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Reading True North: Losing Your Way Exercise

Do you know any leaders who were once great, but lost their way? That is the central theme behind the second chapter of True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. Here is the exercise that follows that chapter.

The True North exercises:

Introduction Exercise
Chapter 1: Your Story Exercise
Chapter 2: Losing Your Way Exercise
Chapter 3: Your Greatest Crucible Exercise
Chapter 4: Knowing Your Authentic Self Exercise
Chapter 5: Practicing Your Values and Principles Exercise
Chapter 6: Your Motivations and Motivated Capabilities Exercise
Chapter 7: Building Your Support Team Exercise
Chapter 8: The Integrated Leader Exercise
Chapter 9: The Purpose of My Leadership Exercise
Chapter 10: Empowering Other Leaders Exercise
Chapter 11: Honing Your Leadership Effectiveness Exercise

Why Leaders Lose Their Way

Have you seen leaders lose their way or worked with someone who fits any of the archetypes particularly well?

Yup. Countless times. I’ve heard of many political leaders rise to power through the support of their people, only to fall to corruption and become overthrown by those same people.

Thinking about this brings to mind the theory that people are promoted to the point of incompetence. The theory describes people that are promoted because they’re doing a great job in their current role, without regard for how well they’ll do in the next level.

What are the behaviors and warning signals you have seen in others at risk of losing their way?

Arrogance is perhaps the main warning sign I’ve seen. They become enamored with themselves and believe they are incapable of doing no wrong. Some go as far as to surround themselves, consciously or unconsciously, with Yes People too. ‘Tis quite a shame.

Derailment

Can you see any of the qualities of the Imposter in yourself?

Note: An Imposter is someone who rises through the organizational ranks with a combination of cunning and aggression. They understand the politics of getting ahead and let no one stand in their way.

Nope. I believe people should rise based on proven merit and potential aptitude for the next role ahead. I was once given the opportunity for a promotion, but turned it down because I knew I wasn’t ready yet and another person would fit the role better.

Can you see any of the qualities of the Rationalizer in yourself?

Note: A Rationalizer is someone who always appears on top of the issues, yet when things don’t go his/her way, he/she blames external forces or subordinates or offer facile answers to his/her problems.

Nope. It’s important to know the root causes of problems, especially when it’s yourself. Without such impartial self-awareness, it’s impossible to improve.

Can you see any of the qualities of the Glory Seeker in yourself?

Note: A Glory Seeker is someone who defines himself/herself by acclaim of the external world. Money, fame, glory, and power are his/her goals, as he/she pursues visible signs of success.

There may be a bit of this in me. Anyone who has a blog is seeking some measure of fame. If someone says otherwise, that person doesn’t understand the nature of a blog.

I don’t want to be a celebrity though. That kind of lifestyle is not for me. But I wouldn’t mind a room in a library named after me – after I’ve made a substantial difference to that community, of course. I’ll happily accept recognition if I earn it, but will never put my kids in a balloon (or not) just to get some fame.

Can you see any of the qualities of the Loner in yourself?

Note: A Loner is someone who avoids forming close relationships, seeking out mentors, or creating support networks. They believe they can and must make it on their own.

Nope. Nothing pumps me up more than to meet with people smarter than I and listen to their advice. One of my roles in life is as a constant student. In that role, I am always learning. Everyone around me is a teacher. There is something I can learn from everyone, if I listen carefully and keep an open mind.

Can you see any of the qualities of the Shooting Star in yourself?

Note: A Shooting Star is someone whose life centers entirely on his/her career. He/she is always on the go, rarely making time for family, friendships, his/her community, or even himself/herself.

Nope. My family is the most important thing in my life. I’m doing all of this for my family, after all. I’ll never compromise my time with my family.

Losing Your Way

Can you envision a situation in which you could lose your way in the future?

It’s difficult to envision that, though anything is possible. Of the derailment roles listed above, I suppose the one that holds the most risk for me is the Glory Seeker. I like to think that I’m grounded enough to never pursue fame over my family or business though. That just sounds insane.

To what extent are you prepared to go your own way and be your own person, despite external pressure?

I’m prepared all the way man! The path of an entrepreneur is full of external pressures. It’s our job to balance them and make intelligent trade-offs.

Do you have a fear of failing? In what ways? Is it because you are afraid of what other people would think about you? Is it personal pride?

No, I’m not afraid of failing. I rather welcome it. I expect to fail many times before I succeed.

That’s not to say I will be a failure. I am just realistic about the life of an entrepreneur and have my expectations set accordingly. Failure is really an opportunity to learn. Therefore, I welcome failure and look forward to the education it will impart to make me a better entrepreneur, leader, father, and person.

How is your fear of failing impacting your decisions about leadership and your career? Are you consciously or unconsciously avoiding situations in which there is a risk of failure?

I suppose I don’t need to answer this question if I’m not afraid of failing. To failure, I have this to say: In the words of Joe XXX, “Bring it on!”

How could the experience of failing help you achieve your ultimate goals?

I just wrote about this above. Failure is really an opportunity to learn. The more I learn, the easier it is, and closer I get to my ultimate goals.

In what ways do you crave success?

I crave success in myself, with my family, in my business, and in my community. The answers are broad because the vision for each is broad.

In myself, success means maturity, health, happiness, rewarding challenges, and peaceful contentment. With my family, I want the same as I want in myself, such as a healthy & happy family. In my business, success means self-sustaining profitability, the betterment of the lives of our customers, and a happy & rewarding place to work for my employees. In my community, it means some kind of improvement in the lives of my neighbors and community members.

How is your craving for success impacting your decisions about leadership and your career? Are you consciously or unconsciously choosing situations that give you a high probability of success?

My desire for succeeding in my life goals has a strong and conscious influence over the choices I make. The positions and roles I’ve held have all been a conscious stepping stone towards entrepreneurship, for example. This career in the web and the flexibility it offers was also a conscious decision, so that I could work from home often and spend more time with my family.

How would you answer these questions?

The True North exercises:

Introduction Exercise
Chapter 1: Your Story Exercise
Chapter 2: Losing Your Way Exercise
Chapter 3: Your Greatest Crucible Exercise
Chapter 4: Knowing Your Authentic Self Exercise
Chapter 5: Practicing Your Values and Principles Exercise
Chapter 6: Your Motivations and Motivated Capabilities Exercise
Chapter 7: Building Your Support Team Exercise
Chapter 8: The Integrated Leader Exercise
Chapter 9: The Purpose of My Leadership Exercise
Chapter 10: Empowering Other Leaders Exercise
Chapter 11: Honing Your Leadership Effectiveness Exercise

Biz Idea: Electric Vehicle Battery Replacement Service

This month’s INC Magazine had an interesting article: “The Connected Car” by Bernard Avishai. The article discussed the potential of an “ecosystem of entrepreneurial businesses” that will arise to service electric vehicles. This new technology is going to need all kinds of new products and services to support it. That’s where the opportunities come in.

One such opportunity Avishai pointed out is battery recycling:

Lab tests show that, even after 10 years, Volt [Gen-1 battery] packs will still be capable of carrying 75 percent of their original charge — not enough for the vehicle, but more than enough for utilities to use as storage for bulk renewable energy. [Line director of the GM Volt Tony] Posawatz is excited: “It is easy to imagine warehouses full of used batteries sucking up wind energy and saving it for times the wind does not blow, or homeowners using the pack as backup,” he says. “For recycling entrepreneurs, this means a whole new way of doing business.”

Here’s how I would envision such a company:

Say you have an electric car whose battery is about to run out. You go to our company’s website or call our toll-free number. Then we send over a technician, perhaps behaving theatrically like the way Geek Squad’s (BBY) technicians do for their house calls. Our trained technician removes your battery, provides you with a new one, and leaves with a smile. Then the battery is resold to homeowners or other entreprises who want electric power. When one of those end users calls, our technicians will deliver the battery to them personally as well, though it could be mailed just as easily to save costs.

The benefit to customers? Convenience. They just contact us and we take care of the rest.

The benefit to homeowners or end users of recycled batteries? It’s cost-effective. They get an inexpensive, yet usable battery, plus the good feeling of knowing they’re helping society recycle.

And for doing all of this, we earn a nice profit. We charge a premium for our convenient service. Our batteries may cost extra, but we also handle the chore of recycling the batteries properly to a secondary market – earning even more revenue there.

Our operational costs would come from the website & toll-free number (and perhaps that number isn’t even necessary), the customer & product tracking software, the training classes for our technicians, the vehicles our technicians use (electric, of course!), and other basic business costs (legal, financial, marketing, etc).

Since our company is geographically-bound, we would have to market locally at first. As we streamlined our operations, we could consider a franchise model or company-owned branches throughout the country. We would aim to be a nationally-known service.

Perhaps a partnership could be struck with green vehicle service stations too, if & when those exist. Our services could be offered at such stations as a value-add service. The station can refuel, recharge, and replace your battery all in one location.

And you, as a franchise owner, get to make money with a green business! Everybody wins, especially (and hopefully) planet Earth.

Photo by: bpende

The Website is Down

Now for some Friday fun.

This is an oldie but a goodie. The Website is Down is a set of hilarious indie videos showing the phone conversations between the main protagonist “Web Dude” Derrick and his arch nemesis “Sales Guy” Chip. Other characters also make an appearance, such as data center admins, network admins, and other sales people.

The brainchild of Joshua Weinberg, The Website is Down is a parody of what IT support staff experience every day. I did IT support work for a summer internship and can empathize.

A 2009 Webby Award winner in the Viral category, The Website is Down is the brainchild of a tech support geek turned independent filmmaker Joshua Weinberg from Denver, CO.

The inspiration for The Website is Down came to Weinberg while he was still in college. As he tells the Rumpus:

For a long time I had an idea about making a movie that took place on the screen of someone working at a computer. I thought it would be cool to see that, watching the story only through the actions onscreen. Originally, I had this idea when I was in school getting my computer science degree. At the time the it was not going to be a comedy, but a mystery where you would watch someone uncovering a secret, like detecting a hacker or whatever. It was going to be all text, all Unix commands, but only ultra-geeky people would know what the fuck it was about.

…That didn’t happen. Really, it’s been more fun doing it as a comedy; obviously more people can appreciate it that way. I had the idea for [The Website is Down] in my head for a very long time and finally the pieces just fell into place. I’ve been making a lot of movies with Casey [Cochran], who also works in tech support, so he completely understood the characters and scenario. He plays Chip Moorhead, the Sales Guy.

Total PEBAK. Go watch the rest of their episodes before their website goes down.

The Annual Filing Division & Business Filings Division Scam

Scam alert!

A few weeks ago, I received two sketchy letters in the mail, one from the “Annual Filing Division” and one from the “Business Filings Division“. Both look pretty official on a cursory glance, complete with a supposed California state seal at the top left corner.

Looking at these two letters, my bullshit meter beeped. I had never heard of these divisions before, nor their fees. I monitor our business expenses closely and am aware of all the business-related fees we need to pay. Nothing I had read mentioned the fees these forms demanded.

The Annual Filing Division asked for a $195.00 payment. The Business Filings Division asked for a $239.00 payment. Both asked for redundant information about our LLC as well, including the company address and member information – information that the state should have already.

Each had a Sacramento phone number listed on their forms. The Annual Filing Division had 916-993-3195, the Business Filings Division had 916-903-5355. I called both to get more information. Both gave me recorded messages. When I hit 0 for an operator, the calls dropped. This happened each time I tried. Give it a try too and see what you get.

My next stop was a web search. And lo and behold, my suspicions were confirmed. Lots of others have written about these scams already.

The California Secretary of State’s office has even issued an official consumer alert about these fraudulent letters.

If you receive either of these two letters, shred them immediately. They are scams.

Whew. Good thing I’m cost-conscious and examine our business fees closely. I wonder how many business owners wrote checks to these guys. Hopefully they can get their money back. I hope the authorities shut down these scam artists too.

Reading True North: Your Story Exercise

What’s your story? That is the question covered by the first chapter of True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. I’m covering each of the exercises that follow the chapters of this book.

The True North exercises:

Introduction Exercise
Chapter 1: Your Story Exercise
Chapter 2: Losing Your Way Exercise
Chapter 3: Your Greatest Crucible Exercise
Chapter 4: Knowing Your Authentic Self Exercise
Chapter 5: Practicing Your Values and Principles Exercise
Chapter 6: Your Motivations and Motivated Capabilities Exercise
Chapter 7: Building Your Support Team Exercise
Chapter 8: The Integrated Leader Exercise
Chapter 9: The Purpose of My Leadership Exercise
Chapter 10: Empowering Other Leaders Exercise
Chapter 11: Honing Your Leadership Effectiveness Exercise

Discover Your Leadership in Your Life Story

During your early years, which people had the greatest impact on you?

My parents and teachers had the greatest impact on me. Both of my parents are in leadership positions, though each varies significantly in leadership style. Their range has taught me to consider a range of techniques for any given situation.

A handful of teachers also made an impression, such as my fifth-grade teacher and her weekly Poor Richard’s Almanac quotes (“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, “A penny saved is a penny earned”, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, etc). I love quotes, those little nuggets of wisdom. Perhaps that love originated from fifth-grade.

Starting with your earliest memories, which experiences marked turning points in his life?

There were many. First, I was a quiet, introverted kid. Then a series of fortunate events evolved me into, surprisingly, an extrovert. The change has been so striking that I sometimes wonder if my true nature is to be an extrovert and my childhood environment nudged me into being an introvert. (Not that there’s anything wrong with being an introvert. Extroversion and introversion are merely where you get your energy and place your attention – from other people or from yourself.)

Once that foundation was set, my first true taste of leadership came in college. In my junior year, I became the public relations officer of a student-run community service organization. Then its president in my senior year. Leading a team of intelligent type-A officers and student volunteers like myself was a remarkable experience. I had to learn how to deal with my weaknesses, hone my strengths, delegate, communicate effectively, motivate officers and volunteers already swamped with school work, coordinate social events, and grow the organization.

The next turning point was becoming an engineering manager at Yahoo! (YHOO). At the peak of this role, I managed a small organization of 22 developers and first-line managers. The experience allowed me to hone a set of management techniques & principles that have become my management style.

The latest turning point has been launching WebMocha, where my leadership role evolved from leading teams to leading a company with business partners. In this role, I was fortunate to find partners who complemented my strengths and weaknesses, and I theirs. A whole new set of leadership behaviors had to be refined here, such as managing workers, dealing with client projects, winning the hearts and minds of prospective clients, managing finances, working towards profitability, etc.

There was also another significant turning point – a nearly fatal accident while skydiving. That profound experience taught me to appreciate life and view it graciously. It’s also made me realize the importance of being myself, of being authentic. Because when I’m on my death bed, what do I want to be proud of: having lived my life as someone else or having lived my life as myself?

In which experiences did you find the greatest inspiration and passion for leadership?

Any instance where someone in my team achieved greatness, success, recognition, or reached his/her own goals has been inspirational. I was fortunate enough to experience this over and over again while at Yahoo! The high I received was way better than any drug, lemme tell ya.

Looking at patterns from your early life story, what people, events and experiences have had the greatest impact on you and your life?

These questions are a bit redundant, huh? My parents and teachers had a significant impact on me. As did the events I described in the last two questions.

Can you identify instances where you were dissatisfied with your leadership or received constructive feedback from others about it?

There are a few poignant moments at Yahoo! that I regret. Having 22 members meant being responsible for evaluating the performance of many direct reports. That was more than I could handle. Arguably, it’s more than anyone could handle. As a result, some of the members I didn’t know as well didn’t get fair & accurate performance evaluations.

In one case, I had a developer with great potential, provided he had the proper guidance. Unfortunately, there were too many other priorities at the time. When review time came, he was dissatisfied with his evaluation and didn’t feel like he was working to the best of his capabilities – which was absolutely true. He ended up leaving my team and becoming a senior developer on another team. Thankfully, he was able to reach his true potential there, unlike in my team, where I feel like I failed him.

Has there been an instance in your life where you felt like a victim?

Nope. I’ve always felt that I have control over my life. The bad situations I’ve gotten into are my fault, and it’s my fault if I don’t learn from them.

Do the failures or disappointments you experienced earlier in your life constrain you, even today, or have you been able to reframe them as learning experiences?

They are definitely learning experiences. Fantastic learning experiences too. While some past experiences were very unpleasant, they’ve made me who I am today and I’m happy with who I am today. After all, “we remember some of what we are told, a little more of what we read, and almost all of what we experience.”

The Journey to Authentic Leadership

Do you currently view your life and leadership as a destination to a certain point or as a journey in which you seek to maximize your learning and experiences?

Life is always a journey. If you reach a goal or destination, then it’s time to set another goal and return to the journey.

The journey can be made much easier if you learn from previous mistakes. Otherwise, you’re doomed to repeat them. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like repeating dumb mistakes over and over again.

What are the most significant leadership experiences you have had to date and what did you learn from them?

The major life turning points I wrote about above are also some of the most significant leadership experiences I’ve had so far. From becoming the president of a student-run community service organization in college, to an engineering manager at Yahoo!, then to the principal of WebMocha, I’ve learned a lot from these wonderful experiences, which I’ve written above too. Cheers to redundant questions.

What experiences do you need to develop your leadership to take it to the next level?

The next step in my leadership education is becoming a successful entrepreneur. Fortunately, I’m already on this path with WebMocha.

If you are just entering a new phase, have you assessed the goals and experiences you would like to have during the phase?

Yes. My goals are sustainable profitability and growth from WebMocha. The experiences I’m going to learn from this journey will be invaluable.

Do you think you need to make any adjustments to your personal and leadership development as a result? If so, what are they?

I will definitely need to make adjustments. My leadership experience has been mainly people-based, as opposed to business-based. While managing a business shares many of the qualities needed to manage people and teams, there are also notable differences too. This is what I will need to learn.

This will include greater reliability on intelligence business managers & leaders in my social network for wisdom & advice. I am fortunate to have a good and varied network. As my schedule eases up, I look forward to meeting with each of them regularly.

How can you take your previous experiences and apply them more optimally to your leadership now?

The failures I’ve had will be an important lesson in the future. I know that being an entrepreneur is difficult and fraught with challenges. Failure is a certainy. Success isn’t.

How would you answer these questions?

The True North exercises:

Introduction Exercise
Chapter 1: Your Story Exercise
Chapter 2: Losing Your Way Exercise
Chapter 3: Your Greatest Crucible Exercise
Chapter 4: Knowing Your Authentic Self Exercise
Chapter 5: Practicing Your Values and Principles Exercise
Chapter 6: Your Motivations and Motivated Capabilities Exercise
Chapter 7: Building Your Support Team Exercise
Chapter 8: The Integrated Leader Exercise
Chapter 9: The Purpose of My Leadership Exercise
Chapter 10: Empowering Other Leaders Exercise
Chapter 11: Honing Your Leadership Effectiveness Exercise

What We Are Told, What We Read, What We Experience

For the life of me, I can’t remember who said this line:

We remember some of what we are told, a little more of what we read, and almost all of what we experience.

I don’t even remember the exact phrasing of that line. Instead of “some,” “a little more,” and “almost all,” it might have been percentages like: 25%, 50% and 100%.

It’s a good quote. At least, the sentiment behind it is sound. Everyone learns differently, but at the core, we all learn best by doing.

And sometimes, by doing and failing – because nothing is a better teacher than the harsh burn of a mistake.

I want to say Jack Welch said this line, but I can’t find a reference to it anywhere. Does this line sound familiar to you? Know what the exact wording is, or who said it?

The Business Benefits of Lateral Thinking

If I hear “think outside the box” one more time, I’m going to beat my head with a box. With that said, you can give yourself tremendous advantages if you employ lateral thinking. A common business buzzword for lateral thinking is thinking outside the… you know the rest.

Lateral thinking is “the solution of problems through an indirect and creative approach.” At it’s most basic level, lateral thinking is like looking at something at a different angle. With the screen up, your laptop proudly displays this web page. If you close your laptop, you can appreciate it’s slim design. Look even closer and you can see the vent, screws, and various ports.

Here’s an example of how it helps with problem solving:

Say you’re building a new house. Someone just asked you to make the living room brighter. What do you do?

A common answer is to add more windows. Or expand the size of the current windows. That’s nice and straight-forward thinking.

However, if you were to employ some lateral thinking, and no doubt some of you already have, you might come up with answers such as:

Paint the rooms white.
Put in a sky light.
Put mirrors in the room.
Add lots of recessed lighting in the ceiling.
Change the placement of the room so it faces the direction with the most sunlight.
Set the room on fire (that’ll sure make it bright, and hot!)

If you sat down and really thought about it, I’m sure you could add more to that list. The primary mental activity is looking at the question in a different way, a different angle. Reframing it, so to speak. Instead of viewing it from a carpenter’s perspective, you could answer it from an electrician’s perspective. Or a firefighter’s perspective. Or a young child’s perspective. All of these could give you distinctly different answers. That’s lateral thinking.

How can this help your business? It can help with brainstorming business ideas, whether they be new features, new products, new services, or enhancements on current offerings. It can help with your marketing campaign, especially in social media and viral marketing, where clever and creative hooks can expand your reach exponentially.

It can help with your operations too. Take a look at your current distribution system. Or product development process. Or accounting system. Look at it from someone else’s perspective. Are there ways to improve those processes? If you tore down all preconceptions and assumptions, are there new alternatives you hadn’t considered before?

So don’t forgot to think outside… I mean, think laterally. Employ lateral thinking. It will expand not only your business, but your mind.

Photo by: Dan Morelle

Biz Idea: Drinks at Gas Station Pumps

You know what a hot day like today needs? A cool, refreshing beverage. But I need to get some gas first.

Ah, here’s a gas station. But aww damn, I have to walk over to the mini mart to get my frosty beverage? I’m a lazy man of convenience. Screw that.

What I want is to be able to get my frosty drink right here at the gas pump. It could be as simple as a vending machine. I might think twice about heading into the store, but while waiting at the pump, I’m primed for a convenient impulse buy.

Speaking of impulse buys, I’m feeling snacky too. Some potato chips would hit the spot. A snack machine at the pump would be paradise next to the soda machine.

Why take the extra steps when I don’t have to, right? Extra steps in real life are like extra clicks in digital life.

Convenience for impulse buyers isn’t the only reason to consider drinks – and snacks – at the gas pumps. Safety is also a concern too.

If it’s a sketchy neighborhood and you’re driving alone at night, perhaps you’d rather stay by your car than to walk into a mini mart. Vending machines by the gas pumps wouldn’t just be a convenience, they would also be a safety measure too.

There’s also the potential extra revenue to be had. In this economy, what kind of business owner wouldn’t want that?

So be nice to your customers and your wallet. Consider offering drink and snack vending machines by your gas station pumps. On a hot day like this, I’d sure buy something!

Photo by: ^riza^