Three Lessons in Leadership

School incidents have occurred in almost every field, whether it's politics, sports or business. Yesterday they were confident winners, but today they are called losers.

Of course you think these catastrophic failures will never happen to you. You have worked tirelessly to get to your current leadership position, and of course you won't give up easily. But the problem is, from success to failure, there is often only a tiny difference.

Leaders often fail because they make a variety of mistakes. Let's explore what you should do to avoid these mistakes and prevent failure. Follow these guidelines to make the most of your leadership skills.

Adapting to the company culture

In December 2000, Robert Nardelli, a longtime GE executive, walked through the doors of Home Depot's headquarters. With it comes the financial discipline and tough leadership style of the GE people, which he thinks will easily fit into Home Depot's new front. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In fact, bringing in a new CEO from outside has both advantages and disadvantages.

“On the positive side, an outside CEO can breathe new life into a company and direct it to a new market or industry,” said Dr. Anne Reilly of Loyola University Chicago. But on the flip side, outside CEOs may not be able or willing to adapt their personal style to the company culture. Nardelli didn't bridge the gap between Home Depot's casual, entrepreneurial culture and GE's more rigorous corporate culture." < The first mistake Nardelli made was alienating Home Depot employees. To cut costs, he made sweeping changes to selling, operating and administrative expenses. A buy-side analyst with a major institutional shareholder said, "Nardelli is based on some mechanical formula to reduce labor costs without any consideration of how the customer's service will change."

Nardelli reduced staff It also laid off some full-time employees and increased the number of relatively unskilled part-time and hourly workers. The analyst pointed to Nardelli's failure to see service as a key factor in DIY retail sales.

"You go to Walmart to buy laundry detergent, and you don't need anyone to sell it. At Home Depot, you need someone who can tell you what you need, and sometimes a home improvement project for you. ' said the analyst. Nardelli's actions not only alienated employees, but created a large vacuum between Home Depot's shelves and customers.

Nardelli's draconian measures to cut costs have also raised concerns among shareholders. While Home Depot's earnings growth and return on capital have performed well during his tenure, investors are starting to worry about whether those results are sustainable.

According to analysts, there is a perception that he is too focused on short-term results. Nardelli, for example, single-handedly built Home Depot Supply, with the intention of extending Home Depot consumers beyond the DIY crowd into professional construction and maintenance. But shareholders are skeptical about the wisdom of entering an industry with slower earnings growth, lower returns on capital, and poor financial health.

“It’s okay that Nardelli wants to incorporate GE discipline at Home Depot,” said Barry Zweibel, president of GottaGettaCoach!, “and it’s entirely his job. But he can’t inspire here. of employees, and his inability to get the company's investors to support his change plan led to the end of his leadership at Home Depot."

Zevibel believes that to be successful, a leader must help employees identify and support the company Vision. "It seems that Nardelli can't encourage his employees to follow him, maybe he's not interested in it at all," Xavibel explained. "Instead, he uses imperative management and discards the secret sauce of Home Depot's success."

Take a long-term view

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been working here since the company had only 30 employees. Now, the software giant has more than 80,000 employees and a corporate campus the size of Disneyland.

One of Ballmer's strategies is to focus on the long term: target a market and keep working on a solution until it becomes competitive. Take the Xbox 360, which was introduced to the market in 2001, as an example. Before that, who would have thought that Microsoft would enter the game console industry? While the Xbox still faces stiff competition from Sony's Wii and Playstation, its connection to millions of televisions in American homes is what makes the Xbox unique.

The key to Microsoft's success in the video game market is its success in the software industry. The system has been carefully designed so that software developers can easily take advantage of the hardware to design games that take full advantage of the Xbox's capabilities. Sony, on the other hand, is often criticized for its reliance on proprietary systems and complex programming requirements. At this point, Microsoft beats Sony.

Best Practice Institute CEO Louis Carter believes that understanding market needs, no matter what the market is, is Ballmer's leadership advantage. "Ballmer allows himself to be surrounded by a lot of information," Carter said. "He is willing to stand up and listen to feedback. He pays close attention to the needs of his audience—market needs, competitors, customers, and employees—and is ready to change sides."

Ballmer's other philosophy of life is patience. Microsoft may not always be the first entrant in the market, but it always strives to be the market leader. Zevibel pointed out that a company with $44 billion in sales has the conditions to enjoy patience.

“Most people don’t have this notion of patience,” he said. “We would benefit a lot if we were more persistent, because very few people have the opportunity to work toward the same goal multiple times. ." Xavibel suggested. While Ballmer has the ability to persevere over the long term, many leaders should focus more on "helping good things come sooner."

However, Ballmer's undisputed success is inspiring and inspiring all Microsoft employees. In 2007, the company was listed on Fortune's 100 Best Employers list. This is a leadership trait that can carry over into any industry, Xavibel explained. "When a person is recognized and encouraged as an individual rather than as a 'position' on the org chart, he tends to be more committed when he is engaged in a great cause that appeals to him."

Zavibel adds that successful leaders identify what their employees value and align them with the company's priorities. "It's every leader's job to develop a project, goal or vision and tie it to each employee's core values and interests," he explained.

Using Team Strength to Overcome Difficulties

Rodrigo Jordan is a professor of management at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and CEO of Vertical SA. Vertical SA uses mountain climbing and other outdoor experiences to teach leadership skills and team strategy. Jordan says many people come to Vertical's adventures with a theoretical knowledge of leadership, or as leaders in the company. But by placing these people on an iceberg or mountain, stripped of the suits and red tape, they are forced to experience the raw nature of leadership.

“Adventures are the best simulation of the challenges of the ever-changing corporate world, because the realities of the outdoor environment are inescapable, and the consequences of which you will experience firsthand,” explains Jordan. “Food and water are limited. , must be carefully managed. The technical equipment in the wild is very imperfect, and it is even more important to have a clear communication system. Nature is so unpredictable that there is simply no time to sit down and debate the pros and cons of an action."

At the summit teamwork is especially important. Vertical SA once led an expedition of 11 climbers to the fourth highest peak in the world - Lhotse in the Himalayas. Jordan explained that because of the sheer challenge of reaching the summit, among other factors, on many expeditions only three or four climbers are usually selected for the summit attempt. But this time it's different, everyone on the team is eager to get to the top and has the ability to get there. "We started talking, and someone said, 'Why can't we all go?' Our initial reaction was, 'That can't be done.'"

After much consideration, the team split into two groups, one each in consecutive summit in a few days - a first for Vertical. The key to the team's success, Jordan said, was the leader's willingness to consider other candidates.

“In the business world, team members must trust that the team will open their eyes to new ideas they bring up, even those that seem whimsical and completely out of the question. However, team members must also be willing to express and explain their ideas. Going up and down in business is like an expedition on a mountain, and when difficult decisions have to be made, there is no place for the bigots."

He also pointed out that without a strong team with a common vision, a leader cannot complete. “The foundation of being a good leader is the ability to build a committed team that balances technical, personal and social skills, ensuring that the core values of the team are reflected in every member,” he said. Few people succeed alone, whether running a business or climbing the world's highest mountain."

Excerpted with permission from Insight magazine, part of the Illinois CPA Society. The latest content of Insight Magazine can be found at www.insight-mag.com. Translated by Jiang Xiaoshan.