Leadership Principles

The Telecommuting Challenge

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Telecommuting isn’t a new topic. Under the right conditions theZenith Space Command Remote (00)re are many advantages for both employees and employers.

At both ends of the spectrum there are jobs that are impossible for telecommuting (i.e.: manufacturing) and there are jobs that are perfect (i.e.: some accounting tasks). We find the challenges in that grey blob in the middle. Those challenges can be our opportunities.

My good friend Rajesh Singh started a recent thread on LinkedIn asking about telecommuting.
(Read the full thread here.)

But, as I read the comments, I realized that as is often the case the question frames certain assumptions and we don’t think through the “real” problem. Continue reading →

The Critical Obstacle to Innovation

Wrede, KW Corporate Culture, Innovation, Intellectual property, Organizational Culture, Turnaround Management

Everyone agrees that innovation is the magical key to the future, a strategic activity that cannot be ignored.

A major topic of CEOs and MBA programs world-wide.

The biggest obstacle to innovation in any organization has absolutely nothing to do with innovation.

The biggest obstacle is that very few organizations create the strategic group culture needed to nurture innovation.

You may find a Senior VP for other “strategic” areas (think finance, marketing, operations, and even human resources), but you rarely have a SVP for innovation (or for that matter, leadership).
If the CEO does not take a personal hand in proactively promoting an environment for innovation, it just becomes an annoying buzz word that will be addressed “sometime in the future.”

(Thanks to Rajesh Singh, Vice President – L&H Products Strategy & Ops at Swiss Re5d, for posing an interesting question.)

Maybe I’m just old fashioned…

Wrede, KW Business, Critical Thinking, Ethics, Leadership Principles, Uncategorized

Maybe I’m just old fashioned…Exec number 1 (0)

But…

If you are a 1/3 owner in a business and you are claiming a tax loss of about $1 billion, the math implies that you had to destroy $3+ billion in corporate value to use that write-off.

Everyone associated with the company lost their jobs and a liquidation process probably recovered only pennies on the dollar for the debtors and other investors.

I’m pretty sure that is not considered a good business model.

But hey…
I might just be a bit old-fashioned.

Leaders and managers, the important difference

Wrede, KW Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leadership Development, Leadership Principles, Organization Development, Organizational Culture, Uncategorized , , ,

There is a huge difference between leaders and managers.
Never sell managers short, they are the stewards of resources.
Their problems will cost you money

Leaders are the stewards of culture.
If the organizational culture is toxic, it is the fault of the leaders.
Their problems will cost you your whole organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Endgameleadership.com

Ken Wrede

Kenneth W. Wrede

Following the EndGame

Wrede, KW Leadership, Leadership Development, Leadership Principles, Organizational Culture, Recommendation, Uncategorized , , , ,

First, thank you to everyone that has been following me for the last 18 months or so. I really appreciate your thoughtful comments and interest. I know I have been a little slow online the last few months, but your encouragement has made me rethink my blog and the purpose it serves. I have been using my time during these last months for writing and working on a new project.

My goal now is that I want to keep 5,000,000 businesses from failing.

As a step towards that goal, I am launching a new Website called EndGame Leadership.

The early goals of this blog has been for me to capture and articulate my thoughts on a variety of topics that are interesting to me.

One of my pet projects since my EMBA Program has been a personal appraisal of my experience of 35+ years of leadership training, both as a student and teacher. Through that analysis, I have been developing a leadership model that I believe really cuts away all the nonsense of leadership we think we know and presents what is really effective.

I am calling the end result “EndGame Leadership“. There are a many ways people grow as leaders and it is usually a bottom-up, solitary, personal process. They develop their skills on an ad hoc basis and when experience slaps them in the face.

I have taken a fresh approach and researched why have businesses failed? I can’t control anything if a business fails because of market issues or problems with the economy. But, when the research shows that 25% of all businesses in the US fail because of leadership issues, now we have a starting point. When those failures can be traced back to root problems, we know what to fix. My approach was to create a leadership model that is engineered to avoid the root causes that lead to failure.

I would appreciate it if you will check out the new site. Let’s find a way to work together. I can’t save 5,000,000 companies by myself.  (http://EndGameLeadership.com)

There is a preview available of my first book called “6 Rabbit Holes of Leadership”. The book is an attempt to help the novice leader avoid the pitfalls that bogus advice gives though that advice seems often compelling. For more experienced leaders, I hope the book helps you to realize that you were not alone on your journey and I hope the pages give you the framework to help those who look to you for advice.

The preview I am including is the first four chapters out of nine chapters. Please sign-in and take a look.

This site isn’t closing, I have occasional items I’d like to discuss, but this blog will be more personal and, at times, whimsical. If, however, your focus is leadership, please head to the new site and follow me from there. Many of the previous resources are there, but the focus is on leadership.

Thank you for your previous and future support!

Ken

Suncoast Business Leaders Leadership Panel

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This is just a quick note to thank Laurie MacDonald from MacDonaldConsultants for hosting a wonderful leadership panel on 18 May at the Centre Club Tampa sponsored by The Suncoast Business Leaders organization.

Continue reading →

Three Fallacies of Leadership

Wrede, KW Cognitive Biases, Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Leadership, Leadership Principles, Perception, Uncategorized , , ,

To paraphrase the old saying, “LeadershipFalse 1 2 3 is like the weather – everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it.” People seem to accept leadership, good or bad, as a cosmic fate that simply happens. If we benefit, great. If we suffer from inadequate leadership, it is perceived as bad fortune and unavoidable.

I do not accept those premises.  Unlike the weather, we can do something about leadership

Leadership development is one of the single most important strategic activities undertaken by business entities throughout the world. To ignore the need for excellent leadership practices is an invitation to catastrophe.

Here is what the science says:

  • Studies show that 50% of all businesses that fail, fail due to bad leadership
  • Effective leadership can increase net margins 1% – 3%

I think there are three main fallacies that directly contribute to poor leadership development:

Fallacy one – “Real” leaders have charisma. Continue reading →

Is This an Inspiring Philosophy?

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Exec number 1 (0)“…I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win…” – Donald Trump

I really have no additional comment here because I would veer away from leadership and into politics.  That would be of no use to anyone.

It pretty much speaks for itself.

In my opinion, I think the best way to view Donald Trump’s current activities as not a part of a presidential campaign, but more as an exercise in branding.  He has never had as much press coverage as a businessman than he has had a potential nominee.

I am working on a paper with my daughter this week and we are discussing brand awareness and brand recognition.  It came to my mind in those discussion that even Donald Trump (a very, very , very, very rich man according to Mr. Trump) could not afford to buy the amount of media coverage generated in print, broadcast coverage, Internet chatter, and water fountain discussion that has been created since the start of his GOP campaign.

He really has no interest in politics, his interest is in starting a discussion… any discussion that features his name.  His flame war attacks keep his name at the top of every news cycle.  It is a genius manipulation of the media (well… genius in a way that makes me want to shower).

His return on this investment will be far above even his wildest imagination.

Either way the campaign goes, he wins notoriety.

EOM,

Kenneth Wrede

<Update Mario Almonte probably said it better than I… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-almonte/relax-america-donald-trum_b_7983354.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592&gt;

______________________________________

“I do whine because I want to win and I’m not happy about not winning and I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win,” Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday. http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/politics/donald-trump-refutes-third-party-run-report/index.html

About Ken Wrede
Kenneth Wrede

How to Screw-up Leadership Development

Wrede, KW Corporate Culture, Leadership, Leadership Development, Organization Development, Organizational Culture, Uncategorized , , , , , ,

microphone (1) graphic pen

<tap> <tap>

CEOs

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Are you out there?  Anybody?

<tap> <tap>

COOs?

CFOs?

<tap> <tap>

Is this thing on?

I really want to be that motivator guy.  You know, the guy that runs around and pumps everyone up.  I want to throw those pithy motivational quotes that seem deep and meaningful, but also contradict each other.  I’d sound really wise and clever.  I wouldn’t give actionable advice, but that’s OK since I couldn’t be held accountable.

<sigh>

I can’t be that guy, at least not this time.  Stick with the evidence because the numbers don’t lie.

I hate to do it, but I have to throw statistics at you…

  • In 2012 US companies spent $14 billion on leadership development.
  • In a 2014 benchmark study from Development Dimensions International, corporate leaders and HR professionals were asked to judge the overall quality of their organization’s leadership.
    • 40% of leaders judged the quality as high.
    • 25% of HR judged the quality as high.

If you accept the judgement of the people responsible, then between 60% and 70% of $14 billion is wasted.

In my opinion… you C-suite people are the problem. Continue reading →