Practical Lessons in Leadership: A Guidebook for Aspiring and Experienced Leaders

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our sincere thanks to the many that inspired, motivated and challenged us to produce our best work. We owe our reviewers, Steve Wallin, Corrie Brague, Barb Bielawski and Bill Leonard a debt of gratitude for their time and insightful comments, corrections and suggestions. We owe Bill our additional thanks for his two round-trips through the manuscript and for providing us with the wisdom of his life and leadership experiences.

Thank you to the research sponsors and their teams along with the many individuals that participated in the process for your thoughtful feedback on what it means to lead. A special thanks to the sponsors and teams at Best Buy, Inc., Aon Consulting, Organic Valley Family of Farms, Inc. and the YMCA District of Lake County for their extraordinary help with this process.

Art owes a personal debt of gratitude to a group of people that provided the inspiration and motivation for his part of this work. Thanks to my early mentors: Don Cullen and Dennis Charlebois. And thank you to my 1L family: Leah Stussy, Stephanie Peterson, Trish Harman, Chris Colbert, Chris Lien, Julie Marks, Kristin Bjerke, Kristin McMahon, Jeanne Harshaw, Linda Droessler, Penny Gralewski, Sam Fellows, Amy Meyer, Joe Zurawski, Frank Dravis, Jack Kalander, Mike Keilen, Micki Heidtke, Steve Varsolona, Lou Peduto, Steve Shissler, Laura Riesterer-Randa, Brian King, Rick Juhl and Susan Becker. Thank you to Eric Lieberman and Paul Byrne for the opportunity to lead and to Rich Petro for joining me on this journey. All of you have left an indelible impression on me.

Rich is thankful for the HR team members he worked with, particularly Mark Hillard, Janet Viane, Kris Weber, Julie Dalton, DeeDee Stapleton-Hanc, Sharon Navarette, Delaina Doll Gardner, Sarah Lange, Jackie Ripp, Tracey Simpson and Karen Long. I learned more from you than you will ever know. Thanks as well to Eric and Paul – not just for the opportunity but also for the tolerance and support you both demonstrated. Finally, a special thanks to Art for providing the inspiration and invitation for this ride.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Art Petty is a successful leader, strategist, team-builder and trainer with over twenty years experience directing the growth, global expansion and rise to market leadership of large and small organizations in a variety of industries.

Art’s employer and client list includes firms in the software, business intelligence, professional services, electronics, life safety, building automation, retail automation, direct marketing and mailing automation markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Professionally, he is unabashedly proud of the many successful teams he has created and the many people that have grown their careers under his leadership. Art lives with his wife and two sons in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Rich Petro is an accomplished executive leader with nearly twenty-five years of human resources experience in settings varying from manufacturing to services to software, large and small organizations, and both private and public entities.

Rich blends a comprehensive understanding of all facets of human resources with solid business acumen to develop unique, forward-thinking solutions to the most challenging problems. Rich is an accomplished speaker and presenter, and has personally developed many programs and seminars on topics that included compliance, leadership philosophy and applied leadership skills. Rich is the father of two daughters and a son, and lives with his wife in Onalaska, Wisconsin.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHORS

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

PART ONE

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

THE MOTIVATION TO LEAD AND THE NINE ATTRIBUTES OF GREAT LEADERS

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

SOLO PERFORMER OR LEADER—A GUIDE TO HOW THE WORLD LOOKS FROM EACH SIDE OF THE LADDER

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

LEADERSHIP—HOW DO I GET THERE FROM HERE?

PART TWO

SUCCEEDING FROM THE START

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

THE TOP TEN CHALLENGES THAT YOU FACE AS A (NEW) LEADER

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE A TEAM! NOW WHAT?

PART THREE

SUCCEEDING ALL OF THE TIME

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

GROWING YOUR PERSONAL CREDIBILITY ACCOUNT

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE, HERE’S YOUR REAL JOB—CREATING THE EFFECTIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

THE POWER OF PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR PEOPLE

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9

NO ONE EVER TOLD ME THAT BEFORE.

LEVERAGING FEEDBACK AS A POWERFUL LEADERSHIP TOOL

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10

CHIEF TALENT SCOUT AND DEVELOPER

PART FOUR

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER TO DRIVE RESULTS

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 11

CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION WITH YOUR TEAM

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

IN PURSUIT OF OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

AFTERWORD

LOOKING AHEAD IN YOUR CAREER

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHORS

This is the book that I had to write to give back to aspiring leaders some of what I have learned during the past twenty-two years leading and managing teams. I am grateful that Rich took a look at the early content and agreed to apply his deep expertise in human resources and management and add some tremendous value in the process. His contributions strengthened the work considerably and added great enjoyment to the labor of writing. This is our book, and while we each may have been inspired to pursue the difficult task of writing for different reasons, we both share a common belief that leadership is a noble calling and that the development of leaders is an essential but often overlooked task in too many organizations.

For the aspiring professional, the choice to lead or not to lead is often made without the benefit of understanding the real work that will need to be done, or whether they have the skills, patience and fortitude to develop into an effective or even great leader. There are many great books on leadership, management, execution and strategy, but there are very few books that tie the pieces together into a digestible and actionable format for the new leader. While writing a How To book on becoming a great leader may seem challenging or even ridiculous, there are many insights, approaches and practices that when understood and applied, will improve the performance of the leader as well as the productivity and effectiveness of the entire team. These practices and approaches are borne from many years of trial and error, success and failure and endless exposure to market and business challenges.

We in business create a cycle where we take our most talented people and provide them career growth through leadership opportunities, ignoring the reality that there is nothing more difficult in the world than leading other human beings. It is this cycle that this book aspires to break, by providing the insight on what it means to lead, the guidance on becoming a leader and the approaches to executing the leadership task in the best interests and with the best results for the organization, the team and the individual as leader.

The inscription on the Alma Mater statue at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, reads, To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send our greetings. It is in this spirit that I send my earnest greetings to the great leaders of the future in the hope that something in this book will contribute to your education, your development and your success.

-Arthur E. Petty at Crystal Lake, Illinois on this first day of March, 2007.

Art had a vision for this book that hooked me from the start. His enthusiasm and passion for this topic is nothing short of infectious, and after working together for more than 6 years as part of the same executive team we plowed a great deal of ground together on people and leadership issues. There was absolutely no question in my mind that we had practical and valuable information to share as a result of this time together, in addition to our discreet past experiences. If you have been to the business section of the bookstore you know there are tons of books on leadership concepts and case studies. The selection is pretty paltry, however, at the applied end of the shelf. I was confident we could meaningfully add to it.

There is a cathartic aspect to writing on a topic about which you have experience and that you have a love for, but I wasn’t in this for the therapy. If not for me, then, who is this work for? I have a few ideas:

I can see far-reaching impact from this book. The world’s need for more and better leaders is not limited to the commercial enterprise. Service organizations, youth groups, schools, churches, sports teams and yes, even the political realm stands to benefit if we all do a better job of preparing, selecting and developing candidates for leadership. Granted, the leadership role in many of those settings is a function of somebody being willing or gullible enough to volunteer (when is the last time you can remember having too many candidates to coach the youth soccer team?) but why limit our thinking. If my collaboration with Art has taught me anything, it’s to aim high and don’t settle for OK. Every time there are two or more people working on a common cause, for whatever the reason, they deserve a great leader.

I believe small and medium sized organizations have the most to gain from this book. They usually don’t have the infrastructure, institutionalized practices or economies of scale that are the foundations of world-class leadership development efforts in large firms, but they still need to develop leaders. If those organizations can get this book into the hands of new and aspiring leaders they will be off to a great start.

The development process starts with who gets into the leadership community in the first place. In nearly 25 years of human resources experience I have come face to face with far too many Peter-Principled leaders: well-intentioned career moves where the subject is promoted into a role for which they are ill-suited. The result was usually dramatic – or should I say problematic – for the individuals they tried to lead and the organizations they were expected to serve. These misplaced leaders not only under-perform in delivering results, they are equally deficient at developing the people entrusted to their care. I firmly believe our work can blot up quite a bit of the spilled organizational milk of poor leadership selection, and make many people happier in the process.

For all of these reasons it is my hope that sharing what we learned proves to be a benefit to many people and organizations. Use it, pass it on and recommend it. Like all great written works – and even average ones – it does no good sitting on the shelf gathering dust.

-Rich Petro at Onalaska, Wisconsin on this first day of March, 2007

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

It’s impossible to substitute experience with a book, but every leg of every journey can benefit from a roadmap at times. Whether you are thinking about leadership as a career choice, or you have ten or twenty years of experience leading teams, we are willing to bet our reputations that there is something of value for you between these covers.

For the aspiring or early career leader, a few hours invested in cover-to-cover reading will provide clear context for your role, warn you of common new leader pitfalls and offer suggestions to help drive results for your firm. The beauty of this book is that we not only create awareness of what the challenges are, we give you guidance on how to flourish when you encounter them.

The experienced leader will profit from their time with this book as well. The many practical and powerful suggestions for increasing your credibility, improving your team’s work environment and motivating and driving innovation and operational excellence will help you improve results and remember why you loved leading in the first place. And importantly, as an experienced leader with the priority to develop new leaders, this book should serve as a guide for you. It is a ready reference on topics ranging from helping to identify individuals with leadership talent to ensuring that you are providing the right level of coaching and support as they start-up in this challenging new role.

A few additional suggestions for optimizing your experience with the book:

Part 1, To Lead or Not to Lead? offers essential advice and tools for anyone considering a role in leadership or anyone responsible for identifying new leaders.

The Apex Integrated Technologies (a fictional company) case study that prefaces each chapter and the questions that follow the chapter are intended as discussion tools for group settings or projects. Each mini-case incorporates concepts included in the associated chapter and references issues commonly faced in a leadership setting. You can use the case contents and the questions in management roundtable settings or as a self-learning tool. Our thoughts on each vignette can be found at www.management-innovations.com in the leadership resource center, and we hope they add context to your discussions.

The Resource Center at www.management-innovations.com includes added content, research papers, case studies, blogs, ideas and tools as well as links to our training courses and other offerings. Content relevant to the book can be unlocked by typing in the password: LEADER when prompted or by e-mailing us at [email protected]

The book can be read cover to cover or in sections relevant to your current situation. We encourage you to highlight liberally, bend the pages where you find useful information and e-mail us at [email protected] with questions or comments on the content and concepts. And most of all, we hope that you enjoy the journey and build enough experience to fill your own book!

PART ONE

TO LEAD OR NOT TO LEAD?

The Apex Integrated Technologies, Inc. Case

A CRISIS CATCHES APEX OFF-GUARD

The leadership conference in January at Apex Integrated Technologies, Inc., was different this year. This annual gathering of all supervisors, managers, directors and executives was famous for its balanced mix of fun, socializing and business. This year, however, all thoughts that this meeting would be like past events evaporated during the CEO’s keynote.

Victoria Pyott, Apex’s CEO, kicked the meeting off with a series of warning messages that took everyone by surprise. Ms. Pyott expressed her opinion that changing market and competitor conditions were undermining Apex’s position as a leader. She also raised concerns about the leadership team’s focus on the right issues, including market monitoring, strategy evaluation and operational effectiveness. And those weren’t her only concerns.

Victoria suggested that the leadership group had become complacent and had lost track of the two attributes of the culture that made the company the market leader and the employer of choice in this industry: innovation and the development of talent. These concerns struck a nerve in the group, and reluctantly they had to agree that the evidence supported Victoria’s claims.

Customer satisfaction was down versus prior years, the revenue from new products had declined for the third straight year, involuntary turnover was up, open positions had climbed considerably, and employee satisfaction was down. The major news in the market was coming from competitive announcements, not Apex introductions, and internally, costs were heading in the wrong direction. Victoria’s observation that the company was beginning to become siloed and that an inordinate amount of energy went into resolving turf wars and creating bureaucracy versus focusing on clients and partners, was icing on this sour cake.

Ms. Pyott closed her remarks with a call to action: We will not succeed on our mission here at Apex if we lose track of who we are working for—our customers—and what we need to do to excite and delight them with our performance every step of the way. We also cannot sustain our hard-earned market position or even expect to succeed in the future if we do not remember that the development of our employee talent and our future leaders are fundamental responsibilities of all managers. We need to spur a revolution in our business—rapid innovation in new products and services, significant improvement in our operating processes and a renewed commitment to building value for our stakeholders every single day.

PREFACE TO CHAPTER 1

DWAYNE’S BAD DAY

Dwayne Edwards sat in his chair staring at the wall for a few minutes after Barb Kushing had left his office. Barb’s resignation letter was on Dwayne’s desk, and frankly, he was so upset about the situation, that he couldn’t bear to look at it. He opened his top drawer, dropped in the letter and jammed it shut.

Dwayne was Vice President of Business Development at Apex Technologies, Inc., and had been working hard for three years to build a strong team. Barb was his right hand and heir apparent, and he was shocked at this new turn of events. She was leaving to join a competitor who had offered her a hefty raise to step into a role just like Dwayne’s.

Along with the raise, Barb was being sponsored for an intensive general management development program at a major university, and she said she just couldn’t pass up the entire package. She admitted she liked Dwayne and the work at Apex, but she felt like there was no plan for her or anyone’s future, and didn’t want to spin her wheels anymore. She indicated that she would prefer to stay with Apex, but without any support to her career aspirations, it just didn’t make sense.

As he sat there, Dwayne recalled the other three resignations he had received over the last 18 months. Good people, the future of our team and now they’re gone, he thought with a sigh. It was true that Apex didn’t have a formal career development program for employees, but he did everything he could to be a great boss and a friend to his team members. With the loss of key staff, it was getting harder to hit his targets, and with Barb walking out the door, he imagined his year-end bonus walking out with her.

CHAPTER 1

THE MOTIVATION TO LEAD AND THE NINE ATTRIBUTES OF GREAT LEADERS

Most people don’t pick up books on leadership for beach reading, and we suspect that you are no different. Either your boss suggested that this would be good for you, or you are an ambitious professional looking for an edge. Regardless of why you decided to crack the cover, we are glad you’re here. If leadership is an important topic for you, either because that’s where you want to be; or, you are already there and you want to get better at it, then this is the right place for you. Rich and I have attempted to jam our almost forty-five years of combined leadership experience into these pages, with the intent of providing you some practical ideas to help you along your career journey.

During the course of the book, you can expect a healthy blend of one part philosophy, two parts strategy and four parts how to be great at leading. From time to time, we’ll add a dash of how we’ve seen people really stink at leading to counter-balance our over the top positive view on the noble profession of leadership. At all times however, we have your best interests at heart as we do our best to help you develop insights to successfully navigate the stormy seas of life as a leader.

In structuring this book the way we have, it is our intent to meet the needs of two groups: aspiring and experienced leaders. Aspiring leaders are the tougher audience to address, because they generally see moving into management as the best or only means to enhance their career, and this blinds them to understanding what they are getting themselves into. Chapters 1-3 are specifically written for this part of our audience, and will help these professionals develop a better understanding of the career issues and opportunities for a leader versus an individual contributor. The balance of the book is for everyone interested in doing a great job leading, whether you are brand new to the role, highly experienced, or just interested in what it takes to succeed in this profession. Following the career content in the first three chapters, the flow of the book takes a leader from starting up with a new team all the way through creating a culture of innovation and realizing an operationally excellent team. The content in-between offers timeless advice for building your credibility as a leader, becoming a great talent scout, and growing comfortable conducting the tough discussions that are important to all leaders.

Experienced leaders, or grizzled veterans as we describe them, offer one additional challenge for us in creating a book on leadership. It is our hope that they will see