Ron’s Short Review: Outstanding book. Being from the Detroit area and working around the auto industry, I had heard most of the stories (except those about the Ford Family), but Hoffman really puts them together well. Mulally really puts team first and you can see how that attitude saved Ford during some of the toughest days in its history. Every leader, present or future should learn from this book.
In part I of our discussion of Extraversion and Introversion I discussed the misunderstandings that can occur between the two. Today, I’ll unpack that further.
All meetings in one form or another are made up of three stages:
Meetings may be constructed of all three phases in sequence or any given meeting may be dedicated to any one or two phases with the entire process playing out over several meetings. The point is to be very clear about which phase you’re in and balancing functions in each phase.
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The next time you start a brainstorming session (information gather divergent phase), notice the dynamics at work. If you start with a true blank slate (you’ve pulled up the flip chart and are standing there with pen in hand) you’ll notice that the first people to contribute ideas tend to be the Introverted crowd. Isn’t that interesting? If you’ve done your duty and put out an agenda with the topic to be discussed, the Introverts come to the meeting with some pre-thought ideas.
Ask an Introverted thinker when they like to receive an agenda.
Ask an Extraverted thinking when they look at an agenda.
Extraverts just want to know what we’re going to talk about. Introverted thinkers want to think about what they’ll say.
As the brainstorming session gets underway the first few contributions to the list come from the Introverted thinkers but pretty soon enough ideas are getting recorded that trigger the Extraverted thinkers and now they begin to throw ideas out with such a pace that the Introverts have now gone quiet.
But two things must happen to keep things balanced:
You must stop this from happening and keep the focus on the generation of ideas for the brainstorming list.
Now, here’s the key to the whole process, once all ideas have been gathered, ask the team to stop talking, pick up a pen and write down the three best ideas that they believe just came out of the brainstorming phase of the process.
If you could hear inside their heads you would hear the Introverted thinkers saying something like: “Finally, I’ve got a minute to think through this because I believe there were some brilliant ideas tossed out there. Let’s see, number one is obvious, number two is also very clear, there is actually a three and a four that can’t be missed but I think we can make that one a 2a.”
The Introverts just got more engaged in the process.
Meanwhile, notice the Extraverted thinkers writing down their three best ideas “quietly”. The conversation in their head would probably sound something like this:
“Let’s see, three best ideas? Well, the number one is quite obvious. Number two? Number two? Number two….. Where’s the coffee?” Pretty soon, the Extraverts are over at the coffee pot together.
Why? So they can talk. “Hey, what was your number two? Oh, yea, what a great idea. In fact if we combine that with item D, I think it could be an even better number two.”
The extraverts need to talk to keep their energy up to be able to answer the question, “What were the three best ideas to come out of the brainstorming?”
Now, as you ease back into the meeting
you begin to ease back into an extraverted environment.
Go around the room and ask each person what their number one idea was. People are starting to talk again but it’s very structured and very controlled which allows the Introverts to further reflect and think about their list.
And the Extraverts are starting to hear other people’s ideas and you may even see them taking notes for when it gets to be their turn. And now, you’re off to the races. The Extraverts have gotten active again and the conversation is nonstop. Good. Both functions have had an opportunity to energize and get their thoughts on the board.
Now, just be careful to create the same “balancing act” between this prioritization portion of the meeting and the deciding portion of the meeting. The Extraverts will begin to talk about making a decision before the Introverts have had an opportunity to sort out the discussion on prioritization. Make sure there is another moment when you stop the conversation, let people gather their thoughts and get them recorded and contemplated before you move on to the decision making Phase.
Share with us some of your experiences from both side of this equation. What do you wish the other preference type would understand about how you get energized?
Ron’s Short Review: You need grit, fortitude and desire to finish this tome. But, if you really have a desire to understand what made Einstein so recognizable (genius, showman and flaws) and even if you want to gain a better understanding of his science, it’s worth the read.
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Many times a humble leader discovers strengths in his or her coworkers that even they have failed to detect. Sometimes you just don’t know what precious gems are buried beneath the surface of another human being. We call this process “finding Sparky.”
Say again? Let us explain with this story.
When he was a young boy, his friends gave him the nickname “Sparky” after a horse in the Barney Google comic strip. Though he was quite intelligent, Sparky’s shyness and timidity made school an agonizing experience. High school was especially challenging. He was a small, 136-pound pimply nobody. No one seemed to care about him. He remembered being astonished whenever anyone said hello. He had some skill in golf but lost an important match. He was a fair artist, but even the staff of his high-school yearbook would not publish his drawings. No one, including Sparky, seemed to think he had much to offer. He later said about this period in his life, “I never regarded myself as being much and I never regarded myself as being good-looking and I never had a date in high school, because I thought, who’d want to date me?”
After high school he completed a correspondence course in art. He wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios, hoping to be a cartoonist there. The studios requested drawings, and he worked many hours on them before mailing them to Disney. His reply from the studios: “rejected.”
How did Sparky respond? He began drawing an autobiographical series of cartoons about a chronic underachiever, a boy whose kite would never fly. It wasn’t that long before the whole world became acquainted with this character named Charlie Brown—as well as friends of his named Lucy, Linus, Pig Pen, and Snoopy. Sparky—Charles Schulz—became the most famous and wealthy cartoonist ever. At the height of his popularity, his cartoon strip Peanuts appeared in 2,600 papers in twenty-one languages in seventy-five countries. In 1978 he was named International Cartoonist of the Year. The whole Peanuts cartoon gang once appeared on a cover of Time magazine. This “loser” in high school really had some potential after all.
A humble leader is always looking for Sparkies.
Each person with whom a leader works has hidden gifts and talents, and someone may even have the enormous potential of a Sparky. We need to help them uncover, develop, and use those talents. Humble leaders relish the idea of helping people find their unique niche. They enjoy moving people along to bigger and better things. They celebrate the victories and provide encouragement when their people are discouraged or fearful of moving ahead.
Take Gary, for example. He worked in the mailroom for one of my clients. Unknown to his employer, Gary was a computer genius. When the president of the company needed help, I suggested Gary, and he delivered. Today, Gary is a highly respected computer executive. He got his start from an executive who was open and humble.
Many leaders focus on people’s weaknesses. They are always trying to “fix” someone. They fail to recognize potential and help people develop a path for personal success and reward.
Share with us some “sparky” stories about that person who just blossomed when you or someone helped them see their strength. Maybe someone saw you as a “sparky.” Please share.
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Adirondack Golf Courses
I really related to the opening section titled “Golf and Life.”
“The main idea in golf as in life is to learn to accept what cannot be altered and to keep on doing one’s own resolute best whether the prospect be bleak or rosy.”
Life, like golf has its ups and downs. In golf if you can approach your “situation”, be it sitting just right in the middle of the fairway or stymied behind a tree, with a calm approach to do the best you can, you will experience the most success and the most enjoyment in your game.
I need to add another observation I’ve had through the years. Playing golf in Scotland, the home of golf, is different than playing golf in America. In America golf courses have been designed, built and manicured for the purpose of playing the game of golf. In Scotland, the old courses grew from natural conditions. They were usually on ground that was useless for any other purpose and developed into locations where people play the game of golf. Because of this difference, Scottish golfers seem to have a different (and I think healthier) attitude about the game.
To the American golfer, if I stand on the tee, execute a very nice swing, send the ball flying down the fairway, I expect to be rewarded by finding the ball in a good place on a manicured fairway, perfectly situated for the next shot. But Scottish fairways are different. After that “perfect” drive I may find my ball in a deep hidden bunker right in the middle of the fairway. Or, because of all the natural moguls in the fairway, I may find that my ball landed in the middle of the fairway but hit one of the moguls and bounded into the gorse of the rough.
Now to the American mind, That’s Not Fair! “I hit a good drive, I did everything right, I should be rewarded with a good result!” The Scottish golfer would say “Why are you complaining? This is golf (life). Find the ball and do your best to hit it again.”
In life, and especially corporate life, we can do everything right and still experience less than desirable results. But the best leaders and performers live by that original quote “Accept what cannot be altered and keep on doing one’s resolute best whether the prospect be bleak or rosy.”
This function is responsible for more misunderstandings and confusion than any of the others. At least that’s my observation. This is why I always spend more time on understanding this function when I’m working with teams.
There are some very natural dynamics in place here that often sabotage our ability to balance this function in team meetings. Team meetings are, by definition, extraverted affairs.
“Why did we call you all together for this team meeting? To talk!”
So right off the bat, team meetings are designed for and often run by extraverts. Even if the team meeting leader or facilitator happens to have a preference for introversion, the extraverted crowd often takes over the dynamics of the meeting without even realizing it or intending to do so.
Let me start with the introverts (which we seldom do in team meetings). I often ask one question of my introverts in team meetings “How often have you left a meeting and as soon as you walk out that door right there (pointing to an exit door) do you think to yourself,
In one form or another every introverted thinker says “All the time.” “Every meeting.” “Often.”
Isn’t that interesting that we called a meeting, brought all of the high powered and high priced brains into the room together to solve a problem or come up with an innovative approach and yet because of the dynamics of the meeting process we let half that brain power walk out of the room without ever hearing their ideas or taking advantage of their well thought ideas. What a loss!
Why does this happen? Remember that this is our Energizing function. Our extraverts gain energy from the conversation while our introverted partners get energized by reflective thought and a moment of quiet. Because our team meetings are naturally extroverted environments, our extraverts come in with the goal to get the conversation started and keep it going (adding energy all the way) from:
Meanwhile, unless our Introverted thinkers have a moment to reflect and gather their thoughts and re-energize between these three phases, they:
So how do we get on top of this function and bring the balance required to get the best out of both types of functions? The easiest and most profound approach is to define and separate the phases of a meeting. All meetings in one form or another have three phases:
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As we stated earlier the extraverted types would prefer that we keep talking right though all three phases non-stop because that feeds their energizing needs. However, by simply separating the phases of the meeting with a brief pause for reflection and thought between each stage we allow our introverted partners to get re-energized through the process.
In coming blogs we’ll discuss many of the techniques that will help balance the functions between extraverted and introverted as well as the other functions on the Myers-Briggs chart.
Do you know if you’re extraverted or introverted? It’s not just about talking or enjoying yourself at parties. It’s about your energy. What gets your juices flowing? How do you grapple with difficult issues or problems or decisions that must be made? Do you need to engage in conversation or after the conversations do you need to withdraw and reflect, think, contemplate what was discussed?
Share with us some of your experiences from both side of this equation. What do you wish the other preference type would understand about how you get energized?
Myers-Briggs In-Depth is a blog series in which I dive into each MBTI function with more detail, providing some practical applications for creating better dynamics and better decision making. Click here to read the entire series.
Interested in an overview of each of the four Myers-Briggs functions? Click here to read the Using MBTI to Great Advantage series.
I read Jeffrey Katsenberg’s book, “Hard Things About Hard Things.”
I just listened to Ruth Chan’s TED talk, “Hard Choices.”
So here’s the Hard Thing about Hard Choices:
Ruth explains that any choice that can be quantified is an easy choice because all numeric values can be related to each other based on their comparative amounts but hard choices are based on values.
Values can’t be quantified and compared to each other. Values are based on who we are and who we want to be. Ruth goes on to look at the dilemma from a person’s point of view and concludes that taking the quantitative approach is the safest way out. Making a value based decision forces us to choose who we want to be. I agree. This is a great personal growth philosophy.
But here’s the hard part: I work with corporate leadership teams where I help individuals make their own personal value and growth decisions through my personal coaching. The problem is we also have to make hard team decisions.
I believe most corporate teams fool themselves into believing they only make logical, fact based decisions or believe all decisions can be reduced to a number exercise so that the >=< analysis can be made. But as Ruth explains, hard choices are not quantitative in nature; they’re value based.
So how do you get a bunch of MBA trained financial experts, engineers, marketers, and scientists to make the hard choices based on value?
You need to build team.
Not just a team with defined roles and responsibilities, not just a team with clearly defined interfaces and decision gates. Not just a team of various functions that get together to discuss and coordinate the business. Not a team, but TEAM!
Teams are built on respect and trust. Teams honor and appreciate the diversity of thinking, attitudes, and beliefs that we bring to the table. Teams know who we are and what shapes us and what values we hold dear and what values we won’t violate.
These teams are fully capable of making the hard decisions and are fully capable of making them work.
If you want to build a great company, build a great TEAM.
Have you been fortunate enough to be part of a great team? Share with us how that happened. What made it work? What’s keeping your current team from being a great team?
In the last post, we talked about rigid, proud leadership and how that affects a company. But what about a humble leader? How do they meet their responsibilities and yet be open to the guidance of their direct reports?
They take a much different approach.
Humble leaders are not so self-absorbed as to think that they don’t need to listen and be open. Their spirits are not critical because they are always open and scanning their employees, customers, and systems for new and better ideas. Following are some qualities of humble leaders.
A humble leader:
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A teachable leader is open to personal and organizational change. This kind of leader is quick to understand that old routes are not always the best or the fastest. Conditions change.
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) shows that people can optimize their personal abilities as well as turbocharge their organization’s adaptability and response to competitive challenges when they are committed to learning. According to researcher Ellen Van Velsor:
If things are going to continue to change, the one thing companies need above all else is people who have the ability to learn.
(See also “Learn or Die” by Edward Hess in my Reading List.)
To be teachable, one must devote a significant amount of time to learning.
A humble leader is flexible. An old proverb reminds us that “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” Many of us have spent our time trying to be in control, but a humble leader learns how to be effective without being in control. Humble leaders know that they cannot control people or circumstances. The irony is that the more they loosen their grip, the more they gain. The more flexibility—rather than control—that they can build into themselves, the more they succeed.
A humble leader welcomes change. Change often equals growth. But not change for the sake of change. A humble leader needs to discern the right change, a skill that is developed by being open and teachable.
Humility leads to personal openness, teachability, and flexibility. Humility casts fears aside and frees leaders to energize and build their organizations toward common goals and vision. Humility is the fertile ground where the seeds of trust sprout.
Being humble and teachable means learning to trust others and their opinions and instincts. It means listening with the intent of learning instead of simply responding. It means seeking personal development from every situation, experience (both good and bad), and transaction.
What in your life do you need to let go of so you can become more humble?
Have you shared your vision with your colleagues? Have you asked them to participate? If not, why haven’t you?
Whom in your organization can you mentor—develop to his or her full potential?
What can you do to improve your listening skills?
Ron’s Short Review: Pretty good book on identifying the competencies and organizations in the future but ends up identifying the classical competencies of humility, patience, courage, and faith.
Ron’s Short Review: Assuming we need to continually foster insights in an ever changing world, Klein provides some good tips for not missing, not interfering and fostering insights.
What are you willing to pay for?
Maybe it’s that nicer car or maybe just the nicer option package on the car you’ve already decided to buy.
Maybe it’s shopping at Whole Foods versus another grocery store.
Maybe it’s those concert tickets in the center stage seats.
There are certain things beyond our necessities that we’re willing to pay for. But why? That less expensive car still gets you from point A to point B. Sitting farther back at the concert may even provide better sound. So why do we pay for these items? Perceived value!
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We’re willing part with our hard earned resources because our perception is that it will provide us with value that we appreciate.
Have you noticed that from our elementary school days, we’ve been told to pay attention! Why do we have to pay to give someone our attention? Because it takes focus, concentration, discipline, and, most importantly, there will be a value received for the price paid.
Therein lies the problem. If we don’t actually believe that we’ll learn something by paying attention or that the other person has nothing of value to offer, we’re not willing to pay. This relates closely to another blog I wrote about listening with the intent to understand. If we’re not willing to discipline ourselves to truly understand the other person or pay to give someone our attention then we’re exposing our own ego and arrogance.
When our ego and arrogance is the driving force behind our inability to understand another person or we’re not willing to pay the price of granting another person our attention, we’ve violated the first principle of great leadership: humility.
When great leaders are willing to work from a foundation of humility by offering to pay to give others their attention in order to truly understand the other person, they begin to create a culture that develops great teams that are able to grow together to generate a synergy that surpasses their own expectations.
Be willing to pay attention, you’ll be blown away by the value you’ll receive.
I think of doctors in clinical environments. I consider my cardiologist one of the best doctors I’ve ever had because while he is with me it seems that I’m the only thing that matters to him. Although I know he is paying a great price by giving me his attention and not being distracted by all of the commotion going on outside the room. I appreciate the price he pays.
Share with us about the time when someone paid the price to give you their attention.
Using MBTI to Great Advantage is a blog series in which I’ll do an overview of each of the four Myers-Briggs (MBTI) functions and then in subsequent blogs will dig into each one in more depth with some practical applications for creating better dynamics and better decisions making. Click here to read the Series Introduction.
Work Life Overview: Judging vs Perceiving
Myers-Briggs (MBTI) calls this your “living” function but I never quite knew how to relate to that word so I’ve modified this slightly to “Work Life”. How do you like your work life structured around you? Our Judging types like their life organized and structured. Plan their work and work their plan. Our Perceiving types like things a little more open ended. Be ready for changes and surprises. React to the moment. Figure it out as you go.
Our business schools and businesses have taught us the need for organization and structure so I tend to see an overabundance of Judging types in the business world, until I ask people how they like their vacations structured. The most organized business person in the world might say to me “Totally unstructured! All I want to do is get away from the rat race for a while and be completely in the moment and do whatever I decide to do at the time. Or maybe simply decide to do nothing!” I find that many people are well trained and disciplined at work but as soon as they can get away from it will revert to their more natural Perceiving type on their own time. We’ll talk about the need for Balance, Balance, Balance in future blogs as well as some deeper and often hidden implications of this function playing out in the work place.
Four Functions and Three Rules. So there you have a quick overview of the four functions of Energizing, Perceiving, Deciding and Work Life and I hope you’ve already gotten the message that the best way to manage these functions is through Balance, Balance, Balance. Teams that accomplish this balance in a trusting, respectful manner are always the best teams. They make better decisions more quickly that are more universally accepted than teams that never figure out how to use their diversity. This is one of the best technique and mental model that you can ever implement for overall better teamwork!
Sixteen Types. It’s also important to understand that it’s not just the individual function dichotomies that make a difference, it’s the combination as well. An Introverted preference may function very differently when it’s part of an ISTJ preference set than when it’s part of an INFP preference set. All of this to say, don’t become the arm chair psychologists and assume you can figure out someone’s type and therefor figure them out. You can’t. Your best bet at success is to master the process that brings out the best of all of the fourteen type preferences.
The Four Functions:
1. Energizing
2. Perceiving
3. Deciding
4. Work Life
The Three Rules:
1. Balance
2. Balance
3. Balance
Over the next several blogs we’ll take a more in-depth look at each of the functions and learn some great techniques to create balance, balance, balance.