We've Moved!
NOTICE: As of April 1, 2012 the Reclaiming Leadership blog will be posting at www.InPowerConsultingInc.com and Magus Consulting will be DBA as InPower Consulting. I am posting even more regularly at the InPower Women blog!
Activating The Woman Effect
Posted by Dana Theus in InPower Leadership, Reclaimed!, Women In Leadership on February 1, 2012
Follow The Woman Effect online - www.TheWomanEffect.com.
This last year blogging here on Reclaiming Leadership has been fun and fascinating. Along the way I found myself speaking to and with wonderful, powerful women. And I’ve also been having fun blogging on women’s web sites, like Blogher, The Glass Hammer, Success in the City and Owning Pink. But I wanted to have a place of my own to speak to women about the trends I see from reading the leadership research that many women – heads down in their career – don’t get a chance to see. So I’m starting a new leadership and professional development blog and website for powerful, high-achieving women.
Here’s my opening play: The Woman Effect (1:48 min video).
Thanks for all of you who have friended, followed, commented, discussed and debated with me over the last year. I’ve never had so much professional fun in my life and it’s only getting better!
The Antidote for Toxic Corporate Culture
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, InPower Leadership, The PRIMES on January 25, 2012
In a recent leadership development workshop I ran, one woman bravely spoke her truth about the reality of the toxic corporate culture they all worked in. It was dysfunctional. Managers were petty and their pettiness was only overshadowed by the pettiness of the leaders above them. All these great ideas we were generating in the training – all this great energy – how could they keep it alive when everyone went back to their regularly scheduled work life the next day?
Enter, Reality Read the rest of this entry »
Innovative Leadership 101: Develop a Perspective Protocol
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, Innovation on January 18, 2012
Sometimes we have to accept the reality that innovation can’t always be planned, but when we find a pattern to help us increase the likelihood of spontaneity – why not try to learn it and bake it into the corporate culture?
In their new book “Great by Choice,” Jim Collins and Morten Hansen have identified some of these patterns. One I loved was “Zoom In Zoom Out” that describes how executives at innovative companies “Zoom Out” to take a strategic view of the situation before “Zooming In” to take action when the ground shifts under their feet. But they don’t just get all zoomy for the fun of it; they look for a specific data point when they Zoom Out, which is how much time do we have not to act before our risk profile changes? This designated time parameter then becomes the de facto boundary of our tactical response, allowing more strategic actions if more time is available and less if it’s not.
How Come Doctors Get All The Protocols? Read the rest of this entry »
What if Self-promotion is a Gender-Neutral Leadership Skill?
Posted by Dana Theus in InPower Leadership, Women In Leadership on January 11, 2012
Follow The Woman Effect online - www.TheWomanEffect.com.
Sometimes true wisdom hides behind sensational headlines. I often think this when I read gender wars articles; you know, the ones that toss the sexes in the ring?
Here’s my latest beef: Women need to self-promote to make more money. (Forbes Woman , Catalyst Inc.)
So apparently women suck at self-promotion. Is that the deepest wisdom here?
I’m not arguing the data, but rather the interpretation.
True Leadership is Gender Neutral Read the rest of this entry »
The Perils of “Easy” Consensus: Leaders, Do Your Job
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, The PRIMES on January 4, 2012
Throughout my career I’ve had experiences with government, nonprofit and corporate cultures, and I’ve noticed a leadership pattern in all three that any leader can learn from.
Consensus means different things to different people. Be brave. Do Your Job.
Don’t take the ”easy” path.
The word consensus is based on the Latin word “consent,” which according to Dictionary.com means “to be in agreement.” Most people take this into the absolute realm and interpret consensus to mean, “everyone agrees with everything.”
Bad idea. Executive Coaching tip: people are designed at the molecular level NOT to agree on everything. So why set yourself up for the tyranny of the minority? Read the rest of this entry »
Leadership Test: Integrity During The Holidays
Posted by Dana Theus in eCoaching, Inspiration, The PRIMES on December 21, 2011
The holidays are a stressful time for all of us, when we struggle with work-life balance (or not) and work to serve our business and our families with equal gusto, too often at the expense of ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »
The Better to Innovate You With – Why Leaders Keep Fools Nearby
Posted by Dana Theus in Change Management, Corporate Culture, Innovation on December 14, 2011
In researching my eCourse on Speaking Truth to Power to help people use their own deep wisdom to advance their careers, I stumbled on this great article by James O’Toole (link). O’Toole gave several examples of corporate cultures that encourage people to challenge authority and who excelled because of it. A great example was 1980′s Motorola, led by CEO Robert Galvin. Galvin credited a deliberate culture of challenging ideas held by those in authority as the fuel that helped Motorola overcome Texas Instruments.
It seems pretty clear, from anecdotes like this and research conducted more recently, that a culture that encourages new ideas and open dialog breeds innovation, but human nature seems to work against us here. The research shows that due to “the boss effect” the higher up they go, the less bosses listen and (presumably because more messengers get shot), the more trepidation people have about speaking up.
Corporate cultures are so strong! What’s a leader to do?
Hire a fool.
Sanity Challenge: Powerful Bosses Don’t Listen
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, eCoaching on December 7, 2011
And you thought it was just you.
New research confirms that the more power(*) a manager or leader has, the more likely they are to ignore advice.
To some extent this makes sense. I mean, being rewarded with powerful positions means you must be doing something right, right? And if you’re doing something right, why not trust yourself and your decisions? Read the rest of this entry »
Innovation Challenge: Humans Reject Creativity
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, Innovation on November 30, 2011
Breaking news for creative types: you’re not crazy. Your innovative ideas really are being ignored, downplayed, sidelined and squashed.
So says a study out of University of Pennsylvania Wharton, University of North Carolina and Cornell last year. Turns out that experiments turn up some disturbing findings for those of us hoping to spur innovation in our organizations: new ideas increase feelings of uncertainty and stimulate an anti-creativity bias. The anti-creativity bias causes people to unconsciously ignore the thing causing uncertainty – and your idea along with it.
Even more sadly, objective evidence in favor of your idea doesn’t really help it get through the anti-creative bias.
People just like to play it safe.
What To Do About It
Don’t “Do” Leadership
Posted by Dana Theus in eCoaching on November 22, 2011
New Study: #1 reason for leaders’ failure today, inability to build team relationships.
Old Problem: Weak leaders think they lead by doing stuff.
At least that’s my interpretation of the study reported on Forbes last week by commentator Holly Green. While I generally agree with the Holly’s advice – have a vision/mission and share it, walk the walk, listen, foster teamwork etc… – I don’t think that gets to the heart of the problem.
The problem is that we think leadership is something you can do. It’s not. It’s something you are. And the only way to tap into the leader YOU are inside is to go there. Read the rest of this entry »
Dana Theus
Activate The Woman Effect
