Not Done Yet! How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence & Claim Workplace Power by Author Bonnie Marcus

A few months ago, I had a friend that starting looking for a job to escape a toxic work environment. As she searched, she was astounded at the blatant ageism that still exists. She is only 46. In one interview, they asked if she would have a problem working with much younger staff. The company was worried that the younger crowd would be intimidated by her experience and age. Wow! Welcome to reality! Even I was shocked. Unfortunately, this is what so many “experienced” women deal with every day. 

Traditionally women have suffered the brunt of both work and family responsibilities. We know the challenges that are thrown at us almost daily. In addition, we “age” more than men and are frequently excluded from promotions, achievements, and opportunities well before men. It is real, it hurts, we have to acknowledge it and reclaim our power. Sound familiar? The new book Not Done Yet! How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence & Claim Workplace Power by Bonnie Marcus is a necessary read for women of all ages. 

Admittedly, I am a Bonnie Marcus fan. Her first book The Politics of Promotion is a phenomenal road map to guiding women through the perils of all the politics at work that most of us run from. The articles she writes for Forbes speak to me. Bonnie has experienced what so many of us have in the workplace. It is endearing to read what she and so many other women have experienced and continue to go up against as we age. In this book, Bonnie throws out the truth and the obstacles that we face as we age. Her solution? Become a Badass and live it every day to reclaim your confidence, power, recognition, and show them what you’ve got!

 Are you ready? A Badass “means owning who you are, owning your experience, your wisdom, your talent, your age”. Sign me up! So many women hold themselves back by beliefs. If we remain positive, our beliefs become our rock. If they are negative, we will never show up, own our talent, or be authentic in everything that we do.

 I admire how Bonnie lays it all out for us. The book is divided into three parts. Each chapter gave me chills because I can see myself in every single one. It was also a bit unsettling that I realized how I have just sat back.

1.  Assumptions, fears, and all the crap about aging that holds you back

1. Stop playing small, and do what it takes to stay in the game

2. Be your BADASS self

 Despite all of the gains women have made in the workplace issues such as pay inequity, lack of promotional opportunities, respect for wisdom, few women at the helm of companies, the situation is worse for women over 50. Bonnie shares all of the fears, assumptions, and reality that hold women back. She then grabs us and shares how we should stop holding ourselves back AND stop those who try to stop us. Bonnie offers strategies, advice, life experiences, and candor with a sense of humor while cheering us on. Don’t have a success journal? Get one. Don’t know how to gracefully push back on age comments? She has us covered. Unsure how to move up in your career despite roadblocks? You can become a tactful bulldozer.

 Not Done Yet! is a book that resides next to my bed along with my journal. It will pick me up when I feel defeated. It will inspire me to be authentic and lift other women up. It will be a reminder of how much I still have to give. I will remain in control, visible, relevant, and wise. Join me and pick up Bonnie Marcus’s book Not Done Yet! today.

Ready to finally do strategy right?

Strategy. Such an ominous word. Most of us strategize in our heads every day without realizing it. For some, it has connotations of excessive work and we avoid it at all costs. For leaders, nothing will change and mass confusion becomes the state of work without a written strategy. For the longest time, I preferred to keep my business and life strategies in my head, and not surprisingly, it is not effective. For the past few years, I have been writing my strategies down to reach goals and most importantly, to empower my team. They cannot perform if they have no clue what they are working towards and why.

The new book Strategy First – How Businesses Win Big by Brad Chase is one of the first books highlighting business strategy that I have enjoyed in a long time. The book is an easy read, fun, relevant, has over 50 company examples of corporate strategy. I learn best by real-world examples and Brad’s book kept me entertained. I learned ideas to incorporate into my life that are reasonable and not just all theory.

Brad has an impressive background leading at Microsoft and MSN where he worked with teams at all levels to set strategy. He illustrated how strategies can flow down so that everyone was on board. Likewise, he was open to new ideas and craved input from the employees in areas that are doing the work.

Brad has proven that success is all about strategy and without it, no plan is complete. He developed an effective theory that any business or person can incorporate into their day. E x mc2 can teach strategy to build and execute winning strategies relative to the competition. The three elements are:

• C:  Customer, the most important factor as noted in the equation

• M: Market Potential

• E: Execution – There are three variables here including strategic, customer value, and financial

Managers should adhere to the Strategy First Score (SFS) when using the equation. Doing so allows us to calculate a score that offers both an analytical and visual representation of how your strategy stacks up to the competition. A quality strategy is unbiased and is an independent method to remain ahead of the game in the same competitive business arena.

Here are some factors that address change within our equation:

• Technology

• Innovation

• New Business Model

• Societal Trends

• New Markets

Brad offers interesting examples of companies in a variety of fields to illustrate how the factors above can make an impact. The stories are my favorite part of the book because they offer numerous “Aha” moments. Not only did I remain engaged, but I was also entertained throughout the entire book.

Strategy First spends ample time looking at what factors can influence our strategy in an ever-changing world. Note that these are similar to internal factors that influence us. Brad calls them TIDE:

• Technology

• Institutional

• Demographics

• Economics and environmental

• Social

No company can live in a bubble or without international competition and factors that can put a company out of business quickly. If Covid19 has taught us anything, those companies that are nimble and can change tactics on a dime will survive. Strategy First unintentionally addresses the pandemic that we are struggling with what Brad calls “Expanding the Universe” factors. To me, these are very relevant right now.

• Develop or change products and services

• Partnerships

• Adapt to change

• Expansion plans that consistent with your strategy

• Mergers and acquisitions

A strategy is useless if it is not executed and followed by action. Don’t write one just to say that you have one. Live it every day. Leaders need to make priorities clear and concise. This involves alignment, communication, and most importantly, tracking. You will never know if your strategy is working if you fail to track progress. Moreover, you must be willing to make swift changes to new challenges. You want your strategy to grow and prosper over time. Here are some tips to bring strategy growth and success.

• Seek change

• Mine any gaps

• Adapt to the tides mentioned earlier

• Expand the universe

• Climb short walls and build tall walls

I thoroughly enjoyed Strategy First by Brad Chase! I have read other strategy books and they have been so theoretical or intense I quickly lost my concentration. I did not have any actionable strategies or ideas that I could personally apply.

Business is disrupted by the pandemic. I have had to revisit my strategies in several categories to align with the current environment. Several of my goals have changed and how I address growing key financial areas is upside down.

If you are committed to strategy and have been turned off by other resources, read Brad’s book. I promise that you will not be disappointed and will come away with at least a few nuggets!

As employees have more career choices and the availability of jobs, they have the luxury of deciding what they want from their job or the company that they work with. The days of accepting the job with the highest salary are gone. Employees want flexibility, the ability to work from home, more vacation days, yoga classes and other unique benefits.

One of the number one factors that employees look for in a new opportunity is a robust, positive, and open culture. Culture has always been my number one priority when looking for a new job. Culture is the lifeblood of a company and can make or break success. The new book Creating Constructive Cultures – Leading People and Organizations to Effectively Solve Problems and Achieve Goals by Janet L Szumal Ph.D. and Robert A. Cooke Ph.D. offers a model to assist leaders in creating ideal cultures. They utilize over 40 years of research that reveal some interesting insight into the various types of cultures in the workplace as well as disconnects.

This book is very science, data, and theoretical based. If you love data and textbook or academic learning, you will delve right into this book. It offers robust charts and graphs, and a variety of graphics to explain theories to drive the authors’ ideas home. Cleary the authors understand what distinguishes a strong culture from a weak or poisoned one. They layout the plusses and minuses of cultures that are closed, self-centered on power, and not inclusive. On the other side, they explain in-depth how cultures power a company to success by encouraging people to reach their potential, take intuitive approaches and think independently, are open to free thought and new ideas, value quality over quantity, and how cultures that depend on collaboration and coordination bring results.

The authors describe the main theoretical premise in the book that exists in most organizations. They offer a concise summary of the Human Synergistics Circumplex applied to cultures as part of a system they call the Integrated Diagnostic System. Ultimately, there is no single way to approach culture change however; having a common language, measurement, and uniform approach to change can be a powerful tool for leaders. There are twelve cultural norms and within these norms, we see three different cultural styles in most organizations. Here are the three styles:

1. Constructive Style: Cultures are based on achievement, self-actualization, encouraging and humanistic. This type of culture focuses on improvement and the development of individuals and the company

2. Passive/Defensive Style: Focused on approval, conventional practices, and dependence and avoidance. The goal is to protect the existing organization and individuals

3. Aggressive/Defensive Style: Full of opposition, power and competitiveness and perfection. This culture is often in hostile or negative companies trying to protect themselves from change

Clearly, leaders need to understand their current culture. They need to be aware of who holds the power or who controls the culture and understand the ultimate impact. Looking at their culture through the lenses noted above will help identify weaknesses and point out how the organization can work towards a cultural transformation from within. Leaders have sound reasons for changing norms and working toward a constructive thinking organization.

· Attracting and retaining talent

· Teamwork and problem solving

· Strategy implementation

· Innovation and adaptability

· Consistency with organizational values

· Financial

· Closing the gap between current and ideal culture

My favorite part of the book is Part II. Szumal and Cooke highlight nine organizations that have used practical principles and concepts from the book to enhance and grow their cultures. The companies that they highlight are from all over the world and each has its own unique story. This area of the book is where everything falls into place for the reader and real lessons hit home. Here are some of the companies highlighted:

· San Diego Unified Port District

· Spreadsheet – Germany

· Strauman – Switzerland

· PONS Bakery – Serbia

· Dreher Brewery

· Agroenzy Mas – Mexico

Each company had a fascinating journey, which resulted in their organizations being more productive, more cohesive, and more collaborative. The stories highlight that there is no one way to approach culture change and influence the overall company climate. Overall culture change was aligned with improvements in employee satisfaction, innovation, revenue growth, and other factors.

The final portion of the book closes with a four-phase process for strengthening true constructive culture and amplifying results. These phases bring all the concepts, ideas, tools and experiences to fruition for the benefit of both the teams and organizations. Again, this book is academically focused on models, key intricate strategies, and presents over 40 years of research so the reader needs to be prepared to jump in for a new way of learning.

Are You Ready to Be a Better Mentor to Inspire Your Team?

When I first started my career, mentoring was something only esteemed executives participated in. Managers were more interested in training teams and throwing them out there to do their job. Rarely did we receive one on one feedback, advice, or were challenged with questions to grow. Luckily, times have changed. More and more companies see the value of coaching or mentoring and ingrain it into their culture. My current employer is the first company that I have worked for that really cares about growing people through mentoring and encourages both professional and personal growth.

One of my favorite aspects of being a manager is mentoring my team. I want to encourage them, identify their gifts, and help them grow – even if it means losing them. When someone moves on to a better opportunity it means that I have been successful as a mentor. Unfortunately, many of us haven’t had a mentor so we don’t really know what to do, how to mentor people from different backgrounds, and we are intimidated. Mentoring is here to stay as more companies see the real value and employees expect professional interaction with their leaders. A few months back I was scouring Amazon for an effective book on mentoring but didn’t find what I needed as a leader.

This month I finally found the book that I have been searching for. The new book Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring – Lean Forward, Learn, and Leverage by Lisa Z. Fain and Lois J. Zachery is a goldmine book for mentoring people. The book is an easy read leading the reader on a journey to learn more about mentoring and how to influence teams.

The book engages with reflections, tactics, stories that share actual mentoring situations, tools, and recaps at the end of each chapter. These help the reader bridge any differences or misconceptions that they had about mentoring before picking up Bridging Differences. I need to reinforce new principles when I read a book and this one did not disappoint.

Bridging Differences offers a multiple-phase mentoring model geared to build connections and bridge differences. Here are the phases:

1. Lean forward into difference

2. Learn from differences

3. Leverage differences

4. Enabling growth

One of the primary challenges that we all face when mentoring others or being mentored is understanding our differences and building relationships to overcome those differences. It is not easy and there are a few points that we need to remember.

1. Mentoring has to be reciprocal and both people need to engage. A mentor who does all the talking is doing a disservice to the concept of mentoring

2. Mentoring involves learning. As a mentee, be open to learning and absorb all the knowledge and advice that you can

3. A strong relationship and trust is critical to success

4. Mentoring really is a partnership on both sides.

Overcoming differences is probably one of the key challenges that we all face in the workplace today. Leaders really need to be committed to taking ownership, create awareness about issues and jointly address them. The hardest part? You need to shift your own perspectives and jump out of your own “world” or comfort zone. Cultural differences can also be an uphill battle. We all have our individual unique backgrounds and experiences that impact our ability to address interpersonal relationships. We may need to apply new rules, determine the role of the group we are working with and what is our role when it comes to emotions? What is the scope of relationships when we mentor individuals or groups? Finally, how do we even measure accomplishments or milestones when we mentor?

The mentor and mentee must be honest and set some ground rules before entering a mentor relationship. We forget how different we are from one another and we all carry certain cultural biases, differences, and the big one – social position. It can be pretty intimidating for a junior employee to be mentored by a mentor several levels up and it takes time to build trust and comfort. Likewise, there should be agreement on the monologue and ease of dialogue, how questions are addressed, follow up, and how collaborative engagement will be achieved. This area is where the stories in Bridging Differences really help. There are a few examples of a mentor doing all the talking and assuming what the mentee wants and needs. The differences in expectations were vast and it didn’t make the engagement worthwhile.

So when does mentoring end? That is a key question. That is why it is so critical to layout expectations and agreements when first mentoring someone. Perhaps it will be six months or until the mentee reaches a new goal or level in their career. Perhaps a challenge was overcome and the mentoring achieved its purpose. At my company, mentoring is a continuous process with each team member so that they continue to learn and grow under their current leader. The point is that both parties need to understand and agree on the mentoring process and relationship initially so that expectations and feedback are achieved.

Mentoring is so critical to every employee, stakeholder, volunteer, student, everyone! Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring is an excellent bible for being a better mentor and mentee. This is a must-read for leaders and every human resources leader who is looking to implement a successful mentoring program. This process even lends itself to how we treat raise our children and have meaningful conversations with them.

The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success Guest Post by David E. Nielson

David E. Nielson has a new book out The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success - It’s All About You! The book is a journey about finding your purpose and growing as a leader with by creating your own path. Here is a guest post from David. Enjoy!

I was really disappointed when one of my favorite news anchors was caught being inauthentic. Brian Williams had stated that he had been in a helicopter that had received gunfire during his coverage of the Iraq war in 2003. Years later, people who were there came forward and said his story was not true; he had not been shot down in the Chinook helicopter and forced to land.

He experienced the true cost of being inauthentic as other stories of his were questioned such as his coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the Berlin Wall coming down. As a journalist, honesty, integrity, and authenticity are paramount. Once Williams lost that, he lost his job.

One of the significant consequences of not being authentic is erosion of trust. It’s very hard to trust people who project something they aren’t.

Trust

Let’s look at the trust issue on a tactical level, and at a very specific tool to increase your trustworthiness and, by extension, your authenticity.

There are some good books and articles on trust and undoubtedly some good definitions. I like to keep it simple. For me, trust between two or more people is simply “expectations met or unmet.” Generally, if you repeatedly do what you say

you will do, others will find you to be trustworthy. The opposite

is also true.

Years ago, I learned about a simple model called “Management by Agreement—MBA” taught to me by great mentors at The Atlanta Consulting Group. Basically, it is a trust model for making and keeping agreements.

The model has four basic tips or practices:

1. Make only agreements you intend to keep.

2. Avoid making or accepting fuzzy agreements.

3. If you have to break an agreement in the future, give earliest possible notice.

4. If you break an agreement, clean it up

immediately.

If you have mastered the clarity of your purpose and you operate with high self-awareness, you then can become effective and impactful when you are operating authentically!

When you are living your life on purpose, you are living your authentic life. Everything you do has a purpose. No longer do you have to walk the road of being the victim or victor of chance. You are making the rules and you are living by them every day.

About David Nielson

David Nielson brings over four decades of corporate, Fortune 500, and private consulting experience in organizational change management, leadership development, and training. David has helped guide large-scale change initiatives and business strategy driven by ERP, mergers, restructuring, and the need for cultural change. He's been a featured and frequent speaker at PMI, Project World, Chief Executive Network, Management Resources Association, TEC, IABC, Training Director’s Forum, and the Alliance of Organizational Systems Designers.

David has worked around the world delivering training and consulting Services. In all those years, those countries, those clients; David has observed, learned and collected great experiences and teaching points. David decided to work on a way to “give back.” His latest book, The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success helps readers identify their definition of purpose professionally and personally to achieve conscious success.

Knowing That Leadership Has a Rhythm of Growth and Loss Holds One to Hope By Dr. Jeanie Cockell and Dr. Joan McArthur-Blair

How is your leadership journey going? In our ever changing world being an effective leader is a daily challenge. Building Resilience with Appreciative Inquiry by Dr. Jeanie Cockwell and Dr. Joan McArthur-Blair is a new book that speaks to leadership journeys with hope, during despair, and with forgiveness. Here is an some insightful information from the authors to help you become the leader that you were meant to be.

By Dr. Jeanie Cockell and Dr. Joan McArthur-Blair

The hope of the gardener described in the next story is a wonderful metaphor for the place that hope dwells—a place that enables and encourages leaders to sow the earth knowing that some things will grow and some will flounder. Leaders repeatedly begin again and resow, knowing that the wind, rain, and sun can be nurturing friends or destructive foes. Sometimes leaders retrace their steps to find things they should have understood, and other times they strike out in new directions. In the garden, there is both hope and its shadow. Hope holds in its hands the soft earth as it readies it for planting; hope is open to the possible and deeply feels the moment of beginning, not the prediction of the end state. A leader described her leadership life as a gardener this way:

I am a gardener—one who nurtures, tends, plants, cultivates, and harvests. I am a leader who inspires, creates, celebrates, encourages, and invests. Gardeners and leaders have many skills and talents and values in common. Great gardeners are full of hope. It is genuine and considered hope that is the essence of how I see myself as a gardener and a leader. This is a hope that is based in reverence for life in its deepest and most profound meaning.

Some of my earliest memories of hope involve planting radish seeds as a small girl and waiting impatiently for them to sprout. I can still feel and smell the soil and relive the joy of the first shoots. In a similar manner, I can still visualize my first formal leadership role in my Brownie pack. The possibilities of making a difference, of helping others with their badges, of teaching them the rituals, of being there for them when they forgot their tams or scarves. Hope for the future was the essence of these early experiences.

The lessons of the gardener inform me in the lessons of leadership. Sometimes, despite all the necessary prep of soil, nutrients, seed selection, etc., the seeds blow away, the plant withers, and the bugs attack or the bloom fades before it flowers. The ground is fallow for periods of time and only a few stalks blow in the wind. I prepare again, gather more information, and make selections, try different nutrients, check the weather, except that for me roses do not do well—concentrate on daisies. This is hope. Next time, the garden will be great, it will be different, and it will grow.

My leadership is embedded in the hope of the gardener—learning to accept, to rethink, to reimagine, to redo, to undo, knowing that tomorrow is another opportunity full of possibilities and potential to discover and celebrate.

I have loved every job I have ever had—some lasted longer than others. In some positions there was more to plant, more to nurture, and more learning to be had. I have chosen to change jobs based on my assessment of the possibilities for growth for myself and others.

Much as a gardener decides their type of garden. All my life, I have been associated with some aspect of education, whether it be teaching pottery, swimming, or anthropology, or facilitating teams, or teaching others to teach and be leaders. For me, education is all about hope—for oneself, for others, and for a different world. It is the hope that sees me through to more possibilities and to uncovering the potential in others and providing me the opportunity to be a small part in realizing the possibility. Finding the seeds, nurturing their beginnings, tending the fragile shoots, staking their stems, and admiring their unique blooming beauty is the gift of hope and the reason to be. I will always be a gardener and revel in the possible, despite stormy weather, dry seasons, scattered seeds, and invasive pests. In leadership, I cherish the hope of the gardener, and this hope inspires my leadership and sees me through the tough times.

The practice of hope in all the multiple tasks of leadership is the recognition that hope can be nurtured in the early stages when the outcome is not known; in the journey along the way, where already some things have floundered and some have grown; and in the final outcome, which might be different than planned. It is undertaking leadership in all of these places with the heart of the gardener that can help sustain hope as the rhythms of growth and loss and the seasons change.

About the authors

Dr. Jeanie Cockell and Dr. Joan McArthur-Blair, co-presidents of leadership consulting firmCockell McArthur-Blair Consulting, are the co-authors ofBuilding Resilience with Appreciative Inquiry. The veteran consultants’ latest book explores how leaders can use the practice of Appreciative Inquiry to weather the storms they'll inevitably encounter and be resilient.

Eight Reasons Why You Are Still In High School

I remember years ago when I was in high school my mom telling me numerous times “these are the best years of your life!” Sure, spending day after day dealing with gossip, cliques, homework, disenchanted teachers, including kids who didn’t care much about actually learning was the best right? The sad thing is that many of us are still in high school only we call it work. Sound familiar?

Years ago employees hung out around the water cooler or coffee counter. Open office plans have flipped that practice upside down. Most employees have minimal privacy and are sitting on top of each other. It’s like sitting in a classroom all day working on homework assignments. Ultimately not much has changed since graduation, and you are still in high school.

Eight reasons why you are still in high school

1. Gossip. I think that corporate gossip is worse than in high school, we are just sneakier about it. Back in the old days, we didn’t have social media and smart phones to share what we heard. Technology has exasperated the spread of gossip and adults are savvier about making chatter sound like corporate strategy. These days gossip destroys people and careers. Don’t get wrapped up in its dangers.

2. Bullying. Adults can be cruel. Bullying takes place every day in the form of intimidation, sabotage, belittling, and even subtle threats. Not long ago, I had a manager that was smooth one day and the next day would micromanage and throw out threats with a smile on his face. We would all do a double take to try and understand his game.

3. Cliques: We were all in a group in high school whether we realized it or not. Nothing has changed. You are in a circle at work. Look around you. Higher level managers stay in their corner; the interns hang together all day. The IT folks have their spot. These cliques often meet after work for “team building”.

4. Lackadaisical Coworkers: My twins love school. Fortunately, they are bright and motivated to learn. They also complain weekly about being in classes with kids who could care less about learning or growing. It brings them down and at times, interrupts their learning. We all work with people who don’t care. They don’t want to learn. They don’t care about growing and strengthening the team. They just show up.

5. Competition: The magical word. In high school, we see competition in every sport, and it permeates throughout the system. Most of the time it’s healthy, but not always. Competition encouraged with negative intent can impact lives. You know where the competition is and who owns it in your area. You have probably seen how a competitive team can thrive and accomplish. You have also been on the receiving end of spiteful and negative competition. I have seen people pay with their jobs from malicious competition.

6. Teachers: I remember some of my best teachers. They were passionate about my learning and growth and cared about preparing me for success. I also remember the poor teachers. They had tenure and just showed up every day for a paycheck. Managers are not much different. Some leaders thrive on growing and mentoring teams. Others don’t care and like a tenured teacher, just show up.

7. The Principal: I’m guessing that you either loved or hated your high school Principal. It probably depended on how much trouble that you created! You still have a Principal – your top leadership including the CEO. The Principal is the one that manages the culture of the company, makes or breaks your future in the company and can make your job easy or challenge you. They probably don’t know you well unless you are a troublemaker or….a suck up. Beware of the Principal.

8. School Board: The school board oversees the entire system and has no idea about the inner working of the company nor do they care how you function on a daily basis. They only know what they are told and generally go along with what they hear. They don’t tend to dig deep into the company culture or care about employee well being or team challenges. Making cuts, moving employees, cutting departments is all in a day’s work for them.

Hopefully, you loved high school and have positive memories. You may also be in the minority. I was eager to move on after high school and grow through my college years. As you read this and if you are at work, look around you, and I bet you will whisper to yourself “I AM still in high school!”

Why Don't Organizations Pay Attention to Processes? by Karen Martin

Clarity First is the new book by Karen Martin. She addresses the pitfalls that leaders make in organizations in making change and bringing clarity to the company and teams. Here is a guest post from her new book. If you want clarity within your organization then pick up Karen’s book to get started down the right path.

Effective processes create such a dramatic boon, and broken processes such a significant bane, that I have long reflected on why process design and management as a discipline doesn’t get more attention. Over time I have discovered myriad reasons, subreasons, and sub-subreasons why, which together come down to a hard reality: most leaders lack foundational skills in process design and management, and don’t view them as institutionally important enough to learn. That may sound harsh, but it’s true. There are three reasons why.

First, many processes are invisible. They happen behind the scenes or beneath the visible aspects of the business. Most of them function well enough that problems are like a pin leak in a larger pipe. The loss immediately affects those close to the leak, but is less visible at the end of the line. People acclimate to that kind of slow leak.

The second reason why leaders and the organizations they work for have not invested more in having clear, high-functioning processes is lack of experience. Building proficiency in any endeavor—whether golf, guitar, or gastroenterology—requires practice, experience, and knowing what good looks like. Yet gaining that experience can be challenging because the models are few and far between. Process design and management are not part of the core business curriculum offered at most universities and graduate programs. When young professionals graduate into the workforce, the organizations they work for likely aren’t process-centric enough to fill in those education gaps. Fast forward 10, 20, 30 years and those young professionals have become leaders who have never thought much about processes and don’t know what well-designed and well-managed processes look like, let alone how to create them.

Career-long lack of exposure metastasizes quickly to produce the third reason why organizations pay less attention to processes than they need to for clarity: they have a specialist mentality. Leaders’ lack of direct experience has led them to believe that process design and management must be complex and difficult, and thus requires a specialist to do well.

Karen Martin, president of the global consulting firm TKMG, Inc., is a leading authority on business performance and Lean management. Her latest book, Clarity First, is her most provocative to date and diagnoses the ubiquitous business management and leadership problem―the lack of clarity―and outlines specific actions to dramatically improve organizational performance.

Guest Post from Ken Blanchard

Servant leadership has been around for decades, however, for many it is just becoming mainstream. It's leadership that focuses serving people not standing on a pedestal asking to be served. I'm please to host a guest post from Ken Blanchard who just happens to know a thing or two about leadership! Enjoy.

Servant Leadership: A Model for Leading in Today’s World

By Ken Blanchard

When I first began to teach managers back in the late 1960s, I met Bob Greenleaf, who was just retiring as a top AT&T executive. Bob talked about servant leadership—the concept that effective leaders and managers need to serve their people, not be served by them. It was entirely new thinking then, and in many ways Bob is considered the father of that term.

Today, it is much easier for people to see the importance and relevance of servant leadership. There seems to be general agreement that leaders have two basic roles in business: one of vision and the other of implementation.

In the visionary role, leaders are the definer of direction. They must communicate the mission, values and beliefs the organization aspires to for its people. They need to communicate what the organization stands for and how organizational values encompass the individual values of its members.

I once asked Max Dupree, who wrote a fabulous book entitled Leadership Is an Art, what he felt was the most important role of a leader. He compared the role to that of a third-grade teacher who keeps repeating the basics. "When it comes to vision and values, you have to say it over and over and over again until people get it right, right, right!"

Once people are clear on where they are going, an effective leader’s role switches to the task of implementation. How do you make the dream happen? This is where servant leadership comes into play. The traditional way of managing people is to direct, control and supervise their activities and to play the role of judge, critic and evaluator of their efforts. In a traditional organization, managers are thought of as responsible and their people are taught to be responsive to their boss.

We’re finding that kind of leadership isn’t as effective as it once was. Today when people see you as a judge and critic, they spend most of their time trying to please you rather than to accomplish the organization’s goals and move in the direction of the desired vision. "Boss watching" becomes a popular sport and people get promoted on their upward influencing skills. That role doesn’t do much for accomplishing a clear vision. All people try to do is protect themselves rather than to help move the organization in its desired direction.

The servant leader is constantly trying to find out what his or her people need to be successful. Rather than wanting them to please him or her, they are interested in making a difference in the lives of their people and, in the process, impacting the organization.

More about Ken Blanchard

Ken Blanchard is a best-selling business author with over 21 million books sold. His newest book, Servant Leadership in Action, is being released on March 6. Ken is also hosting a free Servant Leadership in Action Livecast on February 28 featuring more than 20 authors, CEOs, and thought leaders speaking on the topic.  Learn more here!

Knowing the Self Who Leads by Shelly L. Franci

Have you ever found yourself wondering where inner wisdom and courage come from? Have you been in a situation where your real leadership blooms because you know what you value and believe in?

Shelly L. Franci's new book The Courage Way: Leading and Living with Integrity offers soul searching and a path you can take to find your authentic self and bring out your true gifts to impact others. Here is an excerpt from Shelly's new book.

The underlying premise of the Courage Way is that we all have a trustworthy source of inner wisdom that informs our lives and leadership. It is our identity and integrity, the sum of our shadows and light, our true self. Without knowing our true self, we cannot be an authentic leader.

Just as Ed came to recognize, leaders must find clarity about what they value, what unique gifts they have to offer, what contribution they wish to make. Strength and resilience as a leader come from knowing the ground on which you stand, the convictions you will act on with courage. But that’s not all. Resilience comes from being aware of and accepting your limits and what problems your shadows are causing. That is wholeness—and that comes from knowing your true self.

Otto Scharmer, author of Theory U, acknowledges this inner life: “We observe what leaders do. We can observe how they do it, what strategies and processes they deploy. But we can’t see the inner place, the source from which people act when, for example, they operate at the highest possible level, or alternatively, when they act without engagement or commitment.”

This inner place Scharmer speaks of is more than intellect, ego, emotions, and will. In the inner work of leadership, it is a light behind the eyes, the energy that animates us, or, as Howard Thurman puts it, “the sound of the genuine in you.” Instead of true self or soul, you could say inner wisdom, essential self, or even trusting your gut. Poets, musicians, and mystics have given words to the essence of who we are—our human spirits—when we take off the trappings of our resumes. John O’Donohue calls it the dignity somewhere in us “that is more gracious than the smallness / that fuels us with fear and force.”  William Stafford appeals to “a voice, to something shadowy / a remote important region in all who talk.”

Although Parker Palmer often refers to his inner teacher, he often says that what you call this core of our humanity doesn’t matter, “but that we name it matters a great deal. It’s important to recognize it: If we don’t name it anything, we start to lose the being in human being. We start to treat each other like empty vessels or objects to be marketed. When we say ‘soul,’ or ‘identity and integrity,’ there is something to make a deep bow to. There is a word for it in every wisdom tradition.”

Beyond being the sum of your life experiences, the true self is a mystery that simply is. How do you get to that underlying mystery of knowing people deep down? Intimacy is not necessarily the goal of every relationship in community, especially in the workplace. But respecting that each person has an essential core self, an undeniable dignity and humanity—now that is worthwhile.

But seldom, if ever, do we ask the “who” question. Who is the self that engages in leadership? How does this self impact the practice of leadership, for good and for bad? How is the self continually honored and renewed as we lead?

—Parker J. Palmer

About Shelly L. Francis

Shelly L. Francis has been the marketing and communications director at the Center for Courage & Renewal since mid-2012. Before coming to the Center, Shelly directed trade marketing and publicity for multi-media publisher Sounds True, Inc. Her career has spanned international program management, web design, corporate communications, trade journals, and software manuals.

The common thread throughout her career has been bringing to light best-kept secrets — technology, services, resources, ideas — while bringing people together to facilitate collective impact and good work. Her latest book The Courage Way: Leading and Living with Integrity identifies key ingredients needed to cultivate courage in personal and professional aspects of life.