Five Leadership Lessons from “The Godfather”

By Virgil Carter

Probably everyone remembers the movie “The Godfather”, the 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan as leaders of a powerful New York crime family.  Writer Lydia Dishman, in a recent article in Fast Company magazine, quotes Justin Moore, CEO and founder of Axcient, who says, “I certainly don’t endorse crime or violence, and I’m not suggesting business should operate like the Mafia, but there are some universal themes in the movie I can relate to as a CEO”.

Here are the five essential leadership lessons noted by Moore:

·        Build a powerful community:  Moore says building strategic partnerships enables companies to work through challenging markets and fast-track overall success.  “Partnerships forged through time, trust and mutual benefits are the types of community relationships that bring about the greatest returns”, Moore suggests.

·        Hold people accountable:  “To be successful in business you have to be tough, and you have to be extremely focused on hitting goals and getting results”, says Moore.  That doesn’t mean patience and understanding don’t have a place, he says, but ongoing tolerance of low-performing people or products just eats away at the success of the entire company.  “You are ultimately responsible for all of your employees and products, and that requires tough and swift decisions.”

·        Don’t get emotional:  “When people make emotional decisions, they start making bad decisions.  To lead successfully, you have to take your emotion and ego out of the equation”, says Moore.  Likewise, Moore says it’s important to play to win.  In business that translates to knowing the competition and always staying at least one step ahead.  “Operate your business with integrity and have respect for competition, but you also need to seize opportunities to beat your competition and win”.

·        Be decisive:  When you know what choice to make, move forward.  “Know who on your team is making the right choices and trust them to take decisive action as well.  Hesitation too often leads to missed opportunities.

·        Spend time with your family:  Moore isn’t endorsing 1940s machismo, but he is decrying 100-hour workweeks that many entrepreneurs fall prey to in hot pursuit of the next big thing.  “A leader can’t be successful in creative problem-solving and making excellent decisions unless that person is connected to people and passions outside of work.  I find that it’s often time with family and friends that gives me the perspective I need to build the relationships and make the decisive actions required for continued success in business, “ says Moore.

Is this a “deal too good to pass up”?

Passion in the Boardroom: Balancing Heart and Head

By Neil Bohnert

A selection from Origami in the Boardroom and Other Misadventures in Nonprofit Governance©

The agenda promised this would be a routine board meeting and the holiday spirit created a special ambience.  Less than a week remained until Christmas.  It was also mid-way through a year that had been a financial tight wire walk for the board.  The treasurer’s report was disconcerting, but in the holiday spirit, optimism prevailed.  Just as all the stated business had been covered and the group was anticipating adjournment and a holiday evening, the chairman distributed a letter requesting a sizeable investment for a project that was neither budgeted nor supported with any assessment.  The letter was accompanied by a memo from a committee chairman with a one-line statement: “We support this project.”  The issue was not on the agenda.  It was not in a committee report.  To add to matters, it was a sequel to an earlier project that had already created a hole in the operating budget.  But everyone was ready to approve it.  Why not?  It was a worthy endeavor.  It had all the hallmarks—social sensitivities, a “feel good” aspect, the right motives, a “sure thing” (according to the project manager)—and it was Christmas.  What was not to like? 

As I followed the discussion with some consternation, the locomotive began to move down the tracks, faster and faster as one person after another praised the project and “felt” it would surely be a good thing.  The passion was rising.

Then one person asked a startling question.  “Mr Chairman, since we’re already in a deficit for the year and this is an unbudgeted expense and there is no financial forecast for the project, how can we approve this on such little evidence?  A silence fell on the group.  Someone actually questioned the worthiness of the project!  The question struck at the heart of the issue.  One member rose to her feet and exclaimed that “we would certainly be remiss if we didn’t approve the project,” and walked out of the room in dramatic fashion.

How many times have we witnessed boards impulsively acting on the emotional aspects of issues and dismissing or ignoring the fiduciary responsibilities?   We regularly approve unbudgeted expenses because there is no alternative or because it “seems right” or because to do otherwise might be misunderstood.  “If it feels good, do it” seems to be a strong, unseen hand in many board actions.  No one wants to risk appearing opposed to an action that has the right “feel” about it.

So what’s wrong?  Isn’t that what nonprofit organizations are all about?

Not really.  Nonprofits, in the strictest sense, provide services that the free market cannot and that governments cannot, will not, or should not.  That really means that nonprofits do good works for a community or for society as a whole, but they cannot be irresponsible or careless in carrying out that mission.  Yes, there are many instances of nonprofits engaging in projects that lose money, intentionally lose money.  There are certainly examples of organizations taking up a critical mission when there is no one else to step into the breach.  But nonprofit boards are duty-bound to direct the organization in responsible stewardship. 

So how do boards strike the balance of heart and head”?

Let’s start by understanding the real responsibilities of boards under the umbrella of stewardship and governance.

Let’s start with channeling the passion in the boardroom.  Passion is an important ingredient in the nonprofit organization.  Without it, the mission that stirs people to become dedicated to the organization loses its appeal.  Emotional energy is good, but it is best directed at advancing the mission.  It is dangerous to allow passion a free reign in board decisions.

Let’s start with organizing meeting agendas to accomplish the important business of the board. Board work is a vital link between the mission of the organization and the strategic objectives.  Questions before the board must be linked to these strategic objectives.

What are the lessons to be learned?

Boards will be ruled by emotion.  Needed projects will be approved.  What’s important is channeling the emotion and passion for positive, effective outcomes.

The epilogue to my story, a true-life misadventure, is that the board decided to postpone action on the proposal, pending further assessment.  The Executive Committee approved the project the following month (in violation of the bylaws limiting Executive Committee authority, a misadventure to be told another day) and the board ratified the project, committing funds in the next fiscal year to the project.

Passion is the true energy source of nonprofit boards.  Use it wisely.

Let’s get started!

CEOs: Volunteers As Partners

By Virgil Carter

Experienced CEOs know that job tenure for non-profit staff members may be fleeting.  And CEO/staff tenure may often be volatile—a situation that cannot benefit the organization, the CEO or the organization’s members.  Why is this such a common situation for many non-profit orgainzations?

Closer examination often reveals the following:  volunteers usually care passionately about their organization.  Many volunteers may be leading figures in their field.  While these volunteers are subject-matter experts, many have little executive-level leadership experience, much less extensive experience in the unique setting of nonprofit, volunteer-led organizations.

By comparison, many CEOs and executive staff spend years expanding their enterprise-wide leadership and management knowledge of nonprofits. Many CEOs’staff actively participate in the broader nonprofit world. Compounding this disparity of knowledge and experience of non-profit organizations is the fact that roles and responsibilities of volunteer leaders and CEOs/staff often may be highly ambiguous. Even where there are written policies, there may be many more unwritten rules and traditions actually determining who does what, when, and how. Sound familiar?

What can be done to reduce tension between volunteers and CEOs?  One important improvement is forging and maintaining a volunteer-staff partnership built on two categories of activity essential for many non-profit associations:

·        Mission-driven activities: These activities tend to represent the purpose of the organization. These activities motivate volunteers and are where most want to be active. These activities, which are rightly led and populated by volunteers, may produce few net positive revenues and may be largely subsidized. This financial situation may be coupled with volunteer assertions that association activities shouldn’t produce revenues over expenses, to keep volunteer costs to a minimum.  Mission-driven activities are critical. There is nothing wrong with subsidized activities, so long as revenues from other sources are available for the needed subsidies.

·        Business operations activities: These activities are where most of the positive revenue is created to subsidize mission-driven activities. Because they are profit-and-loss oriented, they must be staff led and managed, since volunteers simply have neither the access nor the time to manage business affairs in the timely and agile manner required. A caution: business activities must be related to the mission, as much as subsidized activities.

Establishing clear roles and accountabilities for these two categories of association activity enables volunteer leaders and CEOs to play to their respective strengths. Such clarity, coupled with good communications, enables effective leadership, improved relationships, and strengthened organizational performance.

Leadership role clarity is an important step, transforming tension between volunteer leaders and CEOs/staff into productive partnership. The results—more effective volunteers, stability in CEO/staff tenure, and more successful, enjoyable associations—make the partnership worth everyone’s effort.

Menagerie in the Boardroom: This Place is a Zoo

By Neil Bohnert

A selection from Origami in the Boardroom and Other Misadventures in Nonprofit Governance©

It was a full agenda and one that promised no surprises.  The attention of the board turned in the direction of a board member of larger-than-life bearing entering the room.  The director, a very successful professional of national stature, had written extensively on a variety of nonprofit issues.  When he spoke, people listened.  The problem was he was not regular in his attendance and he had a talent for disrupting the debate on issues by throwing out questions that convoluted the issue.  His presence often changed the board’s demeanor, instilling both a note of confidence and an element of mild anxiety.  I watched as one after another of the menagerie acted out their predictable behaviors.  There were occasional glances in his direction, wondering if there would be a strike today.  Suddenly he spoke, decisively and authoritatively, taking the discussion in an unexpected direction.

The reaction was swift.  Many scattered, looking for a safe position.  A few, the stronger leaders, stood firm, waiting for calm to be restored.  Some moved in quickly and others waited for an opportunity.  The attack, though not unusual, had come without warning.  The chair worked to refocus the discussion and bring everyone back to the issue.

These types of behaviors are predictable.  There are many personalities present in any organization and we need all of them on the board for a balanced, healthy board environment. 

It is important to have experts and dissenters and people who voice unorthodox ideas on the board, people who will ask the important questions and hold the board to a full discussion on the issues before making decisions—informed decisions.  Far from shutting out people of dissenting or radical views, we should welcome them and celebrate their contributions.  Too many organizations work diligently to build boards of like-minded people and avoid divided opinions.  This can lead boards to dangerous outcomes.  The problem with this board was that while this director had extraordinary wisdom to contribute, his spotty attendance left the board ill-prepared for his occasional attacks.

There are many species common to any organization and they all bring their individual strengths and flaws to the boardroom.  We need to accept both and to take advantage of their assets and compensate for their negatives.

Sheep, the most common species, are usually docile and content.  They listen to the loudest voice, run from wolves, and are constantly bleating.

Assets

§  Can be counted on to always be present—no vacant seats here §  Most comfortable in numbers and will respond to a call for a show-of-strength

Liabilities

§  Docile nature inhibits individual thinking §  Tend to shy away from leadership; don’t look to them for developing future leaders

Elephants exhibit great stature and stability.  They are slow to anger, have long memories, and follow ancestral paths when wandering.

Assets

§  Strong; can be called on for heavy lifting and for rounding up the menagerie §  Memory of the past provides constancy and sure footing

Liabilities

§  Act out of the comfort of the past §  Can be annoying with reminders of “the way it used to be”

Leopards and Cheetahs are few in number, but very powerful.  They wait in hiding and create sudden chaos when on the attack.

Assets

§  Remain quiet, watching the menagerie, then become outspoken §  Strong bearing §  Incisive; make quick and sound judgments §  Can be a strong voice and spokesperson §  Can be used to keep the herd in check; others look to them for clues on when and how to move

Liabilities

§  Can misdirect the board’s progress with sudden, unexpected moves

Tortoises are few in number and very resilient.  They move slowly, withdraw at the slightest threat, spend a lot of energy carrying a shield to ward off threats, and they live forever.

Assets

§  Can be a helpful “brake” to slow the momentum when actions are moving too fast or are out of control

Liabilities

§  Can’t be prodded or forced to move

Wolves move in packs and prey on the weakest in the menagerie.  They submit to the dominant leader.

Assets

§  The pack culls the herd; can be called on to deal with a weak or inappropriate board action §  Can be helpful in exposing non-performing board members and moving them out

Liabilities

§  The pack mentality cannot always be managed §  Once on the hunt, may not be diverted

Otters are playful, entertaining, sociable, and likable, with quick wits.  They are adept at using humor and whatever is at-hand to achieve an objective.

Assets

§  Can use humor to interject insights and “lighten” a debate or meeting §  Social skills can facilitate a discussion §  Usually excellent networkers (a plus for fundraising)

Liabilities

§  Board time is social time; can delay or prolong a meeting to keep the social time going

Wildebeests are large, lumbering animals that move in large numbers, devouring food and kicking up a lot of dust.  Their presence cannot be ignored.

Assets

§  Their large mass adds weight to board actions, both in and outside of the boardroom §  Keep their heads down, but one among them is always alert §  Tend to move slowly, but can be set on a run by a threatening intruder

Liabilities

§  Can consume a lot of resources with their size and numbers §  Make a lot of dust that can obscure facts

Other species will appear on the board from time-to-time.  They may be sharks or hawks, porpoises or doves.  All will have their individual behaviors and their assets and flaws.

What can we learn from this true-life misadventure?  Let’s start with celebrating diversity.  We need people on the board who are strong and confident.  We need dissenters.  We also need leaders and followers.  And we need others who will occasionally help to cull the menagerie and make room for new species.

Let’s start with expecting regular attendance.  An empty chair contributes nothing and a director whose attendance is spotty disrupts board cohesiveness.  It is the board chair’s responsibility to confront directors who are failing the group.

Let’s start with expecting excellence from each person on the board.  That means adopting a job description or “board proposition” that specifies what conduct is expected of each person on the board.

Let’s start with building a board profile that identifies the skills and expertise needed on the board to serve the strategic priorities of the organization.  What animals are needed?

Let’s get started!

CEOs: Six Habits for True Strategic Thinking

By Virgil Carter

Are you the CEO or chief staff executive of your organization?  If so, you are the default leader for the strategic thinking and direction of your organization.  This doesn’t mean you are the only one in the organization involved in strategic thinking (or even the best strategic thinker), but as the CEO yours is the ultimate responsibility for developing, communicating and implementing successful strategy.  So how do you spend time thinking strategically?

“If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone”, writes Paul J. H. Schoemaker, in a recent Inc. article titled, ironically, “6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers”. The author offers the perceptive view that, “Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front of them, because it always seems more urgent and concrete.”

“It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do”, Schoemaker observes.  “After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:”

Anticipate:  Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. The leaders lack “peripheral vision.” This can leave your company vulnerable to rivals who detect and act on ambiguous signals.  To anticipate well, a leader must look for game-changing information, search beyond the current boundaries of your business and build wide external networks to aid in better external scanning.

Think Critically”  “Conventional wisdom” opens you to fewer raised eyebrows and second guessing. But if you swallow every management fad, herd like belief, and safe opinion at face value, your company loses all competitive advantage. Critical thinkers question everything.

Interpret:  Ambiguity is unsettling. Faced with it, the temptation is to reach for a fast (and potentially wrongheaded) solution.  A good strategic leader holds steady, synthesizing information from many sources before developing a viewpoint.

Decide:  Many leaders fall prey to “analysis paralysis.” You have to develop processes and enforce them, so that you arrive at a “good enough” position.

Align:  Total consensus is rare. A strategic leader must foster open dialogue, build trust and engage key stakeholders, especially when views diverge. 

Learn:  As your company grows, honest feedback is harder and harder to come by.  You have to do what you can to keep it coming. This is crucial because success and failure--especially failure--are valuable sources of organizational learning. 

Schoemaker concludes with a comment, “Obviously, this is a daunting list of tasks, and frankly, no one is born a black belt in all these different skills. But they can be taught and whatever gaps exist in your skill set can be filled in.”

Bookie in the Boardroom: What Are the Odds?

By Neil Bohnert

A selection from Origami in the Boardroom and Other Misadventures in Nonprofit Governance©

“Pick a number, any number” should have been the call of the chairman.  It was the end of the meeting and the chairman was about to call for a motion to adjourn.  The attendees were gathering their belongings in the familiar gesture signaling that the meeting was over when the treasurer, having earlier presented a troubling preliminary budget for the coming year, said, “I would like to see the Membership Committee meet to review the basic membership fee.  “We should consider increasing the fee,” and continuing, “It’s been several years since the last increase.”

Someone seized on the suggestion with a hearty, “I agree.  I move we increase the dues by 50 percent.”  A rapid “second” was fired by another director and a succession of comments ensued almost as a single volley.  The cavalry charge was at full gallop.  There were two comments, rather timidly offered, that suggested more study and information would be helpful, but they were ignored and a call for a vote brought the inevitable conclusion, followed by a quick adjournment.

The board had exercised its absolute power with absolutely no information.  While there is a common complaint that boards are slow to make decisions, a worse situation is when boards make uninformed decisions.  Even a player wagering a bet uses something besides intuition before deciding on a number, a horse, a game, or a lottery ticket.

What are the odds?  The odds are not good that this board made the right decision.  Had the board had an assessment and rational recommendation it might have made the same decision, but in this case, there is no way to know.  If this decision was the right one for the organization, it came about entirely by chance—a blind wager.

Why do boards make hasty, uninformed decisions?  It can be any one or a combination of reasons; politics, emotion, group intuition, or simply fatigue and eagerness to end the meeting.  Often, it’s just the easy way out.  What is there to know?  Aren’t we expected to use our collective wisdom to make these decisions?  We all know the answer.  Why waste time with the facts?

So what is a board supposed to do?

Let’s start with understanding the serious fiduciary responsibilities of the board as stewards acting in the best interests of the organization and those it serves.

Let’s start with preparing agendas that include all the important questions before the board.

Let’s start with expecting board agendas to include not only all the important questions to be considered, but also the information needed to support decisions.

Let’s start with using committees to support informed decisions.  Committees should advance recommendations in a format that includes such elements as the background information on the issue, the rationale for the recommendation, the authority for acting, and the measurable outcomes expected.  This will also provide a record of the board’s actions and a basis for measuring performance.

Following these simple habits in preparing for board actions can move a board toward exceptional performance:

§  Distribute all materials to directors in advance of the meeting (set a goal of having it to them one week before the meeting)

§  Distribute nothing at the meeting that requires an informed vote.

§  Include draft motions with the materials in advance of the meeting so directors know what they are being asked to vote on.  This gives them an opportunity to study the material and consider questions.

§  Use committees to study strategic issues and to make recommendations to the board.  Include the recommendations and rationale with the board materials and don’t repeat the report in an oral presentation.  (This also creates a record of board actions and thinking, in case of a challenge or investigation)

§  Do not act on extemporaneous, uninformed (rogue) motions.

The interesting turn to this real-life board misadventure is that at the very next meeting, someone reminded the board that there were several classes of members with different rates and that the board had only changed one, whereupon the board engaged in another identical process of setting dues rates based on no information whatsoever.  No one was the least concerned with the consequences of the decisions.

Let’s get started!

CEOs: Want to Think Like An Innovator?

By Virgil Carter

Like it or not, the chief executive of every organization sets the tone and the priorities for their organization.  Do you think your organization would benefit from being more innovative?  As the CEO, do you want to be an effective leader in innovation?  So you understand how many innovators think? Harvard Business Review reported on an interview on the subject by contributing Editor Bronwyn Fryer.  Fryer conducted a question-and-answer session with Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of Insead to explore how the "Innovators' DNA works”.

Dyer and Gregersen conducted a six-year study surveying 3,000 creative executives and conducting an additional 500 individual interviews. The study found five "discovery skills" that distinguish the executives.

--Associating:  a cognitive skill that allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas

--Questioning:  an ability to ask "what if", "why", and "why not" questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture

--Closely observe details:  particularly the details of people's behavior. –Experiment:  trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds

--Ability to experiment:  always trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds

--Networking:  connecting with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn

“Overall, associating is the key skill because new ideas aren't created without connecting problems or ideas in ways that they haven't been connected before”, according to Dyer.

Dyer commented that one might summarize all of the skills they’ve noted in one word: "inquisitiveness." “I spent 20 years studying great global leaders, and that was the big common denominator. It's the same kind of inquisitiveness you see in small children”, he commented.

Dyer asked the executives in their study to tell them about how they came up with a strategic or innovative idea. That one was easy for the creative executives, but surprisingly difficult for the more traditional ones. Interestingly, all the innovative entrepreneurs also talked about being triggered, or having what one might call "eureka" moments. In describing how they came up with a product or business idea, they would use phrases like "I saw someone doing this, or I overheard someone say that, and that's when it hit me."

In conclusion, Dyer added, “We also believe that the most innovative entrepreneurs were very lucky to have been raised in an atmosphere where inquisitiveness was encouraged. We were stuck by the stories they told about being sustained by people who cared about experimentation and exploration.”

Trivia in the Boardroom: Games Boards Play

By Neil Bohnert

A selection from Origami in the Boardroom and Other Misadventures in Nonprofit Governance©

The board was wading through a long, arduous agenda with the usual assortment of issues—and the usual tedium and tangents.  One item, a proposal to launch a public relations effort with a budget of about $12,000, had consumed nearly 50 minutes of the meeting while everyone voiced his or her opinion and experience in such matters.  One member held the board captive while he explained “how things used to be”.  Finally, the board voted to approve the project. 

The next item was a $15 million capital expansion project involving a bond issue, bond counsel, project directors, and a host of consultants and engineers.  A motion was made and seconded. The chairman called for discussion.  One member asked for a clarification on the role of the special counsel.  Then, a call for the vote was heard.  “All in favor?”  Ayes resounded in unison.  It was over in minutes.  Fifteen million in minutes!

It’s so typical.  A board can spend hours on micromanaging an issue and then take sweeping actions in minutes. It’s a common complaint heard from CEO’s.  “How do I keep the board from managing the organization?”

So how do we redirect the board away from managing the operations and toward the real business of the board?  How do we establish a different pattern of performance, one that builds an active, energetic board that is ready to deal with the common maladies—dead wood, inertia, conflicts of interest, and others?

Let’s start with organizing agendas to focus board discussion on substantive issues that can and should be dealt with only at the board level.  A consent agenda format is useful for dispensing with routine board business in short order, reserving meeting time for debate and decisions.

Let’s start with prioritizing agenda items.  First things first.

Let’s start with focusing the work of the board on board work—not managing the operations.

Let’s start with building a board composed of the right people for the organization.  Boards tend to clone themselves.  Effective boards resist the temptation and seek to constantly renew themselves.  A board is a renewal resource.

Let’s start with redesigning the committee structure to ensure we have the right committees doing the right things so that the board does not have to act as a committee-of-the-whole and does not have to rely on chance for recommendations and motions.

Boards can be like animals—sheep and elephants, for example.  They tend to move where the loudest voice directs and they have very long memories.  It can be a challenge to establish new habits—new board processes and directions—but it can be rewarding to both individual members and the organization to experience the joy of real progress.

In this story—a true-life misadventure—the board was eventually redirected with the leadership of a new CEO and the support of the elected board leadership.  Raising the sights of the board and assessing its own performance redirected the board to work on its own agenda—leading the organization, not managing it.

Let’s get started!

CEOs: Wrestling with Burnout

By Virgil Carter

As a CEO, and the top leadership interface between your organization’s members, customers and staff, have you experienced burnout?  Do you know CEOs who have gone through burnout?  If you are an existing CEO, then chances are you have faced burnout.  And if you’re an aspiring CEO, you should understand how burnout may take place.  It’s no surprise that leaders, with the large challenge of being responsible for planning and performance of their organizations, can become victims of burnout.  The continuous, never-ending burden of top leadership can wear anyone down.

Are there some ways to reduce or avoid burnout? 

A Internet article from LeaderPoint noted that while the weight of being in charge can overcome the most successful leaders, burnout is often a function of not delegating and working through others effectively.  Harvard Business Review blogger John Baldoni is quoted as stating that the “best way to overcome the drive than made (CEOs) successful in the first place—the relentless pursuit of perfection—is to shift focus from one’s own success to the success of the executive team.”

Here are some suggestions from the article to help avoid burnout:

--Lead through others:  Being a CEO widens the scope and increases the magnitude of the results to be achieved.  Assign others the significant outcomes so that the CEO is not the bottleneck, consumed with personal problem-solving.

--Knowing everything:  No CEO can do everything well.  Accepting that no one can possibly know everything allows one to ask more questions, learn more and allows the work to remain with those show should be doing it.

--Enabling others:  Motivating others is a challenge.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  Instead, focus on the work to be done, the desired outcome and assign these to key staff.  Big jobs with significant outcomes tend to motivate people.

The bottom line is about getting results, consistently over time.  It’s hard to do that without the support and assistance from others. One of the best ways for CEOs to achieve success is to drop their invincibility posture.  Successful leadership and successful organizations are not a solo act.

To read the article “Avoid Burnout by Focusing on Your Team”, by John Baldoni, go here:  http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/11/avoid_burnout_by_focusing_on_y.html#