The Biggest Mistakes New Executives Make

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sabina-nawazby Sabina Nawaz

Organizations invest a lot of time and money in hiring the right CEO or senior executive to set a vision and make the changes in their company. Yet within the first 18 months, there’s a 50% chance the executive will leave the organization. This failure comes with enormous costs, not only in disruption to the organization but financially, too. One estimate puts the cost at 10 times the executive’s salary – sometimes more.

The reasons these individuals leave are many. They often cite poor cultural fit, inadequate onboarding, or the lack of appropriate expectations. But in reality, many new executives inadvertently set themselves up for failure within the first few months of their tenure through their own actions.

As an executive hired from outside the firm, you’ll naturally want to add value and assure your employers and employees that you are the right hire. But based on my work helping executives transitioning into new organizations, I’ve discovered common traps new executives tend to fall in, even as they try to solve problems, make decisions, and improve the company. Fortunately, there are ways to sidestep these traps so you can assimilate successfully into your new organization. Continue reading →

Five behaviors you must practice to cross the leadership threshold

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by Jared LafitteJared-Lafitte

Leadership is not defined by a title or a position, a record of experience or an accumulation of knowledge. That’s why there are many in positions of power who have great expertise and experience, yet are poor leaders.

Leadership is a practice that requires mastery of several key behaviors that transfer vision and motivate action. Like any behavior, they are meant to be learned, practiced, repeated and sharpened. Leadership should be pursued primarily as a set of practices to be developed and not as a position to be attained. When leaders learn to make this distinction between position and practice, they are crossing what I call the leadership threshold: a conceptual line that divides leadership grounded upon expertise, experience and authority (positional leadership) from leadership grounded upon behaviors and practices (behavioral leadership).

One way to nuance this is to say that experience, expertise and authority serve as crucial supplements to leadership, but generally do not themselves create leadership. Like logs in a fireplace, an accumulation of knowledge and experience provides fuel for the fire of leadership, but it is only behaviors such as conviction, communication and influence that provide the spark to set it ablaze. Crossing the leadership threshold means learning to view expertise, experience and authority as supportive but not primary. Continue reading →

The Talent Curse

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by Jennifer Petriglieri and Gianpiero Petriglieri

 

TalentThere were many late nights during Thomas’s time at a private equity firm, but two of them really stand out. On the first, he was at a bar. Earlier in the day, his boss had let him know that he was the top performer in his cohort. Over drinks that evening, he struck up a conversation with a partner at a rival firm. “You’re the guy who closed two deals in six months, aren’t you?” the man asked. It was a moment Thomas had dreamed of and worked for since leaving his small town for college, the first in his family, years before.

On the second, he was at his desk, working on a high-profile IPO. He was the only associate on the deal—the kind of assignment reserved for top talent on the firm’s fast track to partnership. Dawn was breaking, and he had no memory of the past six hours, even though his e-mail and phone logs chronicled a busy all-nighter. A neurologist later ran some tests and warned him of the dangers of sleep deprivation. “I would go to bed at five, wake up at seven with palpitations, and go to work,” Thomas recalled. “I never stopped to think that it was wrong. It’s how it works, I told myself. Everyone does it.”

Thomas slowed down briefly after the doctor’s warning but soon came back full throttle. His talent and drive were intact, though somehow he’d lost his sense of purpose. He created an opportunity for the firm to do a $1.3 billion deal, and then surprised his bosses by suddenly quitting. His performance was strong and his prospects bright as ever, but as he put it when we spoke, he had fallen victim to a vicious cycle: “I did not want to step off the fast track, so I could not slow down.” Thomas felt trapped by his firm’s expectations, but his desire to prove deserving of his bosses’ endorsement kept him from challenging the culture or asking for support. He felt both overwhelmed and underutilized, and concluded that this firm was not the right place to realize his leadership ambitions. Continue reading →

Pivots are for leadership — not just strategy

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By Tori Utley

The entrepreneurial journey is not linear – and it’s certainly not easy. Because of this, it’s easy to go the wrong direction, make the wrong decision, or choose a faulty business strategy.

Whether you’re a social entrepreneur solving community or social problems or an entrepreneur bringing new technology to market, there’s one thing you must remember – sometimes you need to admit your mistakes.

Whether it’s pride, aggressive timelines, or keeping your donors or investors happy, it’s difficult to say “we messed up” or worse – “I messed up.” This pride or fear can keep us ignoring both gut feelings and hard data – and ignorance in the face of truth about a mistake doesn’t get your company or your movement anywhere.

If entrepreneurs don’t know how to correct their own shortcomings – leadership style included – it puts the entire organization at risk of failure. Similar to how you run a startup, pivots are relevant in your leadership style, too. Learn to embrace the pivot to become a better leader – and watch your movement benefit in the process.

As a young social entrepreneur, I’ve had to learn the leadership pivot the hard way: after getting it way wrong. Although it’s never comfortable to go through these pivots, this kind of leadership and acceptance transcends through your team – which gets you closer to your ultimate goal of making an impact. Continue reading →

How to retain employees through ‘servant’ leadership

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zeynepBy Zeynep Ilgaz

The term “servant leadership” was coined nearly 50 years ago in an essay written by Robert K. Greenleaf; and since then, the business world has slowly but surely embraced this concept of empathy in leadership.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen top-notch companies like Zappos, Whole Foods and the Container Store publicly proclaim their affinity for this philosophy. And, in late 2016, Starbucks joined the ranks when it called its brand-new CEO a “true servant leader,” explaining that he embodies characteristics the company wants to see in all its leaders.

Servant leadership certainly seems to be growing in popularity, but it also continues to be quite misunderstood.

So, what exactly is servant leadership?
Some people see the word “servant” and mistakenly assume that servant leaders are slaves to their employees, pushovers who say “yes” to everything and are willing to sacrifice the company’s well-being to give employees what they want.

In reality, though, servant leaders are very much in charge of their companies; they just aren’t authoritarians who boss everyone around. Instead, they’re great listeners who are humble and empathetic — but still successfully balance organizational growth with these feel-good attributes. Continue reading →