If you take a look at the blogs I read and the topics I write about, they are clearly focused around the topic of leadership. But I have restricted this focus on what it means personally, to be a leader. I have written about how we become leaders, what we can (and sometimes cannot) do as leaders and the role of communication, teamwork and how to manage the “work-life balance.” And now my new role, my new focus is taking me in a slightly different direction – I’m fascinated by the idea of Customer Leadership.

Customer Leadership is like a business tango – relying on passion and commitment to the dance – but still allowing the participants to go on to separate lives once the music ends. It’s living and giving 110% in the moment, but also being willing to walk away at the drop of a hat when the balance of power shifts too much to one side. In this way, Customer Leadership only exists when there is participation by the business and the customer – in some form of balance.

As Head of SAP’s Premier Customer Network for North America, my role is to help our organization hear the music of the dance. I’m no longer calling the tune, but responding to the shifting needs of our customers, and the changing business conditions that are transforming the economy before my eyes. I am also making introductions, connecting individuals, business units and teams. I’m not talking the talk or walking the walk – I’m tripping the light fantastic, showcasing innovative leaders not just from my business but from within this network of customers. It’s very much a process of reinvention – not just for me and my team, but for our customers as well. Finding a new way ahead together is proving, for me at least, one of the most exciting times of my career. And while it’s early days, we’re all focused on and beginning to see, serious results.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of this journey with you.

Nina Nets it Out: Customer Leadership is a far more delicate process than corporate leadership. It comes down to relationships, to benefits and to value – all the hard to measure intangibles of the business world. But I am convinced this is a true future of business.

With more and more men forced to stay home, more and more women are bringing home the bacon. Women are more likely than ever to head their own families. They’re doing it all—and many of them have to do it all. When they work, it’s no longer just for “the little extras.” Their income puts food on the table and a roof over their heads, just like men’s income always did.

Even a quick glance at the Shriver Report signals the widespread changes that have occurred in just a generation. Between 1975 and 2008, the “traditional” family structure (a working husband only) has more than halved, from 52% to 21%. This has impacted families and women in particular in a myriad of ways – generating political, policy and organizational challenges around flexible working hours, child care, opportunity, equal pay and family care. At the same time, it is clear that women are reaping the benefits of education – women now receive 62% of college associate’s degrees, 57% of bachelor’s degrees, 60% of all masters degrees, half of all professional degrees and just under 50% of all PhDs – a stunning turnaround since 1970, especially at the upper end where women received fewer than 10% of professional and doctoral degrees.

Yet despite these indicators, and despite the fact that we have women in the high ranking public positions of Secretary of State and Speaker of the House, it seems that appearances are, in fact, deceiving. In her New York Times article, The Mismeasure of Women, Joanne Lipman suggests, “… Somewhere along the line, especially in recent years, progress for women has stalled. And attitudes have taken a giant leap backward.”

Rather than focusing only on the statistics – on the numbers, the gains, the incremental improvements, we need to look, as Joanne Lipman suggests, to changes in perception, alterations in behavior and how this creates the conditions for a change in the way this nation thinks of, and engages, its women citizenry. We need to take the same approach within our organizations – looking at what Jo Miller calls the “shadow organization” – the networks of relationships that hold and carry influence, and create action across the enterprise regardless of hierarchy – and actively put in place plans to promote our achievements and influence the way that they are perceived and even valued.

For sure, we have made progress, but better jobs, more pay and greater opportunity is one thing. Respect is another. Our challenge as leaders is to shift the conversation around the topic of women. After all, if you want profits, you have to smash the glass ceiling. It’s time to put the numbers to work – our numbers, the numbers that lie behind Maria Shriver’s report – and we’ll all be better off for it.

Nina Nets It Out: Women have made significant gains in the last 30-40 years. But for all the statistics, there are still inequalities – cultural inequalities which threaten to undo the good work of a generation. Leaders, as the custodians of organizational culture, have an important part to play in transforming both the perception and reality of women in business.

But as we reach the last quarter of the year, leaders will be turning their attention to closing what business they can before the year end, as well as planning for the new year ahead. With the economy remaining tight, we may be tempted to focus only on the short term – securing business, bringing in every last dollar of revenue and squeezing out extraneous costs – leaving the 2010 plan open ended or only half-baked. If you find yourself in this situation, you may want to consider what I call “Do-able Strategy”.

• Direct business engagement – work with your leadership team to identify and prioritize the new business opportunities in your sales pipeline. Determine where best you can inject yourself into the process with a view to closing the deal – or get out of the way and let your team do its job.
• Objectives – scan your opportunity pipeline for the emerging “need states” of your top customers. Are there new issues or business problems appearing on your customer’s horizons? Use these to begin feeding your 2010 strategic objectives. Make sure that these are folded back into any customer discussions that are taking place during the last quarter.
• Authority and responsibility – Now it is time to invest your team with what Wally Bock calls authority and responsibility. Make them responsible for achieving outcomes and then ensure they have the authority to make it happen (remember the do-able strategy is as much about doing as it is about strategy).
• Breakdown – as all the elements of your near and short term plans begin to take shape, it can become overwhelming. Remember to breakdown your strategy into executable programs. Ensure that there is someone responsible for each program.
• Learn – we can always learn from a process. Make sure that your learnings are being recycled into your forward planning. Don’t repeat the same mistakes. The goal is to become a scholar-practitioner.
• Engage the emotions – many leaders tiptoe around emotions. They see them as the messy side-effect of dealing with people. But emotions can supercharge your team. Rather than avoiding emotions, engage them. Talk to your team about your vision. Work to include them in operationalizing it. As Steve Roesler reminds us, “emotions prompt us to act”.

Nina Nets It Out: Sometimes circumstances conspire against our best strategic efforts. Rather than sacrificing longer term planning for short term gain, consider accelerating your planning process. It’s not a substitute for a formal, rigorous plan, but it can alleviate the pressure in the short term.

Balance by KarolusLinus

President Obama recently sparked an interesting dialogue about empathy when he stated that he would nominate a Supreme Court justice “who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract theory. … It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives,” to replace the outgoing Justice David Souter.  In short, he wants someone with judicial empathy.  This has caused outrage from some and applause from others.  Regardless how you feel about this issue, it is interesting to see so much attention being paid to empathy within the context of the Supreme Court.

Personally, I am a definite believer that empathy has a place in leadership and business in general.  That said, it must be properly balanced with power in order for long-lasting, sustainability to be achieved.  Karl Long wrote a wonderful piece discussing this balance.  Leaders must find a way to appeal to those that they lead and simultaneously command the respect of these individuals.  Some people respect a leader who demonstrates care and concern for them.  Others respect a powerful authority that leads based on a command and control approach.  I have written about a related topic in the past in a piece entitled “Democratic Dictatorship“.  In this piece I made the point that a leader is ultimately responsible to the organization’s best interests, not those of any particular individual.  However, to be clear, this does not imply that a leader cannot show empathy toward individuals within the organization.  On the contrary, it is often in the organization’s best interests to keep the people who work there satisfied.  In fact, loyalty expert Fred Reichheld, has written extensively about customer loyalty and its direct linkage to employee loyalty.  And in these turbulent economic times, nothing can be more important to a business than keeping the customers that they have satisfied; in large part, by keeping the employees they have satisfied.

There’s even real science to back up the power of empathy within a leader and the physiological effects that it can have on others.  In a recent HBR article about social intelligence and neuroscience, the findings demonstrated “that certain things leaders do—specifically, exhibit empathy and become attuned to others’ moods—literally affect both their own brain chemistry and that of their followers.”  For example, in performance feedback settings, it was more the tone and emotional signals given during feedback vs. the actual feedback itself that established the recipient’s attitude and feelings about the feedback.  In essence, the way things were communicated were more important than what specifically was communicated.  In fact, we can all recall seeing this same effect when talking to a baby or even a pet.  If you speak with a particular tone, it is not relevant what specific words you are saying.  In these cases, the words are not even comprehensible to the baby or pet, but the tone of voice is clearly what dictates their response.

What does all of this mean to you as a manager or leader?  Well, if you want to get the best out of your teams, colleagues, subordinates, etc., use an easygoing tone and humor to engage the best neurons your folks have to offer!  In one study, it was found that “top-performing leaders elicited laughter from their subordinates three times as often, on average, as did mid-performing leaders.”  For business, it is true when they say, laughter is the best medicine!

Nina Nets It Out: A good mood can not only make your day better, but also that of the people around you. I guess this science has proven the French proverb “more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar.”  Be sure to balance your own drive, ambition and intelligence with an ability to empathically and socially connect with co-workers, business colleagues, customers, etc.

But in amongst all this, we must also understand the nature of the implied leadership contract.

I was reminded of this by Wally Bock’s excellent post, Don’t Just Tell Me. Show Me. In this post, Wally writes of a colleague who challenged him early in his career – rather than offering praise, she said “don’t just tell me, show me”. As Wally explains, praise is powerful and financial incentives can be very effective:

But if that’s all you use with team members, you risk moving out of the realm of social covenants and into the realm of economic contracts.

And this is one of the most important aspects of leadership. Just because you may not “know” every person that works in your business unit or across your enterprise, this doesn’t mean that those people don’t have a sense of who you are. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have some sense of relationship with you. After all, if you have been following my advice and working on your communication skills, you will have built a great deal of rapport with and amongst your teams. But with this sense of relationship also comes a covenant – the leadership contract.

The leadership contract goes way beyond a mere transactional relationship. This is not just about financial reward, recognition or even performance. It is both personal and collective. When your teams buy-in to your vision and commit to making it their own, they are doing so by first providing what Robert Putnam describes as “bridging capital” – the type of social capital that connects us to people outside of our close circle. But I think that the leadership contract spans the space between bonded and bridging social capital (bonded capital refers to those close personal relationships and trust that we have with family and friends). As time goes on, and as leaders deliver on their promises, the bonds between us change. This happens because we derive satisfaction from our work far beyond the financial reward. We identify with our company, with our business unit and with our colleagues – so our work becomes “part” of who we are.

Leaders who recognize the complexity of this type of relationship – the leadership contract – will find higher levels of performance, resilience and innovation within their organizations. And in this day and age, that can only be a good thing.

Nina Nets It Out: As leaders our influence extends far beyond the casual employee-employer relationship. It is multi-faceted. Understanding some of the nuances of the leadership contract can keep us all ahead of the curve.

Too many leaders, along with their communications staff, spend too much time thinking about how to say whatever it is they need to say. And, for sure, I commend those with the gift of gab for whom communicating clearly and with well-chosen words comes easy. I’ve surely written about the tremendously valuable ability to communicate clearly on my blog over the past year and think it is, without a doubt, one of the most critical skills anyone in business [and it really isn't nor should be limited at all to people working in the business world] can possess. However, as important as such communications are, the benefits from them can be completely eroded when the actions don’t support the words. How often have people in our lives, be it in professional or personal circumstances, said one thing and done another? What are we to believe when such things occur?

One way that Isadore Sharp has integrated both communications and actions is in the creation of the “Glitch Report.” Every department at the hotel creates a diary of the previous day’s mistakes and uses this to both inform teams of issues and to ensure that, wherever possible, those mistakes are not replicated. Isadore Sharp explains this approach in this interview with National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog:

By keeping close tabs on what’s happening at the hotel every day, the management team has the ability to work closely with staff to continually teach, reinforce and empower them to make great customer service decisions.

This is not to say that there are times when our actions can’t match our words. We can have the greatest intentions to follow up our words with the appropriate actions, only to realize subsequently that we cannot do as we have said. In such times, express the changing circumstances aloud and let others know that you are fully aware that your prior words cannot be supported by current actions. In this way, you can demonstrate the realization that your initial words and actions won’t match, but you can modify the words, provide explanation, if necessary, and get your words and actions re-aligned to one another. People may not like the change, but they cannot disregard the effort to openly communicate and to keep the synchronicity of words and actions required for a trusted relationship intact.

This follows along my philosophy of telling it like it is. I know that this approach won’t please all of the people all of the time; but, it will allow all of the people to know where I stand all of the time. And given the choice of pleasing everyone all of the time [as if this could even happen] or being authentic and having all of the people know that what I say is so, I will always choose being regarded as authentic and honest to my words. And this recalls my belief about leaders in general in regard to the expression: “it is better to be respected and not liked than to be liked and not respected.”

Isadore Sharp understands that actions tell others who we are and what kind of person we are. He spent years evangelizing his laser focus on service and living up to the expression “We are only what we do, not what we say we are.” These words are easy to say but challenging to live up to. It required shifting mindsets, delegating responsibilities, giving up control when necessary, firing people who did not live up to the credo, despite them being competent in various other areas, and other such actions that demonstrated the seriousness with which his company was going to follow this path. Without a doubt, to those who have ever had the good fortune to stay at a Four Seasons hotel, the service ethic has been instilled throughout every level within the company. From the bellmen who greet arriving cars, to chamber maids, to wait staff and desk personnel. The Four Seasons chain of hotels demonstrates the possibilities of a corporate-wide focus on doing the right thing, not just saying the right words.

Today, the Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts “is considered among the finest luxury hotels worldwide, according to Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey, and operates 78 hotels in 32 countries including 22 AAA Five-Diamond properties.” Now if we can only get business leaders in all sorts of companies, industries and countries to follow the Four Seasons approach!

Nina Nets It Out:Words are just that…they’re words. If we say we are going to do one thing and we do another, of what value are the words we spoke? Clearly, we all want to be considered honest, authentic leaders. To achieve this, we must make certain to maintain synchronicity between what we say and what we do. If you must do something that differs from your words, at least offer an explanation and demonstrate your awareness of the discrepancy. The importance of this cannot be overstated for leaders who wish to be held in high regard and worthy of being considered a leader.

The Stevie Awards has named nine executives who will chair specialized final-judging committees for its Seventh Annual American Business Awards. I am proud to say that I have been selected as the chairwoman for the Management category. T

The nine committees are based on the categories that will be judged. The appointments are as follows:

• Company Categories: Ted C. Mesa, founder, president and CEO, Pointandship Software, Inc., Walnut Creek, CA

• Corporate Communications & Public Relations – Richard Ramlall, Senior VP for Strategic External Affairs, Programming, and International Marketing, RCN Corporation, Herndon, VA

• Customer Service – Troy Carrothers, Senior VP-Credit, Kohl’s Department Stores, Menomonee Falls, WI

• Human Resources – Rosemary Haefner, VP-Human Resources, CareerBuilder.com, Chicago, IL

• Information Technology – Anyck Turgeon, Chief of Market Strategy and Security, Crossroads Systems, Austin, TX

• Management – Nina Simosko, Senior VP of the Global Ecosystem & Partner Group, SAP Americas, Palo Alto, CA

• Marketing – Mimi San Pedro, VP-Global Marketing, Acxiom Corporation, Little Rock, AR

• Product Development – Glen Tindal, Chief Technology Officer, Intelliden, Colorado Springs, CO

• Sales - Sanford Brown, Chief Sales Officer, Heartland Payment Systems, Princeton, NJ

Finalists in The 2009 American Business Awards will be determined in preliminary judging to be conducted in April and May by volunteer professionals nationwide. Final judging, led by the committee chairs, will take place May 18 – June 3. The results of the 2009 competition will be announced at an awards dinner in New York on June 22.

“The Stevie Awards have named some of America’s most respected, influential executives to chair this year’s final judging committees for The American Business Awards,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. “These executives have demonstrated a profound understanding of the rapidly-changing dynamics of the marketplace, and they have a keen appreciation for the factors that contribute to success in their professions.”

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. I am proud to have been the recipient of the 2008 Best Executive – Service Business – More than 2,500 Employees category.

To enter The 2009 American Business Awards, visit http://www.stevieawards.com/aba. And to learn more about The Stevie Awards visit www.stevieawards.com.

Nina Nets It Out: The Stevie Awards are a wonderful recognition for worthy companies and executives. I encourage my readers to click on the provided links and read a bit about some of the wonderful participants, candidates and recipients. I am excited to be on the judging side of the Stevies which will afford me the opportunity to learn about so many wonderful executives..

Well, the idea of paying it forward is really a good one. In fact, Benjamin Franklin demonstrated the idea of paying it forward in a letter to Benjamin Webb dated April 22, 1784:

“I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you [...] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”

In business, there are SO many ways in which this concept can take hold. But to me, the greatest impact of this wonderful approach to helping can be done at the grassroots, or individual, level. I myself have experienced both sides of paying it forward. I have had the great fortune of being helped by many people along my career path. And to be clear, these folks did not do so with the expectation that they would receive anything in return; but rather for the sake of helping me out at a time when I was in need of assistance. I have had a few great mentors who took me under their wings and guided me through then-uncharted paths within my career. I am humbled by the unselfish nature in which this help was given and greatly benefited from it. It is, in large part, the reason I am where I am in my career.

So, in the spirit of paying it forward, I now offer assistance to others whenever I can so that they too can benefit from outside perspectives and guidance. I participate on the board of a non-profit [Reading Partners], I mentor colleagues both within and outside my company whenever I am able to, and I encourage those in my village to do the same. There are a couple of great commercials from Liberty Mutual insurance company that totally inspired me to write this entry and to shine a light on the notion of paying it forward. These commercials show how one person witnessing someone helping someone else, can find that helpfulness within themselves to pay it forward.

If each person who reads this blog entry, thinks about one person they can help with the explicit ‘rule’ that that person must repay the favor by helping someone else, imagine how quickly this valuable concept can generate massive good. Think about it, mathematically it doesn’t take long for things to grow incredibly fast as shown in this great piece by Alan Yu called “A Penny Doubled Everyday“. Starting with just one penny on day 1 and doubling the number each day, in just thirty days, you’d have over $10 million dollars…$10,737,418.23 to be exact.

As leaders, we must be sure to foster a culture in which people understand the value of helping one another. I try to do this as often as I can and those who work with and around me, are always welcomed to ask for assistance or the time to assist others. We all have times in our lives where we need(ed) help. The greatest thing we can do with what we have learned is to share this knowledge with others in our networks so that they too can benefit. It’s like, as Wally Bock asks, “what do you want to be remembered for?”.

Nina Nets It Out: Be sure to take every opportunity to help others and to ask them to do the same for people within their network. If we can create an atmosphere in which this type of behavior is commonplace, recognized and encouraged, the limits we have are boundless. And in these difficult times, helping others will be appreciated tremendously by all involved.

First up, polish your communication skills. When you work in a matrix, you need to be clear about your work, your direction and your deliverables. Different teams have their own internal cultures – and if you are new to that team or working across a division, you likely will miss the non-verbal communication at play. To combat this, over communicate – ask questions if you are unclear. Clarify the expectations of colleagues and learn to articulate your thoughts precisely. If you need to, take a course; but don’t overlook the importance of this communication.

Secondly, remember there are only 24 hours in a day. When you work in a matrix, you are likely to have multiple deliverables from multiple teams. That means you must manage expectations of all involved. When asked to take on a new project, politely explain your level of utilization and then ask your project leader to help you prioritize your efforts. Make sure that this is clearly communicated to the people you report to, along with the expected impacts. Be sure to avoid over-committing and under delivering.

These two steps can make a dramatic difference to your life. But what about leaders? How can you lead well in the matrix? Gill Corkindale suggests the following steps for leaders:

• Make sure the culture is robust, supportive and you have the right values and behaviors in place
• Ensure that you are a skilled communicator: networking, influencing, coaching and facilitating skills are paramount
• Draw up clear goals, objectives, and performance metrics for managers and staff and see to it that they are aligned vertically and horizontally
• Empower teams to make decisions and to resolve conflicts at an appropriate level
• Don’t tinker with the structure, but let the networks and matrix evolve over time
• Use your expertise and personal network to influence those over whom you have no formal authority

To this list I would add:

• Foster village thinking – create opportunities for your matrix team members to collaborate on both personal and professional levels
• Achieve with grace – when you are a leader in a matrix organization, many disparate teams will contribute to your success. Make sure that your success is achieved (and acknowledged) with grace.

Nina Nets It Out: Matrix organizations can deliver astounding results, but attributing these results to a particular line of business can often be difficult or fraught with political danger. Leaders must ensure that they continue to emphasize communication, team work and responsibility across their matrixed teams and share the spoils of success as they arrive.

Following my webinar with Jo Miller, there were many questions asked about leadership, virtual teams, work-life balance, and the like. I offered answers to many of these questions and Jo posted them on her website. This exercise made me realize that there are many people who have questions about these topics but who might not have a resource to seek out the answers. As such, I’ve decided to try something new on my website.

If anyone has questions related to business, leadership, management or similar topics, I’d like to offer myself as a resource to provide answers. Of course, it goes without saying that I am just one person with my own opinion. However, I have been working for many years and have held leadership positions in some of the best companies around, especially within the software industry.

This all said, if you have a question and want someone else’s opinion, advice, etc., please feel free to post your questions in the comments section here. I will reply publicly so that all readers have a chance to learn from these exchanges. In fact, perhaps some of these questions will warrant full posts which I will feature on this site.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.