The Winning Curse

News is often full of fallen heroes; fallen to drugs, crime or bribery. Leadership is not the same as management or winning at all costs. Leadership is about being the best of who we are, leading by example and in the process creating other Leaders, not followers.

Hero worshiping is creating serious anomalies in our society and there is a need for our prime caregivers and education systems to re-frame and redefine how we are motivating our youth and what success means.

Ego is not the same as self-worth and self-respect. Ego is the opposite!

In my opinion Ego is the result of self-denial, where the value of oneself is so low, that from a young age we start comparing ourselves with others to create an avatar of ourselves that becomes our Ego; that we manipulate like a chameleon in every aspect of our life (friendships, relationships, work, play, etc) in order to cover-up that innate sense of worthlessness. This is exacerbated by the emphasis of our care-givers, from a very young age, where we are compared with others and where others (winners!) are established as yardsticks of success. Being individuals, we never match those others that we are compared with and that which we are taught to revere and thus starts the process of creating our fake avatar, the chameleon.

In this process, depression is a very likely path as we learn to suppress that who we are while we act in behaviors that make us appear to be successful, as defined by others. That suppression leads to depression.

And depression is not even the worst outcome. Performance enhancement drugs, bribery and crime often are outcomes that destroy our lives and those of those around us.

Our newspapers are currently full of devastating news like Pistorius, Lance Armstrong, extensive doping in Australian sports, and other fallen heroes/organisations.

The issue, is that instead of looking at this as an epidemic of our times, driven by our trained focus to "win at all costs", we look at these disasters as individual cases. Doing so, we continue making a bad situation worse.

The answer is simple but not so easy to deploy. It is simply about motivating our young to explore that which motivates them from the inside and for them to feel contented and loved for simply being who they are; rather than the unnatural pressure from day one to be better than the Jones's, to make more money, to drive better cars, wear set brands, etc...

And there is nothing wrong with aspiring to having the best that this world has on offer, and more. The difference is the motivation that gets us to achieve these, that needs to be internalized rather externalised; meaning, motivated from within rather than motivated by comparing ourselves with others.

Whether you are a mother, a school teacher, a manager or an orator, be a Leader and inspire others by motivating that beautiful energy that lies within them that will yield astounding results to themselves, your family and your organisation.

In our definition, Leaders are those that create Leaders and Leadership starts with one owning the responsibility of taking a Lead in their own life! Whether you know it or not, you are a Leader! Leaders exist in all walks of life. They are mothers, CEOs, volunteers, spiritualists, care-givers, receptionists, and the list goes on. However not all these role players are Leaders.

http://www.aldogrech.com

Celebrate Mistakes

Leader definition according to Dictionary.com - a person or thing that leads; a guiding or directing head, as of an army, movement, or political group.

Leader definition according to Oxford Dictionary - the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country; the person or team that is winning a sporting competition at a particular time; an organization or company that is the most advanced or successful in a particular area.

Today we redefine Leadership. Leadership is not exclusively related to the work environment. Leadership is about being in our element, operating from our essence. I have real life examples to make the point in a work environment that equally applies to all walks of life. The example is a real organisation in decline and in real trouble. In administration and having lost six hundred thousand dollars. I will later show you how Leadership utilising this new definition, has impacted this organisation.

We are all born natural leaders. But leadership is often educated out of us in our early days to conform to normality, through fear of mistakes.

We celebrate mistakes!

In this organisation the Staff to choose their CEO. I am that CEO. I, in turn nominated the customer as our CEO and delegated myself as his assistant. We instituted weekly meetings where the team was encouraged to bring their mistake to the table. If people did not, we assumed that they were not trying hard enough. Management is about control and as a result driven by fear of failure. Without risk, there is no growth and risk brings fear of mistakes. It is our responsibility as leaders to remove fear of mistakes as that's where the gold lies. Be-it at home or at the workplace, where there is fear of making mistakes, growth and creativity are greatly hampered. As a child, every fall was a step closer to our first step. The light bulb might never have been invented if it wasn't for thousands of mistakes.

"You mean I can do what I want, when I work for your company." Yes, this is your company. You turn-up when you want to and approach your role in the way that feels best for you. If the customer is satisfied, then so are we! "Really??? But when I expressed myself freely as a young child, I was told to grow-up and stop being silly!!!"

Such is the rigorous and pervasive normalisation training from our early days in in our culture generally, that fear, whilst undesirable, feels comfortable (the comfort of the known) where-as true freedom of expression is difficult and challenging. Happiness at home and at work relates more to the freedom of self-expression than it relates to how much we earn. Fear marginalises us. It makes us feel like frauds among peers. Operating from our essence, without fear of failure makes us Leaders. Leaders are creative and motivate others to operate from their core and their essence. They remove barriers of fear and shame. They motivate by respecting the individual for their individuality rather than rail-roading them into conformity of standards, hierarchy, roles and KPIs.

Mums can be Leaders. Artists can be leaders. Receptionists can be Leaders. Leaders are not hierarchically or financially motivated. Managers are! Yet, in my experience, the hardest thing is for people to trust that they are allowed to make mistakes and that they are allowed to "be themselves"! That's the real test. I was fortunate to work closely with Stan Shih (founder of Acer Computer). He believed that mistakes are the cost of education and losses applied to our training budget. Stan's company became the 3rd largest global PC manufacturer. When we set-out to be the best of who we are, doing what we believe not for financial or hierarchical advancement, as Steve Jobs showed, we end-up changing the world and receiving great financial reward.

So, operating from our Essence, is the best way to look after the board and the shareholders. We, met our customers and asked them many questions about us. We turned rhetoric and clichés into actions, marketed less, established customer-centric internal vision, eliminate non-profitable products, allowed the organisation to self realign behind the new vision, did not replace sales staff that left, removed the Sales Department, re-distributed the amount traditionally allocated to sales commissions into incentives for all. Most suppliers abandoned us. This had a significant impact on our Vision and had to choose a new, more profitable and sustainable direction. Gave 40% of company to staff and shared it equally between us.

We got the team to have more fun, flexible working hours, Foosball at office, Go carting & Karaoke nights, hours/days off without impacting leave entitlements, worked smarter not harder, Eliminate manual processes, open space environment and more. 14 staff spend less time at work, produced more than 29 did, revenues continued to slide! Profitability went up SIGNIFICANTLY, finishing 2011/12 with six hundred thousand dollar profit (a one point two million dollar turn-around) and on track to a record two point six million in 2012/13.

To iPad or not to iPad

The following are my comments on an article recently published about the new Apple iPad.

I remember the die-hard apple lovers, knocking the PC decades ago (using similar arguments to the ones above) and we all know how things evolved from there.

Now the non-apple die-hards are at it and they are equally as out of touch. Your technology arguments might be correct. However, as Microsoft proved with it's PC OS and applications, Apple is showing that it learnt it's lesson and now engages the industry developers to produce apps that will make its hardware successful. Except that Apple has a new weapon in it's arsenal, great design.

iPad is a paradigm shifter that contemporaries are not able to comprehend and I am sure history will show that negative views are just "limited vision"!

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

Random acts of Leadership

This morning's papers are ablaze with coverage of the Australian Prime Minister's response to the unions that take a short term view of employment and disregard the lessons of the past, that is; protecting jobs by forcing government or any other bodies for that matter to contract local resources that are more expensive than imported ones creates serious medium to long term negative impacts on employment.

We are in a global economy, and as a result we need to be globally competitive. Unions that do not remember that what more than anything else saved the automobile industry in Australia, was the Button plan of reducing tariffs over a period of time, are simply peddling ignorance or misinformation.

We trust Mr Rudd will power through this nonsense, continue to show Leadership and not buckle-in to political pressures that he would be under, in this process.

Proprietors and Leaders of these organisations, represented by these unions, know that the only effective long-term strategy to longevity in good and not so good economic periods is to constantly offer better value than their competition. We live in a world where the price has to be right and customers choose us on the basis of us offering better value, be-it; better customer service, better turn-around time, better warranties, better designed products, etc...

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

Call for Leaders

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress, from the 9-11 attacks to date, the cost of the "War on Terror" has been US$863 billion, and growing. Since 1993 Greg Mortenson, an American mountaineer from Minnesota, has among other things, single-handedly built 55 schools for impoverished children in the forbidden terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. Which approach do you feel is producing the best outcomes in making the world a safer place, the War on Terror or Greg? To us the answer is simple, the latter.

We recommend that you read Three Cups of Tea and find out more about this amazing American and the power of the humanitarian spirit. And imagine what Greg could have achieved with the squandered US$863 billion! CxO and this newsletter are about Leadership, not necessarily about humanitarian stories, although we do draw courage from the human spirit of benevolence. However, this example patently demonstrates the difference between a CEO and a Leader. There are many approaches towards a desired outcome, and we believe that the only approach that achieves sustainable and great outcomes is Leadership (that emanate from our Essence). All the others come from ego and achieve a variety of short-to-medium-term good outcomes, and in some cases long-term, damaging, often irreparable outcomes. In our example above we see, one one side, the ego of a nation and its president and on the other, an American with a different approach, operating from his Essence, the stuff of true Leadership.

Ego is a difficult armour to wear

Ego is conditional and conditioned. It operates within certain parameters of expectation. It deals with image, consistency, expectations, biases, learnt behaviours, conformity, protection, defences, pride, routine, and much more. Paradoxically, it also feels safe for the carrier as it is built around known behaviours, survival instincts, and defence mechanisms.

Essence, however, is pure. It is about passion, purpose and the authenticity of the objective/s. Essence takes courage. It often goes against norms, at times it demonstrates unpredictable behaviour, and it is often blocked, rejected, and derailed.

However, these are not times for easy options. In our opinion the current global financial meltdown was brought about by ego and greed. It takes true Leaders and true Leadership to take us to the next stage of human evolution. The CEOs who led us to this place will not cut it for the next stage. Much discussion in our internal workshops, and much media scrutiny, has revolved around what to do to punish the CEOs and board members who have brought the world to this place and how they should repay society for their failings and the treacherous conditions in which we find ourselves. Whilst this would soothe the human desire for revenge, it might not be the right solution for achieving the next stage of human growth, as the "War on Terror" has so clearly demonstrated.

Most of these executives did what they thought was be st, and yes, some are possibly corrupt. However, these corrupt individuals are likely few in the scheme of things and need to be dealt with directly. We are going to have to trust that these governments that are handing out trillions of dollars hand-over-fist will take appropriate action to discipline them, but let's not toss the baby out with the bathwater. Surely they are not all crooked. Surely most were doing their best and have had a notably successful track record. Still, their best will not cut it any more unless they too learn to give heed to their Essence and change from being just CEOs to being great Leaders. The lesson from Greg Mortenson is clear, take a compassionate approach to adversity. This takes true courage and comes from our essence, which at its core is pure, exploratory, growth-attuned, astoundingly innovative, and frankly, exhilarating, for when things get to their worst and humankind seems to have lost everything, great Leaders seem to emerge and take humanity to its next stage of evolution.

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

Know but don't tell

A young executive I am mentoring in sales is very keen and knowledgeable in his subject matter. He operates in the IT industry and has an engineering background. He is a very giving individual, ready to share all his knowledge to the benefit of his potential customers. I sat with him through a potential sale to see why his closing percentages were so low when he had so much to offer.

What I found was that as soon as the customer expressed their situation, this sales executive went straight into the pitch, singing the praises of his product and explaining amazing technological breakthroughs in quasi lay terms. The potential customer eventually thanked us for the meeting and indicated he would contact us when ready to buy. We never heard again.

It is very difficult for me to sit through these meetings as I HATE losing a sale where the customer obviously requires the product/service.

The fact that we know our product inside out, does not give us the license to bombard the poor potential customer into submission.

The lesson for my mentee was...... Know but do not tell!

One of my best sales executives during my stint in New Zealand once said to me...... "there is a reason we have two ears and one mouth, I keep reminding myself to shut-up". Ask, ask and ask again is the simple but difficult to execute answer. Sales is no different to peeling an onion. The questions serve to peel away layer after layer until we get to the core; in the case of sales, the core of the customers' needs. They eventually will tell us what their real (rather than the perceived) needs are and there you have a sale. And I say those words very purposefully; it is not that you have closed a sale, it is that you have virtually received an order without "selling".

It serves to know your product inside-out as only then do you know how to pick the moment when the customer hands you the sale. The alternative, which many sales executives use is to bombard the customer with product features hoping that one or some stick. This often does not work and alienates potential customers that have real needs.

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting

Sales driven Marketing

OK, times are tough and the Financial Department has taken the slasher to marketing budgets; so what next? As a Client of mine recently told me, "I am not used to such small marketing budgets"! This was before she left and joined another company (presumably with larger marketing budgets).

Smaller marketing budgets are quickly becoming the norm and for good reason, and as a leader of your area, you could do worse than being proactive about re-cutting your budget. So how do we adjust to this new world of smaller marketing budgets and how do we continue to achieve the same or better outcomes from the smaller investment?

Simply address these three points, (the first one is obviously nothing new):

1. These are indeed tough times so go and re-negotiate your suppliers down as they will do almost anything to keep your business (in fact we recommend, unless you have already done so, go and get third party quotes as well).
2. Get rid of any market research expenditure which is a waste of time, if;
• you are able to capture the feedback from your sales-team. If you have not, this is a great time to institute formal feedback mechanisms for your sales executives; they are a gold-mine of direct customer feedback.
• your organisation enforces the appropriate use of a CRM system. In today's world, it is unacceptable for any organisation not to have an effective CRM system. It costs very little (compared to any market research you are currently funding) to get a SaaS CRM system such as salesforce.com. The next thing is to ensure it is being utilised effectively.
3. This is the key step. Renegotiate a different approach to marketing budgeting and gear it around sales. We find an effective way is to ask for your standard budget on the basis of the organisation achieving its projections for the year. Then get the organisation to commit to 50% budget and the balance extended to you on the basis of results. Furthermore you should have no ceiling so if the organisation overshoots its projections, you continue to receive extra marketing funds. The formula would look like this;
• P=Projection, B=Marketing Budget, A=Actual Revenue
• then; B=((B-(B*.5))+((A/P)*(B*.5)))
• ideally calculated quarterly.

If you are thinking that this is nonsense, then think again. In our experience, many organisations (mainly successful up-and-coming ones) have adopted this, or similar, mechanisms and so you really have no choice.

Aldo Grech - CxO Consulting