepped outside of zero-sum norms because their expectations -- of themselves and others -- are different.
* Leaders create themselves anew, from day to day, as their aspirations come to life, and as the endeavor changes and (hopefully) advances.
* Leaders share what they have to give: sometimes they have more, sometimes they have less, but they always give so that the next day will arrive.
* A leader’s sense of value lies far beyond exchange or even measure, and culminates only in the pride of accomplishment, not possession.
* Leaders do not seek to be atop a hierarchy, but strive to instill vitality, and sustain a shared adventure.
* The reciprocity leaders seek comes from seeing more expansive and more encompassing products, services and organizations taking hold.
All this makes leading and leaders hard for people to understand and appreciate, no less emulate. It also makes leading impossible to “teach.” The aspiration that drives someone to lead has to burn in the leader’s soul; such aspirations can’t be implanted by workshops, coaches or professional degrees.
   But here is the good news: at the Arch of Leadership, we know that leaders can be mentored. The mentor can offer that space where being alone does not mean being lonely. The mentor can offer aspiring but hesitating leaders that moment when their energies gather into the firm stance of self-trust that leaders need every day in the course of doing their work. Mentors can free the aspiring spirit from the grip of the fears that naturally accompany the role, by helping the leader refuse to be just another token in that zero-sum game. Mentors can help leaders transform that aspiration into a compelling vision.
   At the Arch of Leadership, we mentor the leader’s aspiring spirit. For the leaders who do, no zero-sum model will do, because they know in their hearts that their aspirations promise so much more.

Review of Denning and Dunham's, The Innovator's Way

2010-10-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

I promised readers that I would read and review two books that seemed quite interesting to me and seemed to offer something new on the subject of leading, creative leading and change.

Here is the first: a review of Denning and Dunham, The Innovator's Way. This review is also available on Amazon.com at

http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Way-Essential-Successful-Innovation/product-reviews/0262014548/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

How Many Lifetimes?

I really like the essential orientation that Denning and Dunham bring to the subject of innovation. First, they define innovation in terms of a practice being adopted by a community. Immediately that puts their vision above and beyond the run of the mill notion of new gadgets competing for attention. Second, they orient their "advice" around practices: personal disciplines that are devoted to strengthening insight, questioning and gaining clarity. When a business book suggests journaling and meditation as frequently as do Denning and Dunham, something really good has to be going on. And finally there is the wide range of human activities that have to be brought to bear in order to establish an innovation -- I refer to the eight practices that constitute the core of the book. Finally I was moved by the idea that innovation transpires through conversations. As a professional mentor, I share that faith in the power of this great gift.

That said, each of these potentials were diminished for me. I have to admit that I am no lover of business books -- having written a few myself. My problems with this one revolve around the idea that the book is about practices, but in no way does any person have enough of a lifetime to start, cultivate, benefit from and become a "master" of more than one or two of these practices, no less all the practices cited in the litany of the eight measures D&D prescribe. So, the book seems to be written for other consultants, to provide them with a check list of things they can look for in order to gain billable work in an organization, and not to consider either individual practice or community dynamics of adoption of innovations.

And this shortcoming becomes a glaring failure to me for the missed opportunity. In my own study of the "breakout creatives process" I have seen how four completely different mindsets, lifeways and practices are involved in generating change. The eight practices cited here bear the stamp of each of these figures. Sensing and Envisioning bear elements of the mystic; Offering touches on the artist; Adopting and Sustaining have prophetic qualities; Executing, leading and embodying are qualities we speak of when mentoring leaders. My point is -- absolutely no one can take on all of those roles and adopt the practices required to master them. The opportunity missed here, in my mind, is a discussion of how each of these roles contributes to innovation and how conversations between and among the figures, at different stages of the process enrich, stabilize and generate affirming energy in the process. Instead we get explanations of innumerable terms and checklists -- typical consulting fare.

Finally, I was disappointed that the authors who are obviously well read and support the intellectual enterprise did not make this kind of practice essential in any of their phases. Even a 'master" in their mind knows and learns about an area; but doing the hard work of study, of knowing the history and biographies of key figures in their fields, of studying texts that advance thought, the process of questioning and enhancing the ability for form new categories and new lines of conversation was never broached. Is intellectual pursuit too hot a topic to broach in a business book?

I do recommend this book as a way to stimulate new thinking about innovation and how individual practice contributes to it. It is also useful for consultants who want to give advice that helps hard-driving business people, devoted to the bottom line a reason and practices for taking a different look at the business life. But if you are looking to gain insight into how to become a person that makes a significant contribution to the process of innovation by cultivating life practices, this isn't going to cut it.

TWO GREAT BOOKS, NOT TO MISS

2010-09-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

As my friends know, when people begin our mentoring program, I ardently advise the participants: Do Not Read Business Books.
Well, here I am going to recommend two books, and in so doing, break every rule in my book: first, these are books reviewed in the Business Section of the NYTimes (which I read every day, and especially the Sunday version), on Sept. 5, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05shelf.html?scp=1&sq=Off%20the%20Shelf&st
Second, I haven't read the books, only this review.
So, I promise to read and review these books ASAP.
Why the excitement, urgency, rush to break rules?
These two books do something I am very fond of: as the reviewer, Nancy F. Koehn says, "the challenges confronting our global village seem to have outstripped prevailing orthodoxy." Right on, sister.
The first book she reviews is by Steven Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation. This book speaks about the "space of innovation." We envision leading as opening up a separate space for collaborative innovation -- Johnson envisions the city and the Internet as such spaces. He sees innovation as a result of a generative process of serendipities, communications, interactions and mutual comprehensions that "recur again and again in unusually fertile environments..." and he stresses the "inherently interconnected nature of innovation." I love the sound of this.
For us, of course such environments spur innovations of different kinds: art, new sciences, and sometimes, new products and services -- the last requiring leaders. But, from my studies, I see that any innovation that is worth a damn requires collaborations, friendships and mentoring at all of these levels.
The second book is by Denning and Dunham, The Innovator's Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation. Normally, I find "practical" and "how to" books numbingly boring. But this one seems to be located on the frontier of innovation -- where we are all amateurs and in constant need of new learning.
Two things excited me about Koehn's presentation of the book.
First, Denning and Dunham define "innovation" as "the adoption of new practice in a community." I love that image. Not a new gadget, not a trick for wringing out expenses, not a gimmick for generating sales, but a "new practice:" something that people have to engage in in order to be worthy of the name. And then, "in a community." Not something for one person's gain, but a way to make the human endeavor more expansive and encompassing.
Second, they identify stages of the process that track well with our own Breakout Creatives idea: "sensing, envisioning, offering," track with the mystic; "adopting, sustaining" require artistic and prophetic talents; "executing, leading and embodying," are, of course, the contributions of the leader.
Read these books with me, and let's post some of our own comments on them.

Aspiration and Mentoring: The Child's Wonder

2010-08-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

There are many services out there these days that leaders can use to advance their careers. But we believe that only “leader mentoring” directs its attention to your aspirations. As you consider how to invest in advancing your leading, consider this: how do you align your leading with your aspirations? Leader mentoring as offered by the Arch of Leadership can help you do that.

Aspiration

What a strange thing aspiration is. Here is a longing and a yearning that burns so forcefully as to take command of one’s life, and yet with no promise of an assured outcome. Sometimes in fact an aspiration will be so diffuse that it does not even specify a goal; all it offers is the urge to sustain itself, a life of aspiring.
We can think of aspiration as flowing from the difference between the child and the adult. Seen in this light, aspiration has three sources: childhood and family dynamics; genetic formations of the psyche; and adult trauma. None of these factors necessarily give rise to the inception of aspiration. Instead, aspiration arises when those events are seen asopportunities.
As a child grows, what was once a fluid and open psyche, full of wonder, concentrates into an ego, dominated by customs and rules. The great and flowing expanse of the child’s psychecontracts and concentrates into “smaller” but more “effective and productive” concepts, categories directed toward specified interests and ambitions. The ego of the adult thus leaves behind a vacated “space.” Where once there was a realm filled with energy and activity, there remains only memories and diminished energy.
For most, that realm is so diminished that it exerts no force at all on the dominated, adult psyche. However, for some, the memory is kept in circulation by a reserve of energy that does not so easily dissipate. So, for these people, there remains in effect an “aural” realm that surrounds the functioning ego (and super-ego) that still exerts a pull and affects the functionally focused ego state of the adult.
Aspiration arises when this aura is allowed some leeway to affect the adult, making transformation possible and even desirable. When the aura is allowed such sway, all the events that promote aspiration take shape. One’s biography of a troubled or challenging childhood (and difficult parental influences) can become a story of the simple joys of daydreams, wanderings, experimenting excursions and burgeoning interests. One’s supposed weaknesses and confusions and difficulties at resolving seemingly impenetrable ambiguities can become gateways to one’s creative powers. Traumas have a way of loosening the grip of generalized convention and send a person into a deep self-examination for different sources of strength, into a resolute search for new pathways.

The Mentoring Moment

Here’s where leader mentoring comes in. The aspiring adult feels the pull of a great conflict. On the one hand, lurking in this person’s being is a call to something more expansive and more encompassing in his or her life. Yet, as an adult, this person is no longer amenable to the naively open wonder of the child, demanding instead competence and effectiveness in his/her functioning social, economic and historical world. The conflict stops movement in both directions: no longing, but no advancing of competence either. The person is stuck, in a quandary. To leave the aspiration behind seems to be a deep personal betrayal. But to act naively and precipitously seems irresponsible, if not downright idiotic.
The leader mentor forms a bridge between the two demands so that a person can commit to aspiration in a way that’s both competent and effective. How does the leader mentor do this? Simple: The mentor truly listens. The mentor takes the time to hear the yearnings that call out from that aura and validates them for the mentee. Then this mentor helps the mentee to envision a way of living that can viably answer the call. By listening, and in a lively and engaged silence, the leader mentor helps the mentee appreciate her aspiration and figure out a way to take it into her leading.
Note that it is not “strengths” and talents that are emphasized by a mentor. Paradoxically, it may seem, yet those very places, ways and states of being that are often decried asweaknesses or distractions from attaining one’s goals and ambitions become the places where aspirations can take hold. In the leader mentor’s eyes, what others might call “weakness” is, instead, the pulsing of those aspirations from this great aural realm. They areyearnings that have not yet hardened into imperatives. The leader mentor helps the aspirant firm up his or her “soft spots” into a vision so that they can become robust and resolute, and then become a project worthy of attracting followers.

The Companion to Aspiration’s Call

The result of a mentoring engagement is thus commitment. The silence of the mentor offers a safe place where the leader’s aspiration can be heard and then cultivated. With her mentor’s help, the mentee once again takes possession of a great spirit of aspiration and wonder that can then set out firmly, with self-trust and attentive responsibility, through the arches, and out into the life of leading,
At the Arch of Leadership, we are ready to be your leader mentor.

What are Your Limits?

2010-07-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

Leaders, I have been thinking about you. It may seem strange, but I have been thinking of you while I have been training our new pup to stay within the bounds of our Invisible Fence.

To do this, I have posted flags around the perimeter marked by the fence, and I walk my dog up to that boundary. When he hears the beep (inaudible to my sixty-ish ears) he is startled and I lead him back into the safe area surround our property. My pup can peer out into the forbidden beyond without obstruction, but some strange force (the signal I have implanted in the ground) keeps him constrained.
Now, with that image in mind, I ask you to be honest with yourself with respect for your tolerance for learning.

Limits
Such "tolerance," or "intolerance" as the case may be, all comes down to how you behave when you are at your limits. Limits mean that while there is ferocious and confident action on one side of the divide, on the other, there is very little. A limit comes into view when some yearning, sighting, aspiration has glimpsed onto that other side, and the first inclination is to beat a retreat -- the way I have trained my dog to behave at the sounds and vibrations caused by our Invisible Fence.

The limits demarcate the locale of our own, self-imposed, invisible fence. We all have such limits. They are there for good reason. They keep us safe. They keep our mortal lives on track so we can accomplish something in our brief lifetimes. They make it possible for our spouses, friends, followers and employees to anticipate what we might do in different kinds of situations. All creatures have built-in structures that enable us to foster our best capacities within those limits, so we can excel at our way of life.

Learning
But humans have an capability that other creatures don't have: we can learn new ways and expand our capacities for understanding, experiencing and shaping new visions of our ways of living. When we are young, we take our capability for learning for granted; as we get older, we place greater and greater restrictions on what we are willing to learn.

For leaders this creates a problem: the role of the leader is to turn a vision of wider and more encompassing possibilities into realities by creating followers. Where are those greater vistas to come from if not from learning? And so leaders need to test themselves as to the state of aliveness of their learning.

A Little Quiz
We can begin by asking these questions. Maybe write down answers to the questions you choose to answer:

How far are you willing to stray beyond the bulwarks of your hard-won knowledge?
How much time are you willing to give to learning that stretches not only your knowledge, but your awareness of yourself?
How much time and effort are you willing to expend with ideas, texts and in conversations that, as one person once said to me, "makes my head ache?"
How do you distinguish between your aspirations and your ambitions?
How much time, thought and energy do you devote to each? (Which is most likely to enable you to create followers who will seek to create products, services and organizations that will foster more expansive and more encompassing ways of living for other, nature and the earth? Your ambition or your aspirations?) Now, once again, how much time, thought and energy... and effort.. do you devote to each?
What is the most difficult challenge you have taken on to open up your capabilities to a wider vision? When did you do that? What was the result? What have you done about that since?
When you (imagine yourself) speak to your grandchildren, what is it that you tell them to aspire to, to hope for, to work for?

All of these questions test the limits we have set for ourselves. If these questions seem pointless or "idealistic," then you are comfortable to a tee within your limits. So be it.
If they offer moments of reflection, you are feeling those limits.

Then you get to decide, what's next?

That's where the mentor comes in.

Wall Street, The Gulf and the Leader's Ethic

2010-06-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Step onto the Leader Pathway
Since Leader Pathways is written for aspiring leaders like you, the lessons we can learn about leading from the financial meltdown and disaster in the Gulf are too profound to ignore.
Like so many others, I have been stunned by the slow-motion fiasco perpetrated on the Gulf of Mexico. And this catastrophe rides hard on the collapse of the financial system. A wave rides on a wave. It makes me dizzy.
To begin with, let me be clear: I am totally pro-business. It is completely exciting to have such a broad based and diverse means of producing products and services and in ever-more innovative ways. The iPod comes from a business. And I am pro-profit. Profit is like sunshine: its abundant energy fuels prosperity, diversity, and new life.
But these disasters point to a problem: some organizations are misusing their privilege to be leading forces of production. I want to discuss what lies at the core of this problem, and I will show how the Arch of Leadership envisions a worthy response.
The Problem. The causes for these disasters have been made patently clear, in countless reports, books and editorials. First, the financial collapse rolled out one, individually “rational” act and brilliant idea for securing profits at a time. These acts accumulated and built onto one another until they lost touch with reality; and still these “products” became imperatives for these financial leaders to offer. Since one firm was making money on these trumped up “derivatives”, other firms had to follow. Mania took hold. Then, when the quality of the underlying assets degenerated and the market collapsed, the whole house of cards came tumbling down. Unfortunately, that house was our economy that we depend on for our very lives.
The BP fiasco ensued from a series of intentional acts of neglect, accumulating and building on each other, one by one, in the name of speed for profit. BP feigns environmental responsibility and safety-mindedness, but acted like a petty tycoon. According to the New York Times (“Week in Review,” June 6, 2010), BP has been cited for “97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the refining industry by government inspectors.”
In short, these disasters resulted from failures of leadership, plain and simple. As one commenter on the leader mentoring blog reminds us, no leader came forward, and no leader was heeded, who argued for sanity, restraint, responsibility and a longer-term view of what was at stake, beyond short term profits. (See: “The Crisis in “Followership,” Go to:leadermentoring.blogspot.com)
Thus, as people who consider leadership, we need to ask, what can we do so our leading won’t have similar results? What can we exemplify to our followers and to future leaders? At the Arch, we have an answer: We can take up the leader’s ethic, enact it ourselves, and then demand that others heed it.

Attentive Responsibility

The ethic of the leader is “attentive responsibility.”
What does this ethic prescribe? Pay deep attention, invest attention, devote attention to the dynamics that an action and decision set into motion; and then take responsibility for putting into action only the most expansive, inclusive and promising of those dynamics. Bring those factors to the forefront of the criteria for making decisions.
Business leaders can easily align “attentive responsibility” with the demand that their organizations be profitable. Profits demand investment; and the investment is recouped with profit. In the leader’s ethic, one invests,freely gives one’s attention. Attention can only begiven by a free act that concentrates energy into an endeavor that the leader has decided is worthy. Then one takes in, recoups,responsibility; that is, the sense of being connected, still in a giving way, to something that matters to others and helps to shape their lives. Under the rubric of attentive responsibility, profits provide a means the leader uses in order fulfill his or her vision: a commitment to create a future that is more alive and more vibrant, and more expansive and more capable than the one the leader starts with, because those products and services have made it so.
Thus, in the leader’s ethic, we already have a way to accomplish our large-scale activities and do so productively, profitably and in a sustainable way; and it is right there, free for the taking. As stockholders, citizens and leaders we can take up attentive responsibility as a universal ethic and then demand that it take precedence. Our managers and executives can be evaluated on principles that enact this ethic. Our organization’s mission statements and strategies, the cultures of our organizations can be tested against this standard.
On the leader pathway, as leaders and followers, then, we have to ask ourselves: are we ready to take up this ethic once and for all?

Quote Corner: Stephen I. Sadove

2010-05-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

"What started differentiating me was that I wold do what was needed to get a job done, but also make time to come up with new ideas....
Early in your career find the time to do the out of the norm."

---Stephen I. Sadlove, Chairman and Chief Executive of Saks Inc.
Quoated in "Business" New York Times, May 30, 2010.

The Crisis in Followership

2010-05-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

The scenes from the Gulf of Mexico, of the devastation of our ocean and wildlife habitat, no less whole ways of life are crushingly heart breaking. How did this happen? Technical failures? Yes. Regulatory complacency? Absolutely. Corporate greed. You bet.
But I see something else, that underlies all of these:
What we have here is a failure of followership.
There were plenty of managers involved: BP's, the drilling company's, Halliburton's, and regulators. But none of these managers were following any commanding or demanding vision. Each operated on the basis of immediate, situational and expedient objectives. There were plenty of opportunities for all of the managers involved to follow something significant: environmental responsibility, operational safety, modesty, humility, precaution, preparation for disaster. But none of these ideas were in play. Instead, just the managerial imperatives for efficiency, speed, profit ad a place at the table.
We all need managers. And we esteem, and reward the good ones. This is not about managers, but about that lack of followership that engenders creative leaders.
I say this is a crisis in followership because a leader only arises when followers seek something that requires large scale collaboration on something large, long term, requiring vision or even sacrifice -- sharing of effort and commitment that can't be done individually. And by leader here, I mean someone that stands for bringing to fruition a vision of something more expansive and more encompassing than managerial objectives, or narrow successes in executing operations.
I've seen it time after time, no one asks for a leader when a short term objective will do.
So it is in this case (and in the case of the financial meltdown, the crashing and burning of the health care and educations systems). In the case of this disaster, no one sought anything to follow at all, they just wanted to get the job done according to the short-term demands of their immediate objectives (mostly quick turnaround and low cost).
This catastrophe is not a matter of improper risk assessment, as David Brooks states in his New York Times column today, this is not a problem in dealing with technology (think of the space program or the safe operation of nuclear power plants in France). It highlights the lack of willingness to follow something more visionary and globally important, and thus yield to a leader who embodies those higher principles. No leader of this kind was in evidence in this crisis, because none of the organizations involved saw the need to follow such a person. We have such people, those who offer their leadership that envisions large scale collaboration for our highest social, environmental and economic values, but their leadership is not called for by our corporate culture or paid for by willingness to fund effective regulation.
We have to be willing to follow something greater than ourselves if these crises are going to abate. I think this disaster is symbolic of the rampant propensity for pursuing self-interest that we have settled for as a way of life, especially in our business practices.
"No one raises their children to be followers," one of my clients said to me. And with that attitude, there won't be leaders either. And we can expect crises equal to the complexity and large scale that our technology allows to roll on, taking one bit of health, one stretch of shore line, one species with it, time after time.
We can ask, where were the leaders? But I think first we have to ask, who were were willing to follow, for what ends, for what kind of a society, nation, world? No followers, no leaders. There you have it.

Mentoring is the “Ultimate Executive Education”

2010-05-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Leader Pathways Interviews Charles Hoffman

“Executive Education” is one of the most prominent search words that attract people to our www.leadermentoring.com site. That term piqued my curiosity. What is the difference between “executive education” and an MBA, for instance? Furthermore, what role does mentoring play in executive education?

To answer those questions I turned to Charles Hoffman, who has been associated with the Arch of Leadership since its inception as a guiding light, supporter and mentor. Mr. Hoffman was President and CEO of Rogers AT&T Wireless from January, 1998 through June, 2001. He retired from the role of President and CEO of Covad Communications Inc. in 2008 and now serves on several boards of directors.

LP: Is there a difference in your mind between a managerial education and an executive education?

CH: I see managerial education as learning the basic tools of how to manage people without falling into negative traps like legal issues, or de-motivators like demanding, aloof, or remote behavior rather than collaborating. Well-done executive education can take a manager to the next, more positive levels such as how to get the best out of people, how to incite their passion for what they do, etc. Usually the individuals motivated to participate in executive education are more experienced, more motivated, and more practical. Thus, the manager who has benefited from an “executive education” can learn more from his mentors and peers and then puts the ideas generated to immediate, positive use.

Just this last week a senior executive at a publicly traded company let his emotions cloud his dealings with the board on which I serve. I put on my mentor hat and sat down with him. Blunt talk and several difficult conversations saved the day, but this executive nearly ruined his career because he didn't have the benefit of being guided to see problems as part of a larger picture. An executive education can provide that larger picture help someone gain that emotional intelligence leaders require.

LP: Do you notice a difference in the quality of executive performance between someone who has had a mentor, or who has been through a professional mentoring program, and someone who hadn't?

CH: I believe that a true mentor makes all the difference in a career. Actually, I've tried to learn a bit from every encounter in my career, but early on I was lucky enough, and smart enough to use, a mentor who promoted me five times during my career. Others didn't like this difficult boss, and as a result continued dull, sideways careers.

Once someone knows what ignites his or her passions (a key part of the mentoring program) they need guidance, a role model, and the occasional push. Sometimes the help relates to a better understanding of the individual's distinct sense of self. That awareness can lead not only to better success at work, but also to the approach of a balanced, happier life. Sometimes the help involves learning to learn from others. Only the rare person can do this on his or her own.

LP: What role does professional mentoring have in executive education?

CH: Frankly, without the mindset I have developed as a result of being mentored throughout my career, the executive I described earlier would not have received this kind of guidance (most boards have no patience for any of this work), and he would have lost his job.

In my current work with companies as a member of the board of directors, I continue to be amazed at the relative scarcity of emotional maturity (even among some CEOs). Without professional mentoring -- that is, without someone from outside the highly charged political atmosphere in an organization -- an individual often can't see the larger world in which he operates. A secure, self-aware, confident manager can deal with any challenge. He can focus on a successful outcome for the organization because he has his act together.

LP: What's your advice to an aspiring executive about the education he or she should seek out?

CH: Each of my three sons has asked me about the need for an MBA. Even though I went to business school and earned an MBA, in each case I advised them to continue to gain the experience from work. Sitting in a large classroom is unlikely to help you develop leadership skills. You can learn far more from working at a progressive company that is interested in your development, especially from one that offers mentoring or professional mentoring.

If you aren't lucky enough to work for an enlightened company, don’t be shy; take on the hard jobs that no one wants. Push for individualized help. Seek out individualized programs like the Arch of Leadership. With their new on-line program, professional leader mentoring is only a click away. Better yet, convince that unenlightened company to pay for the course and prove to them that the return on investment is large and comes quickly.

LP: Since you brought it up, what is the value that you have seen in using this program in the companies you have led as a part of an executive education?

CH: Over the ten years of my association with The Arch of Leadership program, it's hard to describe the successes I have seen in this regard. I think it comes down to a professional mentor being able to individualize help for each unique individual without internal company political risk or embarrassment. It's the ultimate in executive education because it builds upon the positive attributes the individual has already developed to enable a higher level of success.

To be sure, I tried to put the best people in the program, so perhaps I biased the results, but it never failed that a new challenge assigned to a person from the program led to a successful result.

For more information visit: www.leadermentoring.com

How Will You Decide to Invest in Your Leading?

2010-03-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Go to the Leader Mentoring Website

Our on-line program is up and running with our first class. It is exciting to be able to offer our mentoring expertise in a way that eliminates barriers of price, geography and finding bosses willing to organize a custom, in-house program. If our on-line prospects want to take leading to a new level, they sign up, and run with it.

So, as the producer of this program, I am also faced with a new question: what will attract individuals to our program?

The question arises because in the on-line program, we are asking you, sitting alone and in the privacy of your thoughts and aspirations to make a decision to invest in yourself. Even if you convince your employer to pay the tuition or chip in, the decision still starts with you to sign up for our program.

So, what would we have to say or do or offer to get you to decide, “I want to lead at a different level, accomplish something I had never thought I could, have more impact on more people than I do now. I’ll do this program. ”

It’s not just a matter of sales. The question goes to the heart of aspiration itself, and that is our main concern. We are in the aspiration business, first and foremost.

Some think aspiration is innate, that there are just some people who have that additional quotient of energy that propels them onto new horizons. Others think aspiration can be triggered when something new and exciting comes up and it ignites that extra burst of energy.

But in the quiet of your room, in the sanctuary of your rest, reflection and relaxation, what would trigger a desire to make an investment – real money and time – in your leading? How would you, all by yourself, recognize, acknowledge and take action on that aspiration within you?

Do you think of yourself as a leader? You must, at some level, or you wouldn’t be reading this newsletter every month (or so). So maybe there are good reasons for not taking the step to enroll. Maybe it’s a matter of finances, or an already busy and harried life juggling work and family.

Or maybe you just don’t need something like this in your life right now. Maybe you are satisfied with your leading and your ability to create followers. Maybe you are satisfied with gaining confirmation and affirmation of what you already believe about your leading, or maybe you have ample opportunities at work to enhance your leading.

But how do we reach those of you who don’t feel that way and trigger your decision to enroll?

Let me offer this: put mentors in your life or your leading languishes. Elsewhere, in many different settings I have expressed this idea this way: no mentors, no leaders. I know of no leader who hasn’t expressed profound gratitude to that person who recognized their aspirations to lead. Our mentor-guided program does that and more: our program puts you in the heart of a community of people who share your aspirations. They all recognize your aspirations and want nothing else but to bring them to fruition. And then the mentor assigned to your class helps you articulate who you are as a leader.

You may have many roles in life – parent, worker, manager, sibling, son or daughter; but in none of those roles will you fully discover who you are as leader. Still, no one but a mentor will help you realize why you and your life experiences can create followers. In none of those other roles are your aspirations to become the best leader you can be cared for and cultivated.

We know that leading isn’t just about ambition and getting ahead. It’s about putting what truly matters to you into the world for others to enjoy and value. And we also know that your healthy self-doubt might prevent you from stepping into the leader role. So we ask a few guiding questions to help you shift your aspiration into high gear:

Do you think that your idea is worthy of following? We’ll help you get that idea in shape so you can set out with resolve, with all your might, to accomplish it.

Do you think you have the experience to lead? We’ll help you see where your strengths are already fully engaged, and how other strengths you already have can be raised to a new level.

Do you wonder what it is that others see in you such that they want to follow you? We’ll help you see just that, so you can offer it to your followers with constancy and self-trust.

So what might move you to take the next step and at least talk to Billie or me about the course?

It is nothing short of realizing that your heart beats with the aspiration to lead and that a resource to make that aspiration blossom into more expansive and encompassing realities for those whose lives you want to affect is right at your fingertips

Go to www.leadermentoring.com and check out what we have to offer. Contact us and let’s talk about it.

We’re mentors. We’re there to care about you becoming the leader you aspire to be.