The,Problem,with,Leadership,No business, insurance The Problem with Leadership

Small offices have unique needs, and thatincludes document shredding. Designed with the smaller business inmind, the Dahle 20314 is a cross-cut shredder that offers Level 3security and brings you into compliance with federal regulations. The As we all know to live in this world we have to perform some activity by which we can earn money. There are many activities by which we can earn money and meet the standards to live in this society. And from one of them is franchise.  Franc

Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}Why it is so hardfor companies to find great leaders?   By Dan MacDonald                                       When leaders are chosen, the decision isoften based on the wrong criteria. Many look to people with strong, charismaticpersonalities, or passion for personal achievement. They look to people who arecommanding or who manage the efforts of others well. Some people even look tophysical attributes as an indication of leadership ability.  The misconceptions of what makes aperson a good leader are not limited to these factors. They also include ourchoices of personality characteristics. Some see great leaders as people whocan mesmerize a crowd with their stage performance, who can make those aroundthem relax with their confidence, or who can think circles around other seniorpeople in the organization. In reality, these traits and characteristics arenot indicators of great leaders. Rather, great leaders are characterized by theirfocus on integrity over stage performance, passion for what is best for thecompany over self-importance, humility and passing forward credit over ego, andempowering their people over making decisions on their behalf. There have beennumerous books written, researches conducted, and data compiled that point tothese findings; however, even extraordinary companies with insightful,intelligent, and experienced boards of directors and senior executives haveerroneously chosen leaders based on their perception of leadershipcapabilities.  Take Hewlett Packard for instance.  In January of 1999, Hewlett Packard’s boardof directors met in the Garden Court Hotel in Palo Alto, California to discuss,among other things, the rapid changes in business caused by the unsubstantiatedgrowth of internet IPOs. There was concern among the board that changing timesmay call for a leader better suited to lead the company into the future. In hisbook, How the Mighty Fall, JimCollins summarizes this concern best, stating that, “HP’s stalling growth andlanguishing stock price relative to the skyrocketing technology sector lendcredence to a growing worry that HP needed an entirely new type of leader”. Atthe meeting, Lewis Platt, then CEO of HP, suggested he retire early to makeroom for an appropriate leader. The board accepted and replaced him with CarlyFiorina, announcing, in July of that year, that she would become the next CEOof Hewlett Packard.  Lewis Platt and the board of directorsbelieved that a new CEO with a fresh perspective would help mobilize thecompany towards the rapidly-changing landscape of the technology industry.Fiorina, who once held Forbesmagazine’s ‘Most Powerful Woman in Business’ title and had an impressivebackground as Executive VP at AT&T, was just the type of executive HP waslooking for. In retrospect, it seems as though the board of directors may have erredon its judgment; during Fiorina’s tenure HP realized its first loss, its stockprice fell from $45.36 to $20.14 and heavy job losses were incurred. Incomparison, Platt, the Ford Taurus-driving down-to-earth former CEO, grew HPfrom $16.2 to $42 billion and earned ChiefExecutive Magazine’s distinctionas the 11th all time wealth creator.  After closely examining HP, it becomesevident that leadership plays an important role in the rise or fall of anorganization. Leaders can either drive organizations to market capitalization ofhundreds of millions dollars or to losses as equally great. It is hard to disputethat leadership does not play a vital role in the success of a company, yetmany organizations do not have systems in place to identify and developpotential future leaders.  Consider Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart.  From a young age, Walton displayed a naturalability to lead. In high school, he was the starting quarterback of thefootball team and never lost a game. He was Vice President of the student bodyin his junior year and president his senior year. He was voted ‘PermanentPresident’ of his graduating class in university. But Walton didn’t fit thestandard description of a leader. He was not an Ivy League school graduate anddid not hold an MBA. Walton was a humble, scrappy, pick-up driving country boy. Walton went to work as a manager traineeat JC Penney three days after graduating university marking the beginning of apassionate love affair with the retail industry that would help shape theremainder of his life and affect the lives of millions of people. At JC Penney,Walton embraced the customer centric JC Penney approach to retailing –especially JC Penney Ideas #2 and #3, guiding principles related to giving thecustomer the most value for their money. But Walton was not the most thoroughemployee; he hated making the customer wait while he completed paperwork, sohis books were a mess. His boss often threatened to fire him, saying he was notcut out for the retail business. Walton managed to hold onto his positionbecause of his ability as a salesman. After only 18 months with the company,Walton resigned. If JC Penney had systems in place toidentify the leadership potential in Walton, they may have been able to enticehim to stay and develop him into their future leader. Instead, he started hisown department store which would rival and eventually surpass JC Penney in thequest for retail dominance. As many companies began to adopt the ‘promote fromwithin’ mindset, these types of leadership development systems are becomingmore and more common. The problem is many of these companies base theircriteria for identifying future leaders on misconceptions of what makes a greatleader.  Very few people can pick great leaders, sothe question remains—how do we create a system for identifying great leaders inthe early stages of their development? Do we use psychometrics profiles toidentify the leaders with the best traits and fast track them on a path to moresenior roles? Do we let the people inside or outside the organization decidewho will be the next leader? Many decisions must be made but before makingthese decisions we must be aware of our faults in choosing leaders. Organizationsneed new ways of deciding who will be a leader, as leadership impacts theorganization as a whole. Hard-working employees rely on their leaders to makethe right choices for the company and ensure the employees have a future withthe organization.  It’s difficult to know the right answersbut it’s clear that investing in the development of potential future leaders willprovide a company with advantages over organizations that hire people fromoutside to fill internal leadership roles. As a result, companies are turningto post secondary institutions like the Northern Alberta Institute ofTechnology (NAIT) to assist them to develop their leaders from within.  Their innovative Leadership Program willassist companies to develop the skills and abilities of their potential leaders(http://www.nait.ca/cit/245.htm).  Forward thinking companies are already realizingthe benefits that can be achieved by investing in their people and consequentlythe future of their organization.    Sources:Collins, J. (2009 ). How the Mighty Fall. USA: Harpercollins.HP. (2009). Executive Team. Retrieved September 8, 2009 from        http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/bios/fiorina.html. Entrepreneur. (2009). Sam Walton. Retrieved September 8, 2009 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/growyourbusiness/radicalsandvisionaries/article197560.html. Walton, S. (1992). Sam Walton: Made in America. USA/Canada:Bantam Books.