BOOK
SUMMARY (6)
Quick and Nimble
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Summary written by: Jill Donahue
"The companies that will thrive over the long haul, will understand
that culture is a key element of their strategy."
- Quick and
Nimble, page 247
Adam Bryant started with a simple idea.
Instead of asking CEOs about their strategies and competitive landscapes, he
asked them about:
·
leadership lessons they had learned,
·
the culture they try to foster,
·
how they hire.
This idea burgeoned into a feature column in
the New York Times called Corner
Office and aNew York Times bestseller by the same name. In his
latest book, Quick and Nimble, he draws on interviews with over two
hundred CEOs to empower business leaders with wisdom and guidance to help their
own companies thrive.
What is the secret ingredient that builds
companies that thrive? What helps attract and retain the best talent, encourage
employees to bring their best selves to work, and foster an environment in
which everyone feels motivated to innovate? The interviews all point to a short
answer – culture.
Don’t you love short answers? But it led me to
then ask, what is culture and how do I create it and what kind should it be?
Pause for a moment and ask yourself, how much thought have you put into what you want your company culture to
be and how much energy have you put into creating that culture?
How long would it take you to ask two hundred
CEOs to reveal their insights on how to build and foster a culture that
encourages innovation and drives results? Adam Bryant has done all the legwork
for you so you can just enjoy his collation of their advice. And this summary
culls all that advice into just three actionable ideas.
The Golden Egg
Am I making a difference?
"If you
want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and
give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (writer), Quick and Nimble, page 19
You likely already have a mission and that
mission may be what attracted your employees to your company. Today more than
ever before, people are inspired to work for companies that have missions that
are meaningful to them. But that is not enough. What is more important, says
David Sacks, the founder, chairman and CEO of Yammer, is a simple plan that
helps each person see the clear link between what they are doing and how it drives
the goals to achieve the mission. “When you create a shared goal, you turn an
out-group to an in-group,” said David Rock, Director of NeuroLeadership
Institute.
So ask yourself, “Have I created up to three
clear goals and helped every person on my team see the clear link between what
they do and how it contributes to the mission?” People want to contribute, know
they have made a difference, feel like they have a level of control over their
destiny and that they are valued. This will change the culture from
lackadaisical to motivated and your people from time punchers to contributors
who want to get the job done right!
Gem #1
School should never end
"Every
company has to adopt a philosophy of constant learning if it hopes to succeed
in today’s economy."- William D.
Green (former chairman and CEO of Accenture), Quick and Nimble, page 148
Think about the last high-performing people
who left your organization. Chances are, they left because they had not been
learning; they were bored. It is a well-known fact that high performing people
are constant learners, so smart leaders will nurture that trait and foster a
culture of motivated learners. How do they do that? Here are just a few of the
actionable ideas:
·
push people into different positions
·
pay for training – but motivate people to
opt-in
·
encourage people to figure out themselves
what they need for their development
·
when your people come with a problem, don’t
make decisions for them, ask them what they recommend
·
encourage mistakes
Huh? Encourage mistakes? Let’s delve into
that last point a bit further. Mark Fuller of WET Design sometimes starts
meetings by saying “Let me tell you where I just screwed up.” Why? He wants to
set the tone of being comfortable exposing and learning from mistakes –
together. He had a teacher who once advised him to applaud himself whenever he
made an error. “Reward yourself because you caught the error before I did!” she
said and forever changed his view of mistakes. After all, the expression isn’t
‘learn by trial and success’; it’s ‘learn by trial and error’.
Gem #2
Command-and-control leadership is dead
"One
leadership lesson I learned – and this goes in the bucket of ‘obvious’ – is the
critical importance of being a good person and treating people well."- Richard R. Buery Jr. (CEO of the Children’s Aid Society), Quick and
Nimble, page 51
People can’t be successful when there is
fear. Command and control no longer works. When people don’t like going to work
because of the way they are treated, outcomes will suffer. Jeffrey
Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation believes that the quality of
followers is in direct correlation to the respect the leader holds them in. He
says it is not how much the followers respect the leader that is important but
rather how much the leader respects the followers. It’s everything, he says.
I learned a new meaning to MRI in this
chapter. Robin Domeniconi, the former chief brand officer for the Elle Group,
says she uses the expression “MRI” as a cultural cornerstone. It means “most
respectful interpretation” of what someone is saying to you. This allows you to
say anything to anyone as long as you say it the right way. For example, “I’m
just curious, and I want to understand what you’re saying better. Right now, my
point of view is quite different. So can you help me understand why you don’t
want to do this?” is going to be much better accepted than the “That’s the
craziest idea I’ve ever heard.” I have applied this with my business partner
and our discussions have become much more productive and pleasant.
Beyond respect, leaders need to take interest
in their people and care about them. David C. Novak, the CEO of Yum Brands,
said that caring about people is the cornerstone of his leadership approach. I
had a boss once who infrequently asked about my family and it seemed she did it
more out of a sense of duty than sincerity. I had very little confidence that
she cared about me. As a result I protected myself and felt less engaged. The
ideas shared by Bryant reinforce my decision to allow myself the pleasure of
taking a personal interest in the people I work with. It’s more fun for all of
us.
In summary, innovation is the by-product of
an effective culture. And an effective culture is a result of treating people
right. If you hire people to think (and who doesn’t these days?) you can not
control how they think, but you can control or at least have an effect on the
environment around them and create a culture conducive to great thinking,
innovation and growth.
Quick and Nimble has too many juicy bites of advice that will help
you take your company to the next level, to possibly digest in this one
summary. I encourage you to pick it up and enjoy it – one bite at a time.
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