Don’t Blur the Lines of Office Communication

One of the best parts of my job is being able visit clients at their home office(s). I can’t help but pay close attention to the dynamics of each business setting and make note of the communication and politics that governs operations. One of the most frequent challenges I see is the blurring of personal and professional conduct in the work environment. Although I am the first person to advocate the benefits of social interest and the need to be friendly at work, it is important to remember that business is business and friendship is friendship. Many workers fail to realize that what they say can have as much impact on their professional image as their successes and failures.

Being transparent in the work place can be a sign of confidence and emotional maturity, but verbal diarrhea can be a career killer. Here are some suggestions of topics that are best avoided in work place discussions:

1. Gossip. Gossip always comes around and nobody likes to be gossiped about. If someone is sharing gossip with you, what are likely saying about you when you are not around?
2. Intimate Personal Details. By its very definition, intimate, means private. This shared information may also be used against you some day.
3. Politics & Religion. Throughout history most wars have been fought over differences in politics and religion. Enough said.
4. Wild Parties and Hangovers: There is nothing wrong with having fun, but people will and do judge things like reliability and professionalism.
5. Passive Complaints About Work (on and off-line). Complaining drags down both you and others. Show maturity and deal with complaints directly.
6. Salary Information. Discussions about salary create division and demonstrate an inability to remain confidential.
7. Speaking Badly of Others. There is nothing positive that comes from speaking badly of others accept to assure that others will speak badly of you.
8. What You’ve Spent. Just like sex, religion and politics, discussions about money can give people the wrong impression.
9. Racial and Off Color Remarks. Even if someone shares your humor, someone else likely won’t. Don’t take the risk.
10. Office Romance: I believe that it is wise to not get your honey, where you make your money.

Thoughtful Warriors

In 2006 General David Petraeus drafted a “guidance” manual for conducting counterinsurgency in Iraq. Gen. Petraeus had gained a painful sense of how under prepared the US forces had been to take on this unconventional foe, and how high the price had been, in blood and money, of having to devise tactics on the fly.

Petraeus seized on an opportunity to think -- about how the war has been waged and how it should have been and set out to distill those lessons and others that could have been learned -- but weren't -- in Vietnam, in Bosnia, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere into a new Army field manual for counterinsurgency warfare, or COIN, the first such doctrine for soldiers in the field in 20 years.

Counterinsurgency warfare is, as the Petraeus draft describes it, "war at the graduate level," where every unit commander must be a kind of "strategic lieutenant" calibrating the right balance between soldiers' killing power and the exercise of restraint that can turn potential enemies into allies.

Success in fighting insurgents requires an artful balancing of raw military might with ground-level smarts -- it does no good to take the territory but lose the support of the people who live there. "The doctrine is crucial and much needed. Guys in the field are clamoring for it. It recognizes that counterinsurgency is now the norm. This is a new mind-set -- the Army is really changing," says Major Sean Davis.

“You can’t kill your way out of an insurgency,” says Patraeus. So, his new approach is focused on building relationships and winning over the Iraqi people, including insurgents. “Walk… Stop by, don’t drive by,” says Petraeus. He has moved soldiers out of their megabases and into small outposts deep inside once alien and hostile neighborhoods. Although this strategy is counter intuitive to the old school of soldiering, this approach is showing signs of success.

Part of this new strategy is to give officers greater leeway to make decisions than their predecessors. Petraeus says, “There is not only a tolerance for initiative and independent action, there is encouragement.”

His approach is a good example of flexible adaptive leadership in the midst of an entrenched, rigid organization, the military. In his guidance manual Petraeus emphasizes the need for leadership and soldiers to develop relationships within the Iraqi community. His approach of getting soldiers out from behind fortified walls is not unlike the need for emotionally intelligent corporate leaderships need to get out from the ivory tower. Create alliances, distinguish between reconcilables and irreconcilables, while moving towards reconciliation and understanding. If our military can embrace and find success with this strategy so can our organizational leaders and their teams.

Super Heroes Who Needs One?

I was being interviewed yesterday by Amy Otto on Atlanta Busness Radio and was asked about"Super Heroes and Who Needs One?" She was referring to a topic that a colleague at Trove presents, but the whole idea got me thinking. On the show we discussed how every super hero has a defining moment that sets the tone and direction of their life. In many cases a defining moment even changes the whole course of ones life. The death of Bruce Wayne's parents set the course of Batman's fight against evil and Peter Parkers loss of his uncle Ben did the same for Spiderman, "with great power, comes great responsibility."

So, it makes me think about what defining moments I have had in my life and how have they shaped who I am? And also, do I need a super hero? I managed to minimize damage and survive a serious sky-diving accident at 10,000 feet and miraculously escaped another sky-diving disaster when a failed parachute finally openned. In these incidences I expereinced both the calm of surrender knowing that there was nothing else I could do, and the absolute fight to not give up and do everything to survive. Now, if these occurrences haven't defined some aspect of my life, then few things probably could.

Although I forget it some days, the lessons I've learned from coming close to death is to appreciate each day and live it with enthusiasm. I think that each day we should do something to sharpen our sword, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. In life you never know when you may need to respond quickly to ones own needs or the needs of others. If your sword is dull, you are of little use to yourself or others. A sharpened sword is of benefit to many.

I don't feel that I need a super hero, but I know that a little help from above can come in handy.
What is your defining moment and how has it shaped you? Have you met your super hero?

Situational Leadership and Missed Opportunity

We can elect a commander or manager, but they are not a leader until their appointment is ratified in the hearts and minds of those working under them and by those who voted to put them in office. Sometimes it is a situation or crisis where leaders are made. Prior to 9/11, Rudy Giuliani was being run out of New York on a rail. Instead, the terrorist attacks presented him with a golden opportunity to lead. He responded with courage, conviction and quick action, while simultaneously resurrecting his political career.

Like many leaders who lack the innate ability to lead, Sonny Perdue, the Governor of Georgia, is squandering a golden opportunity to take bold action and guide his state through crisis. Georgia’s drought and ongoing water wars with Alabama, Florida and now Tennessee have presented Gov. Perdue with incredible opportunities to lead his citizenry and create a legacy for him and the state of Georgia.

Instead, Gov. Perdue is giving us a lesson in failed leadership and the qualities it takes to effectively lead in times of crisis. Although there are many qualities for effective leadership, I want to highlight four qualities were our head of state is lacking:

1. Curiosity: The world is a big, complicated and inter-connected place. Effective leaders learn to seek the ideas of others outside their inner circle. Failing to listen and share ideas with others is a sign of arrogance and/or apathy. Gov. Perdue must be willing to step outside of his comfort zone in addressing Georgia’s water conservancy issues for the long-haul.

2. Creativity: I leader must be willing to go out on a limb and do something different. I will agree that praying for rain on the State Capital stairs is different, but it may lack the long term factual resolution needed to solve our need for water planning and conservancy.

3. Communication: Ineffective leaders tend to communicate in sound bites or not at all. If in a time of crisis, a leader spends their time convincing us that things aren’t as bad as they seem, then there is a problem. Gov. Perdue, not unlike many current political leaders, struggles in facing reality and telling the truth about the effects of our states growth, lack of civil planning, and lack of sufficient resources for effective water management. The end result is an inability to develop and present a reasonable solution.

4. Competence: In order to lead, you must know what you are doing, and more importantly, surround yourself with people who know what they are doing. A leader has to be a problem solver and Gov. Perdue’s initiative to make Georgia a great “Fishing State,” does not begin to scratch the surface of needs in the state of Georgia.