Be Different or be dead

October 24, 2016

5 important things to remember when you’ve been screwed over

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5 important things to remember when you’ve been screwed over.

It’s happened to all of us at one time or another in organizational life; we’ve been dealt a bad hand and have had to suffer the negative consequences of a decision that someone else has made.

A decision we had no input in; one that was not in our best interest. One that set us back and removed privileges we worked hard and long to earn.

You’re not about to change the decision; you either have to live with it or leave and find opportunities elsewhere.

Here’s how you might be able to stay and live with it.

1. Do your research on why the decision was taken — What elements of the organization’s business plan drove the decision? What does the overall good look like? Is the intent to increase market share? Improve profitability? Refine business processes to streamline customer service?

The strategic objective is the context to evaluate your particular concerns. It provides a higher level explanation of why you are being screwed over. It won’t necessarily make you agree with the decision taken, but at least it will enable you to understand why it was reached.

2. Always keep the long term first and foremost in mind — Short term set backs are a way of life for individuals who choose organizational life. Your immediate misfortune does not represent the end of your career.

The good news is that you will have more chances.

3. Show your resiliency — Be that person who can take the punch, move on and continue to make a valuable contribution to the goals of the organization. Stand apart from others who choose to stay in defensive retreat and be a victim.

Your immediate misfortune my be an opportunity in disguise.

4. Seek guidance — From a mentor who has, no doubt, experienced similar issues in their time. Express your feelings, ask for advice and listen.

5. Keep your mouth shut! — Go to your ‘cave’ and think before you go public with your opinion of the decision. It’s always tempting and hard to resist, but avoid the bitching and lamenting conversations with colleagues about how badly you’ve been treated.

Uncontrolled reaction generally results in saying things you will regret. You don’t want your personal brand to be tainted with winer and sniveler; it will hold you back once the ‘crisis’ has past (and it will pass).

Accept the fact that ‘they’ will do you an injustice sooner or later and if you treat the event as a learning opportunity it will serve you well in your career.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 10.24.16 at 04:23 am by Roy Osing
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October 17, 2016

11 simple truisms that make successful leadership

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11 simple truisms that make successful leadership.

A 33 year career with a major corporation is a long run. 

The opportunities I had to play leadership roles as president, business unit VP, marketing EVP and CMO provided me deep levels of expertise and practical experience in virtually every aspect of an organization.

With an understanding of how successful results are consistently achieved.

My career yielded these leadership learning points that, looking back, we’re critical to my success.

1. Informality breeds trust — A tight leadership style begets little organizational rhythm and as a result produces spotty results.
People trust people who are real and don’t act out their position in the hierarchy.

2. Simplicity attracts followers — It’s all about having an uncomplicated story line that people get, believe in and are able to execute on.

3. The frontline is in control — It’s where the brave idea of strategy turns into the crude deed of successful performance and results.

4. Your ego must be muzzled — When someone suffers a setback (and everyone does at some point) the overwhelming force that pushes them to lash out against the injustice must be subdued.
Respect must be shown for the winner to earn the right to compete another day.

5. Language captivates — Unique words for common concepts attracts attention, interest and support. Cutting through the idea clutter is an essential act of leadership. Why say ‘eliminate non-strategic activities’ when you can say ’Cut the CRAP’?

6. First responders earn the prize — Be the first one to offer to help in times of trouble regardless of whether it’s your job or not. Success is often achieved in the face of a screw-up or when the original plan falls short of expectations.

Be the person who jumps into the fray to get things back on track.

7. Connect the dots — And unleash the passion in people. Between what the organization wants to achieve and what each person must do to deliver it. Allow employees to determine their own tactical approach and inconsistency and dysfunction will result.

8. If you’re not focused, you’re done — Limited time and resource bandwidth make focusing on the critical few tasks essential to drive ahead. Chasing “the possible many” is a great way to make zero real progress.

9. Imperfection drives results — Seeking perfection paralyses an organization, as unnecessary analysis and pondering prevent taking action.

10. Serving humans is the critical success factor for leadership — “Commanders” create virtually no long term value for an organization. Asking ’How can I help?’ to destroy barriers that prevent people from doing their job is the key to engage employees and deliver unmatched performance.

11. Loyalty creates sustainable leadership — Personal commitment to the organization and people around them create leaders for life who are loved and remembered.

Ironically, I learned none of this at school.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 10.17.16 at 04:15 am by Roy Osing
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August 22, 2016

Simple reasons why a great speech happens when people screw it up

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Simple reasons why a great speech happens when people screw it up

It’s counterintuitive, but your best speech can be given when you screw up.

I’ve had all the nightmares happen to me. Slides come up out of order, I suddenly forget the point I’m trying to make in the middle of a sentence, power is interrupted and slides disappear and the room goes dark, my iPhone goes off while I am speaking and a heckler chooses to be a co-speaker and tries to dominate the airspace.

These unpredictable events are opportunities; time to pump it up not shut down.

The psychology is quite simple.

People like the unpolished, un-slick and informal.

They like real.

And real is having the unexpected happen in a presentation. 

The key is what you do when it happens.

And if you recover well that’s what the audience will remember and talk about; the screwup contributes to the experience they had with you.

They forget that the microphone went out and remember what you said and did when you were silenced by technology.

Don’t deny the event.

It happened and everyone knows it.

Use it as a catalyst to send you in an unplanned direction.

Use it as a force to do something different.

Use it as an opportunity which may not otherwise have presented itself to surprise people and blow them away with your ability to go with the flow.

Acknowledge the heckler, thank them for the interruption (yes thank them!) and use their point to strengthen your own. Never put them down; honour their right to disagree with you.

When you forget your point, make a joke about yourself - “An unexpected senior moment highly unusual at the age of 30”. People love it when you make yourself the butt of a joke.

My formula…

Screwup success = stay on form (keep your momentum going) + surprise ‘em with something they don’t expect.

Think about what you will do before it happens.

Be prepared for “Murphy”.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.22.16 at 06:06 am by Roy Osing
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August 1, 2016

Why weird people are desperately needed to keep our businesses alive

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Why weird people are desperately needed to keep our businesses alive.

“The best” describes someone who conforms to rules and expectations more closely than others.

They spell more accurately; answer history questions more correctly and score the highest mark on linear algebra exams.

“The best” does a masterful job of performing their task according to the rules of the day. They colour inside the lines perfectly.

There are certain professions where we want the highest mark. It would not be comforting, for example, knowing the pilot scored a blistering 25% on his aircraft landing test. Nor would we trust our life to a heart surgeon who had a bypass surgery success rate of 4 out of 10.
These types of professions we want the best and need in-the-box thinking and performance.

In business, however, conformance to a set of rules or a set of standard operating rules does not guarantee success. When organizations conform, they all look alike; they are all the same.

They all are members of the herd who are indistinguishable from one another and struggle to gain competitive advantage.

Conformance to a best practice might improve operating performance but it will never create strategic success.

Organizations who consistently succeed are brilliant at not merely thinking outside the box, but creating a new box to play in.

They create a new form with a different set of lines to draw in.

They are masters of contrarianism and going the opposite direction to the momentum of the crowd.

They focus on separating themselves from the herd.

Don’t press yourself or others to be “the best”.

Honour the weird, odd, crazy, quirky, strange, out there, ridiculous and unusual.

Signs of weirdness.

Weird people:

- Find the notion of doing it like everyone else repugnant;
- Hang out with other weirdos;
- Aren’t taken seriously by the crowd;
- Are quite often the target of bullies;
- Are infatuated with technology and the cool things it can do;
- As young students were often In the Principle’s office;
- Hate following the rules;
- Turn out to be leaders of retro fashion;
- Invent their own language to describe the latest trends;

                          ◾️◾️◾️◾️

- Eat way too much pizza;
- Tend to enjoy their own company; they don’t have time for faceless crowds;
- Are fuelled by the art of the possible;
- Chase stuff;
- Aren’t afraid to fail; they do it all the time;
- Ask “Why?” in every conversation they have;
- Don’t use labels to define people. Weird is normal; it’s all they know;

The weird shall - no they must - inherit the earth.

Our future depends on it.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.1.16 at 05:08 am by Roy Osing
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