PMI leadership in Quotes Dec2013

PMI Consulting Community of Practice

Leadership in QuotesThoughts Regarding Leadership ,

950BC- present

Patrick E. Gorman

Dec 19th, 2013

Leadership in Quotes:

Thoughts Regarding Leadership

950 BC- present

Dec 2013

Patrick [email protected]; phone 425 622 7713

"The wicked leader people despise. The good leader people revere. Of the great leader, people say, 'We did it ourselves.’”

Lao Tzu (ca. 600 BC)

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Themes

Here are some interesting quotes and ideas organized in a different way. A few may be new to you. It’s safe to assume that the persons quoted weren’t the first to think them.

40% of projects fail, mostly because we keep making the same mistakes. We might reduce this percentage by looking at things differently“Insanity- doing the same thing over and over and expecting different

results” Albert Einstein (ca. 1950)

• Framework- The “Big Picture”• Leadership vs. Management• A working definition• Trust, teaching, and other considerations

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What’s a Corporation?

A group of people organized to make a profit by creating a thing or

providing a service– Who makes decisions? – What skills and knowledge do they need?

“Creating a better world requires teamwork, partnerships, and collaboration, as we need an entire army of companies to work together to build a better world within the next few decades. This means corporations must embrace the benefits of cooperating with one another.” Simon Mainwaring

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Corporate Size

“Fighting with a large army is in no way different than fighting with a small one; it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.” – Sun Tzu, ca. 500 BC

Principles leading to success (or failure) remain the same regardless of corporate size

- Leadership remains the same

Management techniques change

- Procedures change; concepts don’t

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Expectations

What does the organization say they do?What do they really do?

If people perceive a difference, what does that say about the organization and its leaders?

- How might that affect them?

People’s actions:

– Reflect the leaders they work forWho in turn define culture

– Reflect the organization they work forWhat does your organizations’ culture encourage?

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Discussion

Do you disagree? If so, how and why?

Other thoughts / ideas?

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Leadership vs. Management

Management is a SUBSET of leadership; one must manage to lead effectively, but not necessarily vice versa

Management counts things and provides direction- e.g., Project Management~ Scope, Schedule, Resources, Risk

– Good management provides direction and bounds, and is usually quantifiable

Leadership provides vision and motivation- essential, but difficult to measure

“Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.” Tacitus, ca. 90AD

“Most US corporations are overmanaged and under led” John Kotter

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Leadership vs. Management

“Managers do things right and Leaders do the right thing.” Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, 1985

“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible” – Gen Colin Powell

“Although leadership and the exercise of power are distinguishable activities, they overlap and interweave in important ways. Consider a corporate chief executive officer who has the gift for inspiring and motivating people, who has vision, who lifts the spirits of employees with a resulting rise in productivity and quality of product, and a drop in turnover and absenteeism. That is leadership. But evidence emerges that the company is falling behind in the technology race. One day with the stroke of a pen the CEO increases the funds available to the research division. That is the exercise of power. The stroke of a pen could have been made by an executive with none of the qualities one associates with leadership.” John W. Gardner

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Discussion

For the purposes of this discussion, “manager” and

“leader” connote role, not title

Postulate:

A good leader must be a good manager, but-

A good manager doesn’t have to be a good

leader

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Problem Solving

“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” Colin Powell, General, US Army

Postulate: The leader has three kinds of problems: motivation, work-related and people.

This provides a definition of leadership:

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Leadership Defined

VisionGet the Job Done

Take Care of Your People

•Why are we doing what we’re doing?

•Communicate it effectively!

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Leadership Defined: Vision:Leaders show (by example) and tell: Why we

are doing what we’re doing

“Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them.”  Robert Jarvik

"The leader has to be practical and a realist (management?), yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist” (leadership?). Eric Hoffer-

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”Max De Pree

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Leadership Defined: Vision

Get the Job DoneTake Care of Your People

Classic Management- knowing what needs to be done and when to do it

– What are we doing? (Scope)– What are our constraints? (Schedule; Resources)– What can go wrong? (Risk)

“The only person who never makes mistakes is the person who never does anything”, Denis Waitley, motivational speaker

But lets minimize them.

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Leadership Defined:VisionGet the Job Done

Take Care of Your People

Think Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for a rough modelof things to take care of:

-Physiological-Security-Relationship-Self “actualization”

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Discussion

What is your definition of Leadership?

Who is the best leader you can think of?

Why?

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Considerations

“Nothing is new under the Sun” Ecclesiastes, attributed to King Solomon, ca. 950BC

Problems can often be related to, and solved by, adapting a similar solution to a similar problem

"A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel" Proverbs, attributed to King Solomon

Listen to people around you- leaders, peers and subordinates Every person knows something that you don’t

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Planning and Anticipation

Planning is a means to the end, not the end in itself. Deviate from the plan with good reason and consideration for constraints

“The general who wins a battle makes many calculations ere the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.“ - Sun Tzu, circa 500BC

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Sense of ProportionIt’s important to know what’s important

Set prioritiesCommunicate them

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." Albert Einstein

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein

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Success in Measurement

Consider carefully; you get what you measure

Think long term – then think how the short term affects it

Your expectations are often a “measurement” of success- ensure your

actions reflect what you say

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Set Expectations and Limits

For yourself and your people. Set the example

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you

want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower,

US president

"To command is to serve, nothing more and

nothing less.“ Andre Malraux (1901-1976)

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Communication

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said” Peter Drucker, management consultant

“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions” Harold Geneen, former CEO of ITT Industries

“Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential clearly, so they come to see it in themselves” Stephen Covey, author of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”

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Say “Yes”- With Qualifiers

“Yes, if” often works to turn confrontation into conversation

Save “No” for when you mean it without qualifiers- moral or ethical issues

It may take some thought, but tends to result in “win/win” situations

“Search for alternative interpretations to disagreements to make them agreeable without compromising your values”- Wallace Wilkins, consultant

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Picking the Right People

Skill set

Work ethic

Trustworthy

Will fit into the team– Work style – Personality

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Learn to LeadConsistency is essentialCare about your people and the jobCommunicate with everyoneCharisma is useful- not essentialUnderstand the job, then pick the right people. If they fail-

who picked ‘em? – If you want to lead effectively, it is your fault when things go

wrong, directly or indirectly- and your followers get the credit when things go right (accountability)

Practice, succeed- and learn from failure“Leaders learn by leading, and they learn best by leading in the face of

obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders.” Warren Bennis, author and consultant

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” Peter Drucker, author and consultant

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Teach to Lead

Train your replacement– As much can be learned from this as from doing the

work

"The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the

point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and

ability.“ Fred A Manske, Jr, Senior VP, Federal Express

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Discussion

When has someone taught you a lesson about

leadership, and what was it?

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Understanding

Learn about the people you’re leading– Cultures– Professions/Expectations/Stereotypes– Individuals

Ask questions

Take time to Learn– Everyone knows something you don’t know- take

time to elicit some

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Culture

Be observant and open; correct your behaviors accordingly

Know your people to take care of them

For example; some persons from some cultures like/enjoy public recognition; others are embarrassed

Understand your people to avoid distractions

Some are offended by language/actions that are “OK” elsewhere, for example, putting your feet up

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Leadership Involves Risk…

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." -

Mario Andretti (1940-)

• This has nothing to do with leadership

directly, but consider taking the path less

trodden:"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before." - Mae West (1892-1980)

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Courage

“Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must

be without one, be without the strategy." – Gen H. Norman

Schwartzkopf

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Responsibility vs. Authority"A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his

share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” John C. Maxwell

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” Mohandas Gandhi

"The wicked leader people despise. The good leader people revere. Of the great leader, people say, 'We did it ourselves.’” Lao Tzu

…Then the great leader gets fired for “doing nothing…”

Project Managers often have responsibility but little authority. How can we deal with this mismatch?

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Trust

If your people don’t trust you, you can manage, but you cannot lead

“…To be a leader a man must have followers… To have followers, a man must have their confidence. The supreme quality for a leader is integrity… His teachings and actions must square with each other.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Sense of Humor

“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” Dwight D Eisenhower

“When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take

command.  Very often, that person is crazy.”  ~Dave Barry

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“If you are going through

Hell,keep going.”

Winston Churchill

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Originality

• The “conventional wisdom” often isn’t

– What people think is important, often isn’t. This is key to thinking outside the box, perceiving reality differently, and coming up with an innovative solution

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." Walt Disney

– The world is inherently ridiculous. Think of “civilization”. Think of sex. Think of how often kids are more grownup than we are. Think of our culture

"I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it." Groucho Marx

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Discussion

When has a sense of humor, or

“thinking outside the box” provided

an unexpected solution?

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Creating a New Thing- Project Management

Generate enough momentum to overcome

organizational inertia - and entropy

“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more

dangerous to manage than the creation of a new order of things..... Whenever

his enemies have occasion to attack the innovator they do so with the passion

of partisans, while the others defend him sluggishly so that the innovator and

his party alike are vulnerable.” Niccolo Machiavelli

“Failure is not fatal. Success is not final. It's the courage to continue that counts.”

Winston Churchill

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Discussion

If you’re a project manager and not a great leader, how can you learn and deal with the present

project?

If you’re already good, how do you pass this on?

If you desire practice/ information, where do you go?

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In Conclusion

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is." - Yogi Berra

"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." - Frank Lloyd Wright

"Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them." - Samuel Palmer

Some Other Interesting References

“HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership”,

Harvard Business Review, 2011. Harvard Business Review press.

“Servant Leadership”,

Greenleaf, Robert K, 2001. Paulist press.

“Extraordinary Groups”,

Bellman, Geoff and Ryan, Kathleen, 2009. Jossey Bass.

“The Fifth Discipline”,

Senge, Peter M, 2006. Doubleday.

If you have questions or comments, please contact me: [email protected];

phone 425 622 7713