Being a Leader: Telling Time or Clock Building?

Clock-SmallIn Built to Last, Jim Collins says “…being a charismatic visionary leader is ‘time telling’; building a company that can prosper far beyond the presence of any single leader…. is ‘clock building.’”

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Clock building leaders:

  • Focus on organizational design
  • Stay out of day-to-day details
  • Focus on the long term vision
  • Reinforce values
  • Builds a team of leaders
standardApril 16Tom SalonekLeadership

Microsoft Turns 40

Microsoft-LogoMicrosoft turned 40 last week.

In a letter to employees, Bill Gates said, “I believe computing will evolve faster in the next 10 years than it ever has before”

Wow… quite a statement about what’s coming ahead from the founder of a firm with one of the largest market caps in the world on par with Google and ExxonMobile.

standardApril 14Tom SalonekIT

Breakfast with Values Champions

On April 21, from 7:30 to 9:00, I’ll be speaking at the Breakfast with Values Champions.  It’s held at the College of St. Catherine and all are welcome to attend.  Please see speaker line-up and more information below.

Breakfast-with-Values-Champions

 

Breakfast with Values Champions Breakfast is a learning community for forwardthinking leaders and organizations interested in expanding their capacity to  “be who they say they are.” You can expect to engage with other leaders committed to aligning their values and purpose with all areas of how they do business: developing your executive team, strategy that is broadly owned, leading change, employee engagement, measures and metrics, engagement, onboarding and more.

Values Champions includes distinguished leaders of Fortune 500 companies, authentic non-profit leaders and entrepreneurs committed to building organizations that value people as much as profit. They will share how they align values with policies and make tough decisions while staying true to their stated mission, vision and organizational values.

COST PER EVENT: $25 or reserve a team table of five people for $115 per event
(includes breakfast, networking, speaker and parking)

TO REGISTER: https://valuesbreakfast.eventbrite.com

standardApril 9Tom SalonekHappy Employees

What a Leader Does in 25 Seconds

What does a leader do?  Take 25 seconds and listen to the interview with John Chambers.

standardMarch 26Tom SalonekLeadership

Virtues of Virtual Teams – Technology (Part 5 of 5)

Virtual-Team-TechnologiesIf you’ve been following this series on virtual teams, you know I’ve been sharing highlights from the Harvard Business Review article (12/14) article “Getting Virtual Teams Right” by consultant and business author Keith Ferrazzi. So far we’ve examined the importance of having the right team, sound leadership and the right touchpoints.

What’s left? Technology of course. Without the right technology virtual teams simply do not work. Or, as author Ferrazzi so eloquently puts it: “In our experience, even those with top-notch virtual teams—those with the most talented workers, the finest leadership and frequent touchpoints—can be felled by poor technology.”

Among the components virtual teams should use:

  • Conference calling—“Look for systems that don’t require access codes but do record automatically or with a single click and facilitate or automate transcription. . . Also consider one-on-one and group videoconferencing, since visual cues help establish empathy and trust.” At Intertech, we use UberConference.
  • Direct calling and text messaging—Nothing beats picking up a phone and talking directly with someone on the team. Texting comes in second. We like the Microsoft tool Lync.  Not only does it allow us to indicate when we’re “in” the office (versus on a break), but it facilitates “conversations” over the web, including voice and text, and allows people to see each others’ desktops, which makes it easy for two virtual team mates to work together in real time on a particular issue.
  • Discussion forums or virtual rooms—At Intertech, Slack allows all team members to share ideas, files, and other artifacts… in a searchable repository.  According to Ferrazzi, “scholars call this type of collaboration ‘messy talk’ and say it’s critical for completing complex projects.”

At the end of the day, virtual teams can save time, reduce hassles and bring valuable intellectual resources to regions where they may be sparse. Following the strategies I’ve described in this series on virtual team can do a long way toward making virtual teams highly successful.

standardMarch 24Tom SalonekIT