A recent NY Times Sunday piece focused on how Google develops good managers and leaders. Not surprisingly they discovered the eternal truth about managers and their employees  reporting to them. These bosses and managers do not have to be as deep technically as the people they work with. What their people need is empowerment, an interest in their success and well-being and being there to both listen and share information. These activities seem so simple and yet are they evident in the manager/employee relationships you know?  In maybe 50% of situations you know? That would be high. Simple but not easy – that is exactly what these activities are. Perhaps not that different from a  ”good” parent but it does get trickier if there are two (alleged) adults working together. I will discuss some of the relationships I have observed and what gets in the way of good management in the future.

Scott Walker thinks he is a tough guy and  determined not to yield power  and not compromise or give in – is there a connection between the two? According to Gary Willis, theologian and professor, John Wayne practiced his walk and talk quite a bit as he was developing his “tough” guy image.

And Scott Walker believes he is taking a “ hardline” strategy and implementing his tough tactics about union rights. However, the facts speak a good deal louder and with more clarity of purpose that anything from the Walker rhetoric. Class war this is – tax cuts for the walker wealthy preceded this tough stance. What will happen next is of most interest. Why do people allow themselves to be fed only part of the whole picture?

I have a client who is making great progress on taking more control of his  behavior, truly understanding the impact his actions have on colleagues and in leading his organization through focused energy, wit, skill and passion. When I asked his manager if there was anything that his direct report (my client) could do to enhance his effectiveness and leadership, the manager stated yes. The manager added that he would not mention this to my client until his “problem” raised its head again. “Why” I inquired?  ”Because I only want to give him positive feedback and reenforcement.” he replied. Interestingly the manager knows that this client is very sensitive about NOT making missteps (having had a history of them) and he also knew that the client can very quickly and easily feel guilty about his behavior  Had the client repeated his problem, no doubt the client would feel embarrassed and guilty. So why was the manager reluctant  to address this situation?

Because of HIS discomfort.  Never underestimate the ability of your own vulnerabilities and discomforts to stand in the way of managing and leading as effectively as possible.

It took awhile however in a story published in The New York Times today we learn the real reasons Mark Hurd was fired as CEO of Hewlett Packard: few liked or trusted him. He focused on short term cuts to boost profits much of which he took while there and even more on the way out the door.  The board trumped up the harassment and expenses issues to cover up their cowardice and taking the hardline and being transparent about the  on going leadership problems at HP.  I suppose it will be easier to “forget” about his rotten management style and ability  if you obfuscate what it was. However the whole situation reminds me of so many of  corporate situations where the real issues are often not addressed and one cover up leads to another.  Can’t the titans of industry act with a bit more maturity and candor?   No.  Below are excerpts from the article in the business section of today’s NYTs.

“He was wrecking our image, personally demeaning us, and chopping our future.”

Are any of these firing offenses? They probably should be, but they’re not, not in the culture we live in. That is especially true when the leader who is busy chopping the future is also posting fabulous short-term profits. And, to give Mr. Hurd his due, H.P. after Ms. Fiorina was a place where the executives’ feet needed to be held to the fire.

Ah, but if you just whip up a personal scandal — make sure it has a little sex in it! — then you can get rid of your failed leader on the grounds that he “violated the company’s standards.” The world is full of imperfect people; if everyone who ever fudged an expense report or flirted with an outside contractor were fired, there wouldn’t be many people left in the American work force.

This is not to say that Mr. Hurd should be let off the hook for, in his words, failing “to live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at H.P.” (Note, by the way, that he doesn’t concede that he violated H.P.’s standards of business conduct.) But a firing offense? Really?

On the other hand, putting up dazzling short-term numbers that have the effect of enriching himself while robbing H.P.’s future — isn’t that what a C.E.O. should be fired for? Firing Mr. Hurd for that reason, however, would have taken courage, something that has always been in short supply on the H.P. board.

One thing I found surprising this week was learning that to many H.P. observers Ms. Fiorina no longer seemed quite so bad. It was actually her strategic vision that Mr. Hurd had executed, I heard again and again. Her problem was that while she talked a good game, she lacked the skill to get that big, hulking, aircraft carrier of a company moving in the direction she pointed. Mr. Hurd was a brilliant operational executive, but had the strategic sense of a gnat, and knew only how to cut costs.

What H.P. needs in its next leader, Mr. House told me, is “someone with Carly’s strategic sense, Mark’s operational skills, and Lew’s emotional intelligence.” (Lewis E. Platt preceded Ms. Fiorina as C.E.O.)

That is a tall order, but not an impossible one. It is certainly plausible that the H.P. board can find such a person. Given its recent track record, though, don’t hold your breath.”

I recently was reflecting on some outstanding theatre  I had seen over the past few years.  What is the power of playing against the line in a play be it a comedy or tragedy?  One of the biggest laughs Alex Jennings gets in the National Theatre (UK) production of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter is near the ned of the show.  While assessing the miserable human circumstances around him and responding directly to one of his manager’s laments of unhappiness and unfaithfulness Jennings booms out, as he postures and crosses his legs, “don’t be so theatrical.”

In the Royal Shakespeare Companies production of KING LEAR — i believe about one hour into the play — my heart almost skipped a second beat when suddenly  in a calm stillness, he utters, for the first time, I fear I am losing my mind. The paradox is he is becoming to be perceived as sane and so very very sad for the first time in the evening.   Disowning knowledge in seven Shakespeare plays by Cavil writes of this but Stephens brought it dramatically to life as a real human being.

I think the power relates to our constance omnipotent struggle AGAINST self awareness and our wish to delude ourselves.  This device is very common on the wonderful show FRASIER.  Would not Coward have made a brilliant writer on that show giving it a depth and darkness that might even match O’Neill.

Self delusion — let’s try to keep it at bay — knowing full well it will never go away like  troubling recurring dream.

Lev Dodin, the director of the acclaimed Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg Russia, has directed a riveting production of UNCLE VANYA, which was recently seen at BAM.  Like Ingmar Bergman at his best, Dodin begins the play as well as foreshadows the outcome in the opening few moments. He has also reflected on the play and Chekhov in the playbill.  Here are his thoughts:

Life flows by, and sooner or later a man begins to see his years lived as a treasure he didn’t manage to put to good use.  He starts to see visions of other possible but unlived lives.  In these other lives all his secret dreams come true, all his hopes are fulfilled, all his sweetest fantasies become real.  The man furiously burns up the past, denies the present, and gives himself complete to this other life, which he could have lived, but did not manage to.  The fuller the man understands life, the sharper he feels this gap, this contradiction that grows into a tragedy.  Time goes by, and gradually you are faced with a choice — to either refuse this life completely, or to find courage to live out the life given to you by g-d and fate, which you have been carrying out — alone — with your will power and personality.

Fatally ill doctor Chekhov knew this paradox only too well, and he analyzed it with amazing tenderness and desperate ruthlessness.  This, among many other things, defines Chekhov’s plays, and the most beautiful of them — UNCLE VANYA — carries a simple but eternal melody and themes.

I recently saw a riveting production of UNCLE VANYA from the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg Russia.

The play’s director Lev Dodin wrote a short bittersweet piece about this piece specifically and Chekhov in general. One has to make hard choices throughout one’s life as Dodin beautiful notes. To call this phase of life a middle age crisis would demean and marginalize it.

“Life flows by, and sooner of later a man begins to see his years lived as a treasure he didn’t manage to put to good use.  He starts to see visions of other possible but unlived lives.  In these other lives all his secret dreams come true, all his hopes are fulfilled, all his sweetest fantasies become real.  The man furiously burns up the past, denies the present, and gives himself complete to this other life which he could have lived, but didn’t manage it.  The fuller the man understands life, the sharper he feels this gap, this contradiction which grows into a tragedy.  Time goes by, and gradually you are faced with a choice — to either refuse this life completely, or to find courage to live out the life given to you by God and fate, which you have been carrying out — alone — with your will power and personality.”

Fatally ill doctor Chekhov knew this paradox only too well, and he analyzed it with amazing tenderness and desperate ruthlessness. This, among many other things, define Chekhov’s plays, and the most beautiful of them — Uncle Vanya — carries a simple but eternal melody and themes.

A new Italian film  I AM LOVE stars the ever versatile Tilda Swinton as a wife who falls in one with another.

I have never seen a movie that captured the sights and sounds of a place so well — in this case Milan Italy. The filmmaker takes you on a sensational  — in the true meaning of the word  — trip — in cars, on foot — the clacking of shoes, the preparation of meals — I was reminded of the place although I have not been there in  over thirty years.

What I found most striking about the film is what we learn about the characters through non-verbal communication. The family surrounding Swinton is insular, cool and closed off. They do not embrace a grieving girlfriend the way one normally would. And our heroine is not only childlike in her infatuating love but one actually wonders if she is going to literally fall apart. Near the film’s end the up until now beautiful Swinton looks almost freakish in her pain and despair. Perhaps the film should more accurately be titled, I am Passion, yet whatever its title, it does captivate and portray aspects of the human condition we often don’t think about let alone feel.

Bob Silverstein has been kind enough to share a recent article from Poker Pro Magazine.

UNDERSTANDING INTERNAL TELLS

Please see blog entries for april and march for the initial parts of this article.

The Most Important Player to Watch

In Super System, Doyle Brunson explains, “Sure you want to study the emotional make-up of your opponents.  But of all the players at the poker table, the one whose capabilities and limitations are going to affect you the most is the one sitting in your chair.”

I am not  sure that Doyle was specifically referring to the type of internal tell that I am talking about but I think it’s clear that he views being aware of what is happening inside of us as we sit in our chair playing poker, as the most powerful way that we can improve the level of our play and affect the outcome of the game.

In the example above, I should have noticed that I was excited and overly focused and that this was creating a distortion or internal tell. The internal tell was an indication that I was overreacting and unable to pay clear attention to  the poker hand in front of me.  Learning to identify when I was being affected by internal tells has helped me to avoid a lot of costly and preventable mistakes.

When I was aware of myself as I sit in my chair, moreover, it is amazing how much more frequently the cards turn out to be good ones!  My “luck” simply improves and I stop complaining about the guy  ”who sucked out on the river” or “who never should have been in the hand in the first place.”

Bob Silverstein has been kind enough to share a recent article from Poker Pro Magazine.

UNDERSTANDING INTERNAL TELLS

Please see blog entries for April and March for the initial parts of this article.

The Most Important Player to Watch

In Super System, Doyle Brunson explains, “Sure you want to study the emotional make-up of your opponents.  But of all the players at the poker table, the one whose capabilities and limitations are going to affect you the most is the one sitting in your chair.”

I am not  sure that Doyle was specifically referring to the type of internal tell that I am talking about but I think it’s clear that he views being aware of what is happening inside of us as we sit in our chair playing poker, as the most powerful way that we can improve the level of our play and affect the outcome of the game.

In the example above, I should have noticed that I was excited and overly focused and that this was creating a distortion or internal tell. The internal tell was an indication that I was overreacting and unable to pay clear attention to  the poker hand in front of me.  Learning to identify when I was being affected by internal tells has helped me to avoid a lot of costly and preventable mistakes.

When I was aware of myself as I sit in my chair, moreover, it is amazing how much more frequently the cards turn out to be good ones!  My “luck” simply improves and I stop complaining about the guy  ”who sucked out on the river” or “who never should have been in the hand in the first place.”