Too Many Bosses Too Few Leaders

BOOK REVIEW

Research & Development Division Federal Department of Town & Country Planning

Rajeev Peshawaria

the author

Rajeev is currently CEO of the ICLIF Leadership & Governance Centre based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which provides executive education, advisory services and executive coaching to professionals and board directors in Asia, Middle East and Africa. He has lived in thirteen cities in seven countries, and has provided learning, coaching and consulting services extensively across the globe.

Rajeev has extensive global experience in all aspects of Human Capital Management, with particular focus in the areas of Leadership Development, Organization Effectiveness, Performance Management, Succession Planning, and Learning & Development. He also specializes in coaching and facilitating senior management teams in their efforts to streamline Business Strategy, Organizational Architecture, and Culture.

content

The book is written in 2 parts with 8 chapters: Part One : Self and Team Leadership

1. ENERGIZE the Self: Self-Leadership 2. ENLIST Co-Leaders: Team Leadership

Part Two : Enterprise Leadership

3. GALVANIZE Large Numbers: Enterprise Leadership 4. B-B-N: Wiring the “Brains” 5. B-B-N: Building Strong “Bones” 6. B-B-N: Developing Cultural “Nerves” 7. Common Threads, Individual Paths 8. Nurturing the Most Valuable Intangible Asset

“Of all the bosses in your career, how many would you call truly great leaders?”

“A truly great leader is someone who brings the best in you, someone you can learn from, who you can respect for who he is, and who genuinely cares about your success and growth”

The problem – too many bosses base their leadership styles on flawed assumptions like “leadership comes from a position of power” and “leadership can be taught through competency models, role plays and formulas.

Most people accept leadership positions without fully understanding what‟s involved, and without asking themselves if leadership is for them. Many underestimate the task of leading.

The result – abundantly visible, too many bosses, but few good leaders around.

“Leadership is the art of harnessing human energy toward the creation of a better future.

There is no guaranteed reward at the end."

ENERGIZE THE WHOLE ENTERPRISE

Maximize success by proactively managing the BRAINS (visions & strategy), BONES (organization design), and NERVES (culture) of your business

ENERGIZE THE CORE TEAM OF CO-LEADERS Meet individual expectations around ROLE, ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT

ENERGIZE YOURSELF

Clearly define your PUPOSE: The results you want to create and your VALUES: The belief system that will guide your actions

ENERGIZE!

ENERGIZE YOURSELF Clearly define your PUPOSE: The results you want to create and your VALUES: The belief system that will guide your actions 1.

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Questions What three to five things are most important to me?

Do I want to: What results do I want to create?

How do I want people to experience me?

What values will guide my behaviour?

What situations cause me to feel strong emotions?

ENERGIZE THE CORE TEAM OF CO-LEADERS Meet individual expectations around ROLE, ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Questions

1. What is my Role?

2. What is my work Environment like?

3. What are the prospects for growth and development?

GALVANIZE THE ENTERPRISE Maximize success by proactively managing the BRAINS (visions & strategy), BONES (organization design), and NERVES (culture) of your business Transition involves 2 changes: 1. How to stop “doing” and start “facilitating” 2. Shift in your personal orientation (“I” to “We”)

Leadership activities that leverage organization: 1. Setting direction (the BRAINS of your business) 2. Designing the organization (the BONES of your business) 3. Creating a culture of excellence (the NERVES of your business)

Success Stories and Failures

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Create strong culture Proactive management of culture is a primary task of leadership, and only if leadership walks the talk and leads from the front does a culture takes hold Decisive decision making

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Obsessed with self-criticism.  By constantly questioning how you do things, you don‟t outflank your competition next quarter. You outflank them next decade. „Kaizen‟ (continuous improvement).  Toyota employees generate over 1 million process improvement ideas every year. Of these, over 90% get implemented.

Example of People With Great Leadership JEFF BEZOS (Founder & CEO of amazon.com) Worldâ€&#x;s first online retail company, survived the dot.com crash, expanded from books to selling almost everything else on the Web, created a marketplace for third-party sellers, become a Fortune 500 company with one of the most recognizable brands of the Internet age, and started a company to explore space travel.

Tom Gardner – CEO of The Motley Fool (Financial Adviser Company) The company that educate the average investor and help him make better decisions about his money. They do this by providing newsletter subscriptions, investment advice, money-management services, creating online investment communities where people learn from one another, and through books and newspaper columns.

A QUICK SURVEY TO GET FEED-BACK ON LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS Setting Direction (BRAINS) 1. We have compelling vision for future success.

2. We have clearly differentiated strategy to achieve our vision.

3. Vision and strategy are so clear that they guide resource allocation and decision making.

4. We have clearly recognizable core capabilities that give us our competitive edge.

5. Everyone in the organization can clearly and consistently articulate our value proposition to clients.

A QUICK SURVEY TO GET FEED-BACK ON LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS Designing The Organization (BONES) 6. We have top-quality talent with the right skills and experience in all key jobs.

7. Our supporting systems and structures encourage desired performance.

8. Roles, responsibilities and decision rights are defined as clearly as possible.

9. Our people and resources are deployed in a way that best supports the execution of our strategy.

10. Formal organization structure enables building and strengthening our core differentiation capabilities.

A QUICK SURVEY TO GET FEED-BACK ON LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS Creating A Culture Of Excellence (NERVES) 11. We have a well-defined cultural philosophy (who we are and what we stand for), and it is well understood by everyone.

12. Our compensation and reward practices encourage desired behaviours in line with the cultural philosophy.

13. Through their actions, our leader proactively create a culture of collaboration and teamwork.

14. We focus both on short-term success and long-term capability building.

15. Our culture is one of listening, learning and constant renewal.

“Leadership is about channelling energy” Self-checklist is a good way to start assessing and defining your own leadership I have clearly desired my purpose – what I want out of life I have set of clearly defined values to guide my behaviour I fully understand my direct reports, expectations and preferences regarding their Role, Environment and Development

My organization has differentiated strategy to achieve our stated vision The strategy is widely understood by everyone in my organization My organization is designed to support the execution of strategy most effectively and efficiently We have right people in all key jobs The culture of my organization promotes long lasting excellence My own behaviour is in accordance with the culture we aspire to build within my organization Rate your level of agreement on a scale 1-5 scale where 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree and 5=strongly agree

Conclusion Three core principles you need to become an extraordinary leader: 1. Great leaders clearly define their purpose and values; 2. Nobody can motivate another person because everyone comes premotivated; 3. A leader's job is not to directly produce results but to create the conditions that will harness the energy of others.

 Are leader “born” or “made”?  Defining your purpose and values should give you the “will” for leadership.  You have to define what leadership means for you !  Muslim believe – Prophet Muhammad SAW (most influential persons in history (Michael H. Hart)