ladder of influence - why we go wrong in our thinking or understanding other's thinking

Great engineering, well architected to explain basic concept of understanding others mind and explain why we go wrong in understanding !!

For now, please window shop the concept here

http://leadershipdiamond.blogspot.com/2009/04/ladder-of-inference.html

I will be back with my 10cents in my next post.

Are you a Leader or a Manager ?

Good post from Bruce Lynn, good consolidation of those 2 dimentions.

1. Leaders optimise the upside; Managers minimise the downside. Both together net more.
2. Leaders envision possibilities; Managers calculate probabilities. Both together win more.
3. Leaders focus on the ends; Managers focus on the means. Both together reach more.
4. Leaders focus on the what; Managers focus on the how. Both together do more.
5. Leaders prepare beyond the limits; Managers focus execution within limits. Both together perform better.
6. Leaders generate energy; Managers preserve energy. Both together energise more.
7. Leaders seize opportunities; Managers avert threats. Both together progress more.

knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference

A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
'What?!' the owners exclaimed. 'He hardly did anything!'
So they wrote the old man a note saying, 'Please send us an itemized bill.'
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer...... ......... ........ $ 2.00

Knowing where to tap.......... ......... ...... $ 9, 998.00

Moral of the story …………… Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!

Know your master

It works !! if you know your master... not only in academics but also in practical life, be it professional or personal, at home and at play. Its "key" to the success.

Here are the fine example from my experiences, in during my M.Tech in IIT - getting a A+ grade in communication engineering subject is next to impossible, because its not a high scoring subject like algorithms or data structures. Its plain text & you get bored to write paras after paras with at most one or two diagrams. Then how to get A+ and how to win the game (of getting top ranker in IIT)? Thats where knowing my master (professor) helped me :) Instead of writing entire answer sheet with one pen, I have used multiple color pens - using all my art skills, and made my answer sheet impressive to look, and thats catched my master (I understand now how monotonous he felt going through other answer sheets, so far, all his experience. He is a senior professor btw) and awarded me A+. So what made me to win? yes, its Innovation, I agree. But innovation is targeted to suit my master, isn;t it?

Every body agrees that it applies to office/profession. Where in your master could be your boss or a manager .. and if you don't have a boss (if you are one among few lucky chaps :) ) then your client or customer will be your master.

That said. lets take another example, at home (I would say indian home more precisely), I am sure my wife sees me as a master & kids too, and they try to win my attention by doing things which I like.. food, choosing articles & apparels. But again not always :) as I feel, I guess every master feels the same way. So there are occasions where you do things for yourself, winning your own master, in you.

To wrap up, its fine balance that you try to achieve, so that both masters are satisfied.. some time one dominates another, and thats where knowing your master(s) helps to win the life game.

How does science defines Leadership ?

“Power is either created or lost depending on how you choose to think, feel and respond to the world,”

I cooks for friends, goes on nature walks and does yoga to meditate andrelax. “But what I really enjoy is interesting conversations with people.”

Without feedback we simply don’t learn who we are. “The art of leadership lies in conversation, not only in making the right strategic decisions. Ironically, so many people are not aware of themselves and how they interact with others,” says the coaching guru.

How do you keep cool? I am mostly cool. We lose our cool when we lose our perspective—like when someone is overtaken by a car, and starts chasing that person. You do that because your brain gets flooded with emotions, you go into a state of unconsciousness. If you are aware of everything happening around you and yourself, you don’t lose your self-awareness; this is a key aspect of leadership.

What is the best way to re-load batteries for work? Breathe well. Smile a lot more. Take an interest in your “self” and the people around you. I don’t watch television, except for films that I am interested in, and I ignore things feeding on negativity.

How does manage his workload? “I don’t have any difference between work and life. Everything is just one big flow; other people might say it is one big mess, but I get paid for what I enjoyed doing it.. thats perceptive I take.

These are the some of snippets that I liked from "sudhanshu palsule" work on self-ware leadership learning. Most important points here is get feedback or (if not) reflect your self in your conversations and give a perceptive to control your emotions.

Behavioural economics - a definitional step towards your guts.

This is an article published on TOI online, under coroporate dossier:

If you are offered two jobs – to be the CEO of Chrysler (this interview took place before the company announced it is filing for bankruptcy ) or the CEO of Toyota, which one would you choose? If you immediately picked Toyota just as you finished reading the question , hang on for a minute and think again.
Remember that irrespective of which one you select , you would need to improve performance by 10% or else the board and shareholders will want a new CEO. “At Chrysler, you have an unproductive workforce and are making cars people don’t want, where as at Toyota, all the processes that you would possibly implement at Chrysler to boost productivity are already in motion,” says Jim Clifton, global chairman and CEO, Gallup Consulting.
“At Toyota, the CEO needs something new to take the company to the next level, and that is when you turn to behavioural economics,” he says.

Behavioural economics goes against the essence of what classical economists swear by — that man is a rational being and hence, all his decisions will be rational — it didn’t get it’s due till a few years ago. Newer studies show that only 30% of decisions made by people are actually ‘rational’ , with the balance 70% being classified irrational or emotional. According to him, behavioural economics has really come into its own in the last few years, simply because all the other processes to improve productivity, right from Six Sigma to Business Process Reengineering and Just in Time, have been hugely successful.

Citing the example of US electronics retailer Best Buy, he says, the company first found how many employees had a ‘high level of engagement’ at work. “This means that rather than just giving the customer what he asks for, the employee was likely to ask him why he wanted it and suggest alternatives/ additional things he could buy as well and in the process make a bigger sale,” Clifton explains. After mapping where each employee was on the engagement scale, the CEO then doubled the level of engagement required. “The best way to make sure that it works is to have a system of mapping it that is as accurate as your accounting practices, and to link it to compensation,” he says. At Best Buy, a part of the compensation is linked with engagement, which Clifton feels people have far greater control over as compared to profitability. The end result: its nearest competitor, Circuit City, filed for bankruptcy.

Smart leaders are recognising that to take the company a notch higher, they need to look beyond the traditional theories, and behavioural economics appeals to people like them. Behavioural economics has no use in a ‘lousy company’ . It would work best in a company that has already straightened out its systems and processes and is now looking at newer ways of growing, ideally, with a minimal investment.

When the going is good, everyone will grow well. As the sector matures, companies need to look at new ways of retaining customers, finding new ones and most important, continuing to grow,” he says. According to him, most people rank towards the middle of the scale, and simply getting them to realise their full potential can result in a 30-40 % growth for the company.

Final thought. If you think that the impact of behavioural economics is restricted only to the boardroom , think again. It’s now a well established fact that US President Barack Obama relied heavily on his team of behavioural economists to get people to get out and vote in record numbers. And it seems to have worked just fine for him.

Can your passion eclipse your short comings ?

"Those who succeed here are not those who have degrees from Harvard, but those who share the same passion.”
I enjoy this caption & agree to most extent - we should not be limited by not knowing or not having the knowledge. But if you have the passion, know-how follows :) just believe in your passion, and brings you the knowledge & subsequent success.

In the similar lines, one of the author said - “If you have talent and energy, you’re king. If you have only energy and no talent, you’re still a prince. But if you have talent and no energy, you’re a pauper.”

So tell me who is helping whom? Energy brings more talent or Talent brings more energy? Yes, talent can bring the energy since you have the knowledge and you know there is no way you can go wrong so its fills you with +ve energy, Agreed. Then how about when you believe in something (by passion) but you don't have knowledge/talent in doing it.. will I succeed? .. YES, you will, because you believe in it.. so your passion should be eclipsing all your shortcoming & fill them with alternatives.

This equation wins only if you have that level/intensity of passion. Bingo ! you are the better judge of your self !!! see if your strong passion can eclipse your short comings or not, and IT IS then you are the winner.

Kids, a story for you.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream." I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house“.

Isn't she proud of her both pots?

Indeed.. no doubt she is proud of her both pots. You know hero in this story always be elderly woman, IMHO. She is one the one who utilised the strength & weakness of her both pots and put them to a meaningful use.

Another great reading I got from this story is, sharing your thoughts and feeling to some one who can make difference to you.. which second pot did in her case, after 2 years. For knowing what she is up to, though 2 years is longer time, but she has not broken too much out of ashamedly during those years. Thats where importance of knowing oneself & receiving constant feedback on things you do (from the right people), makes difference to the way you live the life.

We as leaders should be able to give feedback, or at least ready to share feedback when need arises. That's the difference that leaders can make to their teams & society around.

What it takes to make a decision?

Its not easy to makeup your mind about something, even when you know the outcomes i.e, gains Vrs losses of your decision. Here is the fine example:

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track. The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make........ .........

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens.. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.