The Hobbit: An Unexpected Leadership Journey

by Doug Guthrie

I have been writing and lecturing a good deal recently about leadership, focusing on aspects I feel are often crowded out by the charismatic personal traits that draw admiration and are frequently mistaken as a necessary quality of leadership. Instead I have focused on humility, trust, perseverance, creativity and the simple desire to step up and take on a challenge and make the world a better place.

With these thoughts in mind, I saw the movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The book is a literary treasure of childhood, an adventure story with dwarves, wizards and elves in a world beyond conventional imagination. As a child, I read the epic fantasy with an undisguised affection like so many others. What I didn’t understand back then was that The Hobbit is also an allegory about leadership, a legend that holds many insights for today’s leaders, even for those not initiated into Middle Earth legend.

Peter Jackson’s film version of the book, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” has been high on my list of movies to see this holiday season. Jackson was a wizard in his own right with the production of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and everyone has been waiting to see what magic he would bring to a cinematic retelling of The Hobbit.

I’ll steer clear of any judgments about the quality of the movie—or its faithfulness to the source material—because I’m more focused right now on what it shows us about leadership. The central characters—the wizard Gandalf, the hobbit Bilbo and the dwarf Thorin—each take a turn at being a leader, exhibiting their own unique and sometimes problematic approaches to leadership.

The main story has a motley crew of 13 dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf trekking across Middle Earth to best Smaug the Dragon and to reclaim the dwarves’ ancestral homeland. (I know this smacks of a geeky whimsy and outlandish fairytales, and it’s hard to see a connection to corporate America, but give it time.)

Gandalf is the obvious leader…at first. He understands the dynamics of teams, and he sees the value of bringing the dwarves together with naïve and diminutive Bilbo, who seems an unlikely addition for a dangerous, life-changing journey. But Gandalf knows what the dwarves and even Bilbo doesn’t, that there is greatness within him and that his skills will be indispensable to the team in completing its mission.

One of the traits of creative leaders is their ability to understand complexity and alignment within an organization, as well as its relationship to nurturing and sustaining dynamic organizations and creative leaders. In this sense, Gandalf is the master leader. He and he alone understands the complexity of the journey the fellowship is undertaking, and his early, insightful leadership is essential to bringing together a band with skills that align to the expedition.

My view of leadership is built on the idea that everyone at every level in the organization has the potential to be a leader; that only by mastering complexity—both human and organizational—will leaders be able to achieve alignment; and that leaders must know themselves, alert to their failings and graces, to better serve the organization and to build trust.

It came as no surprise to me that I would find the traits of creative leaders in the characters in the film (I knew the book, of course), but I was pleased to see how beautifully rich the lessons of leadership could be when played out against a backdrop of Middle Earth where wolves and trolls wait at every turn. Undoubtedly, the same might be said of corporate America.

For this first film in the trilogy, Thorin turns out to be more archetype of a leader-gone-wrong than an example of clever and sustainable leadership. Certainly he is the leader who starts the journey, driving it forward by the force of his personality, his passion for the quest and his loyalty to his crew. But as he begins to take a series of wrong turns, endangering his team because of his own hubris, spite and greed, it becomes clear that he is the leader who must rise and fall and rise again.

There are always lessons to be learned from failed leadership, and especially for the unsuccessful leader. I suspect that as the trilogy goes forward we will see Thorin forced to confront his own shortcomings of character. In fiction, we can have tragic figures that redeem themselves with great acts of sacrifice. In corporations, we’d prefer to avoid those kinds of failures, and would choose instead a leader who is able to acknowledge when he or she is wrong and to rectify the failure or injustice.

Of the three main characters, Bilbo is the quintessential hero. I believe that creative leaders are forged in the day-to-day work of organizations, not simply born or gifted with their strengths and talents. In that way, the organization or the journey, both in character and complexity, becomes a critical ingredient in achieving any success as a leader. For Bilbo that is certainly true.

Ultimately Bilbo rises to the occasion, despite the fact that his colleagues don’t always think he’s up to it and that he spends a good deal of time whining about his circumstance. He takes a fair amount of ribbing for his early performance on the team, but he eventually earns the right to be on the quest. He displays his cleverness with Gollum, and he helps rescue his teammates in the fiery trees. Even the dwarves begin to realize that the meekest member of their company is a leader in his own right.

That’s why creative leaders are more than individuals with vision. They are key players in their organizations who take the time to assess the group and the situation to come up with novel solutions. They see beyond the apparent limits, even in themselves, to seize opportunity.

The film is about a hero’s journey, but what I like about it most is that there are many heroes in the story. A single hero does not stand above everyone else at all times. This truly reflects my own thinking about the critical nature of giving everyone inside an organization—or on a journey—the opportunity to be their own hero or leader. An organization that encourages creative leadership at every level is more likely to find success than failure, whether in producing a product or embarking on a journey to change the world, even the world of Middle Earth.

Fuente: Forbes

STRATEGY ALIGNMENT, according to Dilbert

ALINEAMIENTO DE LA ESTRATEGIA, según Dilbert

Created by Scott Adams, Dilbert is about the world's most famous -- and funny -- dysfunctional office

Los 7 Problemas Crónicos de las Organizaciones, según Stephen Covey 

por Helena López-Casares

Esta catalogación forma un cuerpo importante dentro de su libro El liderazgo centrado en principios,una obra imprescindible que nos recuerda que el aprendizaje permanente es lo único capaz de fortalecer las relaciones humanas en cualquier ámbito.

Stephen Covey clasificó en siete bloques lo que para él son las dolencias más comunes y paralizantes de cualquier empresa.

Problema número 1

No existen valores ni una visión compartidos. La organización carece de una misión o, en caso de tenerla, no se comprende y, por tanto, nadie se compromete con ella. compromiso.

Problema número 2

No hay un rumbo estratégico. En ocasiones la estrategia no está bien desarrollada o expresa de forma ineficaz la misión de la compañía.

Problema número 3

Alineamiento deficiente entre la estructura y los valores compartidos y entre la visión y los sistemas, de forma que los rumbos estratégicos no se ven fortalecidos.

Problema número 4

El estilo y la filosofía de la alta dirección es incongruente con la visión y con los valores compartidos, lo que desemboca en una incoherencia.

Problema número 5

Generalización de malas prácticas, en muchos casos porque la alta dirección carece de las habilidades necesarias.

Problema número 6

Poca confianza, lo que provoca que la comunicación esté bloqueada, que haya poca capacidad para solucionar problemas y escasa cooperación para el trabajo en equipo.

Problema número 7

Falta de integridad. No hay correlación entre lo que se piensa, los que se dice, lo que se hace, lo que cree y lo que se pone en valor.

Reflexión CEO

• Cómo puedes trabajar a favor de una cultura caracterizada por el cambio y la flexibilidad, y conservar una sensación de estabilidad y seguridad?

• ¿Cómo logramos que nuestros colaboradores estén tan comprometidos con la estrategia como aquéllos que la formularon?

• ¿Cómo liberamos la creatividad, el talento y la energía de nuestra fuerza de trabajo en tiempos de gran incertidumbre y presión?

Covey afirmaba también en este libro que en las organizaciones, y en nuestra sociedad, hay mucha energía negativa, quizá la respuesta a estas preguntas comience por revertir esa dinámica.

Fuente: Canal CEO

PROVIDER OF CHOICE, according to Dilbert

PROVEEDOR DE ELECCIÓN, según Dilbert

Created by Scott Adams, Dilbert is about the world's most famous -- and funny -- dysfunctional office

Brief Lessons from 11 Billionaires:

Branson, Buffet and Jobs, among others

There’s no one better to get business advice from than a billionaire like Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner or Oprah Winfrey. Here is a list of advice from 11 billionaires (as compiled by MyComeUp.com and Business Insider). IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad said, “Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.”

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

“Rule no. 1: Never lose money. Rule no. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.”

Steven Jobs, Apple Co-Founder

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”

Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Steel Company Founder

“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”

Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA Founder

“Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.”

Aristotle Onassis, Greek Shipping Magnate

“The secret to business is to know something that nobody else knows.”

Carlos Slim Helu, CEO of Telmex, America Movil, Grupo Carso

“When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead.”

Sam Walton, Walmart Founder

“We’re all working together; that’s the secret.”

Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group

“We’re going where no one has gone before. There’s no model to follow, nothing to copy. That is what makes this so exciting.”

Oprah Winfrey, CEO of Oprah Winfrey Network

“You become what you believe. You are where you are today in your life based on everything you have believed.”

Ted Turner, CNN Founder

“I just love it when people say I can’t do it, there’s nothing that makes me feel better because all my life, people have said that I wasn’t going to make it.”

J. Paul Getty, Getty Oil Company Founder

“If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.”

Fuente: ChiefExecutive.net

SCHEDULE, according to Dilbert

AGENDA, según Dilbert

Created by Scott Adams, Dilbert is about the world's most famous -- and funny -- dysfunctional office

SOCIAL MEDIA SCORE, according to Dilbert

PUNTAJE EN LAS REDES SOCIALES, según Dilbert

Created by Scott Adams, Dilbert is about the world's most famous -- and funny -- dysfunctional office

8 Things Remarkably Successful People Do

The most successful people in business work differently. See what they do--and why it works

by Jeff Haden

I'm fortunate to know a number of remarkably successful people. I've described how these people share a set of specific perspectives and beliefs.

They also share a number of habits:

1. They don't create back-up plans.

Back-up plans can help you sleep easier at night. Back-up plans can also create an easy out when times get tough.

You'll work a lot harder and a lot longer if your primary plan simply has to work because there is no other option. Total commitment--without a safety net--will spur you to work harder than you ever imagined possible.

If somehow the worst does happen (and the "worst" is never as bad as you think) trust that you will find a way to rebound. As long as you keep working hard and keep learning from your mistakes, you always will.

2. They do the work...

You can be good with a little effort. You can be really good with a little more effort.

But you can't be great--at anything--unless you put in an incredible amount of focused effort.

Scratch the surface of any person with rare skills and you'll find a person who has put thousands of hours of effort into developing those skills.

There are no shortcuts. There are no overnight successes. Everyone has heard about the 10,000 hours principle but no one follows it... except remarkably successful people.

So start doing the work now. Time is wasting.

3.  ...and they work a lot more.

Forget the Sheryl Sandberg "I leave every day at 5:30" stories. I'm sure she does. But she's not you.

Every extremely successful entrepreneur I know (personally) works more hours than the average person--a lot more. They have long lists of things they want to get done. So they have to put in lots of time.

Better yet, they want to put in lots of time.

If you don't embrace a workload others would consider crazy then your goal doesn't mean that much to you--or it's not particularly difficult to achieve. Either way you won't be remarkably successful.

4. They avoid the crowds.

Conventional wisdom yields conventional results. Joining the crowd--no matter how trendy the crowd or "hot" the opportunity--is a recipe for mediocrity.

Remarkably successful people habitually do what other people won't do. They go where others won't go because there's a lot less competition and a much greater chance for success.

5. They start at the end...

Average success is often based on setting average goals.

Decide what you really want: to be the best, the fastest, the cheapest, the biggest, whatever. Aim for the ultimate. Decide where you want to end up. That is your goal.

Then you can work backwards and lay out every step along the way.

Never start small where goals are concerned. You'll make better decisions--and find it much easier to work a lot harder--when your ultimate goal is ultimate success.

6. ... and they don't stop there.

Achieving a goal--no matter how huge--isn't the finish line for highly successful people. Achieving one huge goal just creates a launching pad for achieving another huge goal.

Maybe you want to create a $100 million business; once you do you can leverage your contacts and influence to create a charitable foundation for a cause you believe in. Then your business and humanitarian success can create a platform for speaking, writing, and thought leadership. Then...

The process of becoming remarkably successful in one field will give you the skills and network to be remarkably successful in many other fields.

Remarkably successful people don't try to win just one race. They expect and plan to win a number of subsequent races.

7. They sell.

I once asked a number of business owners and CEOs to name the one skill they felt contributed the most to their success. Each said the ability to sell.

Keep in mind selling isn't manipulating, pressuring, or cajoling. Selling is explaining the logic and benefits of a decision or position. Selling is convincing other people to work with you. Selling is overcoming objections and roadblocks.

Selling is the foundation of business and personal success: knowing how to negotiate, to deal with "no," to maintain confidence and self-esteem in the face of rejection, to communicate effectively with a wide range of people, to build long-term relationships...

When you truly believe in your idea, or your company, or yourself then you don't need to have a huge ego or a huge personality. You don't need to "sell."

You just need to communicate.

8. They are never too proud.

To admit they made a mistake. To say they are sorry. To have big dreams. To admit they owe their success to others. To poke fun at themselves. To ask for help. To fail.

And to try again.

Fuente: Inc.com

IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS, according to Dilbert

MEJORAR LAS COMUNICACIONES, según Dilbert

Created by Scott Adams, Dilbert is about the world's most famous -- and funny -- dysfunctional office

9 Leadership Myths, and how to Overcome them

These nine myths can hamstring you, your company, and your employees. Here's how to get beyond them
by Brian Evje

Every age has its leadership myths. Thousands of years ago, the ability to lead was thought to be conferred by the gods. In the 1840s, Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle created his “Great Man Theory”, which held that leaders have special powers and a special place in society – and that the rest of us have a special obligation to defer to them.

Here are nine myths that leaders tell themselves today – and what they should be saying instead:

1. I am a leader because I have been a leader before.

This is a blanket myth about the primacy of experience – that the only people capable of leadership are those who have done it before.  However, experience is valuable only when one learns from it, with humility and maturity, by recognizing that each company, team, colleague and situation is different.  Many, many leaders are unable to forget the rote experiences of their pasts, and act on auto-pilot. 

Ask yourself: How can you learn which experiences to forget?

2. I am so busy/important/able-to-focus-on-many-things-at-once that I often multi-task.

Your main “task” as a leader is to enable others to get things done. Checking your email during an important conversation with a direct report does not do this. Leadership demands that you be fully present, yet too many leaders are distracted during key discussions, decisions, and developments. How do you remain present while leading?

3. I don’t have time to develop my leadership.

Really?  At what point will you be less busy?  What is the cost if your leadership skills cannot stay slightly ahead of your company?

4. Leaders are born, not made. I don’t think leadership can be learned.

While not everyone is capable of being a leader, or willing to make the required tradeoffs, leadership is an “observable, learnable set of practices,” according to “The Leadership Challenge,” by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner.  “The belief that leadership can’t be learned is a powerful deterrent to leadership development,” they write. How do you learn about your leadership? 

5. My people tell me the truth about what’s going on in the organization.

Perhaps they do.  However, given the nature of power and authority, it is naïve to believe your people will bring you the truth easily, consistently, and without bias – unless you help them by actively seeking this kind of communication without punishing them for the content.  How do you encourage others to bring you bad news?

6. As a leader, I must always be "on."

While it is true that leaders are physically scrutinized more than non-leaders, it is a myth that a leader must actively “project” leadership at all times.  When a leader feels obliged to constantly “perform,” there is little room left over for authenticity, reflection, and mistakes.  Sometimes the most appropriate approach is to turn leadership “off” so that others may step up to the challenge. How does your leadership style create space for others to lead?

7. I started the company/organization/team/office; therefore, I have the right to lead it.

Being present at the start of something entitles you to say, “I was here at the beginning.” Remaining in charge over time, legitimately, requires a continued demonstration of worthiness. Founders need to put the interests of the group above their personal interests. Sometimes this comes only with conscious effort.  Tenure means tenure, not leadership.  To avoid this myth, ask yourself, “How do I continually earn the right to lead what I started?”

8. I have to roll up my sleeves, get my hands dirty, lead by example, etc.

This is true – as long as you are engaged in the right activities. Often this myth motivates leaders to work on non-leaderships activities and to focus on problems that should rightly be left to others.  “Leading by example” must be demonstrated with leadership tasks (decisions, priorities, accountabilities, etc.)  Are you leading with your own work, or the work of others?

9. Leaders are fearless

Nonsense.  Fear is natural and necessary, and cannot be eliminated.  Consider the perspective of writer David Whyte: Fears need to be identified so that we “are not blinded when we face an unknown.”  We do not have to overcome our fears; we need to know what we are afraid of.  This requires courage, a word that originally means heart.  To be courageous, therefore, means to be heartfelt. 

Whyte is correct.  Ask yourself, “What fills me wholeheartedly?” 

The answer you find will be the core of your leadership – not some myth.

Fuente: Inc.com

SMALL TALK, according to Dilbert

CHARLA, según Dilbert

Created by Scott Adams, Dilbert is about the world's most famous -- and funny -- dysfunctional office

40 Best Companies for Leaders 2013 (Part 2)

by JP Donlon for Chief Executive Magazine

Leadership Development ROI

The need to develop leaders is widely acknowledged, but the actual impact of these efforts is seldom quantified. Without meaningful expectation of a long-term return, it is more difficult to justify the investment—especially in trying economic periods. As with previous years, almost two-thirds of responding companies listed “financial limitations” as one of the top challenges to achieving their leadership-development goals.

Comparing the long-term growth in market capitalization of public companies with their ratings for leadership development offers solid justification for investment in developing leaders. The comparison covered the 10 years from 2002 to 2012, a period long enough to minimize short-term and situational fluctuations. The trend is substantial (see table below).

This year’s improved economy has driven greater growth potential than last year. Last year, the bottom 15 percent of the best companies for leaders had actually 23 percent loss of market capitalization. This year, both top- and bottom-rated companies grew, but the top leadership companies still produced significantly greater growth than the lowest as measured by market capitalization.

Reputational Leaders

Survey participants were asked to list the three companies they would recruit from when there are insufficient internal candidates for openings in their organizations. The reputational stars for leadership development are still limited to a few at the top of their game. Here are the top target companies and some of the reasons behind their status as perceived by respondents.

Company	Most Cited Leadership Strengths
GE	Disciplined approach to leadership development. Emphasis on cross-functional training. Comprehensive processes for assessment and feedback.
P&G	Strong training ground for GM bench. Variety of consumer goods and products. Global in scope and very process focused.
IBM	Technology and business solutions leader with excellent reputation for developing leaders, reinventing the business model profitably and sharing success with global communities.

Top 5 Best Companies for Leaders

#1 – P&G – Tackling Turnover

P&G again tops the list as the Best Company for Leaders. P&G stands atop an impressive list of companies well-known for their leadership development.

“I continue to be personally involved in all leadership decisions for our top P&G leaders,” says McDonald. In addition to our organization strategy reviews with our business leaders and function officers, I’m working with our next generation leaders, including those deeper in the organization, to help them grow and develop. I spend a significant portion of my time recruiting, teaching and coaching. Successful leadership development for a build-from-within company is a strategic imperative and a responsibility that I take very seriously for P&G’s current and future success.”

P&G feels their biggest challenge is the loss of an employee they have with whom they have made a significant investment. Because they have such a deep talent bench and are well-known broadly as an engine of leadership development, this often attracts other companies and executive recruiters who recruit their best talent. While their retention is very strong, even the loss of one person in a key market can be a setback in terms of the investment put into their training and development over 10, 15 or 20 years. P&G is committed to build from within, and seldom goes out to hire experienced talent unless there are unique qualifications required.

P&G screens over a half million candidates globally each year and hires less than 1 percent of applicants. They challenge these new leaders with meaningful work and great responsibility from Day One. Business and functional leaders actively recruit, teach and coach and they mentor more junior employees on-the-job, helping them to develop the skills they need to lead large, global businesses and organizations. P&G managers play a vital role in identifying and growing the company’s next generation of leaders. This starts at the top of the organization. Their CEO, vice chairs, presidents and functional officers recruit on college campuses and teach in their executive education programs.

They manage P&G talent globally—starting at mid-levels of management and higher—to facilitate career development and growth across businesses and geographies. They identify top talent early and groom people through a series of varied and enriching assignments that will prepare them for future roles—developing an extremely broad, deep pool of talented employees. Senior management assignments are planned monthly among the chief executive and vice chairs, quarterly with the presidents, and annually with the board of directors, who are all personally involved in the development of their top leaders. 

This planning ensures depth and breadth of experience. P&G leverages the scale of their unique organization structure, allowing employees to learn and grow from progressively broader and more challenging roles. This approach often occurs across functional disciplines, where leaders get experience in every facet of the business—often in wide-ranging geographies and markets. They focus on sustained results and the continuous capability improvement of leaders over time, with their most significant development occurring through on-the-job experience, feedback and coaching. 95 percent of hires are recruited from college campuses and begin their careers at P&G in entry-level roles. The remaining 5 percent come in at lower to mid-levels of management. The vast majority of recruiting efforts are focused on sourcing candidates from universities around the world.”

#2 – GE Rank: Continuous Adaptation

GE was cited the most times as the company from which others recruit talent. They have vigorous tools to support leadership-development activities, ranging from early career leadership-development programs and accelerators to on-the-job mentoring and stretch assignments to training through their Global Leadership Curriculum offerings, all supported by a robust talent management process. Developing leaders is integral to their company culture and long-term success.

GE has many well-established, formal processes for developing leaders, including annual talent-management programs, succession planning and training. However, because the world in which they operate is always evolving, they continuously adapt the way they develop leaders. Two recently developed programs are the Leader in Residence (LIR) Program and Leadership Explorations. They believe in leaders developing other leaders, which is why they launched the (LIR) Program in 2010. This innovative program was created to involve senior leaders in the development of younger, emerging leaders and to provide both groups with opportunities for continued growth.

During the week-long LIR Program, an officer of the company steps out of his or her regular job and teaches at Crotonville (their leadership institute located in Ossining, New York). This senior leader teaches classes (utilizing tele-presence to connect with their learning centers around the world). He or she also conducts mini-coaching sessions with program participants, networking dinners, fireside chats and reverse mentoring on technology and trends. They also share leadership stories through dialogues—both inside and outside of the classroom. During the week, the Leader In Residence also has the opportunity to reflect on his or her own leadership style.

GE established the quintessential executive-training ground at its world-famous Crotonville facility—on which it reportedly spends about $1 billion a year. General Electric’s John F. Welch Leadership Development Center marks its 56th anniversary this year. They have 13 offerings involving leadership skills that everybody should have, such as presentation skills, project management skills and understanding finance in a generic way.

These courses are managed through the Crotonville staff but are delivered at GE businesses around the world, including Shanghai, Munich and Bangalore, among other places. This is done through a Train-the-Trainer (TTT) concept. GE trains 50,000-60,000 people a year digitally and an additional 9,000 attend courses at Crotonville.

#3 – IBM Rank: Accelerating Growth

IBM has a long history of innovative leadership development and cross-discipline mentoring. IBM values people who apply innovation and imagination to make the world a better place. This is why they feel they need extraordinary leaders who can create high-performance work climates and foster employee engagement—people who not only succeed but enable others to do so, as well. At the core of the GM leadership development program is the ability to accelerate future leaders’ readiness to become integral parts of IBM. Throughout the program, in addition to formal world-class consulting and sales training, participants will be afforded key opportunities to develop and demonstrate the following leadership competencies:

1. Embrace Challenge: IBM gets energized by complex and challenging situations. They identify opportunities, take responsibility for solving problems and their positive attitude and confidence inspires others to do the same.
2. Build Mutual Trust: IBM builds “360 degrees of trust” across the full spectrum of their constituents—their organizations, clients and communities. They do this by acting with integrity, assuming positive intent, holding themselves accountable, trusting in the capabilities of others and by taking responsibility for remedying the situation if they see trust is eroding.
3. Communicate for Impact: IBM communicates to find mutual understanding. They listen to ensure others are heard, their deep expertise allows them to communicate complex situations clearly and simply and their authenticity enables them to convey difficult messages in a positive manner.

The programs include: Basic Blue for IBM Leaders, Shades of Blue and Accelerate Executive Leaders program for new executives and Executive Insights for newly hired or acquired executives. These are among the many examples that involve deeply integrated programs for identifying, assessing and developing some 60,000 high-potential leaders at all levels.

The planning process first defines all roles across IBM and creates “Success Profiles” for all leadership roles. This system is used to define demand for leadership roles by business unit or market and to identify critical gap roles (requiring accelerated development and recruitment). The second process focuses on pipeline identification and development. Leadership competencies of those currently in leadership roles are regularly evaluated to assess the leadership potential and functional skills of IBM globally. Guidance on potential career paths and personalized development plans is provided for each IBM leader, tracking progress through the IBM management system, including providing experiences and developmental opportunities.

Placement for each leadership role focuses on defining potential candidates, while considering diversity for each opening. Placement decisions are accomplished through Five-Minute Drills conducted at annual leadership reviews at all levels of the business. This company-wide process moves upward to high visibility Chairman’s Reviews with action follow-ups. At IBM, success has its roots in an adherence to core values, while embracing fast-paced global change. IBM’s succession process has been a major reason it is one of the few firms that has lasted a century. It has one of the most closely watched institutionalized succession plans of any company in the world. This was evidenced by the smooth transition of CEO responsibility to Virginia “Ginny” Rometty from Sam Palmisano. Rometty is the ninth CEO since the company’s founding and its first woman CEO. This was no exception, as Lou Gerstner’s handoff to Palmisano was another good case study on leadership transition.

#4 – Dow Chemical Rank: Crossing Functions

Dow has a long history of cross-functional and cross-business movement within the organization, as well as a focus on international development assignments. Dow offers various rotational programs in a number of disciplines. These programs offer different job assignments that provide diverse experience and opportunities including:

• Business Services Rotational Program: providing an opportunity to gain exposure and work experience in different types of effort within the Business Services organization.
• Commercial Development Program: providing an opportunity to participate in a variety of account-management experiences designed to build skills and familiarize employees with the resources available to help them manage Dow’s relationships with their customers.
• Finance Development Program for Accountants: provides diverse and varied working knowledge of Dow’s Finance organization.
• Human Resources Rotational Development Program: gives participants insight into the global Dow organization and culture.
• Finance Leadership Development Program: develops leaders with the skills and experiences needed to excel and to contribute to their global organization.
• MBA/General Management Program: creates an accelerated path to senior leadership for a few exceptional people, who can bring new ideas and insights to the opportunities and challenges facing Dow.
• Public Affairs Development Program (PADP): allows participants to develop and enhance communication skills, gain valuable insight into the different communication roles and build networks in the function and across the company.

#5 – Verizon Communications: Customer Credo

Verizon relies on a leadership team that lives their customer first commitment, their credo and core values—Integrity, Respect, Performance Excellence and Accountability—every day. The Verizon team is led by Lowell McAdam, a chairman and CEO who leads by example and serves as a role model for living the Credo every day. He launched a cross-enterprise Credo Recognition Effort to reinforce the behaviors expected of leaders at all levels of the organization. He continues to demonstrate strong personal commitment and engagement in executive-leadership development. In 2012, he was instrumental in the creation of learning experiences for directors and senior leaders in Lean Six Sigma, Shareholder Value and Emerging Technologies programs.

McAdam’s ongoing operations reviews, quarterly earnings broadcasts with employees, annual senior leadership meeting and cross-enterprise strategy retreat also allow him to be a visible leader teaching leaders. Periodically and at minimum twice per year, the CEO meets with business leaders to ensure effective and consistent talent identification, assessment and execution of development plans for top talent. In addition, the board of directors is engaged in a review of top talent, including interaction with top leaders during meetings and retreats, where they are concerned with clear, measureable annual performance agreement and laser-sharp priorities focused on:

• Well-defined leadership capabilities and expectations
• Ongoing feedback and coaching from supervisors
• External professional coaching and a 360-degree survey and feedback process