Leadership in the News

Titanic-size Leadership Failures

By Brandon W. Jones on April 13, 2012 0

With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, there are many articles being written about the historic event. In addition, there are many commemoration ceremonies happening. The Wall Street Journal published an article titled Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Titanic Business 100 Years Later by Ben Casselman And Ann Zimmerman.

The article discussed some events that will go on this weekend. In the Fox Theatre in downtown St. Luis they will be holding “an elaborate re-creation of the final first-class meal aboard the ship.” “Memorial events are being held in Cherbourg, France, where the ship headed from Southampton, and Cobh, Ireland, its final port of call, as well as Cape Race, Newfoundland, which received the ship’s distress signals.”

Lessons From Leadership Failures

With all the news of the Titanic shipwreck, it got me thinking about leadership lessons on leadership failures that can be learned from the tragedy.

Listen To The Little People

Prior to the Titanic crash into the iceberg, there were many warnings from the crewman that there was an iceberg ahead but the captain failed to listen. As leaders, you should listen to ALL your employees, including the people that have what seem like insignificant roles. Every employee has a different role and with that comes a different point of view. As the leader, you can gain perspective from all your employees at each levels. As you hear their advice and feedback, be sure to listen to what they say, and take it into consideration when you make your decisions. [Read more…] about Titanic-size Leadership Failures

Are You A Great Leader If Your Organization Fails?

By Brandon W. Jones on April 4, 2012 0

Are you a great leader if your organization fails to meet expectations? Or if you aren’t meeting your goals, are you a great leader?

Carmelo Anthony and The Knicks

Today, the Wall Street Journal article Anthony: The Biggest (Playoff) Loser talked about Carmelo Anthony and his poor playoff performance. Carmelo Anthony traded to the New York Knicks NBA basketball team to bring a championship to New York.

The article states, “But considering the way Anthony’s teams have performed in the postseason, the Knicks would be lucky to even win a game.” It then explained that Anthony has played 50 career playoff games and has a record of 16-34. His winning percentage of .320 is “the worst of any player who has appeared in that many postseason games since 1991-92.” [Read more…] about Are You A Great Leader If Your Organization Fails?

Maintain Employee Morale Through Consistency

By Brandon W. Jones on March 26, 2012 2

Have you seen companies that struggle where the CEO still gets a huge bonus? What does that do to employee morale? Is it fair for the leader to get a bonus when the company is struggling? Think about what you do as the leader and how that effects employee morale.

Do you take all the credit for the work of your employees? Do you give yourself the pay increase when your employees do all the work? When you determine how you compensate your employees and yourself, pay close attention to how your employees and outsiders will perceive your actions.

CEO’s During the Recession

There were a number of companies during the first few years of the recession where the CEO’s and other top management received huge bonuses while their employees suffered, and at times were even laid off. This treatment had a major negative impact on the employee morale at those companies. Employees felt their leaders didn’t care about them. They also felt the leader was in it to get as much money as possible without concern for their employees or the company.

Go Wide Or Go Deep

By Brandon W. Jones on March 8, 2012 1

In today’s economic climate there are leaders that have very job specific knowledge, while there are other leaders that have a good overview of the company/organization but are great leaders. Each of these types of leaders has their own areas of expertise. The question is, “Which is more important to have to be successful?”

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published an article about GE titled, The New GE Way: Go Deep, Not Wide by Kate Linebaugh. The article explained that new approach that GE is taking with their leadership.

Go Wide

In the past GE had all of their high ranking leaders were to go wide. They would go from one department/location in the company to another on a regular basis. The rotations occurred every few years.

This approach allowed GE to develop their leaders with a broad range of experience. They had experience in many areas of the company, but they didn’t have really specific knowledge in any particular department of the company. Each area of the company had their experts, but the leaders had general knowledge.

[Read more…] about Go Wide Or Go Deep

What Do You Do Every Four Years?

By Brandon W. Jones on February 29, 2012 0

Since February 29th only comes around every four years, I decided to do a little different type of post. I researched some things that happened on this unique day.

The following things happened on February 29th:

1504 – Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
1796 – Jay’s Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England
1848 – Neufchatel declares independence of Switzerland
1880 – Gotthard railway tunnel between Switzerland & Italy completed
1892 – Britian & US sign treaty on seal hunting in Bering Sea
[Read more…] about What Do You Do Every Four Years?

Why Engineers Are Good Leaders

By Brandon W. Jones on February 23, 2012 2

There are leaders that come from all backgrounds. Some have no college degree while others have doctorate degrees. At the same time, leaders come from different areas of study. Some have studied business while others have studied engineering.

In addition to engineering and business, there are many other fields of study that also produce strong leaders. There is no specific template for a good leader since they come in all shapes and sizes with all types of backgrounds. There are, however, backgrounds that tend to produce more leaders than others. Engineering happens to be one of those backgrounds.

So why are does engineering produce good leaders?

When you think of engineers, you may think of the technical guru that sits behind the computer all day working out solutions to advanced equations. [Read more…] about Why Engineers Are Good Leaders