The Recruiting Animal

George Bush, Manager

According to David Frum, George Bush was most interested in hiring people who were submissive personalities. Then he gave these timid souls huge amounts of personal responsibility. The result was a disaster.

What he really needed were people who did not break under pressure and the only way to recruit and retain them is to give them the opportunity to serve a cause not a person.

Bush demanded a very personal kind of loyalty.... he tested that loyalty with constant petty teasing, sometimes verging on the demeaning.

These little abuses... weed out strong personalities and... build an inner circle defined by a willingness to accept absolute subordination....

...weak personalities break under pressure. And since a White House is the world’s highest-pressure environment, a wise president will seek to staff it with strong personalities.

To recruit and hold strong personalities, a president must must offer a compelling vision and ideal — a cause that people can serve without feeling servile.

Leadership and Culture

The egalitarian tradition of Quaker Philadelphia discouraged aristocrats from rising above their peers to assume positions of leadership.

Philadelphia has never produced a leader of national stature because the Quaker ethos lacked "the arrogance of authority."

Conversely, the Puritan culture of the Boston Brahmins, which is hierarchical and authoritarian, has spawned US presidents, Supreme Court justices, renowned statesmen, and legions of academic and literary greats.

Source: Sammy Preston

Comment: In Israel, most of the leadership has come from the kibbutz movement. A kibbutz is a democratically-run collective farm that discourages hierarchy and authoritarianism and elitism.

Bad Tempered Boss

Can a hot-tempered man make a good CEO?

Quotations from "Senator Hothead"

"F--- you," to Sen. John Cornyn.

"Only an a------ would put together a budget like this," to Sen. Pete Domenici

"I'm calling you a f------ jerk!" to Sen. Chuck Grassley.

"F--- you. I know more about this than anyone else in the room," to a meeting on immigration legislation

"Thanks for the question, you little jerk," (said in humour) to a high school student wondering if McCain was too old to be president.

Cornyn: "He almost immediately apologized to me."
Domenici: "I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger.''
Grassley: described his relations with McCain as "friendly, but not close.''

Don't Add Value To Others' Ideas

Collaboration weakens commitment.

A junior staffer comes up with an idea. He's very excited about it because he thinks it's great. When he presents it to his manager, the boss says: "That is a good idea. Why don’t you add this to it?”

Your little tweak might not add that much to the quality of the idea but it will put a damper on the little punk's enthusiasm as his ownership and control of the idea is diminished. And that's important because the execution depends as much on the enthusiasm of the executor as it does on the quality of the idea.

So, don't be in a rush to help or show everyone how smart you are.

Source: Marshall Goldsmith

Leadership Styles

A Leadership Style is defined by how decisions are made.

Power-Mad Dictator

Makes all decisions. If she is a true tyrant, she often makes unrealistic demands, takes no feedback and disciplines severely.

The Benevolent Dictator puts on a more pleasant demeanour, uses more subtle discipline and displays some openess to feedback though she might not take it seriously. (Authoritarian)

Expert Know-it-All

This guy sees himself as most qualified. As a result, he does not trust others to make decisions. Task-oriented not people-oriented. Critical of differing opinions. Competitive, defensive, rarely gives recognition. (Authoritative)

Presidential

Makes final decisions after consulting people with special expertise. She recognizes others, delegates but keeps veto power. (Consultative)

Player Coach

Team members make decisions. Leader is coach/player. Focus on stimulating creativity creates culture of innovation. (Participative)

A good leader uses all styles.

From Weird Guy

Those Who Can't Do Should Teach

The second-rate salesperson should be a manager says Wendell Williams.

A top salesperson is a child, a bottomless pit of craving for ego-validation from sales and public recognition for her victories. She operates on instinct like an animal and will say anything necessary to get her prey.

She doesn't care too much about product knowledge because facts are not the main basis of her sales. And, someone who acts without conscious thought cannot teach anyone else to do what she does.

The second-rate salesman, on the other hand, wants to help his client. He doesn't tell the client what to do, he doesn't pitch; he asks a lot of questions and uses product knowledge to help the client make a well-informed decision.

This consultant-type sales person does not have a ravenous hunger so his priority is solving customers' problems, not persuading them to buy. And, he isn't a natural so he has to think about what he does and, because of that, can explain it to someone else. Also, being less of an egotist, he can enjoy letting his students shine.

Tony Blair Explains Iraq

A great article by David Aaronovitch about how and why Britain went to war.

Bush had phoned Blair two days earlier to tell him that Britain could stand aside if it meant saving Blair’s premiership. “I said rather than lose your Government,” Bush told me, “be passive, you know we’ll go without you if need be.”

Blair refused. I asked him why. His answer was impassioned. “Because I think this is the most fundamental struggle of our time and there is only one place to be which is in the thick of it and trying to sort it out.”

"If there’s anything I regret. . . it is . . . not having laid out for people in a clearer way what I saw as the profound nature of this struggle and the fact that it was going to go on for a generation.”

And for once his conclusion was, very uncharacteristically, gloomy. “The enemy that we are fighting I am afraid has learnt . . . that our stomach for this fight is limited and I believe they think they can wait us out. Our determination has got to match theirs and our will has got to be stronger than theirs and at the moment I think it is probably not.”

Hat Tip: normblog

Give Slackers Slack Says Seth Godin

Give 'em an inch mentality is wrong.

We overreact to slightly bad behavior because we worry, "If we don't slam this door shut, then everyone will do it..."

Hey, says Seth, you're not setting a precedent every time you interact with someone. Wait till things get really bad then come down on them hard.

If I’m allowed to take something and get away with it, I’ll come back and take some more. -- Aayan Hirsi Ali

Open-Book Management

A revolution in productivity would occur if companies asked employees to:

1. Look for projects that could help the business
2. Build a business case for their ideas
3. Take responsibility for the implementation (including its budget)
4. Have a financial stake in the bottom-line.

In order to understand how their projects might affect the business the employees would have to have a complete financial picture of the company.

Steve Strauss, USA Today, Hat Tip: Maureen Sharib

How Important Is A Leader?

Cuba seems to be running as per usual without Fidel at the helm. But the idea that he is still alive and well appears to be of huge importance. Witness this article showing him in a track suit shaking hands with the president of Angola.

Am I right about this, that his being alive has practical importance? And, if so, does this have any parallel in business? For instance, if another mythic figure like Warren Buffet became so infirm that he could not run his business personally would it make a difference if he was occasionally seen at the office in his pajamas?