Leaders Are Readers -- Sep 2024

APPLIED AI & ANALYTICS

This first piece is a compiled list of links?covering a number of angles and approaches to and about GenAI. As I type these notes, I just got off a 65-minute session with a new mentee. We spent more than a few minutes discussing?AI including my approach to learning more about it, and how he might approach starting a similar journey to better familiarization. While I'm not likely to ever be a deep expert in this area, it is something I discuss with most of my clients as it is everywhere and will be a part of any or all organizations going forward. For Readers who are seeking a "mini-library" with information related to GenAI, I think the first compilation found in the following link is a great place to start.?How generative AI can help you get unstuck ( mckinsey.com )

This next input is a perfect example of how GenAI is working, and the benefits being generated. Recently, I gave a briefing on GenAI, working to help others understand basic definitions around AI (e.g., differences between Traditional and Generative AI, what machine learning, large language models, and deep learning are); what capabilities actually exist today vice the hype, key questions organizations need to answer about AI, and helping elevate leaders to be adept in this "new" era. One thing we covered was about concerns people have about AI. Will it replace me? Will I lose my job? In short, no. You will work differently, but you're not going to be out of work. This quote from inside this article is a perfect summation of why:?“Asking an AI assistant to write some code is not very different from asking it to translate English text into French with the correct semantics,” said Jason Andersen, vp and principal analyst for Moor Insights and Strategy, where he covers application development and platforms. “In both cases, the requestor still needs to be in the loop and provide the context of the situation to request the work.”?How Amazon’s GenAI tool for developers is saving 4,500 years of work, $260 million annually - WorkLife

This is an excellent read (or can be listened to as the interview audio is linked inside the article). Continuing our theme of learning more about AI, and also understanding applications, this somewhat long read is well-worth the time as it covers several areas around AI. The following question and response are near the end but summarizes my own thinking about this area (and why we spend time on it every month in these missives): (Q) Lareina Yee: One of the things you’ve championed is a “beginner’s mindset” in how you think about growth and leadership. Can you tell us a little bit about your philosophy on that? (A)?Clara Shih: It’s about having a growth mindset and not feeling like we ever become expert enough to never question first principles or rethink assumptions. In this world that is changing so rapidly and where the pace of change is accelerating, all of us are beginners at all times. And so, to come with that fresh and open mind and look at possibility, I think that’s how we’re able to capitalize on major disruptive moments like the one we’re living in right now. In short and sum, have a growth-mindset and remain intellectually curious and interested.?Approach generative AI with a beginner's mindset | McKinsey ?

One area where I continue working to be better is in writing prompts into GenAI tools. Gartner has tools designed to help me improve the support we provide to my clients. While we don't copy and paste any of that generated content as it is designed to help me find relevant research, tools, diagnostics and other content we have amongst our tens of thousands (likely more) of products. The better I get at "asking questions", the better the generated results both in terms of the insights that come in response, and the linked resources are going to be. It is far easier than learning Latin or Python at my current age, but still a work in progress. This piece does not cover the type of prompt I've described here, but the points this piece makes about leaders needing to learn how to use GenAI is instructive. In my own example, NOT using the AI will leave me behind where many of my teammates are heading and the value I bring to my clients will take me more time. As we work to accelerate their decision-making with objective insights, I need to be moving faster and being more efficient with my time. I have very little doubt about the value the GenAI I'm using will bring as I learn how to produce better prompts.?8 Essential AI Prompts for Leaders ( kornferry.com )

BOOKSHELF

Over many years, in these missives, I have shared books by Jim Stovall. He writes both fiction and non-fiction. At this point in his writing career, he has published dozens of books, nine of which have been made into movies. Many Readers know I am a consumer if not a connoisseur?of quotes and quote books. Jim and his writing partner for this effort, have published two books of quotes. They do something interesting. They provide meaningful, moving, and monumental quotes and share context and content about the historic person's quotes and additional details about that person's life. This past month, I read?Words That Shaped Our World?Volume One and Volume Two. As an aside, I have shared more than once that Jim and I have corresponded for nearly 20 years now. When he shares and says, email me ... he will respond if you reach out!

Amazon notes for Volume One:

Words That Shaped Our World?is a powerful collection of quotations that are significant not only for their message, but for who spoke or wrote them and the circumstances under which they were produced. Jim Stovall, a New York Times bestselling author whose books have been adapted into films, and Kathy Johnson, a highly regarded author and editor, share their insight on fifty quotations that transcend the time and place in which they were written and form a powerful part of the collective human experience. These are the quotations we live by, that shape our lives, and that inspire us to live a more meaningful life—quotations from:

Presidents and politicians—such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill

Novelists, poets, and playwrights—such as William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, and Maya Angelou

Scientists, philosophers, and psychologists—such as Socrates, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung, and Stephen Hawking

Personal development experts—such as Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, and Dr. Stephen Covey

Finance and business leaders—such as Warren Buffett, Walt Disney, Ted Turner, and Mary Kay Ash

Civil rights icons—such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela

Humanitarians—such as Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and Helen Keller

Athletes and coaches—such as Mickey Mantle, John Wooden, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Vince Lombardi

Artists, actors, and musicians—such as Salvador Dali, Katharine Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, and Willie Nelson

Contemplate these quotations and discover the inspiration and motivation you need to create an impactful, purposeful life!

Amazon notes for Volume Two:

The fastest way to success in any endeavor of life is to study the wisdom of people who have been where you want to go—this collective wisdom is stored between quotation marks and offered to you in?Words That Shaped Our World Volume Two. These significant quotations are powerful not only for their message, but also for who spoke or wrote them and the circumstances surrounding each person.?These are legendary quotations to live by, that shape our lives and inspire us to live more meaningful lives. These men and women had a vision and followed their dreams—you can too!?Quotes include wisdom from:

Artists, Actors, Musicians: Dolly Parton, John Wayne, Norman Rockwell, Lucille Ball, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Louis Gossett Jr., Raquel Welch, Steve Martin, Bob Newhart Politician: Margaret Thatcher Novelists, Screenwriter, Journalist: Mel Brooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Leo Tolstoy, Andy Rooney Scientist: Sir Isaac Newton Inventor and Business Leader: Henry Ford Military Icon, Astronaut, Discoverer: Julius Caesar, Neil Armstrong, Robert Ballard Athletes: Michael Jordan, Chuck Wepner Discover—or rediscover—the inspiration and motivation you need to create an exciting, impactful, purposeful life worth living…today!

There is much to plumb from these two books. I am carrying away many meaningful moments!

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The third book selection this month was written by one of my former Air Force bosses and long-time mentor, Lieutenant General (Retired) Jerry Martinez. Water Effects is a high-tech thriller where the line between morality and artificial intelligence collapses. It has been a long-time since we discussed a work of fiction, and as I finished the book, I was reminded of another general's comments about reading more than 20 years ago. Also now retired Air Force, four-star General Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart impressed upon me that leaders should always be reading. He shared he always had three books going ... The Bible, a non-fiction selection and a fiction selection. The reason for the first should be obvious. The second was to learn something from history, a biography, a true-life inspirational story, something about strategy, etc. to engage the analytical and thinking side of our brains. The third was to stimulate the creative and artistic side of our brains. I've not been reading all that much fiction, but do sprinkle that in from time to time, like Water Effects. Given the discussion ubiquity of AI, including the amount of time we spend on that subject matter month over month, this particular book is timely. Of course, being written by someone I know well also drove me to pick up a copy (which he signed!). It is a compelling, if not chilling, thriller. I won't give any of the plot away here, but suffice to say, it got me thinking about conversations I've been having with clients about AI, including being deliberate about not just drafting, but deploying and demonstrating good ethics around AI's use. It is a great tool, with growing capabilities. We must have guardrails around how we use it and never lose sight of it as a tool ... not a means to an end. Not a replacement for humans, rather a way to make us more productive, effective, and efficient. It is a great read!?

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The fourth and final book to share this month is The Che Guevara Myth and the Future of Liberty by Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Dear Reader, you may well be thinking, well, this is a departure from the "usual" subjects we cover. Revisiting General Eberhart's non-fiction reading recommendations in Bookshelf above, I do sprinkle in things like this. Sure, over time we usually discuss books about history, like those covering The American Revolution and the Founders, or books about notable historic leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Lee Kuan Yew, and on. Why Che? He's not what I?consider a great leader. He is not someone to admire like the others just mentioned. Very true, and that is why I picked this up at least a couple of years ago. Then, as now, I wanted to know more about him so I could speak with more factual knowledge about him. For many years, I've seen people wearing his visage on shirts, posters on walls, famous people like Mike Tyson sport?a Che tattoo, and several movies that seem to lionize him have been made, including The Motorcycle Diaries. Here's how The Daily Telegraph reviewed that particular film;?The Motorcycle Diaries may not provide any satisfactory answers as to how a 23-year-old medical student went on to become arguably the most famous revolutionary of the latter half of the 20th Century, but it has an undeniable charm in that it imbues the memories of youth with a sense of altruism and purity – which are complemented by the scenery. It's an incomplete portrait to be sure, but it's a gorgeous depiction of two best friends riding unknowingly into the history books.?

This review is exactly what I wanted to be able to address. I learned about Che many years ago, so my recollections of prior readings became a little muddied and muddled over time. The actual truth is, once we look past trying to romanticize or remember him as some "great" revolutionary who was trying to do what was best for the down-trodden in Central and South America, we see he was truly little more than a ruthless killer. For example, Fidel Castro put him in charge of La Cabana prison. While there, he oversaw the execution of somewhere between 200 and 700 people. Historians have had difficulty in determining the exact number, but no one doubts he ordered the killing of men, women, and children while there. Che was a fiscal and financial imbecile as well. While leading the economy of Cuba, he destroyed it. No surprise as Communism is not just a morally bankrupt philosophy, it is also economically destructive. People revere him because they think he was moral and mindful. All he was trying to do was right the wrongs he saw. That is true ... he was trying to change things he saw that were, in fact, bad policy, politics, and people. However, his modes and methods were not only terroristic, they did not really have altruistic aims in practice. He sought power and prestige by any means necessary. He wasn't trying to wrest control from corrupt people to then place the power in the hands of the affected populations like what the American Revolution sought and secured. Nope, he wanted that for himself. As a long-time military leader, I have seen, first-hand, what good (and great) tactical, operational, and strategic executions look like. Here, Che has similarly been elevated as a "great" combat leader. Also, not true. He was a total and terrible disaster in this area. Yes, he and the Castro brothers overthrew an inept and ineffective Cuban regime. Frankly, that wasn't all that hard to do. And, unfortunately, it led to the needless deaths of thousands, if not, tens of thousands of Cubans along the way. The regime he helped set up is still a pariah to its own people.

Sorry (not sorry) for the sermonizing. The point here is leaders must be able to separate fact from fiction and apply appropriate lessons from the life and times of people like Che. Also, openly opining?that far and away too few people seem to undertake this kind of in- depth analysis of people, policies, or positions. Charismatic people like Che are elevated because of characteristics they command rather than looking beyond the face and facade. Che, like the Castro brothers, and other terrible humans across the whole of human history; Lenin, Stalin, Mao, the Kim family from North Korea, Pol Pot, Hitler, Mussolini, etc., are the worst kinds of people. We should not only know that; we should be able to address why that is.

CREATIVE COMMENTARY

Could not agree more about why authentic leadership matters. There are a ton of embedded links in this piece that support the five specific things CCL shares will help lead one towards being a more authentic leader. Those five things are: 1) rethink your leadership image; 2) increase your self-awareness; 3) assess and evaluate your values, likes and dislikes; 4) take action, but get support; 5) become a better communicator. This isn't a "one and done" cycle, rather continuous. In the absence of continuing to work on these areas, we do risk becoming atrophied.?Authentic Leadership: What It Is, Why It Matters | CCL

HARVARD YARD

Like the CCL piece above, even high achievers benefit from continued mentorship. The three things advanced here are areas that are, at least in my view, limitless. Here, I would love Readers to push back if there is disagreement. During a mentor session I had recently, I was sharing with that person that the higher I climbed the ladder, the more I achieved, and the more success I had, came with a high price. Here, I don't mean sacrifices made with my time, my family, etc. I meant that as I continued along my Air Force career journey, my need to learn, grow, become more effective in using EQ, and understanding the importance of growing networks and influence actually accelerated! Becoming an executive (in this case a Flag Officer) wasn't a destination. There was no "I've arrived" moment. Quite the opposite, in part because I had great mentors, I knew I had to keep doing the three things mentioned here and at faster rates, in more complicated circles. If we mentor high achievers to understand what we've just covered, assuming they are open-minded to the important critique, they are likely to continue being high achievers. If they rest on their laurels, the things that most likely helped them "get there" won't keep them there. We likely all know leaders who got to a prestigious place, post, or position who stopped stretching. As a result, they actually become less trusted, less relied upon, and faced reputational impacts as a result. Stay humble and stay hungry.

How to Mentor a High Achiever by Ruth Gotian and Andy Lopata

Mentoring a high achiever can be both rewarding and challenging. While they may be accustomed to success, they still need guidance to continue growing and avoid stagnation. How can you help them get to the next level?

Cultivate their growth mindset. Encourage continuous learning by introducing them to new fields, technologies, and methodologies. Help them embrace failure as a stepping stone, not a setback. And share stories of other high achievers who turned failures into opportunities.

Develop their emotional intelligence. Regular feedback sessions can provide valuable insights. Focus on specific instances where their emotional responses influenced outcomes, and help them consider how things might have gone differently—for good and for bad. This helps them better understand themselves and how they relate to others, leading to improved decision-making and relationships.

Expand their network and influence. Help them identify and connect with new, high-value contacts. Introducing them to diverse circles can provide fresh insights and opportunities for growth.

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Recently, I shared with a couple of my teammates that I am more an introvert than an?extrovert. Like a true Baptist and academic, I prefer to sit in the back pews and school seats. Over many years, I came to understand that as a leader, that wasn't how I needed to be present. May not be completely original or of my creation, but I became a "mixtrovert"; that is to say, someone who is more comfortable in small, more intimate circles, but who also understood the organization in which I was leading, needed me to be more comfortable in larger engagement venues, often with hundreds, then thousands of people. Here, what I challenge Leaders to think about is how to engage and encourage introverts to be present and purposeful in areas, arenas, and activities where they are not naturally comfortable to engage. Get out of your comfort zone because if you do, those introverts around you will follow suit and share their experience, expertise, and education.

How to Get Your Work Noticed When You’re Introverted (This tip is adapted from the HBR IdeaCast episode, “What to Do When You’re Overlooked,” featuring Jessica Chen in conversation with HBR’s Alison Beard)

The babble hypothesis suggests that people who speak more are perceived as having greater leadership abilities—no matter the quality of what they’re saying. This means that quieter employees are more likely to be overlooked compared to more extroverted, assertive, and outspoken colleagues. Here are three ways to get noticed, even if you’re more introverted.

Focus on engaging—not just speaking—with people. Rather than simply talking more often, ensure you’re communicating intentionally with colleagues. What does the person you’re speaking with care about? How can you share information or updates in a way that resonates with them??

Be present, not just efficient. Consider how the work you’re doing could lead to further opportunities. When you finish a project, are there stakeholders who might be interested in learning about it? Could it help you make the case for a new project you’ve been wanting to start?

Celebrate yourself. It’s common to think that good work will be visible and appreciated purely because it’s good. However, people are busy, and you can’t assume your work will speak for itself. It’s part of your job to make sure your wins pierce through all the other noise.?

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All.of.this! I came to understand and undertake these ideas very late in my 30-year Air Force career. What I mean is, I became much more focused and forceful in how I managed my calendar. Instead of just "running and gunning" all day long for weeks and months on end, I became more deliberate and disciplined and how I scheduled my time. The most important reasons were to ensure I was fully present and purposeful, while also protecting my resilience. Both focuses ensured that I was working smarter, not just more or harder. The two ideas advanced here are simple and yet hard to undertake depending on how your organization presses and pushes in on your time. It is not only OK, it is necessary to protect our schedules in a manner, method, and mode that allows and affords us to bring our best selves to our roles and responsibilities.?

Create a Schedule That Allows You to Work Smarter (This tip is adapted from the HBR IdeaCast episode, “Treat Email Like Laundry—and Other Tips from Google’s Productivity Expert,” featuring Laura Mae Martin in conversation with HBR’s Curt Nickisch)

Being busy doesn’t automatically equate to doing important work. Instead of filling your calendar with busywork that will burn you out or stunt your career growth, be more intentional with your time. Here are two ways high-achieving workers can build a smarter schedule.??

Don’t overcommit. When your calendar is packed with back-to-back meetings, it’s a sign that you have too many priorities. You should intentionally leave space in your schedule to decompress and process your work. Aim to commit to only 80% of the opportunities and responsibilities presented to you. This also forces you to consider and name your priorities.?

Be intentional about your time. You control your schedule; your schedule doesn’t control you—or at least it shouldn’t. For example, if you decide you’ll work all afternoon because you have meetings all morning—despite the afternoon being the time of day when you typically hit a creative wall—then you’re letting your schedule guide you. Instead of accepting this, make a change, and let the people in your professional and personal life know what you need to be at your best.?

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I first came to understand and utilize crowdsourcing a decade ago. Absent some research, not sure when that became "a thing", but did come to appreciate how useful this practice actually is, particularly in an organizational community and construct where five generations are in the workforce. Diving and delving into these rich resources require probing and prodding in new and different ways. Having long been an advocate for flatter organizations and increasing involvement from all teammates, these simple thoughts resonate with me. We should not only engage but encourage our youngest and newest teammates to become fully integrated and immersed in our organizations, we should engage them where they are, including thinking differently about our organizational design and deliberate incorporation of technologies with which they grew up as true "digital natives".

Help New Hires with a Knowledge Map by Julia Phelan

New employees who don’t get the chance to develop strategic relationships may struggle to integrate into your organization—so it’s critical to help them understand who knows what and how all the people and groups fit together. You can accelerate that understanding by creating a knowledge map for newcomers to use as a resource. Here’s how.?

Revamp your existing org chart. An org chart typically shows individual roles, as well as your company’s hierarchy. To turn it into a knowledge map, add in people’s photographs, and their areas of expertise, achievements, skills, and talents. The annotated map should make the functions of different departments clear and highlight how groups are connected and interact with one another.

Analyze with AI. Use company-approved AI tools to analyze data from across your organization to help populate your knowledge map. Think resumes, project work, job descriptions, and skills endorsements from peers.?

Crowdsource information. Other people within your organization may know certain people or teams better than you do—so ask them! You could also put together a quick survey asking employees about their skills and expertise and incorporate the results into your map.

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Having led teams in a hybrid environment for several years, this HBR?Today's Tip interested and invited me to read on. No arguments with the value of in-person engagement and shared experience at a conference or adding specific decisions being made in meetings. Quite in fact, I canceled a number of staff meetings over many years if they were only informational. Meaning, my expectation was leaders would read materials and take action. Why get people together whether in-person, part in-person or wholly digitally if we aren't driving discussion to decision(s)? One area with which I disagree is the swag. Are teammates really moved to take action, dive in, move forward with alacrity (and electricity!) simply?because they received a mug, T-shirt, pen or some other thing? I ask as someone who has more T-shirts and mugs given to me than I know what to do with. Frankly, they did not induce me to do anything. Not saying or suggesting these little "inducements" have no place or purpose, rather sharing in my own experience interpersonal interest and engagement are much more meaningful and memorable than giving out chatskis.??

Team-Building Activities for Hybrid Teams by Rebecca Knight

As a manager of a hybrid team, it’s your job to ensure that both in-person and remote team members feel included and connected—and that requires additional logistical effort and planning. How can you build a strong connection between these two segments of employees? Here are three ways to foster community in hybrid work environments.??

Attend a conference together. Industry events and professional-development workshops offer your team an opportunity to bond over a shared experience and break the monotony of day-to-day routines.?

Give your team customized swag. Team-branded merch can be a subtle yet powerful way to boost unity and reinforce a sense of belonging. Customized items, such as coffee mugs, create a tangible connection and shared identity between teammates—no matter where they’re located.

Add problem-solving exercises to your meetings. Spending just five or 10 minutes on activities like lateral thinking exercises and puzzles helps team members engage with each other in new and different ways—and perhaps form new friendships and meaningful connections.?

I do recommend reading the underlying full text article attending to this culled down Today's Tip here:?17 Team-Building Activities for In-Person, Remote, and Hybrid Teams ( hbr.org )

STUDYING STOICISM

Ok, this input may be met with derision from some of our Readers, but as a person and professional who tries to be authentic, I'm not a T-Swift (Taylor Swift) fan. I find her lyrics mindless and mendacious. I am not meaning to impugn or indict Taylor. She is simply sharing and singing from her heart and experience, I get that. I just don't find her at all interesting. Talented? No doubt. I have joked for a decade now when someone asks me if I know who she is, I usually quip, "never heard of him". It is a joke, and I'm sure some of our Readers might think that funny. Again, Taylor is incredibly talented, has tens of millions of fans, and has impact and import to those same fans. Sharing that U2 is one of my all-time favorite bands. My kids don't care all that much for their music. That's ok, we like what we like and listen to what resonates with us. The pure point here is, we all, as the following shares and suggest, have a responsibility?to manage our emotions. What and how we think about actions and activities are generally more important than just how we "feel" about something. Leading with feeling only is not a recipe for success. That isn't to say or suggest how we feel should be abandoned, rather, we need to be deliberate and disciplined about making decisions, particularly as leaders, in a balanced manner.

It’s one thing to get up there and perform. It’s one thing to show your kids a wonderful day. It’s one thing to go make the sale. It’s one thing to put in a full twelve-hour shift.

It’s another thing to do it after another wrenching custody handoff. It’s another to do it as you’re grieving. It’s another to do it when you’re filled with shame. It’s another to do it when you feel so terribly alone.

Stoicism is not the absence of emotion.?We have stories of Marcus Aurelius crying —multiple, in fact. We have incredibly thoughtful essays from Seneca on grief and loss (our favorite translation here ). The Stoics made beautiful works of art, they wrote poetry,?they loved the theater . These were people that?felt,?no question.

But they also understood that life, especially leadership, requires being able to balance these emotions with the responsibilities and duties each of us have. “Lights, camera, bitch, smile / Even when you wanna die,” Taylor Swift sings in “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart .” We can imagine Marcus Aurelius trying to hit his marks, trying to perform the public duties of the emperor even as a plague devastated Rome, even as he grieved the loss of another one of his children, even as he suffered from his own debilitating health issues.

We have to process these emotions, to be sure. We may also have to put them aside for a second. Because our children are depending on us. Because we’ve got to go make our living. Because we made a commitment.?Because the world is counting on us .

Life doesn’t care if you have a broken heart, only that we hit our marks.

MARVELOUS MCKINSEY

One of my clients has a futurist on staff. Having engaged this person many times over the past few months, I find the conversation and connection to be really interesting. Were my schedule open to hours of free-flowing conversation, I have zero doubt we'd wander and wonder together across a wide-ranging topics. Alas, neither of us have that much available free time. Let's both dismiss and disabuse the notion or nod that "futurists" are thinking about wild things that might happen. No. Futurists are people and professionals who are thinking deeply and deliberately about the future. What it might look like and ahead of the action curve, apply strategy to meet that future. From the piece;?Developing futurist competencies within the organization is crucial for anticipating trends and disruptions. This proactive and strategic approach is essential for transforming people professionals into agile, innovative partners, driving resilience and growth across the organization, and ultimately securing a competitive edge in an ever-evolving landscape.?George Friedman is considered a foremost futurist. While I do not agree with all of his suppositions presented in his 2009 book, The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, he, at the time, was at least positing and preparing for what this century might look like. The following piece shares the same, any and all organizations should have futurists on the team.?A futurist lens to people development ( mckinsey.com )

SUPER SLOAN

To RTO?or not to RTO, that is the question. I have no idea if Shakespeare, were he alive today, would write a play that included this inquiry. Not being a Prince of Denmark like Hamlet, really don't know ... I digress! The questions posed and presented here are irreducibly important. From personal experience as an Executive leading an organization through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, the question about and around hybrid work are ubiquitous. This piece presses on seven questions we should be thinking through when determining work posture. In person, telework or remote work, or hybrid. Purposefully plumb and practice the principles areas:?1. Hybrid work is a continuum.?2. It’s crucial to communicate policies straightforwardly.?3. Leaders need to be prepared for the trade-offs.?4. Acknowledge differing narratives about the impact of hybrid working on productivity.?5. Productivity is usually challenging — and measurement is always complex.?6. It’s useful to view hybrid work as fundamentally a job design option.?7. An expanded set of productivity measures needs to be part of the conversation.?Seven Truths About Hybrid Work and Productivity ( mit.edu )

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Following, sharing McKinsey insights resonating with me. Not adding any context or commentary, these stand alone as food or fodder for thought.

THREE INSIGHTS FOR THE WEEK

1. Data literacy — the ability to read, write, and communicate data in context — is fast becoming a requirement for all employees in forward-looking organizations.

A data literacy program should start with a shared mindset, language, and skills, said Valerie Logan, CEO and founder of consultancy The Data Lodge. “It’s an intentional commitment to upskilling your workforce and culture” and an opportunity to grow and amplify an understanding of artificial intelligence in the organization, she said.

Speaking at the 2024 International Chief Data Officer and Information Quality Symposium at MIT, Logan and Veronica Vilski, content and engagement director at The Data Lodge, offered six steps to launching a successful data literacy program:?

Develop a clear, compelling case for change.

Launch and sustain a practical program foundation with targeted pilots.

Amplify and spotlight success stories.

Connect, support, and inspire communities who might feel isolated.

Leverage and connect data culture work and training resources across the organization.

Deliver lasting data culture benefits.

2. How can multi sided digital platforms — those that connect two or more user groups — successfully juggle the needs of customers, partners, and internal developers?

Scholars from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research studied the success of Salesforce’s Einstein 1 platform, which serves customers, internal product teams, and partners and generates about $6 billion in annual revenue.

In a new brief, CISR researchers Martin Mocker and Ina Sebastian share three lessons for multi sided platform success:

Identify the primary source of value. For incumbent companies, this means finding ways to better meet the needs of existing customers. Companies should not necessarily expect to create direct revenue from partners at the outset.?

Align internal and external interests. Use governance policies to balance the competing needs of internal product teams and external partners. Neglecting the inner platform will hurt the core product, but limiting investment in external users is a recipe for failure.

Optimize value for the entire ecosystem. Demand too much in royalties or offer too little in resources, and partners may feel like victims. To attract customers, timing is crucial: Invite them to the platform too early, and they may quickly leave if they don’t see the value.?

3. Companies often invest in supply chain resilience only after a disruption. This reactive approach is insufficient for creating true resilience, which researchers from the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics define as “the ability to bounce back as quickly as possible after a disruption.”

Writing in MIT Sloan Management Review, Walid Klibi, Kai Trepte, and James B. Rice Jr. make a case for their real options framework, a more effective approach that focuses not on risks but on the value of maintaining operations when adversity strikes.

The framework builds on the principles of real options used by the banking industry to assign a future value to financial investments in the face of long-term uncertainty.

The authors suggest applying real options to tangible investments in supply chain capabilities, such as building up stockpiles, adding production or warehouse capacity, or lining up backup suppliers.

“Companies using our method don’t need to wait until a disruption occurs to make an investment in resilience and can determine in advance which ones make the most sense,” the authors write.

The goal is a robust supply chain that can sustain value creation under any plausible risk scenario.?

WINNERS WISDOM

I LOVE this from Jim. It reminded me not only of how truly blessed I am, but also the importance of how and where we spend our time. Have shared several times in these missives how my wife has helped me think about being more intentional about what I do. That is still as significant work in progress to be sure. As I've entered into a new phase in my personal and professional life, it has been a feature and focus of my "calendar" to be both more appreciative of the life I have and the people with whom I am blessed to know and share with. In short and sum, trying to be more content and available rather than having contempt or apathy in my life. Being a "mid-century" human, I likely have fewer years left on this planet than I've already lived. When the time comes for God to call me home, I want to leave this life having had a positive impact and influence on people around me, and also know I didn't waste too much of my time and whatever talent I have to share with great gratitude.

Contempt & Apathy by Jim Stovall

You have no doubt heard it said that familiarity breeds contempt. In much the same way, I believe abundance breeds apathy. Recently, here in North America, there was a solar eclipse that was visible to a large segment of the population. Many people took time off work or school and traveled great distances to observe this celestial phenomenon for a few brief moments.?

While I certainly understand and applaud people’s desire and efforts to experience the eclipse, I wonder what would happen if we lived in a world where a sunset could only be viewed once a decade. We would look on this nightly miraculous light show in a much different way. As a blind person myself, one of the sights I miss is the sunset. As my eyesight faded, I wrote a song, titled Sunset, that sealed that visual experience in my mind. I played my Sunset song on one of singer/songwriter, Kelly Morrison’s albums, and if you would like to hear it, here is the link: https://soundcloud.com/kellymorrison/sunset .?

What if we lived in a world in which we could only read ten books throughout our entire life? We would certainly scrutinize the titles we selected and savor the process of reading each of them.?

What if we lived in a world where we could only express our love, devotion, or respect to family and friends once a month? We would no doubt plan and emphasize every encounter.?

Thankfully, we don’t live in those worlds, but contempt due to familiarity and apathy resulting from abundance can skew our perspective. Fortunately, there are antidotes for both conditions. Apathy can be cured with gratitude, and mindfulness can overcome contempt.?

Those who have heard me speak, read my books, watched the movies based upon them, or consumed these weekly columns are familiar with the Golden List. The Golden List is a lifelong habit I received as a legacy from my grandmother. It is simply the process of daily listing ten things for which we are thankful. The mere act of regular gratitude eliminates apathy just as light removes shadows and darkness.?

Familiarity can be combated and eliminated with habitual mindfulness. Have you ever routinely done something that became so familiar that you no longer think about it? As part of my morning routine, I peel and eat an orange. It became such a habit that it slipped into my subconscious, and I wasn’t really aware I was doing it until my father told me about his childhood in the depths of the Great Depression. During those difficult times, he had high hopes and eager anticipation that he might receive a single orange in his Christmas stocking that hung on the fireplace mantle. Obviously, getting a fresh tropical fruit in the middle of winter during the depression was an occasion to relish. Since I came to understand the magic and the miracle of this citrus fruit, I am focused and mindful each day as I peel and eat my orange.?

I have long believed that we change our lives when we change our minds. As you create a better world for yourself in the future, don’t forget to be grateful for the world you live in now as you mindfully experience every bit of it.?

As you go through your day today, don’t forget your daily vitamins of mindfulness and gratitude.

Today's the day!

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Mentors changed my life! In Bookshelf above, I mentioned three-star General Martinez has been a long-time mentor. When I worked for him, he was a full-bird Colonel, I was a Major-select, then a brand-new Major. When he was selected to command the 62nd Airlift Wing at McChord Air Force Base, I was one of his squadron commanders. It just so happened; I was the most junior leader amongst his 20 such commanders. Prior to even meeting me, let alone working with me, he told the Colonel who oversaw my part of the Air Force enterprise that he wanted to replace me because he thought I was not up to the position. It was actually meant to be filled by a Lieutenant Colonel, not a Major-select who would remain a Captain for the first eight months in the position. He was asked (and advised) to wait until he'd seen me in action for at least 90 days. Fortunately for me, I passed his test and stayed on the team in that key leadership role. In fact, at my farewell event, he told the 100 or so assembled people that story. It was the first I'd ever heard it! After leaving that post and position, we stayed connected, and he became one of the most influential and important leaders in my life for the rest of my Air Force career. I've been trying to repay him by pouring into others since those days nearly 20 years ago. This continues to this day as I approach one year since hanging my uniform.?

The Mentoring Mission by Jim Stovall

As any regular reader of these weekly columns or my more than 50 books knows, the legendary Coach John Wooden was one of my treasured friends and most impactful mentors. I remember as a young boy in the 1960s and early 1970s watching sports with my father. He told me there are many sports figures whose athletic ability you can admire, and a handful whose life you can emulate. Two of the figures Dad told me you could both admire their achievements in competition as well as their accomplishments in life were Jack Nicklaus who won more major golf tournaments than anyone in history and John Wooden whose teams won ten national championships in twelve years—a feat that is likely to never be equaled.

Ironically, through my books, Mr. Nicklaus and Coach Wooden became friends of mine. I will never forget the day that I made the personal connection with John Wooden. Everyone that worked in our offices knew I admired him as I had photos and memorabilia in my office. That morning, the young lady who answered the phone rushed into my office and declared, “John Wooden is on the phone and he wants to talk with you.” I replied skeptically, “There are probably thousands of guys named John Wooden.” She somewhat smugly said, “There aren’t thousands of guys who want you to autograph a book made out to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”

It was indeed Coach Wooden. He was 95 years old at the time, and we spoke regularly until he passed away a few months before his 100th birthday. When you consider finding mentors for your personal and professional life, you should always remember to never take advice from anyone who doesn’t have what you want or hasn’t been where you want to go. When you become a mentor to help others, you want to remember that your message involves both the words that you share and the life that you live. Commit to becoming someone worthy of being followed.

Coach Wooden told me years ago that I would have ever-increasing demand on my time and resources from people wanting me to mentor them. He gave me a great piece of advice, “Work with the people who deserve your help, not those who need it.”

People who deserve your help are those who are proactively taking steps toward their goals. People who need your help are those who are likely doing nothing, and they’re looking for a magic pill to become successful. You can work with people who bring great effort and a positive attitude to the relationship. You can’t help anyone looking for a shortcut or a magic pill.

As you go through your day today, be the kind of mentor you would like to follow.

Today's the day!

WORKLIFE WISDOM

We've been covering skilling and upskilling for many, many months now. We visit it again here because it is omnipresent. Most of my clients have this as a key organizational objective needing to be addressed. The following is an all too true insight from within the following piece:?Research from recruiting agency Bright Network’s over 14,000 members found that while graduates thought that existing industry experience would be valued the most by prospective employers, employers actually rated that as the least valued thing. Instead, employers cared the most about passion for the business, followed by resilience. Meanwhile, graduates rated resilience as the eighth most important factor. When graduates and employers have a disconnect that wide on what is really needed, it sets that graduate up for uncertainty from the jump. There are also outsized expectations from new(er) college graduates about their total compensation packages. Expectations for much higher starting salaries, loads of paid time off, and other non-direct compensation are often wildly higher or more than most entry-level positions garner. A few months back, I shared the word "degree-flation". As I define it, it is the chasing of paper credentials to create the imprimatur of expertise. Often, this leads people to chasing post-graduate degrees, in particular, that have little to zero value or use in the working world. As I shared then, pretty much every degree that ends with the word "studies" doesn't mean all that much in application beyond the very narrow set of sub-set of that "study" area. If you have a Masters' or Doctorate in those disciplines, being open, I am neither impressed nor am I likely to hire you based on those pieces of paper. While this particular article doesn't cover that topical area, I posit this degree-flation points to a huge problem in American academia (and I invite discourse here as one or more of our Readers may take exception to my comments here). A few decades ago, we had what I call the "academic Cambrian explosion". For those not tracking, that was the epoch when the fossil record really exploded. Meaning, prior to that period, the number of fossils we found in sedimentary earth layers was scant and scarce. The suddenly, there were enormous numbers of different flora, fauna, and animal fossils found. The academic Cambrian explosion refers to the vast number of new degrees that have become available. When I was entering college, there were around eight different schools on campuses, offering very limited degree types. Sure, one could get a number of different types of math, science, business, and other humanities-based degrees, but the disciplines were still in a relatively tight grouping. When reviewing degrees and disciplines when my kids were looking at colleges just a few years ago (they are now both graduates with useful degrees), the size and scope of available degree awarding "programs" was mind-boggling. Did anyone, or has anyone at these institutions of higher learning undertake any analysis to see what market demand existed or was projected for these degrees? If they did, what longitudinal research has been done to see what kind of compensation these degrees command? What is the ROI for netting an undergraduate degree, or beyond? Bottom line is this, are colleges actually preparing students to post-school employment? Are they focused on what employers really need??

Companies continue to face significant upskilling challenges with new entrants to workforce - WorkLife

Very loosely connected to the salary discussion in my notes above. Here, I don't think the piece is trying to address entry-level positions, rather those who have more experience, expertise, and where appropriately applicable, education (whether a degree, certifications, etc.). I advise my clients, most of whom have only some salary flexibilities, that their Employee Value Proposition must be really viable and visible. Each organization has a great mission, indirect compensation benefits that are really competitive and more. One thing I did not see addressed in this piece is how inflation has moved faster than organizational salary flexibilities. Inflationary pressures over the past few years have outpaced salary increases. We all know this, but that isn't a straight-line to additional resource availability. Many companies have absorbed some of the inflation driving higher production and operating costs rather than passing the entire "bill" on to the consumer, meaning operating margins were made smaller to try keeping market share and consumer bases relatively intact. In short and sum, just because everyday expenses have risen, doesn't mean price tags followed in lock step, allowing and affording organizations, public and private, to simply have the same percentage of resources available to apply to direct compensation. Regardless, leaders need to be aware of job seeker attitudes and expectations as they both recruit and retain talent.?A six-figure salary was once celebrated, now it’s expected -?WorkLife

Read and Lead On!

Shawn