Omar L. Harris's Blog, page 9

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.

Leadership Lessons from Captain Marvel

Please note: this article contains spoilers.Just in time for International Women's Day, Marvel studios FINALLY released their first female-led superhero film, Captain Marvel. In addition to carrying that burden, Captain Marvel also had to satisfy all the fans hungry for any shred of information related to how the Avengers will defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame next month. Quite a heavy load to carry, but Carol Danvers is more than up to the task!The synopsis of the film goes: Captain Marvel is an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps having recurring memories of another life as U.S. Air Force pilot Carol Danvers. With help from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel tries to uncover the secrets of her past while harnessing her special superpowers to end the war with the Skrulls.This nonlinear origin story is a bit jumbled in the beginning but really finds its stride in the final act. The film is about knowledge of self but it also contains powerful themes related to self-mastery and awakening. Or as Lalah Delia puts it:“She remembered who she was and the game changed.” With this thought in mind, allow me to present five leadership lessons gleaned from this entertaining feature.Falling is Not Failure: When we first meet Vers (Captain Marvel), she is suffering from nightmarish memories about her past. She goes to her mentor and commanding officer Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) to work out her frustration through fighting. Although clearly more powerful than her leader, he bests her again and again while admonishing her to keep her emotions under control. Falling and failure recur again and again in her story. Leadership Lesson: You've heard the old adage, fall down seven times, get up eight. This is the DNA required of a leader. Resilience, intense spirit, and an undying belief that you will ultimately prevail are qualities that inspire people to follow you.Be Proactive: After crash landing on planet C-53 (Earth), Captain Marvel asserts her confident, cocky brand of leadership time and time again. She is resourceful enough to repair her communicator device, escape capture, and even gain the confidence of a young (and two-eyed) Nick Fury. She steps up time and time again in the film even though on the inside she is wracked with insecurity about her identity and place in the universe. Whether using her powers or not, her proactivity in the face of challenges drives the film to its exciting conclusion. Leadership Lesson: Stephen Covey writes that there are two types of people in the world, proactive and reactive. Proactive people take control of the situation, get things done, and don't allow worry and doubt to cripple their ability to perform. Reactive people live in a constant state of worry and anxiety over things they mostly have no control over. The most successful leaders are almost maniacally proactive - they are solution-minded individuals who overcome almost every obstacle in their way.Make Your Case: In a key scene, Talos, the leader of the Skrulls, makes an impassioned plea to Captain Marvel to help him in his cause. And despite the fact that his kind have been the enemy for the past six years, he is able to convince not only Carol Danvers, but her best friend Maria, Nick Fury, and a cat named Goose to align with him and fight side by side. Leadership Lesson: Leaders need to be able to convince others using facts, data, passion, and guts. Because no one accomplished great feats alone, the role of the leader is to align a group of people to a common interest and then motivate them until the goals are achieved.Stand For Something: Carol Danver's true mentor Mar-Vell (Annette Bening) believes it is her life's work to free the Skrulls from the tyranny of her own people. She abandons her planet and goes to a place where she can put her positive intentions to work. Although she doesn't achieve her ultimate goal, she recruits two passionate acolytes in Carol and Maria who will carry on her legacy. Leadership Lesson: The values of a leader permeate the entire organization. What matters to you will ultimately matter to your people so it is essential that you know who you are and what you believe in. A strong moral compass is magnetic and will attract like-minded individuals to your cause.No One Can Tell You Who You Are: In the film's climax, Carol Danvers finally owns her identity and personal power and in this moment becomes virtually indestructible. She is a one woman army! The cute cat Goose (who steals the movie) keeps being treated like a cat when in actually it is a dangerous Flerkin who is instrumental in saving the day and safe guarding the Tesseract from the Kree. Leadership Lesson: Every leader has a brand that precedes them. This brand is a combination of your experiences, beliefs, motivations, and strengths. The sooner you understand yourself, the sooner you will attract followers who will work along side you and deliver positive impact on the world.Overall, Captain Marvel is one of the weaker Marvel origin stories but is entertaining enough in its own regard. I look forward to seeing Captain Marvel unburdened from back story and simply being her exceptional self in the future! I give it 2.5 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 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.

The Success Formula

There are no shortcuts to success. This phrase has been repeated so many times it has become mantra to many of us looking to achieve our goals and realize our dreams. Yet and still, most people are looking for ways to accelerate the journey from here to there and hoping for some silver bullet to make it happen overnight. Fortunately, in this article we will discuss a sure-fire way to hack the climb to achievement - The Success Formula!This formula is best expressed as (D x D)^O = SThe first "D" in the equation stands for "Delivery". If you want to speed up on the path to success, you must become known and branded as someone who delivers on their commitments. The first key component of delivery is dedication. You must be possessed by an overwhelming drive to fully finish whatever you start. The very act of becoming a finisher will transform your reputation in and of itself. But there is a second key component to delivery which is decisiveness. This is because you have to choose where, when, and how to act upon the variables in your way. If you successfully deliver a package to the wrong address you have ultimately failed, right? And how do you become more decisive? You must master the art of transforming inputs into right actions.To bring the concept of delivery to life, imagine that your goal is to lose weight. Right off the bat you know that this is going to require significant dedication to transforming the way you eat and your exercise regimen. But you still need to decide how you will achieve your goal. Is it by reducing calorie intake, starting some special diet, signing up for a gym membership, hiring a nutritionist, working with a personal trainer, or some combination of all the above? Deciding this will require you to advance your understanding of your metabolism, dietary preferences, stress triggers, and personal habits. With these inputs understood, you can then decide on the right course of action for you. Then by fully dedicating yourself to the right path for you can you achieve the results you require faster than the average individual.Now let's move to the second "D" in the formula which stands for "Development". Being known as someone who gets things done will only get you part of the way to accelerating to your end objectives. You also must be willing and able to learn along the way. And to learn you must fail. This is why disappointment is the key component of development. Early success is the worst teacher because it creates a false sense of security. You also may never fail because you are not challenging and stretching yourself enough. Sort of like a baseball batter who only swings at his favorite pitch - you will find yourself striking out more often than not because you are unwilling to learn and be uncomfortable. The other key component of development is the desire to grow - an inner belief that there is far more to be learned than is currently known which drives you to seek out the information, experts, experiences, mentors, and coaches that can help you on your journey. As you fail, grow, and learn, you earn valuable perspective that increases your decisiveness which in turn improves your ability not only to deliver but over deliver on objectives.Let's return to the weight loss example for a moment to bring this concept home. As you age, your body will change. You will need to constantly adapt and learn new ways to stay ahead of your shifting nutritional and physical needs in order to either maintain your desired weight or enhance your physical condition. This will likely come as a result of trial and error - understanding which regimens work best and worst for you. The more information and experience you accumulate focusing on your body will likely lead you to be far more adept than others at successfully having the form that you wish for because you have developed your weight management toolkit as you have delivered the requisite workouts, applied new technologies and techniques, and maintained the dietary restrictions necessary over time to be in such shape.The final piece of our equation is the power of "O" or Opportunity. To deliver and develop, one must have an opportunity to due so. Opportunities are typically manifested, however, by one's ability to deliver and develop over time so there is an extremely tight link between these three variables. Some opportunities may be given without ever having demonstrated the two D's but this is not the usual case. Most people get to go to primary school but not everyone capitalizes on this opportunity by working hard enough and studying long enough to become valedictorian. Typically, opportunities are created by some observation of a unique skill or attribute the person possesses and has demonstrated that increases the probability of them being in a position to showcase that skill or attribute with greater frequency. Some times the attribute in question may be their network or connections - both of which are things that can be developed over time if one maximizes opportunities to seize these moments and demonstrate your capacity for delivery and development.Time is the greatest squandered opportunity of all - because very few people take advantage of the time they have to efficiently deliver on their goals and constantly develop themselves.If you have had trouble succeeding in the past, examine your approach to delivery and development. You may be a very hard worker but not someone who thinks about the best way to approach your work which ultimately may be slowing you down. Or you may be a master of repetitive tasks who fails to innovate and stay ahead of the curve and ends up being overshadowed by someone who has delivered theoretically less than you but has far more accumulated experience due to their ability to develop faster. If you feel you have been given less opportunities than others to shine, once again return to the formula and honestly compare your delivery and development to others in the same time periods.In this way, these two D's hold the intrinsic key to long-term sustainable and repeatable achievement by manifesting more O's.Delivery times Development to the power of Opportunity is therefore a simple formula that can be applied to help you achieve success. It seems like an obvious insight, but apply it to the most successful people you look up to and you will see these three components shining through. Every successful individual knows that they must be able to get things done in the right way while remaining unafraid of failure and maximizing their opportunities. They are the mavericks and risk-takers that apply their internal compasses to manifest out of sheer will (and accumulated knowledge) results that most people deem impossible. And they do this by focusing on both D's simultaneously which is the hardest trick to master.What do you think of this success formula? In what ways have you focused on mastering your ability to deliver and develop yourself within the opportunities you have been given? Let us know in the comments below and please give this article a like and/or share to your networks if you found it to be useful.Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLCin 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 linkedin, instagram, and/or twitterfor more information and engagement.

High-Performance Doesn't Happen Overnight (nor is it guaranteed)!

Think with me about the best experience you've ever had working together with a group of people to achieve a shared goal. How was the journey to those peak moments of success? Hardly smooth, right? And why is that? Why is it so hard for a group of people to get on the same page in order to make something special happen?In his 1965 seminal article on group formation, Developmental Sequence in Small Groups, educational psychologist Bruce Tuckman proposed that small groups of up to 30 individuals will naturally proceed through a sequence he termed Tuckman's stages of group development - also colloquially known as Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. He identified the characteristics of groups in each stage and also what attributes would lead a group to progress to the next stage in the sequence, or potentially regress. What he didn't propose as this was a study of behavioral psychology was the role of the leader in influencing this process.Before we get to that, however - let's refresh ourselves on the defining characteristics of the first four stages - forming to performing.Forming: Groups in this stage are highly task-oriented and manifest behaviors such as lack of clarity with roles, responsibilities, and hierarchy; low process adherence; testing system limits; and disagreeing on team aims.Storming: Once emotions in relation to the pressures of the task begin to boil over, the stage of storming begins. This stage is characterized by low commitment to decisions, power struggles among team members, forming of smaller cliques of like-minded group members, and continued lack of certainty as to the proper ways of working of the team.Norming: Once emotions calm down, interpersonal conflicts ultimately give way to some semblance of order and out of this order, certain norms emerge. Agreement and consensus become easier to achieve among the team. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement and smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within the group. Commitment and unity is strong as the team regularly engages in fun and social activities. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style and demonstrates the ability to express criticism constructively.Performing: Unfortunately, norming is not enough to deliver sustainable, repeatable performance. High performance happens when solid norms evolve into effective synergy. Performing teams are therefore more strategically aware and know clearly what they are doing, and why. They possess a shared vision and values, and can stand on their own feet with no interference or participation from the leader. They focus on overachieving versus their goals. They have insights into personal and group processes, and a better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Performing teams can resolve disagreements positively and make necessary changes to process and structure. Performing team members look out for each other. So let's return back to the role of the leader in navigating through this process. It is my strong belief that it is not only possible for a leader to influence and accelerate this process but it's also essential! It all starts with leaders recognizing that this is a natural process that happens with the majority of groups, recognizing the symptoms of each stage, and taking targeted prevention or interventions to move the group between stages.I'm so passionate about this subject that I dedicated my first leadership book Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams to the topic. The book is launching mid-year, but in the intervening months, we will begin to discuss here the best tools I've discovered to assist in moving groups from forming to performing. It's my sincere hope that if you are in a leadership capacity, these tools and resources will get you to your goals much faster than every before leading to more productive and engaged teams. And if you are on a team that is not yet high-performing, you can diagnose the source of the issue and work with your leader to improve the dynamic.What do you think about the stages of group formation? Have you observed or participated in teams in these stages? What stage is your current team in and what are you doing to move things forward? Let us know in the comments below. If you liked this article, please give it a like or a share with your network!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 website for more information and engagement.

Leadership Lessons from Aquaman

Please note: this article contains spoilers.Aquaman has had a long torturous road to getting his own DC Extended Universe solo adventure. Development of an Aquaman film began in 2004, with several plans falling through over the years. But after a strong turn in the poorly reviewed Justice League, Jason Momoa's fish speaking superhero is finally getting top billing. And unlike DC's current incarnations of Batman and the Man of Steel, he's here to make a splash!The synopsis of the film goes: Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people -- and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Arthur, Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Arthur must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep.This traditional hero's journey is greatly improved by Jason Momoa's swagger and director James Wan's stunning visual language. The film, like almost all superhero origin stories, is about identity, although as Aquaman has known of his powers and been trained to use them since a child - this movie is all about self-acceptance. This quote by Marianne Williamson sums this concept up perfectly:Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.With this thought in mind, allow me to present five leadership lessons gleaned from this action-packed adventure.Know when to take a loss: Arthur Curry (Aquaman's) mother Atlanna is the princess of Atlantis and his father Thomas is a lighthouse keeper. After deciding to leave Atlantis for the surface world so she wouldn't have to commit to an arranged marriage, she and Thomas fall in love and start to create a life together. Years later when the Atlantans locate her she agrees to return home in order to save the life of young Arthur. By sacrificing herself she ultimately guarantees the survival of Atlantis. Leadership Lesson: Leaders have to calibrate the risk-benefit ratio of many decisions. And despite the desire to drive results, sometimes the cost does is not worth it for a myriad of reasons. Your values and moral compass must be finely tuned so that you make the best judgement calls in these situations. As one of my favorite leaders once said, "if you have to choose between doing what is right and losing a sale, lose the sale every time."Consistency is king: After Atlanna returns to the sea, Thomas Curry vows to come to the end of the pier each day at sunrise to wait for her return. And he sticks to this promise come rain or sunshine. Ultimately his discipline is vindicated when Atlanna finally makes it back to his arms. Leadership Lesson: In the book, Great by Choice, Jim Collins describes the concept of fanatic discipline as one aspect that has distinguished successful companies despite the external volatile conditions. Fanatic discipline can be explained as a set of specific, methodical and consistent rules you follow and make decisions by. Real discipline is about full adherence to these values in both good and bad times; and as a leader - injecting your team with this sort of discipline guarantees that no one over-focuses on only short term gains.Gratitude is latitude: Sometimes even heroes need a little help. When Orm's tidle wave nearly kills his father, Princess Mera saves his life by using her own special powers. Arthur is immediately grateful which begins their journey together. Leadership Lesson: Gratitude is one of the most powerful tools of leadership in that it permeates a positive, in the moment vibe in your team. People understand that you appreciate their efforts leading to the doubling and redoubling of these by your recognition of the same.Serve the greater good: Aquaman's journey leads him to the trident of Atlan and a test of his courage and resolve. He ultimately retrieves the powerful weapon because of his humility in the face of his task to unite the seven kingdoms and stop a war between the sea and the surface. Then he uses it to complete his transformation into the one true king of Atlantis. Leadership Lesson: True leaders need to be servants to their organizations and teams. Serving a team means checking your ego and using your position to remove barriers and obstacles to performance and excellence. This is the blend of humility and intense personal will described in Good to Great as Level 5 Leadership - a quality the most successful leaders in the most successful organizations possess.Don't gloat: After the huge battle for Atlantis, Aquaman has the chance to kill his step-brother Orm, but spares his life instead hoping for a reconciliation. This act demonstrates a new brand of leadership for the Atlantan people and earns him significant trust points with his people. Leadership Lesson: As a leader, it's important to embed in your team the concept that winning is its own reward. And then set new goals for the team to achieve moving forward. Gloating is unnecessary when winning is simply a consequence of discipline and focus.Overall, Aquaman is the second best DCEU film after Wonder Woman. The spectacle is truly incredible and the action is some of the most incredible put on screen this year. I give it 3 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. please feel free to follow me on Linked In, keep the conversation going on twitter, and share in my journey on Instagram.

Leadership Lessons from Venom

Please note: this article contains spoilers.Venom was first introduced in the original Spiderman Trilogy from the 2000's as one of a trio of bad guys persecuting Spidey during Spiderman 3. Because of "too many villains syndrome", Venom didn't really make a strong mark as a terrifying adversary. So now 11 years later, Sony and Marvel are trying to transform Venom from bad guy to anti-hero with mixed results.The synopsis of the film goes: Journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is trying to take down Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake's experiments, Eddie's body merges with the alien Venom -- leaving him with superhuman strength and power. Twisted, dark and fueled by rage, Venom tries to control the new and dangerous abilities that Eddie finds so intoxicating.This paint by the numbers super hero origin story is elevated somewhat by the jittery confidence Hardy puts into his Eddie Brock and the obvious glee with which he plays Venom. As the film progressed I was far more intrigued by the concepts of ego, identity, and self-acceptance presented. As James Baldwin says:An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.With this thought in mind, allow me to present five leadership lessons gleaned from this sometimes entertaining flick.Have the courage to act: At the beginning of the film, Eddie Brock has an opportunity to interview billionaire Carlton Drake regarding a major rocket ship crash and he detects that there is far more to the story than meets the eye. By pursuing this lead, however, he jeopardizes his career and the career of his fiancé. On the surface he appears impulsive, brash, and truly egotistical in his need to bring down someone who goes against his morals. But Eddie Brock is motivated by something deeper than surface motivations and ignores personal ruination and embarrassment to courageously confront a bad person. Leadership Lesson: In the leadership book, ‘Head, Heart & Guts– How the World’s Best Companies Develop Complete Leaders’, experts David Dotlich, Peter Cairo and Stephen Rhinesmith explain that leaders who operate only from the head are ‘incomplete’. To truly lead successfully in today’s complex social and business environments, ‘whole leaders’ must learn to fully leverage the true intelligence of their head, heart and guts. The gut is a different type of intelligence that leads to the courage to act.Know your weaknesses: As Eddie and Venom begin to intermingle and know each other better, there is a key moment when venom reveals that sound between certain frequencies can severely damage it as well as fire. This information becomes crucial in the climactic battle of the film between Venom and Rampage as Venom is able to dispose of his enemy by exploding the rocket ship and engulfing Rampage in fire. Leadership Lesson: Developing weaknesses will not lead to breakout performance or significant results. But neither will ignoring them. Acceptance of what makes you strong and what areas of weakness you possess is the key to becoming a more humble, human, and relatable leader. The sooner leaders can acknowledge that there might be areas of lesser competence, the sooner they can cover those gaps through smart hiring and leveraging the talents of others.Micromanaging does not inspire confidence: Throughout the film, it is obvious that Carlton Drake doesn't trust anyone but himself. And this constant meddling and micromanaging and autonomous decision making literally leads to many deaths than would have occurred if he would have allowed the scientific method to bear itself out. Leadership Lesson: As a leader you should concentrate more on building frameworks and reinforcing a positive, productive culture than being involved in every single decision your people make. It's exhausting for you and saps the energy out of your people by crippling their sense of confidence.Be aware of trust breakers: Because of Carlton Drake's overbearing boss personality and ego, he breaks the trust of his lead scientist, Dora Skirth, which leads to her seeking out Eddie Brock in the sequence that results in Venom being unleashed. Had Drake been aware of Dora's trust guard rails, he could have managed the situation in a way that would not have resulted in her looking to betray him and the company for which she worked. Leadership Lesson: Leaders don't assume that they know what attributes build or break trust with each team member. This is a crucial discussion to be held with each person and part of a social contract between colleagues that minimizes the chance for future conflict therefore insulating a positive work environment.Never back down: Venom acknowledges to Eddie that Rampage is superior to him in every way yet goes into battle anyway and ultimately prevails. At first it appears that Venom pays for this decision with its very existence but shortly thereafter we learn that Venom and Eddie will be battling together for a long time. Leadership Lesson: Understanding the brutal facts of the decision and odds of success but acting anyway are attributes of extraordinary leaders. When you can openly acknowledge the barriers stacked against you, only then can you build a plan that contemplates each and begin the process to navigate toward a successful outcome.Overall, Venom is a very flawed super hero movie with some moments of excellent action and themes that work on multiple levels (if you are willing to dig for them). Due to some laugh out loud moments and how cool Venom and Rampage look I give it a thumbs up. I (3 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. please feel free to follow me on Linked In, keep the conversation going on twitter, and share in my journey on Instagram.

Hacking Your First 90 Days

Question:Who is more responsible for a successful onboarding into a new role, the company or the employee?Answer: Most successful companies today "get" the importance of accelerating the time from hire (or promotion) to impact. It's a simple equation. Employees, however, don't necessarily always do all that they should to guarantee their own success in this onboarding period - typically defined as the first 90 days.I think this is why I am often asked how it is that I deal with constantly changing roles and moving around the world while having to successfully integrate with dramatically different environments. On the outside looking in it may appear that I have some secret formula enabling me to hack the process of adaptation to different job descriptions, managers, cultures, and companies. In truth, everything I've learned about managing career transition I first read about in The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins.In his seminal bestseller, Watkins breaks down the discrete stages of matriculating through the first quarter of the journey into a new role. The key principle is that as a new employee or someone new in a function or market, you have a limited amount of time to demonstrate your value. The clock is literally clicking and under this kind of pressure lots of people crack. But there are select few who seem to know exactly what to do and prioritize the right sorts of activities within this window to build relationships, generate quick wins, and accelerate their learning curves. While some people do this intuitively, there is actually a structured way to approach your first 90 days on the job.This is broken down into 5 key dialogues that should occur over the course of 3 months:The style conversationThe expectations conversationThe situation conversationThe personal development conversationThe resources conversationThe Style and Expectations Conversation:The first stage comes down to aligning styles and expectations with your new manager.The key here is to assume nothing and seek to understand and to be understood. You were chosen for this role for a reason, but don't take it for granted that your new manager automatically is going to give up the keys to the kingdom. There is still more that they don't know about you than they do and vice versa, so consider this an important ice-breaker exercise before getting too deep into the day to day work. Key information to exchange are the basic personal details such as name preferences, birthdays, siblings, hobbies and interests, inspiring figures, and key career turning points.I always recommend having a conversation about trust builders and trust breakers because everyone has different guard rails when it comes to this crucial topic. You can broach the subject by simply asking what are the behaviors that matter most to each of you in your working relatioships. It's fairly safe to assume that the opposite behaviors will have the opposite impact on relationships. Once this is out in the open, it's usually smart to request immediate feedback should you hit or cross a guard rail inadvertently in the early days of your working relationship.Other expectations to confirm include communication preferences (as in when to use which channel such as email, SMS, internal chat, or phone); and other more general expectations such as what does your manager expect of you functionally, as a contributing team mate, in terms of time commitment, travel, availability, and hierarchy (when do you have autonomy and when do you need to check in). Getting all this on the table as soon as possible will define your success in your new role and help you avoid any faux pas as a result of ignorance.The Situation Conversation:Coming into a new role can be a bit like being a detective investigating a crime scene. You need to quickly come up with a hypothesis for why and how the performance, product (s), project, or processes (or all of these) ended up in the current state and generate some ideas for what actions should be prioritized to generate some quick wins. Starting with why is the crucial concept in this stage because you truly need to get to the bottom of the situation you are facing, confront the brutal facts, and identify areas within your immediate sphere of control to act upon. You want to meet with a wide variety of stakeholders in this stage to gain context, perspective, and generate options before making any decisions.Many a new employee is derailed by making a decision before having gained the proper context.In this stage your manager is a key player once again because you want to validate your findings with her/him before getting down to business. For my new teammates I recommend the following analysis and presentation to be made to me within month 2:Augment what you know: increase your base of current factsIdentify what you need to know: accelerate your learning curveAssess your function situation: strategy, structure, systems, skills, and cultureOnce you have alignment on the path forward, you will act with far more confidence and precision and generate value far faster than acting without understanding and insight.The Personal Development and Resources Conversation:During your entry into a new position, company, or role, certain aspects of the job will naturally come far easier to you than others. This might be due to previous experience, role/culture fit, your unique talents/strengths, or some combination of these parts. It's important to note which segments of your job are easy and which are posing greater difficulty and be open and vulnerable enough to discuss these with your manager at the appropriate time. I recommend within month 3 because by this time you have made some decisions, taken some actions, and gotten into some semblance of routine.The key reflections to make pertaining to your own journey to this point are as follows:What strengths, skills, knowledge, capabilities do you have in your toolbox that will definitely work?What additional strengths, skills, knowledge, capabilities do you need to acquire to cover your gaps?What have you done in the past that will definitely NOT work for the current situation?Honest and transparent reflection on these areas will be the jet pack powering you beyond 90 days to deliver outstanding value in your new capacity.Knowledge of self is truly powerful just as self-deception is truly destructive - especially in the early going.Once you have answered these queries you know what to prioritize in terms of your development and developmental relationships such as with coaches and/or mentors. Still, there may be natural limiting factors in your department such as budget, systems, or headcount gaps that need to be addressed and this is the time to call them out as crucial to attain your full potential. Your own expectation needs to be tempered by the reality of your department and company situation, but recognizing your constraints and risks is a mature way to proceed and align with your manager on how to make progress together.Hopefully, you can see that with these three conversations you can rapidly advance your realationship with your new manager, increase your understanding of your circumstances, and identify areas to continuously develop and improve - which should speed up your successful entry into your new role. I personally have applied this methodology for the past 14 years both as an employee and as a manager with my new team members and have enjoyed the results. Here, please find the simple template I created to structure the onboarding process. Hope it helps you as much as it has helped me! If so, please give this blog a thumbs up and/or share with someone in your network who is starting in a new role!

Leadership Lessons from Ant Man and The Wasp

Please note: this article contains spoilers.Three years ago, Marvel rolled the dice on a pint-sized superhero heist movie that somehow really worked. Ant Man was full of humor and heart and introduced a lighter side of the MCU while amazing audiences with impressive visual effects. Now, Ant Man is back and he's got a very skilled partner in The Wasp - Hope Van Dyne from the first film; as they delve deeper into the quantum realm to find the original Wasp - Hope's mother Janet.The synopsis of the film goes: Scott Lang is grappling with the consequences of his choices as both a superhero and a father. Approached by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym, Lang must once again don the Ant-Man suit and fight alongside the Wasp. The urgent mission soon leads to secret revelations from the past as the dynamic duo finds itself in an epic battle against a powerful new enemy.This is one sequel that improves upon the original because of a breezy plot, seamless blend of comedy and action, stunning visual effects, and compelling characters. Where Ant Man was about a father trying to redeem himself in the eye of his beloved daughter, Ant Man and The Wasp deals with the power of love and hope and faith when facts lie. Desmond Tutu is credited with the following highly relevant quote:Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.With this thought in mind, allow me to present five leadership lessons gleaned from this entertaining adventure.Make the most of your situation: The film starts with Scott Lang being on house arrest from his actions during Captain America: Civil War. He goes to great lengths to entertain himself and his daughter during the two year sentence; building an elaborate maze, learning how to play the drums, and starting a business with his associates from the first movie. Leadership Lesson: Leaders often find themselves in less than ideal circumstances and have to make the best of what they've got. Proactive and successful leaders focus on making progress each day and not getting too down on the current situation or overly focused on a future state that has yet to manifest. They make the most of every day.Trust your hunches: Despite evidence to the contrary, Dr. Hank Pym and Hope believe that Janet is still alive and well in the quantum realm. They extrapolate the fact that Scott was able to return from oblivion in the first film into a workable hypothesis and plan to find their loved one. And their belief and faith is the main driver of the film's story and eventual conclusion. Leadership Lesson: Leaders should use a combination of head, heart, and guts when making decisions. But trusting your gut is a very important ability to develop. Nine times out of ten, if something feels wrong it IS wrong. Strong leaders are able to tune into their instincts in addition to assessing what the available information is telling them. Recent data suggests that the more you pay attention to the outcome of trusting your intuition in combination with facts, the better your future decision-making can become.Roll with the punches: One of the best comedic elements of the film comes due to a broken regulator in Scott's Ant Man suit that makes him the size of a child in one situation and Giant Man in another. The unpredictability of what his suit will do forces him to take a step back and let Hope's Wasp lead the charge. Leadership Lesson: You may not always be operating at full strength or at your best. That's where the power of team comes in handy. Being able to rely on the capabilities of those around you is crucial to maintaining momentum despite the inevitable obstacles and challenges in your path. Knowing when to take a step back is as important as recognizing when you need to step up.Broken trust can be repaired: One of the key plot points of the first film was Hope's distrust of Hank because of how he handled Janet's disappearance when she was a child. But by the time we meet them in the second film, their relationship seems to have been fully repaired due to Hank's belief and mission to find Janet. Between films, Scott really disappointed Hope and Hank when he took the Ant Man suit and used it to fight with Captain America's squad during the events of Civil War resulting in his two year house arrest. In Ant Man and The Wasp, his personal house arrest situation also causes him to leave Hank and Hope in a bad place so he can save his own skin. The fact that they need each other and Scott's ultimate act of redemption lead to a repairing of the relationship. Leadership Lesson: One of the hardest facts of leadership is that you will make decisions or take actions that will disappoint, upset, and even break trust with people on your team and within your organization. When this happens, the self-aware leader acknowledges their error(s) and the impact their actions have had on the team and/or organization and then works diligently to re-establish credibility. The fact that you have to work together means you have multiple opportunities to regain trust and it's absolutely crucial that you take the necessary steps to do so. It will not be easy or happen overnight, but if you dedicate yourself to the task it can be done.Never lose hope: Every character in this film has a hope that they hold onto that drives their actions. Hope and Hank hold out hope that Janet is still alive. Scott hopes that he can get to the end of his house arrest without jeopardizing his freedom. The Ghost hopes that quantum energy can cure her precarious condition. Dr. Bill Foster hopes that Ghost will not let her desperation turn her into a true villain. And the film's true antagonist Sonny Birch hopes he can get his hand on Pym's technology to make a mint on the black market. These hopes are informed by some basis of fact but even more so are powered by each character's belief in a positive outcome for themselves. Leadership Lesson: Understanding what your team's hope for and dream about is as important as understanding tangible goals and objectives. Hope is the feeling of something better ahead that keeps us engaged and moving forward even in the darkest moments. Great leaders understand the power of hope and know how to harness it to keep grinding forward no matter the current circumstances.Overall, Ant Man and The Wasp was the perfect antidote to the depressing ending of Avengers Infinity War and pushed the narrative forward while providing a much needed palate cleanser between Avengers films. I really enjoyed Ant Man but this sequel is definitely superior to the original! (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. please feel free to follow me here on Linked In, keep the conversation going on twitter, and share in my journey on Instagram.

What I Learned From Handwriting 850 Birthday Cards in 12 Months

I've always aspired to be a very people-oriented leader mostly because of my core belief that companies succeed when their employees are healthy, inspired, engaged, and productive. As such, I've spent years studying, applying, and refining learnings from books like The Servant by James C. Hunter; The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player and Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John C. Maxwell; and How Full is Your Bucket and Strengths-Based Leadership by Donald O. Clifton, Tom Rath, and Barry Conchie. So, it's no wonder that I had some definite ideas for how I wanted to engage the organization and show up as a leader when I started in the biggest operational capacity of my career after assuming the role of General Manager of GSK in Indonesia.But there was one resource above all others that would influence my ambition for employee engagement in my new operation - Smile Guide: Employee Perspectives on Culture, Loyalty and Profit.Written by Beryl CEO Paul Spiegelman AND several of his employees; Smile Guide is a deeply impactful treatise on the power of what Spiegelman calls the “Circle of Growth”:Employee loyalty driving customer satisfaction, which in turn drives profit.This revolutionary and highly actionable book provides five principles toward building sustainable employee engagement: open communication, the personal touch, maximizing resources, getting everyone involved, and valuing fun. I was significantly impressed when I learned that Mr. Spiegelman personally hand wrote a card to each of his 350 employees on the date of their employment anniversary with the company. He did this because, "employees need to know that we care about them. It’s easy to lose sight of the value of building relationships through personal connections."Inspired, I knew I had a proven template to adopt as I entered this new career challenge. I decided to write birthday cards instead of employment anniversary greetings because I felt that recognizing birthdays connected the employee with their outside life as well. With that decided I enlisted the support of my expert assistant who procured the birthday cards, employee birth date lists, and home addresses (for the 92% of my organization who were field based). Next, I had to learn how to write my planned birthday greeting (congratulating the colleague for their birthday and thanking them for all they did to support GSK's mission and make a difference in the lives of Indonesian patients) in Bahasa Indonesia. Then, around the beginning of June 2015, I initiated my journey.Over the next 12 months I crafted 850 personalized birthday cards and during the process learned a ton about connecting, supporting, leading, remaining disciplined, and focusing that I’d like to share with you now.1. Reduce the power distance: Having never been an enterprise leader I had not truly reflected on just how far away I was from the day to day concerns, challenges, and worries of my front liners. To them I must have seemed about as connected and useful as the man on the moon. But by taking the small action of writing a card to each person, I went from my executive office suite and into their cubicles, homes, (and hopefully their hearts). And I noticed that as the cards got around the organization, people began relating to me with more openness, and this openness ultimately led to greater understanding of the challenges we faced on the ground, which then led to more precise actions to resolve these and move the organization forward. It doesn’t take a hand-written card to create this environment either – just managers tapped into their people’s lives and trying to help them be successful which leads to my next learning…2. Be a success enabler and not a boss: Bosses are the true monsters of the corporate realm. They resemble Donkey Kong’s perched on top of the organization tossing flaming barrels of work and challenge down on people trying to make progress and get things done while doing their best to evade the bosses ire. No one in today’s workplace should aspire to “boss hood”. Success enablers in contrast focus their attention on what it takes to achieve the mission and therefore are obsessed with understanding the challenges of people and eliminating these to the best of their ability. Writing birthday cards was a powerful psychological reminder for me of why I existed (improving the lives of patients) and who I principally served (my value creating sales organization). It kept me honest and humble and focused on what really mattered which was to orient the entire organization in support of our value creators.3. Lead by example: I’m sure some of my fellow organizational leaders viewed what I was doing as unnecessary and ultimately not impactful, but it definitely set a tone for who I was, what I was about, and what I valued. As a leader, there should be no ambiguity in these areas but there sometimes are not enough tangible ways to truly walk your talk. The birthday cards were an example taking up a small portion of my employee’s real estate that demonstrated the degree of personal energy I was willing to expend to try to connect with each one of them. And as my quest continued, I witnessed almost all of my leadership team adopt some regular method of personal recognition from anniversary date messages to birthday celebrations to pregnancy gift giving. In addition, I had the support of the team to embark on what was recognized as one of the most comprehensive and systemic employee engagement programs within the whole company – one which has positively transformed the operation from bottom to top and vice versa.4. Procrastination is a killer: One area where I did not set a good example was my ability to stay on top of getting the birthday cards signed, sealed, and delivered before or on each respective colleague’s birthday. As the month’s progressed and the daily workload and whirlwind took hold of my agenda, I began to slip first a bit and then a lot until I would find myself on the last day of the month writing 65 late birthday cards for that month’s lot of employees. I was signing birthday cards past midnight, carrying and signing birthday cards on flights, and in hotels. I was dreaming about signing birthday cards! I became deflated, demotivated, and quite down on myself as a so-called people oriented leader at this point. Eventually, I had a stern talk with myself and applied some necessary discipline into my routine so that the final week of each month was dedicated to signing all the next month’s cards. As with any worthy pursuit, without discipline nothing positive can be manifested.5. Don’t miss the forest for the trees: After 10 months or so of card writing I received some feedback from some of my senior leadership team members that while the cards were definitely a very nice thing to do, there might be other employee engagement initiatives on our agenda that required more of my attention and that would ultimately drive a higher impact. So, after completing one full year cycle of birthday cards, I stopped the activity in favor of focusing on some of the more big-ticket initiatives. And my staff was right – there were other ways that I could connect to each employee that would accomplish similar goals in a more impactful fashion. But I can tell you now that I still miss the fact of knowing I was going to put a smile on someone’s face that day just by sending a simple birthday message and the significant energy boost I got from serving people in this small way. What I learned was how important it is as a leader to put energy into driving positive emotions in your organization and how by filling up the buckets of others you truly receive an overflowing bucket of energy to power through all sorts of situations.That's my journey and I don’t regret a single second I dedicated to making a connection with my employees because that connection is vital to organizational success. The senior leader is no better or no more deserving of feeling good, special, and valued than anyone else in the company. And from their vantage point, the senior leader has an obligation to spread positive vibes throughout enterprise so that an environment of inspiration, energy, engagement, and productivity pervades.What are some other employee engagement efforts that you have applied or have experienced that really work? Let’s discuss in the comments below. And if you enjoyed this article please give it a thumbs up and share with your networks. Also, please feel free to follow me on Linked In, keep the conversation going on twitter, and share in my journey on Instagram.