The Transformational Leader: Compass to a New World, part 2

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Inspire

A pure fact of transformational leadership is that you can accomplish only a small portion of the requisite forward movement on your own. Therefore, if you are to transform a company you must inspire others to follow you. What are the qualities of a leader that inspire others and impel them to follow?

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About the Author

Mahesh Rao, a dynamic, creative, and highly-skilled executive consultant with more than 20 years of business experience, holds 14 US and international patents. Some have been industry-shaping. In 2005 he won the Japanese government’s Most Valuable Patent award. Mahesh has received numerous corporate, client, and industry accolades for coaching senior executives at Fortune 100 companies to become successful transformation leaders and organizational innovators. He has also founded startups that were taken through acquisition. His work with large global companies, including Mitsubishi – and his wide exposure to numerous industries, schools of thought, practices, organizational needs, and corporate responsibilities – account for his consummate ability to advance a vision through strategizing, planning, and execution on a global scale while managing risks. Mahesh Rao’s extensive travel and keen cultural awareness, along with his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, contribute to his ability to see processes clearly, from the big picture to the details. To read Mahesh Rao’s complete biography, click here.

To contact the author write to: [email protected].

Is Your Team Failing Elegantly? Seven Leadership Mistakes That Wear Away at Your Company’s Will to Win

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No one wants to lose. That’s true whether you’re talking about the Super Bowl, a friendly basketball game with the neighbors, or a footrace between eight-year-olds. Yes, the desire to win is embedded in the human psyche. So why is it that in the business world the ‘win or (almost) die trying’ principle seems to falter? Why do so many talented, well-led teams, enterprises, and organizations – many of them with clear, reasonable goals – fail to win victories that should have been easily within their grasps?

It’s because they’ve been infected with a disease I call ‘failing elegantly.’

Failing elegantly is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviors by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the cover comes off the lousy results that we’d prefer no one ever see. In other words, it’s a fancy way to lose.

Essentially, this debilitating syndrome sets in when people stop believing they can be successful and start devoting their energy to how best to lose.

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About the Author

John Hamm is one of the top leadership experts in Silicon Valley. He was named one of the country’s Top 100 venture capitalists in 2009 by AlwaysOn and has led investments in many successful high-growth companies as a partner at several Bay Area VC firms. Hamm has also been a CEO, a board member at over thirty companies, and a CEO adviser and executive coach to senior leaders at companies such as Documentum, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, TaylorMade-adidas Golf and McAfee. John teaches leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. To read John Hamm’s full biography, click here.

The Transformational Leader: Compass to a New World, part 1

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Five centuries ago, conditions in Europe were perilous for many. Some muddled through bleak circumstances and took what came. Others had the imagination to see that a brighter future might await them in the New World. Leaders emerged whose navigational equipment, skills, and personal qualities gave others the courage to follow them across a sea of unknowns in search of a more promising place.

Just as the courageous, skillful sea captain of long ago took up a compass, charted a course, and led others across the unknown, so must today’s captains of business and industry.

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About the Author

Mahesh Rao, a dynamic, creative, and highly-skilled executive consultant with more than 20 years of business experience, holds 14 US and international patents. Some have been industry-shaping. In 2005 he won the Japanese government’s Most Valuable Patent award. Mahesh has received numerous corporate, client, and industry accolades for coaching senior executives at Fortune 100 companies to become successful transformation leaders and organizational innovators. He has also founded startups that were taken through acquisition. His work with large global companies, including Mitsubishi – and his wide exposure to numerous industries, schools of thought, practices, organizational needs, and corporate responsibilities – account for his consummate ability to advance a vision through strategizing, planning, and execution on a global scale while managing risks. Mahesh Rao’s extensive travel and keen cultural awareness, along with his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, contribute to his ability to see processes clearly, from the big picture to the details. To read Mahesh Rao’s complete biography, click here.

To contact the author write to: [email protected].

Seven Strategies for Managing Workplace Internet Usage

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As social media and personal email continue to be many individual’s primary forms of communications, it becomes harder to keep them focused at the workplace. An increase in usage of media-rich sites can place a considerable strain on limited bandwidth, which can hurt the performance of critical business tasks. The challenge is establishing a proper workplace balance that allows some personal internet usage without a related drag on business efficiency.

As a business owner or IT manager, you need tips and tactics on striking the right balance. We offer seven strategies:

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About the Author

Keith RossKeith Ross is product manager for Networking products at Black Box Corporation. His product line includes Ethernet switches, media converters, network security, and WAN optimization products. Keith has over 10 years experience in telecommunications and data networking. He worked at FORE Systems, Marconi, and Ericsson previously. Keith has a BSEE from Carnegie-Mellon and an MSEM from Stanford University. To learn more about Black Box, click here.

The Exchange: Four Tips for Having Conflict-Busting Conversations in the Workplace

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A long-time consultant is offended by something a new salesperson said on a conference call and is threatening to leave. And an employee in marketing is furious about being passed over for a promotion in favor of her coworker and is trying to discredit her. These are just a couple of examples of the workplace conflicts that take up 42 percent of the typical manager’s time. The trick to moving past these conflicts and on to increased productivity for everyone at your organization is knowing how to broach the topics in a way that leads to improved working relationships.

Disagreements, disputes, and honest differences are normal in any workplace. When these normal occurrences are treated as opportunities for exploring new ideas about projects, they can become catalysts for increased energy and productivity. Getting to that place starts with an honest discussion.

The following tips – excerpted from The Exchange – will teach you how to turn your next meeting with conflicting employees into a productive conversation.

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About the Authors

Steven P. Dinkin is president of NCRC. He received his law degree from George Washington University, where he taught a mediation clinic as an adjunct law professor. He has also taught mediation courses in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. For several years with the Center for Dispute Settlement in Washington, D.C., Steve served as an employment and workplace mediator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other federal agencies. In 2003, he moved to San Diego to lead NCRC. His experience managing a talented and opinionated staff has contributed to the realism of this book. To read Steven Dinkin’s complete biography, click here.

Barbara Filner was the director of training for NCRC from 1984-2010. She currently works as a consultant for NCRC. Barbara has a master’s degree in teaching from Indiana University and has worked as a teacher, a labor union official, and an analyst in local and state government. She has designed and conducted workshops on mediation and conflict resolution in the workplace in both the United States and Europe. She has lived in Pakistan, India, and Egypt, and thus brings a multicultural perspective to this book. She has also co-written two books about culture and conflict, Conflict Resolution Across Cultures and Mediation Across Cultures. To read Barbara Filner’s complete biography, click here.

Lisa Maxwell is currently the director of the training institute at NCRC. She has traveled all over the world as a trainer for NCRC for almost 20 years. Lisa has a master’s degree in education from San Diego State University and has developed curricula and taught courses at the high school and university levels. Mrs. Maxwell developed and is the lead trainer in The Exchange Training. Lisa has worked with businesses, with the military, and with nonprofit organizations on finding creative, effective ways to manage conflicts. To read Lisa Maxwell’s complete biography, click here.

To learn more about the NCRC, or to attend one of its upcoming training sessions, visit its Web site, www.ncrconline.com.