Next Level Blog

Four Things You Can Learn from This

Last week, I was conducting some colleague feedback interviews for a senior executive client in the financial services industry.  We’re coming to the end of a seven month engagement which began in October 2008.   The client has been terrific to work with so the closing interviews with colleagues have been pretty relaxed.  Given all that’s happened in the financial services industry and in the world since last fall, I’ve been really interested to hear what the colleagues’ experience has been like since I first talked with each of them seven months ago.

One of the questions I’ve been asking is “Do you think this period is one that you’ll look back on years from now as one of the biggest learning and developmental experiences of your career?”  Everyone has said yes.  The responses and lessons learned thus far have been really striking.

You Get a Car! And You Get a Car!

Remember that iconic moment from Oprah when she gave cars to everyone in her audience one day? “You get a car! You get a car! You get a car!”  Man, that was some great television.

Well, the fun still continues at General Motors. As reported in a story on NPR  this week, over 8,000 GM managers and executives are still participating in a 50 year old program where they get a new car to drive every three months.  And, to make the deal even sweeter, they also get free gas to fill up the tank. Yes, you read that right. 32,000 free cars a year for its execs and an estimated $12 million in gas giveaways for a company that has already received over $20 billion in bailout money and, according to the Washington Post,  will likely be recommended for more next week by President Obama’s auto industry task force.

How in the heck are we supposed to think about this? And, no, the answer is not outrage. Outrage is so last week.   Here’s my take on what this tells us.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I’m spending most of this week fulfilling some of my duties as a faculty member in the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program.  One of the topics that comes up fairly frequently  in the coaching classroom is the great debate on whether leaders should focus on playing to their strengths or improving their weaknesses.  Books like Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham and a lot of the writing coming out of the Gallup Organization advocate focusing only on your strengths. 

I beg to differ. If you want to be successful as a senior leader, you have to address both sides of the equation.  Strengths and weaknesses both matter – a lot.

Bernanke’s Message to America: “I Get It.”

Over the weekend, I caught up on some news I missed while I was taking spring break with my family.  I’d heard a lot about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s interview on 60 Minutes so I decided to check it out online.  Honestly, I thought I’d give it a couple of minutes and move on.  Twenty eight minutes later,  I found myself still watching it.  In terms of both content and style, it was a great example of effective leadership communications.

Here are some of my takeaways from the interview that apply to leaders who have to demonstrate that they “get it” in the midst of tough times:

Tim Geithner’s Biggest Problem

It’s just seemed too easy to join the chorus of people piling on about the AIG bonus story and the questions around what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner knew and when he knew it.  As I’ve been on spring break with my family this week, I’ve kind of, sort of been paying attention to the story and honestly concluding that I didn’t have anything to add to the commentary other than a slightly different version of what others have already said.

Until today, that is. In skimming the major headlines this morning, I think I’ve hit on the biggest problem Tim Geithner has as a leader.  It’s his alarm clock.