Posts Tagged corporate culture
Leadership Communications Trick: RIGHT vs. RIGHT
Posted by Dana Theus in eCoaching on March 21, 2012
Every time I do a leadership training seminar at least one person in the room always has the same light bulb go off when I introduce the RIGHT vs. RIGHT concept, described in Chris McGoff’s The PRIMES. You can see it in their eyes when they are able to perceive an alternative to making every conversation conclude with a winner and loser. They smile and you can almost tell that a weight just lifted off their shoulders because they now understand how to access more power through their leadership style. Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking the Pattern of Management
Posted by Dana Theus in Corporate Culture, Innovation on February 22, 2012
Gary Hamel is awesome. I remember doing strategic planning in the 90’s and reading Hamel’s guru stuff. Here he is 20 years later still blowing our minds and giving us new change management insights to play with.
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 »
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 »
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 »
Success is Messy
Posted by Dana Theus in InPower Leadership, The PRIMES on October 27, 2011
Buddhists and psychologists alike tell us that non-attachment to outcomes is the key to success. There is tremendous value in thinking this way – and it’s a key component of my executive coaching work on speaking truth and building your internal power. Non-attachment from the culture around you is critical to establishing your InPower – your personal power base (first becoming aware of the distinction between “you” and “culture” and then learning to use and change the culture intentionally.)
BUT, being a human being fundamentally works against this principle. Why? Because humans are wired to care. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Leadership Lessons From The Worst Bosses I’ve Ever Had
Posted by Dana Theus in InPower Leadership on October 13, 2011
I recently read a fabulous post by Steve Tobak on BNET with tons of great management advice based on his personal experience. It reminded me that after scolding Steve Jobs and other jerk bosses earlier this this week, I actually owe my two worst bosses some props in public. I doubt they’ll read this but you never know so I’m not naming names. You see, my two worst bosses were also my two best bosses. Here’s why. Read the rest of this entry »
Dana Theus
Activate The Woman Effect
