During a team night out, a group of disgruntled employees decided to exact revenge on their nasty boss.
Whilst eating a meal in a restaurant, the said boss went to the bathroom.
When he was away from the table, his employees searched through his wallet and found his Lottery ticket; they quickly wrote down his selected numbers.
Then one of them went to the waitress and organized the prank before the boss returned.

An appropriate time later, after the lotto draw was made, the waitress came over to the table and asked if anyone wanted to know that evening’s winning numbers.
She then proceeded to read them out aloud before setting the numbers down on the table.
The boss looked at the numbers then casually pulled out his wallet and compared them.
He went quiet, put his wallet back in his jacket pocket and sat down again breathing very rapidly, and looking totally blown away. After a couple of minutes he pulled out his wallet and Lotto ticket again, and checked the numbers once more, very carefully.
Then, he sculled his drink, stood up on his chair and shouted out to the whole room:

“I just want to let you all know something. I’ve been having an affair with my secretary for months. I don’t like any of you, and I have hated working for this ****ing company. You can all go to Hell, ‘coz I’ve just won a ****-load of money, and I’m leaving!”

A friend sent me this story by email some time back and it supposedly happened in Australia.
True or not, it made me laugh and definitely brightened up the day a bit.
And whether it actually occurred doesn’t really matter in the end because in a lighthearted way, it simply helps to highlight the fact that some bosses get it so completely wrong, to the extent that their employees are only waiting for a chance to ‘get’ them.
We have all had a boss at some point in our careers who we would have gladly have ‘punked’ in a similar way, if we could have done so. Or done worse.

Sure, the bad boss syndrome is hardly news to anyone who reads this blog regularly, as I have written a number of posts on the matter. But, in case you feel that I don’t do enough to acknowledge the many good leaders out there, I thought that for today I would focus on the positive side of leadership.

So, here are – and in no order of importance either – ten factors which I believe set the best leaders apart:

1. They exude energy & enthusiasm
Some people are akin to energy vampires; they can suck the life out of you.
Not so as far as effective leaders are concerned.
They do the opposite and make you feel energized and engaged, not in a corny ‘go-gett’um’ sense, but interacting with them just feels good.
Take a look at this video of Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, to see what I do NOT mean in terms of energizing people.

Watch Video

Sorry, and I am sure you will agree with me, but that’s just sad.
Very, very sad.
I’d quit on the spot if I had a boss who acted like that.
Billionaire or not.

2. They have a ‘knack’ for communication
Good communication is the life blood of effective leadership.
Simple as that.
And the best leaders have a natural talent for communicating and they follow a simple but golden rule when they do so. The ABC rule.
Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity.
Add to this, they have the right personal qualities, such as self-awareness, and the necessary skills which make them really stand out as communicators.

3. They are always reaching higher
First off, the best leaders I know constantly set the bar higher in terms of their own performance. They never settle for second best and are self-motivated and goal-orientated individuals.
And they expect the same of others too.
That said, they are fair in how they demand that extra effort from those around them.
But demand it they do.

4. They visualize and communicate clear goals
Effective leaders are never ‘headless chickens’, nor are they spineless individuals who avoid difficult issues, sit on the fence or shift positions to suit whichever way the wind is blowing.
No, the best leaders have a clear idea of where they want the business to go – and those views are formed based on solid evidence, with a bit of intuition thrown in too for good measure.
And when that vision is clear, they flesh it out – and modify it if necessary – with their senior people until they feel certain it is the best way to go.
Then they can win support throughout the business, or department, for that vision and later can translate those broad aspirations into meaningful goals, strategies and plans which serve to engage people and guide their actions.

5. They are smart and have good judgment
The best leaders I encounter seem to be smart characters.
Not always ‘booky’ smart though; although at the same time they are never the village idiot either.
Instead, they are individuals who benefit from having different forms of intelligence: the capacity to analyze and solve problems, knowledge related to the requirements of their job or an ability to be creative.
Added to that, they always seem to have a fair helping of that critical, if somewhat intangible commodity called commonsense.
They make decisions only when they have all the information at hand, and because they involve others in the decision-making process, they benefit from the wisdom and experience of others too.

6. They are not afraid to step outside their comfort zone
The best bosses I have seen are those who are not afraid to try different things.
New is good, as far as they are concerned, if it means potentially achieving better results.
Now, when it comes to finding new ways forward, the best leaders do not necessarily think that they have all the winning ideas, or that only they can spot important trends and changes.
No, what distinguishes them in this regard is that, first, they are open to change – they embrace it in fact – and then, second, they create an environment where ideas and suggestions are welcomed from many sources so the flow of creativity is encouraged throughout the business.

7. They are inclusive not exclusive in their approach
A lot of managers talk about inclusivity these days, but the reality does not always match the words where some are concerned.
Seeing as effective leaders are confident and open characters – with real empathy for others – they like to include people in the running of the business, where appropriate of course.
And they are never afraid to loosen the reins or delegate to others, if they believe that will deliver the best results.
For sure, like all human beings, they prefer some people over others, but they treat all fairly and never take dislikes to people for no reason, or allow cliques to form amongst the people around them.
They really do think in terms of teams.
Everyone has a chance to participate and contribute.

8. The make mistakes but learn from them
Even the very best leaders are not immune from making mistakes.
Sometimes you see top leaders being portrayed as infallible messiahs who never put a foot wrong. That’s baloney.
Sure, the best leaders make less mistakes than others do, but that’s largely due to the effective decision-making processes they follow in the first place; and when things do go awry, top leaders see those events as learning opportunities and move on.
They do not make the same mistake twice.

9. The have, and follow, their moral compass
There have been plenty of examples of business, and indeed other, leaders who have spectacularly fallen from grace in recent times; pick any you like from Dominique Strauss-Kahn (IMF), Dick Fuld (Lehman) or Sir Fred Goodwin (RBS) to name but three.
Sure, they all fell for different reasons, but a big factor in their downfall was that they each lost their moral compass – or maybe they never had one in the first place.
In some cases not having such a compass can lead to greed taking precedence over ethics, or in others ‘self’ starts to matter most. Lots of things go wrong when you lose sight of your morals and it always leads to negative outcomes.

The best leaders at any level, though, do have a moral compass and more importantly they follow it.
No, they may not be Holy Joe’s but they know the difference between right and wrong.
Still, simply knowing what’s right or wrong does not the best leader make.
In fact, most people can determine the difference; what sets the better leaders apart is that they choose to do the right thing, even when that choice can come with many downsides attached – for example, proactively choosing to recall a defective product even when the risks are low, rather than putting profit before people.

10. They have great self-control
To me, this is the most important trait that all the best leaders possess. And it’s vital because it helps them in so many aspects of leading and managing others.
For starters, it allows them to think clearly which helps in decision-making and that in turn results in fewer mistakes. It also helps them to act rationally not emotionally when faced with difficult people, so they can decide which leadership style is best to apply in any given situation.
Whilst we are on the subject, for me, talking about styles of leadership is actually pointless if someone doesn’t have self-control.

I could go on but you get the picture, the ability to maintain self control helps them to ‘think’ first and then ‘do’ in variety of situations.
Makes them more effective all round.

Now, I don’t pretend that this is an exhaustive list but these 10 items would definitely be in the drum for any leadership profile draw.
And the stronger you are in each of these areas, the less of a lottery leadership becomes.
Sure, with my groggy head at this hour, I may have missed some glaring points, but these are the things that jumped into my mind when I thought about the great leaders I know on this very cold morning.
And no matter where you sit on the management ladder right now, you should spend a moment or two reflecting on how you rate against these 10 factors.
You should also think about how others might rate you in these areas.

Think too about the little story that we started off with.
Of course, it goes without saying (hopefully) that your people would never want to ‘get’ you like that, but imagine you were out for a meal with your team.
What would they say about you if you left the table for a few moments?
Now, don’t get me wrong, effective leadership isn’t a popularity contest but would your people at least speak about you in a respectful manner, even if they weren’t totally happy about some aspects of how you lead them?

Or would they be hatching a plan?

Enjoy your day!

Have you ever had a tooth taken out?
Without anesthetic.
By an ex-butcher.
Who was really angry with you.

No..?

Neither have I, thankfully, but I now know someting of what it must feel like.

You see, I attended a brainstorming session on Management Development last week, one which went very badly.
I won’t bore you with the gory details, but suffice it to say that everything that could go wrong seemed to do so.
For starters, the setting didn’t help: a window-less conference room with bad lighting which was probably a bit too small for the numbers attending.
But, as far as I could see, it was mostly the facilitator’s fault that the session bombed.
He hadn’t a clue what he was doing and the event went on far too long, lacked control and simply became a discussion of his ‘preferred’ ideas rather than a true brainstorming event.

Now, don’t get me wrong – and in case you think I’m being arrogant, I’m really not – but the guy let himself down as much as anyone else.
He had a room full of managers, consultants and a couple of academics at his disposal – all volunteering their time – and it seemed to me as if he hadn’t bothered to prepare himself at all.
Now, I’m am no expert on managing brainstorming sessions – so that’s why I don’t run them.
This guy clearly wasn’t one either, but he was having a go at it.

Anyway, one of the things that I, and others, found most annoying about the session was that when anyone suggested something that didn’t fit with his view of what should be suggested (whatever that was), he kept saying, “We’ll just park that one for the moment, shall we?”
And there was a tone to how he said it too.
After the first few times, the guy seated next to me kept muttering under his breath, ‘I’ll park you in a minute mate.’ every time the facilitator said it.
About half-way through, a couple of participants even walked out.
So, you get the picture of what the event was like.
A pretty painful experience.

Still, hard as it was to take, the session got me thinking about brainstorming; actually, it was more than that, it got me thinking about idea generation and just how vital a function that is in any business, especially with regard to getting ideas and suggestions from employees.
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“…well, if the world was run by bean-counters like you, then it would only be a matter of time before we were all replaced by machines…”

“Hah, actually now that you mention it, a machine would be far preferable than having to listen to the nonsense coming out of your mouth. And who are you calling a bean-counter anyway?”

Ohh, this is starting to get interesting now.

“I called you a bean-counter, because that’s precisely what you are. All you guys care about is numbers; sitting in your little dark room counting money. You couldn’t give a damn about people – no wonder the world is in the state it’s in.”

Ho-Ho, this is definitely warming up.

“Look, I wouldn’t waste my breath trying to explain to you precisely how many things are wrong with what you just said, clearly nothing is going to change your ‘superannuated’ views. By the way, the world is in the state it’s in precisely because we left the running of businesses up to people like you…and should you need me to explain superannuated, do let me know…”

Not a bad put-down. Not bad at all. Especially, coming from an accountant.

“Listen, I know very well what superannuated means…but it still doesn’t change the fact that you guys haven’t a clue what it’s like to manage anything other than numbers…”

Actually, I didn’t get what superannuated meant in that context until I looked it up later – it didn’t really fit there and I guess, in some sort of acccountanty-humourous way, he meant ‘outdated views’.

And so it went.
It was highly entertaining listening to the two lads tearing strips off each other.
This exchange took place at a dinner I attended last evening – a networking event. Not too much networking happening at our table I have to say, although the unscheduled entertainment was worth the price of the meal all the same.
It had all started off gently enough, just a bit of ribbing amongst the two lads – nothing unusual there between a manager and an accountant.
But as the dinner progressed, the jibes got more and more pointed. Maybe it was the wine, but I think it was just a case of two people taking a disliking to each other.

Anyway, the incident got me thinking.
About accounting.
Well, it was more than that to be honest, it got me thinking about measuring business performance in general.
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Yesterday, Crazy Paddy returned.
He’d been pretty quiet for some time; actually, so much so, that I had begun to think that he had gone for good.
You see, he was somewhat of a frequent – and unwelcome – visitor last year, particularly after I gave up smoking, but he’d been off the radar for the past couple of months.
I thought he’d moved on.
But no, he’s still around.
Yes, he was there all the time, lurking away in the background like a cat in the bushes, just waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

I think it was the ‘Please press zero to speak with one of our support agents command which initially got him stirring.
Maybe, the fact that pressing the said zero simply took us to another menu where the whole rigmarole began all over again, had hastened his return.
The 10 minutes left waiting once the ‘talk-to-an-actual-real-live-person-button’ was finally found, certainly didn’t help either.
But things really started to go downhill, once the actual-real-live-person turned out to be even less helpful and far more annoying than the machine.
At least the machine didn’t have a ‘condescending jerk’ option, so in that sense it was infinitely preferable.
Nor did the machine keep offering the same solution over and over again, despite being told several times that it hadn’t worked.
And the machine, for all its annoyances, definitely never spoke to us like we were a four-year old.
Although, in the end, it was likely the ‘it would be preferable if you had read the manual before calling support, Sir’ comment which finally stirred Crazy Paddy back into action.
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“We hug trees.”

“Ha-Ha, very funny,” I replied.

“We hug trees and, oh yes, we recycle paper,” he added, which got a big laugh from those around the table.

They were all finding this hilarious indeed.
Nothing, it seems, brightens up the day more, for some people at least, than winding up the consultant.
Glad to be of service, I suppose.

I was discussing the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with this particular business owner and his senior team and that’s how he kicked off his answer…he’s a funny guy.
Well, he’s the client, so he is always a funny guy.
If you get my drift.
Anyway, despite his constant button pushing, we actually get on very well and he usually has some valuable insights on various apsects of business life, even if I often have to wade through a fair helping of sarcasm to find them.

During the discussions, once we got past the joking stage I mean, we touched on more serious matters in relation to CSR.

Like most companies these days, he has some initiatives in place which fall under the broad umbrella of CSR – mainly, in this case, related to energy and waste management. Fairly standard stuff really.
Truth be known, he does them more because he has to – recent legislation gives him little choice on the matter – rather than for any great zeal for CSR. His own words on the subject are, I think, worth conisdering. And obviously I’m paraphrasing here:

“Look, we do our bit to ‘save the planet’ (a big mocking grin appears on his face as those words are spoken), but apart from the feel-good factor for some of the team, I find it very hard to figure out whether all this CSR stuff actually pays-off in terms of the bottom line. Sure, we saved a fair bit on our energy and waste bills since we made the changes, but those savings were only really seen in the first year or two; now, they have pretty much levelled off…maybe we’re a bit CSR-lite compared to others, and I’d be open to doing more, but is it really worth all the hassle?”

I think he makes a lot of sense, to be fair.
And he is far from alone on that score: I hear similar opinions expressed on the matter by managers in both large and small businesses alike.
Worse still, I see some companies using CSR more as a PR tool than a true strategic business driver, but that’s a story for another day…actually, whilst were on that particular subject, please reflect on these words for a moment.

“Our mission is to build unrivalled partnerships with and value for our clients, through the knowledge, creativity, and dedication of our people, leading to superior results for our shareholders.”
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Imagine you and an accomplice have just been arrested on suspicion of committing a serious crime, let’s say a robbery of some kind.

Each of you blames the other for the botched attempt.

You are taken to the police station and held in separate rooms. You know that the police don’t have enough evidence to convict you as yet, because you weren’t actually caught red-handed, but you also know that there is no way in hell you want to go to prison – not even for a day.
You are far too good looking for that

After a while, a detective enters the room and makes the following proposition:

“You have two choices,” he begins “you can choose to confess or keep stum. If you ‘fess-up’ and that idiot friend of yours next door stays quiet, then I will drop all charges against you, and he will do some serious time.
“And the opposite applies too: if he confesses and you stay silent, then he will walk and you’ll do the time.”

He pauses for a moment to let that option sink in. Then he continues.

“If both of you confess, then you’ll both do time, but I’ll make sure that you get a reduced sentence, say, 6 months each.”

He eyeballs you as he speaks those words. He then gives you another option.

“If you both refuse to talk, then I will only be able to convict the pair of you for acting suspiciously near the scene of a crime, which would probably mean a one month sentence each.”

He tells you he has made the same offer to your accomplice. Then he leaves you to stew for a while.

Which option would you choose?
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If someone told you to act in a way that you knew would hurt another person, would you do it?

No?

Absolutely sure about that, are you?

Seriously, think about it.

If a recognized authority figure told you to push a button which you knew would deliver a mild electric shock to another person every time they made a mistake, would you?

Okay, you might do that.
I know I probably would, especially, if I knew it was only a mild shock and if I felt they deserved it.
Actually, the more I think about it, there are a few people I have met over the years who I would gladly do that to.
Where can I sign up?

But, if that same authority figure told you to push a different button which they said would severely shock – and perhaps even kill – the person, would you do it then?
Absolutely not, you say?
Me neither.
No way in hell would I do something like that…although, hold on a sec…actually..
No, no, just kidding, I could never do anything like that.
Really.

In fact, all joking aside, no one would ever knowingly do something like that.
Would they?
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Someone tried to con me yesterday.
Sadly – I mean for the guy in question, that is – he didn’t succeed with the intended scam.
This was due, I believe, to a combination of factors, which I will get to in a moment.
But, I think it was largely down to a couple of key issues.
For one, although it is true to say that I was born at night, it wasn’t a recent night: thankfully, I am long enough in the tooth to have some past experiences to draw upon when faced with such situations.
Plus, I have an inner voice to guide me on these matters.
As do you.

I should probably explain what the heck I am banging on about.

Yesterday morning, I was walking down the street near where I live in Geneva and, out of the blue, this guy – a very well dressed sort too – stopped me and asked me if I spoke English.
As it turns out, this is about all I speak.
And my proficiency in it is probably questionable at best.

Anyway, he proceeded to tell me a hard luck story.
He had, he said, just arrived in the city.
From the airport, he had taken the train to the main station, then hopped on a the tram to that area of town, got off just up the street, turned his back for one second to check the local area map, and like a flash, all his bags and belongings had been stolen.
To be fair, a not too unusual occurrence in this city of late. Entirely believable.
This guy in question was ultra-polite too, very non-threatening and seemingly quite distraught at what had happened.
He seemed like the real deal.
And he needed money, of course.
But, it felt like a genuine need.
Now, I can usually spot a scam-artist a mile away, but I was going to give him the money he asked for -twenty francs, nothing too extortionate but not small change either – and was on the verge of reaching into my pocket…

But, for no reason that I could fathom anyway, the little voice inside my head told me not to.
It was something about the flicker in his eye when I started to reach for my pocket. And a sort of curling of the lip, or something that had raised the warning flag.
I was going to ignore inner voice, but he was persistent.
Don’t give this dude cash.
So, I didn’t.
I just gave my apologies and left.

But I really felt very bad about afterwards. All day long.
It was gnawing away at me.
What have I become, I kept asking myself, that I wouldn’t offer assistance to another human being in need?
Normally, I always help those less fortunate than me, or those in trouble, as much as I can so this incident really bothered me.
I felt bad.

Then, last evening, I was with some friends and began telling them about the incident: bemoaning the world we now live in where we are all so suspicious that we no longer help each other…how it’s a terrible reflection on society…blah blah…
Then one in the group stopped me. He’s a ‘man-about-town’ type you might say: always knows what’s going on. Plus, he works in the security industry, so he has his ear to the ground.
And apparently, it’s the latest scam in town.
Lots of people are falling for it too: obviously, the suit and politeness are working to good effect.
And it gets worse.
He told me that an elderly woman had even invited this guy – or similar – back to her apartment, where she said she had some money for him, and he could make whatever calls he needed to: he then proceeded to take every penny that she had at hand. Plus, all her jewellery. And anything else of value in her home.

The lowest of the low. I mean Pond-life.

Turns out, I had made the right decision, but it didn’t feel like something to pat-myself-on-the-back-for when I heard about the poor old woman.
And I shall be keeping my eyes peeled for that scumbag – if you’ll pardon my French – from now on.

Anyway, the incident got me thinking about how we all make decisions.
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“Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.”
- Peter F. Drucker

I love that quote.
It deserves a moment or two of consideration, I think.
On the time issue, does any of this sound familiar to you?

• Having to work longer hours than required because you don’t/can’t sturcture your day
• Facing lots of unscheduled and inappropriate interruptions as part of your working day
• Feeling stressed and overworked because of the seemingly endless mountain of work in front of you
• Constantly feeling you are firefighting, or simply lurching from crisis to crisis
• Finding it extremely difficult to delegate
• Spending an inordinate amount of time clearing up other peoples’ problems
• Drowning in emails or paperwork

It does?
Then rest assured you are not alone.
Many people feel precisely the same.

If you haven’t already guessed it, today’s focus is on how we manage our time.
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There have been many interesting and indeed bizarre impostors throughout history.
One of my favourites is the notorious Count Victor Lustig.
Never heard of him?
Few have, but he’s an interesting chap.
At least, I think so.

Count Lustig plied his deceptive trade in the early 1900s. As a conman, he was exceptional and whilst he may have started on a small scale, he eventually worked his way up to one of the most famous scams of all time.

One of Lustig’s early frauds used what he called the money-printing box.
To unsuspecting wealthy, and more accurately greedy, targets he would show them how the box ‘printed’ a $100 dollar bill, but whilst doing so, complained that it took more than six hours to print each one.
If only he could get it to work faster, he would lament.
The victim, believing that with a bit of patience there was huge money to be made would purchase the box, usually for a large sum, only to realize twelve hours later that, after the box had produced two more $100 bills, only blank paper came out.
By that time, Lustig was of course long gone.

Lustig later graduated to his most celebrated feat, that of selling the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting scrap metal dealer whilst posing as a French government official; a truly remarkable achievement, it has to be said.
In fact, he came within a whisker of selling it on a second occasion too.
At a later stage, Lustig is also said to have convinced Al Capone, the famous gangster, to invest $50,000 in a stock deal – a big sum in those days. Lustig held the mafia man’s money in a bank for two months – pocketed the interest – and then returned it to him, claiming that the deal had fallen through.
Impressed with Lustig’s honesty, Capone gave him a reward of $5,000 which was the whole idea of the scam in the first place.
This guy was a real chancer if ever there was one.

From a less distant era, you are more likely to have heard of Frank William Abagnale Jr., the notorious con artist from the 1960’s upon whom the movie ‘Catch me if you Can’ is loosely based.
He also rates highly for his ingenuity and audacity.
His exploits are legendary and include impersonating a doctor and an airline pilot where he succeeded in flying around the world for free. Now that was some achievement.
Frank was eventually caught and has now turned over a new leaf having established a respected consulting company advising corporations on fraud prevention.
Poacher turned gamekeeper you might even say.
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