How to be a CEO

Very interesting article from the New York Times where the author interviewed a large number of CEOs over an extended time period.  He found certain consistencies in high performing CEOs.....these include:

  1.  A shared habit of applied curiosity.  They tend to question everything.  They want to know how things work, and how to make them better.

  2.  They loved a challenge.....actually feeling a sense of discomfort is their comfort. 

  3.  How they managed their career.  There was a focus on doing the current job well......not putting too much focus on where they were headed next.

Do these characteristics resonate with you?   Are they helpful? 

Read the full article  here          

Hope you find it valuable.

       Steve Brody 


      Author Adam Bryant,  Oct 2017 

10 Problems only smart people have

Have you ever found yourself talking about or listening to another leader explain about all the really smart people they have? 

While being smarter sounds appealing, actually living everyday life as an extremely intelligent person can throw up some very real but  rarely acknowledged, challenges. 

Author Peter Drucker has said that......Intelligence has no correlation to success.   Rather Emotional Intelligence is a far more important element that helps drive success.  What happens with super smart people? 

  They overinellectualize things

  They are perfectionists

  They are afraid of looking stupid

  They forget what its like to be a beginner

  They want to skip the basics 

Can you relate to the above thoughts.  Read more about this from an Inc Magazine article  here     

Hope you find it valuable

      Steve Brody

7 Signs You're Exuding Confidence

Have you ever met a very confident leader? A person who exudes self-esteem and somehow commands respect.

This person isn’t really different from anyone else, they just seem different because they consistently demonstrate a high level of confidence in themselves, their actions, and their decisions. This person has a presence that most people don’t have. For those in leadership and potential leadership positions, you likely want to be one of these people. Just how do you go about that? 

Here are 7 key attributes from well known Executive Coach,  Marshall Goldsmith. 

  -  Being well prepared
  -  Having effective use of language
  -  Showing Brevity
  -  Having a strong sense of humor
  -  Being generous
  -  Having a sense of proportion
  -  Enter a room with grace 

Read the full explanation  Here 

Hope you find it valuable.

   Steve Brody

The Secret behind Amazon's Stunning Success

...And it's a combination of Innovation & Accountability.  Just how does the Internet giant continue to Innovate.

This is an interesting description from a prior Amazon employee.  It includes these concepts:

  - Focus on customer experiences & convenience

  - Good intentions are not enough

  - Fear of being ordinary

  - Deliver Goals & Innovation

  - No awards for employee tenure


Read more  here 

Hope you find it helpful

     Steve Brody


   Source:   Andrea Leigh     Aug 2017

What's your Leadership Promise?

I recently came across a blog article about Leadership and the power of a Promise.
This writer noticed a statement on the side of a coffee mug while in Starbucks.  It said:

  Our Barista Promise

 Love your beverage or let us know.....we'll always make it right.


Nice statement.....huh.  Could this apply directly to Leadership in your organization?

 What is your leadership promise? What is it your people can expect from you or count on you to do no matter what?

Here are some possibilities I think would be good starting points:

I will always listen to your viewpoint with an open mind.

I will strive to be equitable and ethical in all of my decisions.

I will never belittle or demean you.

I will not hold you back from other job, promotion, or growth opportunities.

I will be trustworthy.

I will be honest.

I will care about you as a person, beyond just an employee showing up to do a job.

 I will give you the direction and support you need to do good work.

 I will make time to talk with you on a regular basis.

When developing your leadership promise, consider the following:

What are your non-negotiables as a leader? What values, responsibilities, or priorities will you never compromise?

In what realms of your leadership are you willing to have people call you out if you don’t deliver?

What is your comfort level in setting public expectations that you’ll need to live up to?

 What are your core values and how do those influence the way you show up as a leader?

  What your leadership promise says is less important than actually identifying it, and once you know what it is, there is only one thing that remains—deliver on it.

The above are valuable points to consider......how would it apply to you and your organization?  

        from  Randy Conley.....Jul 2015  

  Hope you find this helpful........  Steve Brody 

3 Quick ways to become more interesting & unforgettable!!

Here is a 3 step formula to create an interesting business story.....that gets remembered.
The ability to hear and remember a story is literally part of our DNA.  

Look at this nice article from Inc magazine  to create & practice this process.

     Read more here

Hope you find it valuable......... Steve Brody

Failure is not an Option.....Maybe it should be!!

Have you ever heard the phrase.....failure is not an option!!  This may be so when it applies to space travel or bringing a man back from space.  When we face a life or death situation.

But...inside your firm and looking at Marketing Strategy, we have a different situation.  You see....failure is a very important cultural benefit.....if you have a healthy & constructive culture.  How can this be?   Rather simple, actually....if you are not failing enough inside your firm....it means that you may not be trying or experimenting with a lot of ideas.

 And experimentation and innovation leads to new products or services for you to expand.
You see, the GREAT Marketers understand that it is very DIFFICULT to predict success.  Very few of us are that smart.   But if you experiment enough....or take an empirical approach to trying things.....you just may trip over something or the light bulb goes on regarding something new, different, and exciting.    So in this regard.....failure may be a very good option.......if performed on a limited basis and if the team takes the time to debrief.....to learn....to study what went wrong.....and then revise the idea and go back to experiment or expand.

The above is how the BIG ideas get discovered.  They are rarely planned....in advance.

Some years ago a writer was interviewing the famous, Sam Walton, founder of Walmart.
The writer asked Mr Walton.......how can you explain your success?  What followed was interesting.
Mr Walton replied:     that's easy  MAKING GOOD DECISIONS
The writer then asked: how do you make good decisions.....the reply ALWAYS BE LEARNING
Final question to Walton was:  so how do you keep learning....the reply MAKING BAD DECISIONS

i.e.  Walton was confirming that you must be learning from your failures or bad decisions!!

So what is the culture in your firm?  Can someone fail without being punished or fired?
Do you have a culture of experimentation?   Do you have a culture of learning?

If not, how will you go about growing and trying new things.  Not easy but required.

So here's to your failures.....and better yet....your learning & innovation!!

       Steve Brody
      Brody & Associates

 

The Race to the Bottom is Unforgiving

Be cheap or figure out how to be better!!  One of these is a much more difficult strategy.   Which one would you guess?

If you said.....be better....you are correct.
Unfortunately too many CEOs listen to their Sales team when they say to management......we have to be lower priced or we will lose the business.  Really?  This is a race to the bottom when you believe you compete in a COMMODITY business.    i.e.  there is no significant difference between your product or service vs the competition......either real or perceived!!

If you believe this you just may be in a race to the end of your firm.

Being better or differentiated is hard.....it demands strong leadership & a team that is aligned.  Think Apple or Nike or Starbucks......do you willingly pay a premium?  You betcha.

Here is an interesting Blog from Marketing guru.....Seth Godin that defines more about the above.  Read it  here 

Try the hard path.....but figure out how to be DIFFERENT!!

Happy Marketing.

   Steve Brody

Attitude is more important than IQ

Do you believe the above statement?  How can this be the case?

The underlying meaning is all about the difference between a FIXED MINDSET vs a GROWTH MINDSET.  The Growth Mindset is a stronger link to Emotional Intelligence..... EQ vs IQ.

The Growth Mindset says that success in life is all about how you deal with failure.  Failure is just information.....we label it failure, but it's more like "this didn't work, and I'm a problem solver, so I'll try something else."  A more flexible and positive approach.

This is as described by Dr Travis Bradberry.....author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0
You can read more about it  here 

Hope you find it valuable

    Steve Brody

3 Keys to creating a culture of trust!!

It has been written about by various authors that TRUST is an important element in creating an effective team and organization.  But just how do effective leaders generate TRUST?

An interesting article from Inc. magazine puts a focus on 3 Key things:

  Listen

  Be humble

  Give employees freedom

Without trusting your team to contribute in meaningful ways, you fail. It's the leader's responsibility to ensure a culture of trust exists, which invites and rewards opinions and innovative ideas.

You can read the article   here  

Hope you find it valuable

     Steve  Brody