FOUR SENTENCES AND A TALE ABOUT LEADERSHIP

Each year there are 50,000 books published about leadership   and more than 250,000 students enrolled in MBA programs. Why?. I think that everybody wants to be important, to be recognised  and find a sense in his life, and they think that these books or courses will give them what  they are  looking for. 

Honestly I am not a expert about leadership and I am not a leader, but for these two reasons, I think that I am more objective to give an opinion, because I can see the subject from far, far away. So I will tell four comments about leadership: 

1. The leadership is not the most important thing in life. The person with the most leadership skills that I met so far progressed very quickly professionally until he got a depression, because he could not bear his work and travel all days 80 kms to go to work leaving alone his family for all this time. 

2. When you start to work, you must be the best individually: the employee doing more tasks in less time, the employee working more hours, selling more..but there is a moment that this is not differential, it is more important to deal well with people, make that the others feeling happier become better. Why?. You multiplicate your effect. If you influence only one people, you duplicate the results globally. 

3. When your life goes very well, yo do not learn anything because you are enjoying your success..but there will be a great failure ("the crucible") that will change  your life , because it will take away all your ego, it make you become more humble and it will show you that you are stronger than you thought. You will lose your fears and you will be very conscious about your strong skills and your weak skills and then you will start to use your strong skills or make efforts to improve your weak skills .

4. The problems are coming from outside and the solutions come always from inside. People does not know you as much as you are able to know you. The leadership has to match with your personality, do not try to be other person, because it will not work because others will not believe you, because  you will sound fake and forced. 

There is a tale from a book called "The turn of the tide" from Arthur Gordon, where he explains that he went to the doctor because he though that his life had not sense. The doctor did not see any physical problem and he requested him to go to the place where he was happier when he was a child. He should not read, write, listen the radio or speak with anybody and he should open  four envelopes each three hours. 

The first envelope at 9 hours  was "Listen carefully". He started to listen all sounds from the sea, the birds.. he started to listen other slighter sounds... and then he  reminded what he learnt from the sea when he was a child. A great peace started inside him helping him to think.

The second envelope at 12 hours was "Try to come back to the past". . Coming back?.. Where?.. To his childhood?.. Then he reminded all its good times when he was a child, and he reminded its wishes, its hobbies  and its values when he was a child. And he reminded him as well being very happy.

The third  envelope at 15 hours was "Analyse your purpose and wishes". He wanted to be succesful, rich, recognised..but analysing deeply these wishes, he saw that they were not giving real satisfaction to him..and then he started to find purposes that were matching more with its internal wishes. For example, he realised that he was happier when he was helping others than when he was only thinking in himself.

The fourth enveloppe at 18 hours was "write what worries you". He wrote something in the sand and then he left the beach. The tide was coming. He had found his real inside purpose listening only to himself. 

SOME NOTES ABOUT COMPANY AND PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT

I had recently the rewarding opportunity to listen during 4 weeks  speeches from some managers in my company. I will detail the most interesting phrases that I heard.

Company improvement

"It is not needed to be perfect, we should be only better than the competitors"

"A person is unique and irreplaceable"

"Everything that is good for the society, it is as well good for the company"

"Vision, leadership and cooperation is needed to invent a better future"

"The employees - blue collar or factory workers -are not ressources, they are actors"

"The innovation will attract the  growth"

"The  brand creates value for the company.. And value is compulsory to create growth"

"All the company employees are our brand ambassadors"

"Start small, think big and move fast"

"Keep it simple and make it happen"

"A manager should have leadership, steer the performance and develop the people"

Personal improvement

"When a fact contradict the theory, we should opt for the fact"

"About your teams, let´s them speak and encourage their initiatives" 

"The habit does not do the monk"

" Do your best, keep discreet and maintain your sense of humour in any circumstance"

"It is not needed to know everything. The need to know can distract you to be focused"

"We should love what we do and with who we are doing it. To progress professionally, we should have fiability, humility and disponibility"

"Focus on agility, simplification and affordability"

"...and be always accountable"

WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE A BLOG

Why I started to write a blog?

After attending a training to improve the communication skills, the lecturer recommended us to write a blog, because it was an excellent  way to practice the communication, to express ourselves and learn to be more synthetic and give the right message... and I like to write, then it was perfect to make visible my writings and  share my views.. AND.. I wanted to write a blog from the first moment that   I saw this front page of the newspaper Time in 2007. 

Then my only will  writing this article today  is that you..., yes,.. YOU.... that are reading the article,  start  a blog as soon as possilbe. I will give you my three main reasons

Three main reasons to write a blog: 

1. It is very good for your brain.  You will learn to write better, to be more creative  finding new subjets, to be organised if you want to publish regularly...and so many self-improvements that is difficult to enumerate. You will take advantage of these improvements in your personal and professional life.

2. You really need to be in Internet. We are in the century that even the wars are won in Internet,.. you need to know all the existing tools,.. blogger, twitter, facebook, linkedin,.. really!!!, you need to know them!!!!.

3. You will be more happy. When people share with you that they liked an article, when you finish an article and   see the results of your efforts, when you realise how much you learnt and did....your levels of satisfaction increases....it is very similar to the effect of  the endorfines  after doing physical  exercise.

There are other reasons....be popular, improve your personal branding, earn money, be succesful, become a succesful blogger..but the probability that they happen is not so probable as these first three....then do not think in them...if they arrives, it is an extra prize.

 And of course, I know....you think that you  do not have anything to say, everything is already said,  what my friends, my boss, my colleagues or my enterprise are going to think,... ..all is only fears...and in the life, the only thing that you should fears is the fear itself... .because it avoids you to do everything that you want and it avoids you to become the person that you really want to become.

THERE IS AN AMAZING WORLD IN FRONT OF YOU.. OPEN THE DOOR

THE THREE SKILLS OF A GOOD PROFESSIONAL

I did one year ago a very interesting training  to develop my  communication skills in IESE and the lecturer (Conor Neill from Moving People to Action) gave us a talk about which skills Warren Buffet was looking for when recruiting people for his organisation.

Why is important the opinion of  Warren Buffet?. He is called "the Oracle of Omaha" because he is one of the world biggest investors in shares and he was born in Omaha in USA. He was in 2013 in the fourth position of richiest people in the world according the magazine Forbes after Bill Gates, Carlos Slim and Amancio Ortega. He is still living in the same house that he bought in the centre of Omaha in 1958 for  $ 31 500.

According to Warren Buffet, a  good professional should have these three qualities:

1) Energy. This skill is needed to do a lot of tasks, for example, if a person lacks energy, he will not be able to work too many time or do many tasks during the work time. This is the heart of a professional.

 

2) Adaptative intelligence. The intelligence is the ability to quickly relate facts and arrives to conclusions. There are different kind of intelligences, for example, if you have a high mathematical intelligence, you will arrive quickly to conclusions in maths calculations or if you have high emotional intelligence, you will arrive quickly to conclusions about emotions or human reactions. These two intelligences are important but the key intelligence is the  adaptative intelligence. This  is the ability to adapt quickly to changes when they arrive. For example, if an action is not more the priority and it is replaced by another one, it is key to  prioritise your time for the key action as quick as possible, and of course, guess the trends in your company / department.  This is the brain of a professional.

3) Integrity . This is that your actions, your speech and your life are harmonised and aligned. For example, if you say that  you are multi-tasks and very efficient, but when you have to do several tasks at the same time, you do not finish the tasks on time and in your personal life you always procastinate the tasks , there is not integrity. Then it is important that you know yourself and you know which are your main skills and then your speech is aligned. This is the body of a professional and it is key to obtain the trust of others. 

What is the relation between this tale and the work?..Probably Nothing or Probably All!

Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come
and he would gather her leaves
and make them into crowns
and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples.
And they would play hide-and-go-seek.
And when he was tired,
he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree....
very much.
And the tree was happy.

But time went by.
And the boy grew older.
And the tree was often alone.
Then one day the boy came to the tree
and the tree said, "Come, Boy, come and
climb up my trunk and swing from my
branches and eat apples and play in my
shade and be happy."
"I am too big to climb and play" said
the boy.
"I want to buy things and have fun.
I want some money?"
"I'm sorry," said the tree, "but I
have no money.
I have only leaves and apples.
Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in
the city. Then you will have money and
you will be happy."
And so the boy climbed up the
tree and gathered her apples
and carried them away.
And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time....
and the tree was sad.
And then one day the boy came back
and the tree shook with joy
and she said, "Come, Boy, climb up my trunk
and swing from my branches and be happy."
"I am too busy to climb trees," said the boy.
"I want a house to keep me warm," he said.
"I want a wife and I want children,
and so I need a house.
Can you give me a house ?"
" I have no house," said the tree.
"The forest is my house,
but you may cut off
my branches and build a
house. Then you will be happy."
And so the boy cut off her branches
and carried them away
to build his house.
And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time.
And when he came back,
the tree was so happy
she could hardly speak.
"Come, Boy," she whispered,
"come and play."
"I am too old and sad to play,"
said the boy.
"I want a boat that will
take me far away from here.
Can you give me a boat?"
"Cut down my trunk
and make a boat," said the tree.
"Then you can sail away...
and be happy."
And so the boy cut down her trunk
and made a boat and sailed away.
And the tree was happy
... but not really.

And after a long time
the boy came back again.
"I am sorry, Boy,"
said the tree," but I have nothing
left to give you -
My apples are gone."
"My teeth are too weak
for apples," said the boy.
"My branches are gone,"
said the tree. " You
cannot swing on them - "
"I am too old to swing
on branches," said the boy.
"My trunk is gone, " said the tree.
"You cannot climb - "
"I am too tired to climb" said the boy.
"I am sorry," sighed the tree.
"I wish that I could give you something....
but I have nothing left.
I am just an old stump.
I am sorry...."
"I don't need very much now," said the boy.
"just a quiet place to sit and rest.
I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree, straightening
herself up as much as she could,
"well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting
Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest."
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.

The giving tree. Shel Silverstein

THE POWER OF NOs

It is stated that we should be always  adaptable and agree with most people, but I have discovered that sometimes the NOs have great advantages. Why?

1. If you say always YES,  you are updating your agenda to  the agenda of others. 

This is the reason that it is very important to know what you want to get it and after, to do the most efforts to get them.  In order to get your results, it is vital to define a plan or agenda and try to follow it.

Example: When I left finantial audit, most of the job offers that I received were for Internal Audit, but I decided not to accept them, because it was not my area of interest and in fact, I was convinced that  I was not so much skilled for these jobs as other people were and that in fact,  I was more skilled  for other jobs. After I found a job more suitable for my skills and motivations. 

I think that the HR people were doing a very cold analysis and  sometimes the cold analysis is not the best analysis, because it does not consider the importance of the motivation and that most people does not decide always rationally his career and they do not know really what they want or for what they are skilled. 

2. When others says you NO to something, you will really know the value of this something and if it is really worthy to fight for that or it is better to give it up.

Example: Ten years ago my family, my friends  and my company bosses told me that it was stupid to leave a permanent job in a company in Spain to go other country to learn English. After I wanted to find a job and have a professional experience out of my country.

 Even there was some people that told me that I will not find a job not speaking English and that  speaking English was not something important for the life or the work. But  I knew that I had to do it and it is one of the most enriching experience of my life.

Winston Churchill said that sometimes the riskiest plan is the most secure plan. In the life, it is like that as well, but it is needed to be brave to recognise the way. Now in a context of companies reestructuration and globalisation, the English knowledge is key, then I took the right decision, but it was not so easy to see it 10 years ago. 

 But please, be prudent and careful, this is not a call for action without previous serious thinking. Really!. Select your NOs. If not, it could  be a complete disaster!.

MY IDOLS WHEN I AM OLDER!

When I was  young, my idols were  footballers or band leaders.. why?,  they have everything, and everything means popularity,  money, photos in the newspapers, girls and fame. And of course, my main interests were music and football, and these people perfomed great there. 

When I started to become older  ( and I had my aniversary this week), I realised that: 

1) Your interests change, and you discover that there are other interesting areas in the life. 

2)  Some people, when have a talent and / or have a big position, decides to put a lot of distance with normal people as you /me.  Personally  I do not find a big merit in being better than others for having a talent given by birth,  it is only luck.

Who are my idols today? People that try to excell each day in their professions, but as well in their lives, and they do not forget that to be a great professional is important to be a balanced and happy person, because without balance, it is difficult to do a long-run race. 

Last week I went with my  friend Victor Martin to "El Celler del Can Roca". This restaurant is leaded by Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, three brothers that got for their restaurant the  Michelin  3 starts, and not only that, the first position in the list of best world restaurants organised by the journal The Restaurant. After some excellent wines and creative tasty dishes, I had the chance to speak with the three brothers. 

These people are my idols today. Why  are they   my idols today?

1) Their results. They are clear and undeniable!.  3 Michelin Starts and  the first position in the list of best world restaurants organised by the journal The Restaurant.
2) They are the best in one of my interests today, the cuisine, because  it creates worth and makes happy the people (as the football or the music)

3)  A will to improve themselves: They try to improve their dishes each week. To do that, they create, but they read and observe from the best chefs without any envy and with a spirit of healthy competition. In their dishes there are influences from France, Spain, Peru, Catalunya, Mexique,...

4) They love what they are doing. They love speak about other chefs, about dishes and they are still in the restaurant cooking, helping to cook and speaking / having pictures with the guests

5) They are humanily focused. They told me that the first position in the list of best restaurants was not the most  important, it was doing what they love and  make the customers  happy.

6) Integrity: This means  that your phrases and your actions have coherence. They speak about food with love and they are still in the restaurant giving an example, they speak about making  happy the customers and they are there appearing in pictures with the guests.. and if you look closely the picture, you will think that they were our  friends from  a long time ago, it is not true, we met them this day, but  the photo shows how really are they. Their smiles are completely sincere.

But they are not only my idols, there are many more, but they are not so popular as these chefs..all the people that improves themselves each  day, their actions and phrases have a coherence, love what are doing and do not fear to be close to the people independently of the position that they have. But it is important that people in higher positions set example in order to do a better world.

A SPANYARD WORKING WITH FRENCHS!!

In all the trainings about the adaptation to work in other country, it is stated that you will pass for 4 phases:

1. Over-excitation: You like the culture, you appreciate all the new things and you think that they are much better than your original culture... "you prefer the new beer".

2. Dissapointment: After a while, you start to see more negative points, miss your culture  and not understand the differences. "You are tired of the new beer and  missing your native beer".

3. Adaptation: After the previous shock, you start gradually to adapt yourself, you really enjoy and practice the differences  that  are better and give less importance to the differences that you do not like. " I like this different beer"

4. Satisfaction: At the end, you start to enjoy the new langue, culture, country, people.. "This beer is excellent. It is good that I came here to discover it"

But unfortunately some people never arrives the 4th phase. 

A tale to explain the main difference between a French and a Spanyard:

"In a factory, there is a problem: An only plant pot in a building floor lacks water and there are  two people in charge of finding a solution: 

1) The Spanyard: He will try to solve the problem as quicker as possible. He will try to find the water from the closest place  to the plant, then there are two possibilities:  1.1) Best option: There is water in a very closer place and the plant recovers quickly.  1.2) Worst option:  There is a coffe machine in front of the plant, he is mistaken and throws coffe instead  of water to the plant, because he thought that it was water. The plant is dead!.

2) The French: He has to involve all the key people and all think together about the root-cause problem and design a plan, considering  not only  this plant, they have to consider what is the better solution for all the plants in the factory. 2.1) Best option: There are few people to be involved and in one meeting the decision is taken. The plant   recovers quickly. 2.2)Worst option: There are  a lot of people to be involved and after a lot of meetings, the decision   is  not  taken or  taken very late,  the plant is dead!."

The Spanyards, we are orientated to take decisions and find the solution for the problems as quickly as possible, and if necessary, the solution appears intuitively or out of the structured thinking or procedures. If we do not know what to do, our boss usually can give us a solution, because he is usually more expert than us and part of his role is to help us to solve problems. In our ADN, it is to be very flexible, intuitive and adaptable. Then I arrived to France and I started to become crazy  when in meetings to solve problems, I heard sentences as:

" Your answer to your question is other question"

"Let´s think together"

" Your question is not rightly stated"

" I do not know, what do you think?"

"Are you sure that this is really the problem?"

At the start I thought that it was a problem of langue, but after some time, I realised that some part of the French  culture is completely different to our Spanish culture. 

The Frenchs. There are some very important points:

1) The communication and agreement is key: The Frenchs involves everybody to have a decision. That makes sure that  all impacts are considered and everybody is informed and buy the product.

2) Planning, planning........The plan is critical. It is necessary to plan all steps and roles and responsabilities of each one. That gives a vision and a structure of the next steps and anticipates all risks and their solutions.

3) Honest but without personal punches: Avoid the personal conflicts but if necessary to be completely honest even blunt if necessary to find the best solution.

4) The role of the bosses is not to find the solution for the employee, it is helping the employee to find the solution. In this way, he improves himself and agrees easily with the decision that if the decision is imposed by the boss.  This part can be confusing for people that search for a clear answer.

5) In a presentation, first the solution. The Spanyard start the presentations in a cronological order, first how we arrived the solution and after the solution. For the French, it is only important the solution and then, to discuss it. No need for explanation of the logical thinking, it is taken for granted, the famous "French cartesian thinking".

6) My favorite part of the culture is the part that I less appreciated when I arrived.. hands shakes and kisses all mornings to everybody. At the start, you do not understand it and it is very tiring. I was usually  hidden behind my room to avoid all this loss of time.. but after some time I started to like it. It is a signal of respect and good relationship every morning that helps to have better deals and  I find difficult to argue  personally  with someone that  I shake hands or kiss all mornings.  It is part of the "buen rollo" in the office. 

In summary, very happy to enjoy this experience and recommending everybody to travel and work in other countries.... and out of work, it is even better.... French cheeses, wines, breads,....the paradise!!!...until someone offers you an "andouillette" ( A food made of smelling tripes) :-)

SORRY, PROBABLY YOUR BOSS IS BETTER THAN YOU!

Maybe you think that your professional career is not the one that you deserve, but unfortunately  your boss and other bosses are not able to see all the skills that you have and the progresses and work that you are doing. Maybe you  think as well that unfortunately  other people are promoted instead of you only due to their good personal relationships with the big bosses or that  it is simply a question  of  luck or simply the life is not just. And maybe as well you do not understand how your boss arrived to be your boss, because he has a lot of areas to improve  and you are convinced that you will  do his  position much better than him.

Do you know what?. If you think all that,  you are  part of the big  majority of the employees  that thinks that they are better than their bosses.  You are not an exception. And tell me, have you got something doing / thinking that?. No, you are exactly in the same situation,  while others are always the promoted.  Well, let´s try other possibility. Think that if your boss is your boss is because he has skills that you do not have. Try to find them and copy them. You have a big advantage, if he has these skills, he should be your best master. And your  boss is the most interested person in that you are successful. Why?. Because if you are successful, he will be successful.

And now we arrive to this subject about the motivation. There are many people that says that are not motivated because their bosses are not motivating them. From my point of view the most important fact to feel yourself motivated is that you think that you are progressing professionally or/and personally. If you  feel  that you are in a crossroads or losing influence, you will not be motivated.  Your boss can help you, but only if you want to be motivated, you will be motivated. How you can give yourself this inner motivation?

1. Think really which activities you like and try to do / propose them to your boss. Usually we are performing better in the activities that we like. To find them, analyze all your past jobs and think when you were happier. Usually there is a link between the high peaks in the emotions and your performance and motivation. 

2. Do not say no to the hardest jobs. Nobody wants to do the hardest jobs. I know, they are very boring.  But there are three reasons to accept them. The first one is that your boss propose you these tasks  because he trust in you and he wants that you are doing them. The second reason is that  it is scientifically proved that not always you like something before doing it or at the start, sometimes you are doing it and the repeated practice makes that you like it. Think for example in these people that maybe you did not like at first sight but after a while they became your friends, the process is something similar!. The third reason is that keeping a discipline makes you happy. As Picasso said, art is to wake up at eight in the morning to paint. If an artist says that, for us it should  not be too much different. Discipline is not against the art.

3. Put yourself small targets to be done.  And control that you are doing them and treat yourself for these small successes. Enjoy the way, do not think only in the end of the way.  This helps you to feel and realize that you are progressing.

4. Have good relationship with everybody. This is priceless  to be happy at work.  Be a good person, that your mind is not punishing you for something that you did  or did not do. And never enter in conflicts. Everybody loses in conflicts.  If you think that at work we are representing  a role, as in the theater,  you will  not take personally anything, because you will not see personal discussions, you will see different roles interests, and  then there is always the possibility of agreement and alignment.   

5. Escape from  negative gossiping or from negative people. It will affect your motivation and your moral.  You can think that it is not important, but it is!. It is similar to a car crossing the mud, at the start you think that you can continue because the depth is a little, but  the car will enter more each minute  in the mud and there could be a time that you are stuck in the mud (then all the motivation lost!)

6. Think if really  your problem is  at work. Sometimes you think that you are not happy for  work reasons, but it could happen that you give too much importance to your work because something at your personal life lacks. Then analyze very well the problems and life is not only work, sometimes  working less hours and leave the work before to do an hobby or see your family / friends can bring you more productivity and motivation at work.

I hope that now you do not care to know that  you boss is better than you. And you know , this colleague that you hate and is promoted possibly is better than you as well. Try to know what they have that you do not have, learn it, practice it, improve yourself and the next promotion will be for you.  And if it is not, do not worry, at least we have got to be motivated, that it is not a small thing in these times!.