The Art Of Magazine - Volume 17

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Why Your Best Productivity Hacks Still Come Up Short Brigid Schulte

The Power of Self-Aware Teams Dr. Tasha Eurich

The Leadership Rethink Vince Molinaro

The Importance of Trust Amanda Lang FALL 17 $7.95 CDN Price: $7.95

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VOLUME 17 | TheArtOf.com

Bringing knowledge to life!

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CONTENTS 09

LESSONS FROM OUR STAGE Neil Pasricha, Susan David, Jay Baer and Troy Carter

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LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO BE UNHAPPY AT WORK Annie McKee

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AN INTERVIEW WITH Brian Fetherstonhaugh

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THE IMPACT OF MENTORS Sarah Miller Wright

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THE POWER OF SELF-AWARE TEAMS Dr. Tasha Eurich

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN The Art Of

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WHY YOUR BEST PRODUCTIVITY HACKS STILL COME UP SHORT Brigid Schulte

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THIS I KNOW: IF THEY FEEL, THEY BELIEVE Terry O’Reilly

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LEADERSHIP: DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH Rowena Chan and Nupi Zubair

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WHAT’S NEXT FOR VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

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THE POWER OF SELF-AWARE TEAMS

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THIS I KNOW: IF THEY FEEL, THEY BELIEVE

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WHY YOUR BEST PRODUCTIVITY HACKS STILL COME UP SHORT

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HOW TO HANDLE CONFLICT IN YOUR TEAM Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

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WHY OBSERVATION WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP SKILL IN THE ERA OF SMALL DATA Martin Lindstrom

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DEAR CREATIVES: MARKETING IS YOUR JOB Ryan Holiday

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AN INTERVIEW WITH Natali Altshuler

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THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST Amanda Lang

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IS YOUR VOICE THE FUTURE OF MARKETING? Mitch Joel

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HERE FOR THE HEALTH OF ALBERTANS Alberta Blue Cross

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THE LEADERSHIP RETHINK Vince Molinaro

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THE ART OF BRIDGING THE GENERATION GAP IN THE WORKPLACE Peter Irwin

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PORTRAITS OF LEADERSHIP VISION, PERSPECTIVES… AND PEOPLE! Éric Bujold, Meghan Meger and Alexandre Viau

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HOW FORWARD THINKING LEADERS MAKE PRODUCTIVITY METRICS WORK ADP Canada

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THE PEOPLE SIDE Steve Gilbert

Achieve your aspirations.

AT TD, building great teams is our priority and expanding leadership opportunities for women plays a vital role. We have a strong network of thousands of women across Canada who are committed to connecting, encouraging and advising each other. We also support our employees as they balance responsibilities at work, in the community and at home.

“I believe that, as women, we have everything we need to be a smashing success. But the right attitude is essential to achieving our dreams.

Let’s focus on the opportunities, not the barriers, and go get it!”

Colleen Johnston, Group Head Direct Channels, Technology, Marketing and Real Estate

Where confidence and capability meet opportunity.

Year after year, TD is acknowledged on lists of Canada’s Best Places to Work. In 2016, TD was named as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for the fifth year in a row. By recognizing your individual career goals, TD provides you with unique opportunities to grow, contribute and make a difference in every area of your life.

Find out more at TD.com/WIL

Founders’ Letter Creativity is the ability to see and share what others don’t Creativity in business once referred to those ‘creatives’ who toiled long hours in advertising or similar design fields. Creative departments, hand-maidens to powerful media departments, used innovative messaging to power persuasion and differentiate brands. Yet creativity raised eyebrows with the numbers people who demanded creative accountability. How does it work? Will it move the dial? If it’s not science, what is it and how can it guide decision-making?

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein For the past decade, technology-driven innovation has had a profound impact on how business is shaping change in the way we think about creativity. Iconic leaders such as Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk showed us that genius in creative leadership is about imagining the possibilities through an openness to expressiveness and exploration, to enhance culture, productivity and supercharge competitiveness.

The idea that creativity can serve all aspects of industry comes as no surprise to the romanticized ideals of the Silicon Valley start-up; the birthplace of business creativity and the effectiveness of collaboration.

Creativity is now seen as a business advantage that begins with organizational or process innovations rather than just the buzzy product or service launch.

At The Art Of, we embrace the way that creativity shapes leadership, management, organization, collaboration, and innovation. Advancing creativity in business means that theory and practice need to come together under the tutelage of inspirational management. Learning how to use creativity to create a dynamic, innovative culture is the sweet spot sought today by insightful leadership. Challenging traditional thinking, and learning how stories, ideas, discoveries and collaborative moments fit into business will drive achievement and success for the businesses of today … and tomorrow.

CO-FOUNDERS Scott Kavanagh Christopher Novais

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Joey Van Massenhoven

HOW TO REACH US The Art of Productions Inc. 46 Sherbourne Street 3rd Floor Toronto, Ontario Canada M5A 2P7

ADVERTISING & SUBSCRIPTIONS Visit: www.theartof.com/magazine Email: magazine@theartof.com Call: 866-992-7863 (In U.S.A and Canada) Write to The Art Of: Subscription Services 46 Sherbourne Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 2P7 Our subscribers list is occasionally made available to carefully selected firms whose products or services may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive information from these firms, please let us know at privacy@theartof.com or send your request along with your mailing label to The Art of Productions Inc, 46 Sherbourne Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 2P7

Scott Kavanagh & Christopher Novais Co-Founders, The Art Of

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Top 4 Lessons from

Neil Pasricha

1. Be Happy First Neil Pasricha shared three secrets to finding happiness and success. The first secret is that often we are told that if we do great work, it will lead to big success, and then we will be happy. Psychologically proven, this is backwards and we need to be happy first. After 300 positive psychology studies, Neil says that when we are happy we are 31% more productive, have 37x higher sales, are more engaged, are 40% more likely to get a promotion in the next year and tend to live ten years longer.

2. The “Big 5” to Happiness To become happy, perform the “Big 5”. Any of these done for just 20 minutes for 20 days will have results: three brisk nature-walks a week, journaling, performing five conscious acts of kindness a week, meditating, and five gratitudes a week.

3. Automate, Regulate, Effectuate, Debate The second secret is to draw a matrix of time and importance for the 295 decisions we make every single day. Decisions that are low time and low importance, automate (i.e. make extra dinner so that you have lunch made for you the next day). Decisions that are low importance but high time, regulate (i.e. devote the first Monday of every month to house maintenance). Things that are high importance and low time, effectuate (i.e. picking up your kids). Decisions of high importance and high time is where we have now made more room for debate. We also now have time to apply the first secret.

Turn your biggest fear into your biggest success.

4. Action Leads to Motivation The third secret is to turn your biggest fear into your biggest success.

We think there are three steps to everything we do: we can do it, we want to do it, and so we do it. We think that capability and motivation leads to action, but action actually leads to motivation. It is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking, than think yourself into a new way of acting.

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Top 4 Lessons from

Susan David

1. Emotional In-agility Our thoughts, emotions and expectations of what we want from ourselves and others, ends up not being met by the environment we are in, so we conflate our stimulus response by shutting down and being quiet. This is a compilation between our stimulus, our thoughts and our stories that get in the way of who we want to be as leaders and people.

2. Intention vs. Reality When faced with cognitive overload from change and uncertainty, our automatic human bias is to become competitive instead of being collaborative, and transactional instead of relational. When we are faced with ambiguity, we default to system one thinking.

3. System One Thinking We tend to make snap judgements based on past experiences, ruled by habits or emotions. It is automatic, fast and unconscious which requires little energy or attention. This is prone to biases and systematic thinking.

This is also known as ‘trained incapacity’ by expert Thorstein Veblen.

Psychologists found that patients with poor physical appearance were given different categories of diagnosis than those dressed well. Our emotions are data driven, so you need to step out and rise above your emotions. Notice them but do not let them rule you.

4. Social Contagion If you are on a diet and the stranger next to you on a plane buys candy, you are 70% more likely to buy candy as well. Example: If one person is stressed, we all get stressed.

The negative emotions of your team will get carried over and you will start seeing growth defects over time. The leader has the greatest ability to affect the team.

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We tend to make snap judgements based on past experiences, ruled by habits or emotions.

Top 4 Lessons from

Jay Baer

1. Praise is overrated Complaints are the raw materials that foster improvement. Receiving feedback and criticism shows us where we can be better. Praise keeps us stagnant. The customers that like you the least are the most important.

2. Find more ways to get criticism Always answer every customer in every channel ever time (and in a timely manner). The customer may not always be right, but they should always be heard. Complaints aren’t problems for businesses; ignoring complaints is the problem.

3. Customer service is a spectator sport Smash peoples’ expectations all the time. The tech shift is making complaints public. Prospective customers watch those online interactions. The revenue from spectators is larger than the original person complaining to the business so set an example with your actions.

4. Be empathetic every time Since people can see how your business handles interactions, watch your language and be timely. People don’t want to wait, nor do they just want to be another number in a queue. Every person in your company should be trained with an eye on providing customer service.

The customer may not always be right, but they should always be heard.

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Top 4 Lessons from

Troy Carter

1. You can’t fall off of the floor Truthfully, there’s nowhere to go but up. It is possible to boot strap a company, but you have to be resilient and build community. They will be the ones to help you fight your battles.

2. Work past the gatekeepers Social media created artistic democracy. Just like when YouTube gave unprecedented access to music to audiences everywhere, the shift from ownership to access is very telling. This is where the future is at for consumers, so don’t get left behind.

3. Start smelling the fish Ever hear the saying, “if you work in a fish store long enough you stop smelling the fish”? When you stay in the same place for too long you get too comfortable and too complacent. Your bubble isn’t where industry is happening. The revolutionaries who can step out and be curious are the ones who will lead the way.

4. It’s ok to be uncomfortable In fact, the most transformative ideas of our time are usually the ones that made us feel uncomfortable or uneasy. Be humble enough to ask questions because the ideas you don’t understand immediately might just be the genius ones. You won’t always be able to compete with the big players so look for potential and make room for development.

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if you work in a fish store long enough you stop smelling the fish.

# hellowork Culture – some assembly required.

Building a workplace people are excited about requires finding people you can get excited about. That’s why ADP offers insight-driven recruiting and talent management services to help your company create a work culture that is one of a kind.

Visit adp.ca/hellowork and see how we can provide a more human resource for your business.

ADP and the ADP logo are registered trademarks of ADP, LLC. ADP A more human resource is a service mark of ADP, LLC. Copyright © 2017 ADP Canada Co. MCHRDPUB0917E

HR Solutions | Payroll | Good Job

LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO BE UNHAPPY AT WORK Excerpted from How to Be Happy at Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope and Friendship (Harvard Business Review Press)

By Annie McKee

Life really is too short to be unhappy at work. Yet far too many of us aren’t even close to being content—much less delighted—with our work or our workplaces. Instead, we are stressed and exhausted. We can’t remember what we used to love about our jobs.

Colleagues we trust and respect are few and far between, and half the time it doesn’t even feel safe to be ourselves.

All of this is spilling over into our personal lives. We’re having a hard time sleeping or have given up on exercise.

Relationships are suffering, too. We feel trapped and struggle to see how things will get better. No one wants to live like this. Still, a lot of us give up and settle for less-than-fulfilling jobs. We tell ourselves that we’re not supposed to be happy at work; that’s for other parts of life. We try to cope by avoiding that bad manager or getting that stubborn, annoying person off the team. We shut down, give less, and fantasize about

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telling someone off. Sometimes we run away from the job, the company, even our careers. But running away isn’t going to make things better. To be happy, I’ve discovered, you’ve got to run toward something: meaningful work; a hopeful, inspiring vision of your future; and good relationships with the people you work with every day.

Happiness Begins with Purpose and Meaningful Work We are wired to seek meaning in everything we do. It’s what makes us human. In some cases, it’s what keeps us alive. In his classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Austrian psychiatrist and holocaust survivor Victor Frankl shows that even in the worst of circumstances, purpose, hope, and connection are what keep us going. True, his story of finding good in evil and pursuing a noble purpose in spite of the horrors of life in

concentration camps is nothing short of heroic. Yet, as Frankl so eloquently shows us, we strive to find meaning in our day-to-day lives no matter where we are or what conditions we’re subjected to. As you have probably discovered, you can easily lose sight of what you value and ignore the aspects of yourself that matter most to you, especially when you’re struggling with dysfunctional organizations, bad bosses, and stress.

You’re then likely to put meaning and purpose on the back burner or wait for someone else to give you a compelling reason to love your job. Couple all this with the outdated but pervasive notions that personal values don’t belong in the workplace, and you have a recipe for disengagement and unhappiness. You need conviction to insist on living your purpose at work. As you will see in this book, the effort is worthwhile. Having a sound, clear, and compelling purpose helps you be stronger, more resilient,

It could be a young girl dreaming of what she will be when she grows up, or a graduate starting off their career, or a middle manager aspiring to reach the senior executive level— they will all set their sights higher when they have someone to look up to.

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpted from How to Be Happy at Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope and Friendship. Copyright 2017. Annie McKee. All rights reserved.

and able to tap into your knowledge and talents. As you discover which parts of your job are truly fulfilling—and which are soul destroying—you will be in a better position to make good choices about how you spend your time and what you pursue in your career.

Hope’s Contribution to Happiness Like meaning, hope is an essential part of our human experience. This is as true at work as in any corner of our lives. Hope, optimism, and a vision of a future that is better than today help us rise above trials and deal with setbacks. Hope fuels energy, creativity, and resilience. Hope makes it possible to navigate complexity, deal with pressure, prioritize, and make sense of our crazy organizations and work lives. And hope inspires us to reach our potential— something virtually everyone wants for themselves. Unfortunately, we often assume that our organization’s vision is enough to keep us hopeful and focused on the future. I’ve rarely seen this to be the case. An organization’s vision, however inspiring, is for the organization—not you. Even the most noble organizational vision seldom speaks to our most cherished, personal hopes and dreams. To be truly happy at work, we need to see how our workplace responsibilities and opportunities fit with a personal vision of our future.

This kind of vision is vitally tied to hope and optimism, which we can, with focus and hard work, cultivate even in difficult jobs and toxic workplaces.

When we see our jobs through a positive lens, and when a personal vision is front and center in our minds, we are more likely to learn from challenges and even failures, rather than be destroyed by them. With hope, optimism, and a personal vision, we can actively choose a path toward happiness—a path away from disengagement, cynicism and despair.

Friendships and Happiness at Work Resonant relationships are at the heart of collective success in our companies.

That’s because strong, trusting,

authentic relationships form the basis for great collaboration and collective success. But, I’ve found, we need more than trust and authenticity to get us through good times and bad. We need to feel that people care about us and we want to care for them in return. This, too, is part of our human makeup. We also want to feel as if we are accepted for who we are, and that we work in a group, team, or organization that makes us feel proud and inspires us to give our best effort. Adding it all up, the kind of relationships we want and need look a lot like friendships. Yet, one of the most pernicious myths in today’s organizations is that you don’t have to be friends with your coworkers.

Common sense and my decades of work with people and companies show the exact opposite. Love and a sense of belonging at work are as necessary as the air we breathe. Purpose, hope, and friendships don’t just appear magically.

You need to work for them. You need to engage in mindful self-reflection and be truthful about what you discover.

Then you need to act. This is where your emotional intelligence comes in.

We’ve known for years that emotional intelligence (EI) is key to being effective at work. The more EI you have, the better you are at your job—no matter what kind of role you have or how senior you are.

What’s clear to me now is that EI also affects your ability to find and sustain happiness. EI enables conscious reflection and action—that magic combination that keeps you from running from one unhappy situation to the next. In practical terms, EI is a set of competencies that enables you to understand your own and others’ feelings, and then use this knowledge to act in ways that support your own and others’ effectiveness.

Moreover, EI will help you tune in to purpose and hope to establish friendly, resonant relationships at work.

When you decide to look within yourself to connect with what’s most important to you, what makes you feel hopeful about the future, and what you long for in your relationships, you are taking that first, all-important step toward a work life that is deeply satisfying, challenging, and fun. With conviction and practice, you can be happy and successful— and love your work.

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Did you plan to become a top executive at the beginning of your career?

No--I didn’t specifically set out to be a leader and run a company. But when I was in college, I took advantage of a training and employment opportunity at McGill University and at age 19 became president of a student-run corporation—a diversified little company run by and for students. This gave me a taste of being an executive. There were 125 employees at any one time, and as president, I managed the full gambit. The experience was invaluable. I learned what it felt like to worry about making payroll. I learned how it felt to be responsible when a part-time worker injured his hand on the job. I learned the thrill of signing a new contract, and the dread of having to fire somebody. I knew how to look at a P&L. When I arrived, I inherited about $50,000 in debt (which was paid off by the time I left). The dividend for this experience came 10 years down the line in the frenzy of being a young first-time president, running a small division at Ogilvy with a staff of 42 people.

My college experience was a big advantage because it gave me transportable skills and career fuel.

What risks did you take?

When I was 30, I had the opportunity to become president of an unsexy small and emerging division at Ogilvy called OgilvyOne. No one thought I should do it. But the risk was well worth it. Each job forms a spring board or foundation of skills 18

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and experiences that are valuable years and even decades down the road. My position at OgilvyOne prepared me for my next job as president of Ogilvy Canada, where I oversaw 200 people.

What little things did you do on a daily basis that contributed to your success?

I walked around at least a mile a day within the office to make eye contact with people. I still walk around the Ogilvy New York building constantly. I believe that face-to-face contact is the most powerful form of leadership. In thirty years of a business career, I’ve yet to find anyone who has successfully diffused an emotional problem at work with a text or email. They have flamed and amplified, but never resolved one.

Is it important to have mentors?

Your enduring relationships are probably the most powerful form of career fuel you can have. It’s great to have thousands of LinkedIn contacts, but your career ecosystem is not a volume game. It’s a quality game. Over our lifetime, we will each have a handful of people we can count on one hand who make a truly decisive difference. Once you discover a mentor or champion, the main thing is to appreciate them, and to stay engaged with them. From time to time, send a note to let them know how you’re doing. Share victories and failures. On a regular basis, you should ask yourself, “Are you doing enough to nurture and earn the support of your career mentors?”

Brian Fetherstonhaugh Age 59, born and raised in Montreal Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy One Worldwide Author: The Long View: Career Strategies to Start Strong, Reach High, And Go Far

As a boss looking at your employees, who is attracting your attention? Who will you promote?

I look for people who themselves are talent magnets. By that, I mean people who have proven their track record for attracting, developing, and retaining talent around them. When people have this talent magnetism, then their personal influence and their positive effect on the whole enterprise is magnified. I will sometimes look at someone and ask them this: if the privilege of working for them were to be put on eBay, how many would bid on working for them?

What advice would you give a talented man or woman who wants to succeed in your industry?

My advice for anyone who wants to succeed in the long term is to future proof their careers by making sure they will not be replaced by a machine. I suggest that people develop and nurture their uniquely human skills—their ability to create, their ability to judge, their ability to build human trust. These skills will better equip them to collaborate with and to complement machines and technology, which will inevitably play a bigger role in every industry. By maxing out on their human skills, they will future proof their career.

If they’ve staked their career on tasks such as executing and calculating, then they are highly vulnerable to having their job taken over by a machine.

Give me some tips for people who want to become the boss.

Number one: you need to be fantastic at your current job. Your aspiration to be the boss should be built from confidence, value and a reputation for delivering real performance. Put your hand up to do special projects, to work on a new business pitch over the weekend, or to work on a cross-enterprise initiative. These efforts will demonstrate to the organization your willingness to sacrifice in order to grow and will also increase your visibility when you do these special project as well.

What is your philosophy of work?

I think work is an incredible privilege and a huge part of life. I’ve had a paid job every week since I was 13 and have worked 60 hours a week for about 40 years. I plan to work into my seventies and eighties at something. But work is not life—it’s a part of life. I play hockey every Sunday night.

I take a guitar lesson every Saturday morning and play gigs with my rock band “Plan B.” I’ve been married to the same person for 35 years, and my kids return my calls and texts. I am very comfortable chilling to the point of lapsing into a zombie coma. The point is that I believe non-work is as important as paid work. Family, community service, volunteering, teaching and learning—these are like vitamin supplements and energy boosters that enable me to perform better on the job.

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THE IMPACT OF MENTORS Sarah Miller Wright Senior Vice President, Customer Care, Shaw

Leader of Shaw Communications’ Customer Care team shares her insights on the impact of true leadership and mentors

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How do you define leadership?

To me, the best leaders are authentic, direct, and allow their people to be personally accountable in their roles. I admire the qualities in the new leaders of today who choose to create their own opportunities and divert from more traditional career paths.

What advice do you have for women starting out in their career?

I think it’s important for women to put their full drive behind their role in an organization no matter where they begin. Put in the effort and then seek out feedback to allow your work and your personal brand to grow and improve.

It is so important to never stop expanding your network both within and outside of the workplace. Having a network of peers and mentors who support, challenge and inspire you provides a diverse pool to motivate you and to help you develop as both a person and a professional.

How has mentorship helped you grow throughout your career?

I’ve had a number of mentors throughout my career who have made an impact and contributed to my success. I’ve been fortunate to work directly with senior leaders early on who were mature and confident enough to allow me to contribute and thrive by owning my role. It was mentorship through osmosis and empowered me to take charge.

What makes Shaw a great place to work and find mentors?

Shaw really is one big extended family culturally which sets it apart from anywhere else I have worked. The Women@Shaw program provides mentorship opportunities for both men and women, as well as development and networking opportunities within the organization.

I cofounded the program to create mentorship growth opportunities for female leaders in the organization and to ensure they receive the same chances I had to take charge of their roles and their career.

Facts about Shaw: Shaw serves more than 3.2 million customers, providing them with broadband Internet, WiFi, digital phone and video products and services.

We are one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, Canada’s Top Family-Friendly Employers, Canada’s Best Diversity Employers and Alberta’s Top 70 Employers in 2017.

Our cultural objective is to be the place where the best people choose to work and is continually refreshing and revamping internal programs to support this goal and enhance employees’ experiences.

We recognize that diversity enhances culture and creates value for our employees, customers and shareholders, and we believe that a diverse workforce is critical to the way we deliver exceptional customer experiences.

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The Power of Self-Aware Teams

By Dr. Tasha Eurich The year was 2006. Ford Motor Company was on the brink of bankruptcy, and its culture was completely broken— employees and executives alike were engulfed by secrecy, competitiveness, and paranoia.

Ford’s only hope, it seemed, was their brand-new CEO—a spirited, redhaired Kansan with a track record of turnarounds. Alan Mulally arrived at Ford after single-handedly saving Boeing’s Commercial Airplane division, and he intended to do the same at his new company, starting with the executive team.

Mulally’s first move was instituting a weekly meeting he called the Business Process Review, or BPR. It would be held at the same day and time, and would be mandatory for his executives. They’d review 320 metrics, each of which would be assigned a color: green if it was on track, yellow if it had potential problems, and red if it had definite ones.

The purpose of the BPR, Mulally

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explained, was awareness: to ensure everyone knew the plan, the status of that plan, and the reality of the challenges they faced. He emphasized that no one should hesitate to surface problems, nor would anyone be punished for telling the truth.

A New Day at Ford?

On the morning of the first BPR, Mulally’s team nervously streamed into the room, many with lieutenants in tow and all toting heavy three-ring binders.

They took their seats at the large wooden conference table, and Mulally called the meeting to order.

First, he repeated his vision: People working together as a lean global enterprise for automotive leadership. To get there, he reminded them, they’d have to know everything that was going on in the business. “We need to have everybody involved,” he said, “We need to be aware.

And we’ll work together to turn the reds to yellow and then to green.”

After the first several BPRs, the team settled into a rhythm. Unfortunately, the process still left something to be desired. Miraculously, every chart that every executive presented in every BPR was…green.

One day, Mulally decided he’d had enough. “Guys,” he said, interrupting the meeting. “We’re going to lose seventeen billion dollars this year and all the charts are green. Do you think there’s anything that’s not going well? We can’t manage a secret. We have to help each other.”

A thick and itchy silence filled the room. The executives knew exactly what would happen to the first who showed a red slide: the family portrait on their desk would be at the bottom of a cardboard box before lunch. Nevertheless, the days passed and the drill remained the same.

Just weeks away from the launch of Ford’s first crossover, the Edge, mechanics discovered a problem with the actuator. This left the executive responsible, Mark Fields, with no option

but to halt production. He was sure it would cost him his job.

But Fields figured he’d do his colleagues one final favor: he’d call Mulally’s bluff. Somebody has to figure out if this guy is for real, he thought. If I go out, it might as well be in a blaze of glory.

The Moment of Truth When Mark Fields walked into the BPR, he had no idea how things would play out. Best-case? He’d get reamed out but keep his job. Worst case? He’d get reamed out and be shown the door.

Never did it dawn on him that there was another possible outcome.

Fields’ turn came. Up went the red slide. And WHOOM—the air left the room. He cleared his throat. “On the Edge, we have an actuator issue, so we had to delay the launch.” The entire room cringed as one.

Then came a surprising sound: Alan Mulally’s exuberant applause. “Mark,

this is great visibility!” he grinned.

Turning to his team, he asked, “What can we do to help him out?” One of the executives suggested a solution, and they were off and running.

Mulally was optimistic that a new day had finally dawned. Yet the next week, to his great disappointment, the slides were still green. But that day, the team saw something that spoke volumes.

Mark Fields was sitting right next to a smiling Mulally. Not only had he not been fired, he had been rewarded.

The battle-weary executives now had the proof they needed. Sure enough, the following week, their PowerPoint decks were glorious rainbows of reds and yellows.

According to Mulally, this was the single defining moment in Ford’s turnaround.

The Power of Self-Aware Teams Before Mulally arrived at Ford, his executives had been afraid to surface

problems; to tell each other the truth; to give and receive honest feedback. The same things that had kept them mum about the realities of the business also kept them mum about their individual contributions, team dysfunctions, and cultural challenges.

But Mulally’s effort—and Fields’ leap of faith—helped the team confront reality. They’d finally become self-aware.

And the results speak for themselves.

By 2009, amidst the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, Ford was back in the black (and took no government bailout money). By 2011, profit exceeded $20 billion. It was their second-most profitable year ever.

If being individually self-aware means understanding who we are and how others see us, a self-aware team commits to that same understanding at a collective level. In my three year study of individual and team self-awareness, I’ve discovered five categories of information that selfaware teams regularly assess and address:

The executives knew exactly what would happen to the first who showed a red slide: the family portrait on their desk would be at the bottom of a cardboard box before lunch.

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• Objectives: What are they trying to achieve?

• Progress: How are they doing?

• Processes: Is the approach to achieve their objectives working?

• Assumptions: Do their conclusions about the business and environment hold true?

• Individual contributions: What impact is each team member having on the team’s performance?

Three Tips for a More Self-Aware Team Even though self-aware teams are more efficient, effective, innovative, and rewarding to be a part of, few begin that way.

But, as Alan Mulally can attest, with the right approach and a true ongoing commitment, leaders can foster a culture that encourages communication and feedback at all levels; one where honesty trumps hierarchy and even the lowest-ranking member feels safe surfacing problems.

1) A leader who models the way Mulally believes that when it comes to creating self-aware teams, “how far you get is completely dependent on the leader’s self-awareness.” At the most basic level, leaders must see themselves clearly. They should understand their values, passions, aspirations, personality, strengths and weaknesses, and impact on others. On top of that inner clarity, they need to be willing to communicate it to their team—and freely admit that they are not, in fact, perfect.

2) Shake things up and strike for productive conflict Members of excessively harmonious teams avoid speaking up for fear of rocking the boat. Author Patrick Lencioni praises the virtue of what he calls “productive conflict,” where teams can productively put issues on the table and challenge one another in the spirit of success. One simple approach is appointing a “team devil’s advocate,” whose job is to challenge the status quo during meetings.

Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, researcher and author of the new book Insight: Why We’re Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life.

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3) Create ongoing processes to stay self-aware.

One of Alan Mulally’s secret weapons in transforming Ford were his BPRs. Similarly, self-aware teams create regular processes to honestly evaluate their objectives, progress, process, assumptions, and individual contributions. At a bare minimum, this should be done monthly, but weekly is probably better.

WHAT’S NEXT for

Vice President Joe Biden

By The Art Of Delaware’s favorite son likes to say, “My dad used to have an expression. He said ‘it’s a lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what he’s about to do and thinks it still matters.”

It still matters for Joe Biden. Besides serving as the 47th Vice-President to former President Barack Obama, Joe Biden is a man whose post-White House life and work is more public than ever.

He refuses to allow personal hardship

and sorrow to slow him down.

After more than 45 years spent fulfilling his public duty as Vice President and United States Senator, one could be forgiven for thinking that Vice President Biden might be considering retirement.

However, “Joe Biden has always been a man with boundless energy, and he’ll never quit,” says Bruce Reed, his former chief of staff. “He would be doing all he’s doing no matter what his plans are. He’s not the retiring kind.”

This year is turning out to be one of Biden’s busiest yet. Biden and his wife of 40 years, Dr. Jill Biden, recently launched a project that is very near and dear to their hearts called The Biden Foundation, a non-profit organization that will continue Biden’s vision to champion progress and prosperity for American families.

November will also see the release of Biden’s memoir, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, 25

Biden’s own personal story about how hope, purpose and action can become a guide through the pain of personal loss. A 19-city book tour will coincide with the launch.

“Failure at some point in everyone’s life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable,” Biden quipped in his 2008 Convention speech. Giving up is certainly not in this man’s DNA. In 1972, as senator-elect, Biden’s wife Neilia was driving with their 3 children when her car was fatally struck by a tractor-trailer.

Both she and their 1-year old daughter Naomi did not survive the accident, while their sons, Beau and Hunter were seriously injured and hospitalized for some period afterwards.

Despite his unforgiving heartbreak, Senator Biden resolved to continue his public duty to the American people while balancing the duties of a single father dedicated to filling the void left in his sons’ lives.

This early personal devastation set the stage for Biden’s deep commitment to family and faith. In 2014, Joe and Jill Biden’s eldest son, Beau, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Beau’s death struck a huge blow to the family.

“Promise me, Dad,” Beau had told his father. “Give me your word that no matter what happens, you’re going to be all right.” Joe Biden gave him his word.

Promise Me, Dad is an account of the challenging year that followed. In the memoir, Biden opens his world to readers to share those days of grief when he was treading water, unable to

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move forward and why he knew in his heart that action was the only way to leave behind his personal loss. “I hope my own story will strike a chord with other Americans who have walked the same path I have.” While still deeply in mourning, Biden decided not to run for President in 2016. In the memoir, he also promises to reveal his reasons for not running for President.

Biden will continue, as he has his entire career, to split his time between Washington D.C. and Delaware so that his wife Jill can continue teaching English at a community college in Northern Virginia. Dr. Jill Biden spent more than 30 years as an educator and has been a leader on the importance of community colleges, military families and the rights and welfare of women and girls.

The former Vice President has established research and policy centers at both the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware. The Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Biden Institute each focus on the issues— Foreign and domestic, respectively— that have animated his storied career.

And on the political front, Biden has vowed to remain active through his American Possibilities PAC, supporting groups and causes that dream big and focus on what is possible in America.

“I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been since I’ve been in public life,” Biden said in the Foundation’s launch video. “As long as we have a breath in

us, we’re going to be working on it.”

The Biden Foundation is working to carry on a lifetime of public service, including the continuation of the Biden Cancer Initiative, ensuring that the Violence Against Women Act is “fully realized,” supporting American military members and their families, and increasing access to high-quality and affordable education.

As a man long associated with the words integrity, compassion, and authenticity, could the “fake news” circus that has blown into D.C. become the motivation for a Joe Biden Presidential run in 2020?

“I have no intention of running for president, but I’m a great respecter of fate,” Joe told NPR. “I don’t have any plans to do it, but I’m not promising I wouldn’t do it.”

WHY YOUR BEST PRODUCTIVITY HACKS STILL COME UP SHORT (And What Really Needs To Change) By Brigid Schulte

I confess: I’m a sucker for life hacks.

Who doesn’t fantasize about getting work done faster and getting more out of life, especially when, after rushing around all day, you’ve barely made a dent in your to-do list, emails keep pouring in, and that one big project you’ve been meaning to work on gets kicked to the following week?

Some of the advice for working smarter is excellent, and developing the right productivity skills is critical. But both have their limits. In truth, all the life hacks in the world can only get you so far. Because both the problem and the solution to doing better work so you have more time for life are bigger than just you—possibly a lot bigger.

According to a new report by the behavioural-science research group ideas42 and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a resource book I contributed to, it all comes down to systems change: What if instead of expecting workers to “fix” themselves on their own, we designed work environments that led everyone to make better choices?

YOU’RE REALLY DOING THREE KINDS OF WORK Change is hard for humans. We tend toward what behavioural science researchers call “status quo bias,” which

is exactly what it sounds like: We do things a certain way because they’ve always been done that way, often without question. We can get stuck in unhealthy patterns, even when we know better.

That bias is making work itself too complicated. Technology is changing the nature of work—take group messaging apps like Slack and HipChat for instance—but often only by fits and starts; many workplaces that have brought in new tools have yet to let go of older ones. And those they do institute may not be implemented very well. Flexible work policies now let more people work different schedules 27

in different locations, which heightens the need to communicate digitally. Yet layer that new system on top of the longstanding expectation of face-time and in-person meetings, and you’ve created the perfect conditions for overload at a companywide level.

I think of work in three ways: First there’s “real work,” which describes your actual job duties. Then there’s “work around work,” the technical and administrative tasks that help you execute the real work. And finally, there’s “performance of work,” but more on that in a moment. Too often, our time and limited cognitive bandwidths are consumed by that second component, the work around the work—endless email chains, meetings, updates, and check-ins that have become part of the modern culture of over-collaboration. These are the things all those productivity tips and hacks and techniques are supposed to change.

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But there’s another reason we get the work wrong, too, and it’s much older than HipChat or that new email strategy you’ve just read about—or email itself. It’s the fact that as social creatures, humans are deeply influenced by social norms. We tend to do what everyone around us is doing, whether we consciously realize it or not.

WHY OVERWORK IS THE NEW NORMAL And right now, the social norm is overwork. This is news to precisely no one. We’ve been talking about it for decades, but ideas42 has uncovered one likely culprit: The systems we’re using are out of date and need to be redesigned. Because so many employers still use time to measure performance despite any new tools they’ve introduced, their work cultures continue to equate long hours with excellence.

That may not sound like a shattering revelation, but stop to think for a moment why you can’t seem to overdo it. If you knew what was causing you to mismanage your time so badly, you wouldn’t have clicked on those last dozen time management articles. But as helpful as that advice may be, none of it gets at the deeper cause that’s a lot harder to self-diagnose: You intuitively do what the people around you do— and this is the “performance of work” part—then internalize that as valuable.

We don’t see people on vacation. We do see late-night and weekend emails.

And if they’re from the boss, research shows we’re inclined to respond to signal that our dedication to work matches theirs. That’s also one reason why “unlimited vacation” policies often lead to fewer vacation days.

In fact, flexible work hours tend to extend the actual number of hours you work. Heejung Chung, a professor

of sociology at the University of Kent who studies flexible work, has found that that’s only true, however, in countries where flexible work is seen as a privilege, not a right or as just the way to do business. “In the Netherlands, for instance, the right to work flexibly is a much stronger right, legislatively, rather than seen as a gift from an employer,” she said. “That’s when we see the negative consequences reduced.”

YOUR BADGE OF HONOR IS NOW A MARK OF FAILURE What if organizations stopped adopting collaborative tools for their workers— and instead redesigned the systems that controlled the social norms technology alone can’t rewire? And what if employees gave up scrambling to learn new productivity hacks and habits? As Dan Connolly, a senior associate with ideas42, puts it, “How do you shift

social norms, so that overwork goes from being virtuous to being shameful?

Can management, at a senior level, begin to treat long work hours as a sign of failure—the result of poor planning, or poor management—rather than a necessary or toughening experience?”

What about requiring employees to schedule vacation, making it easier to take? (Some companies have even resorted to paying their employees to do so!) Or circulating the research on how healthy, rested workers do better work, while burned-out ones make costly mistakes and are less creative— then taking that into consideration in evaluating performance? What if teams used technology to make it harder to send a late-night email or schedule an all-call meeting that isn’t carefully planned?

For 10 years, Bonnie Crater worked long hours at Oracle, sometimes pulling all-nighters, as one of the few women in

senior management in the competitive high-tech industry. She wasn’t sleeping, exercising, or eating well. She barely saw her young son. Then she saw outtakes from video she filmed at a consumer electronics show. “I looked so horrible, like Tiny Tim,” she told me.

Crater hadn’t realized how run-down all that work was making her. “It was a real wake-up call.”

Today, Crater is the CEO of a sales and marketing analytics company in the Bay Area. To get a job there, which Crater did in January 2011, workers are required to have a hobby. “People who have balanced lives do better work,” she said. Crater herself plays tennis and volunteers.

So yes, chunk your time, limit email checking to three to five times a day (if you can), stop multitasking, work in 90-minute pulses, and take breaks.

Employ all the life hacks that make sense.

Just remember that the real key to finding work-life balance is bigger than you.

Brigid Schulte is the author of Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play

vacation We don’t see people on vacation.

We do see late-night and weekend emails.

When No One has the Time and director of the Better Life Lab and The Good Life Initiative at New America. Follow her on Twitter at @BrigidSchulte.

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THIS I KNOW:

If They Feel, They Believe

By Terry O’Reilly When you create a message with emotional content, it attracts people. Leadership consultant Edwin H. Friedman puts an even finer point on it, saying, “People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them.” Emotion pulls, it doesn’t chase.

I’ve always been a fan of humour in advertising, and most of the ten-thousand-plus commercials I’ve directed over the last twenty-five years were humorous. All marketing is an intrusion. It piggybacks on the real reason people have focused their attention—watching television, listening to radio, perusing a newspaper or surfing online.

They are there for the content, not the advertis- ing (though the Super Bowl may be the one exception to this rule). So if advertising is an interloper, how do you make that interruption the most polite or, at minimum, the least intrusive message possible? Even more, how do you give something back in return for the loud knocking? Humour is one answer.

It’s important to understand the difference between humour and comedy. Humour is giving, it’s generous.

Comedy subtracts and is usually sarcastic or biting. That’s why humour is better suited to marketing. To make someone smile, or laugh, forges an emotional connection. Humour gathers people. Think about people you know. The ones who make you smile are the ones you most want to be around.

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Humour doesn’t pursue, it pulls.

Not long ago, I attended a talk given by filmmaker Richard Curtis at the Cannes advertising festival. Curtis is a very successful screen-writer and director whose credits include Mr. Bean, Blackadder, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Notting Hill, to name but a few. Not a bad resumé. He was in Cannes to unveil a new marketing campaign he was spearheading to tackle extreme poverty and climate change. The campaign was going to begin with a cinema ad that would be shown on the same day in every movie theatre in North America and Europe. It would be the first global cinema ad ever done.

When Curtis previewed the ad during his talk, the press was surprised that its treatment of extreme poverty and climate change was humorous. Didn’t the subject matter call for a more serious tone?

Here’s what Curtis said: In his early days as a writer on Blackadder, he realized the only way to get the audience to remem- ber an important plot point was to attach it to humour. So if Sir Nigel Ridgley was coming for dinner, few people would remem- ber that beat. But if Sir Nigel Fatbottom was coming, no one forgot. Humour made it stick.

Now, humour isn’t the only answer to effective marketing, but it illustrates the rule. Emotional content makes people care. That said, most learning institutions

put much more value on intellectual reasoning than they do on emotion. Yet emotion fuels the world. Even in a math-and-science-driven institution like NASA, the decision to go to the moon wasn’t driven by rational facts. It was propelled by the emotion of John F. Kennedy’s challenge of landing a man on the moon by 1970 to prove American superiority. Throughout the 1960s, NASA continually marketed the moonshot with emotion. It signed an ongoing contract with Life magazine to feature full-colour stories on the astronauts and their families; it framed the new satellite communications technology and even the small RCA cameras the astronauts took onboard as innovations that would have a beneficial impact on the daily lives of Americans. Maybe the most emotional pitch was the one that warned of letting the Russians (read: Communists) control outer space, dropping bombs on America “like kids dropping rocks from a highway bridge.” That pitch alone persuaded the government to keep signing those big cheques.

The space organization needed the support not only of Congress, but also of the American public. Landing men on the moon was going to be the most expensive endeavour America had ever undertaken, totalling over $170 billion in today’s dollars (and by the way, there was an expensive war going on in Vietnam). If the decision to go had been based strictly on logic, it never would have happened. Emotion made the difference. America felt invested in the outcome.

When companies like Duncan Hines marketed instant cake mixes after World War II, all you needed to do was add water and two eggs. It was a big hit with homemakers, but then in the 1950s, sales started to drop off dramatically. As time wore on, women stopped enjoying the quick baking mix. They felt unfulfilled by the process. It was too easy.

It felt like they were cheating their families. The product that was created for ultimate convenience became too convenient.

So what did brands like Duncan Hines do to turn sales around? The secret was to make homemakers feel like bakers.

It was literally the icing on the cake. The company showed cooks (read: women) how to add decadent frosting—not just to the top, but also between each layer and all around the cake. That suggestion made them feel like they were truly baking. With that, cake mix sales soared again. As a matter of fact, the photo of a frosted cake became one of the defining advertising images of that era. Once women felt invested in the process of baking a cake, they couldn’t buy enough cake mixes.

In his fascinating book Creativity, Inc., Pixar CEO Ed Catmull says the definition of superb animation is not just movement, but intention. Put another way—emotion. As of this writing, Pixar has had fifteen number-one movies in a row. The trick isn’t just outstanding animation, it’s that you tear up when a robot named WALL-E no longer recognizes his robot love, EVE, due to a programming reboot. It’s a cartoon, it’s about robots, and you need a box of Kleenex.

If people feel something, they are invested. They will pay more, they will stay longer, and they will spend more time seeking you out when they are emotionally moved by storytelling in marketing.

Excerpted from This I Know by Terry O’Reilly. Copyright 2017 Terry O’Reilly. Published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited.

Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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Leadership: DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH TWO GREAT LEADERS FROM TD SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP AND ACHIEVING SUCCESS

Rowena Chan Senior Vice President, Financial Planning

How do you define leadership?

For me, leadership is all about having the ability to inspire and align a team to come together around a shared vision.

By believing in a common goal, we bring out the best in our people, which makes us better equipped to work together, celebrate each other, and learn from one another.

What is the most rewarding part of your day?

I absolutely love interacting with people, learning from them, and finding ways to grow together. Sitting down one on one with someone to understand what they need to achieve their personal goals and uncovering how I can help them get where they want to go is the best part of my day. As a result, watching people advance in their career journey is the most rewarding part of my job.

What advice do you have for women starting out in their career?

You don’t know what you don’t know. Accept this and embrace new experiences, perspectives, and insights.

Being curious and genuine will help you learn what you need to learn and will help you see a wide array possibilities in your career journey. Without knowing what possibilities are out there, you may find yourself setting unnecessary limits to what you can achieve. By being curious and genuine, you can be deliberate in achieving your aspirations while positioning yourself to help others along the way.

take the time to put our employees first, giving them the tools and development they need to build a successful and meaningful career. This, in part, is fostered by a collaborative and inclusive environment that gives our employees the support and leadership they need and truly allows them to make a difference with the customers that they serve.

Why is TD a great place to work as an advisor?

TD is a place where your ambition is celebrated. While we are known for our customer-centric business model, we also

Facts about TD: • TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves 24 million customers in locations in key financial centres around the world.

• TD has more than 80,000 employees who work in financial services, but also human resources, economics, technology, marketing, communications, legal, compliance and customer service.

• TD was included on the 2017 Bloomberg Financial Services Gender-Equality Index which benchmarks gender statistics, gender conscious product offerings, and external community engagement and employee policies and practices; and on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index list, the benchmark for global leaders in economic, environmental and social responsibility.

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Nupi Zubair Regional Vice President, Financial Planning

How do you define leadership?

As I think about the number of leaders I have worked with throughout my 15+ years at TD, there are a handful of qualities that define great leadership to me. Those qualities include selfawareness and empathy, the ability to communicate with purpose, owning mistakes and being open to new ideas.

And a good sense of humour goes a long way, too.

What is the most rewarding part of your day?

I am relatively new to the Financial Planning business so I am actively seeking opportunities to learn the business while growing as a leader. A great day is spending time talking to my team to deepen my understanding of our business and operations, and getting to know my colleagues. I am particularly

inspired by the deep level of knowledge, ownership, and accountability my colleagues demonstrate each and every day.

What advice do you have for women starting out in their career?

My general advice, to both men and women, is to play an active role in shaping your career. Most of us will work 30+ years and spend a large part of our life at work; you could leave it to chance but given how much time we invest into work, I would encourage you to be thoughtful about what you want from your career. It will increase the chances that you enjoy the journey!

My advice to women is to not limit yourself based on your gender. I often hear from women peers, friends, and colleagues that they feel like they have

to pull back after having kids and while I can appreciate where that feeling is coming from (especially as a new mom), I sincerely believe that we underestimate our own ability.

Why is TD a great place to work as an advisor?

We have a unique model in our partnership with the rest of the bank.

Rather than focus solely on the investment needs, advisors are engaged with all areas of the bank to provide holistic solutions to their customer’s financial needs. As an advisor, this model positions you to be successful as it centers around deepening our relationship with our existing customer base. It also allows you to learn about other businesses within the bank and potentially develop a career journey you may not have considered.

TD is a great place to work for women • Women make up 37% of senior leaders and over one third of board members and 60% of the employee base.

• Women and men report equally high confidence in meeting their career objectives.

• TD has provided nearly $1 million in support of charities who work to advance and support women and girls.

• TD has an employee Women in Leadership network of nearly 12,000 people which offers mentoring, career development and encourages flexible work options.

• TD is expanding its wealth management platform and is adding nearly 400 financial planners and financial advisors by 2018 to help support the Women Investor Program.

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HOW TO HANDLE CONFLICT IN YOUR TEAM

By Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

“As long as discussions are respectful and everyone gets the chance to contribute equally, people typically thrive on this kind of environment...

A few years ago we sat in the kick-off meeting of a cross-functional team of senior people, assembled to tackle a big project for their company. The team were in a circle; the men in blue button-down shirts, the women in sensible blouses; pens and pads were at the ready.

This was an important initiative for the company, and everyone seemed flattered to be a part of things and eager to get rolling. And then something interesting happened: Two very different factions emerged. One group was eager to argue and debate the tough issues— they were even becoming a little confrontational with others; while the rest of the group seemed keen to maintain harmony and collegiality. After all, this was a traditional, thoughtful company, and people in meetings didn’t act like they were on Real Housewives.

The question: Which group was right?

When we ask leaders what’s better—a team that’s almost always harmonious or one that has conflicts and arguments—the vast majority vote for a team with no disharmony. The most effective teams all get along, right? Actually, the most innovative, productive teams we study have regular, intense debates. The ability to disagree, without causing offense, is essential to robust communication and problem-solving. As long as discussions are respectful and everyone gets the chance to contribute equally, people typically thrive on this kind of environment—finding it not only intellectually stimulating but important to getting to the route of problems and working out optimal solutions. It’s also true even if the debates get a little heated.

Still, anyone who has ever been in an argument at work knows how hard it can be for people to keep their cool.

Who needs a double latte tossed in their face? That’s why managers have to set ground rules for healthy debate, and they need to actively run discussions, at least at first—modeling the right behaviors: How to make a point courteously, ask questions of colleagues with deference, and not take themselves too seriously. It’s also their job to ensure that discussions are not hijacked by one or two strong voices, and that everyone is given a chance to speak up.

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...finding it not only intellectually stimulating but important to getting to the route of problems and working out optimal solutions.”

Just about every team leader we’ve interviewed has created ground rules for debate within their teams. We recommend considering these:

• Treat each other with respect (challenge the position not the person).

• Listen to one another carefully before responding, and ask for clarification if needed (seek to gather facts; do not jump to conclusions).

• Come to a debate ready to present facts and data (not supposition).

• Don’t frame an argument with what’s fair or what we’ve done in the past (for every ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ or ‘this is fair,’ another party could make a similar argument to the contrary).

• Never use power to make your point (being threatened makes others distrust you and reluctant to share further).

• Remember you are not in a competition to win (debates are opportunities to find the best ideas, be enlightened, and learn—not score points or ram home your points).

• After the team makes a decision collaboratively, we are going to support it (even if it wasn’t our idea or we might have reservations).

One manager who actively monitors and steers these healthy debates in his team is Mark Beck, CEO of JELD-WEN, a global window and door manufacturer with 20,000 employees worldwide. He told us that it’s up to leaders to step in and protect their people when things get heated. In some cases, Beck says, he might take the side of a person whose view is under assault, even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with it. This isn’t gamesmanship, it’s to show that the person is offering up a reasonable way of thinking that should be respected. “The attacker usually steps back a little and softens their tone when a leader does that,” he said.

What are you finding in your team? Do you engage in healthy debates? We’d love to hear how you shape conflict in your team to be a positive.

Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton are the New York Times bestselling authors of All In and The Carrot Principle. Their next major trade release, The Best Team Wins: The New Science of High Performance, is set to publish Feb. 13, 2018, from Simon & Schuster. Learn more at TheCultureWorks.com.

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Why OBSERVATION Will Be the Most Important Leadership Skill in the Era of SMALL DATA

By Martin Lindstrom

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Some years ago, while driving from Poland to Vienna, my GPS broke down. Forget about buying a printed map. They’d vanished in the two decades since I’d last looked for one. My navigational skills are questionable and I’d only been in the area once before, but I had no choice other than to point the car in what I guessed was the right direction and simply drive. Remarkably, I arrived at my destination without a single wrong turn. When I puzzled over how I’d managed, I could only come up with one conclusion: I had allowed my instincts to run the show.

I define an instinct as an accumulation of insights obtained though decades of experiences, all guiding the seeker to an answer. An instinct is the art of connecting thousands of impressions. One can’t consciously explain how all those dots were connected. They simply were.

Some of the most powerful business leaders of all time share one thing. They trust in their instincts.

One example is Rupert Murdoch, who supposedly reads most of his newspapers every morning. That adds up to more than 50 newspapers every morning.

If a headline is out of line with what he believes his readers want, he’s on the phone to his editors.

He has the knack of putting himself in his reader’s shoes, whether it’s a business reader of the Wall Street Journal, a worker reading the New York Post, or a British housewife reading The Sun. The founder of IKEA was no different. You’d find Ingvar Kamprad running cash registers in his stores.

Why? Because he was determined to understand not just what people buy, but also why. Sitting at the checkout stand let him interact with customers, one at a time.

“There is only one boss,” said Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. “The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” You’d often find Walton walking around his stores, interacting with customers.

Last year, NBC asked me to turn around a range of small businesses across North America for their Today Show. I quickly realized that these businesses shared one problem: a serious disconnect with the consumer. Time after time, owners viewed their businesses from their own perspective, rather than from the consumer’s viewpoint.

One of the retailers was a 100-year-old shop named Veach’s Toy Station. As I entered their store, their lack of customer focus struck me instantly. So, I lined up the entire staff and asked them to join me on our hands and knees to crawl through the store. I wanted them to see the world from a six-yearold’s perspective. “Can you reach that toy?” I asked.

“Can you see that doll? Can you play with that car?”

They answered, No, of course not. But wasn’t their primary consumer a child below the age of ten?

I’m reminded of the late Michele Ferrero, Italy’s richest man, owner of Nutella, Kinder Surprise, Ferrero Rocher, and Tic Tac. Some years ago, Ferrero was spotted on all fours, crawling through a retail store to test whether children could reach his chocolates.

Leaving the office and entering the world of consumers can be uncomfortable. Suddenly, you’re stripped of your expensive tie, your name tag, and your flashy watch — all those things that contribute to your image. As you join your consumers in your shop aisles, or even in their homes, you become an ordinary person. But how can you know how your consumer thinks if you never stand in her shoes? Remember my definition about instinct as an accumulation of thousands of observations? Isn’t that the secret of Murdoch, Kamprad, Walton, and Ferrero?

I will argue, strongly, that a successful organization can’t be run on Big Data alone. After all, your competition has all the same data that you have, and it will lead them to the same conclusions.

Data doesn’t create meaning. We do. The executive needs to be far more than a data analyst.

He should constantly strive to see the world from a customer’s point of view. I believe that the truly dynamic business leader of the future, though immersed in a flood of Big Data, will need the courage to adapt the mindset of the consumer. He must dare to trust his instincts.

Martin Lindstrom, one of the world’s foremost branding experts, is author of Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends.

His previous books have been translated into 47 languages and have sold well over one million copies.

He was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. In 2016, Thinkers50 named him one of the top 20 business thinkers in the world, and he has been ranked the world’s #1 branding expert for three consecutive years. His articles appear in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company. He advises startups and a Who’s Who of Fortune 100 companies on branding, communication, consumer psychology, retail, innovation, and transformation. Lindstrom currently hosts Main Street Makeover, a series on NBC’s TODAY show that creates solutions to business problems in less than just 24 hours.

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Dear Creatives:

Marketing Is Your Job

By Ryan Holiday

In an interview, the novelist Ian McEwan once complained light-heartedly about what it was like to go out and market a book after spending all the time creating it: “I feel like the wretched employee of my former self. My former self being the happily engaged novelist who now sends me, a kind of brush salesman or double glazing salesman, out on the road to hawk this book. He got all the fun writing it. I’m the poor bastard who has to go sell it.”

Every artist can relate. Very few of us got into this business because we wanted to have to manage social media accounts or approve an advertising campaign. Writers became writers because they wanted to write. Actors want to act—not spend two weeks on a grueling press tour. The founder wants to be working on their product, not polishing blog posts for some content marketing side hustle.

But considering how few people get to produce art for a living, and how much drudgery and “hawking” is involved in almost every other industry 38

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and profession, this seems like a rather privileged complaint. Who is going to sell your movie, your app, your artwork, your service if not you? Even if you pay someone else a lot of money, how hard are they really going to work?

Nothing has sunk more creative projects than this silly, entitled notion that “I’m just the ideas guy.” Or that McEwan put it, that there is a difference between being an artist and a salesman.

In fact—they are the same job.

If Not You Then Who?

Who should make the time for your art if not you? What does it say that you’re not willing to roll up your sleeves to get to work telling people about this work you have made? Name one person who should be more invested in the potential success of this project than you.

The idea that the world is waiting with bated breath for another movie, another book, another app? It’s not true.

People love classics from the recent and distant past. When Harper-Collins has

an imprint called Harper Perennial, for instance, or when catalog albums are outselling new releases, it should tell you something: People are pretty happy with the old stuff.

To get them to like your stuff is no easy task, then. “If you build it they will come” can happen, but to count on that is naive,” Jason Fried explained to me when I asked how he built 37signals, now Basecamp, into a platform with millions of users after pivoting from a Web design company to a Web app company in 2004. “In order for the product to speak for itself, it needs someone to speak to.” It needs someone to speak for it too.

As Byrd Leavell, a literary agent, puts it to his clients, “You know what happens if your book gets published and you don’t have any way of getting attention for it? No one buys it.” That can’t be what you want!

There is Plenty of Time Al Ries and Jack Trout, likely two of

the greatest marketers who’ve ever lived, acknowledge that CEOs are very busy. They have meetings, phone calls, business dinners, and countless other day-to-day responsibilities. So, naturally, CEOs delegate the marketing to other people. But this is a huge mistake. “If you delegate anything,” Ries and Trout say, “you should delegate the chairmanship of the next fund-raising drive. (The vice president of the United States, not the president, attends the state funerals.)” The same is true for creatives. We get it—you have other projects to do, you have a family, you’re busy.

The same goes for artists. If we’re honest with ourselves, we will find that there is plenty of waste inside our artistic routine. Time spent watching TV, time spent on meetings that go nowhere.

You can cut back on all this.

-Take the time you spend messing around on your personal Facebook and use it to build an online community -Take the time you spend fantasizing

about being in the New York Times and spend it developing relationships with people who can get you there.

-Take the time you spend dealing with the Resistance, with procrastination, and lean into it. Use those less-than-inspired moments to think about how to build your platform or get attention.

possible with it.

What I’d like you to see is that this isn’t an obligation. It’s an opportunity.

It’s perfectly possible to apply the same amount of creativity and energy into marketing as you put into making.

The last thing you can ever afford to skimp on is marketing. Your product needs a champion. As Peter Drucker put it: “[Each project] needs somebody who says, ‘I am going to make this succeed,’ and then goes to work on it.”

That must be you. Marketing is your job. It can’t be passed on to someone else. There is no magical firm—not even mine, which was lucky enough to count Jeff as a client—who can take it totally off your hands. Even if you’re famous, even if you have a million Twitter followers, even if you have a billion dollars to spend advertising—it’s still on you and it still won’t be easy. It’s on you to make this great thing you’ve made and reach as many people as

Look at brilliant campaigns like Paulo Coelho’s decision to upload his own book on Bittorrent sites in Russian to grow his fan base. Look what he did in Brazil with his publisher to run ads that featured the entire text of his famous novel The Alchemist. It’s a giant block of text in 4.1-point font, so it’s basically impossible to read, but it’s still a stunningly clever and brazen move. The brilliant ad reads in part, “Thanks to the 70 million who read the book. If you are not one of them, read this ad...” The result was immediate coverage in outlets like Adweek and, of course, much love on social media.

He had to do that—he had to lead those efforts.

Marketing Is Art

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In 2014, the mostly unknown band Vulfpeck released a 10 song album, Sleepify, all songs featuring 31 seconds of silence. The idea stemmed from the fact Spotify didn’t pay artists until a “proper play” of 30 seconds. By creating this album the band was inserting themselves into the larger discussion of royalty payments to artists. When the band released the album and encouraged fans to download and play while sleeping (since all the tracks were silent) the band not only earned $20,000 in Spotify royalties, they earned mentions in Rolling Stone, Forbes, Billboard, The Guardian, and many more.

Think about Marc Ecko hustling to send “swag bombs” to influencers— including a hand crafted Malcolm X airbrushed jacket to Spike Lee to celebrate the director’s movie. He was making stuff as his marketing. Over two decades later, Marc and Spike are still working together.

Are creative marketing ideas like this not their own works of art? Wouldn’t your work be served well by applying your muscle and creativity to coming up with something similar?

There are so many great ideas and cool ways to get your work out there, I promise.

-Do the thing that you think is crazy--that isn’t allowed (I once helped an artist create a boycott of their own work) -Take a stand. Take a risk.

-If you want to be in the news, make news.

-Reach out to potential champions of your work (they are desperate for good stuff too) Jeff Goins talks about the difference between a starving artist and a thriving artist—this is that difference. The desire and the ability and the initiative to get what you’ve made in front of people. To see the whole equation as the artist’s responsibility—not just the time they spend in the studio or at the

computer or on stage.

Plenty of people can make great work. Not everyone has the dedication to make it and to make it work.

Marketing is an opportunity for you to distinguish yourself, to beat out the other talented folks whose entitlement or laziness holds them back.

So yeah, you have to get out there and hawk your stuff. Not just because if you don’t, who will, but because no one can do it as well as you can.

Ryan Holiday’s latest book, Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts is a meditation on the ingredients required to create classic books, businesses, and art that does more than just disappear.

His writing has been translated into 28 languages and sold half a million copies worldwide while his creative firm, Brass Check, has worked with companies like Google, Taser and Amazon. You can join the 80,000 people who get his weekly articles.

“Marketing is an opportunity for you to distinguish yourself, to beat out the other talented folks whose entitlement or laziness holds them back.”

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Interview with

Natali Altshuler Sr Director of Product Development

Tell us about Electronic Arts.

EA is a global leader in interactive entertainment software. We make video games! We deliver games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets. Here in Vancouver, our studio is home to some of the biggest video game franchises in the world such as EA SPORTS FIFA, which was the bestselling video game in 2016. We employ about 1,500 creative and passionate people here at our amazing campus.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background, how did you come to work at EA? I’ve been at EA for 14 years. You could say that I grew up at EA! I joined EA when I graduated from UBC with a Computer Science and Business degree and I began as a junior project manager working in EA SPORTS. Early in my career I had the opportunity to learn on the job and have been fortunate to have many different experiences - from managing the development of pretty much every domain area of a game, to then growing to manage whole game teams, and ultimately to present day where I oversee development of multiple franchises.

What is your role there? How many people do you manage?

I am a Sr Director of Product Develop-

ment overseeing the EA Sports titles being developed in Vancouver, Canada and Bucharest, Romania. I’m responsible for the EA SPORTS FIFA, NHL and UFC franchises. Together it’s a group of approximately 600 people.

What are some of the unique challenges you face as a leader at Electronic Arts?

Working in video games is very exciting and fast paced, but also comes with a variety of unique challenges. One aspect is working with a wide variety of different disciplines and people from diverse backgrounds. The teams at EA are quite large - a typical game team would include software engineers, artists, designers, animators, UX designers, producers, project managers, data analysts, QA testers, business analysts and more. As such, as a leader you need to be constantly adapting your leadership style to account for all the different job families and ensure that everyone is working cohesively as one team!

Another unique challenge is that the key quality measurement for video game experiences is something completely intangible - fun. Fundamentally, how do you measure “fun”? How do we know if the game will be “fun” in time for launch? In order to “find the fun”, game development requires constant iteration. And that is definitely the most 41

“ 2.2 billion gamers across the globe are expected to generate $108.9 billion in game revenues in 2017.” – Newzoo Global Games Market Report, April 2017 challenging aspect of developing games.

The best thing we can do to overcome that uncertainty is to expect and plan for change, all the time. Making games is not about building the perfect plan and then executing on it. Rather, it is about adapting to a constantly shifting set of requirements and reevaluating our plans all along the way. Balancing this amount of change while ultimately ensuring that the game gets completed to quality, on time and on budget is a true challenge for any leader!

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used to run the FIFA franchise and I was one of the managers on his team at the time. He was truly a very inspiring leader, but most of all Andrew made us believe. He made us believe that we were the most important team working on the most important product in all of EA. He saw FIFA as the greatest and best selling video game franchise in history long before any of us did. And with a relentless drive for producing the highest quality of work he led FIFA to the top of the charts where it remains to this day.

You must have worked with some great leaders over the years! Tell us about some of them and the impact they had on you.

What is your leadership style?

What do you think makes you an effective leader?

I certainly have had the opportunity to work with many great leaders over the years, but the one that stands out the most in my mind is Andrew Wilson who is currently the CEO of EA. Andrew

I don’t think I have one particular style, so I definitely believe in exercising situational leadership and adjusting my approach based on the situation and the people involved. My style

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varies greatly; I can be very much in the details as required when I’m working on budget submissions or audits of projects, to more of a coach when I’m helping another leader grow into their role and new responsibilities, to a more transformational type leader when I’m challenging the team to improve our existing process and practices. I think the key to leadership is being self-aware enough to know both your true strengths and weaknesses, open enough to listen to the team around you and humble enough to be willing to learn from your mistakes, adapt and move forward.

What do you look for when you hire for leadership roles into the organization?

We hire people with a wide range of professional backgrounds, and although game development would be a strong asset, it’s by no means a requirement.

Canada is the third largest developer of videogames in the world, trailing only the United States and Japan.

For senior leaders, we’re looking for people with experience running largescale, complex projects and leading large teams. For more junior/entry-level roles, we’re looking for those who are passionate and willing to learn. And across all levels, we look for natural leaders with good interpersonal skills, passion and who are strong problemsolvers.

The tech industry has traditionally been fairly male dominated. What has your experience been like as a female leader?

Yes, software development is still a male dominated field but there are plenty of women at EA as well, and quite a few in senior leadership roles. EA has a strong focus on diversity, where across our organization we strongly believe that in order to make game experiences that appeal to a large array of people we must

have as much diversity in our teams as possible. This is not just about women in tech, but being inclusive of all types of diversity. The more diverse our teams are the better our game experiences will be. There’s no better example of this than the FIFA team, which has such diverse backgrounds that there are 23 unique languages spoken in the development team. Overall, my entire experience at EA has been tremendously positive and to be honest I have never felt limited or challenged because I’m a woman. My career has always felt like it has progressed forward due to my performance and delivering results - EA is a true meritocracy.

Your role carries a great deal of responsibility and must keep you very busy. How do you balance that with your personal life?

It can certainly be difficult at times.

There have been times when I have really struggled, and still do to a certain extent now as I try to find that right balance. Thankfully, EA is a modern workplace, where I have the flexibility to adjust the hours in the office and occasionally work from home if needed. Also, one of the key things for me was realizing that I need people’s help and accepting that help. I am very fortunate to have a true partner in my husband who is incredible supportive and understanding of my job’s demands. My parents have also been instrumental in helping with the day-to-day responsibilities of carpools, after school activities and all the fun stuff that comes with having two young kids. I run a very detailed calendar for home - I am a project manager after all - and it takes a lot of planning and communication to keep it all running smoothly!

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The Importance of Trust

By Amanda Lang In some ways making a change when you don’t really have to is the hardest kind of change to make

One November day in 2012, in his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Canadian Tristan Thompson was goofing around on the court after a morning shoot-around practice when his teammate Jeremy Pargo challenged him to a shooting contest with a difference: both of them had to shoot with their weak hands. Thompson, a leftie, won so effortlessly that Pargo said he should shoot with his right hand all the time.

Thompson didn’t take the remark seriously. But a week later, he and his coaches decided to try a little test. His right-handed shots were noticeably smoother and more accurate. Wait a sec.

Had he been shooting with the wrong hand for the past twelve years?

No NBA player has switched shooting hands midway through his career. Ever. When Jeremy Pargo first floated the notion, Thompson wouldn’t entertain it—even after Pargo opined that switching could transform him from a strong player into an all-star.

Thompson’s first reaction, he later recalled, was to say, “Shut up, man. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

I got to the NBA left-handed. I’m going

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to stick in the NBA left-handed.” Pargo’s comment, though, had jolted Thompson, and the more he weighed the pros and cons, the more he came around to the idea that at least trying to change his shooting hand might make sense.

If he could train his right hand to shoot more accurately than his left, he could take his game to a whole new level.

“I wanted to take on that challenge. I knew I could keep doing what I’m doing and have a good career and make a lot of money,” he told a reporter. “But I don’t want to be good. I want to be great.”

But changing shooting hands wasn’t a mere tweak or a tune-up. It was a potentially destabilizing move that could sideline him before he’d really made his mark. He had a few things going for him, though: he appeared to be ambidextrous, writing with his left hand but holding his toothbrush with his right. And if things didn’t pan out, he could always go back to shooting with his left Immediately after the Cavs’ season wrapped in the spring of 2013, Tristan Thompson and coach Dave Love began working together, first in the Cleveland practice facility and later

in Miami, Houston, and Toronto. The switch started with drills … slow, repetitive, mind-numbingly boring drills designed to eliminate every last whisper of superfluous movement from Thompson’s shot and force him to focus on the last snap of his wrist before the ball left his hand. The goal was to get the index finger of his right hand to draw an arc straight down from the ceiling to the net. Placing that one finger in precisely the right place is, in Love’s view, absolutely critical to getting the ball to leave your hand in exactly the right way.

And drilling is the only way to make the movement effortless and automatic, so that a player can deliver in the heat of a game. So Thompson performed each drill, over and over, standing close to the hoop—four hundred snaps of the wrists every workout, two workouts every day.

Since Thompson began playing at the age of eleven, Love calculated, he had probably taken more than a million left-handed shots. Switching hands, then, would be like going back in time to his middle-school self. “You have the experience of an eleven-year-old right now,” Love told him. “We’re going to

“Don’t focus on performing the movement right,” he tells them, “but on catching yourself doing it wrong.”

Excerpt from The Beauty of Discomfort by Amanda Lang ©2017. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

work as hard as we can, but no matter how good I am or how hard we work, we can’t jam all those years of experience into four months.” A change of this magnitude was going to take time.

As the research makes clear, change isn’t what occurs at the moment we start exercising, or stop drinking, or leave a relationship, or go back to school, or get a new job. There’s a long lead-up to that moment, a process that kicks off well before there are any concrete signs of progress and continues long after it’s clear that progress is occurring. It’s a very long game, and that’s why the ability to withstand discomfort—or better yet, embrace it—is so crucial So much of basketball is instinctual, but Love was essentially coaching Thompson to abandon the automatic reflexes that had made him a first-round draft pick. He wanted him to be more “un-athletic” during their sessions: to take a split second before shooting and use it to stop, position himself properly, and put the ball in the right place. Like any basketball player, Thompson was accustomed to constant motion, not just up and down the court but side to

side as he passed and dribbled. Now his shooting coach wanted him to be as motionless as possible in the split second before initiating his shot so he could be sure his hands were exactly where they needed to be. It was as if the star of an action movie were being asked to hit the pause button for a nanosecond as he leapt from a burning building.

Love asks his players to pay close attention to their bad habits—not a huge surprise, really, because in a sense the players he works with have become addicted to shooting a certain way. “Don’t focus on performing the movement right,” he tells them, “but on catching yourself doing it wrong.” It’s a fine line, though, because he doesn’t want them to overthink things. If they do, they’ll freeze. It happens all the time at the free-throw line, to players who’ve spent thousands of hours practising.

NBA players who can tolerate the discomfort of change tend to be rewarded rather handsomely. Tristan Thompson certainly was. He worked with Love until June 2014, and in the 2014–15 season his field goal percentage was 54.7 percent. The next year, it climbed to 58.8

percent—15 percent higher than it had been in his first season. Although still not known for his shooting—he’s become much more accurate from the freethrow line and is an even more effective offensive rebounder. Thompson’s gamble on greatness seems to have paid off: two years after he switched to shooting with his right hand, the Cavs signed him to a five-year US$82-million contract. And the year after that, the team won the NBA championship for the first time ever, with Thompson “doing the dirty work” of defence, as he put it, and effectively shutting down two of the most feared sharpshooters in the game, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, whenever he guarded them.

Have fun along the way, Love tells his players—but don’t stop the drills, because you’re never going to arrive at your destination. There will always be room for improvement. “Even Steph Curry, possibly the greatest shooter ever to live, probably still thinks, ‘Aw, man, there are a lot of open shots that I missed.

I should be making those shots!’” If so, maybe Love could help. Stranger things have already happened.

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“Hey, Siri... let’s not mess up these voice assistant ads, ok?”

One of the short-term technology innovations that will cause a lot of disruption in marketing and advertising is the move from fingers, mice, keypads, clicking and more to voice commands. We’ve been seeing this coming for years, but Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana are growing up and taking over. Voice is the new navigation. Voice is the next navigation. It’s happening now, and it’s becoming more obvious with each passing day.

What happens when a technology gets a semblance of adoption?

IS YOUR VOICE THE FUTURE OF MARKETING?

By Mitch Joel

You guessed it... advertising. If you would like a primer on just what kinds of advertising is already happening (and, it ain’t pretty), go ahead and Google the cNet article, Ads for voice assistants are here and they’re already terrible. From the piece: “... who likes the idea of more ads? Cramming them into smart speakers could mess up the whole experience just as these devices are starting to take root. Amazon, Google and advertisers will have to tread lightly (or maybe that’s asking too much and they’ll keep trolling us like BK did). Let’s be clear: This is an area that the ad industry won’t be able to resist. Early adopters of smart home devices like the Home and Echo tend to be tech-focused and wealthier, a highly desirable audience for brands. Also, the number of people to pitch is growing fast, with an estimated 1.8 million smart speakers sold last year and 15.1 million expected yearly sales by 2020, according to researcher Strategy Analytics. If advertisers can find ways of reaching these folks, without being bothersome, they could see big benefits.”

Keywords: “without being bothersome.”

This is not how it has been rolling out (so far). As described above, the first big splash at making voice look relatable for brands came from Burger King. The idea seemed clever and innocuous enough: the fast food burger chain launched a fifteen second ad back in April that featured one of their employees leaning into the camera and saying, “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?” This triggered many consumer’s Google Home devices to suddenly start reading off the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper. To some, this was clever.

To some, it was humorous. To some, it was annoying. To some, it was infuriating. Within three hours, Google disabled it. That wasn’t the end of it. Many consumers (some might say “smart consumers”) started trolling the Wikipedia entry by adding in words like “toenail clippings” and “cancer-causing.” Wikipedia has to lock the entry, so only authorized Wikipedia editors could change it.

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Mitch Joel is President of Mirum—a global digital marketing agency operating in close to 20 countries. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation, named after his successful blog and podcast is a business and marketing bestseller. His second book, CTRL ALT Delete, was named one of the best business books of 2013 by Amazon. Learn more at mitchjoel.com

Screenless advertising is going to be tough for many brands.

It would be easy to keep dumping on a brand that is trying to do something with technology, knowing full well that those who are trying to lead from the front are often the ones who are getting the arrows in their backs. This is less about Burger King and much more about what kind of advertising will truly work in a screen-less world. Voice isn’t just about how consumers will navigate and engage with technology. The more voice that consumers use, the less screen time there will be... and that’s a fundamental shift in dealing with attention, interest, desire and action. To put things into perspective, half of all searches will be voice searches by 2020 (according to Tractica) and, in the United States, Americans’ use of voice-activated assistant devices grew almost 130% over last year (according to eMarketer). The implications are staggering. Asking a voice device for information won’t lead to a typical screen with multiple search result options (both organic results and paid ones). The consumer expectation is (and will be) that the voice assistant will simply spit back the right answer... no need for a screen... no need for multiple choices.

It gets bigger and more complex for brands.

It’s not just the “voice” part but the “assistant” part as well. These voice services are quickly being developed and integrated to solve consumer problems. From the little stuff (like ordering pizza) to the more complex (like diagnosing an illness). And, while this is all in its infancy, the speed of innovation, development and deployment is staggering. Voice technology will change the way that consumers engage with brands and technology. There is no doubt. Right now, brands need to be thinking very seriously about what their voice will be? What kind of advertising will work right now - so that a brand can be the only result when a consumer is asking about them (or their services)? What kind of audio content should brands be developing right now to augment the advertising with relevant content (think about how blogging and content marketing is used to balance paid search results to date)?

How big is the current market for voice and how long should a brand wait for this market to mature? Is there an “innovation lab” play for brands today with voice? How will voice play out beyond these home assistant devices to smartphones, automobiles and public spaces?

Let’s face it: voice as navigation is where consumers want technology to be. Brands need to think about their role in this today.

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Here for the health of Albertans—Alberta Blue Cross As Alberta’s largest benefits carrier, Alberta Blue Cross has built its business by maintaining our positive reputation and the confidence of Albertans. The organization delivers health and dental benefit programs to meet the needs of more than 1.6 million Albertans—with a proven track record of responding to the needs of its customers and promoting healthy living across the province.

OUR HISTORY Beginning with the simple objective to cover basic hospital care, Alberta Blue Cross has continuously adapted to the changing needs of Albertans. Alberta hospitals were behind the formation of the Alberta Blue Cross Plan in 1948.

Under an Act of the Alberta Legislature, the Associated Hospitals of Alberta (AHA) was incorporated and permitted to establish a voluntary, pre-paid, notfor-profit Blue Cross plan.

The Plan essentially served as an extension of Alberta’s hospital sector, offering a province-wide hospital care plan for working Albertans. It gave patients affordable coverage for needed hospital services. At the same time, Alberta hospitals gained greater financial security because the Plan paid patient bills.

EVOLVING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF ALBERTANS Continual innovation has marked the

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history of Alberta Blue Cross. With the introduction of medicare in the late 1960s, Albertans no longer needed basic hospital coverage, but they wanted other, supplementary, coverage. Alberta Blue Cross responded with benefit plans for services such as prescription drugs, ambulance service, home nursing and health-related appliances and later added dental care, vision care, outside Canada emergency medical, disability and life insurance—resulting in a full line of health benefit products.

OUR VISION Today Alberta Blue Cross continues to grow with a vision it calls “Blue For Life”. To our customers, Blue for Life represents the promise of a life-long relationship with Alberta Blue Cross and a commitment to providing them with access to an integrated suite of innovative health and wellness solutions to support them through all ages and stages of life—it means never having to leave their

Alberta Blue Cross coverage behind.

PROMOTING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES With a unique Legislative mandate to support and promote the health and wellness of Albertans, Alberta Blue Cross recognizes that an ounce of prevention today can save benefit plan sponsors, plan members—and our provincial health care system—in future costs.

With this in mind, Alberta Blue Cross actively seeks to promote, encourage and reinforce wellness and active living and provide prevention strategies to help Albertans maximize their health.

FOSTERING WORKPLACE WELLNESS Through the Government of Alberta’s wellness strategy, the government has challenged organizations to step up and take on a leadership role in this area. Alberta Blue Cross embraced

this challenge, working on a variety of fronts to promote workplace wellness. This includes sponsoring seminars, workshops and conferences promoting workplace wellness across Alberta, creating a web site, www.workplacewellnessonline.ca, to provide a practical resource to support employers interested in workplace wellness and introducing a workplace wellness discussion forum on LinkedIn to promote the sharing of information and ideas. Workplace wellness is also at the forefront of Alberta Blue Cross’s group benefit plan offerings— including the Alberta Blue Cross Balance comprehensive online wellness platform resource for plan members.

awareness to seniors’ fall prevention.

We are pleased to support a wide range of initiatives including Prescription to Get Active, the AMA Youth Run Club, Wellness Alberta, the Gift of Play program and Alberta Winter Walk Day as well as partner with organizations including the Canadian Mental Health Association, Arthritis Society, the Coalition Against Preventable Injuries, Diabetes Canada, MS Society, CNIB, STARS and the United Way in the interest of promoting and supporting the health of Albertans.

SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE

Through our Healthy Communities Grant Program, Alberta Blue Cross has committed $1 million over five years from our foundation to support and promote active living in communities across the province. Four $50,000 grants are awarded per year for specific

Alberta Blue Cross provides funding and support for a number of healthfocused, community-based projects and campaigns ranging from vision health

ENCOURAGING ACTIVE LIFESTYLES AT A GRASSROOTS LEVEL

community infrastructure projects that promote active living and wellness at a grassroots community level, with a particular emphasis on children. Projects range from the new construction or replacement of playgrounds and outdoor gyms to cycling paths and recreational facility improvements.

ABOUT OUR PLANS Alberta Blue Cross offers benefit plans for individuals, families, seniors and large and small employers. We also administer health programs for provincial, territorial and federal governments. Covering just about every type of health benefit (including prescription drugs, dental, vision care, emergency medical travel, massage therapy, ambulance and home nursing, as well as life insurance and short and long term disability coverage for group plan members), we have a proven track record of delivering unparalleled value and plan management to our customers.

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Alberta Blue Cross is a proud sponsor of The Art of Leadership for Women Alberta Blue Cross is pleased to be the group benefits provider of choice for more than 5,000 of Alberta’s leading employers. As an Alberta-based, not-for-profit organization, we have an exclusive focus on the health and wellness of Albertans and we play an active role in the communities in which we live and serve.

Calgary 403-234-9666 Toll-free 1-800-661-6995 www.ab.bluecross.ca

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The Leadership Rethink

By Vince Molinaro

“Society will need a continuous flow of leaders.”

This observation came from John W. Gardner - former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson - in his book, On Leadership, published in 1990 Caught in the throes of the Cold War, Gardner understood that society would never truly evolve without strong leaders. The same holds true today despite the fact that the world is now much different than it was 30 years ago.

Whether it’s seismic change driven by digital disruption, fundamental shifts in how or where we work, the threat posed by climate change, or the increasing globalization of our economy, leaders must be able to navigate a broader, more complex array of challenges than ever before.

And leadership has definitely evolved to keep up. Today, it is more distributed throughout an organization, from the C-suite all the way down to the frontlines. All roles matter, not just

a few at the top. Leaders need to be more collaborative, and build networks of peers inside and outside their organization. They also need to nurture and cultivate leadership potential in the people they lead.

In an environment like this, we need leadership to be at its strongest, maybe stronger than it’s ever been. The horrible truth is that leaders have fallen well short of where they need to be.

It is estimated that companies worldwide spend $65 billion annually on leadership development, yet many are questioning the impact of this investment. The leadership development industry hasn’t created stronger leaders. The signs are all around us. Whether it’s the chronic challenge of low employee engagement, the erosion of trust and confidence in senior leaders, or the inability of companies to drive sustainable business results – all these indicators point to

weak, even disappointing leadership.

My team and I at Lee Hecht Harrison have surveyed more than 2000 global senior business executives and human resource leaders to get at the root of the problem. At the heart of the problem is a fundamental leadership accountability gap. Major findings in our study included: • 72 percent believe leadership accountability is a critical business issue facing their organizations • Only 31 percent of organizations are satisfied with the degree of accountability demonstrated by leaders • Only 45 percent of leaders are seen as being truly committed to their roles • Only 27 percent of organizations believe they have a strong leadership culture

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Gardner would no doubt find these results alarming. If he were alive today, it seems likely he would call for a profound rethink about what it means to be a leader and how we must develop leaders for the future. Clearly, our current way of thinking isn’t working or keeping pace with the change all around us.

So where should we start to rethink leadership? In my work with leaders globally, I have identified six key drivers and trends that leaders must prepare to tackle. I describe them below with the intent of fostering reflection, discussion, and even debate. They are not intended to be all encompassing, but rather trigger points to stimulate a leadership rethink.

VUCA WORLD The Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) world leaders face today will continue to intensify— and challenge them like never before.

This is a consistent theme we hear from our clients around the world.

Leadership development in the future must ensure that leaders are equipped with the mindset and capabilities needed to manage this complexity and inspire others at a personal, team, and organizational level. In times of great change, leaders must be inspirational, excited about their companies, and passionate in driving strategy execution.

DIGITAL DISRUPTION Digital technology will continue to transform everything we do. This includes the ways we work and learn, and how we identify and develop leaders.

Big data will drive leadership analytics to help organizations better predict those individuals who are truly cut out for

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leadership and those who will succeed vs fail. We will need measures to gauge which leaders are truly able to be agile, and able to anticipate and make sense of their world and respond accordingly.

Then as the world changes, they need to be able to do it all over again.

WORK REINVENTED The evolution of the gig economy will generate new challenges for those in leadership roles charged with recruiting and developing talent. Many studies suggest up to 50 percent of all jobs will disappear over the next twentyfive years. Robots or other forms of technology will replace many of these jobs. Some will simply never be replaced.

In a scenario like this, who will be left to lead? In a world where the very nature of work is being redefined, there will be a heavy burden on leaders to create meaningful work experiences for the people they lead. The risks of gig work is that it becomes piecework—devoid of meaning. Creating an inspiring

environment in which to work will be even more critical in the future. Culture will continue to matter and we’ll need leaders who get that.

ROBOTICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Decision-making tools can complement and support the work of leaders. Or, if some innovators have their way, these tools could actually replace leaders altogether. Some suggest even CEO roles may be replaced by AI applications that use algorithms to prescribe options for a wide range of business scenarios.

Whatever the future holds, a strong leader will need to have a firm grasp of these technologies, know how to exploit the benefits, all while minimizing the threats.

NEUROSCIENCE Brain research is accelerating and providing new data on how a leader thinks and responds to crisis. While

it’s important to be careful on the conclusions drawn from some of this research, it will be important to pay attention to it. Much of this research will keep showing us how our brains affect our work, our relationships at work, and how we can lead better. A growing body of scientific research about brain function and leadership culture will help leaders become more resilient, more adaptable, and more decisive.

As we head off into a brave new age defined by these trends, we are reminded of Gardner’s original observation—that the world needs a continuous flow of new leaders to move us forward.

Although the conditions are different, the challenge remains the same.

We either find a way of building leaders that are better prepared for the world in which we lead, or we fail and remain stuck.

ACCOUNTABILITY With a world that is more transparent than ever before, there will be cries for real accountability among leaders across all parts of our society. Leaders must be seen, they must be heard, and they must help lead in the broader community outside their organizations.

Expectations have never been greater.

In reflecting on this theme, Gardner also believed that accountability is as important as the concept of leadership, and that those who are granted power must be held accountable.

Vince Molinaro is a leadership adviser, author, speaker, and Global Managing Director of the Leadership Transformation Practice at Lee Hecht Harrison.

His New York Times best-selling book The Leadership Contract will be released in its third edition, as well as The Leadership Contract Field Guide through John Wiley & Sons. His ideas serve as the foundation for culture change and leadership development at companies around the world.

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The Art of Bridging the

Generation Gap in the Workplace Today, there are three, sometimes four, generations working side by side in any given workplace. And no matter how you cut it, there are bound to be instances where the age gap impacts productivity.

The key is to find ways to make the gap work in your organization’s favor, instead of allowing generational misunderstandings drag at productivity and sales.

At the new CPSA (Canadian Professional Sales Association) we’ve developed tools, certifications, webinars and other resources to help you accelerate individual and organizational success, including managing the generation gap.

There are three main generations in today’s workplace: Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964); Generation X (1965-1979); and Millennials, also called Generation Y or Echo Boomers, (born in the 1980s and 1990s). Veterans (1930-1945) can also be found in some organizations, usually in consulting roles, and Generation Z (born in the 21st century) will soon be entering.

With such an eclectic demographic mix, there are sure to be potential conflicts and misconceptions.

As stated, the key for every organization is to blend together the workers of all ages – mining the strengths of each and mitigating everyone’s weaknesses as best possible – to heighten productivity and grow sales.

There’s a dearth of information about the generational divide, even how Millennials are taking over and changing the workplace in their image: technology driven, known for speaking their minds and thinking outside the box. There may be some truth in that, but there are myths as well, as proven by some

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interesting recent research by Robert Half Management Resources, a U.S.based provider of senior-level finance, accounting and business systems.

In How Do Generations Of Workers Differ?, Robert Half found each age demographic exhibits its own styles and approaches, but also have things in common. Indeed, when executives were asked to rank the differences the top four were: communications skills (30 per cent); adapting to change (26 per cent); technical skills (23 per cent); and cross-departmental collaboration (14 per cent).

At the CPSA, we believe in finding the generational commonalities and flattening out the differences. For example, our enhanced professional credentials, the Certified Sales Associate (CSA), Certified Sales Professional (CSP) and Certified Sales Leader (CSL) all help in this regard.

Each requires hard work to attain, but by creating consistent skillsets and bases of knowledge, they help bridge the gap by equalizing everyone in sales whether they have 37 years of experience or 24 months of experience. At the levels of CSA, CSP and CSL, each requires ongoing professional development to maintain the certification, which also helps bridge the gap by continually strengthening commonalities and flattening out differences.

Of course, our designations are only part of the solution. The CPSA strives to fortify businesses’ productivity by identifying and evaluating weaknesses, providing valuable solutions and savvy ideas for today’s competitive marketplaces. Our customized resources empower organizations to strengthen and develop competencies to improve

the overall output of the business.

In terms of the generation gap, our CPSA team has compiled a list of meaningful tactics and approaches to bridge the generational gap in every organization:

Outlaw Generation Bashing Millennials are sick of hearing about their “everyone gets a trophy” upbringing and stereotypes about not working hard enough or being difficult to manage.

Boomers don’t like being labelled technological Neanderthals and out of date with how things should be done.

GenXers often feel thwarted by older folks above them clogging up promotion paths and under pressure as Millennials begin to crowd the workplace and earn promotions. Such frustrations can surface in numerous ways. When any negative expressions occur between generations, open an honest dialogue quickly. The

By Peter Irwin President and CEO, CPSA

fact is, most office relationship issues are interpersonal, not generational. As a leader, you don’t really want to deal with employee arguments. But, when necessary, you need to understand both employees’ mindsets and why they feel a need to stand their ground. This is where frame of reference comes into play. Being able to understand where someone is coming from can get you a long way, and it doesn’t have to be hard if you allow yourself to see things from their perspective.

Create An Open Communication Culture (and mean it!)

Napoleon was spot on when he said “the key to victory lies in the communications” and it applies more than ever to today’s workplaces.

First, find out how staff members like to communicate. You might be surprised to find research indicating all generations prefer communicating face-to-face for important issues, then phone, email and text is last.

Somewhat surprising, Millennials say they despise work-related texts. Second, since open communication between different generations isn’t always easy to cultivate, sometimes it takes a little push from management to get things on the right track. Try holding roundtable discussions that include

all generations of employees at times like kicking off projects such as finding new prospective clients or developing and updating the organization’s sales training courses and protocols. Institute reverse mentorships, where lessseasoned staff advise and share their insights with veteran colleagues. Invite team members from all generations to share their unique areas of expertise.

Don’t overthink it, but mix generations as often as possible. Offsite meetings can be good for different ages to get to know and understand each other.

Beware of the KIA and Promote New Ideas, Open-mindedness The KIA (the dreaded “Know It All”) can blow up generation bridges quickly, regardless if the KIA is young or old. No organization benefits from self-righteous lectures about how things were done back in the day or smug sermons laced with techno-jargon about how things should be done today. Seasoned workers must be open to learning from younger people, just as the juniors should tap into the experience of the seniors and not mock them for living in yesteryear.

Where possible, encourage mentoring and coaching, but in today’s style: twoway exchange of information where the older worker shares experiences and the younger reveals things like technological

tips and generational terminology.

In other words, bring the generations together in forums of open-mindedness and collaboration.

Avoid “one-size-fits-all” management Create a culture where each staff member ’s individual personality, skills, and needs are taken into account.

Much, if not all of this will have to do with understanding your employees and what makes them tick. As long as you aren’t approaching everyone in the same manner, you’ll be on your way to a well-devised management plan to bridge the gap. This is why it’s so important for people in leadership positions to know exactly what sets the generations apart. There is a wealth of information available online that covers why and how each generation is unique, and it can be beneficial for management to get caught up. The more well-versed your leadership staff is, the easier it will be to properly manage the generation gap in the workplace.

Managing the generation gap is all about empowering employees and showing them respect. Done effectively, your organization will benefit with increased sales. More about this issue can be found on the website of CPSA, your partner in building knowledge and skills to improve sales performance.

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Portraits of Leadership Vision, Perspectives… and People!

Established in 2009, and still building upon nearly 160 years of its founding organization’s history, National Bank’s Private Banking 1859 has enjoyed tremendous growth in Quebec delivering banking, investment and planning services to their niche highnet-worth clientele. Its more recent foray into Western Canada has produced equally exciting and promising results, affirming the expectations and instincts of its innovative management group.

Private Banking 1859 prides itself on having a team that is dynamic, diverse yet complementary in its leadership styles. Éric, Meghan and Alex each bring their own strengths and personality to the table, creating a formidable leadership mosaic as a result.

Below we have asked them to share their thoughts on leadership.

ÉRIC BUJOLD President, Private Banking 1859

Éric Bujold

Most would venture to say that art and math are at opposite ends of the continuum. As someone embedded in the art world as well as being ‘a numbers guy,’ I see many characteristics common to both --- balance, different angles, perspective, and the ability to

distill from the abstract to the tangible.

However, insight alone is not sufficient to produce desired results.

At the beginning of my career, I sat down and drew up a set of values I committed to and live by every day. I have never deviated from them.

Most important to me are the people I work with each day. Pioneers and innovators alike have said ‘they did not know it was impossible, so they went ahead and did it.’ In business as with art, it’s those creative and talented people with true passion for their work who, in turn, drive and motivate me. For me, the essence of leadership success is to surround yourself with a team that is stronger than you.

I’ve always had an open-door policy…and have actually taken that one step further. I now work in an open space, accessible to everyone. It’s vital to listen and be sensitive to how decisions will benefit, impact and be received by my employees, as well as our clients.

Every new staff member adds value and enhances my team. Every client comes with a different story and a new opportunity for us to rise to the occasion to meet their particular needs. I want to have a pulse on that.

In our concrete world of banking,

Meghan Meger

Alexandre Viau 59

we must continually remind ourselves to be open to change. Openness keeps us tuned-in to how our picture is constantly evolving. It keeps us flexible, sharp, motivated, and inspires us to see with fresh eyes.

MEGHAN MEGER President Western Canada, Private Banking 1859 Typically at this stage, you begin to think you have seen it all… And then, something completely new comes barreling at you demanding resolution.

Where are our resources? Who are our mentors? Why isn’t there a Master’s in Dealing with Demanding People?

As a voracious reader, I draw insights from an assortment of books, Churchill, Sandberg, the Art of War, Women are from Venus and Men from Mars (why not?). I once had a bias for non-fiction for the first 20 years of my adulthood as I felt I needed to draw on the wisdom of others. Then I had an epiphany that perhaps fiction can draw out creativity and out of the box thinking. I have since enjoyed a balance of the two.

In the eighties, I had trailblazing, smart women as mentors who held stereotypical male roles in Capital Markets and Risk Management. They

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offered great guidance to the profession but it was their wisdom that paved my way for a strong career. These bits of wisdom I will now pass on: • It is ok to go out for a drink after work but be disciplined at getting home at a decent time.

• Do not try to be friends with everyone. Leadership takes guts.

Accept that not everyone is going to like you or your decisions.

• Solve your problems not on the basis of who is right but what is right.

• Be real, be relatable and have a sense of humour.

• Always remember your manners!

ALEXANDRE VIAU Senior Vice-President Eastern Canada, Private Banking 1859 Years ago, while doing my MBA I got the opportunity to write my final paper on what it takes to be an efficient CEO. A major component was in fact leadership.

Leadership includes obvious traits like being a good listener, having and communicating a clear strategic vision, as well as demonstrating integrity and

commitment. To that, I would also add being inspirational and respectful.

Inspirational leadership is about capturing hearts, minds and souls by being passionate about what you do.

Live, breathe, be your mission and values. I find that confidence and passion are contagious. When I arrived at Private Banking 1859, I did not impose my way of doing amongst my new team. Instead, I met with everyone to understand their reality of the business. It is important to understand your employees and their work before you try to make changes.

I also try to remain aware of my weaknesses because that is where learning opportunities lie as a leader.

It also allows others to see you as your most authentic self. I believe a true inspirational leader is also empathic, truly cares and respects employees and what they do.

Being a leader is not simply just being disciplined and focused. It is a leader ’s job to connect the dots. The world is changing at a fast pace and the survival of any business depends on anticipating changes. You cannot always expect to be the best, however a mixture of intuition and being meticulous will help you come a long way. Never try to be the person you think you should be. Just be yourself.

HOW FORWARD THINKING LEADERS MAKE PRODUCTIVITY METRICS WORK

An opportunity for HR and Finance to have leadership impact through collaboration As the business landscape in Canada continues to become increasingly competitive, organizations are looking to better understand productivity and how it impacts their bottom line. As Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, in his critically-acclaimed book The Age of Diminishing Expectations said, “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it is almost everything.

A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.”

Recent evaluations of productivity levels among G7 countries, conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), ranked Canada as the second-least productive country overall. At the present, this puts Canada at 27% below productivity levels in the United States. As the gap continues to widen, it becomes clear that leadership at the highest levels of many organizations are struggling to understand how to improve productivity in their workforce, and even how to properly define and measure it.

This prompted ADP Canada and the Canadian Financial Executives Research Foundation (CFERF) to dive deeper into productivity in an effort to better understand the relationships between organizations’ HR and finance departments when it comes to defining and measuring productivity.

The results showed that nine in 10 of those polled felt that the key performance indicators (KPIs) their companies had put in place to track productivity weren’t supporting their business objectives—a concerning statistic at a time when other ADP research has shown that almost half (49%) of Canadian workers say they aren’t as productive as they could be at their jobs. In fact, almost one in five of those companies polled said that they aren’t using the productivity metrics they’re tracking to inform their decisions.

Metrics such as vacation tracking, payroll numbers and attendance are commonly cited as productivity metrics for many companies. However, while these metrics each provide valuable insights on their own, they do not truly reflect productivity for most organizations.

Just because a worker is present, does not necessarily mean they are performing at their full potential.

The secret tools to improving productivity—or at the very least, effectively tracking and understanding it—often lie just down the hall from HR, in the Finance department.

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In many cases, Finance and HR are already working together in some capacity. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of those polled by CFERF said Finance is involved in HR functions such as payroll. However, beyond the transactional ties, combining the people-focused knowledge of HR with the analytical capabilities of Finance can be the “special sauce” that allows an organization’s leadership team to better determine what defines productivity in their workplace, and how to develop metrics and KPIs to track and improve it.

Finance departments have more experience extracting value from data by developing and analyzing metrics, and are increasingly becoming more involved in the HR functions of an organization largely through culture, staffing and strategic planning. Coupling their level of data-savvy capability with HR’s ability to understand the people side of the business can and will ultimately lead to better identification, measurement and insights gleaned from productivity metrics. Combining their respective capabilities can result in greater understanding of organizational productivity, informing better decisions from leadership teams and ultimately greater positive impact on the overall business.

There are many benefits to any organization who masters the science and art of effective productivity measurement, regardless of size or structure.

Respondents of the CFERF survey indicated that the area they would be interested in applying learnings from productivity data is to appropriately upgrade employee training and skills, however this is just one area that productivity data can be applied. When correctly leveraged, organizations can identify the key areas where their teams could use extra training, and even identify key aspects of their existing training models that should be updated.

Additional areas that can benefit from productivity data include:

• Improved employee engagement • Improved workflow design

• Expansion or recalibration of staffing In all, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to productivity.

What defines productivity can change depending on an organization’s size or structure. However, what’s true for nearly every organization at the outset is the need for senior leaders to prioritize and clearly identify what productivity metrics matter to them, and then to determine how best to measure against those items.

By combining the expertise of both HR and Finance to identify and quantify the metrics that truly matter, leadership teams are heading in the right direction to finally glean valuable productive insights from their productivity data.

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Key Findings: • Seventy-one per cent of respondents say that payroll is handled by Finance, while one-third (35%) report that Finance is also responsible for culture, staffing and strategic planning. Forty percent measure engagement annually or more than once a year. Vacation tracking (86%), payroll management (74%) and attendance (71%) are the three analytics most commonly used to measure productivity.

• The majority of respondents define workforce productivity through the lens of the bottom line.

Sales generated per full-time employee (46%), percentage of revenue allocated to compensation (23%), operating expenses per full-time employee and industry specific metrics (like units produced per employee in manufacturing) (22%) were most frequently cited.

• Two-thirds (64%) say they are using productivity data to inform employee budgeting decisions, but 28 per cent say they are not using this data to improve company overall performance.

• More than one-quarter are not using productivity data to improve performance.

• Of the finance executives who responded to the survey, the majority (48%) are CFOs, 12% are vice presidents of finance or controllers, and 8% are directors of finance. The survey was conducted November - December, 2016.

“Canada’s Workforce Has a Productivity Deficit: ADP Study”, November, 2016 “Understanding productivity through the lens of Finance”, May 2017 “Continued slowdown in productivity growth weighs down on living standards”, May 2017

Queen’s Leadership Program Realize your leadership potential in this 5 day program.

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THE PEOPLE SIDE

By Steve Gilbert Steve Gilbert is a Digital, Data and Agile Marketing addict working for Dell who also enjoys sailing and coaching hockey. For more insight into these and other topics you can follow on twitter @stevegilbert4

There have been a flood of studies of late, looking at how changes in technology, such as the Internet of Things (IOT) from a consumer standpoint, and the wholesale move to the ‘Third Platform’ is impacting business.

Most of these studies focused on the technologies themselves: from hardware and software to the new currency of business - the data that is generated by all of this customerto-digital interaction and how to transform our business and digital operating infrastructure so as to not to be eclipsed by nimbler start-ups, born in the digital age.

In all of the conversations about technology-driven transformation, there is one other constant that stands out (possibly more interesting than the hardware and software itself). It’s the necessary changes a company must make to its operating model, processes and organizational structure, if it hopes to succeed in the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Organizations’ inability to facilitate and accelerate the transformation of their organizational model at or ahead of advancing technologies is an age-old problem. The shame of knowing our inadequacies are still very much alive and in full view, has only amplified the effects of the new world order and has created a space for new firms to step-in and cause all manner of disruption to many traditional business models.

But organizations aren’t faceless, empty buildings. They’re run by people. Yes, the technology does the heavy lifting but people need to intentionally commission the labor. Dell’s global Digital Transformation Index, unveils some of the shortcomings experienced by companies in this area. For instance, the fact that only 41 percent of businesses say the Board is driving digital transformation and one of the top barriers to transformation is a lack of in-house skills and expertise, are obvious indicators.

To try and understand this more deeply, let’s look at three of the five attributes of a digital business, as defined by business leaders and used as a measure of success within the Index.

Innovate in Agile Ways T. Bert Lance, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget believed he could save billions of dollars by only fixing things that were broken. He popularized the term – “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The tricky thing is – how do we know what is and isn’t broken? A business process might work ‘fine’ in the present day but should we settle for just ‘fine’; and will ‘fine’ sustain the business in the near- future?

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“IT IS A HUGE LEAP OF FAITH, AND MANY COMPANIES WON’T HAVE THE STOMACH FOR IT.” Digital start-ups are carving-up the business landscape. In just 3-5 years, 45 percent of businesses believe they may become obsolete. So, what isn’t broken today, could well be broken tomorrow. How do we prepare for this?

By welcoming innovation and agility in all its forms, including the sort of innovation that happens in the shadows.

An interesting phenomenon has started to take shape in many corporations who are struggling departmentally, with digital transformation. With the advent and availability of Software as a Service and Cloud based applications, users in the business community are now going outside of traditional IT teams and practices to fund and implement new solutions themselves. These are often interpreted as rogue activities that need to be tracked down, assimilated into current infrastructure and governed more closely. This isn’t seeing them for what they are: innovative ways to solve real business problems or indicators that some business processes have outlived their sell-by date.

As leaders of transformation what can we do in these situations? We can suspend judgement and explore what’s driving this need, because behind every one of these activities there is ultimately a business practice, market need or revenue opportunity that is crying out for change.

By opening our eyes to a new world order and understanding that the physical world of networking, application availability and remote access are no longer limitations for transactional systems or processes, we could, for instance, develop a series of micro services that allow the safe and flexible transfer of data across an ecosystem, while saving money and breaking down barriers.

According to the Digital Transformation Index, 70% of businesses admit to not innovating well and in an agile way organization-wide. Clearly, something needs to change.

Releasing employees’ shackles and opening the door to creative ingenuity could be a company’s saving grace.

Predict new Opportunities On the surface this one seems quite simple. Take all of the data being generated by enterprise systems such as ERP, Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing and so on, add a dash of Data Science and presto, new opportunities. In practice and through the eyes of different team members, it’s a very different story. We will find with the arrival of so many different systems, external and internal options, rapid transformation of business processes and people, there are now only pockets of ‘data stability’ that can be achieved.

For someone in the traditional reporting space for example this presents an emotional challenge as stability, accuracy and trend measurement (the staples of historical reporting) are thrown out of the window and replaced with a ‘free market economy’ of reporting and analytic capabilities that can divine 66

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insight but can also be undercut by nay-sayers who question accuracy or quality. Finding just the right blend between the extremes of accuracy and accountability or innovation and daring is where strong leaders can differentiate themselves and their teams. Unfortunately, predicting the future and being able to act on these opportunities is still the unknown, volatile part of the equation. As the research backs-up: 64 percent of respondents admit to not acting on intelligence in real-time and only 28 percent are measuring progress by looking at their businesses’ ability to predict human behavior through data.

Placing the right bets on the right insights is a bit of an art that is still lurking just under the surface of the new era of data science.

Demonstrate Transparency and Trust When interacting with customers, Transparency and Trust is an easy idea to embrace. Share things like pricing (as Southwest Airlines calls it ‘Transfarency’), show them the products, features, warranty, return policy, other buyer feedback and let them enjoy the buying experience immensely.

However, when looking inwards toward organizational digital transformation, transparency and trust take on an entirely different meaning. Stop and think about this from the seat of a team member. If I go out on a limb, come-up with a new way of doing things which ultimately fails, should I feel vulnerable, a misfit maybe?

A company’s ability to create a safe environment, where team members are encouraged to share ideas, take risks and shake things-up, could be businesses’ only way to survive in the new economy.

It is a huge leap of faith, and many companies won’t have the stomach for it. They won’t be able to overcome the default position of ‘but it is not possible to do it that way’ or ‘we tried that before’ or ‘how will we have a process to govern this’ and fall back into the old analog ways of managing and executing their business objectives. This is reflected in the fact that only 31 percent are demonstrating transparency and trust well and organization-wide. However, if we can pull together those people who do believe and are willing to put themselves on the line, by embracing opportunities afforded by emerging technologies, then we can truly grow the business through Digital Transformation.

These are just three of the five pillars outlined in the Digital Transformation Index, but they are also the ones that most directly relate to the people and operational side of the equation. By taking the time to recognize the impact of Digital Transformation to organizations, and especially to individuals within them, and then becoming aware of the pitfalls of attempting to drive change simply through technology, we can more directly influence business success.

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