TOO MANY BOSSES, TOO FEW LEADERS: STORIES OF GREAT LEADERSHIP

RAJEEV PESHAWARIA

FREE PRESS; 222 PAGES

PART 2: ENTERPRISE LEADERSHIP

2.5 Common Threads, Individual Paths

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The journey to effective leadership begins with envisioning the better future which requires incredible amount of human energy.  Leaders must first uncover their own sources of leadership energy (purpose and values).  They then need to enlist a few co-leaders and align their energy towards a common purpose.  Finally they must galvanize the organization’s energy by shaping and managing the Brains, Bones and Nerves of the enterprise.

STORIES OF GREAT LEADERSHIP
Jeff Bezos CEO and founder of Amazon.com	Purpose: -          To transform the way people read -          To bring reading back to the lives of a lot of people who had stopped reading
	Vision: -          To make every book ever printed in any language available to readers in less than 60 seconds
	Customers’ needs questions: What: -          What products would lots of people be willing to buy without actually seeing or handling them, and concluded that books would be best to start with base on the factors o    Book industry was highly fragmented o    There are physical limitation to how much inventory even the superstores could carry o    Most book sellers already had computerized inventories to keep stocks Who: -          Sell books to individual customers through internet How and Why: -          There are3 things that will never change about customer’s needs: o    Low prices o    Vast selection o    Accurate, fast and convenient delivery -          Focus on the selection of books
	B-B-N -          2 qualities of people who are invited to work at Amazon o    Experts in their field of work o    High achievers in one other area -          Values customer obsession, innovations, bias for actions, ownership, high hiring bar, and frugality
Tom Gardner CEO of The Motley Fool	2 main reason for starting the company: -          Wanted to pass the gift of learning about investing to as many people as they could -          For the love of people communication, and entrepreneurship
	Purpose: -          To educate the average investor and help him make better decisions about his money Vision: -          To build the world’s greatest investment community Mission: -          To educate, amuse and enrich Core values: -          Honesty, optimism, teamwork, innovation, winning
	Strategy and Purpose: -          People pay Montley to [provide financial and investment advice that is predominantly distributed online, and includes a community debate about that advice
	Leader-led vs boss-led -          Mission: to educate, amuse and enrich -          Educating: about managing money well -          Amuse: making the industry fun
	The vision is built on 3 things: -          To provide investment advice that is usable, and therefore changes behaviour -          To make sure that service is the most rewarding over the long term -          To do it in a fun and engaging way
	B-B-N: Brains -          People who have curiosity and self-awareness, self-starters and have a sense of humour o    If they are curious, they will get smarter overtime o    With self-awareness people are able to acknowledge their weaknesses and thus they can grow
	B-B-N: Nerves -          To be successful for over a hundred years -          Pacing and flexibility is more important than ‘always on’ motivation and energy -          Understands that nobody can be fully engaged and energized at all times -          Have no vacation policy; just take vacation when they need to and for as long as they want -          Have a review every 90 days -          Provide change and with stretched and with responsibilities; also creates greater appreciation for others work and reduces conflict -          Introduces recess time between 3.00-4.00pm; get some sun outside -          Everyone gets a quarterly performance review -          Open office architecture where everyone sits at an open workstation
	To sustain client -          Reputation for being honest and transparent.  Earn their trust -          Good performance over the years -          Convenient options for people
Alan Mullay President and CEO of FORD	Culture: -          Everyone had the license to discuss problems without fear of retribution -          Focus on finding and enabling solutions -          Weekly meetings -          No one is permitted an onside conversation, a peek at the Blackberry or any other distraction while the meeting is running -          CEO took the time early on to eat among ‘the masses’ in the regular cafeteria
Maura Costin Scalise Harvard Women’s Swimming Coach	Leadership I -          Build an atmosphere of trust, friendship, and hope -          Create a clan like environment of trust, open communication, and mutual support -          Develop a set of rituals and traditions to build trust, empowerment, responsibility, and openness
	Leadership II -          Change in training techniques -          Develop individualize training incorporating the latest techniques -          Develop separate workouts for each swimmer based on personality, inclination, abilities, specialty event and personal swimming goals
	Leadership III -          Recruiting swimmers (hiring philosophy) -          Targeted a good swimmers but hadn’t trained under the most sophisticated programs, hadn’t yet peaked, and so could be better -          Pick swimmers who are willing and capable of improving