Time for Diversity Workshops again!!!

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I am pretty much fed up with people who believe confessing to cheating, slandering and otherwise admitting they have done some evil thing makes it ok. I have heard local politicians minimize their foul play and scandalizing as no worse than an jaywalking ticket. Are we to just roll over and accept this behavior as being a fault which is now forgiven? Are we to give a blank sheet of full pardon? Are we to allow them, whoever they are, to blame the economy or their parents or someone or something else for their problems? I don't think so. I think its about time for people to be held accountable for their actions. I think its time to put dialogue and workshops in place to help everyone understand they are responsible for actions they take and for their own behavior. I think adults need to be adults and act like parents instead for their children's friend. Your prodigy needs guidance and you need to be a role model. That's right, like it or not, a role model. Your children are looking up to you for direction, for values, for responsibility, for safety, for security and adults need to deliver. Sensitivity to these issues and being held accountable are things we all need to be aware of. Hurting other people is not acceptable. Being a stalker, a cheater, a bigot, a bully, and you know the rest of the list...is not acceptable. If you are in today's workforce and have not had any type of Diversity Workshops and I mean real workshops, its time to get into those sessions. If your company doesn't offer it, contact your Human Resources department and demand everyone receives it. Diversity, acceptance, sensitivity and all forms of tolerance needs to be understood. You may discover a bias or a fault you have which you didn't even know about. Its important and it needs to be part of YOUR education. In fact, you may want to connect with the Global Coaching and Consulting Group who do a quite capable and inspirational job of delivering this type of training ( http://www.globalcoachingandconsulting.com ).

China takes the Lead!!!

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Have you read the latest about GM? Have you checked into the areas of the planet with double digit growth? If not, don't be surprised what you find and see why GM is letting China take the lead for growth of the organization every place except the US, Canada and Mexico. And why, you might ask...its growth. The status symbol for success in China is Buick. Growth of GM during cash for clunkers was down about 20% in the US and up about 75% in China. Whoa!!! Seriously, if you're running the company where do you put your investment dollars and where do you keep your nose out? Fairly obvious, isn't it. Or is it. Ford was in the positive area in the US and I think that maybe, just maybe investors should be looking at ways to increase market share here in the good old USA AND invest in those other markets. But aren't we overlooking something. Something bigger than a breadbox and so large major organizations don't see. What about diversity? The US workforce has struggled with diversity in the workplace for many years. It still doesn't have it right and still needs consultants and experts to help them out. Now add on the cultural diversity of working globally and it gets really interesting. It is no longer about the US culture dealing with other cultures. Its shifted to the US Company Headquarters people getting their arms around their Chinese colleagues' culture and diversity within that culture which will be dealing with the Opel group and the German culture and internal diversity which needs parts from Mexico to deliver a product in the US. Hmmm, fairly complicated but important to understand if GM is going to succeed globally. If GM is to be at the top of their game again they are going to need to jump in their Buick and head out on a road trip away from Detroit to understand the critical nuances of Cultural Diversity. Why??? Well because it will help them grow globally to be able to bring those jobs back to Detroit to a workforce hungry (about 30% unemployment rate currently) for jobs and eager to do them right. And guess what, everybody wins. The leadership comes back to rest in the hands of General Motors which might still be headquartered in Detroit but will be leading globally. Its all about understanding cultural differences and having a product which people want to buy everywhere. I've wanted a great GM product for a long time. I still do. I hope it happens again.

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Its time to TAKE THE LEAD!!!

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Over the past few weeks we have seen the tide and power of leadership shift back and forth from the leaders to the followers. I think we all were a bit amazed to see the controversy erupt in some of the Health Reform town meetings. Well, maybe some of us were not so surprised. Prostesting from senior citizens!!! How uncivilized and rude. But wait...isn't this the anniversary of the worlds largest gathering of a peaceful people called Woodstock. Isn't this the time of long ago when the New York State Thruway was closed because of the thousands of people that gathered at Yasgur's farm for three days of peace and music. http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/reinventing/articles/woodstock__40_years.html?CMP=KNC-360I-YAHOO-BULL&HBX_OU=51&HBX_PK=woodstock

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40 years ago a huge gathering of humanity created an historic event in a certain place and time which will forever be etched into history, and for some, mark a turning point in there own personal, private and public lives. The whole world shuttered as this gathering grew to emmense proportions and became the largest free music event with peace and love that ever existed or ever will exist. The fact of the matter is the world changed after this event. Stars became political leaders. Some by default. Some not wanting this awesome responsiblity. No concert after this on this scale in this type of location would ever happen again. No one was capable of leading that type of event again. Leading...interesting term. Woodstock led an army of hippies, dippies, weathermen, socialites, free lovers, peaceniks, warmongers and young adults into the future with, surprisingly, a new recipe for growth, prosperity, "can do" attitude and a bonus recipe for great brownies. So, what does this have to do with the new culture of the new world, new mellinium and this new era of protests by seniors. PLENTY!!! They are the woodstock era people and they have come to lead us again through their protests and leadership style which is not afraid to be candid, if not more honest in their opinions. And get this...Senator Specter has the nerve to say that this is not the voice of the people of America. I think its time for this Senator to practice his leadership skills and do come active listening because he will become a follower and follow all the other deposed politicians right out the back door. The tide has shifted and the rip currents can be treacherous. As Lee Iacocca said, "Its time to lead, follow, or get out of the way." Or even better, as Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM stated, "If you're in charge, take charge." Woodstock, who would ever have thought the impact it was going to have today.

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The shifting tides of Leadership

I recently read an article by Richard Stengel, Managing Editor of Time Magazine, about Sarah Palin's leadership style. He describes her style as, "she is the textbook example of Weber's charismatic leader, who uses personal appeal and magnetism and a disdain for traditional structures as a route to power. Hers is the opposite of the legal-bureaucratic style and seems based on intuition, emotion and frontier values." Richard also states that "we don't write about leadership in a theoretical way-every week we write about leadership in real time involving real events." Inspirational leadership is what most people remember. You only need to think about the leaders you would follow. It would be for your personal reasons of how they

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made you feel. Did you become angry and eager to make/force a change? Did you become more educated and ready to jump in and do some research to inspire others to take action. Did you feel safer? Did you feel less secure? What was that feeling stirring in you veins making your heart pound a bit harder and your senses become more attuned to your surroundings. It wasn't theory. It was and inspirational leader that you took the time to listen to. Someone with conviction, commitment, and a drive that, perhaps, instilled in you a sense of well being and of progress. Or maybe they made your blood boil and your sense of patriotism rise to heights you never thought you had. I can think of leaders that did that for me and I can think of the times of my life in which that happened. We all are at a point in time where the essence of leadership will dissected in the future and through hindsight we'll make course corrections. We all are at a point where we all will move forward. We all are at a point where there is

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no backward...never was, ever, at any time. So the real question is, what type of leader will you follow or even more importantly, what type of leader will you be. Will you reach out and grab the brass ring? Will you dedicate your life to taking steps to improve? Will you learn, mentor, coach, act and be accountable for your actions. What are your values? What will you do and how do you want to be envisioned? What do you want people to say about you? There are a plethora of questions to answer, personal blocks to overcome, steps to take, and opportunities to lead. I leave you with this thought...many leaders have come and gone, many have been taken apart by the press or their adversaries, but a very small number of the population can say they actually ran for the President of the United States of America, or for the Vice Presidency of this great country of ours. Think about it...what will your legacy be as a leader?

Innovation road blocks - security mentality

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I've been thinking about my colleagues back in my old job and have tried desperately to stay in touch to keep my pulse on the climate of the workplace. It seems it has changed even more and not always for the best. So, I figured I'd go out, network, gab, discuss, and get an overall view from other parts or other businesses. Not surprisingly I have the feeling that innovation is really being stifled, sharing of ideas is not happening, and everyone says they are really overworked and putting in an unbelievable number of hours to KEEP THEIR JOBS!!! Not so surprising I guess, but should the leadership of the organizations encourage sharing of thoughts, ideas, and innovation. Sure, there is lots of publicity at the very high levels and sure, there are the news articles of innovative green industries but, when you dig a bit you find fear. You have to ask yourself, how does that affect growth, inspiration, innovation, ideas, visioning, basically...the future. Well, I think when you are a worker bee you have now found yourself on the Maslow scale of survival and physiological level. Basically, what can I do in my job to protect me and my family and how do I keep anyone and everyone from infringing on my territory? Valid questions, I would say. And just think of the impact on the rest of the workforce. At a time when everyone should be pooling their creative juices and applying their freedom of thought, many line managers in many parts of many businesses are micro-managing their employees to death. Daily reports, busy work, mental masturbation of worthless work and exercising your power of management with the fear of the loss of employment for your people is not productive. So, what happens, people will stop sharing, caring and creating to give you...yes you...the so called leader, what you want because you need that to protect your job as well. Break the paradigm! Think differently, exponentially differently and be an inspirational leader and you will see results. You will have more inspired followers and happier dedicated and loyal employees. That's what its about, isn't it. This will result in a better bottom line and a more productive and competitive workforce. Just ask them....

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Diversity of Thought

With all the turmoil in today's job market, and unmarket, organizations are pressed to increase or even maintain moral so they remain productive and remain a viable entity. Its increasingly difficult to complete that task through the creation of an organizational environment that allows you to reach your goals. Lets face it, employees are constantly looking over their shoulders to see who is watching them and more often than not, over their shoulder to see who is going to replace them. It reminds me of the days I worked in the steel mill and watched the "old timers" stop working when a young apprentice would stop to watch what they were doing. I often admired welders who could weld so precisely it looked like the weld was painted on. It was a true art. I finally asked my father why they stopped when I watched. He said it was because they felt that if I learned their trade and skill I would eventually "steal" their job and replace them. I thought, if we worked together we could do it better, faster and increase our productivity. So what is the point? The point is, we need to know how people think. What do think about their jobs and the messages they receive from their leaders. The strategy, what about the strategy...do they get it. And why do they work well with some, and not with others. Fundamentally it seems like this would be, at best, a very difficult thing to do. If you are a leader in your organization, you must be constantly thinking, "How do I get my employees to work better together. Why do some get along, while others do not?" Ok, the point of this is to ensure you that I could help you find the answer and the real revelation is your employees discover for themselves what the obstacles are between them. I can do this through the use of a highly effective instrument that has the largest validated database as proof. And the really exciting thing is....its fun. When you go through this 4 hour session of self discovery you walk away with a realization that you have discovered many things about your self, your work place, your peers, and surprisingly...your spouse. So, don't hide the welds, share your skills and grow your team. Need proof? Ok, I'll end with a question to prove what I have you think about and discover... Have you ever taken a trip or vacation with someone who MUST have an agenda for every day? A schedule of events, meals and meeting places? Does it drive you crazy...it is calming for them. I know why.

Gridlock from the Social network

Originally, when I had a corporate position, I often wondered why we were pushing the use of all the social networks. It almost felt like we were trying to force 50 lbs of sausage into a 5 lb casing. I didn't get it and more important, I didn't get it because of the pressure being put on getting results and reaching the iconic corporate goal of...putting oneself out of a job by making it more efficient. But, it appears the blogging, networking, interacting, congealing of ideas and publication internally of successes in networking was actually working and needed and godlike. But, if you dig deeper, internal social networking, although recommended to learn how it works, actually was a detriment to reaching the goals you were measured by. So, you add a few more hours to your day, twitter on the way home, get pulled over for texting while driving by the PD, and try and find a good cheap lawyer with advice on Plaxo. But wait, what about work...real work...measured results work...the stuff you get paid for. Well, ok, you miss the mark, or as they say, you missed some major milestones and hence your performance is lacking and you will be resourced out due to lack of skills which you happened to have refined and honed and were acknowledged for but, they weren't measured in your plan. Ah ha, the plan. What is the social networking plan. How did we get gridlocked into all the social networks and the plethora of new social networks designed to be better than the current ones. So what am I getting to? What I am trying to surmise is that if we look at all the blogging, networking, things that can be outsourced, resourced, off-shored (unless your global then they never call it that) and balanced, you need to find what the tipping point is. An epiphany...one needs to find one or two critical networks which fit your industry. Gridlock does not occur on the social networking highway. That highway is organized and has a set of rules, regulations, guidelines and applications allowing it to work admirably. The gridlock occurs in your mind. Yes that's right, in your own mind and it happens quite easily. You see, with face to face discussion, or even when you pick up the phone to talk to someone, you are able to pick up the little nuances of inflection of voice. And if lucky enough, visual feedback from a face to face discussion where you are actually able to talk to them in person. In the net, you don't. Yes, I know you can reach out to scads of people in one fell swoop and will get some valid information and connections. We all know it works and is a really invaluable tool. But listen, you learn a lot from being dragged naked through a cactus patch by an angry mule too. Pick the right network. Make the right connection. Do the proper follow-up. Meet and talk to the right people, yeah, that's right talk to them. You see, it all boils down to the personal connection in the end. Not off shored, not dragged through cactus to learn, not off ramped into a unmeasured goal, but something with meaning. The gridlock exists in your mind.