It was my grandmother who introduced me to the Beaver.

While I cannot recall the specifics of a single episode from the times I watched with her, I do recall a black and white image of a toothy kid with a winsome smile who always seemed to be get into a pickle of one sort or another either with his good natured older brother Wally or one of his friends. His parents, June and Ward, were always understanding. And that’s about all you need to know about one of early television’s most popular shows, Leave It to Beaver, which ran for six seasons from 1957 to 1963.

Over the decades I have seen the show in reruns a few times since and always found the episodes while corny to be worth watching for their down to earth simplicity and heartwarming charm. So much so I looked up a few quotes from the show and found that they just might provide some insights to managers seeking to keep their teams on an even keel.

June: Ward, I’m very worried about the Beaver.
Managers need to focus attention on urgent issues. Beating around the bush won’t do. Like June you must face up to the issue and address it immediately.

Beaver: I could use my own money, the twenty-five dollars I got in the bank.
Wally: I thought you were saving that to go to college.
Beaver: Larry says he never heard of a college you could go to for twenty-five dollars.
Running a department requires attention to the bottom line, but never doubt your employee, like Beaver, can see right through certain cost cutting measures. Be honest in all you say and do.

Eddie Haskell: Gee, your kitchen always looks so clean.
June: Why, thank you, Eddie.
Eddie Haskell: My mother says it looks as though you never do any work in here.
No manager can expect employees to appreciate all that you do for them. So suck it up and focus, like June did for her family, on what you can do for them. But don’t expect anyone to notice.

Ward: Beaver, you know what Larry was doing was wrong. You could have stopped him.
Beaver: Gee, Dad, I have enough trouble keeping myself good without keeping all the other kids good.
This logic works well for kids but not for managers. As Ward admonished the Beaver, managers need to assume responsibility for the actions of their team. Not a pleasant thought when things go wrong but it defines a manager’s ability to get the work done.

Beaver: Boy, I sure wish there was somebody in the family for me to yell at.
Wally: That's your tough luck.
Every employee might feel like this once in awhile. So it’s up to the manager to remind employees of their worth. Or as Beaver put it to Wally, “You know something, Wally. I’d rather do nothin’ with you than somethin’ with anybody else.”

Leave It to Beaver was not just a fairy tale. Recently Neil Genzlinger of New York Times interviewed four members of the cast now in their sixties who achieved adulthood without the notoriety that has plagued so many child stars. One reason might be that the producers of the show created a kind of wholesome atmosphere on the set. As Tony Dow who played Wally recalled, a crewmember who used a curse word on the set was gone the next day. Hugh Beaumont who played Beaver’s dad had a master’s in theology; so the homilies he regularly delivered to the boys might have echoed with his own spiritual intentions.

Leave It to Beaver was meant as family entertainment, but amidst its simplicity, presented in black and white, there are universal truths about getting along with others – peers and authority figures – that are worth remembering. Which, as the Beaver said so often, “Gee Wally, that’s swell.”

Posted FastCompany.com 7.13.10

The announcement of Apple's steady stream of i-named products turns many people's thoughts to the innovations behind big ideas. Innovations such as these play a critical role in a company's future, but companies often hinder themselves by focusing on finding the next big thing, when in reality, the next small thing might be more beneficial.

The more that employees are encouraged to think creatively and apply that creativity, the more flexible in practice and nimble in responsiveness a company becomes. When you take pressure off people to come up with a "big" idea, you encourage the creativity that can bring about incremental innovations. As a result, a new service or product offering may emerge, but it's more likely that you will optimize your operations for cost, quality, efficiency, and speed.

At its core, innovation is applied creativity. And, it is my belief since I have seen it for years is that most employees can be encouraged to be creative, if you want them to be.

How can you encourage small innovations?

Think small. The beauty of small innovations is that they focus on immediate concerns, not on finding game-changing products. Encourage your people to find a solution to a problem, or a better way of doing things.

Try posing questions: How can accounting streamline billing? How can customer service resolve issues on the phone without supervisor intervention? How can product engineers find more time to spend with customers? Using such questions will get people generating ideas. Not every idea will be brilliant, but that's the point. You want to collect ideas, refine them, and select the best for implementation.

Implement locally. Since most small innovations are limited to a department or a function, put them into action as soon as possible. If the idea does not work as expected, don't abandon it immediately — see if you can tweak it. Implementation itself can be creative and sometimes it takes several tries to make innovative ideas work as expected, or beyond expectations.

Promote widely. You need to recognize those who think of and support the innovations. Many organizations provide incentives for such efforts, from gift coupons all the way up to substantive bonuses for innovations that positively affect the entire company. The important thing is to recognize the right people, and to do it in a timely fashion.

Encouraging small innovations is only part of the management equation. Execution of the innovations is critical. No amount of applied creativity can make up for slipped deadlines, blown budgets, dissatisfied customers, or unbalanced profit and loss statements. You need to focus on the details to get things done.

You may also discover another benefit from your small innovations: tapping into the collective brainpower of your employees. They are your collaborators, and by treating them as such you make it known that you welcome their ideas and will reward them.

irst posted Harvard Business Review on 1.29.10

We live in the age of gotcha!

Seldom does a week go by without some person in authority making a faux pas in words or deed. Such behaviors make for political punditry and late night comedy but they do not contribute to creating a climate for honest dialogue. Rather it fuels already supercharged partisanship that is based on dissent and division rather than comity and compromise.

Consequently compromise is seen as a weakness. It is viewed by partisans on either side as betrayal of ideology rather than as a means of getting along with each other. The current issue of American Heritage magazine focuses on compromises that shaped our national history. Our nation came together in a spirit of compromise, north and south, mercantile and agrarian, to forge the world's first modern republic. Sadly it was the failure of compromise that led to our Civil War but it was compromise that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Bill a century later.

To be honest it is hard to feel inclined to compromise when for many people things are going plainly wrong. We are enduring the worst recession since the Great Depression. There is a pervasive feeling that nothing government does works. And even worse nothing that business does is right either. Eight million jobs have been lost in the last few years and the vast majority of those were private sector jobs.

Nothing seems to sum up our sense of helplessness more than the endless spewing of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and the ineptitude of the private and public sectors to prevent widespread ecological and economic damage. People are fed up and want more than answers; they want solutions.

Compromise is not for the faint of heart; it takes guts to work with people with whom you disagree. When the problems are significant, recall what Henry Ford once said. "Don't find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain."

Toward that end I would like to see our leaders adopt a three questions approach to problem solving:
• What are the issues that divide us?
• What are the issues that unite us?
• What can each of us do to find solutions that improve the lives of those we lead?

When people of different opinions and ideas come together to solve problems rather than create more, they demonstrate that they value constructive dialogue over divisive partisanship. Better yet, they demonstrate that they are willing put aside differences in order to find solutions that benefit others, perhaps more than themselves.

Common purpose calls for common sense but there cannot be any sense if people are not willing to listen without prejudice to what others have to say. "One who cannot dance blames the floor" goes the Hindu proverb. And so it is with too many of our leaders who seem unwilling to do the hard business of governance when it is so much easier (not to mention expedient) to point the finger of blame.

Gotcha!

First posted WashingtonPost.com/On Leadership 7.08.10

It is not often that we look to royalty for insight into how to demonstrate leadership in the modern age. So in our age of egalitarianism Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain stands as an exception. To overlook her ability to connect with people would be a shame. Wherever she visits she gives leaders a tutorial in how to make everyone she meets feel special.

In reporting on the Queen’s visit to the United Nations, Richard Quest, CNN’s U.K. reporter, commended the Queen for her extraordinary ability to make anyone who comes into contact with her feel quite at home. Quest experienced this first-hand when he welcomed the Queen to the dedication of CNN’s London studios in 2001. The Queen is not only able to make small conversation, says Quest, but she backs it up with a smile and eye twinkle that makes the person she is with feel special.

This ability to make people feel important is not solely a royal prerogative; many great leaders from Winston Churchill (who was Prime Minister when the Queen ascended the throne in 1952) to Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan had the gift of connectivity. I have seen corporate leaders connect in similar ways. And in conversing with folks afterward I know how special it was for them to be treated in such a personable manner.

The advantages of such up close and personal relations are two-fold. One, it makes the listener feel that he or she is worthy of attention. Two, it opens the door for conversation where a genuine exchange of ideas can occur. Granted this will not occur with royal schmoozes, but it can happen when CEOs or department heads make time to chat. So here are some suggestions for making it happen.

Smile first. The one with the bigger title must make the first move and the first move is to smile. Look like you are happy to be where you are, even when this visit is your tenth of the week. The act of smiling is way of putting others at ease.

Know what the issues are. People on the way up are often flummoxed by conversation with senior executives. In reality it is a two way street; more than a few executives have no idea what to say to front line employees. So it is important find out what the employees are concerned about and have a conversation about it.

Engage. Act, (and yes it is an act of leadership), like you want to be with the person. Put yourself into the conversation. Listen to what the other person has to say. Ask one or two open ended questions that get them talking. When done with a smile and cheery demeanor, you can do it quickly and without offending anyone.

Truth be told not every person in a position of authority knows how to make others “subordinate” to him or her feel welcome. More than a few leaders I know are quite shy and so hiding behind a wall of reserve comes naturally to them. Their standoffishness is as much a defense mechanism as anything else. Too many in the corporate world have risen to the top because they are good at tasks not with people; and so when they are in positions of senior leadership they lack social grace.

There is no excuse for acting aloof. Holding yourself apart from others sends the worst kind of signal, the one we typically associate with most royals. That is, I am better than anyone else. Such a sentiment might have worked for Elizabeth’s ancestors, but it simply will not do in today’s age.

Posted FastCompany.com 7.06.10

To bring people together around a common cause, it is critical that a leader be self aware. Jeff Immelt's comments to the cadets at West Point in late 2009 reminded me of this fact.

Immelt, CEO of General Electric, said he he's learned lessons from the Great Recession that have made him "humbler and hungrier... I needed to be a better listener coming out of the crisis... I should have done more to anticipate the radical changes that occurred," he added. Such an admission reveals an executive who is comfortable in his own skin, even as he is making hard decisions about the future of his company.

Coming to terms with yourself is a private matter. But if you fail to come to terms with your own limitations and it affects your ability to lead then it could be worthy of public scrutiny. Toward that end, here are three questions leaders can ask themselves, or a trusted associate or two, about their own managerial performance.

1. What more do I need? This question might seem easy because a leader will always say she needs more time. True enough, but lack of time is often an excuse for failing to address simmering issues or to carry projects through to fruition. Ask yourself and others what you need to do more of; one answer might be "doing less." That is, learn to delegate more and devote your time to thinking.

2. What else should I be doing? By focusing on less, you may learn to delegate not simply tasks, but also responsibilities. Too often executives feel they need to be engaged in the work when their job is really to engage other people. Let your people do their jobs. If they can't, find out why. You may need to find employees with different skills sets or you may need to provide your people with additional training, resources, and manpower.

3. How do I accept feedback? "The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them," says Colin Powell. "They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care." None of us welcome bad news about ourselves and our work, but self-aware leaders are those that not only accept it, but invite it, and even seek it out. They do so because they are continually learning. Without learning there is no personal growth.

The answers to these questions should challenge your perception of yourself. Yet, your own questions can only go so far—you cannot be aware of things you don't know. Comparing one's own perceptions to what others observe can provide striking bits of insight. For example, you may think you communicate, delegate, supervise, and recognize others well, but until you receive others' opinions on these things, you cannot truly know. Personality and leadership assessments, along with 360-degree evaluations are useful in this situation.

Once you've gathered the answers, you must integrate the feedback into your behavior and approach as a means of becoming more capable, knowledgeable, and self aware. Questions and assessments only go so far. Accepting feedback can be a spine-stiffening experience, especially when we hear things about ourselves that are not favorable. Yet, strong leaders acknowledge their shortcomings and resolve to make improvements. Easy to say, but very hard to do, unless you act on your ability to know yourself.

[Read transcript of Jeff Immelt's remarks at West Point.]

First posted Harvard Business Review on 12.23.2009