Great Article From LeadershipNow.

MBA Arrogance and the Myth of Leadership
Philip Delves Broughton, author of Ahead of The Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School, writes in the Financial Times about MBA Arrogance and the Myth of Leadership. Broughton observes:
What business schools can teach is organisational behaviour. They can teach compensation systems and recruitment processes. They can offer classes on cash and non-cash incentives, on training, promotion and the value of a corporate culture. They can offer frameworks for negotiations, strategy decisions and implementing change. But when they bundle this up and call it leadership, they risk leaving their students with the faulty impression that they are now qualified, if not obliged, to go into the world and lead. It breeds the arrogance for which MBAs are mocked. He continues, “Great leaders tend to be those who can synthesise, simplify and persuade. They provide clarity so that those below them can do their best to achieve a common goal. But leadership should not be the brass ring at the climax of every business career.It is the merit of Broughton to remind readers of the problems of surrounding leadership education. He is right. Business schools are best at teaching the competencies that business leaders need when performing their tasks. And at this point in time, they are probably rethinking what that means. Teaching leadership – as in take these classes and read these books and you are a leader – is something else. Broughton correctly asserts that MBA students often walk out into the world thinking that they are uniquely equipped to lead the world. It’s an arrogance that is rarely appreciated in the real world and an approach that does not serve them well in the long-term. Books and lectures do not make you a leader, but they can give you the tools to become a leader through the practice of leadership. They point you in the right direction. They fast-track your awareness. They are extremely valuable but they do not make you a leader. That label is earned, not taught. Broughton states, “Not all MBAs can be leaders, nor need they be. Every business needs followers: people who are good at what they do, who are able to implement the plans laid out by leaders.” Here is where discussions of leadership often derail. Broughton is confusing leadership with position. Position is the brass ring and there are a limited number of those to go around. Most people will to be left out. He’s right. We can’t all have position, but we can all be leaders. Likewise we are all – regardless of our position – followers. The idea that “I’m a leader, not a follower” is a foolish notion and belies the ignorance of what leadership really is by anyone who states it. Basic to a proper understanding of leadership is the understanding that leadership is not position and does not make you a leader.
There was a time when management was just management, the science of providing organisational support for innovators and salespeople to win customers and revenue. Managers tracked resources, physical, financial and human, and tried to improve efficiency. Occasionally they made an acquisition or pushed into new markets, and this was strategy. But somewhere along the line management morphed into the sexier-sounding “leadership”. Managers were globe-trotting executives – catalysts for change. They had a business press eager to turn them into icons, to photograph them in their penthouses, preening over their empires as if they, rather than their shareholders, owned them. Business schools were eagerly complicit in this super-sizing of management. They no longer educated mere MBAs. They were churning out “future leaders”. Business does not need any more leadership courses – particularly not at the MBA level.No, business schools need leadership courses. They just need better ones. They need courses with a proper emphasis about leadership. I appreciate his phrasing – “this super-sizing of management” – but management and leadership go together. They are often separated so that we can, by pulling them apart, see how they fit together. We need both and we need to be practicing both. One is not better than the other. A good leader manages. A good manager leads.

Interesting Finding

Findings From GA Tech:

Spring ’08 Graduation Stats

Average Salary:	$52,300
Highest Salary:	$80,000

I love that the average new DM in their first year makes more than this, and our top new districts make in the six figures in their first year! 

SC1 Promotion

Here is Zach Saunders with some SC 1 Promotion.

Getting Out of Finals Early!

Here are some thoughts on getting out of finals early. I firmly 
believe it comes down to asking with confidence. Plus, I was a good 
student to begin with and didn't miss classes, so my profs liked me. I 
moved all of my exams for both semesters of my senior year of 
college... even the classes that expressly stated in the syllabus in 
big bold letters "I WILL NOT MOVE EXAMS FOR ANY REASON." 

what are the objections and concerns that professors might express? 

- creates extra work for me, esp if I have to make another version of the test 
- you could share answers with other students (cheating concern) 
- if I let you do it, I have to make allowances for other students 
- i just don't normally reschedule exams 

Use the objection cycle. I did this via email, because I was too much 
of a chicken for a face-to-face conversation... plus it allowed me to 
handle all objections before they could say "no". 

here's an example convo: 

"Hey prof, I am a student in your _____ class this semester. As you 
have seen by my attendance and participation (my performance on 
exams/papers, etc) in class I am a committed to excelling in the 
course. 

Knowing that finals are approaching, I looked over our exam schedule 
for December. According to the syllabus, our final falls on _________. 
I work with a company called Vector Marketing and I have earned the 
unique opportunity to run my own office next summer when classes are 
out. In preparation, I need to train really hard over my winter break, 
knowing that during the school year my training time is limited. Our 
exam falls on _____ but I really need to finish finals by _____ in 
order to train properly over my break. I do not want to miss out on 
the opportunity to get the training I need to excel next summer, nor 
do I want to hurt my performance in your class by any way. 

I know that normally you would never move a class for a student. I can 
completely understand why-- you have to take extra time from your 
schedule to conduct the exam, there is concern over cheating if you 
give me the same exam other students are going to take, and if you let 
me take the exam early, you might be expected to make allowances for 
other students. 

Normally, I would never ask to take my exam early, but I am really 
excited about the opportunity to run my own office next summer because 
___________ (good experience for my major, personal skills it will 
help me develop that, resume experience for when I graduate, money for 
school, etc.) and know that I need to take full advantage of my winter 
break for training. I am wiling to take a completely different-- even 
harder-- exam in order to make this a reality. And naturally, I would 
be discrete and not tell others students I am taking the exam early. 

How can we make things work so that I can still excel in your class, 
but also not miss out on my opportunity to run my own business next 
summer? 

Thank you, 

Getting Someone to a Phone Jam

This is the second video from the Promotion Game

Justin on how to get people a Thursday night Phone Jam. 

How to get Someone to TNO

Hey Guys

Thanks for a great meeting this weekend. Here is the first of the Promotion game. 

Deyan on How to get someone to TNO

Tips for the Trainer

Some of you guys asked me about getting the Tips for the Trainer videos (just copy and paste in your address bar):

https://www.vectorconnect.com/avlib/video_oldlist.jsp?id=282

Creating Your Summer Vision (Part 3)

Georgia,
Here is the last, and most important, part of the visionary process:

Finally, you must make the vision a sustainable part of the group or organization by evaluating everything done in light of the vision and making the appropriate changes where necessary. All decisions must be made in light of the vision. You can’t say you’re going to empower people and then require 10 signatures to get office supplies. Your people need to be allowed to be responsive to the vision and its values and not the bureaucracy. 

If the vision was properly crafted it will be easier to drive because it will motivate people to a new level by providing meaning to what they are doing. It will create the link between the present and the future and thus show the way. 

Find out which people in your organization have the vision “written on their hearts” and have a feel for when decisions, policies and procedures are causing the vision to get off-track. These people can help you make the course corrections you need to make that will help to stabilize and keep the vision in place. A vision can't be all values and platitudes. It must be grounded in facts and the changing realties of your situation. 

A vision is meant to solve real issues. Filtered feedback will not create and maintain a vision that people can get passionate about and drive forward. Know your people and know what they are dealing with in an intimate way. Getting good feedback will help you to ensure that the vision is always realistic and appropriately meaningful. Of course, this feedback is easier if the vison process has been interactive from the beginning. 

Creating Your Summer Vision, Part 2

Once you have the vision firmly in hand, you need to communicate it throughout the organization. You need to make the vision real. Put it in the heart and not just the mind. Get people to see it and then communicate it again and again. International consultant Manfred Kets de Vries thinks leaders should sound like broken records. "Leaders who have succeeded at getting their message across could probably go to the janitor of one of their office buildings and get from that person a sensible answer about what the organization is trying to do." 

People want meaning and purpose in their work. The leader’s job is to create that meaning. Show them their part in it and its effect on them. Lou Holtz, University of Notre Dame Football coach and one of the top 15 winningest coaches in college football history, used to tell his freshmen players in their first meeting, “Gentlemen, in the comic strip Pogo, there was a character who once said, ‘The solution is obvious, either we become them or they become us.’ I can assure everyone in this room that we are not going to become you. You must become Notre Dame. I want you to learn everything we do at Notre Dame, how we do it, why we do it. It’s important that you learn our methods now so that when you become juniors or seniors you can provide the proper leadership for our younger players. That is essential if we are to enjoy continued success. We did not recruit you to change the University of Notre Dame but to conform to the morals and values of this great institution. You won’t change Notre Dame, but Notre Dame is going to change you.” Holtz said that his speech “was establishing a standard, setting a tone from day one. We have all see many great companies and schools fail to pass on their rich traditions to the next generation. They are shortchanging their people.” Organizational traditions can help give people meaning by providing a sense of why and a broader perspective on their individual functions. 

More importantly, as Lou Holtz did, you the leader, must live the vision and communicate it in everything that you do. The more you live the vision, the clearer it will become and the more deeply your will understand it. Warren Bennis wrote in,Old Dogs, New Tricks, “To communicate a vision, you need more than words, speeches, memos, and laminated plaques. You need to live a vision, day in, day out, embodying it and empowering every other person to execute that vision in everything he or she does, anchoring it in realities, so that it becomes a template for decision making. Actions do speak louder than words.” 

The final step is to drive the vision forward.

Creating Your Vision for the Summer

Perfect for Our Business (From Leadershipnow.com):

Effective leaders and their organizations have an agenda. A vision. A vision is a direction—an attractive and attainable picture of the future. And it is important that every individual, group and organization have one that they can articulate. A vision isn't a statement on a laminated card that everyone is to carry. It is meant to solve real issues and move people to new behaviors. As a leader, if you don't know where you are going, you are irrelevant to you followers. With a vision you can inspire and lift individuals and groups to new heights—an important function of any leader. 

The visionary process is made up of fundamentally three steps: discovering the vision, disseminating the vision and finally, driving the vision forward. 

Obviously, constructing the vision is the most crucial step. All else hangs on the vision itself. It must motivate people by asking them to change to achieve a new level of behavior or there is really no meaning in and no purpose for the vision statement. Understanding that vision is about change is crucial to developing a persuasive vision that others will relate to an follow. It implies that you know where you currently are and where you want then be. Your vision must be grounded in commonly accepted core issues if it is to be accepted by the team. If your people do not believe that you understand them and the current situation, they will not be able to see the way to your vision. 

That said, the vision can come from almost anywhere. It is not merely a dream but a realistic picture of what could be. It should be pragmatic. In addition, it should be something that you are sincerely passionate about. If you are not passionate about it, it will be difficult for you to get others to get on board and sustain it. 

Almost everyone has a vision but they are not always shared visions. An effective vision must be a meaningful picture of the future that can be fully articulated and shared by all members of the team. Everyone needs to be able to have a part in the vision. A vision is not an end but a means. It provides the direction by which its adherents will achieve a purpose or result. 

The vision can be somewhat dynamic and fluid considering the changes in the times and needs of the group. It should be well thought out so that you are able to anticipate the upcoming realities of a given situation and adjust your vision accordingly. This will greatly enhance your chances of success. 

The next step is to disseminate the vision.

Interview with a PRM

Hey Georgia Managers

Here is an interview I had recently with our PRA of over 2 years, Michele. Please post comments with your biggest take aways.

Prep this Weekend

Hey guys

Be on your "A" game this weekend.  We have so many exciting things to talk about.  As a Division we were up 49% over last week and things are continuing to shape up to be our best year ever!

I was reading a book called "Talent is Overrated" on the plane down to Tampa for a DVM meeting, and I came across an interesting finding: 

Most people we believe to possess a huge talent (i.e. Mozart and Tiger Woods) are not born leaders, but have WORKED their butts off to achieve it. Tiger trained with his father every day from the moment he was two to become a champion.  He did it when others played.  Jerry Rice had workouts that made other world class receivers puke on their first day of training.  

What are you doing to increase your branch training?

Are You a First Class Noticer?

CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE I FOUND ON LEADERSHIPNOW.COM:

Warren Bennis suggests that we learn to observe closely and accurately. To become what writer Saul Bellow calls a "First-Class Noticer." This part of what he considers to be the single most important attribute of successful leaders. 

Essentially being a “first-class noticer” means to get out and learn as much as you can. 

Primarily we must learn how to learn. This involves some introspection to discover just how you learn and then to get out and do it. Expose yourself to that which is not "common" to you. Be open to experience. Bennis states that “when those who lack adaptive capacity hit a rough patch, they tend to shut down and scar over. The fortunate remain hungry for experience no matter how severely they are tested.” 

Look for experiences that are new and different and seize opportunities. Develop relationships with people who are different from the people you ordinarily have relationships with, especially those that come from different backgrounds and age groups. See movies and plays, read books and visit museums. These will broaden your outlook and develop a deeper well from which to draw from. 

Above all, Bennis reminds us to stay comfortable with "not knowing ... but finding out." In this world, do we need a better reminder than what happened on September 11, 2001? We have to be at ease with uncertainty, chaos, complexity and not settle for the easy answer and the silver bullet. They don't exist in today's world. Never did, actually.

Wrap Up Talk on Creating Vs. Collecting CPO

Here is a Wrap up talk I delivered this week about being proactive and talking control over their sales week instead of simply taking what is given to them.

Welcome GA Corps MGMT Class of 2009

Hey Guys,

I am just starting this website, so bare with me as I attempt to get it down.  Check up and Follow this website as I will post a lot of interesting articles and videos that pertain to your personal growth and mgmt training.