John Baldoni's Blog

Sergio Marchionne has lit a fire under Chrysler that is providing a spark of hope to the ailing automaker. From media reports, it seems that the Fiat team under Marchionne’s leadership is shaking up the place the way another Italian (albeit American) did a generation ago, Lee Iacocca.

As a hands-on manager, Marchionne expects his direct reports to meet with him regularly, which they can do face to face at Chrysler or via video conference. He also has ditched the executive suite for the engineering trenches so he can be closer to the action. Marchionne is to be commended for keeping the loop tight enough that executives can keep each other informed. But there is there is a price to pay. Marchionne, according to the Wall Street Journal, he expects his executives to be in the office as he is six or seven days a week “for the foreseeable future.”

Creating urgency to save a sinking ship is imperative. Working long hours to do so is also critical, but working day after day for months on end without a break is a bad idea. When a team is crashing on a deadline, pulling together can be energizing. But when there is no deadline in sight, the long hours exact vengeance in the form of loss of energy as well as diminished commitment. Managers do not become more creative by working harder; they burnout more quickly. You need give people a break from the day to day flow of work. Here are some suggestions for sustaining productivity under fire.

Set standards. The team leader must make it clear that during the crisis people are expected to assume a greater work load. The leader sets the example by taking more than his fair share of the work. Part of that work means being there for his team. At the same time, the leader does not need to decide how individuals must work. Often employees can decide how best to do their jobs. For example, mandatory meetings are fine, but every meeting need not be mandatory.

Get a buddy. One way to work smarter is to do what I have seen efficient organizations do. Team up with a co-worker to cover for you, not simply on vacations but also during times you will be out of the office. If your buddy is junior to you, then it can be a development opportunity. The leader can also buddy with a colleague or boss to stand in for him, too. Many organizations preach team as in collaboration but too few take advantage of treating teammates as partners. You can do more when individuals work together.

Mandate fresh air time. Get out of the office from time to time. This can be as simple as going out for lunch, or taking a walk in the afternoon. Clock time in the gym, too. Fitness is essential for tackling a heavy workload. The leader also sets the tone by making time for himself. When the team sees the boss taking a break (mental or physical), it gives the team permission to do likewise. Without the leader’s example, no one will follow through on making time for self.

Clocking long hours is not reserved for the corporate suite. Working in government, or even in the highest office in the land — the White House — can be grueling. President Obama vowed to make his administration family friendly, but as his chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel quips, “It’s friendly to your [Obama] family.” As a result many staffers, as reported in the New York Times, are feeling stressed chiefly because they miss time with their families. Continued long stretches of working extraordinary hours will cause talented people to leave early.

Taking breaks is not the same as doing business as usual. It is an acknowledgement that people are your most valuable resource. They need rest and relaxation as well as an opportunity to reconnect with their families. Rather than diminish urgency, it heightens it. Getting outside of the bubble of work allows the mind and body to recharge and be better prepared to face the gauntlet of challenges that lie ahead.

First posted on HBR.org 7/06/2009

The moment after you land the corner office, you need to be thinking about who will replace you.

Your legacy lies in the hands of your successor.

How you are perceived by others when you are gone relies greatly on the person you select to replace you.

Think on this!

First posted on SmartBrief on 1/18/2013

Aspiration is about setting goals that push the organization to strive to become better than it is now. Aspiration is a process of reaching for the stars. But before you can reach for the stars, you check the ground upon which you are standing.

Aspirations must be feasible –and attainable. It’s one thing to reach for the stars, but if you trip on the stairs you could end up hurting yourself — and your organization.

First posted on SmartBrief on 2.01.2013

“How can I feel confident when I am speaking?” asked a participant in a recent workshop I conducted. While the question was specific to public speaking, the answer I gave is relevant to any leader, whether she is on stage giving a presentation or working with her team on an important project. The answer lies within you.

When it comes to leadership in the workplace, the primal spring of self confidence is an understanding of what you have accomplished and what you feel you can do next. This is not happy talk. Consider what has enabled you to achieve what you have achieved to date. When it comes to finding sources of accomplishment, you want to focus on the positives, your moments of triumph — those opportunities where you shone, helping yourself and your team achieve a goal.

Isolating your moments of strength is not the same as writing your curriculum vitae; graduating from college and landing a good job are highlights, of course, but when it comes to self-confidence you want to dig beneath the surface. Here are three related questions you can ask yourself to help you uncover your triumphant self:

What do you do well? This question opens the door for you to itemize the abilities that have enabled you to succeed to date. Focus on your talents: what you do well. For example, you may possess strong conceptual skills. You may be one who can think strategically, a person who can look at the big picture and see opportunities where others see only blue sky. Such abilities are your strengths; you owe it to yourself to recognize them.

Why should people follow you? You need a strong sense of self to lead others, so consider how you assess problems and find solutions. Look at occasions you have mobilized yourself and your team to tackle a tough assignment. Perhaps you took on a failing project and turned it into a winner. Or perhaps you found ways to reduce costs and improve efficiencies when others said it was impossible. In these instances, and in others you can remember, you have given people a reason to believe in your ability to get things done.

What have you done to earn the trust of others? This question should provoke a recall of what you have done to instill followership. You may have defused a conflict between two colleagues, or took the lead on nasty assignment that no one else wanted to handle. Or perhaps you went out of your way to see that senior management recognized the efforts of your team. Maybe you always accept accountability, not just for what goes right, but for what goes wrong.

The search for the inner source of confidence is neither an excuse for overlooking your weaknesses nor an invitation to hubris. Rather it is an identification of the strengths that make up the authentic you. Self-awareness is an attribute vital to leadership effectiveness. While leaders know their weaknesses all too well, even good ones sometimes overlook their strengths. That mindset can lead to an erosion of self-confidence.

“Confidence is like a muscle,” said a colleague of mine, Scott Litchfield of WJM Associates. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. I like that analogy for two reasons. First, it connotes that confidence comes from within ; it is something we can work on. Second, it puts leaders who must demonstrate confidence in order to attract followership on notice that it is their responsibility to nurture it.

It’s a leader’s job to set direction and determine outcomes; that only happens when leaders feel confident in themselves.

First posted on HBR.org 7/13/2009

Getting a presentation ready for prime time can sometimes be frustrating. Content is seldom an issue; organization is. So let me share some advice I received from a Jesuit speech teacher who learned it from Aristotle.

Simple, direct and memorable, Aristotle gives us a handy method to employ whenever you need to make a presentation, long or short, that you want people to remember.

First posted on SmartBrief on 2/15/2013

I know two CEOs: one in publishing is a friend; the other in manufacturing is an email correspondent. There is a common bond between the two; both are in their sixties and both act as if they are closer to twenty-two. Their sense of vitality springs from their passion for what they do.

Each feels a sense of pride in the businesses he leads; more importantly, each is pushing his respective organization to new heights with a vigor found typically in much younger men. Their can-do attitudes seem almost corny, as if sketched from an earlier age or at least from musicals like The Music Man. But both men are in exactly the right positions at the right time.

Generating enthusiasm, or passion, for what you do is essential. It is doubly so in perilous times. When everything around us seems to be coming apart, a leader who has a passion for what he does is essential. Such a spirit fuels the engine of enthusiasm needed to spark the enterprise. More importantly, such passion is vital to convincing others that the work matters. It is easy to get discouraged by today’s market news and so it is vital that someone, be it the CEO or another senior leader, serves as the organization’s designated cheerleader.

Ultimately instilling passion for the work is not an exercise in rah-rah; it is a search for meaning and significance. So how can you cultivate passion for work in others and do it in ways that have significance? Here are some suggestions.

Focus on the positive. Passion in leaders can be palpable; you know in an instant that the executive cares about the company. In my experience, those senior leaders who stroll through the halls with a nod or good word to say to all are those executives who get things done. And it is because they are out and about, not cloistered in their offices on mahogany row. Rather, they are meeting with employees and customers, vendors and investors, getting to know issues and concerns. They also use these times to talk up the good things.

Address the negatives. Passionate leaders are not Pollyannas; they know the score, precisely because they spend so much time out of their offices. They see firsthand what is working and what is not, and because they have a relationship with people in all levels of the company, they can more readily mobilize employees to solve problems.

Set high expectations. Those who care about the work and set a high standard challenge others to do the same, but they should remember to balance their approach — knowing to sometimes ease up on workloads but never on expectations.

As much as generating passion for the work matters, it is no guarantee of success, or even survival. Radiating passion is no excuse for ignoring attention to the fundamentals.

Yet successful organizations are more than the sum of fiscal prudence. Good ones are the collective values and aspirations of dedicated men and women who have made a choice to work there. Such organizations, be they in healthcare or manufacturing, consumer goods or government, ultimately depend upon the commitment of individuals pulling together to make things work. That’s why you need leaders who have a passion for what they do and are able to spread that passion to others so that people feel better about what they do, and ultimately, what they can do better.

First posted on 7/16/2009

Leaders who value humility are the ones other people want to follow.

Humility is not something taught in business schools, but it may be one of the most powerful attributes a leader can utilize. But leaders who do not readily accept it may not always be to blame.

Humble leaders are those who others not only want to follow but enjoy following because of strong leadership as well as strong humanity.

First posted on Smart Brief on 3/01/2013

The Pew Research’s News Interest Index for a week in Julyconcluded that people surveyed were actually more interested in stories about Michael Jackson’s death, as well as the economy and health care reform, than news media’s coverage provided.

With the glut of coverage and cries of overkill for these stories, this is a surprising revelation. The lesson for leaders? If you want to know what people are thinking, don’t rely on second-hand reports from others. Ask employees yourself and listen to what they have to say. Political campaigns are particularly expert in this area when they test market messages and conduct tracking polls. By measuring impact and understanding, they are able to shape and re-shape their messages for greater impact. (Some may call this pandering; others may regard it as responsiveness.)

Corporate leaders do not need to hire pollsters but they do need to be more cognizant of the impact of their messages. Most managers are very good at giving messages; following up with repeated iterations is more of a challenge, but a greater challenge is often gauging the effect of the message. We see this most evidently during organizational transformation efforts. There is a lot of energy and enthusiasm expended in getting the word out about the “big change” but relatively little follow up in terms of listening and evaluating impact. To address this, consider these suggestions when crafting your next communication plan.

Walk the halls. Make yourself visible to your team by spending time in their work areas. Be approachable so people can engage you in conversation. Be prepared to begin conversations about new product launches, service improvements, or efficiency initiatives. Ask people how these things are working for them.

Listen to feedback. Give them time to respond. Ask follow-up questions related to their experiences so you get beyond the seventh-grader’s answer to how are things at school — fine! When you hear such responses, people may be too timid to voice an honest answer. Be conversational to encourage folks to share more information.

Report on feedback. Let your colleagues know what you are hearing and what it means. For example, if you are discovering that customers hate the service upgrade, report on it. Likewise if employees are enthusiastic about an initiative, you can be heartened, but stay tuned for further updates. Many initiatives are well received, only to die later from lack of support.

Report on revisions. If you make a major change, or even a minor one, communicate it. Also, do more follow up to see how it is working. This is especially critical when there is initial resistance. Few things are more powerful than a senior executive saying, “we heard you and we are making changes.” That gives a leader instant credibility, as long as there is appropriate follow through.

Conduct a communications audit. Corporate leaders do not need to conduct tracking polls but communication audits around what people are thinking, feeling, and doing related to company initiatives can be useful. Such audits can be done quickly and cost effectively online. Again, report the results to everyone so you keep the organization up to date.

There is an additional point about the prevailing news coverage that is relevant to communicating in tough times. While economic news is generally bleak right now, there are periodic bits of good news, “green shoots” as pundits are fond of calling them. If those green shoots are related to your business, make certain you make a point of linking that good news to what your team does. Do not assume people will figure it out; connect the dots for them. For example, if you are in the alternative energy field, talk up federal funding as well as an uptick in consumer awareness and corporate demand.

Leaders need to keep their fingers on the pulses of their organizations. Many executives fear being blindsided by what they do not know — like lack of capability, resources, manpower and talent that will affect business growth. Those executives who spend time out and about with their people have few such fears. They know the score and as a result, can steer their organizations with a greater sense of awareness.

First posted on HBR.org 7/22/2009