Book Review: Johnson and Oberwise – Developing Global Leaders
Developing Global Leaders by Bob Johnson and Rob Oberwise
With the interdependence of the international community and the drive for the reduction of costs leading to the more and more International outsourcing, the need for culturally aware leaders is more important than ever.
In, Developing Global Leaders: A Guide to Managing Effectively in Unfamiliar Places
As with all the best approaches to leadership development, this book is filled with case studies and practical observations from the first hand experience of both Johnson and Oberwise. Drawing from over 40 years of their experience, this book is an excellent primer and ready reference for the International Leader at any stage of their career.
Some of the key points that Johnson and Oberwise highlight include:
How difficulty it can be to read cultural cues in a culture to which you are new and unaccustomed. You may be communicating disrespect without even realizing it. So the new entrant into an international become educated in the cultural etiquette of your new country. Give people the respect of addressing them the correct way is a good start and goes a long way to starting to build relationships.
This will allow you to match communication styles to the incumbent workforce and so reduce the likelihood that you’ll cause offense.
Once such area is in underestimating the capability of the people that are now your new senior team. In a world where international players often have high levels of academic and business education, experience trumps learning. Understanding the capability of your team and drawing from your own experience to guide them provides a strong lever to build relations and lead your team to success.
To gain early leverage learn about the influence of the key people in your workforce and harness the power of the ‘local expert’ from your native employees. This will buy you support and credibility very quickly.
Watching how that ‘local expert’ operates will also help you identify and use the motivation techniques that fit the culture.
If you have ever traveled internationally, you’ll have experienced how attempting the local language can break down barriers with the local very quickly. So learn a few phrases as it gives the impression that you committed to the team. It will then generate and inspire their commitment to you.
As a general approach to working overseas, Johnson and Oberwise suggest you cultivate a ‘QSR’ style. Question, Simplify and Repeat rather than order, complicate and only say it once. This ensures you have the best chance of communicating clearly
The Importance of the ‘Tribe‘
Cultural differences are often the result of tribal thinking. This is obvious in the middle East with tribal affiliations often being more important than individual needs. In other countries a caste system trumps both authority and individual capability. Often outside connections can influence inside decisions.
So understanding or renegotiating the boundaries can be an important first step in establishing your leadership role.
‘Yes’ may not mean ‘Yes’
Johnson and Oberwise highlight a Shades of ‘yes’ where Internationally a ‘yes’ can sometimes mean ‘no’.
For example, in Japan, you may ask for something that gets the response…‘That might be difficult’. You must interpret this as ‘That’s impossible and I have lost face because you have asked me something I cannot deliver’.
In response to this level of ambiguity, Johnson and Oberwise give us 5 ways to read a ‘yes’ to assess how real a ‘yes’ it is.
‘Face’
The importance of honor and social standing cannot be overestimated internationally. Helping others save face is possibly the most important skill a leader can develop. It requires you to think at a much higher level, considering not only the business solution but the social and cultural impact.
Ambiguity
An international leader will need to develop a much higher tolerance for ambiguity and situations where displays of emotion is a business tactic and can lead to volatile situations. Control of such situations is a new skill the leader will have to become comfortable with.
Developing an International Instinct
Johnson and Oberwises final chapter encourages the new international leader to refine their instincts and then trust their inner compass. Tailor you instincts to the national and local culture and learn from those who have developed the skill and knowledge in their time immersed in the local environment.
Conclusion
This is the perfect book for the leader that is facing their first international assignment of for the seasoned leader about to move to a new region or country. Case studies provide interest and illustrate some detailed observations as to the potential problems a new international leader may encounter. A great primer and resource for leaders in an international arena.
Buy from Amazon
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Subscribe to the comments for this postBook Review: Alan E Shelton – Awakened Leadership
Awakened Leadership by Alan E Shelton
In a time when leadership is more important than ever, a book that helps you find the leader within yourself is essential reading. Awakened Leadership is one of those books.
John Paul Satre in ‘Being and Nothingness’ noted that we have a ‘divided self’. We behave differently when we are alone as compared to when we are with other people. We change our behaviour to meet the expectation of how other people think we should live our lives
Alan E Shelton, in his book Awakened leadership seems to have identified a similar concept in the leadership domain. We tend to believe that leadership is about what we do and what we think others believe is leadership. We change our behaviour to act like the leaders that we think other people expect us to be.
Shelton, however suggests that a more effective leadership approach is to be the person you are and let your inner leader shine through. In any situation, if we act from our natural character and based on our strengths and attributes, we expand into a position of leadership appropriate to our ability.
Shelton has arrived at this insight through a very unusual life story. He has assessed a series of his own life events and personal situations and treated them as case studies. And investigating those case studies he has discovered not only his own leadership ability but given us all both a sign post and permission to find our own leadership style.
From a story early in his life about the urge to excel and win a precious red hatchet to his reaction to a variety of organised religions, Shelton’s life is explored and contrasted with other case studies to help the reader explore their own leadership skills.
A key observation on this journey is that Awakened Leadership is a recognition that the only stable thread that weaves itself through your leadership ability is the internal peace that you contribute to the fray. The very idea echoes the Kipling poem ‘If’ and indicates the profound level of leadership insight Shelton may have uncovered.
A strong book on leadership and individual discovery and a valuable addition to any leader’s library.
Amazon: Awakened Leadership: Beyond Self-Mastery
Homepage: alanshelton.com
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7 Tips for Turning Prospects into Clients
Folk are wary of sales people. Television and the media are filled with examples of sleazy sales people it is no wonder that sales has a bad reputation.
As a result, very few people like being sold to. The paradox is that most people actually like to buy. We even have a term for that feeling of happiness that we get when we buy something we want…”Retail Therapy”.
So as a sales person, we need to think about ways in which we can persuade a prospect to “buy” rather than sell to them.
Here are 7 Tips for helping you turn prospects into clients:
1. Reduce fear by eliminating the doubt in you prospect’s mind. Ensure that they understand everything about your proposal and how it works.
2. Ask the sort of questions that will help you understand the buyer’s preference. Email me to find out the 9 magic questions for sales success.
3. Focus on what the prospect finds interesting in your proposition. Then build the story of how your product or service can solve the prospect’s problems.
4. Become a walking example of the benefits of your produce. Be a “product of the product” and let the prospect know you believe in your product.
5. Remember to mention what the product won’t do as this can reduce the feeling of buyer’s remorse.
6. Make prospects feel they are important to you, build the relationship before you move towards a sale.
7. Don’t cold call – Get referrals. They are a tacit indication that you are offering quality to your prospects and every referral call is a much warmer call so you are more likely to be positive in the face of the prospect.
Selling is a great career and like any career, you need to understand the rules and how to be professional to get the most from what you do.
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Staying Focused in a World of Chaos and Distraction
With the distractions that face us everyday, being focused is one of the most effective competitive advantages we can all develop to stand out from our peers.
The ability to hold a laser like focus on individual tasks will allow you to get much more done and so discriminate you from the crowd.
There is no such thing as corporate Ritalin for the executive or for leaders and so here are 5 ways to increase your personal focus.
1. Work out what it is you need to achieve. Have absolute clarity what ‘a good job looks like’ and what tasks will get you there. Break big projects down into small, short duration tasks that you can focus on and then tick off quickly.
2. Get activities into your diary. Setting time aside for activities ensures you have at least some time allocated to the tasks from point 1 above and so you’re more likely to achieve them.
3. Approach the task properly. Have the materials, information and space to complete the task. When you start to work, you are not them spending scheduled time tracking down the resources for the task, merely working to complete it.
4. Exclude Interruptions. Turn off the phone, the email alerts and close the door. If you do get interrupted, then politely ask the person to come back at a set time in the future. Your colleagues and staff will soon learn to either be disciplined about using your time or they’ll solve the problem themselves.
5. Just Do It. Procrastination is the thief of time. SO is social media. There are many temptations drawing our attention so ensure that if you need to Tweet-Blog-Link-Face-Boo-Tube then you’ve scheduled time for it and don’t allow it to take you away from your focus.
If you are doing the right things consistently and persistently you will be successful. If your focus when you on doing those things and only those things when you should be doing them, success will come much more quickly.
Dare to Aspire
Book Review: Darcy Eikenberg – How to Put Your Superpowers to Work
How to Put Your Superpowers to Work
Using your strengths as a way to maximise your success is hardly a new concept. Authors such as Rath and Buckingham have long championed this concept with books like Strengthsfinder
What Darcy Eikenberg has achieved with her book “How to Put Your Superpowers to Work” has exploited and extended this work and created a series of exercises that help us find and develop those super powers. She has also given us the tools to be able to exploit these superpowers for the benefit of our professional lives and or personal success.
Key to this is Eikenberg’s idea that there are 3 keys to exploiting your strengths:
Clarity – understanding deeply what it is that makes use powerful, what separates us from others and how to apply them.
Confidence – as we begin to know ourselves and understand the origin, scope and depth of our power,then generate the self confidence to able to apply them.
Control – all we can control is what we think, say and do. Once we know where our powers lie, then we can focus on working to engage those powers with intention and volition.
Eikenberg then goes on to outline a series of exercises that help us discover those superpowers. These exercises increase your level of introspection and self awareness. This leaves you with a better informed view of not only where you think your powers lie but also where other think of you as effective.
Eikenberg’s book then gives us a set of tools as to how to exploit and apply those powers for the benefit of our careers and personal development.
For example, one of the ways in which we “show ourselves” to others is in our behaviour and what we say. Now that you have discovered your superpowers, you’ll now need to let others know how to get the best from you. Craft a few phrases to advertise our newly discovered superpowers and connect more on a human level, rather than just using the tools of social media.
These simple approaches will raise you profile and allow others to see you as more effective and more attuned to your own strengths.
Conclusion
With this book Eikenberg offers us the opportunity to create a revolting or people exploiting their power. A red cape revolution of people getting more from themselves and more from life. The book is rich in tools to help us exploit our strengths and for those self-development junkies, Eikenberg has a content and tool rich website. So get the book, visit the site and work to find and exploit your own Superpowers.
Book Review: Shut Up and Listen – Theobald and Cooper
At a time when our technology allows us to communicate so readily, why is it that we feel so isolated, confused and poorly informed than at any other time?
So a book that provides leaders, managers and we mere mortals with a clear description of how to communicate with clarity and impact is more than overdue.
Shut Up and Listen: Communication with Impact provides that clarity in how to get your point across easily and simply no matter the medium.
Theobald and Cooper have demonstrated exactly how to communicate well, not only in the various chapters and sections within the book but also in the elegance in the fabric of the writing itself. Kept to clear succinct prose, Theobald and Cooper deal not only with the Sherman strategy of writing but also with the tactics of how to craft a message.
Littered with examples, case studies, metaphors And comments, the authors leverage not only their considerable skill but also the knowledge and observations of and expert panel; key people and captains of industry that know the importance of clear communications. Easily read and simple to follow guidelines and examples, ensure the reader is neither bored nor confused.
In Section 1, the authors explain key revelations that often influence the quality of communications. These are a list of factors that have an impact on the parity and impact of a message.
These factors include:
- The need for directness
- The power of story telling
- The importance of passion in delivery
Section also explores a series of communications styles that we might each use, almost like a mask when we communicate. Although there are several styles here, they are decidedly on the negative IDE and appear as a less than comprehensive list. Still thy are useful lenses though which o view our individual communication attempts.
Section 2 is very different to section 1 and is very much a comprehensive manual on how to communicate. The key point is to ensure the message received by the other person is exactly what was meant. It is also important that the information is presented in a form and format that is readily absorbed and understood.
The areas addressed include most of the contemporary communications channels such as email and twitter as well as the more familiar phone, writing and reading.
The main areas discussed are:
- Getting the most from your reading – we often miss much and learn little from how we read now and often read ever hits our desk without discrimination.
- Writing with clarity – for the reader rather than for us.
- Persuasion – in it’s many forms.
- Writing for email, text, web and the new technologies – exploiting these media rather than suffering from them.
- How to listen more effectively – rather than merely waiting to talk.
- How to talk – to communicate rather than just filled the gap in the noise.
- First impressions, body language and culture – we communicate as much with our approach and behaviour as with our words.
Richly filled with examples and comment, this section is very much a manual on “how to communicate with impact”.
Section 3 seems almost out of place in this book. While the rest of he text seems well researched and presented, this section seems almost a last minute addition to fill in areas of application that may have been better placed earlier in the text or integrated into the main body.
Theobald and Cooper discuss the importance of planning how we communicate rather than doing it unconsciously. The authors then slip into a discussion on basic productivity, to do lists and planning your day which is decidedly off topic.
The last chapter, the last 4 pages in fact, discuss 6 “strategies” on how to apply the lessons presented earlier.
These are merely guidelines or factors to consider rather than a communications strategy and actually detract from an otherwise strong discussion on how to communicate with impact.
This shouldn’t put the reader off this book however as the value of the book really is in the second section. This really is the meat in the sandwich, sections 1 and 3 being wrappers around a very tasty filling.
Overall, this is a clear and useful book helping leaders, managers and we mere mortals craft our communication for clarity and impact, no matter the medium.
Certainly a worthwhile addition to the leader’s library.
Rated: 7/10
Your Unique Life Purpose
In Marketing and Business, there is a concept of USP the Unique Selling Proposition
If a business or product deserves a USP then surely you do too.
Mary Dunbar suggested that ‘We each have a unique and important way. It is our privilege and adventure to discover our own special light.”
So what is your ULP? Your Unique Life Purpose?
This is your definite life purpose. What you are born to do and how you can add most value.
One of my heroes, Earnest Shackleton has a ULP of conquering the South pole and the Antarctic Continent and he returned time and again to achieve that goal.
Finding your ULP can be difficult and the search is fraught with difficulties and blind alleys
Firstly, don’t confuse your job with your purpose.
Your job doesn’t define you…Sometimes that is difficult, but remember that no matter how much your manager likes you, if he or she needed to, your would be made redundant! If you identify yourself as just your job, that shock will be emotionally very painful.
what do you really want to be doing? Perhaps your job funds your purpose or could your purpose be something that can fund your life?
Secondly, don’t confuse your relationship with your purpose
Your relationship should be aligned to your purpose but not be your purpose. Support is important, are you getting it?
Align your goals align be to your purpose.
Consider the ‘purpose’ of SW airlines – ‘To be the cheapest airline in the US’
This allowed everyone in the team to set appropriate goals.
If it didn’t make the company cheaper, then it wasn’t a valid goal and was discarded…
”Do we serve salads in flight?”
“Will it make us cheaper?”
“No”
“Then NO”
Your purpose should be the same…ask the question ‘Will this goal help me achieve my purpose?’ Yes / No?
Your purpose doesn’t need to be to big, too complex or too challenging…Just yours!
So how will you find your purpose? A little introspection will help us out here.
What 5 things do you love?
- I love to ……….
- I love to ……….
- I love to ……….
- I love to ……….
- I love to ……….
What 5 things are you really good at?
- I am really good at ………
- I am really good at ………
- I am really good at ………
- I am really good at ………
- I am really good at ………
Alternatively, what would financial security do for you?
If you won the lottery, what 3 things would you do?
Use these thoughts to craft your Unique Life Purpose.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can work on that over the years ahead.
So what is your ULP?
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Increasing Your Business Efficiency
There is a fairly famous quote from David Allen of Getting Things Done
‘There is no need to have a thought more than once unless you want to!’
That to me is the essence of business efficiency.
Never spend time and effort solving a problem that you or someone else has already solved.
Don’t reinvent the wheel!
So having solved the problem, create a system, a process or a procedure to capture the essence of solving that problem so that you can teach it to others.
Here are a few areas that you can consider for developing processes, procedures and systems for in your business:
- Structuring a job advertisement
- Conducting an interview
- Introducing your business to potential customers
- Explaining your vision to potential investors
- Hosting a meeting
- Crafting the minutes of a meeting
- Re-ordering your supplies
- Purchasing your supplies
- Changing your supplies into products (operations)
- Processing your mail
- Processing your email
- Storing your reference material
- Managing your time
- Developing your knowledge
- Developing your staff
- Paying your bills
- Planning your strategy
For more information on how to create processes and procedures to develop your business, read Michael Gerber’s book E-myth Revisited
Create systems, get efficient and effective and constantly look to improve.
Dare to Aspire
5 Tips for Motivation
Motivation is the key to getting stuff done through team work.
A motivated team builds upon the strengths of the group and thrives. Whereas a demotivated team struggles to achieve anything.
As a leader, it is your responsibility to motivate the team.
As Napoleon states, ‘the leader is a dealer in hope’ and hope is one of the most motivating factors in life.
Here are 5 tips to help you motivate your team.
1. Set clear achievable goals – Your people need to know what a good job looks like so that they can then do the things they need to do to achieve it. they also need to be abel to measure their progress. there is little more demotivating when you are hill walking as to reach a false peak and realise there are still several miles to go!
2. Support your team with mentoring coaching and resources – Your team will need the tools and materials to get the job done.
3. Give praise often – A child learns to walk one step at a time and is praised for every step. As you rarely see adults crawling to work, this approach seems to work!
4. Listen to the team – they are closer to the task and the problems so they are your eyes and ears, your spies in the project.
5. Use incentives and deliver them – praise often, pay up on promises and celebrate successes and you will build a culture that enjoys achieving!
Look for more, as motivation is a very personal thing and this means you will need to know your team.
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Applying Guiding principles to Your Business
As individuals we are a product of our person values and behaviours.
You recognise a good person by the things they say they believe in and the actions they take.
If someone says they value thrift and live in a modest home then we see them living that value.
If someone says they believe in green principles but drive their 4 wheel drive 1 mile to the shops then there is an in-congruency that makes us question that person’s statements in the future.
In your business, guiding principles can be useful in 2 ways.
Firstly, they can helping in making business decisions.
If your guiding principles include, ‘We apply green principles whenever possible’ then perhaps you instigate a ‘bike to work’ scheme or a ‘car share’ policy to reduce the environmental impact of your employee’s commute.
Secondly, your business principles can add to your marketing message.
The Apple company aims to explore a better consumer experiences and have this embodies in their guiding principle and motto of ‘Think Different’.
So what guiding principles does your business have?
Perhaps some of these principles are ones you can aspire to have:
- We contribute to the local economy
- We provide an environment where our staff can learn and develop
- We delivery on the promises we make
- We operate with a minimum of environmental impact
- We aim for a win-win solution for both our customers and our suppliers
- We plan for the long term growth of both the business and the environment
What will your guiding principles be?
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