Posts Tagged ‘book’

Excerpt from 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role: The Manual They Didn't Hand You When You Made VP, Director, or Manager. Just up on Amazon.

You would never stoop to blame. Or would you?

You're going to be tempted
Especially if the person who last had the job was let go, demoted, or otherwise removed, you'll be tempted. But even if the last guy was elevated to his/her next walk-on-water job, you're still going to be tempted to blame him for your team's problems.

After all, if the last guy was so great, he wouldn't have left the department in the mess you now find. He would have picked those "low-hanging fruit" you see dangling all over the department. He would have fired the performance problems and supported the stars. He would have generated the monthly metrics that are so obviously needed, and he would have tied up the loose ends now filling your inbox.

He knew what you don't, yet
He knew that it made no sense to run reports based on the crappy data coming in from the field. He knew that the "performance problem" had a personal dispute with your boss, who threw him under the bus at rating time. He knew that picking the "low-hanging fruit" wouldn't turn the department around, so he focused on what was more important.

You will look foolish, and your team will let you
Your team members will happily collude in your assessment that the last guy was incompetent. Gets the focus off them. Gives them hope that you'll be better.

Until you start making the same mistakes. Or, more likely, different ones. Chances are good that you will notice opportunities he didn't. You will make some hard calls that he shied away from. You will create smart new metrics he never considered. And, some of these new initiatives will blow up in your face, just as he did. And then your blame game is going to look very, very foolish.

Even if this guy was a real screw-up, skip the blame. As one of my interviewees said, "Why should I blame my predecessor? My team will do that for me."

View the last guy as your teacher
Go learn what you can about the trade-offs he saw, the battles he was fighting, the opportunities he never took time to pursue. If you can find him, ask him what he would do if he had another year or two in the job. Ask him about the hardest parts of the job...he'll probably be glad to tell you, maybe over a beer.

If you don't have access to him, apply your forensic anthropology skills. What do his metrics suggest was important to him? What initiatives did he sponsor? What were his "failures," and what can you learn about the root causes?

Be gracious. If this guy is still at your company—or hanging out with your team, or writing an industry blog—what he thinks matters, at least a little. You are standing on the shoulders (or graves) of many. It's worth your time to learn their legacy. By acting with maturity, appreciating whatever he did accomplish for your group, and continuing to seek his counsel if appropriate, you benefit from his stumbles. At least then you can make new
mistakes.

That said, be realistic about what you've inherited
You may have noticed that public company CEOs surface bad news in the first quarter of their tenure. Find the problems in your group fast, so you can tackle them before you are seen to own their creation.

Put together a brief presentation or talking points for your leadership team about the state of your group as you find it. Describe without blame how the group is doing relative to history, targets, and market opportunity. Offer your work-in-progress viewpoint on what's contributing positively and negatively to performance and what changes you plan to make.

Today's featured blogger is Pam Fox Rollin. Pam helps Silicon Valley execs make their strongest start. She also helps leadership teams function well together and make the most of new talent. Clients hire Pam for individual coaching, leadership offsites, teambuilding with Myers-Briggs, and keynotes. Visit, "like", and learn at Pam's facebook page for her book. Or connect on Twitter: Pam's account or LeadStartBook .

Thanks to Chris Edmonds for the photo!

Wow! This is our last Friday before the launch of our new book. As you can imagine, we have lots of last minute details to wrap up with our launch. We are finishing web pages, finalizing fantastic bonuses for people who buy our book on launch day. There are even bigger bonuses for people who buy in bulk on launch day, so we hope you will consider a bulk purchase for use in your organization or as gifts for family, friends, or colleagues.

We have been celebrating three buzz builders each week, people who are giving their time and energy to help us promote our book launch. Because it's difficult for me to choose just three (so many of you are helping us in so many ways — Thanks!) and because there are 4 days left until launch, today I will highlight 4 buzz builders.

Let's get started!

• Tanmay Vora is one of our most enthusiastic supporters! He has planned to dedicate an entire week on his blog to posts related to our book, making sure that his friends and followers know about what we are doing. We appreciate his encouragement, his retweets, and his engagement with us. We know he will be an asset to our community, as well. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to his blog, like his page on Facebook, and follow him on Twitter.
• John E. Smith has jumped into our book launch promotion and posted two great posts about the book. He also participates by keeping his Twitter and Facebook streams full of info about our launch. (Now all we need, John, is a photo of you with your book!) As we are preparing promotional material for the launch, we're quoting John because we love what he has to say about the book. Be sure to check out John's blog and follow him on Twitter.
• We all met Chris Edmonds as a result of this book launch, and we're glad we did! He's an enthusiastic contributor to our Facebook page and a faithful tweet-partner. If you haven't already found Chris' blog, be sure to check it out. You can also like his blog's page on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. Chris provided our #4 picture for today's post. Thanks, Chris!
• Finally, today, we want to highlight Laura Goodrich. Laura will celebrate the launch of her new book, Seeing Red Cars, on Monday. It looks like an amazing book. I personally can't wait to get a copy to learn more about how intentional focus can lead to action and results. It's fun to share a launch week with Laura and we are excited about her book! Be sure to check out her Facebook page, follow her on Twitter, and get involved with all that she is doing with her launch.

Be sure to check with us this weekend -- I will be continuing my countdown to launch and sharing helpful information in this space daily.

Five days to launch!

We're going to start with FIVE posts that include the number 5. The first four posts come from Kevin's blog and the final post comes from my blog.  Here they are, in case you missed them:

Been Promoted? Five Key Conversations to Have with Your New Boss

Five Minutes — a Key to Successful Time Management

Do you Really Need to Make a Decision? Five Keys to Better Decision Making in Meetings

Five Ways to Recognize — and Value — Your Expertise

Five

Tune in to hear Kevin talk with Mel Robbins today starting at 11:40 am EST. I’ll be listening and tweeting live during the show. To follow my tweets, search the hashtag #buildthebuzz.

Bloggers have started posting fantastic reviews, interviews, and guest posts related to the launch. To see them all in one place, check out THE BUZZ on our book website. We’re thrilled with all the support we are getting from the leadership blogging community. We hope you’ll check out the blogs of the #buzzbuilders and share their posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or wherever else you hang out online.

Sixes.

This morning, the temperature on my van's thermometer read 6 degrees when I drove my daughters to school.

There are 6 sections in Kevin and Guy's new book.

We have more than 106 bloggers contributing to our launch! (Thank you!)

There are only 6 days left until the launch of From Bud to Boss.

Here are 6 ideas of things you can do, today, to help us build buzz for our launch:

1. You could change your Facebook photo to our book cover for the next 6 days. Grab a photo here.
2. When you change your photo, you can post a status update sharing about the book and linking to our website.
3. You can email 6 friends who might be interested in the book.
4. You can tweet or RT six times about our book launch. Need suggestions? Try these.
5. You can post an update on your LinkedIn Profile about our book.
6. If you already have the book and you've read it, you can post a review on Amazon.

Only seven days — one week — left until the launch of our new book. We are excited for the big day, next Tuesday, February 15th.

Here are a few things we want you to know about our launch:

1. We are finalizing some great bonuses from our launch day partners. We will be sharing more details with you about this  in the coming days.
2. We want you to know that the bonuses will add value far beyond the price of the book. So...
3. We hope you will wait until launch day to buy the book.
4. On launch day, we'll make it very easy for you to buy the book and receive the bonuses.
5. We're creating a splash page for our book website (and several of our other websites as well) so that when you visit our pages, you will have the option to view the bonuses OR proceed to the website. This way, you won't need special links. The only link you'll need is www.frombudtoboss.com.
6. We hope you'll share the news about our launch with your friends, fans, and followers.
7. We appreciate all you are doing to help us #buildthebuzz.

This photo comes courtesy of the Robinson family. My husband designed the toast, one of my daughters took a bite, and I shot the photo. Want to see your number photo featured in our countdown? Email me your number (0 - 6) as soon as possible.