How Leaders Set Themselves Apart From Others

The question I am sure every employee asks is "what makes him a great leader and not me?". Well I know that I asked myself that question when assessing people I have worked for over my career. I think Jack Welch has said it best in his book "Winning". I have always been a fan of Welch and have read all his books and even was a stockholder of GE for many years. In his latest book, "Winning", I think he really articulates what leaders do and after re-reading this book for a 2nd time it finally hit home. So, what leadership knowledge has Jack imparted upon us, here are his eight key points:

• leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, constantly assessing their progress and evaluating them along the way
• leaders make sure people breath the vision set, not just see it
• leaders get into people's skin, through positive energy and optimism
• leaders establish trust and credit. There is transparency and candor with their style
• leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions
• leaders probe and question how things are done to see additional opportunity or new methodology
• leaders inspire risk taking
• leaders celebrate

Also ask yourself does your CEO possess these qualities and if not how does your business rank against the competition. I would like to hear your comments. Also link to Meet the Boss.TV for more on leadership.

Are You At the Table Yet?

Earlier this week I attended the HR Executive Roundtable Group meeting which I co-founded at ARRIS. The speaker was Joel Koblenz from the Koblenz Group in Atlanta who talked about what CEOs want from HR leaders and what they expect. Joel's discussion to the group was "a view from the top". The topic was timely and on target based on what we currently are seeing in the economy and industry. 


It reminded me of a post I put up last July so I thought I would repost it again since the points that Joel touched on were what I wrote about last year.  In addition, Joel mentioned 2 other key points that I failed to bring up in that previous post:

• meeting with your CEO weekly to calculate the HR strategy against the current business strategy
• making sure that you understand the business from the ground up, not just what you produce and who are your key competitors.

In addition, all successful corporations use HR strategically, not just to manage administration and other mundane HR tasks. CEOs are interested in growth, profits, innovation, and the ability to retain customers. HR is at a key position to help the CEO attain all of these objectives. To do this your time in the HR leadership role should consist of the following:

• discussing talent, retention, and talent development and pipeline candidates;
• compensation and competitive intersections of market and attaining the best talent;
• benefits, maintaining a competitive package and harnessing costs, especially health and 401K and pensions;
• identifying integration acquisitions quickly;
• anticipating critical business events and regulatory issues;
• guiding and maintaining a daily interaction with the CEO and key business leaders;
• understanding the dynamics of the economy and how they impact the business;
• and finally enabling growth drivers at the employee and business levels.

Are you doing these key functions on a daily basis? Let me know your thoughts.