“The Anywhere Leader — How to Lead and Succeed in Any Business Environment” by Mike Thompson (Jossey-Bass, $24.95).
Thompson defines three traits of leaders: “driven by progress, sensationally curious, vastly resourceful.” They fall under a “play it smart, not safe” approach to getting things done.
“Play it smart, not safe” takes root in flexible determination. While anywhere leaders pursue right and good ideas, they are open to various approaches for execution. They don’t become victims of organizational ADHD by changing course when things don’t go as planned. They start strong, engage others to ensure buy-in and get things done.
Nor do they rest on their laurels. They understand that what worked before may not work now. They understand that new situations require new approaches. “Good judgment leading to good choices must be based on the drive for progress, not on maintaining stability.”
Thompson uses a sailboat analogy to drive home his point. Driven by the wind, the crew has to adjust the sails quickly to take advantage of ever-changing wind direction and velocity. If you’re slow to identify the winds of change, you’ll head off course and lose precious time, too.
Changing course requires numerous rigging adjustments. The Anywhere Leader’s rigging is a “broad base of skills and talents, and accessible resources and relationships” that allows for evaluating options to leverage the wind while staying on course — and choosing the right crew.
There’s another part to the sailboat — the keel. Below the surface of the water, it counterbalances the force of the wind and keeps the sailboat from flipping over. Similarly, the Anywhere Leader has deeply-rooted values and principles. Thompson cautions that “deeply rooted” can lead to blind spots. To ensure the boat doesn’t end up on the rocks, leadership style must take into account input from others.
Those with fancy organizational titles haven’t cornered the market on these three traits. Employees at every level in every company have them. Thompson shows how anyone can lead by building these traits.
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“Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd” by Youngme Moon, Crown Business, $17).
Businesses seem to respond to competition, rather than customers. When one company introduces a feature that appears to appeal to customers, others quickly adopt it. Rather than break trail, competitors obediently follow the trail breaker. “The more diligently firms compete with each other, the less differentiated they can become, at least in the eyes of the consumer.”
Most companies also try to fill gaps (i.e. perceived weakness) in their product lines to broaden market appeal. Doing this often results in weakening their strengths by not playing to them. They dilute what made their brand Different. Dell and Gateway carved out a market niche with their built-for-you, home-delivered PCs. They strayed from that niche and now compete principally on price in a commoditized PC market.
My example of a company that embodies Different through product extension is Apple. While it had its share of product missteps with its computers, devotees are Apple to their core. It breaks trail: first with its iPod/iTunes, followed by the iPhone, the iTouch and now the iPad — and over 500,000 apps developed by third parties. Each product builds on its predecessors and appeals to different markets [i.e. portable music player (market leader), smartphones (market leader), portable gaming (catching up), laptops (catching up) and tablets (opened a huge new market others explored and ignored)].
CEOs should ask their marketing teams what can be done to become Different. After getting their responses, ask them to watch Moon’s videos on YouTube — the book promo (youtube.com/watch?v=26PVrm4iLA0) and “My Anti-Creativity Checklist” (youtube.com/watch?v=AsyAtkjYcEk&feature=related). Then again ask them what can be done to become Different. If they come back with their original answers, consider getting a different marketing team.
Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer.