The Intelligent Leader

Final Post from The Intelligent Leader

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:55:07 -0500

On behalf of Harvard Business Publishing and washingtonpost.com, thank you for your interest in The Intelligent Leader. For the past year, this space has delivered thoughtful commentary on the intersection of the leadership and management ideas from HarvardBusiness.org with the news coverage found on washingtonpost.com. This post concludes the series. To continue the leadership and management conversations, please visit washingtonpost.com's On Leadership, and HarvardBusiness.org, where you can subscribe to our eNewsletters. You can also follow HarvardBiz on Twitter. Thank you —the HarvardBusiness.org Editors

How the Recession Is Changing Talent Management

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:25:28 -0500

Tammy Erickson is a McKinsey Award-winning author. Her blog Across the Ages can be found at HarvardBusiness.org. By now we've all heard the phrase that a recession is too precious to waste. Recessions are times when we make changes in the way we do things — consciously or not. Although it would be smart to do it consciously, probably some of the most significant changes have just, well, happened. The shift underway today, embedded in companies' responses to this recession, will have major unintended consequences for the relationship between organizations and the individuals who perform work (I hesitate to even use the word "employees"). As msnbc reported recently, there's been a "furlough frenzy" in corporate America lately. We're on a slippery slope. Recent history illustrates how significant shifts in the nature of the relationship between organizations and workers have resulted from practices put in place during a recession. For example,

What Outside Executives Need to Succeed

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:15:47 -0500

John Baldoni is a leadership consultant, coach, and speaker. His blog, Leadership at Work, can be found at HarvardBusiness.org. "I don't know anything about cars," revealed Edward Whitacre in an interview with Bloomberg News given after being named the new chairman of General Motors. "A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I'm not that old, and I think the business principles are the same." Long-time Michigan political observer, Jack Lessenberry, lauded GM's hiring of Whitacre as an example of the new leadership the company will require if it is to succeed. But Whitacre is joining a company with a history of rejecting executives from the outside. H. Ross Perot and Jerry York, as a surrogate for investor Kirk Kerkorian, tried without success to shake things up at the board level. Another senior executive who failed to change G.M. was Elmer Johnson. According to the

Give Shareholders Say on Pay

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:00:22 -0500

Anne Sheehan is the director of Corporate Governance for the California State Teachers' Retirement System. This post is part of the HBR Debate: How to Fix Executive Pay. Executive pay is broken. The ratcheting up of executive pay contributed substantially to the economic crisis, because the risk and reward equation got out of balance. Yes, you have to pay for performance and you want your leaders to take some risks, but only informed risks. Many companies have rewarded very risky moves made without much understanding of the implications. The way companies have been setting pay also has contributed to compensation inflation. Executives note the rising incomes of people they consider their peers, and they expect to keep up; nobody wants to be below the median. And so it continues. That's not a good way to determine pay levels. Other people's salaries are but one data point in the equation, but

Regulating CEO Pay Is Not the Answer

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:25:58 -0500

Ira Kay is the global practice director of executive compensation consulting at Watson Wyatt Worldwide. This post kicks off the HBR Debate: How to Fix Executive Pay. We're at a crossroads for CEO pay — and by extension for corporations and competition in general. The conventional wisdom says executive pay played a substantial, perhaps dominant, role in the financial crisis and recession by encouraging excessive risk-taking. As a result, there's huge public support right now for the idea that the basic executive pay model should be changed that it should be rethought, reformed, legislated, and regulated. This is a natural reaction to unprecedented events. And the Obama administration is about to present its own philosophy on CEO pay in the form of compensation rules for twice-bailed-out companies. But legislating and regulating executive compensation has the capacity to do real damage. Our research has shown that the traditional executive pay model

Competitive Advantage Is Fleeting (And It's Okay to Admit It)

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:00:15 -0500

Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath studies innovation, corporate venturing, and entrepreneurship. Her blog Dynamic Strategies can be found on HarvardBusiness.org. For as long as I've been working in the field of strategy, a taken-for granted assumption among executives, students and academics has been that the goal of a great strategy is achieving a "sustainable competitive advantage." As the field migrated from a subject called "Business Policy," having to do mostly with the job of the general manager, to the current conception of "Strategic Management," we picked up a vast number of tools, frameworks and analytical approaches that promised to make the world of strategy one of greater rigor, science and analytical depth. The ultimate goal was to pinpoint a path to achieving a highly profitable position which could then be sustained. The logic accompanying this goal was impeccable: within the context of stable industry boundaries, identify an attractive position

Why I Don't Want to Own General Motors

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:25:33 -0500

Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter blogs at HarvardBusiness.org about leadership, innovation and change. If I had wanted to buy General Motors stock, I would have talked to my financial manager. Now I am forced to own it, along with other American taxpayers, because of the federal government's bankruptcy deal. It is hard to see what good will come of this, and it sets a dangerous precedent. If the U.S. needs a major auto company, we have one already in Ford. Ford has proven to be nimbler, more innovative, more globally-integrated, and more competitive than GM. It saw the need to change earlier, changed faster, and did not need a government bailout. Ford's advertising is trying to make the most out of its accomplishments, but I fear that Ford will be dragged down by the GM situation and be forced to cut too deeply into its own flesh as

Empathy: Not Such a Soft Skill

Fri, 29 May 2009 07:45:39 -0500

Katherine Bell is Deputy Editor at Harvard Business.org. Empathy is the word of the moment in the media, as President Obama and the GOP disagree over whether Supreme Court Justices should use it. In this debate, empathy has come to imply an emotional impulse to root for the underdog. Ron Elving wrote at NPR.org: "In the parlance of their party, Democrats use this word to mean sensitivity to the plight of the poor, the disadvantaged and the downtrodden... Republicans, for their part, regard empathy as a code word for emotion." To explain Obama's all-female shortlist of candidates for the court, Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Center pointed to a 2008 finding that 80% of Americans believe that women are more compassionate than men, arguing that "Empathy and compassion aren't synonymous, but they're close cousins." All of this makes empathy sound like the softest of soft skills. But here's the

Crisis Raises New Issues for Executive Coaches

Wed, 27 May 2009 10:45:56 -0500

John Baldoni is a leadership consultant, coach, and speaker. He is the author of six books on leadership, including Lead By Example, 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results. 1999 was the year of me! 2009 may be the year of us! At least that is what we may infer from a new survey of seventy executive coaches conducted by WJM Associates, an executive coaching firm located in New York City. As the survey states, "the change [in coaching priorities] seems to reflect the trend of executive coaching being used by organizations to address specific business issues, rather than for individual, general 'self-improvement'." This makes good business sense. 1999 was a good year. It was a time of the new economy when e-commerce was transforming the way people and business interact and operate. Top five coaching objectives 1999 were for "self-awareness, personal goal setting, work/life balance, stress management [and] improve quality

Stop Bankrolling Carbon-Intensive Projects

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:00:52 -0500

The current fiscal crisis on Wall Street reveals what can happen when long-term risk is ignored in the interest of short-term gain. Like subprime mortgages, climate change present far-reaching hidden dangers, and the financial industry should be paying attention. If you're a Wall Street research analyst, bond rating agency, or bank, you should scrub your portfolio of subprime carbon assets that may prove toxic in the years ahead. Cap-and-trade programs are being launched in several regions around the world, which will affect coal plant operators' bottom lines. To avoid a debacle like the one we're facing today, financial players must stop bankrolling carbon-intensive programs. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Short-Term Strategies Don't Work for Wall Street or the Planet," posted by Mindy S. Lubber.

Is Your Company Brave Enough to Survive?

Fri, 22 May 2009 10:30:23 -0500

Freek Vermeulen is an Associate Professor of Strategic & International Management at the London Business School. His blog, Strategy Freek, appears on HarvardBusiness.org. As a professor of strategy, lately I've been getting asked quite a lot, "What can our company do to survive the downturn?" I'm sorry, but the real answer is, "Not a lot." The market is Darwinian: the strongest ones survive. And an economic downturn is like winter in Alaska; many animals can live a happy life in Alaska all through spring, summer, and fall, but when winter comes, it's not a great place to be. It's a much tougher environment — and only the fittest survive. If you're not very strong, if you haven't accumulated much body fat or haven't developed the ability to hibernate, I am afraid it is going to be tough for you, too. "But what can I do to become stronger? Get thicker

Are You a Leader in Denial?

Fri, 22 May 2009 09:00:45 -0500

More than 10 percent of U.S. companies disappear annually -- often owing to their leaders' denial that consumer needs are changing. Henry Ford failed to notice in the late 1920s that consumers wanted more from a car than transportation; theywanted status. His denial gave General Motors a chance to seize market share. In the 1970s, with oil expensive and stagflation rife, the Big Three automakers denied that consumers wanted reliable, affordable transportation, not gas-guzzling status symbols. So the Japanese swept in with precisely what Americans wanted. To stay ahead of competitors, understand that every product or service has a primary purpose (in a car's case, transportation) and secondary purposes (e.g., enjoyment, status). The border between the two inevitably shifts over time, depending on what's happening in the economy and society. Detect when it shifts, and you stand a better chance of offering consumers what they want. Today's Management Tip was

Recession Leadership: On Sinking, Missing, and Rocking the Boat

Wed, 20 May 2009 09:10:33 -0500

Bill Taylor is an agenda-setting writer, speaker, and entrepreneur, and is the cofounder of Fast Company. His blog, Practically Radical, can be found at HarvardBusiness.org. For months, I have argued that a down economy can be a great opportunity for companies to try something different or start something new. I don't mean to minimize the pressures and setbacks that are part of unleashing real change in tough times. If all you've got is a spreadsheet filled with red ink and dire forecasts, it's easy to be paralyzed by fear. But if you've got some leadership nerve, and can muster a few good ideas, then hard times can be great times to separate yourself from the pack and build advantages for years to come. Don't believe me? You can read it for yourself in The New Yorker. In a wonderful column last month, James Surowiecki reminded us of the bold strategic

Become an Authentic Speaker

Wed, 20 May 2009 09:00:46 -0500

You rehearse your speeches thoroughly--including mastering body language. But when you deliver your presentations, your listeners seem unmoved. Why? You're probably coming across as inauthentic. That's because when speakers rehearse body-language elements, they use them after speaking the associated words during an actual speech. Listeners feel something's wrong, because during unstudied conversation, body language emerges before the associated words. So, don't rehearse body language while practicing speeches. Instead, imagine connecting with your audience emotionally. For example, envision what it would be like to make your presentation to someone you're completely comfortable with. During the actual speech, your body language (including smiles and relaxed shoulders) will flow naturally. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "How to Become an Authentic Speaker," by Nick Morgan.

Make Innovation Business as Usual

Mon, 18 May 2009 09:00:35 -0500

To grow, a company must constantly create new offerings. But for many large corporations, innovation is an unnatural act. Why? Resistance stifles new ideas, and silos block the cross-functional cooperation needed to commercialize innovations. One way to dismantle these boundaries is to establish distributed innovation groups (DIGs) that foster innovation throughout your company. DIGs scout for high-potential ideas -- for example, by identifying customer needs and new technologies that could lead to breakthrough offerings. They counsel unit leaders on how to conduct rapid prototyping. And they serve as a home for developing pilot projects. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Teaming Up to Crack Innovation and Enterprise Integration," by James I. Cash, Michael J. Earl, and Robert Morison.