What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge Management is a new buzzword in today’s ever-changing environment. Knowledge Management refers to new and innovative ways to capture employee’s knowledge, best practices, current procedures and how to do certain things while still holding a specific position. Organizations fear that they will lose its competitive advantage through turnovers of key employees and retraining a new hire to perform at a peak is not only costly but also time-consuming. What if there was a possibility to speed up this process, take on a challenging position and perform at a high level with the help of a Knowledge Management System?

Well, first, there are two different types of knowledge – tactic and explicit. Tactic knowledge is developed through people interaction and trust. It is also believed to be complex to identify and manage, while explicit knowledge is “easily identified and managed through information and communication technology.” Process driven organizations can easily support employees’ knowledge needs through information systems but organization that are heavily project driven may experience some challenges because of dependency on information and communication technology. Organizations can approach the management of their knowledge transfer mechanisms by one of two distinct approaches; codified and personalized. A Codified approach is technology driven to support and manage knowledge, while a Personalized approach is team driven by developing knowledge flow charts and maps. Depending on the organizational complexity, prioritizing knowledge management is often difficult because everything seems to matter. Therefore, an organization should consider looking at knowledge management strategy from the outcome perspective (short and long-term benefits, advantages, gains, etc.) instead of technology.

I think because organizations are facing market challenges and growing pressures to generate high returns on investment (ROI) and bottom-line profits, many organizations will turn around and look to Knowledge Management systems to address these challenges. Knowledge Management system will help them not only capture knowledge but also increase productivity and reduce training cost.

In the years ahead of us as we try to get out of the economic crisis it will be critical for any organization to encourage more dialogue and better interaction between internal staff and clients to bridge the gabs and become more profitable. But you can’t become profitable if you don’t posses product or process knowledge. So, is Knowledge Management System a viable solution? Perhaps because I think that cost-effective opportunities exist to capture knowledge and one possibility is through the use of Virtual Teams. Virtual Teams usually consist of cross-functional experts and those experts might be able to find out where a particular item of information or knowledge within the firm is or who knows what I need to know in order to complete the project most effectively and efficiently. However, there are many questions around Knowledge Management including:

1. How do you determine the best strategy to capture knowledge?
2. What is Knowledge Management and why is knowledge important?
3. How does a Knowledge Management System work?
4. How effective are Knowledge Management Systems?
5. Are Knowledge Management Systems the same as Learning Management Systems?
6. Who uses Knowledge Management Systems and why?

What is your opinion on this? Your thoughts and ideas are welcome!

Leading Virtual Teams

In the Leading Virtual Teams article, Malhotra, Majchrzak, and Rosen define specific challenges and opportunities with regard to virtual teams. It is believed that in order for a virtual team to be most successful, management must exercise the following six best practices:
1. Establish and maintain trust through the use of communication technology
2. Ensure diversity in the team in understood, appreciated, and leveraged
3. Manage virtual work-cycle and meetings
4. Monitor team progress through the use of technology
5. Enhance external visibility of the team and its members, and
6. Ensure individuals benefit from participating in virtual teams

What would you say is a virtual team? Virtual teams are groups of members or individuals who work in geographically dispersed locations that communicate and complete their work through electronic means such as the web, e-mail, and phone – communication technology. Teleworking is one example of being a part of a virtual team. However, Teleworking is not the only mean of virtual teams. In most cases, virtual teams consist of cross functional members with complementary knowledge, skills, abilities and commitment to work towards common goals yet present unique leadership challenges. Those challenges are briefly mentioned above (1-6) but they can be easily overcome by scheduling weekly phone or video conferences (even in person meetings); focusing on quality of work and outcomes rather then presence in the office; developing meaningful assignments to leverage and maximize everyone’s capabilities and interaction; and finally, recognize members for outstanding achievements despite being away from the office.

“Synchronizing the efforts of a geographically, culturally, and technically diverse virtual team does not happen magically…first priority is to build the kinds of working relationships where team members will freely share knowledge, leverage members’ collective expertise, anticipate each others’ actions, and feel confident that all team members are making a full-fledged contribution to the team’s success.”

Most recently, in one of my previous jobs, I was given the opportunity to occasionally telework. While the opportunity existed to telework more frequently, I was limited to only one day per week. Often, I wondered what the reason might be because it clearly wasn’t due to lack of time or work management, interaction with my supervisor, or work quality. Other members in the department remained puzzled too, but soon we realized that it was due to the lack of trust; supervisor’s discomfort to use communication technology; inability to establish performance goals and manage clear expectations. Today, I wonder how effective those members would have been had the teleworked more than just one day had there been more trust, effective use of technology for communication, or clearer expectations…

Six IT Decisions Your IT People Shouldn’t Make

Jeanne Ross and Peter Weill describe the six IT decisions that your IT people should not make because they will incapacitate your organization while seeking to reach the highest potential by implementing various information technologies. IT investments most successfully generate returns that are as much as 40% higher than those of their competitors. This is significant if you intent to remain successful in the market.

Well, it is interesting when you hear many executives complain about their investment into technology, yet they were the ones who approved the RFP and project initiation then implementation. It is also interesting when you hear executive complain because they cannot realize the difference it makes in their organization despite the successful implementation and high ratio for return on investment. Anyway, I think it has to do with the fact which way they look at technology and how they align it with their corporate strategy. Of course you may not see the immediate value if you are seeking a short-term solution but if you are seeking a long-term solution, it may not generate the ROI immediately but it will in a long run.

Should you rather implement short-term solutions or long-term solutions? I remember being on a project that involved either developing or purchasing IT software that would enable the nine districts of the organization to place orders for highway and road signs while allowing to better manage expenditures, production cost and inventory. Money wasn’t the major concern; however, the executive sponsor wanted this project to be the top priority for the IT people but the prioritization process had already taken place a few months prior and the budgeting had been established. It created a lot of hassle and somewhat a small conflict between the IT director and the OD director which business processes should receive our IT dollars. One thing I do remember is that during the planning session, IT never posed questions related to decision-making.

The Competitive Advantage of X-Teams

Managerial buy-in and support will set the tone for success or failure of a team. The five key success factors of X-Teams are external activity, extensive ties, expandable structures, flexible membership and internal mechanisms, but team “flexibility” is the second most common reason why initiatives fail.

Teams are usually inwardly oriented and need to focus more on the bigger picture because internal and external factors (technology, demand, resources, money) will influence the success or failure. Teams need to ask more questions; work on the short-term and long-term vision; be more flexible to the changes and obtain leadership support. The external activities play a major role in the X-Team’s ability to go above and beyond to obtain resources. Having a strong working relationship with the project sponsor will enable your team to plan your activities better and coordinate the tasks accordingly. However, before you can do that you will have to establish and maintain a good relationship with the sponsor and/or organizational leadership. It is also important to understand when to cross the boundary to obtain additional resources.

Having a strong understanding of how the business is run is another key to success because team member may be asked to leave one group and join another. As a project leader it is important to quickly act and shift your resources or recruit another team player. Access to valuable information and decentralized decision-making approach is needed. Also imagine if everything was going well so far and then all of the sudden you reach a dead-end because you are not able to put the pieces together. Having team members that are able to bring outside resources to support the team is of high importance. Therefore, team flexibility and being able to adapt to rapid changes is very important.

Does employee fear exist in organizations that have X-Teams? I am asking this question because I have the feeling that X-Teams might be viewed as a “treat” to certain individuals within an organization because they are able to accomplish things faster, better and more cost effective. It could create the fear of potential job loss (layoffs).

A few years ago, I held a job as Change Management Consultant helping an organization manage change and implement activities that will enable them to operate more effectively and efficiently. My success was pending on the team I selected to help me plan and implement key projects. For the most parts, I used the same key ideas explored in this article to organize a highly effective team. This team helped me get the buy-in and on-going support from the leadership and we were able to implement two projects that saved the organization a lot of money. Had this team not been able to obtain the leadership support, all this time and effort in planning would have been for nothing and we would have failed miserably. However, at the same time, there was a lot of fear within the organization. Many employees viewed our “Change Management Team” as a team that was in the process of streamlining the business operation to cut positions because new business approach (programs, processes and technology) were introduced and didn’t require nearly as many employees as we had at that time. The end result: a couple of years later the team was demolished.

Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System

What systems should companies use to manage all of their company components of operation? It is suggested that Enterprise Systems are the best because it is a “custom of the shelf” product that fits all your needs – from finances, HR, and operations down to logistics, sales, and marketing. It is fully customizable and easily integrated saving companies millions while enabling them to operate more strategic.

The demand for an integrated Enterprise System was fairly low. In 1992, the demand shifted through the rapid technological advances and the increased use of technology (mainly Internet). In order to maintain a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing environment, companies were looking for systems that will enable them to operate more effectively and efficiently, especially in the HR field of operation. Germany’s SAP vendor became the fastest growing software company in the world. Its sharpest competitors include the U.S. based companies PeopleSoft and Oracle. The new terminology the emerged from Enterprise Systems is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The article also suggests that you need to be very careful when looking for an enterprise system because you have to be able to first align the company’s strategy, organization and culture with this new system in order to be successful. If you can’t do that then this new system will be very costly while serving very little purpose for an organization. Sometimes we need to be reminded that an Enterprise System is not really just software but rather a new way of conducting business because we will have to change and adapt to a new processes. Additionally, Enterprise Systems shall enable an organization to be more effective and efficient; however, the risks such as time and cost associated with them are just as great.
My personal view on an integrated Enterprise System (and I hope I don’t offend anyone) is that I believe it is a waste of money. Back in the ‘60s, ‘70s, or ’80, it might have been a wonderful application; however, nowadays, technology is changing every 3-6 months. Additionally, pending on the market you are serving and how much competition you have (external factors) you may find yourself in a very challenging situation like Dell, Mobile Europe, FoxMeyer, etc. How do you supposed to keep up with it? Do you supposed to upgrade your system every 6-12 months? What’s the cost associated with that?

My current employer has a mainframe-based system that was developed and implemented in the ‘60s. Last month, the Board approved a new contract with a vendor to develop and implement a new mainframe-based system. The project development has started and the implementation will take place over the next 5-6 years. Well, I have a serious problem with that because it is a $46.5 million project and over the next 5-6 years the demand will have shifted drastically forcing them to rethink the way they are currently conducting the business. There will be an increased need to further streamline the operation so this newly developed and implemented mainframe-based system will be outdated once again...

OD through the use of Competencies

Today, we live in a fast-past, highly driven business environment. It is no secret that success of any organization is driven by those individuals with innovation, great leadership, knowledge, skills, and abilities that align well with business goals and needs. In order to reach the maximum potential, it is important for an organization to determine what is important to them, what they value most, and how to best position themselves to compete against their sharpest competitors.

Positioning your organization to be faster, better and cheaper sounds great but could your organization or business unit still benefit from higher productivity or efficiency? Are you looking to improve things like team effectiveness, quality, or customer service? Organizational effectiveness can be achieved through a simple process called “Competency Integration.”

In recent years, topics on emerging issues such as workforce shortage, employee performance, managing change, succession planning, etc. have troubled many employers across various industries. How do we develop the internal capabilities to most efficiently and effectively execute organizational goals?

A strategic organization would use competencies to measure characteristics of an individual that are related to superior performance on the job. Measurable characteristics include technical know-how (knowledge, skills, and abilities) as well as other attributes such as individual characteristics (positive attitude, adaptability, accountability, etc.) that contribute to a person’s overall success. In an employee’s mind, success is defined when the work they perform is meaningful, experiential, engaging, and appreciative by the organization and senior leadership. Then they will find the value of their contributions to the organization, their personal and professional growth. When you sum up all these elements, then you have a satisfied employee, low turnover, and higher productivity and profitability.

Additionally, competencies can be a critical component of career paths that help individuals match their technical know-how as well as individual characteristics and behaviors with short and long-term goals in order to reach personal and professional fulfillment. The competencies also provide employees with a basis for discussions about performance management and expectations with their supervisor. On the hand, there are benefits to the employer. Successful implementation of competencies in different programs and processes will benefit your organization in a long run. The competencies provide the organization with information to make strategic business decisions. A clear understanding of the value of competencies will assists your organization in hiring individuals, whose skills and individual characteristics successfully match the requirements of the job, minimizing costly hiring mistakes and turnover. The competencies also enable your organization to forecast the types of skills and characteristics needed to meet future business needs. Linking competencies to business strategy is a key success factor. They will appear throughout many HR programs and processes for a higher efficiency and organizational effectiveness including change management, talent and leadership development.

Ask yourself, what are the critical skills of the future? How do we ensure people possess them or can develop them in relevant ways so that they can step into key leadership roles? Using competencies means consistency. Competencies provide a common language though which we can more easily identify, discuss, and develop the skills needed for the future. Using competencies, we are better positioned to align the people processes within the organization and compete for new markets generating higher ROI and bottom line profits.

Insights Wheel®

As required by my professor, I supposed to complete a blog every week; however, last weekend I completely forgot to accomplish this, so here I am trying to catch up and post two this weekend. A few weeks back, we had a class discussion regarding The Insights Wheel. This wheel is grouped into four categories: Explorers, Organizers, Controllers, and Advisers. Each category represents a color (blue, red, yellow, and green) of leadership energies, approach to tasks, and key skills and attributes. The approach to task varies from “doing it now, getting it started, doing it together, to doing it carefully and correctly.”

Blue (cautious, precise, deliberate, questioning, formal, indecisive, suspicious, cold, reserved)

Red (competitive, demanding, determined, strong-willed, purposeful, aggressive, controlling, driving, overbearing, intolerant)

Yellow (sociable, dynamic, demonstrative, enthusiastic, persuasive, excitable, frantic, indiscreet, flamboyant, hasty)

Green (caring, encouraging, sharing, patient, relaxed, docile, bland, plodding, reliant, stubborn)

Leadership @ LuckStone

The Lucks have approached their business with a built to last leadership attitude. How do they accomplish this attitude? They develop, maintain, and expend upon their:

- Value Based Culture (which)
- Allow You Resolutions (that lead to have)
- Employees be Inspired (and when they are inspired, they)
- Create Great Products (that again)
- Leads to Positive Cash Flow/Profits/Revenues (and allows you to)
- Re-invest Into the Value Based Culture

Perception and Awareness

Last week, we had a guest speaker from LuckStone providing us with invaluable insights on leadership and its styles. We discovered that leadership is most effective when you have enough SELF-AWARENESS and realize your own behavior styles and the difference between right and wrong.

Self-awareness eliminates your choices which create moment of truth. This moment of truth forces you to make a choice which is usually self-management.

Now you have 2 options or choices to make:
1.) toxic (you act/respond the way you are and who you are)
2.) mission/vision/values (know yourself and act calm representing your organization with a focus on the positive – ADAPTABILITY)

Leading During A Crisis: Lessons from the 2008 Wall Street Meltdown

Today, we sit back and reflect upon the actions taken that caused this meltdown and all we can really see is the leadership failure at the Wall Street. Why? Because these senior managers and executives knew the potential risks with prime and sub-prime mortgages and yet approved the lending to low-income individuals.

At the end of September of this year, The Wall Street Journal sponsored and Yale School of Management co-sponsored a roundtable discussion regarding the financial sector crisis. During the discussion, Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld shared some leadership lessons that can be summed up into the following five high level leadership lessons:

1. Blaming the System. “We have become political hypochondriacs. We seem eager to declare that the system has come down with some dread disease, to proclaim that an ideological center blessed by the heavens no longer exists, and woe unto us.” In essence, every time something goes wrong in the economy we tend to blame the system; however, the system is controlled and managed by the society or rather said organizational leaders who develop policies and procedures which shape an organization. Policies and procedures either enable or disable an organization. Unfortunately, some leaders do not realize that policies and procedures govern the system and the organization and therefore continue to blame the system for organizational failures.

2. Financial literacy matters but courage and character matters the most in the Wall Street crisis. Instead of blaming the systems for failure, management should and must recognize that taking the accountability and responsibility for failure will ultimately lead to success. The best example is Jamie Diamond at JP Morgan Chase to include a few others. Their leadership recognized that they were doing something wrong and instead of pointing finger and blaming the system, they decided to conduct an organizational assessment and reengineer certain processes and procedures to prevent future failure.

3. Getting caught up in the systematic finger pointing and overregulation which creates additional performance pressures and increases the competitiveness within all industries regardless of size and geographic location. A human resource term often used within an organization is a performance scorecard.

4. Risk management is essential because the goal of any organization should be to minimize the potential levels of risk and determine how to best handle such exposure. Understanding risk form micro level is the key but at Wall Street, many were not able to look and think outside the box causing such failure. Leadership and management must be able to make sound business decisions and fully understand and manage risk.

5. Intentional lack in transparency and accountability. Board decision making was poor and as mentioned previously, the message from the loan officer or leadership to the borrower or consumers and employees was not very clear leading to mixed messages and creating a world of uncertainty.

4Es of and 6 Rules for Successful Leadership

“The day you become a leader, it becomes about them. Your job is to walk around with a can of water in one hand and a can of fertilizer in the other hand. Think of your team as seeds and try to build a garden. It’s about building these people. Only you will know the team,” said Welch.

Business + Strategic Competencies = LEADERSHIP

The New Era of Capitalism??

Over 100 years ago, a Scottish businessman, James Wilson, once pointed out that a melancholy reflection “while wealth and capital have been rapidly increasing” and science and art “working the most surprising miracles”, all classes of people were marked “by characters of uncertainty and insecurity”. Wilson’s solution was freedom. He committed his venture to the struggle not just against the protectionist corn laws but against attempts to raise up “barriers to intercourse, jealousies, animosities and heartburnings between individuals and classes in this country, and again between this country and all others.”

The U.S. government has invested over $250 billion into its banks to save this country from going deeper into “depression.” Other governments in Europe, Asia, and Australia are re-regulating their financial systems to prevent this crisis from escalating further or occurring again on same or similar terms. Over the past 100+ years, capitalism has been beneficial for billions of citizens worldwide. The parts of the world where it has done extremely well have prospered; the parts where it has shrunk have suffered. Capitalism has always created crises, and always will due to the leadership style and the above mentioned variables i.e. jealousies, animosities, etc. The world should use the latest financial crisis, devastating though it is, to learn how to manage it better. Sadly another lesson of history will only be talked about for decades unless our leaders step up and lead by example – but what example??

The Race Is On...

On Sunday, Porsche Automobil Holding SE announced it had 74.1% stake in Volkswagen AG and leaving it just 0.9% short of the 75% level needed to log Volkswagen's revenues and assets in its own books. Porsche vowed to continue with its aggressive move to reach the 75% in 2009 and achieve a “domination agreement” despite the disagreement between its family owners who are indecisive whether or not to support such a move. VW’s leadership continued to welcome Porsche’s investment while the VW’s labor unions “fiercely oppose” Porsche efforts because they see a great deal of threat to workers’ rights. I will continue to follow this development and I am excited to find out what is VW’s priority: 1.) Provide adequate levels of leadership and ensure that employee’s right will be guaranteed and will remain the same, if not better or 2.) Ensure maximum profits through any mean and allow the executive board to continue to receive gigantic paychecks. The race is on between the VW Golf GT and the Porsche GT…TBD who the real winner is…

CEOs agree to Pay Cuts

This is probably one of the toughest downturns in economy since the Great Depression. During the times of uncertainty, executives are acknowledging the difficult circumstances their employees are facing and agreeing to pay cuts if their organizations are not performing based on shareholder expectations. For example, Russ Smyth, chief executive of H&R Block Inc. agreed to a pay cut if the company was to hit bad times. Russ says he accepted the new contract provision because “I believe in leadership by example.” Correspondingly, David Barger, CEO of JetBlue Airways Corp. and the CEO of First American Corp. also cut their pay. These contract provisions are not very popular among many executives but the number is steadily increasing. Currently, some agree to such contracts while others abandon them.

Managing Change through Innovation – A New Opportunity?

In the beginning of the semester, Dr. Kelley, our HR Leadership professor asked the entire class to participate in HR leadership blogging. I know I am a little late for this introduction but it’s never too late to blog. So let me assure you and express my sincerest interests and desires to keeping up with this blog because I see a lot of values in doing so. However, as you may have noticed, I already missed a blog past Saturday. Not that I am seeking any excuses but I really had to study for my HR in the Global Environment midterm. I’ll make it up…promise :-)

This week has been one of the most challenging weeks in my professional career as I was informed that my position is directly affected by the downturn in economy and that my position is being eliminated effective October 31 leaving me with a two-week advanced notice to look and find another job. What would be your initial reaction? What would you do as a leader? I decided to stay calm and use my professional network of colleagues, classmates, HR societies and LinkedIn. I think I start networking harder than ever before in my life but I knew that with every organizational change and challenge there would be another great opportunity – just need to be patient. Sometimes being patient is easier said than done but the time has come to challenge my competencies in the area of “dealing with ambiguity and composure.” While I should probably still be freaking out about this situation, I decided to take it with ease and write this blog. Wish me luck in my job search and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the outcome…

Leading and Managing Human Capital

In this blog I will cover the most significant challenge organizations face in today’s business environment: Engaging senior leaders to manage human capital. In recent years, engaging senior leaders to manage human capital has become a hot topic because of the challenges many organizations face. One of the main causes for the challenge is the ongoing and rapid demographic shifts. The Baby Boomer Generation is approaching their eligibility for full retirement. This is of course making workforce and succession planning strategies necessary. Smith and Thompsen (2005) warn that,

In the coming fiscal year, some estimates show that approximately 493,000 people – 31 percent of the federal workforce – will become eligible for retirement. A high concern reported by 87 percent of public sector leaders in a recent study was the need to grow leaders from within the current ranks. (p. 2)

Engagement of organizational leaders and their ability to manage human capital is key to effective “strategic” human resource management. Simple things need to be taken into consideration in order to be more successful. It is also important how an organization aligns its human capital, better known as the workforce, with business goals and strategies while strongly promoting senior leadership engagement with front line employees. Today, we live in a fast-paced, highly-driven business environment. It is no secret that the success of any organization is driven by those individuals with innovation, great leadership and abilities to align business goals with business needs. How do we achieve these organizational goals while maximizing the performance and outcome? Organizations should take the approach of leading by example, that is, engaging organizational leadership with employees while communicating effectively to best manage their workforce. Eichinger et al. (2004) advised, “Much more can be accomplished through others than by oneself. In our years of collecting data on managers and executives… getting things done through others is key to success as a manager. That’s the cycle of inspiration” (p. 173).

Unfortunately, in the past it seems as if organizations mistakenly focused only on bottom-line profit gains. What mattered most was not the employees’ contributions, their motivational factors, drive for success and so on, but rather the efforts of producing high quantity goods and generating profit gains. Quickly, many employees lost their interests in those characterless organizations which in the end caused more harm to that particular organization through the high turnovers. In 2008, Eitelberg, Kazemi and Susseles completed, “The study found that the biggest driver of turnover for employees under age 40 (all of whom are in Generation X and Y) is dissatisfaction with job content and career opportunities” (p. 5). There are many reasons for the trend and some are move obvious than others. This includes low compensation, training and development opportunities, lack of recognition, or untrained supervisors. However, the main cause is still the lack of leadership engagement with line employees. If you do not have such engagement, you will never understand their contributions, motivational factors or dissatisfaction, and true reasons for turnover. Turnovers are very costly for an organization and often harm the motivation of other employees. Organizations ought to take a closer look at their turnover rates and why they exist. What are the root-causes? How do we attract and retain talented workforce? How do we improve internal relations? The main cause is driven by the lack in approach and engagement of senior leadership with its workforce. Eichinger et al. (2004) advised that,

today's business environment is quickly shifting its gears and often requires new leadership and management practices. If you want to lead, you have to act the part. Lack of confidence, inability to handle push back, and hanging back don’t project the presence necessary to lead change. People need to know you are around and what you stand for. Presence creates receptivity in others. They will stop and listen. (p. 196)

It is important that we leave the past behind us and focus on an innovative future. If the organization wants to attract and retain a talented workforce and compete for new markets, I say organizational leaders must step up, lead by example, and become more engaged with the workforce while using strategic methods and tools to best manage the human capital.



References
Eichinger, W. R., Lombardo, M. M., and Raymond, C. C. (2004). FYI For Talent Management: Based on the Choices Architect 2nd Edition. Minneapolis, MN, (pp. 54, 173, 196).

Eitelberg, C., Kazemi, H., and Susseles, R.E. (2008). Segal Survey: Benefits, Compensation and HR Consulting – Winter 2008. (p. 5) The Segal Group, Inc., the partner of The Segal Company. Washington D.C.

Smith, E. P. A. and Thompsen, A. J. (2005). Building Leadership Bench Strength: Current Trends in Succession Planning and Management. (p. 2) AchieveGlobal, 2005.

Leadership Analysis of Abraham Lincoln

Kouzes and Posner established a leadership model as a framework for analyzing the leadership credibility of great leaders. They defined Six Disciplines of Credibility. I decided to select a past president that has contributed a great deal of leadership to help shape our nation that it is today. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and a popular icon on the $5 bill.

I admire Lincoln a lot because he was not afraid to pursue his vision, communicate it, and empower people to be creative and innovative. He also engaged in a process he believed would help our nation in the years to come. But most importantly, he understood the challenges and stood up to them by appointing the best and brightest to his cabinet. In fact, his cabinet consisted of his sharpest rivals in the presidential race.

At the SHRM’s 2008 Annual Conference in Chicago, Doris Kearns Goodwin, a keynote speaker and 2006 Lincoln Prize winner for her best-selling book, Team of Rivals, identified 10 characteristics that made Lincoln a great leader and recommends that organizations take a closer look when recruiting a leader in today’s environment. These characteristics are:

1.) Capacity to Listen to Different Points of View
2.) Ability to Learn on the Job
3.) Ready Willingness to Share Credit for Success
4.) Ready Willingness to Share Blame for Failure
5.) Awareness of Own Weaknesses
6.) Ability to Control Emotions
7.) Know How to Relax and Replenish
8.) Go Out into the Field and Manage Directly
9.) Strength to Adhere to Fundamental Goals
10.) Ability to Communicate Goals and Vision

If we think about this list for a moment, we can easily see a correlation between Goodwin’s identified leadership characteristics with those identified by Kouzes and Posner. Abraham Lincoln developed a capacity and was open to other people’s suggestions without having the fear of retaliation. He always tried to incorporate additional suggestions into his public speeches and developed a capacity to make the final decision with full accountability and responsibility. He was learning on the fly and quickly acknowledged errors and ensured that they didn’t happen again. Whenever concerns were expressed whether by the public, cabinet members, friends or family, Lincoln would address them in a political and professional manner. When success was achieved he would acknowledge individual contributions. However, when failure existed, he would never blame it on an individual basis but rather blame everyone as a team. Don’t you want a leader with such leadership style? I know I do!!

Lincoln also understood the significance of relaxation, entertainment, and humor in order to have a work-life balance due to internal and external environmental factors. He took his job very seriously but he loved to joke around with his cabinet members and shared his appreciation of their hard work and dedication. And because of this deep understanding of what it takes to be a front line employee, Lincoln enjoyed going out into the field to visit soldiers and manage them directly. He had a great appreciation for them and always tried to thank them in person for causes they stood up for and believed in. Because of this personal connection to the soldiers, their morale had increased significantly.

Unfortunately, today’s organizational leaders don’t have the time to follow Lincoln’s leadership style. It seems to me that they care more about the bottom line profits than their workforce, which contributes over 75% of the bottom line profits. Or maybe they simply don’t care about becoming engaged with the workforce as much as they care about their $10 + million paychecks despite the red numbers in the third or fourth quarter…

However, Lincoln cared down deep about his cabinet members, the public, and their opinions. Shouldn’t every organizational leader do the same? Even though he was pushing to abolish slavery, he never disregarded public opinion just as organizational leaders should disregard their employees’ opinions, or should they?? Think about talent retention…

Are Leaders Born or Made?

Over the past two years, our economy had been declining. Sky rocketing food and energy prices affected the economy at large, but that wasn’t all. Last week, our economy was shattered even more by the fall of the 158 year old investment bank, Lehman Brothers, when they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Following Lehman Brothers fall, Merrill Lynch & Co. and AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, were facing a very similar outcome. In a last minute deal, Bank of America agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch & Co. saving it from a fate similar to Lehman's, while the government rescued AIG in a $85 billion deal. These actions brought up a great deal of debate about our leaders’ abilities and what to do to prevent similar outcomes in the future. It has been argued whether or not it was fair of the government to intervene and save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or lend money to rescue AIG but not Lehman Brothers… This brings up an interesting point in my discussion related to leadership. Are today’s leaders born or made?

Personally, I believe that leaders are something in-between. They are born with the instinct to lead, communicate, and solve problems, but trust, openness and other variables and credentials are developed over time and through experience. Similarly, Arvey, Rotundo, Johnson, Zhang & McGue (2006) estimate that 30% of the determination of simply “being a leader” is accounted for by genetic factors related to an individual’s personality. Similarly, Johnson, Vernon, Harris & Jang (2004) found that leadership style and personality share genetic influence and that transformational leadership is correlated with conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience.

In the end, regardless of whether leaders are born or made, it is important that we have good and strong leaders that can keep a cool head and provide sound solutions when most needed.



Arvey, R. D., Rotundo, M., Johnson, W., Zhang, Z., & McGue, M. (2006). The determinations of leadership role occupancy: Genetic and personality factors. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 1-20.

Johnson, A. M., Vernon, P. A., Harris, J. A., & Jang, K. L. (2004). A behavioral investigation of the relationship between leadership and personality. Twin Research, 7, 27-32.

Most Admirable Leaders

This is a very exciting moment for me as I have the privilege to praise and share with you who I admire most as an organizational leader. However, I have to admit that different people ranging from my parents, brother, grandparents, friends, college professors and mentors influenced me in many different ways and shaped me into who I am today.

As a kid, I grew up in a small war-torn country in the Balkans, Southeastern Europe. While trying to run away, I was facing many challenges – challenges that seemed very simple to solve but were yet complicated. At that time, I was 11 years old. I needed a strong leader – a leader who had a vision and was on a mission (to get us out of the country). I was looking for someone who was a good listener, communicator, and negotiator that would provide the necessary guidance, direction, and consultation while making a strategic decision in order to maintain the composure and competitive advantage. Yes, while one may argue that those challenges were “environmental challenges” over which I had no control, don’t you see the same challenges in your organization? Wouldn’t you want a leader in your organization that is a good communicator providing the necessary guidance, direction, and strategic decisions in order to maintain the competitive advantage while fully engaging the workforce?

In this challenging situation, I found three great leaders that had the competence to collaborate with one another and compromise on the strategic direction. Those leaders led the company (the family) out of the crisis and they were my parents and my brother!

Due to the fact that I was really young at that time of those challenges and because I didn’t have the true exposure to a real organization, those were my true leaders that established a long-lasting legacy and transformed the organization into “my” FORTUNE 10 Company.

Now that many years have passed and I have had the opportunity to experience “organizational leadership” firsthand as well as study about remarkable leaders with memorable impact, it is no secret that former GE CEO Jack Welch is the true business leader that I admire most because of how he transformed GE. One of the most remarkable achievements under his 20 years of leadership was that he increased the value of the company from $13 billion in 1981 to $500 billion in 2000. How did he do this? Management by LEADERSHIP.

Are you ready to manage and apply your great leadership style and who do you admire most?