Big Ls and Little ls …… the leadership mystery solved

Posted on 26. Jun, 2007 by Wayne in General

Folks, we’ve had a lot of talk on this show. Steve Farber and Wally Bock actually got a little testy over exactly what a leader is, if you’ll recall. In my latest Management Issues column, I tried to solve the conundrum with the usual mixed results. You can read the full article here.

Basically, it boils down to the fact that there are Leaders (those in positions ahead of us) and leaders (those who exhibit the traits of leadership). They sound the same, but too often they’re not.

Essentially:

• Leaders don’t necessarily lead
• leaders aren’t necessarily Leaders
• Leadership sometimes shows leadership but sometimes doesn’t and there isn’t a lot you can say or do
• leadership doesn’t only reside in the Leadership

By the way, this all came about as part of an interview for the other podcast I do on behalf of Management Issues; The Working Week. It’s a short snappy show and this week’s interview with Chetan Dhruve is a good one.

Nice to be back. Hope you’re enjoying the 100th episode.

The Cranky Middle Manager #100 Influencing Upwards Marshall Goldsmith

Posted on 24. Jun, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #100

Welcome to our 100th Episode! 2 years and 100 conversations later, we’re still at it. When I tried to figure out how to commemorate this occasion, I decided that with a couple of minor exceptions it’s business as usual. Our guest is Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There on the topic of Influencing Upwards Thank you all for listening and I hope you enjoy the show.

Don’t forget you can receive our newsletter- drop me a line at wayne@crankymiddlemanager.com and put “Subscribe” in the subject line.

Show Notes

0:00 Okay, so it’s 2 years and a hundred shows that we’ve been doing this little experiment. How’s it going? For newbies, this is the show dedicated to the kinds of conversations managers really have- what’s it all about? Why do we do this? How do we do what we need to do every day and still keep body and soul intact? We asked our most popular guest (Marshall Goldsmith) the question I get asked most often- “how do you influence upwards in your own organization and get the boss’s buy-in”?
Oh, and Cameron Reilly, CEO of The Podcast Network drops me a little congratulations message in his own inimitable style

3:33 A special guest star (okay, my daughter) does the quote of the week. At points in these two years (and just now returning from holiday) you need to hear stuff like this.

4:05 Welcome Marshall Goldsmith who owes us a huge debt of gratitude, and he knows it. (Listen to his first interview with us here)The question that I get most often is: influencing upwards. Why is that the thing that makes intelligent, discerning folks like listeners of this show so crazy? Marshall starts by quoting Peter Drucker… we focus downwards, not upwards. Oh yeah, and too much data is a career killer.

NOTE: Marshall is refusing to put a money back guarantee on this advice. I will gladly refund whatever you paid to listen to this. What a guy, huh?

8:45 Okay, here’s the thing you have to know. The person with the power to make the decision is the person who makes the decision. Being right is no guarantee. Grow up and quit whining. I don’t know where the number came from, but Marshall claims that we spend 15 hours a month whining and complaining about upper management.

12:02 Here’s the dirty little secret. You have to think like a sales person. Get over your hatred of the sales weasels and take responsibility. It’s your job to sell to the decision maker. The biggest thing is to be able to say why your idea is good for the whole organization, not just your department.

16:18 Pick your fights. Having to be right about little things is a credibilty destroyer. They’ll forgive you fighting for the big stuff.

17:30 Be prepared to present a realistic cost-benefit analysis… don’t try to snow your boss with only the benefits and features.

20:30 Never surrender on issues of ethics and morals. Just be careful of how you define them. Make sure that you couch it in how it will appear rather than that it IS unethical or wrong.

25:20 Don’t say, “I’m amazed that someone at this level…..” does such and such. Take a bunch of old men and give them money status and power they will act like people always do.

27:09 Marshall’s new book pick is Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #99 Accelerate with Dan Coughlin

Posted on 18. Jun, 2007 by Wayne in General, Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #099

99 Episodes, who knew? Welcome to the show. As this show launches I am on vacation so you’re listening, or not…what do I know. Time with the family is as important as anything you and I are going to do here. Enough… on with the show and our guest, Dan Coughlin, author of “Accelerate, 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum”
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we examine the irony of the term “direct report”, then get down to business. Today’s show is dedicated to Zahir Ud din Babar, founder of the Mughal Empire in India. Small teams, highly organized and empowered to do what they need to do can accomplish a lot.

2:21 Our quote of the week is from the poet Horace- with what could well be the motto for this show…..mixing the pleasant and the useful is what it’s all about?

Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter. Drop me a line and put subscribe in the subject line.

3:20 When our friend Steve Farber recommends someone, well we listen up. Dan Coughlin is here to tell us about accelerating ourselves and our teams. The CEO is on her own this time out. Right away he talks madness: we’re supposed to cut back??? What’s the business upside of down time?

8:05 Why don’t we manage our time better? What are we trying to prove? Dan tells a great story about what happens when you try too hard.

13:00 Talking trash about the people you work with is a career killer.

15:35 How do you overcome silos in your workplace? Part of it is a focus on your own needs. The other thing is taking such good care of your own turf you lose sight of how it fits into the rest of the organization and everyone follows suit.

19:15 3 Tips to building trust in your team:

1. Work to understand the other person
2. Clarify what they expect of you
3. At the minimum, deliver what’s expected

24:50 What’s the one biggest thing you can do to accelerate your team? Clarify the bigger picture and not get caught up in the day-to-day crises that inevitably arise.

26:20 What’s Dan reading these days?

The Dip Seth Godin (because we haven’t plugged him in a couple of weeks)

The Wizard of Menlo Park Edison was the first “celebrity civilian”, what did he do to stand out in a crowd?

Thanks for listening. Drop me a line, invite me to join your Linkedin network, post to the blog and be part of the community.

I’m out of here on vacation. We’ll be back end of the month with our 100th episode!

I’m On Vacation….. But Listen Anyway

Posted on 11. Jun, 2007 by Wayne in General

By the time you read this, no doubt, I’ll be on vacation. That means no checking voicemails from work, no emails from work and only checking email and posts from here when The Duchess isn’t looking.

Show 99 will still launch while I’m gone so you’ll get your fix but if you write to me I probably won’t respond until after June 22nd…time to recharge the batteries.

I love ya, but I need a break!