10 Metaphors to Use for Overcoming Success TRAPS

People everywhere now days are in search for the best ways to have a happier life. With all of the stress, burdens and tug-of-wars that come along with job loss, downsizing and a lack of support from the doom and gloom economy, people are wondering what they must do to get through each day. If you are one of these people, or know someone who might be dealing with some of these same pains, take a look at the “10 Metaphors to Use for Overcoming Success TRAPS” – and, how these 10 strategies can help you to save the remains of your sanity to renew your focus on succeeding at all you setout to accomplish by visiting: http://skippersbiz.wordpress.com/

Success TRAPS: Awaken Your Realized Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

Release Date: 11.11.09

My new book, Sucess TRAPS, taps into the riches of human motivation by stimulating the use of a new mindset. This landmark publication provides an inspiring outlook, collective wisdoms, tips, tactics and quotes to ponder that compels people to reach significantly higher levels in life and win on life’s battlefield. It offers a practical perspective that should serve as a foundation on the study of “self,” “people,” “management and leadership.” It is grounded on a simple, yet fundamental principle: First learn to lead yourself and then lead others to find their voice. It is both relevant and practical. I provide the essentials for anyone to keep striving for excellence no matter where they are or what they are doing. The advice benefits anyone in a work or non-work situation that is pressure-laden, but ultimately lacking in real personal satisfaction. Basically, it teaches what to do when you find yourself out at sea and in the water alone – “you put your head down and swim through the rough waves!”

Get ready for an exciting ride, but be prepared for a little emotional turbulence if you’re honest with yourself to create the needed opportunities that question your intentions in life. Each chapter gleans valuable insight that when put into practice helps you to develop the essential life skills used to change current and future circumstances.

What Ever It Takes!

11.11.09

What Ever It Takes

On November 11, 2009, the Bison Group Corporation will debut a new advertising campaign titled “Winning the Battles.”

“Winning the Battles” is the prequel to the “Success TRAPS” project and campaign that launched on Veterans Day, November 11, 2008. America is reminded of the battles by honoring veterans who served and fought on behalf of world peace and protected the freedoms of America. Veterans reminded America of the purpose of service – to defend our nation’s freedom and the American way of life.

“Winning the Battles” is an authentic portrayal of what it really takes for Americans to stand-up to a higher purpose and overcome the enemies threatening their way of life on life’s battlefields. Developed by a team who have earned their place in a line of U.S. Marines that stretches back over 233 years, the new campaign explains the reasons why people across all corners of the nation must answering the call to excellence. Everyone who responds must start their journey to prove themselves, and uplift others to do the same, and take the steps to awaken their realized potential for lasting fulfillment in our nation’s most demanding test of mind, body, and character – Leadership. Only after they successfully complete the journey will they earn the title.

Watch the video, share it with friends and family, and come be a part of the journey that will take you down a long walk on a short path. It begins on 11.11.09 so be there to be one of the people who establish their vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there with the official premiere of “Winning the Battles.”

http://www.212movie.com/

A Consultant’s Economic Outlook using the Art of War

Respected Colleagues, I need your help.

As a training consultancy operating within the business sphere over the last eighteen months, the economic state across the corporate sector signals a major shift in doctrinal thinking. With this in mind, a huge consensus suggests the sector is starring down the barrel of a massively destabilizing short range future outlook.

In the aftermath of our financial meltdown and in the words of President John F. Kennedy, “there’s something immoral about abandoning your own judgment.” This being said, there are two questions that consultants must consider today: “if the economic state has degraded (limited) our retaliatory options, for consultancy firms, how must we step-up our customer over flights (intelligence and understanding our clients), while determining best-fit organizations for individual service offerings?” And, “how can we help the organizations and the economy respond in the future by understanding ‘what’ to do before our leaders engage the ‘how-to’ do as a first strike policy?”

Your response is highly respected and welcomed with the highest regard. I will be using your answers, with your permission, in my upcoming book “Success TRAPS: Awaken your Realized Potential for Lasting Fulfillment.”

Ref. “The Devil’s Paint Brush within Organizational Leadership”

Thank you; please respond to Dpitts@thebisongroup.com.

Kindest regards.

The Devil’s Paint Brush within Organizational Leadership

The article, “The Devil’s Paint Brush,” raises important questions about organizational leadership, provides information that will be new to some, yet revealing to others, and the answers provided are extremely exhilarating, yet troubling. Organizational leadership articles mostly present a single-sided view point of an issue and thus often fail to persuade the reader. This article’s approach, because enveloped as a case study with candor, revelations and an opportunity to overcome a leader’s self-doubt, is profound for anyone in a leadership, management or entrepreneurial position. The words of the outlined ten lessons are simple, but they need further unpacking to be understood – but the unpacked is hardly simplistic.

The article turns out to be neither triumphant nor liberating; it does not leave the reader feeling thrilled or especially enlightened. Its design raises as many questions as it resolves (transformational thinking). If I had to characterize my own reaction to the article, I myself would walk away feeling firmly stunned, or at best mightily puzzled about my own leadership style, ability and errors. Even as the author, I find myself metaphorically, scratching my head as I completed each lesson and “cared to think” about them later during my day.

But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, the article offers a sterling achievement for a proposed book. The operative phrase, however, is “cared to think,” and I fear that may be too great a task for the leaders across our small business sector. Although the content possess the potential to stir spirited and healthy debate, I expect my subtly disturbing article, to some, will most probably wind up preaching mostly to the choir and not widening the public debate about the lessons of Organizational leadership, let alone transformational thinking and decision making.

For that, I am sorry. Enjoy the article:

The Philosophy of LeaderShaping, the off-spring of the “Six Levels of Leadership,” depends heavily on “Communications” and “Intelligence” to be successful. When one or both of these elements becomes compromised, the result is known as the Fog of War. In military terms, this phenomenon encompasses all of the confusions and miscalculations, which can occur during an actual combat situation. In the case of unsuccessful organizational behavioral influences within the business sphere, it is defined as swaying public opinion across popular culture due to misinformation or ambiguous reporting of the facts. The Fog of War offers a clear definition for the “Devil’s Paint Brush:” a description of the actions across any organizational body that causes immanent death over a period of time.

An organization dealing with uncertainties within its master plan, internally and externally, can relate to the Fog of War through a common event known as “Murphy’s Law” (that whatever can go wrong, will): the natural result of organizations and their leaders rushing headlong into situations of negligible visibility. Further, this is explained as the influences of externally induced obstacles, which disrupt internal goal-oriented/directed behavior and process. The results of this common event could be catastrophic, as leaders in an organization fail to recognize the intentions of their cohorts, or target competitive positions thought to be clear of the organization’s interests. A collapse in process can be attributed to the Fog of War.

When Napoleon still ruled most of Europe, a Prussian general named Carl von Clausewitz wrote a book entitled “On War” – one of the all-time, classic books on warfare and strategy, still studied in military academies worldwide. In it, he coined the term “friction” to mean all the things that fail in the chaos of battle conditions. It’s better known in business as Murphy’s Law: that whatever can go wrong, probably will.

In another chapter of the same book, “Intelligence in War,” he discussed the problems of getting accurate information in the middle of a military engagement (for business purposes, this is known as “Intelligence of Process”): the effects of occupational hassles on negative mood and effort exertion.

Communication failures can also occur as a result of the Fog of War. By not closely examining operations, leaders cannot relay vital and timely course corrections or competitive positions to their Centers of Gravity in real time. This action can place the organization in harm’s way. Such delays and miscommunications are typically blamed on the Fog of War, since competitors and foes (in some cases, these people reside internally) may have to improvise a new strategy or retreat without sufficient time to relay their actions to their own operations. The Fog of War can also be blamed (in some cases) when vital orders from leaders are unsuccessful in reaching the strategic and execution teams in time.

The concept of a Fog of War has come under considerable criticism over the years. But, in the last eighteen months, it has been pronounced due to economic instability and poor planning by leaders across industry. Political leaders, elected officials and public and private leader’s response to these allegations often includes an allusion to Fog of War, meaning that some failures were due to real-time confusions, miscalculations and non-effective response to injury – not poor planning.

Some critics charge that the military depends too heavily on the Fog of War defense to excuse their own actions or missteps. This same defense can also be argued in the business sectors, but either sector being considered, military or business, the defense “should” not be accepted on a frequent basis – as a defense to failure (excuse) or missteps – for it goes against the very reason that “leadership” was birthed. Here’s an example of the Fog of War at work in business.

Fog and Friction: Why Organizations Suffer from the Devil’s Paint Brush

In 2008, I had the pleasure of training a new client on leadership, execution and team building. For the sake of eliminating any instance of embarrassment, I’ll change the client’s name to ABC & Company. Their dilemma at the time was two-fold; first, they wanted to become a stronger, more cohesive working team. Second, they wanted to learn a better way to execute by improving the leadership culture across the organization. During the four months of their training, an interesting occurrence continued to show itself – an example for demonstrated “Intelligence of Process.”

While outlining the Six Levels of Leadership, the client quickly realized that their business (and its future), like warfare, was messy and uncertain. They also learned that what von Clausewitz wrote holds true on both the battlefield and in the boardroom. As soon as people move from the calm of planning meetings to the messiness of action, fog obscures the vision and friction confounds preparation. While actions fail to work as planned (friction), accurate information is missed, lost, or mangled (fog). Regardless of how things are expected to turn-out, “all best laid plans change upon first contact with the enemy.” Amazingly, and with all of their training, the client quickly learned that regardless of any amount of training and learning, behaviors not changed brings calamity to any well run organization or military unit.

Fast forward a year to mid 2009, the client found themselves dealing with the Fog of War in the most profound way. A senior official responsible for running one of the organization’s successful profit centers decided to leave for a new opportunity. In doing so, the senior official offered a resignation, effective thirty days from the date of submission. In this specific situation, the executive leadership’s actions fell fault to Murphy’s Law and the Fog of War all in one swoop. Because their culture was one that demonstrated a “hierarchal leadership” approach, one that was actually disconnected from the day-to-day operations of the specific revenue center, the resignation caused confusion, tension, adrenaline, and anxiety to govern the more important pre-events of the transition process.

If you create “battle” pressures within an organization – by a lack of leadership and timely communications, competitiveness, low employee moral, fear of dismissal, pressure to win no matter what, and tyrannical management – you’ll get what real battles bring: chaos, confusion, constant breakdowns, frantic levels of anxiety, and many unnecessary losses. By the last week of the resignation and leading up to the last day as a member of the organization, the senior official was faced with employee infighting, a lack of trust from the consumer markets, insubordination, rebellious attitudes, and disobedience. The culture across the organization along with the stresses, competition, anxieties and pressures increased fog and friction a thousand-fold. This is a clear example of the effects of occupational hassles on negative mood and effort exertion. Simply, this is the potential for the beginning of the end – and, if this is not a wakeup call for the hierarchal leadership culture across ABC & Company, it could be the end of the organization as a whole. Little do they realize, but the Devil’s Paint Brush is designing a masterpiece on the very canvas of the client’s organization and culture.

Ten Lessons to Overcome the Devil’s Paint Brush

Every business activity has to generate a benefit to the business; if it does not I suggest you change it or stop doing it; hence, the concept of the Fog of War. The implication is that you need to measure the productivity of a number of activities so that you can measure and improve their profit contribution. This is why it is important to outline a series of lessons to overcome the Devil’s Paint Brush. These are your levers of productivity for your business – “a common architecture, a common application and a seamless approach” by all stakeholders to combat Murphy’s Law. This segment explains the principles of execution to increase/overcome barriers to productivity. Simply setting goals will not achieve your objectives; managing the activity that produces the result is what really counts. As we begin to look at how-to overcome this fog phenomenon, it’s important to comprehend the words of Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology (known as Jungian psychology): “The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” – Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1962.

The lessons to overcome the Devil’s Paint Brush show you where to start:

1. Empathize with your Enemy,
2. Understand “Rationality” as the No-Safe-Zone,
3. Maximize Efficiency, Decrease Ineffectiveness,
4. Proportionality is an Absolute Guideline that Fails – within Reason!
5. Achieve the Data – Optimize its Resource,
6. Belief/Seeing are both often WRONG,
7. Prepare to Re-Examine your Reasoning,
8. Learn to Win Good by Engaging the Devil,
9. Never say Never – Never say I Can’t!
10. You Can’t Beat a Man at his Own Game – Human Nature.

Empathize with your Enemy. In order to limit opportunities for conflict, yet experience potential for peace, empathy must reside in all situations. However tough business and organizational needs might be, communicating with the enemy, empathically, creates an opening for successful outcomes. Empathy is the corrective action that overcomes all forms of misrepresentation and misunderstanding. Leaders using this strategy can remove themselves from their current emotional state, look at a situation through the lens of the opposing force and understand the thoughts that drive the decisions being made. The key to winning this strategy lie in your ability to know the enemy and how their culture responds to differing circumstances. In a military context, during the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Government saw the United States as wanting to replace the French Government to preserve colonial power. The United States saw the Vietnamese as another potential cold war power, similar to the Russian Government. In the end, both countries were wrong. Neither imposed the strategy of “empathy” to learn what the other actually wanted (strategic intent was never understood). In the end, hundreds of thousands died on both sides and life for both cultures changed forever.

In the business context, leaders can only win this strategy by remaining connected to the day-to-day operations. Keeping a finger on the pulse of the business, internally and externally, including the actions, behaviors and thoughts of all stakeholders, allows leadership to remain ahead of the curve. But, at times of uncertainty as when essential staff moves away from the organization to pursue greater opportunities, the incident cannot cause for alarm as in the case of calling the fire “out-of-control.” This is the time that the leaders are able to spread their wings and demonstrate the true strength and foundation of excellence – the true substance of the organization must prevail beyond the parties being removed.

To be successful, leaders must empathize with the situation from all aspects (good and bad), understanding what is needed to use the situation as a growth opportunity, and get their hands dirty to realize how-to maximize the talents of the remaining human capital. People are the greatest asset to any organization, so this means that the leadership must be able to understand the thoughts and feelings of others – their internal and external customer. This cannot be done if the leaders are disconnected from the daily functioning of the organization or department being effected.

Understand “Rationality” as the No-Safe-Zone. I remember watching a fantastic movie titled, “Thirteen Days,” staring Bruce Greenwood and Kevin Costner. The film is set during the two-week Cuban missile crisis (Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba) in October of 1962 and it centers on how President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and others handled the explosive situation.

In October, 1962, U-2 surveillance photos revealed that the Soviet Union was in the process of placing nuclear weapons in Cuba. These weapons had the capability of wiping out most of the Eastern and Southern United States in minutes if they became operational. President John F. Kennedy and his advisors had to devise a plan of action against the Soviets. Kennedy was determined to show that he was strong enough to stand up to the threat, and the Pentagon advised U.S. military strikes against Cuba, which could have led the way to another U.S. invasion of the island. However, Kennedy was reluctant to follow through because a U.S. invasion would have cause the Soviets to retaliate in Europe. A nuclear showdown appeared inevitable and the question to ask now, some forty-seven years later is this: “how was it prevented?”

This story offers one of the greatest lesson for leaders to truly understand how-to win the strategy here. I encourage you, the reader, to rent the film from your local video rental for a lesson in leadership, patience, communications, strategy and the Fog of War. Having a true understanding of the actions from both presidents, Kennedy and Khrushchev, during this tense stand-off teaches just how fragile “rationality” actually is in times of uncertainty. It was later found out in a meeting in 1992 that the Soviets had parked 162 nuclear warheads, including 90 tactical warheads in Cuba during this critical moment in the crisis.

In the business context, leaders must have a proven process by which individuals are selected to be leaders, given they possess the required attributes and style that best fits the organization. Leaders responsible to the selection process must be equipped to make the best decisions to maximize the greatest payoff distributions. They must select the abilities after removing the noise inferred ex post from the immediate observed outcomes.

The framework design to follow must offer a model, which leaders’ judge relative to three different outcomes: First, risk must be considered at all levels of the organization. Behaviors and personalities coming together as ineffective ingredients can have a greater cost to the organization than any newly appointed incoming/ineffective leader. Second, “overconfidence” must be considered to ensure the actual needs of the organization are not being underestimated. This can cause a potential appointment decision to be based on “rationality” rather than “best practices” to meet current and future needs. Third, numerous implications for the analysis of real-world leadership and organizational behavior, new product development, relation of risk-taking to an organization’s situation and culture (past, present and future) must be discussed (i.e. one who underestimates project risk, has a higher probability of being chosen as the leader than an otherwise identical rational manager). Rationality can in fact cause a “No-Safe-Zone.”

Maximize Efficiency, Decrease Ineffectiveness. Time is critical and has a value that is mostly misunderstood. Efficiency must be a major consideration when faced with serious issues. Maximizing efficiency requires both “incremental change of process” in the way things are being done today, and “fundamental change” that brings on greater gains in efficiency for the future. Another aspect for consideration on this topic is “acceleration.” As we venture into the new world after the down sizing of the global business sphere, we’ll begin to see the need to do more with less – less cost, less time, less risk and less redundancy. To win this strategy, leaders must learn to increase efficiency across all aspects of their information infrastructure, deploy the most energy-efficient common application platforms for best practices, simplify their processes of compliance with regulations and policies, utilize the benefits of the digital age (automate IT management platforms and archetypes), secure accurate and trustworthy information at every level to execute strategically and flawlessly, and aim to be a strategic partner that enables the success of the people and organization simultaneously. Experiencing high levels of success in this area not only maximizes efficiencies, but also leverages expertise to help the organization emerge from areas of uncertainty stronger than ever into the future. All of these actions (and some not listed) decrease ineffectiveness across an organization and offer, to a leader, the many opportunities to be more effective within their operations.

Proportionality is an Absolute Guideline that Fails – within Reason! Some people seem to pursue an intuitive definition of proportionality in warfare: that the civilian casualties in war on either side should not be significantly higher than the civilian casualties on the opposing side. But, the actual definition, from international law, does not define it that way: the incidental or unintended harm caused to civilians or civilian property must be proportional and not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated by an attack on a military objective. The question now is this: which definition makes more sense, the intuitive one or the legal one? One problem with the intuitive definition is that civilian casualties on one side could be used to justify deliberate civilian casualties on the other side. But, the official version is also problematic because it seems to justify any number of civilian casualties if the military advantage is judged great enough. Neither formulation, however you examine them, offer a quantitative comparison, which means that in any war, people holding different biases are unlikely to agree on whether or not proportionality was actually observed. Simply stated, “proportionality” in the military context is all about the rights and wrongs of killing civilians.

Proportionality in the business sense also has parallels to the definitions above, only it is outlined as a strategy to win. How, you might be asking yourself. Earlier, we outlined the definition for the Fog of War as the “actions across any organizational body that causes immanent death over a period of time.” One of the actions that leaders fail at is taking care of their organization’s greatest asset – the people. The principal fundamental asset of an organization is its people. They are the engines that drive performance and make things run. Without people, nothing can be achieved.

If leaders fail to inspire greatness from their people, they’ll quickly establish a guideline of perception that things such as profit and process has a greater value. This action is one that promises to cause immanent death to an organization. The key is to establish “Success Traps” that help individuals achieve Personal Proficiency to increase Professional Mastery. Leaders must be able to get people to answer a few questions:

- How do “I” respond to problems and challenges?
- How do “I” influence others to my point of view?
- How do “I” respond to the changing pace of the environment?
- How do “I” respond to rules and regulations set by others?

And, they too must be able to get their people to answer the following questions, as it relates to the overall state – and the future state – of the organization as well:

- Do “I” know where the organization wants to be in the future?
- Do “I” know what the organization will apply its resources against to achieve its Future Picture?
- How will the organization apply those resources? And, how might “I” contribute in the process?
- When and under what conditions will the organization exit from its current strategic plan? And, what influences will “I” contribute to ensure greater success to its outcomes?

It basically comes down to a single issue: “does leadership help everyone in the organization lead upwards? And if so, do they reveal the secrets of Service Performance Management to everyone?” In the current economy, facing the challenges of a deepening global recession with limited financial resources; many organizations are charting a new course. As business leaders navigate this evolving terrain, it is important that they satisfy the demands of customers, employees, and vendor relationships – and develop new strategies that address the economic, social, and environmental impact of their business processes and practices.

This is where service performance management adds value: Strategies to create business and societal value to provide the strategic clarity needed to align performance and service oriented management to business and organizational strategy, and hold individuals accountable while managing successfully through the downturn.

When leaders take care of their people, “proportionality” becomes a non-issue. But, when they do not value their people as their greatest asset or forget, immanent death over a period of time (shorter rather than later) is realized.

Achieve the Data – Optimize its Resource. Machines that run at high speed demand constant and abundant lubrication to prevent friction between the moving parts. Slower-speed machines need less. Running a machine, or a business organization, faster than it is designed to perform is the perfect recipe for provoking the maximum number of breakdowns. This is even more true when an organization is being forced to operate efficiently and effectively on a daily basis. Although its design requires peak performance, without the proper data to optimize its resources, things will go wrong and the leaders will experience the Fog of War.

Speaking about the need for data quality helps organizations generate the right form of business intelligence and assist leaders with making the right business decisions that becomes the game changer for the people and organization. The key to maximizing the data relies on a simple acronym that is all too familiar: GIGO – “Garbage in, Garbage out.” Data integrity is essential to an organization’s success and the leader’s ability to make great decisions.

Belief/Seeing are both often WRONG. “We see only what we want to see, and in most cases, our judgment in the face of chaos, causes us to be wrong – and right – when we only see half the picture.” Tom Petruno’s Money & Co. Blog back in April, 2008 talked about Wachovia Bank’s shareholders wishing that they could have a “do over” of the bank’s major foray into California. What he was referring to at the time was Wachovia’s 2006 purchase of Golden West Financial, the California lender that specialized in so-called option ARMs. As mortgage loan losses soared in 2008, Wachovia was forced to slash its quarterly dividend payment by 41%, from $.64 a share to $.375. At a time that the business world, more specifically, the financial markets were imploding, Wachovia was stated as saying “California really is bad and the acquisition of Golden West Financial was riskier than we initially thought” (Source: Goldman Sachs & Co. report).

The Golden West Financial organization didn’t just specialize in option ARMS, it lived, ate, and breathed them. According to Bloomberg News, “99% of Golden West’s mortgage loans were option ARMs.” You wonder, then, how it’s possible that Wall Street didn’t recognize how risky these loans were until, um, today (April 2008). Leaders must learn to take heed in the lesson that others have paid the ultimate sacrifice. The key to winning this strategy lies in a keen ability to “achieve the data and optimize its resource –and, understanding that there’s more than what meets the eye!”

Prepare to Re-Examine your Reasoning. Robert S. McNamara, the Eighth Secretary of Defense for the United States serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, is quoted as saying: “Were those who issued the approval to use Agent Orange criminals? Were they committing a crime against humanity? Let’s look at the law. Now what kind of law do we have that says these chemicals are acceptable for use in war and these chemicals are not. We don’t have clear definitions of that kind. I never in the world would have authorized an illegal action. I’m not really sure I authorized Agent Orange. I don’t remember it, but it certainly occurred, the use of it occurred while I was Secretary.” He is also quoted as saying: “What makes us omniscient? Have we a record of omniscience? We are the strongest nation in the world today. I do not believe that we should ever apply economic, political, and military power unilaterally. If we had followed that rule in Vietnam, we wouldn’t have been there. None of our allies supported us. Not Japan, not Germany, not Britain or France. If we can’t persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we’d better reexamine our reasoning.”

What an amazing leadership lesson for us to learn from. These words are profound in a way that stipulates the reason to develop GREAT teams across an organization – and, hold them accountable for their actions and their leaders for the decisions being made when executing strategy. The greatest mistake that leaders can make is not reexamining their reasoning for moving forward with a decision. Responsible leaders develop a framework, or adopt a proven model that provides their people with a toolkit to think strategically, assess financial implications of their decisions, mobilize change within the organization and communicate with other business leaders. These actions help their managers and team leaders to chart the future of their departments, as well as manage for bottom-line performance in real-time. When a leader is able to perform in this manner, he/she provides engaging opportunities for others to specialize in a specific area of career interest. Having the confidence to remove yourself from popular culture, the “Art of Detachment,” and reexamine your reasoning, eliminates opportunities for mistakes to be repeated – by ALL parties.

Learn to Win Good by Engaging the Devil. Again, quoting Robert S. McNamara, he stated: “How much evil must we do in order to do good? We have certain ideals, certain responsibilities. Recognize that at times you will have to engage in evil, but minimize it.” This statement is in relation to the many awful things that took place in Vietnam. But, it still rings true today for the battles that are engaged by leaders in the business battle space. Sometimes, doing the right things means “not” doing what is right. Small business owners are faced with this dilemma day after day. However you look at it, it comes down to a decision having to be made. What do you do when you have to make a decision to speak an untruth because the circumstances are not right and the outcomes from the truth will do more harm? Here’s a way to deal with this dilemma.

In most cases, the Fog of War in business are the prime causes of loss and wastage in organizational settings – waste of money, time, effort, manpower, and resources of every kind. They turn opportunities into fiascos and cause excellent plans to fail. The world is already a turbulent place; there’s not much that you can do to change that. It makes no sense to add to your problems through self-inflicted and unnecessary pressure. So, the best way to avoid the effects of the Fog of War and ineffectiveness within the organization is this: slow down and operate from a clear Memorandum of Understanding that provides a common architecture, a common set of applications and a requirement of teams to complete the necessary tasks to win.

It is important that you, as a leader, have the necessary time to be proactive in order to limit any risk while moving forward (the difference between making a “compromise” vs. being “compromised”). When things go wrong, as they often do, do not switch into a panic mode, yet operate as if all is OK. The only way to pull this off is to learn how to remove yourself emotionally from the scenario you found yourself in, get reliable feedback from your peers, ensure the information (data) is accurate and uncompromised, make decisions with the future picture in mind (don’t win the small battles ONLY to lose the big war), and flawlessly execute to win.

And, if you’re wise, you’ll have expected failures along the way, prepared your contingency script and continue with non-missteps and limited surprises. Take time to let the fog clear and the dust settle. Most situations are less pressing and critical than you think. Success in business rarely depends on split-second decisions; but, in some cases, success may require you to come into the devil’s living room. When this happens and you are faced with asking yourself the question posed earlier in the segment, or a question that is unfavorable, keep the future picture and mission within sight. Engaging the devil may have to occur; when you must, do so with stunning insight and perspective. The cleanup when it’s all over must be as limited with work as possible and its cause cannot be revisited by you.

Never say Never – Never say I Can’t! Winning this strategy is simple: one of the lessons I learned early on during my service as a United States Marine is this: Never say never – never say I can’t! Never, never, never, never… say never or I can’t. And more importantly, never answer a question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you and do it honestly. Quite frankly, it is my opinion that if leaders follow these two rules, they’ll find themselves in a pretty successful position and be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience. These rules offer a simple approach. These rules are very easy to follow.

You Can’t Beat a Man at his Own Game – Human Nature. Here’s one last quote from Robert S. McNamara: “We all make mistakes. We know we make mistakes. I don't know any military commander, who is honest, who would say he has not made a mistake. There's a wonderful phrase: 'the Fog of War.' What 'the fog of war' means is: war is so complex it's beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend all the variables. Our judgment, our understanding, is not adequate. And we kill people unnecessarily.” There’s an old adage that says “everything that’s gold don’t shine and people waiting in a long line do not constitute that they are waiting for something that is good.” Any military commander or business leader who is honest with him/herself, or with those they are speaking, will admit that he/she has made mistakes in the application of military power or in making sound business decisions. In order for leaders to win this strategy, human nature must be paid attention to at all times.

Here are a few things that can be achieved if to win the man at his own game:

Self-Serving Bias: We consistently think that we are better than we actually are. This can lead us into all kinds of traps that we will not be able to escape from. The key to avoiding this pitfall is to increase personal and situational awareness of strengths and weaknesses. Undergoing a behavioral assessment offers insight into your behavioral language and influences and provides an unfiltered view of the things that need improving overcoming the many things that hold up back from reaching our full potential.

Reliance on “Centers of Gravity:” The influence of others may not be as great as you think. Generally a “society” (family, employees, etc) changes more in response to how appealing the change is, rather than to the persuasiveness of a select few. Learn what motivates the people you’re concerned about and base your case on their interests. Most people will not champion an unfair system. If people believe they are being asked to do something they consider unfair, they will go to great lengths to avoid doing it. Pay close attention to what others believe is “fair” and you will keep people engaged and committed to the direction you want to take.

Behavior and PIAV Adds Up! Many people believe that behavior, personality, interests, attitude and value system are learned, most other people believe they are inbred. There’s probably a formula in there somewhere that combines all elements. What’s important is that people can learn new behaviors, gain a healthier attitude and adjust their values, which means they can change when and if they choose to do so. People operate in comfort zones. Sometimes those zones become “ruts” and we define ruts as “graves with the ends kicked out.” That means some people may figuratively die long before they’re ever buried. Because new behaviors, attitudes and value system adjustments can be learned, most people will give up an old way of doing something or take on a new, different belief, as long as there is some reward associated with an increase in pride, pleasure, peace of mind, or profit. Profit, in terms of money, is the most expensive way to work for change. Remember that the stake in the game doesn’t always have to be financial. Money may motivate, but it usually doesn’t satisfy for long and the effects are often short lived.

So, if you want to beat the man at his own game, use a compelling story to create inspiration for yourself and others. Let the people who are influenced by your leadership and actions have some say in how the story is going to be told and how the legacy is going to be lived after you are gone. Give them tools to work with. Give them feedback on how they’re doing. And, finally, pay attention to human nature. “We need more understanding of human nature; because the only real danger that exists is man himself...We know nothing of man, far too little. His psyche should be studied because we are the origin of all coming evil.” – Carl Jung, BBC interview, 1959.

Summation

The final lesson as we close this article is that leaders don’t just become prisoners of their perceived success. They also become prisoners of their errors. This article uses a strong military theme to outline the effects of unsuccessful organizational behavioral influences within the business sphere known as the Fog of War; swaying public opinion across popular culture due to misinformation or ambiguous reporting of the facts. The Fog of War also presents the phenomena as a tragedy for the best, talented and the brightest. These individuals simply follow as logic and common sense are both compromised. And, however independent they may have started off, soon these leaders fall victim as owners of an error they cannot admit to – the image starring at them in their reflection in mirror, who by the way is speaking the truth (mirrors don’t lie). This is by no means to suggest that leaders are not capable of being truthful about their mistakes and errors. It does suggest that the Devil’s Paint Brush makes it hard to do so. It is actually quite impressive that McNamara ever did, even years later and in a fairly limited way (admit his errors). But, although late, his account offers a learning tool for the rest of us.

Enhancing leadership decisions with independent executive judgment is a worthy aim. The life of so many leaders suggests that it is easier wished for than achieved. Avoid the Devil’s Paint Brush: the actions across any organizational body that causes immanent death over a period of time – and, a concept of battlefield or business uncertainty during a potential conflict – even when you refuse to see one headed in your direction.

The Racism that Resides within us causes the “F” Bomb!

Even in 2009, the beginning of the 21ST century, racism is still prevalent because of a lack of understanding and moral blindness; it has birthed many of society’s ills and significantly fails to appreciate the many differences in the biological and physical characteristics of individuals. It is a cause for wonder.

“Racism is conditioned by economic imperatives, but negotiated through culture: religion, literature, art, science and the media… Once, they demonized the blacks to justify slavery. Then they demonized the “colored” to justify colonialism. Today, they demonize asylum seekers to justify the ways of globalism. And, in the age of the media… demonization sets out the parameters of popular culture within which such exclusion finds its own rationale — usually under the guise of xenophobia, the fear of strangers.” – A Sivanandan, Extracted from Race & Class (Vol. 43, no. 2, October–December 2001).

Racism causes us to speak the four letter “F” word found in our daily language. It is the birthplace of discrimination, separation and segregation, byproducts of a racist mentality due to ignorance. It is a mechanism that allows a roaring emotional state due to remembrance and the verbal expression that commonly articulates surprise, shock and anger when it shows its ugly face. It doesn’t matter the lens that racism is looked through, how it’s filtered to shed reason for its cause or who is right because of circumstance, racism, or its perceived behavioral influence and re-action causes behaviors that are against the values that humanity is designed. And, the convicted parties on all sides demonstrate that all too familiar four letter “F” word that expresses the emotion that everyone has experienced at one time or another in their life – FEAR!

Racism and fear are synonymous of one another, both causing people to feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation, circumstance or event. They are used to introduce unpleasant statements or emotions experienced in anticipation of some specific pain, danger and uneasy or apprehensive concern (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight). The fear is due to the conviction that the members of one specific group are inherently superior to the members of other groups. This conviction is often manifested by discriminatory behaviors and practices towards the members of the supposed inferior groups.

Now that the lessons for racism have been defined, let’s talk of ways to overcome the fears that ultimately lead to the sword of demise. Yes, the word sword is used because it is often seen as an instrument of death and destruction. But, since we are focusing on bringing a resolution to the forefront of the issues that stem from racism and fear, we can learn from one of the greatest swords in the world, carried by men and women of one of the very best organizations that produces the top leaders on the globe – a premium grade Mameluke Sword and the United States Marine Corps.

Just like our U.S. Marines who always seek improvement, the Mameluke Sword is symbolic of excellence. The blade is already beautifully prepared; the craftsmanship is refined and etched to perfection. When presented to a U.S. Marine Corps officer, the sword consists of absolutely superb castings (the drag on scabbard and the acorns on the hilt) and carries with it a tradition that lives on almost as a mythical legend. The sword represents a certified metaphor of performance, now enlisted to the men and women who are “expected” to perform as the best the world has to offer. To some, the U.S. Marine Corps offers imagery of an organization led by old military commanders seeking to wage battle. This remains largely dubious, especially in today’s increasingly complex, networked world. Rather, they are leaders – men and women, young and old – of all races and endeavors who seek to better themselves and others each day of their life. They love to win, yet they think beyond themselves. They love to compete, yet they show compassion for their fellow human beings. And, they see no race, yet each individual is seen as crossing the right of passage – the rigors, disciplines, decisions, pains and defeats – of becoming the leader who has earned the title “United States Marine.”

A Marine and his/her sword regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted and they are in awe of their own will to win through the efforts of others. They marvel at genius, a feeling of profound respect for someone or the mission they are assigned to accomplish. They too fear that which is not understood, but they carry with them a culture of honor, respect, tradition, resilience, excellence and perfection in performance that overcomes the actual fear that they face. This form of reverence overcomes the destruction that opposes harmony or community, the enslaved misunderstood mindsets that keeps division.

So, why do we fear what is not understood? One wonders. You may recall that as a very young child, you were usually free from fear. You may be swinging at the playground, racing your buddy to see who could go the highest and ready to jump, or about to fuse a firecracker – you aren’t scared and the unknown for the immediate future is also not understood. Can we call it something other than fear, such as bravery? Absolutely not; being unaware of the misunderstood is a means to grasp the opportunity for further education – one that is freed from fear. So, at this very early stage in life, children are guided by their parents, guardians and well-wishers in ways that teaches them to conqueror their fears, only in some cases, fears are placed within them that they do not own – racism. It is at this early stage and time that adults must carry the Mameluke Sword and teach the perfections that will etch the superb castings of our future – the children. And, prepare them through teachings of the Lord: “to love thy neighbor as you would want them to love you.”

We must get back to the basics and principles that have been afforded us by the men and women who have laid the foundations of a great race – humanity – which is unique. Each individual regardless of race or gender is special in a way that teaches others to become a better quality and quantity to life. Most importantly, we must teach our children (and adults who act as children even when they are greatly respected) that humans actually have more in common than not. Even science agrees to this point and it is supported by the Bible. Acts 17:26 (King James Version) declares, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” This makes us know that all mankind has the same origin, indeed we are one race of human beings. The diversity and uniqueness of both people and nations are manifestations of God’s awesome creativity and power.

But, the battle wages on in us all, regardless of how one feels. The moral blindness of racism fails to appreciate that the differences that we all offer to one another. Do we ever spare a thought about how a child would cope with the unknown or misunderstood? At a time where the United States of America has come together, in the majority – all races and both genders – to elect the first African American President, we still have stories in the media that instructs to our children that we have not grown up to lead by example. It is here that we forget that the child (and again, the adult who acts and speaks as a child) must be taught to deal with and overcome the bullies of life – racism and fear.

We must teach them to carry their own swords as a metaphor of performance. To become the leaders – men and women, young and old – of all races and endeavors, who seek to better themselves and others each day of their life. They must be taught to love to win, yet they think beyond themselves. They must be taught to love to compete, yet show compassion for their fellow human beings. And, they must be taught to see no race, yet “understand” that each individual is seen as special with something to teach and offer to the world.

This my friends is the only way to journey the right of passage – the rigors, disciplines, decisions, pains and defeats – of becoming the people who have truly earned the right to wear the title, a “LEADER.”

Leadership 2.0

I have been following a discussion on LinkedIn about Leadership 2.0 where Janet Monk, IT Executive, ITIL Service Manager hit the nail on the head when she posed her question; “how do we get back to the original design that leadership was meant for?” I believe that in doing so, just as times have changed so must the outlook for the very fabric and defined meaning of leadership itself. I don’t believe that we have to develop Leadership 2.0, but execute a significant “behavioral rewiring” that instills an “us” vs. “I and me” perspective to life and through people. As a U.S. Marine turned business educator, I have always believed that leadership is too one dimensional (probably looked at as Leadership 1.0).

My team and I are currently facing this new paradigm by instructing others on the influences that military stratagem has on the effects of leadership and team building. What we think people need to realize is that leadership is tested in the military/leadership laboratories to define the effects it has on strategic thinking (decision-making) and the ability to execute flawlessly. This perspective and their outcomes offer significant findings and are often overlooked for the absolute wrong reasons – if there is a civilian who has not begun to think of war from a different perspective than war itself, then this current global economic crisis has to make them aware of the effects the current war we are all facing, economically, has on ALL people, everywhere (i.e. The Tragedy of Competition).

Teaching what we have come to realize is only a single step forward in rewiring behaviors, using military stratagem, we’ve come to understand leadership as a multi-dimensional set of influences that achieves a state of Personal Proficiency and Professional Mastery; “The Six Levels of Leadership: Military Stratagem meets the New World Order – of Business!”

Examining the Six Levels of Leadership: Pinpoint the effects of applying an “adaptive” leadership style through an interactive session with lessons learned from yesterday to create a better tomorrow.

Charting-off: Leadership Levels 1 & 2: Establish your Leadership Signature and increase your level of Emotional Intelligence – clarify and critique the attributes of emerging leadership.

Plotting the Course: Leadership Levels 3 & 4: Understand how-to experience a “Breakthrough” to begin your “Break-with” and increase your level of leadership, performance and execution.

Raising the Sails: Leadership Level 5: Learn to lead teams into qualitative team building maneuvers that prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations – explore expansive influence, leadership multiplication and cohesiveness.

Into the Wind: Leadership Level 6: Learn to employ organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) to permeate enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will – and the disciplines of “strategic agility and flawless execution (debriefing) with a modest approach and an unwavering commitment to higher standards, and NOT forgetting how we got here in the first place…

Success TRAPS: Understanding How-to Answer the Four Questions to Heal the Pains and Strengthen your Future Picture. This discussion works to help participants understand “accountability:” Why am I hurting? What is it about “me” that influences the hurt? How do I prevent re-injury – although I know that it will be re-visited? And, how do I change my circumstances, current and future?

Basically, looking at the last 18 months have been the most trying in decades for business leaders. The conditions that normally make running an organization of any type – a business unit or a team rewarding is market expansion, revenue growth, rising pay, and incentives – have been absent for most, replaced by the unrelenting tasks of survival, retrenchment, and cost cutting. So, it comes down to a single question: “what must leaders do in this depressed environment and what must they do not to return?”

We argue that the first task of leadership is to identify the default future, discuss it, and analyze it, and then go about re-imagining – and, in effect, rewriting the future. It has to be about Flawless and Strategic execution by teams!

Leaders must learn to overcome the daunting task of facing the future alone by teaching them to rewrite the future that leads to real business transformation with profitable growth for everyone, while eliminating the domino effects of failure.

And the lessons must be just as applicable to individuals. Here’s my bottom line, people and organizations have been leading, both poorly and with great outcomes, for centuries. Nothing new and surely nothing unique can be developed to change leadership. Leadership 2.0; why not get back to the original design that leadership was meant for, but look at it through a different lens using the lessons learned from yesterday? Leadership 2.0 does not warrant the time and effort to develop – stay with what works, only with a few tweaks!

Facebook Online Leadership Community

Please join our online community and allow me to welcome you in advance! The purpose of the site is to discuss new and emerging trends within the performance management and human capital/talent management industry, in particular the emergence of our military-style executive education LeaderShaping concepts, including transformational leadership, organizational behavior, strategic execution and team building maneuvers – and their effects on the business, private, Government, faith-based and non-profit leadership communities.

Your colleagues, and the prospects you are targeting, all think much different than they did in the past. How are you adapting to this change? Transformational thinking qualities such as how business is conducted due to social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Etc) have revolutionized the way people interact with each other and gather information. This information could include ways to deal with closing sales, overcoming resistance to change, resolving workplace conflict or even developing better teams to face the climate of uncertainty! These new social media, and others like them which require and thrive on the input of users, are commonly referred to as Web 2.0 platforms – and the world of leadership must also follow suite to remain in front of the technological curve to experience the many benefits shared.

Like Web 2.0, our LeaderShaping concept is not a new version, but rather, as the realization of the global leader’s thinking and decision making potential, it’s second coming (future generation) so to speak.

So, in the spirit of things, please join our online community and you are strongly encouraged to add feedback, photos, video, and start discussion topics on things that are relevant to you and our industry as a whole. Enjoy!

Also, keep in mind we have a LeaderShaping LinkedIn Group, as well:

Our Mission: Develop leadership qualities that instill and promote Personal Proficiency, while increasing Professional Mastery to achieve desired outcomes within life’s Future Picture and the success of the workplace.

The Products: Tips, discussions and white papers for training and increasing both “you” and your “teams” Personal Proficiencies and Professional Mastery in the areas of Transformational Leadership, Organizational Behavior, Strategic Execution, Diversity Education and Team Building Maneuvers to help you with coming out of the economic downturn.

We hope to see you online. Be well and keep your head to the sky.

Contact: Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts
Email: Dpitts@thebisongroup.com
www.thebisongroup.com
www.facebook.com/DDP.Skipper
http://www.linkedin.com/in/skipper
http://bisongroup.blogspot.com

New Bison Group Training site in Philadelphia, PA Targets the Economic Downturn

As business transformation and intelligence needs evolve, Bison will be with them.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (July 20, 2009) – The Bison Group, the leader in military-style executive education, opened a new regional office and training facility this month in the nation’s fourth-largest urban area by population and its fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research (Philadelphia proper totals more than 1.4 million and the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area of 5.8 million residents). Philadelphia is a growing market for “Leading out of the Downturn; the most important task for leaders is to re-orient the minds of the people toward a positive vision of the future,” says consultant and author Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts.

The Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area offers one of the largest concentrations of universities and colleges in the country and has become second to none at offering executive education and innovative approaches for winning over uncertainty.

The last 18 months have been the most trying in decades for business leaders. The conditions that normally make running an organization of any type – a business unit or a team rewarding is market expansion, revenue growth, rising pay, and incentives – have been absent for most, replaced by the unrelenting tasks of survival, retrenchment, and cost cutting. What should leaders do in this depressed environment? The first task of leadership, Bison argues, is to identify the default future, discuss it, and analyze it, and then go about re-imagining – and, in effect, rewriting the future. The Bison Group’s program, “The Six Levels of Leadership,” helps business leaders overcome the daunting task of facing the future, by teaching them to rewrite the future that leads to real business transformation with profitable growth. And the lessons are just as applicable to individuals.

The Bison Group, a team of U.S. Marines turned business professionals, is a leader in military-style executive education and learning services firm for business, education, government, faith-based organizations and higher learning institutions. Bison’s consultancy works to improve the clients’ business performance by redesigning how they behave, think, and train their associates using strategies from the U.S. Marine Corps. It’s the goal of Bison’s teams to implement the rigor and discipline from its training designs, instruct the global marketplace how-to increase their human capital, and increase performance and integrated talent management’s “best practices” to exceed the outcomes within the Future Picture that lie waiting around the immediate corner.

During a recent training with start-up technology firm “PropertyCentric” in Philadelphia, centered on providing custom built local search engines and online marketing strategies for the property management industry, Skipper replied to a question by stating: “some organizations are doing well, but for many, it’s a very tough and nasty battlefield. What happens when people focus on that is that their down range view gets smaller and all they can see is the immediate targets and danger. It’s like they’re a patient in the makeshift battlefield intensive care unit and they’re doing everything they can to get back to their team and unit. But, the question should and “must” be: when you come out of the battlefield ICU, how do you build a strong and healthy Future Picture for yourself and others? Leaders need to be setting in motion transformative execution strategies and principles to follow that really are about the newly emerging future that has never been seen before. What are you going to be, how are you going to act and what will you look like when this turns around? Will you still be standing?”

It was in this city that many of the ideas, and subsequent actions, gave birth to the American Revolution and American Independence, making Philadelphia a centerpiece of early American history. It was the most populous city of the young United States and served as the nation’s first capital during much of the Revolutionary War and thereafter. Following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, it was the temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, DC was under construction – and, now the home for an even more radical approach to providing leadership and team building maneuvers with the Bison Group to lead out from this downturn with promising outcomes.

Bison’s industry expertise is evidenced by long-term relationships with customers including Wachovia, Lockheed Martin, Wells Fargo, Hilton Hotels, Universal Studios – Florida, Temple University, James Madison University, U.S. Prison Systems and the U.S. Film Industry.

The new office officially opened July 1 and features a training center and attractive meeting space. The facility is located in historic Chestnut Hill, PA – a prime community in the Northwest section of the city. Interested parties can reach the Bison Group team by contacting the office at (877) 838 – 3753.

LeaderShaping your Way out of the Downturn

The power in this program stems from using the Laws of Performance Management combined with the military strategies from the United States Marine Corps. The Laws of Performance Management does not offer a rule or code to follow, but distinguishes the moving parts at work behind defining a process for setting goals and regularly checking progress toward achieving the desired outcomes and effects as observable phenomenon. A law is invariable, a system of rules usually enforced through a process and by institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator in relations between people – whether you believe that the military does more than just fight wars or not doesn’t lessen its effect on you.

The greatest advances in history have come at times of uncertainty and economic despair that called for applying newly discovered laws and strategies. Think of Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body to the motion of the body. When applied in a business context, they become powerful and predictive. When the Laws of Performance Management combined with the U.S. Marine Corps stratagem are applied, performance and leadership transforms to a higher level of understanding and purpose far beyond what most people think is possible. It does not occur in small subsets, but all at once, as individuals and organizations rewrite their Future Picture.

The opening segment of the program, the “Executive Education” overview, takes the stratagem one at a time, introduces and examines “The Six Levels of Leadership” and demonstrates how to apply them. You’ll pinpoint the effects of applying an “adaptive” leadership style through an interactive session and how to jettison what’s holding you back; create a future for yourself and your organization beyond what’s predictably going to happen. Along the way, you’ll likely see and transform much of what is holding you back (behaviors and values), both personally and professionally.

Through the journey of the opening segment, we’ll show how “The Six Levels of Leadership” will hold true, in any circumstance individuals and organizations may face – they are universal principles that will win at any time and in any scenario type. We’ll see the result of understanding and applying them – dramatic elevations in performance that can be used to lead you out of a downturn and re-orient the minds of staff and employees toward a positive vision of the future.

The second part, “Charting-off: Leadership Levels 1 & 2,” is about the personal face of leadership. This session shows how you can apply the stratagem – and in the process expand your own leadership. Charting-off is about taking the long walk down the short path to increase your level of Personal Proficiency and provides some guidance on how to take these new ideas out into your world. Charting-off establishes your Leadership Signature and increases your level of Emotional Intelligence – clarifying and critiquing the attributes of emerging and adaptive leadership. It looks at leadership in light of the Laws of Performance Management.

This segment identifies key leadership behaviors and value propositions, and how to apply them in and across organizational environments and workplaces. We also look at the new frontier of organizational behavior: working effectively in the emerging and developing world, creating sustainability in communities and generating the expansion of wealth (both material and in the well-being of people). This segment is intended for people interested in becoming an agent of change, raising their levels of individual and professional leadership.

The third part, “Plotting the Course: Leadership Levels 3 & 4,” helps you with understanding how-to experience a “Breakthrough” to begin your “Break-with” and increases your level of leadership, performance and execution all with the same amount of energy. We’ll visit national and international organizations through third party white papers, looking into diverse industries such as aerospace, energy, construction, and technology. We’ll even make stops at top U.S. conglomerates, the Wharton School of Business, Harvard Business School, Darden School of Business and other institutions.

The fourth part, “Raising the Sails: Leadership Level 5,” helps you with learning to lead teams into qualitative team building maneuvers that prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations. It explores expansive influence, leadership multiplication and cohesiveness.

The fifth part, “Into the Wind: Leadership Level 6,” helps you with learning to employ organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) that permeates enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will – and the disciplines of “strategic agility and flawless execution (debriefing) with a modest approach and an unwavering commitment to higher standards – individually and organizationally.

“The Six Levels of Leadership” is the stimulus to initiate and maintain the behavioral and emotional relationships necessary to develop the leadership traits needed to successfully contest rapid change: an interactive investigation that takes you on a journey to increase Personal Proficiency that leads to greater levels of Professional Mastery and respect. You’ll learn from one of our Master Facilitators how to lead at both the head and heart levels – from any position within your organization.

Based on the content of nationally-acclaimed leadership and team building expert, facilitator, and author Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts, the Six Levels equips you with the tools and knowledge to become the leader “you,” “your team” and “your organization” requires: The LeaderShaped Leader! Additionally, with the daunting outlook and uncertainties in the current economic climate, participants are able to examine the newest features of the program, “Success TRAPS: Understanding How-to Answer the Four Questions to Heal the Pains and Strengthen your Future Picture.” This segment works to help participants understand: Why am I hurting? What is it about “me” that influences the hurt? How do I prevent re-injury – although I know that it will be re-visited? And, how do I change my circumstances, current and future?

With a dedicated perspective, participants are able to navigate through various steps to ensure they follow the right path for the greatest benefit. Learning to transform into a LeaderShaped Leader, you’ll be able to transition top leadership, project management, execution and team building performance – all encompassed within the stratagem – the Laws of Performance Management combined with the military strategies from the United States Marine Corps. This program delivers the required skills so that you can execute and more effectively communicate to gain more retention from the people influenced by your leadership.

This program is not an academic study, although its conclusions draw on well-established lines of research. Our intent is to introduce these principles and illustrate how their application can enhance performance. The examples almost all come from cases in which we and our colleagues have been personally involved – and in some cases, from third party relationships such as Booz & Company, Bersin and Associates and others in the field of leadership, strategic execution, team building and performance research. We’ve been there, seen it and now we want to share it.

In attending this program and reading the materials, journals and publications – and applying the stratagem – you’ll do more than find fixes to your problems and challenges. You’ll find the power to rewrite your future.

For additional information, please contact:
Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts, Instructor,
The Bison Group® Corporation
Toll Free: (877) 838 – 3753
Email: Dpitts@thebisongroup.com
www.thebisongroup.com
www.teambuildingbootcamp.com

6 Levels of Leadership City Tour

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” – Albert Einstein

In our exploration of leading in uncharted territory, we dare to share a simple principle: Use discipline and rigor while remaining strategic and nimble in answering the following:

- What kind of influence do you have in the workplace?
- Do people understand what it takes to move performance to the next level?
- Do they understand how to follow when led…and, how to lead when others must follow?
- Do they know how to execute strategically and flawlessly?

Let The Bison Group stimulate your ability to impact your workplace. The Six Levels of Leadership, also known as “The LeaderShaped Leader,” helps you to consider Key Talent Management Processes that drive high levels of business impact. The business world had to realize that their potential leaders are a major asset – and do so rather quickly. Taking that potential and developing it is highly desirable, especially during an economic downturn, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, and layoffs.

The Process of LeaderShaping is the stimulus to initiate and maintain the behavioral and emotional relationships necessary to develop the leadership traits needed to successfully contest rapid change: an interactive investigation that takes you on a journey to increase Personal Proficiency that leads to greater levels of Professional Mastery and respect. Learn from one of our Master Facilitators how to lead at both the head and heart levels – from any position within your organization.

Based on the content of nationally-acclaimed leadership and team building expert, facilitator, and author Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts, the Six Levels equips you with the tools and knowledge to become the leader your team and your organization requires: The LeaderShaped Leader!

With a dedicated perspective, participants are able to navigate through various steps to ensure they follow the right path for the greatest benefit. Learning to transform into a LeaderShaped Leader, you’ll be able to transition top leadership, project management, execution and team building performance skills so that you can execute and more effectively communicate to gain more retention from the people influenced by your leadership.

Upcoming Dates and Locations

September 9, 2009 Philadelphia, PA
September 16, 2009 Cherry Hill, NJ
September 23, 2009 New York City, NY
September 30, 2009 Wilmington, DE

Materials

Too many corporate training experiences hand out little more than catchy clichés and cheerleading slogans. At The Bison Group, we value motivation and encouragement, but we also believe in the long-lasting impact of practical tools and resources.

Our in-depth, classroom style symposium provides you with an accurate picture of your present leadership position. During the day, you’ll capture the essence of the Six Levels of Leadership in the course workbook. In addition, certified facilitators will help you craft a customized Strategic Performance Management Action Plan (SPMAP) with tangible steps to guide your leadership to new heights.

Rates

Individual Fees: $499.00
* Prices include attendance at each session, course materials, and lunch.

What You Will Learn

Through a day of highly personalized and experiential learning, you will:

- Learn the difference between dynamic leadership and mediocre management,
- Examine applicable leadership case studies,
- Apply a series of simple principles and strategies to empower your team, and
- Chart your leadership course with a personalized SPMAP (Strategic Performance Management Action Plan) that finds your leadership voice.

Agenda

Six Levels of Leadership One-Day Workshop
8:00 am – 4:45 pm

Module I - Examining the Six Levels of Leadership
Pinpoint the effects of applying an “adaptive” leadership style through an interactive session

Module II – Charting-off: Leadership Levels 1 & 2
Establish your Leadership Signature and increase your level of Emotional Intelligence – clarify and critique the attributes of emerging leadership

Module III – Plotting the Course: Leadership Levels 3 & 4
Understand how-to experience a “Breakthrough” to begin your “Break-with” and increase your level of leadership, performance and execution

Module IV – Raising the Sails: Leadership Level 5
Learn to lead teams into qualitative team building maneuvers that prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations – explore expansive influence, leadership multiplication and cohesiveness

Module V – Into the Wind: Leadership Level 6
Learn to employ organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) to permeate enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will – and the disciplines of “strategic agility and flawless execution (debriefing) with a modest approach and an unwavering commitment to higher standards

Seats are limited, so register today by email at:

Solutions@thebisongroup.com
www.thebisongroup.com
www.teambuildingbootcamp.com

Factors that Drive Positive Impact & ROI for Executive Leadership Programs

While sitting at a local coffee shop enjoying the company of two business colleagues, a significant question was posed that caused time to stop for a brief moment: “Skipper, how does your organization measure leadership ROI in plain language for an executive to understand when considering hiring your team?” Wow I thought… do I answer in my normal corporate language and attempt to impress upon that we really are good at what we do? Or, maybe I throw around a few $20 words and some leadership jargon to sound important. Either way, I must answer the question with an assumed definition as if I was actually seasoned to field the question with absolute and unquestionable resolve. “I don’t know…I’ve never actually had anyone ask that question before now,” I replied. What a moment of agony while sitting at the table with two very successful and respected businessmen with polished academic backgrounds, including a mid 1980’s graduate of the Wharton School of Business, both retired and now successfully working on their next ventures. The pressure of just wanting to receive an endorsement from either of them to a colleague of theirs in hopes of that person is willing to accept a meeting from me to present our perfected elevator pitch: “this is why you should use us.”

The remainder of the evening and much of the next day, I researched why and how to answer the question in the future. With the many uncertainties in the “NOW” real-world that business is forced to coexist, this is a question that will most likely show its face again and again. “I must be better prepared to answer it with profound implications that will impress upon our experiential learning from the participants in our past session,” I thought. But, the real skinny on this new found dilemma that I am faced with is this: I too must “again” reinvest in my own development and learning.

It is my hopes that this article can help others who might be sitting at a similar table having coffee in the same dilemma. In my research and looking at Scott Saslow’s writings, the Executive Director of The Institute of Executive Development, a significant high number of people “Rarely” or “Never” calculate the ROI on executive development (take a look at the table below, from market study Leadership Development: Challenges & Best Practices).

Although there are several factors that lead to reasons for tracking the impact of executive development leadership and team building programs such as those delivered from our team, it is very important to do so in plain language for others to grasp the concept of the programs intention. In answering the question for our programs, I am not only looking to monitor the impact, I am also interested in expressing a thorough examination of developmental activity along with the benefits and cost to deploy across the entire organizational environment.

According to Saslow, “conventional wisdom on any corporate spending, executive development investments need to be fully understood and ranked against other company projects to ensure proper allocation of scarce organizational resources.” This is so true in the current economic climate. No organization can take a leap of faith to engage any form of human capital training without knowing that their current needs are being met and pains are being cared for.

There are a few factors that drive the need to track program and developmental investments:

 Increased accountability for all functional areas within the organization, driven by initiatives such as “Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, et al” and other process improvement programs. In areas such as training and development, which are known to produce a mix of tangible and intangible benefits, there is an increased desire by senior management to measure performance management outcomes and desired effects.

 Increased awareness by both executive management as well as HRD professionals on the availability of tools and techniques to quantify impact of executive development programs.

 A visible increase in Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals who view their departments as stand-alone business units/revenue centers and are utilizing department profit and loss statements as one measure of performance. Increasingly, professionals from non-HR departments have figured out the many benefits of joining HR teams to bring “bottom-line” perspective to human capital investments.

The following ¹information explains the results from the question relating to organizations that attempt to calculate ROI on executive development:

10% – Always: Each program is evaluated independently,
7% – Frequently: Most of our programs are evaluated,
15% – Sometimes: As appropriate, we will evaluate some of our programs,
21% – Rarely: Only a small number of programs are evaluated, and
46% – Never: We never measure ROI for leadership development.

¹From “Leadership Development: Challenges & Best Practices,” www.execsight.com/benchmarks.

Business Benefits and ROI Assumptions for The Process of LeaderShaping Executive Education Leadership and Organizational Behavior Program

The business world has quickly realized that their very best people, leaders and organizational specialists, are the greatest asset. Taking that potential and developing it is highly desirable. The Process of LeaderShaping, a transformational leadership and organizational behavior program that focuses on team building and strategic execution, is the stimulus to initiate and maintain the behavioral and emotional relationships necessary to develop leadership traits at every level of an organization.

With a dedicated perspective, participants are able to navigate through various steps six phases/stages to ensure they follow the right path for the greatest individual benefit – achieve Personal Proficiency – while attaining a greater level of Professional Mastery. LeaderShaping transforms top leaders to be more effective in their communication and more strategic in their execution. Regardless of circumstance, LeaderShaping takes every participant on their very own personal journey to explore their inner “self” while influencing others to find their voice. The journey explores the following six developmental stages:

Stage 1 is the “Recruit, the good-to-great highly capable individual who makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits. This individual is the one person in the environment that understands ‘people first, then the organization;’ hence, the development and achievement of the desired effects within the expected Future Picture.”

Stage 2 is the Experienced Manager “who is working to establish his/her ‘Leadership Signature’ to integrate their newly found skills to the achievement of team and organizational objectives (mission) and work effectively with others in a team-led environment. The Experienced Manager begins his/her growth by learning the constructs in the Memorandum of Understanding to find a voice; then, influences others to find theirs.”

Stage 3 is the competent Fleet Leader who “understands the criticality of employing organizational behavior across environments – organizes people and resources to develop an effective strategy forward using the critical Centers of Gravity to achieve the desired effects.”

Stage 4 is an effective Breakthrough Executor who “outlines the specific cognitive abilities that will be sought and cultivated by other leaders in the years ahead using the Five Minds for the Future: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind; the leader who remains committed to a vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards using team maneuvers."

Stage 5 is the Team/Project Leader who “employs the highest standards of customer service by achieving the five disciplines of greatness – these are the leaders who understand maneuver warfare and the disciplines within a Five Paragraph Order: SMEAC. They know an extraordinary organization is one that is driven by extraordinary people who make a distinctive impact and deliver superior performance over a long period of time – as a team unit.”

Stage 6 is the LeaderShaped Leader “who employs organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) to permeate enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. All successful organizations have a single component in common; they have a strategic-executor at the helm who knows the disciplines of ‘strategic agility’ and ‘flawless execution.’ These leaders are described as being tactical in their approach, ferocious and fearless, yet modest with an unwavering commitment to high standards.” This is the leader who knows how to win!

LeaderShaping helps people to consider key talent management processes that drive high levels of business impact:

Performance Management
• Coaching and development drives much greater value than appraisal.
• Goal setting and goal-alignment drive high levels of impact.

Competency Analyses
• Skills-based workforce planning and critical job analysis is imperative to succeed.
• Competency management is a foundational process to make talent management work.

Assessments & Recruiting
• Assessment metrics and recruiting are key strategies and replace decentralized recruiting.
• Internal sourcing tools drive greater value than improvements in external sourcing.

Learning & Development
• Alignment with talent gaps is biggest area of impact.
• Tremendous growth in career development programs.

Based on interviews within our executive education program participants at Temple University since 2007, these four key elements were identified, which positively had an impact on the participants and their organizations upon returning to their perspective workplaces. Nonetheless, the environment (culture and organizational behavior) and the organizations processes received the greatest impact with staggering results.

Regardless of ROI, it is important to understand that no matter what measures are placed on the program itself, or what name the initiative goes under (team-based improvement effort, continuous improvement, total quality management, lean manufacturing, Human Sigma, or self-directed work teams) you must strive to improve results for internal and external customers. Few organizations and leaders, however, are totally pleased with the results their team improvement efforts produce because of the limited shelf life and excitement the program itself warrants upon completion (how often are the materials from the visiting program “never” shared with others and, in most cases, only become a part of the office library never to be looked at again?).

Here are a few things to consider when measuring if the program drives positive impact that is poised for the ROI you are seeking. The “twelve Cs for effective unit development,” (let’s get it straight, the only reason to engage a specific program is to institutionalize its effects across every level of the organization) offers successful maneuvers that develop effective, focused impacts that require attention to detail in the following areas.

It is important to think about the many questions posed to ensure the appropriate discussions are stimulating directional flow towards the organization’s success – if to measure ROI appropriately:

1. Clear Expectations: Has executive leadership (to be successful, there must be buy-in from the top) clearly communicated its expectations for the team’s performance and expected outcomes? Do team members understand why the team was created? Is the organization demonstrating consistency of purpose in supporting the team with resources of people, time and money? Does the work of the team receive sufficient emphasis as a priority in terms of the time, discussion, attention and interest directed its way by executive leaders?

2. Context: Do team members understand why they are participating on the team? Do they understand how the strategy of using teams will help the organization attain its communicated business goals? Can team members define their team’s importance to the accomplishment of goal orientation? Does the team understand where its work fits in the total context of the organization’s goals, principles, posture, vision, organizational behavior and values?

3. Commitment: Do team members want to participate on the team? Do team members feel the team mission is important? Are members committed to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes? Do team members perceive their service as valuable to the organization and to their own careers – is there a “win-win?” Do team members anticipate recognition for their contributions? Do team members expect their skills to grow and develop on the team? Are team members excited and challenged by the team opportunity?

4. Competence: Does the team feel that it has the appropriate people participating? (As an example, in a process improvement initiative, is each step of the process represented on the team?) Does the team feel that its members have the knowledge, skill and capability to address the issues for which the team was formed? If not, does the team have access to the help it needs? Does the team feel it has the resources, strategies and support needed to accomplish its mission/objectives and future picture?

5. Contract: Has the team taken its assigned area of responsibility and designed its own mission, vision, posture statement, Memorandum of Understanding and strategic intent to accomplish the mission. Has the team defined and communicated its goals; its anticipated outcomes and contributions; its timelines; and how it will measure both the outcomes of its work and the process the team followed to accomplish their task? Does the leadership team or other coordinating group support what the team has designed?

6. Command and Control: This can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated team leader or members on a team over assigned and attached resources in the accomplishment of the organization’s mission. That being said, does the team have enough freedom and empowerment to feel the ownership necessary to accomplish its contract? At the same time, do team members clearly understand their boundaries? How far may members go in pursuit of solutions? Are limitations (i.e. monetary and time resources) defined at the beginning of a project before the team experiences barriers and rework? Is the team’s reporting relationship and accountability understood by all members of the organization? Has the organization defined the team’s authority? To make recommendations? To implement its plan? Is there a defined review process so both the team and the organization are consistently aligned in direction and purpose? Do team members hold each other accountable for project timelines, commitments and results? Does the organization have a plan to increase opportunities for self-management among organization members?

7. Collaboration (Coalition of Forces): Does the team understand team and group process? Do members understand the stages of group development? Are team members working together effectively interpersonally? Do all team members understand the roles and responsibilities of team members (Concept of the “Bus”)? Team leaders? Can the team approach problem solving, process improvement, goal setting and measurement jointly? Do team members cooperate to accomplish the team contract? Has the team established group norms or rules of conduct in areas such as LeaderShaping, conflict resolution, consensus decision making and meeting management? Is the team using an appropriate strategy to accomplish its action plan?

8. Communication: Are team members clear about the priority of their tasks? Is there an established method for the teams to give feedback and receive honest performance feedback? Does the organization provide important business information regularly? Do the teams understand the complete context for their existence? Do team members communicate clearly and honestly with each other? Do team members bring diverse opinions to the table? Are necessary conflicts raised and addressed? Do team members understand that conflict is necessary for lessons learned?

9. Creative Innovation: Is the organization really interested in change? Does it understand the contextual implications for the change? Does it value creative thinking, transformational thinking, unique solutions and new ideation? Does it reward people who take reasonable risks to make improvements? Or does it reward the people who fit in and maintain the status quo? Does it provide the training, education, access to publications and textual resources, performance management assessments and infield trips necessary to stimulate new thinking?

10. Consequences: Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team achievements? Do team members feel responsible and accountable for other team members? Are rewards and recognition supplied when teams are successful? Not successful? Is reasonable risk respected and encouraged in the organization? Do team members fear reprisal? Do team members spend their time finger pointing rather than resolving problems during the necessary Debrief sessions? Is the organization designing reward systems that recognize both team and individual performance and organizational behavior? Is the organization planning to share gains and increased profitability with team and individual contributors? Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team and individual strategic execution tactics? Can contributors see their impact on increased organization success?

11. Coordination: Are teams coordinated by a central leadership team that assists the groups to obtain what they need for success? Are teams coordinated by a designated “Red Team,” one who works to employ contingency script that assists the team with working out problems and challenges as a precursor to engaging the mission? Have priorities and resource allocation been planned across departments? Have the proper configurations or reconfigurations been made and planned for across departments? Do teams understand the concept of the internal customer – the next process, anyone to whom they provide a product or a service? Are cross-functional and multi-department teams common and working together effectively and efficiently? Is the organization developing a customer-focused process-centric orientation and moving away from traditional departmental thinking?

12. Cultural Change – Collective Behaviors: Does the organization recognize that the team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling organizational culture of the future is different than the traditional, hierarchical organization it may currently be? Is the team a networked unit or hierarchical one? Is the organization planning to or in the process of changing how it rewards, recognizes, appraises, hires, develops, plans with, motivates and manages the people it employs? Does the organization plan to use failures for learning and support reasonable risk? Does the organization recognize that the more it can change its climate to support teams, the more it will receive in pay back (ROI) from the work of the teams?

Spend time and attention on each of these “twelve Cs for effective unit development” to ensure your work teams contribute most effectively to your business success after completing an executive education program. In a position of leadership, your team members will respond favorably, your business will soar to new heights and empowered people will “own” and be responsible for their work processes. Everyone will find his/her voice – this is ROI that permeates enduring freedoms (breakthroughs) and successful outcomes that lasts.

Can you ask for anything better in the workplace than what is proposed here? There's a table of critical information to support this segment of the article that you can request by email at Solutions@thebisongroup.com (In your headline, remember to include the title of the article and request the "best practices" table).

The table outlines “best practices” in measuring and maximizing ROI in executive education and development programs like The Process of LeaderShaping. No more will I have to agonize on the original question posed that sparked me writing this article. The factors that drive positive impact & ROI for executive style leadership programs lie in the hands of the participants going through it and their response to the instruction upon entering back into the workplace.

So, measuring ROI begins in the decision and selection process of the individuals chosen to attend. Everything else is a culmination of everyone doing their part to ensure successful outcomes within the desired effects in the end.

Reference
Shortcut the original article:
http://www.mannaz.com/Mail.asp?MailID=118&TopicID=1374

Scott Saslow is the Executive Director of The Institute of Executive Development, a company that delivers a unique service to executive development professionals by providing an unbiased source of information on the best practices and innovative ideas in executive development. Clients of The Institute include professionals from global companies who manage their organization’s executive development programs, as well as recognized experts who advise, publish, and speak on industry topics. The Institute is the largest in its field and most dynamic in terms of its services. There are currently over 4,000 individuals from 85 countries who use the Institute. As head of the organization, Mr. Saslow is responsible for all strategy and operations. Mr. Saslow also manages the design and delivery of multiple market studies in executive development such as “Transforming Corporate Leadership: Best Practices in Executive Education” and “Leadership Development in European Organizations.” In all, Mr. Saslow has authored over 15 articles and in-depth research reports on the field of executive development for publications such as CLO Magazine, Strategic HR Review, Leadership in Action, and ASTD’s Leadership/OD Newsletter.