Omar L. Harris's Blog, page 8

Leadership Lessons from The Lion King (2019)

Please note: this article contains spoilers for the 2 people in the world who have never seen the Lion King :). Disney wants all the money. The journey for total box office dominance continued last week with the release of the digital reimagination of The Lion King - one of mine and many others favorite animated classics of the past thirty years. Leveraging the latest in super realistic visual effects to recreate the animated movie as if it occurs in the three-dimensional world, Director Jon Favreau and Disney are assured of a can't miss financial hit in this nearly shot-for-shot remake of the original. The synopsis of the film goes: The Lion King follows the adventures of the young lion Simba, the heir of his father, Mufasa. Simba's wicked uncle, Scar plots to usurp Mufasa's throne by luring father and son into a stampede of wildebeests. But Simba escapes, and only Mufasa is killed. Simba returns as an adult to take back his homeland from Scar with the help of his friends Nala, Timon and Pumbaa. This remade classic is amazing visually but devoid of the magic of its predecessor. The film is about finding and claiming one’s place in the world but it also has a strong message about finding the courage to overcome guilt, forgive yourself, and move on and up. As expressed by Melanie Kouloris: "There is no sense in punishing your future for the mistakes of your past. Forgive yourself, grow from it, and then let it go." With this thought in mind, allow me to present five leadership lessons gleaned from this nostalgia-inducing movie. 1. Even kings get scared: When Simba and Nala run off to explore the badlands where the hyenas live (due to Scar's influence), Mufasa is able to fight them off and save the cubs. He later confesses to his son, that the thing that frightens him the most is losing Simba. Because of this he takes so many precautions to guard that which matters most to him. Leadership Lesson: Fear is an important motivator for a leader. Identifying what keeps you up at night and then preparing accordingly is always a good use of your time. Not enough leaders prepare their organizations for inevitable crises. The best leaders however, are masters of anticipation and embed this "productive paranoia" into the DNA of their organizations. 2. Lead for the right reasons: Check out these lyrics to the classic song, I just can't wait to be King: I'm gonna be a mighty king
So enemies beware
I'm gonna be the main event
Like no king was before
I'm brushing up on looking down
I'm working on my roar Free to run around all day
Free to do it all my way Simba aspires to lead for all the wrong reasons. And Zazu understands this and tries to educate the cub on what leadership is really all about. Leadership Lesson: Being a leader comes with a significant responsibility to others. It's not about serving the ego - its about serving the people. If you aspire to leadership for purely selfish reasons, then you are likely to become a terrible leader. 3. Admit fault: After Mufasa is killed in the Wildabeest stampede in the gorge, Scar is able to easily manipulate Simba into self-exile. Simba escapes the hyenas and eventually is rescued by Pumbaa and Timon, but is crushed inside by the guilt he feels for his part in his father's ugly demise. Leadership Lesson: It takes an evolved leader to readily admit when you are wrong. But this type of honesty and vulnerability is exactly what is necessary to engender followership. Being fallable and human are the greatest leadership traits. Once a leader is comfortable expressing fault it creates a virtuous circle within the organization.. 4. Hakuna Matata: Timon and Pumbaa introduce Simba to a new philosphy on life which runs counter to Mufasa's circle of life lesson. They believe that worry is useless and so is responsibility. This idea is seductive to Simba who needs to release his self hatred and guilt. By removing worry from the equation, he begins to heal. Leadership Lesson: Proactive leaders understand the three circles of concern, influence, and control and are able to use them to focus themselves and their teams on what matters most. In this sense Hakuna Matata means don't spend time worrying about things you cannot control. Focus your time and energy where you can make the biggest impact. 5. Procrastination is a killer: Simba spends the bulk of the film trying to distance himself from the pain of his father's death while his kingdom is nearly destroyed by Scar's toxic leadership. It takes a strong reminder from Nala to bring him back to the pride and reclaim the seat his father left for him. Leadership Lesson: The watchout of the Hakuna Matata mindset is not to ignore issues that require your intervention. Leaders have to confront the brutal facts of their situations and then build solutions that act on root causes so they can improve their circumstances. Procrastination and endless deliberation do not get the job done. Leaders must inspire right action. I felt a strange emptiness while watching The Lion King, as if my childhood were being gutted. I connected much more strongly with the animated original although the technical effects are worth seeing. For this reason I give it 1 out of 5 stars. What other leadership lessons did you glean from the film? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a thumbs up and share with your network if you enjoyed and got anything out of it. Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Optimism is the Engine of High-Performance Team DNA

Note: This is part three of a 4 part series on the building blocks of high-performance team DNA: work-ethic, heart, optimism, and maturity “We always hope for the easy fix: the one simple change that will erase a problem in a stroke. But few things in life work this way. Instead, success requires making a hundred small steps go right - one after the other, no slipups, no goofs, everyone pitching in.”
― Atul Gawande, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance As a leader you are paid to guide people and organizations to the promised-land of high achievement. A big part of accelerating the journey will be your team's ability to anticipate and solve problems along the way. Experience is part of the answer but a bigger element is each individual's outlook toward barriers. Will they see impediments to progress with extreme pessimism and quit on the job or will they be resilient enough to break down the issue into it's component parts and then work diligently until resolution is achieved? I think you will agree that solution-oriented individuals are worth their weight in gold on teams. They are persistent. They are strategic and analytical. And they never lose hope. When a team is made up of optimistic people the pervasive feeling is one of dogged determination. These people love resolving problems and anticipating what might trip them up next. Success is regularly wrestled from the jaws of defeat because of teamwork and dogged persistence. Since problem solving is the basis of what we do together in business, why is it so difficult to compile a group of people who excel in this area? This attribute is actually the most wrongly assumed to be in place based on resume based interviews and the least quantified before hiring! Optimism relates to agility, flexibility, judgment, and resilience and is extremely difficult to suss out in a traditional interview. Optimistic people fail forward. They ask questions and are not satisfied with generic answers. They don't allow the stress of doing overwhelm them. Teams high in this aspect naturally diagnose, discuss, debate, and decide faster than teams low in this aspect. As a leader of such a team, your job is merely to encourage the dialogues that will result in the best solutions by generating more options before opting for a course of action.. What should you be listening for as a candidate details their approach and attitude toward problem solving? In my opinion, optimism is a combination of capacity (someone's ability to take on a lot without burning out), positivity (someone's ability to manage their attitude despite what's happening around them), and continuous improvement mindset (someone who uses failure to advance further). So therefore I have designed a questionnaire that specifically allows me to investigate these attributes. I ask each candidate four specific questions related to work-ethic and score each answer from 1-5. I'm looking for a total score of 15 or above in this category as an indicator of above-average work-ethic. Here are some of my favorite optimism questions (for the rest you can download the template in my new book Leader Board: The DNA of High Performance Teams): Tell me about a time when your manager came to you with a problem they wanted you to fix but you didn’t know how, or what to do. What are the biggest failures of your career so far? Describe a situation where you had to collaborate with a difficult colleague. Give an example where you helped a teammate achieve a goal where there was nothing in it for you. Solution-oriented people always keep their eyes on the goal and don't allow the process to get there to deter them. Believe me when I say you can't have enough of these people on your team! How would you rate the importance of sourcing for optimism attributes in your new hires? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this article please like and share with your networks. Stay tuned for part IV of this series: Maturity is the Insulatator of High-Performance Team DNA. Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Heart is the Glue of High-Performance Team DNA

Note: This is part two of a 4 part series on the building blocks of high-performance team DNA: work-ethic, heart, optimism, and maturity A recent Gallup study suggests that only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. Managers everywhere can help solve this problem -- and reap the benefits of higher employee engagement. In part one of this series on sourcing for high-performance team DNA, we discussed the importance of work-ethic as the foundational attribute of high performance teams and the challenges of sourcing this attribute via the traditional resume based interview screening. A team of people who work hard together, however, is only as good as the mission they are trying to achieve. And this is where heart comes into play. The mission is as or more important than the work that needs to be done. Individuals who bring passion to work are inspiring to work with. They tend to possess contagious energy and enthusiasm which transforms the environments in which they work. They know what's important to them and have high integrity. They look forward to the future while celebrating the successes of each day. Now imagine yourself as the leader of a team of energetic, enthusiastic, high integrity people. Once you get everyone on the same page in terms of aiming the group's shared passion at a given objective, what degree of success could you anticipate in terms of this group making progress towards achievement? But if you found work-ethic a bit intangible, identifying someone's degree of passion may seem nearly impossible. The good news is that could not be further from the truth! Heart is the nothing more than the combination of someone's values, motivators, outside interests, career goals, energizers, generosity, and courage. People who possess these attributes walk the talk and are natural leaders who bring that intangible quality of love to the workplace because they are actively energized by the journey toward achieving the mission. Teams high in this aspect enjoy not only the process but each other and are more likely to appreciate the differences of each individual on the team and work to harness those differences into powerful partnerships. When you have a team of people who possess high heart your job transforms into supporting each individuals manifestation of their passion instead of merely managing them. What should you be listening for as a candidate details their unique motivators, values, and goals? In my opinion, heart is a combination of an internal compass (why someone prefers certain environments and what they aim to accomplish), curiosity (someone's constant willingness to learn and explore the world around them), and grit (why someone persists to achievement despite the obstacles in their way). So therefore I have designed a questionnaire that specifically allows me to investigate these attributes. I ask each candidate four specific questions related to work-ethic and score each answer from 1-5. I'm looking for a total score of 15 or above in this category as an indicator of above-average work-ethic. Here are some of my favorite heart questions (for the rest you can download the template in my new book Leader Board: The DNA of High Performance Teams): What are your reasons for doing your best every day? What's one thing you're really proud of and why? How have you helped others outside of work? What's the most fun you've ever had at work? Enfusing your team with passionate people will significantly enhance team engagement toward the mission at hand. When times get tough as they inevitably will, high heart teams are enoculated against the deadly disease of give-up-itis! How would you rate the importance of sourcing for heart attributes in your new hires? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this article please like and share with your networks. Stay tuned for part III of this series: Optimism is the Engine of High-Performance Team DNA. Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Work-Ethic is the Foundation of High-Performance Team DNA

Note: This is part one of a 4 part series on the building blocks of high-performance team DNA: work-ethic, heart, optimism, and maturity According to Hubstaff.com, disengaged employees drag a company down. But engaged employees show up more often, stay longer, and are more productive overall. Currently, though, only about 34% of the U.S. workforce feels engaged. The costs of ignoring lagging employee productivity and the underlying unhealthy company culture are steep, as the newest study suggests. Disengaged employees have higher rates of absenteeism and turnover, which can drag down profits. And it’s not just individual companies that suffer. Actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. $483 to $605 billion each year in lost productivity. Let's imagine you are a manager who is building a new team from scratch. You have much to consider in terms of the attributes that will give you the best chance at success. You've got to consider candidate education, experience, track-record, references, and more. Luckily there is a process to interrogate these aspects in the form of the resume-based interview. Now let's imagine you've hired the most educated, experienced, and apparently successful candidate based on their resume. But this person consistently does not deliver what is expected with the level of quality or agility you would expect. What about a team of individuals with this profile. Are you going to achieve your objectives? Unlikely. And this is why sourcing candidates with the right work-ethic is almost as or more important than their level of experience and/or positive references. Work-ethic is the combination of important attributes such as reliability, dedication, productivity, cooperation, and self-discipline. People who possess these attributes walk in the door empowered because they don't require close oversight to do what is necessary to deliver high quality work on schedule. When you have a team of people who possess high work-ethic the only question is what you need them to execute and by when. Is it possible to understand these attributes before you hire someone? Unfortunately not if you don't change your approach to hiring. The resume based interview doesn't create the openings into how someone achieved their successes. Resume interviews are built around the what of success. If you want to dig deeper, I recommend enhancing the resume screening by including specific inquiries into a candidates work-ethic. What should you be listening for as a candidate details how they get things done? In my opinion, hard work is a combination of high performance habits (how someone organizes their work and stays focused on important and urgent tasks), diligence (how someone ensures they are delivering the highest quality work), and a right first time mentality (how someone avoids extensive rework by ensuring expectation alignment before they get down to business). So therefore I have designed a questionnaire that specifically allows me to investigate these attributes. I ask each candidate four specific questions related to work-ethic and score each answer from 1-5. I'm looking for a total score of 15 or above in this category as an indicator of above-average work-ethic. Here are some of my favorite work-ethic questions (for the rest you can download the template in my new book Leader Board: The DNA of High Performance Teams): How do you judge a successful day? Tell me about a time when you overcame a significant challenge to finish a project on schedule. When you are overwhelmed with tasks and projects, how do you get it all done? Give an example. Describe a situation when you had to work as a member of a team to complete a task. The fastest way to transform your team DNA and dynamic is to begin sourcing for work-ethic in every one you hire. You will see an immediate uplift in productivity! How would you rate the importance of sourcing for work-ethic attributes in addition to experience? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this article please like and share with your networks. Stay tuned for part II of this series: Heart is the Glue of High-Performance Team DNA. Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Level 5 Leadership Lessons from NBA MVP Kawhi Leonard

The Toronto Rapters are NBA Champions. Say it with me, the perennial Eastern Conference pretender to the throne are now sitting on top of the basketball universe. And there is one big reason why: Kawhi Anthony Leonard. I'm seeing a very interesting trend in the best basketball players of this generation - they are fabulous leaders in their own ways. Lebron James has become the model of showing the way and going the way. Stephen Curry's powerful humility paved the way for Golden State to seamlessly integrate Kevin Durant into their organization. And now, we have a most unprobable superstar in Kawhi Leonard - who is probably the least vain and most focused basketball player I've ever seen.In Good to Great, by Jim Collins, Level 5 Leadership was a key differentiator of the best performing companies. It is defined by Collins as the somewhat paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will that leads to enduring organizational greatness. Level 5 leaders, therefore, create an organizational destiny that is far bigger than their own need to be recognized. To know what it is it can be helpful to know what it is not. Steve Jobs for all his brilliance, is not a level 5 leader - you still can't talk about Apple without talking about the founder. Can you imagine Tesla being successful without Elon Musk at the helm? General Electric however, has had enduring success since it's most well known chief executive Jack Welch retired.Kawhi Leonard is a walking paradox of modern superstardom. Here are 5 level 5 leadership lessons from the champion:It's not about the shoes: Michael Jordan defined the superstar athlete archetype for a generation and what he wore became an extension of that success that everyone wanted a tiny piece of. Kawhi Leonard is the exact opposite. To the point that he chose a shoe company, New Balance, that until endorsing him had never produced a basketball shoe. New Balance wants to be associated with winning just as much as Nike, but they understand that the example Kawhi sets on and off the court resonates perfectly with the unassuming brand that invented the "dad shoe". Stay above the fray: During the 2017-18 season, where Kawhi played only 9 games due to injury, everyone from his San Antonio Spur teammates and coaches to the talking head media painted a picture of a difficult, stubborn, and selfish player who put his own health over coming back to his team. At no point has Kawhi defended himself or given a public justification. He has simply focused on his rehab, moved to a new city and a new team, integrated with the team, and led them to an NBA championship - all without engaging in the negativity people wanted to embroil him in.Focus on what you control: Linked to the lesson above, Leonard is a walking example of a leader who acts on his circle of control - meaning his attitude, where he invests his energy, and what he concerns himself with on a daily basis. He has always maintained that his sole focus is to become the best version of himself on the basketball court and that's really all we see him doing. In this age of the do-everything superstar, it's radically refreshing to see someone who loves their job so much that they put everything into it.Lead from the front: With greatness comes the responsibility to set the bar for your teammates and organization in terms of habits, expectations, and norms. Kawhi is the best player on the court for sure but he also works so much harder on both ends of the court than any superstar I've ever seen. This is linked to his unique strengths as a basketball player, sure, but it has a synergistic effect on everything the Raptors do. Lack of effort on both ends is unacceptable because Kawhi does it. Creating controversy off the court is unacceptable because Kawhi doesn't do it. Always believing you can win is the standard in Toronto because Kawhi has brought that to the table. Long after Kawhi is gone from this team, his enduring example, habits, and principles will live on and continue to positively influence.Quiet does not mean meek: Kawhi Leonard is famously reserved and steely in his resolve. He allows his game to speak for him. He does not carry his emotions on his sleeve. He just relentlessly comes at you both on the offensive and defensive end - in his words, "Stop you from getting buckets and give you buckets on the other end." And these attributes lead opponents to underestimate and misunerstand him. How do you think Joel Embid, Giannis Antetekoumpo, and Stephen Curry are defining Kawhi now after he has run roughshod over them during these playoffs all without cracking a smile and rarely expressing emotion? There is only one definition: NBA Champion and 2X Finals MVP. What other leadership lessons do you take away from Kawhi Leonard? Let's discuss in the comments. If you liked this article, please give it a like/share with your network!Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

The Four C's of Recruitment

I get asked frequently why I joined Allergan PLC last year. The answer is quite straightforward and very much aligns with the topic of this article. When speaking with the company's commercial and HR leaders I felt a kinship and immediate chemistry. It seemed as if the culture of Allergan was highly compatible with the way I like to work. I was at the end of my GM contract with GSK in Indonesia and so the timing and circumstances were aligning for me to be open to something different. And when I found out the opportunity would be in Brazil, a market that has been very important over the course of my career, it made choosing Allergan very easy.I extrapolated these four C's after reading a book by a dear friend, author, Florida A&M alumnus, and successful marketing consultant Bianca Blake. In her book - The 4 C's of Relationships, Bianca describes the linear process and pillars of forming an effective romantic relationship as requiring chemistry, compatibility, circumstance, and choice. Chemistry relates to that initial spark of interest and curiosity between two strangers. Compatibility goes deeper to deal with shared values, interests, and goals. Circumstance is about proximity, availability, and openness. And choice revolves around commitment, resilience, and the strength of the bonds between the couple. I believe these same four C's strongly relate to attracting key talents into an organization. The reason why we conduct HR screenings is to detect the degree of rightness for the position, internal team, and the organization (chemistry). When you assess organizational fit you are really trying to understand whether your values, interests, and goals are aligned with the candidate (compatibility). When external recruiters initially contact a potential candidate they look to ascertain the moment of the candidate and openness to change organizations (circumstance). The reason why asking questions related to a candidates' time in role, gaps in experience, and how they have handled adversity, are so important are because they allow you to understand the person's attitude, resilience, solution-orientation, and sense of commitment (choice).Therefore it is important to design a recruitment experience where these four C's can be fully explored prior to making a mutual commitment to develop a productive working relationship and grow together. Working chemistry between a candidate and their future boss and team members is crucial to success. Recruiting is not a popularity contest but if people genuinely don't like each other you are setting the organization up for trouble. If the organization values doing the right things right and the candidate values achieving results at any cost (even if it requires bending the rules), then long-term compatibility is impossible and this person's impact could be tremendously detrimental to the organization. If a person joins your organization due to great perks and financial benefits but maintains one leg back in their old company and/or old way of doing things, then the change of circumstances is unlikely to yield the desired results. And when a candidate doesn't possess the resilience or commitment necessary to complete performance cycles or effectively handle the inevitable learning curve and disappointments that come with making a change, then it will be obvious that the wrong choice was made.What do you think of these four C's of recruitment? Are they applicable and relevant to overcoming the challenges you face in bringing in and keeping key talents into your teams and organizations? What has been your experience when chemistry, compatibility, circumstances, and choice have not aligned between yourself and a company? Let us know in the comments!Please give this article a share and a like if you found it to be valuable.Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Enter the Leader Board giveaway!

In anticipation of the ebook launch of Leader Board on June 25, I'm giving away 100 digital copies via goodreads! Click the link above to enter. And if you win, don't forget to read and review the book! (Only US residents are currently eligible for this promotion - I'll be running a global one soon!)Much appreciated,Omar

Leadership Lessons from Avengers: Endgame

Please note: this article contains spoilers.Eleven years, twenty-two movies, forty-eight hours of run-time, and countless franchises later - the culminating event of this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is finally here! Avengers: Endgame is the massive sequel to last years heart-wrenching Infinity War in which many heroes lost their lives due to Thanos' single minded pursuit of the six infinity stones in order to eliminate half the universe with a snap of his fingers. After racking up over a billion dollars in record time, everyone is left wondering what the future holds for the MCU. If the past is any indicator, Marvel is just getting started!The synopsis of the film goes: After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe. The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios' grand conclusion to twenty-two films, Avengers: Endgame.This movie is true fan service to everyone who has invested significant time and emotions in these heroes' journeys over the past eleven years since Iron Man debuted. The film has to not only try to undo the cataclysmic events of Infinity War but it also has to appropriately send off beloved characters while setting up compelling adventures for the future. Viewed through the unique perspective of leadership, however, Avengers: Endgame is about recovering from ultimate defeat. This movie is also very much about the role hope plays in keeping a team moving forward when it appears all is lost. This quote by Martin Luther King Jr. sums up this sentiment perfectly:We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. With this thought in mind, allow me to present ten key leadership lessons gleaned from this dazzling film.Disappointment destroys: The Tony Stark who makes it back to Earth (with Captain Marvel's help) is bitter, disappointed, beaten, and completely selfish. He reopens barely closed wounds between himself and Steve Rogers (Captain America) in a scathing indictment of the Avengers, their purpose, and their ultimate failure. Then he leaves the team devoid of his unique brand of leadership. After the remaining Avengers still kill Thanos even though they can't undo the damage he's inflicted, the team splinters apart for the next five years. Leadership Lesson: A difficult fact is that disappointment within a team is all but inevitable. As a leader it is important to closely monitor the mood within your team and the impact of loss and disappointment on the interpersonal dynamics. When teammates fail each other or lose trust it can be almost impossible to pull the group back together. Your job as a leader is to teach your team how to overcome disappointment productively without allowing for this slow, insidious poison to infect and ultimately destroy your team culture.Failure is not fatal: After chopping off Thanos' head with Stormbreaker, Thor rebuilds Asgard on Earth and retreats to an existence where he drinks to insulate himself from his myriad failures - including allowing Thanos to kill half the universe because he "didn't go for the head" the first time. The once formidable God of Thunder is reduced to a shell of himself before getting some much needed advice from his mother when he and Rocket travel to the past to retrieve the Reality Stone. Over the rest of the film, Thor slowly rounds back into form in time for the final showdown. Leadership Lesson: Recovering from a crushing defeat is extremely difficult. Still, the worst thing a leader can do is withdraw from his/her responsibilities and people. A servant leader knows that whether or not the overarching objective is achieved, the people still require guidance, support, and to believe that a turnaround in fortunes is possible. It is the leader's job to get up off the floor first and then pick up everyone else to march forward together once again!Self-acceptance is vital: Bruce Banner knows all about recovering from crushing failure as his arc in Infinity War was one of the most frustrating due to his inability to unleash the beast within and contribute to the fight in a more meaningful way. Five years after the decimation, however, he has learned how to fuse his various strengths into the delightful Professor Hulk character. The same goes for Tony Stark who has to be reminded of his importance and who he is to the Avengers by his daughter and wife who enable him to get back to work and save the universe one last time. Leadership Lesson: Conducting a personal inventory can be the best first step after failing. Understanding that not achieving a goal does not have to define you forever is a crucial step in the recovery process. Leaders have an important role in reminding first themselves and then the rest of their teams who they are, what they have accomplished, what they are capable of, and how they can progress. Looking inside first is the key.Understand your context: Scott Lang (Ant Man) is trapped in the quantum realm for five years and is only released on a fluke. Upon escaping, he searches for clues as to what transpired and also seeks to deepen his understanding of what he experienced in the quantum realm. Excavating these answers ultimately leads to the time travel solution at the center of the film's second act. Leadership Lesson: One of the best ways to avoid failure in the future is to mine the past for answers as to what can work. Taking the time to ensure this context is understood is a key function of the leader. Acting fast is the key to competitive advantage, but ignoring context can be fatal. Widen your scope, contemplate previous learnings, and you give yourself the best chance to make good decisions in the present.Step up: Every time we see Captain Marvel in Endgame she is doing something heroic and amazing with her powers. From saving Tony's life, to putting Thanos in a sleeper hold allowing for his gauntlet to be chopped off his hand, to destroying Thanos' ship, to getting the new gauntlet to where it needs to go, she is constantly stepping up and making a huge difference. Leadership Lesson: Part of great leadership is allowing your people to develop by making and learning from their own mistakes, but there are crucial moments when you as the leader must leverage your entire capability set to not only show the way but go the way and make things happen because the situation requires this of you. The key is to know when and how to step up in this way without disabling the progress and development of your people.Success requires sacrifice: One of the primary reasons that Thanos defeats the Avengers in Infinity War is because he is willing to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve his ultimate goal. In Endgame, most of the key Avengers make some sort of sacrifice in order for the team to win this time. Bruce Banner sacrifices a part of his humanity to become the more evolved Professor Hulk; Tony Stark sacrifices his calm, peaceful family life in order to lead the Avengers back into time; The Ancient One sacrifices her timeline's security by giving the Time Stone to the Hulk; Clint Barton sacrifices his need for vengeance to rejoin the Avengers; Natasha Romanoff sacrifices her own life so that Clint can achieve the Soul Stone; many team members sacrifice their own safety to get the Infinity Gauntlet to the "Ant Van"; Tony sacrifices his life to destroy Thanos once and for all; and Captain America sacrifices his life in the future in order to deliver the Infinity Stones back to their respective places in the timeline. Leadership Lesson: A key component of high-performance teams is that the goal is more important than any individual accolades. With this mindset embedded in your team, people will willingly make the necessary sacrifices and do the dirty work so that the team wins - whether this means working longer hours when required or helping out a teammate who is struggling with delivering on a deadline, these myriad sacrifices all add up to enhanced achievement.Include everyone: In the final battle against Thanos, Doctor Strange ensures the Avengers bring their full force to the fight by including everyone who has ever fought for good over the past eleven years of the MCU. One amazing moment in the movie is when all of the incredible female Avengers are assembled as one group at a crucial interval in the skirmish. Leadership Lesson: Participative decision making in which everyone is involved in the decision-making process may seem to slow down momentum, but in actuality - more inputs often lead to higher quality decisions. Especially viewpoints from the people closest to the front line of the enterprise. Including these perspectives will both empower your people and sharpen the impact of decisions.Take your shot: The time heist is a huge gamble with a high likelihood of failure but all the data suggests this is the only chance the Avengers will get to undo the decimation. Because everyone is finally on the same page, aligned on the mission, engaged, and prepared to sacrifice for each other, the Avengers wrestle success from the jaws of defeat. Leadership Lesson: There are moments when you just have to go for it even when the likelihood of success is slim to none. When there are few options it is still better to move forward than to do nothing. Successful leaders understand this and are able to influence their people to make such tough calls and find ways to win even in the most dire of circumstances.Learn to let go: Steve Rogers arc in the movie is all about him learning that it is finally okay to leave the fight and turn over his shield to someone else. He mentions to Romanoff at the beginning of the film that although he is encouraging others to move on from the decimation, he just can't. His ability to finally choose a different destiny for himself by the end of the movie provides for a gratifying coda for the beloved character. Leadership Lesson: Being relentless, focused, and dedicated are great traits to possess as a leader. But there are moments where no amount of tenaciousness will change the outcome. It takes a self-aware leader to know the difference and change course as required when persistence will yield no greater result.True success is succession: Marvel and the Avengers know that there will always be another big bad out there and another battle to fight. Which is why they have continuously introduced new characters who can take up the mantle of The Avengers and refresh the team so that Earth (and the universe) is always protected. By the culmination of Endgame at Tony's funeral, it is amazing to see everyone who is left to continue on his legacy. Leadership Lesson: As a leader you must think beyond today's objectives and build bench strength by constantly developing the talent base within your team and organization. Invest your time in cultivating the next generation of leaders and this will lead to long term sustainable success. You will be remembered not only by the achievements you garner but by the legacy you leave behind in terms of enabled, capable people ready for the next challenges!Overall, Avengers: Endgame truly wrapped up this phase of the MCU in an exciting, emotional, and cathartic finale while opening the door for the next chapters in the story. I can't wait for what's next! (4.5 out of 5 stars).What other leadership lessons did you glean from the film? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a thumbs up and share with your network if you enjoyed and got anything out of it.Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram,twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Why I wrote a Leadership book

If you’re like me, you’ve been on your fair share of teams with terrible managers. Hopefully, you’ve also experienced good teams as well. But I’m guessing that only a few teams have truly been great. Why? Teams are a fundamental way that we get things done so why is the experience of being on or leading a team so frustrating for so many?I started to analyze this question first by examining what’s worked well on my best teams and what hasn’t on my worst. Then I went to the literature to correlate the patterns. What I’ve come to understand is that the ingredients are almost the same but in opposite proportion. Great teams that I’ve been on have had a seemingly perfect mix of talent, alignment, and direction. Bad teams, conversely, have lacked understanding of how to productively apply the existing talent, have lacked alignment, and have had no clear direction.The unifying factor in both types of teams is the team leader. A great team leader has the uncanny ability to unlock each individual’s talents and align this collective talent at challenging (but attainable) objectives. So I next turned my attention to studying leaders to define what the best leaders do well and what others can learn from their example. I examined the bad, good, and great leaders I’d personally experienced and then compared their attributes to what my leadership gurus such as John C. Maxwell, Stephen R. Covey, Donald O. Clifton, Jim Collins, James C. Hunter, Patrick Lencioni, and Simon Sinek had to say on the subject,I also learned from my own personal experience participating on bad, good, and great teams and then leading teams successfully in different cultural and business contexts. No matter where in the world I’ve worked, or in which business context - whether corporate or entrepreneurial, these team leadership principles (talent + alignment + direction) have held up. Still, it wasn’t until I became an enterprise leader (leading leaders of team leaders) that I felt the keen need for a systematic way to elevate the team leadership capabilities of all levels of leaders.That’s why this book exists. I want leaders at all levels of organizations to aspire to facilitate great teams by unlocking their people’s talents, keeping everyone aligned, and setting direction that inspires great performance. Each of you reading this right now comes with your own natural leadership talents so your journey starts by elevating your skills, increasing your understanding of your strengths, and improving your ability to articulate vision and create winning processes. But first, you have to believe as I do that making these efforts is critical for today’s leaders.I also wrote this book as an homage to the great leaders for whom I’ve been fortunate enough to work. They form the composite of the story’s protagonist, Sam “Coach” Lombardi who has to leverage a lifetime’s worth of learning and experience to achieve a signature career objective. I wanted to thank my great leaders and also tip my cap to all the leaders out there who leverage their passion for people into tremendous performance. These are the ghosts I’m forever chasing and I hope you will join me in this race to dramatically improve the state of teams and employee engagement by investing in this quick, but impactful, read.Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of the upcoming leadership book, Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams being published by TPC Books in June 2019. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or his LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

Leadership Lessons from Shazam!

Please note: this article contains spoilers.After the surprising success of the Aquaman standalone movie, DC studios is at it again with an even lesser known hero - Shazam! Shazam is unique in the DCEU as it feels like a mash-up of the 80's classic Big with the feel good optimism of the Christopher Reeves Superman films. This is because the titular hero is actually a 14 year old boy who morphs into the super-powered Shazam simply by saying the word.The synopsis of the film goes: We all have a superhero inside of us -- it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In 14-year-old foster-kid Billy Batson's case, all he needs to do is shout out one word to transform into the adult superhero Shazam. Still a kid at heart, Shazam revels in the new version of himself by doing what any other teen would do -- have fun while testing out his newfound powers. But he'll need to master them quickly before the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana can get his hands on Shazam's magical abilities.This unconventional superhero origin story is fairly entertaining throughout even though the stakes are ultimately quite low. The jarring part is that it seems as if the actors playing both sides of Billy Batson are on opposite extremes with the younger version quite brooding and serious and the older version much more playful and fun all of a sudden. The film is about growing into one's power but it also has a strong message about finding your place in the world. As Marianne Willamson once said:“Ego says 'Once everything falls into place I will feel peace.' Spirit says, 'Once I feel peace everything will fall into place.'” With this thought in mind, allow me to present five leadership lessons gleaned from this relatively light-hearted feature.Negativity has a long shelf-life: When Billy's nemesis Thaddeus Sivana is just a boy he dreams of achieving magical powers. Unfortunately he is discouraged at every turn from his father and older brother to the old Wizard Shazam himself. He takes this negativity to heart and vows his revenge which he exacts with extreme cruelty on those who have hurt him. Leadership Lesson:As a leader and someone whom people look up to you must give precise, honest performance feedback but you also have to pick people up and show them the way to achieve their goals when they are off track. This is how a leader serves and supports her team. A negative word or sentiment from you at the wrong time can have extremely destructive impact on your people.Discover your strengths: After being chosen by Shazam to be the champion and revealing his upgraded self to his foster brother, Freddy, Billy begins a hilarious montage as he learns his true powers. Along the way Freddy notes where he appears to be special and where he is not. Leadership Lesson:The greatest gift you can give to yourself and to your team and organization is the belief that each individual has a unique and valuable way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that can be productively applied to conquer challenges and achieve goals. It's the people manager's job to discover and maximize these unique qualities in your people and help develop them into truly strong and capable individuals and team members.Will over skill: In a key scene, Billy finds his long-lost mother only to learn that she gave up on raising him due to her lack of belief in her abilities to effectively do so. Leadership Lesson: Leaders (like parents) don't have the luxury of quitting or giving up. Too many people depend on your ability to know, show, and go the way. That's why true leaders constantly test and strengthen their will and block out the negative noise that says they can't accomplish something.Find your tribe: Billy spends most of the movie in his teenage form shutting himself off from those who would love him in favor of a mother who left him to fend in the world all alone. But ultimately he learns that he has a new family who has his back and are willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with him to rebuke evil. Leadership Lesson: When a leader's strengths, mission, and purpose align with her team's then watch out! Culture is more powerful at driving results than simply putting a group of talented people in a room and asking them to solve problems. Empower others: In the film's climax, Billy passes on his powers to his 5 foster brothers and sisters for the final battle with the Deadly Sins. Together they banish the monsters back to their prisons in the Rock of Eternity Temple. Leadership Lesson: Leadership only exists as a discipline because it takes more than strong-willed individuals to achieve goals. It takes a team of capable people who know what they are good at and how to complement one another to deliver breakthrough results time after time. This is one of the most important roles a leader must embrace - that of talent scout and team builder who allows her people to flourish and demonstrate their abilities on a regular basis.As a super hero movie I found the tone of Shazam to be a bit too all over the place but it wasn't the worst flick I've sat through! It will be interesting to see how Shazam integrates with the soon to be rebooted Justice League but this standalone feature gets only 2.5 out of 5 stars from me. What other leadership lessons did you glean from the film? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a thumbs up and share with your network if you enjoyed and got anything out of it.Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of the upcoming leadership book, Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams being published by TPC Books in June 2019. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or Linkedin for more information and engagement.