How’s Your Integrity? 21st Century CEO Success Characteristics

I recently polled CEOs, asking the question: “What are the characteristics that are a must for successful CEOs in the 21st century?” Responses were received from CEOS and C-suite leaders from over 10 countries. Our top 5 list of 21st century CEO characteristics includes:

1. Inspirational Leadership
2. Exceptional Team Builder
3. Unimpeachable Integrity
4. Clear Communicator
5. Compelling Visionary

Unimpeachable Integrity was the 3rd leading vote getter, receiving 66 mentions and can be described by honesty, operating ethically, having a strong moral compass, demonstrating personal accountability and showing the courage to always do what is right. Given the environment, It was no surprise to see Unimpeachable Integrity make the top 5 list.

Earlier this year, the Edelman Trust Barometer reported that only 38% trust information about a company that comes from a CEO, down from 50% last year and the biggest drop since Edelman started doing their survey 12 years ago.

Another poll conducted by Weber Shandwick showed that only 14% of American executives hold a positive view of chief executives. This estimate is probably even lower among among the general public.

So it is time for a reset of CEO reputations and CEO brands. What can CEOs do to demonstrate unimpeachable integrity? More than anyone else at the firm, it’s the CEO who needs to create trust. Trust is a function of both capability – your skills, results and track record — and character. Character has to do with your integrity, your motives and your intent with others. So how’s your capability, the level of trust you create and your integrity?

And as CEO, are you explicit about your values? The core values you’d fall on the sword for? Put another way, if you had to put your top 5 values on a t-shirt and wear that t shirt around the office, could you credibly do it?

Have you explicitly defined the emotional experiences you’d like others to experience when you interact with them? Creating positive emotional experiences for others is critical in building trust and reputation. And it is important for your personal brand, just as it is in building the brand of your company and its products and services.

Make your values explicit and walk the talk. Define intended emotional experiences for others and hold yourself accountable to these behaviors. Talk straight and do what’s right. These are all keys for demonstrating unimpeachable integrity. So, if you graded yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, what’s the level of trust you create? What’s the level of integrity you demonstrate?

Successful 21st Century CEOs are Exceptional Team Builders

“What are the characteristics that are a must for successful CEOs in the 21st century?” I recently asked that question of CEOs. With over 100 CEOs from 10 countries responding, here’s our top 5 list of 21st century CEO characteristics:

1. Inspirational Leadership
2. Exceptional Team Builder
3. Unimpeachable Integrity
4. Clear Communicator
5. Compelling Visionary

The second most mentioned characteristic by our respondents was Exceptional Team Builder. It takes a team of unified, committed, capable professionals to create and market innovative products and services your customers will love. Great 21st CEOs know how to build a high performing team. How do you do it?

There are three conditions of top team performance that need attention for the team to fly: 1. Creating Clarity, 2. Building Capabilities; and 3. Increasing Commitment.

Creating clarity means becoming explicit about the purpose, direction, values and the desired results of the business and for the top team. It addresses the norms of behavior, how information is shared, decisions are made and how conflict is raised and resolved.

Top teams continually grow their capabilities both individually as team members and collectively. Capability building includes developing the skill and will of each team member to talk straight, give and receive feedback and collaborate collegially.

As clarity is created and capabilities are increased, and attention is paced on building solid mutual relationships, commitment increases, trust increases and a belief emerges that when it’s time for the top team to work together, the team can and will operate in a way that will drive a superior outcome.

Who is the most important individual in determining the team’s success? It’s you! As CEO do you stack the deck for a great team performance, by ensuring the conditions are in place that increase the probability the group of direct reports will transform into an extraordinary top team and be sustainable?

So on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the performance of your top team today? Where should it be? If it is not a 9 or 10, what would be the benefit if it became a 9 or 10? What’s the price you pay without it being a 9 or 10?

An extraordinary top team is a very powerful competitive advantage that cannot be duplicated. Are you committed to becoming an exceptional team builder?

Attention CEOs: What is Most Important for 21st Century CEO Success?

We recently polled CEOs, asking the question: “What are the characteristics that are a must for successful CEOs in the 21st century?” Responses were received from CEOS and C-suite leaders from over 10 countries. What’s the single most important characteristic? Inspirational Leadership.

The top five list of 21st century CEO characteristics includes:

1. Inspirational Leadership
2. Exceptional Team Builder
3. Unimpeachable Integrity
4. Clear Communicator
5. Compelling Visionary

Far and away, Inspirational Leadership received the most mentions. CEOs who inspire commit themselves to serving a greater purpose than just themselves. They define and shape a purpose that is motivating to them and others. So here are a few questions to consider: “Can you hardly wait to jump out of bed in the morning to get to work leading your company to fulfill its purpose? If so, do others you work with share your enthusiasm and motivation?” If not, you most likely have work to do on becoming a leader who inspires.

Inspirational leadership is about being self aware, socially aware and having strong relationship skills. Inspiring leaders lead with the right balance of head, heart and hands. They’ve mastered the visionary, coaching and participative leadership styles. Inspiring leaders know others are motivated by a sense of purpose, an opportunity to master their crafts and the autonomy to figure out how to best do their work to meet the company’s goals. CEOs who inspire build companies that are not only smart but also healthy. They realize, as a company gets healthier, it also gets smarter and performs better.

If you are a CEO or aspire to that role, how well do you demonstrate inspirational leadership? What can you do to become a more inspiring CEO today and in the future?

For each of the next five weeks, we’ll take each CEO success characteristic and provide ideas for lifting your performance. We’ll discover together new approaches for becoming your best as a 21st century CEO. Make sure you follow the Leadership Buzz blog so you receive these ideas each week. And please let me know if you need more information. See you next week.

What is Your CEO Brand?

In summary, your CEO brand = the intended emotional experiences you wish others who rub shoulders with you to experience and your brand promise. It must be unique and authentic to you.

Now let’s talk for a bit about what your brand is not: It’s not about being inauthentic or something you’re not – that would be a counterfeit brand. It’s not about looking and sounding good for the sake of looking and sounding good. It’s not about shameless self-promotion. It’s not about your ego – and it certainly is not just about you.

Let’s shift gears and talk about what CEO Branding is about: Authenticity. It’s about your story: past, present and future. It’s about emotions, experiences and promises. It’s about influence, trust and reputation. It’s about you, but it’s also about us – all of your stakeholders. Because when you are performing at your highest and best self, all the world benefits. So we need you to develop and operate with a great personal brand. We’re begging you on behalf of all at your company, all of your stakeholders, family and for you, too, please build this authentic, unique brand. It’s your most valuable asset. Let your genius out. We need you to do this. Your reputation and performance will improve and you’ll get more juice, too.

Why Do Only 38% Trust CEOs and What Can Be Done?

If you are a CEO, you don’t need me to tell you that you’ve got a tough, lonely job. You’re under relentless pressure to deliver results and keep that large group of key stakeholders satisfied.

Like all CEOs, you seek to accomplish great things at the company you lead. You work hard to see your company prosper under your leadership. And to see your team achieve extraordinary results and hear great feedback from your customers, board, investors and team members. You tirelessly toil to build a more valuable enterprise. It’s on your shoulders to create a climate of innovation and entrepreneurship and a positive working climate so results can be achieved today and sustained for the longer term.

Yet there’s a huge problem that’s a cloud over your head. Most people don’t trust CEOs. The recently-released 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer shared that only 38% of respondents trust information about the company that comes from the CEO; that’s down 50% from last year. And even if you believe your people trust you, there’s another problem that many CEOs tell us the experience.

We continually hear of CEOs not making the progress they’d like, obtaining the desired results they work so hard for. And, if we’re honest, many are not getting the juice, the feeling of being in flow and experiencing the level of passion about their work they’d like. So if any of this resonates, what might you consider doing differently?

How about discovering and defining your authentic, unique, CEO Brand? You know how important a great brand is for your company and its products and services. Did you know that your personal brand as a CEO is equally as important? And you do indeed have a brand. Your unique CEO brand is your most important professional asset. As you well know, in business if you aren’t winning, you’re losing. It’s the same with your personal CEO brand. If it isn’t increasing in value, it’s decreasing.

CEO branding is not just for the celebrity CEOs like Donald Trump or Richard Branson – it’s for all of us. It’s about operating in a way that allows you to achieve the results you must, while ensuring your stakeholders have the desired emotional experiences when they interact with you. In a way that is authentic for you, feels right on you and gives you juice. Think it’s impossible? It’s not. There are seven steps for defining a great CEO brand. These are the steps for executive brand building I share in the course I created and instruct at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management for visiting executives. I also use these seven steps and as I work with CEOs individually in discovering and defining their unique CEO brands.

So whether you are CEO of an early stage company or a Fortune 15 powerhouse, whether you’re new in your role or have been in your job for a while, you need a strong CEO brand. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your CEO brand today? What would be the value to you, your company and stakeholders if your brand was a 9 or 10? Are you ready to discover and define that unique, distinctive CEO brand?

How Do You Stop a Toxic CEO From Sinking the Ship? – Part 2 of 2

In today’s hyper-speed, global economy, a company that seeks sustainable results needs a capable CEO and a motivated, aligned top leadership team. Smart CEOs realize they are not the only smart people in the room. Smart CEOs do not have all the answers and want and need to surround themselves with capable, committed senior executives who are willing to and do work well together. If CEOs are not smart enough to understand that they cannot lead their companies in a unilateral way, then the Board of Directors needs awareness of this blind spot early, and require the CEO to build, develop and lead a strong team, or they need to find another CEO.

The August 15 Fortune article, What Happened at Pfizer: The Inside Story of Revenge, Betrayal and Power at the Top of the World’s Largest Drug Company is a sad commentary of the descent of a once great organization under a CEO who was ill-equipped to lead. In last week’s blog post, I commented how Pfizer’s former CEO Jeff Kindler’s individual performance could and should have been more visible to the Pfizer Board of Directors years before his forced departure. Had the Board used an annual CEO evaluation process that incorporated an independent expert to solicit feedback on the behaviors and operating styles used by Kindler, problems would have been identified years before the situation became untenable. In this post, I’ll focus on the Board’s miss by failing to understand the dynamics and performance of Kindler’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT).

For all but the smallest of businesses, in order to achieve results in a sustainable way, a top team of leaders is required that operates in a highly effective, interdependent way. This was not the case for Pfizer’s ELT. The Fortune article reported of a constant turmoil at Pfizer, where “…managers descended into behaviors that would make Machiavelli proud.” To make matters worse, Kindler’s HR chief, Mary McLeod, divided the executive staff instead of serving as a uniting force. Kindler took on his role in 2006 and was fired in December of 2010. He had four-and-a-half years to build a team; however, during his tenure he hired and fired three different R&D chiefs and spun his leadership team like a top with a revolving door that should have made the Board’s collective head spin. Clearly, Kindler did not have an appreciation or talent for building a strong executive team. He did not develop plans to identify and groom a successor, which is an important task for every CEO. His executive team was divided, there were significant trust issues within the team and it simply didn’t perform. His failure to build an executive team that performed irreparably harmed the company’s ability to achieve results and is an egregious performance shortfall that should also have been identified early in the game by the Board of Directors. Pfizer’s Board was clearly asleep at the switch about both Kindler’s individual performance as CEO and in his inability to build, develop and lead an executive team.

The Board could have monitored the health of Kindler’s executive team by requiring the use of an independent assessment that is tailored for top leadership teams. An assessment of this type, such as Top Team Check, is designed specifically for the senior executive team and is used to assess how the team functions from the perspective of the team leader (CEO) and direct reports. Team strengths and problem areas are identified, along with solutions that address the root causes of team performance shortfalls. An assessment of Kindler’s team would have clearly identified where the team performed and where it fell short, which team members worked supportively with their colleagues and who did not. This type of assessment would have been invaluable to both the CEO and the Board, providing feedback where improvements must be made and allowing for year-to-year progress to be tracked. The unfortunate fact is that most executive teams do not perform to their potential. Executives put together and asked to perform as a team typically struggle, but that need not be the case with the right process, conditions and expert coaching.

The dysfunction of the top team and the lack of visibility of the Board also impaired the Board’s ability to accurately identify and evaluate potential successors for the CEO. A critical job for every Board is succession planning for the CEO and other key executives. With a revolving door of executives and a CEO who used a “spoke and hub”, micro-managing style in running the company, the ability to plan for succession was seriously compromised.

In summary, CEOs need a strong, high performing top team. Their teams need clarity, need to be capable and need to be committed. If the CEO isn’t creating the conditions for the development of such a team, it is then the Board’s responsibility to mandate that he does. Smart CEOs want feedback to learn how the team sees itself performing and what must be improved. Smart CEOs also want feedback on what they must do to better help their teams perform at a high level. And smart Boards want this feedback, too, to know they’ve got a capable CEO who is leading for sustained results and a capable team behind him with a window into who should become tomorrow’s CEO.

How Do You Stop a Toxic CEO From Sinking the Ship? – Part 1 of 2

The August 15 Fortune article, What Happened at Pfizer: The Inside Story of Revenge, Betrayal and Power at the Top of the World’s Largest Drug Company is a sad commentary of the descent of a once great organization under a CEO who was ill-equipped to lead.

In the four and one-half years Jeff Kindler was in the CEO role, Pfizer’s stock price fell from $49 to $17 and its drug pipeline dried up. Kindler’s leadership style was described as micro, micro-management and his abusive, over-the-top temperament as reported in the Fortune article caused the members of his top leadership team (Executive Leadership Team or ELT) to rebel. His management philosophy was described as, “Jeff Kindler seemed to believe he was the only smart guy in the room.”

Kindler was a trial lawyer by background who “sought knowledge through interrogation; he was skeptical of what he was told, even when it came from people who knew far more about a subject than he did; and he bored in relentlessly on small details, always searching for the sort of nuance that could make or break a legal case—but seemed trivial in other contexts. For all Kindler’s talents, he remained palpably insecure, acutely sensitive to anything or anyone he feared might undermine his standing.” He churned his executive team and, despite his lack of Pharma experience, didn’t seem to trust Pfizer executives who were experienced in the industry.

To make matters worse, the individual who should have played a key role in pulling the members of his ELT together and advising the CEO on the sensitive matters of team dynamics and performance, his senior vice president of human resources, Mary McLeod, was widely seen as divisive, dishonest and incompetent. An anonymous senior executive at Pfizer, concerned about the dysfunction of McLeod, Kindler and the ELT, reached out to the Board of Directors. The Board had concerns of their own and their investigation discovered several senior leaders ready to resign with no executive in full support of Kindler. When Kindler was confronted with the findings of the Board, it was apparent the only option was his resignation. Kindler left Pfizer in December of 2010 with $16 million in cash and stock and nearly $7 million in retirement benefits and other stock compensation.

So after nearly five years of billions lost in market capitalization, thousands of jobs shed and a new product pipeline that was barren, the Board of Directors fired their CEO. How could they have not known about the toxic impact their CEO had on the business beforehand?

The role of the Board of Directors of a publicly traded company is to protect the fiduciary interests of its shareholders. If the CEO leads in a toxic way, is unclear about his vision and strategies and paralyzes his executive team and company from operating effectively, how are the interests of shareholders served? Boards are required to annually review the performance of their CEOs. Unfortunately, this review is too often perfunctory. A better option would be to incorporate an approach to evaluate the CEO’s performance, behaviors and leadership annually, using an independent consultant to interview the CEO, his direct reports and each Board Member. This more thorough review would flag potential problems relatively early, allow the CEO to learn from the previous year’s performance and assist in establishing clear expectations for the upcoming year. Smart CEOs should advocate for such a process so they demonstrate to their key stakeholders they view their performance seriously and are open-minded to feedback on how they can become more effective in the future. And Boards should require such a process, to avoid simmering problems that can become major crises in the future. Incorporating our CEO Feedback Process is one way of meeting this objective.

Sadly, because the CEO performed ineffectively and the Board was slow to recognize and act, Pfizer investors lost billions, opportunities were missed, thousands of jobs were lost and a former iconic company has been greatly weakened. While Jeff Kindler had serious shortfalls as a CEO, the onus lies with the Board for their failure to appropriately understand and address how their CEO operated.

Buzzsaw or Springboard? It’s Your Call

Globalization, innovation and technology collide and act as a buzzsaw to careers and jobs in North America. And they converge to create a springboard to success and prosperity. Which is your truth?

If you are smart, you’re reinventing yourself and how you create value for the future. If you aren’t learning anew and reinventing yourself, you are in much trouble. You are playing Russian Roulette with your career and livelihood. Not in these exact words, but President Obama addressed this issue last night in his State of Union address. Education, reinvention, hard work, discipline — make globalization, innovation and technology your friend. Embrace it. Change. There’s no other alternative.

A Profound Answer to the CEO

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.

One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, “What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”

To stress his point he said to another guest; “You’re a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?”

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, “You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began…)

“Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Order of Canada.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can’t make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make? (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table)

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to write and then I make them write.. Keyboarding isn’t everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life. (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn’t everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?

His jaw dropped, he went silent.

THIS IS WORTH SENDING TO EVERY TEACHER, EVERY CEO, EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW.

Even all your personal teachers like mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, coaches and your spiritual leaders/teachers.

A truly profound answer!!!

Teaching is…the profession that makes all other professions possible! Now, that’s an answer worthy of some reflection.

This story was shared with me by my friend Jim Phillips. Original author unknown.

What’s The Most Valuable Question You May Ever Learn?

Whether you are the CEO or an entry level employee, whether you own your own business or work for someone else or another organization, everyone needs to learn this valuable question and skillfully handle this topic.

To grow and be our best, to live satisfying lives, we’ve got to become comfortable both giving and receiving feedback. Unfortunately, a lot of us cringe when we hear the term “feedback”. We think it’s scary to hear and not a lot of fun to deliver.

But the reality is we need to hear feedback if we seek to be our best. As hard as we imagine it might be to hear, the reality is that feedback is not necessarily bad, it’s very often positive, and we simply can’t grow without hearing and acting on the feedback. The other reality is that the feedback is already out there, in the thoughts and perceptions of our co-workers, direct reports, customers and our boss. Let’s face it. We’ve all got blind spots. Isn’t it better to learn the feedback than to be in the dark?

Can you imagine a professional baseball player or golfer that didn’t want regular feedback? That simply wouldn’t fly. So if we need to shift our beliefs about feedback, particularly with year-end performance appraisals right around the corner, what better time to make the shift than now? As Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager, says, “Feedback truly is The Breakfast of Champions.”

Becoming our best requires us to be responsible for our work performance and the health of our relationships. What better way to demonstrate this responsibility by using the Ladder and Pyramid of Feedback? Watch my interview with Tiffany Ogle of NBC Milwaukee’s WTMJ4 The Morning Blend, and you’ll learn the steps for the Ladder and Pyramid of Feedback and the most valuable question you can ask at work.

Our success and satisfaction with work and life is in large part affected by our ability to request and receive feedback continuously. Now go get that feedback!