Reverb Consulting

First and foremost, leaders challenge the status quo. They interrupt what is going on now in order to influence the future. Leaders look to the horizon, the end game, deep into the future and ask what will get us there? They question everything.

Managers, by contrast, ask how can we keep current things going, or how can I maintain the status quo? Managers embrace the status quo, not stand up to it.

Aspiring and working toward a future vision requires a lot of things of the leader. Aspirational leadership requires detachment. Many people benefit and are complacent about the current state of being. A leader who desires to innovate and adapt to the needs of the future must detach from the emotional grousing of the people who admire the status quo. To accomplish this detachment, a leader must have confidence, courage, and commitment about doing the right thing for the sake of the future. This commitment and courage to doing the right thing are the internal resources a leader draws upon as many people work to keep things as they are.

The powerful image from the revolution at Tianamen Square in 1989 makes the point that a leader can emerge from anywhere. This unnamed man stands on principle, courage, commitment, and hope for a better future for China. He stands strong despite risk of personal injury. He stands before the rigid, powerful status quo, the Chinese government so wonderfully epitomized by the might of the tanks. As we remember from watching the coverage, this one stand off disrupted and created many protests throughout the city.

A leader protests. He declares the status quo as unsafe, objectionable, unsustainable, unsuitable for the needs of the future. He expresses in many ways, as many as are needed, a vision for the future that is more relevant. A leader acts. She stands up and leads that first step toward realizing the future and invites others to join in. In these ways, a leader transforms.

We usually know who the leaders are, or we assume we do, from their positions in the organization. We know who is the CEO or who is the Head of School or who is the leader of the marketing group. But, I think too often we assume that the person in that role is a leader, the only leader. I also think that too often we confuse leading with managing. Management is not leadership.

Management is the act of situating the details of a program or idea that is already in place. Managers focus on tasks. They work to get things done. Managers have people whom they manage — subordinates, “people in my division.” Managers are usually not leaders. Managers perpetuate the status quo.

Leaders have causes, ideas that they believe are right and necessary. Leaders focus on people not tasks and checklists. Leaders work to inspire people to be their followers and to help them accomplish the objectives of the cause. Leaders inspires with their vision and their passion. Leaders are following the force of a vision, a right choice, and they expect challenges and hurdles along the way. Leaders do not shy away from conflict, instead they see conflict as necessary to inspire more and right followers. Leaders are not people who seek stability and sameness because leaders are in touch with the ever-changing nature of their environment and the importance of their cause in making a difference in the world.

The table above from ChangingMinds.org provides a nice comparison of leaders and managers.

This question arises from Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Marc Prensky.  For me, the application of ‘native or immigrant’ to today’s digital world is very meaningful.  I get what ‘native or immigrant’ means when used in the traditional sense.  Applying the body of understanding to our digital world brings much insight.  Born in 1962, clearly I am a digital immigrant.  Consider the following issues with immigrants that we baby boomers saw portrayed so often in our literature, cinema and television:

The immigrant that refused to learn the culture and language of the new country, while their children embraced them both.

The fear of the new and different that the immigrant had.

The immigrant’s accent.

The time required to learn the new language.

The opportunities of the new world.

The immigrants that offered so much to the new world and bettered it in so many ways.  Immigrants created the new world.

The different ways in which immigrants of the past dealt with and met or didn’t meet the challenges of the new world.

Indeed this new digital world is different from where we came.  The question ‘native or immigrant’ invites many other questions.  Those questions offer an opportunity to reflect on what type of immigrant you currently are and what kind of an immigrant you want to be, and how you intend to get there.

I assume that many will answer this question by stating that they don’t want to be an immigrant at all.  That may be, but it is not the reality.  Like it or not we are living in a new digital world. Take that thought to the next level.  If we are living in a new world but not by our choice, then we may consider one’s self a slave, a ‘digital slave.’  That may indeed be the way that you feel with regards to this new digital age.  If you do, then just realizing that offers a critical opportunity for reflection on one’s place in this new world.

I propose that if one stays a slave, it is because of one’s own choosing.  The digital tools that create this new digital world are for us to use.  It does not have to work the other way: the tools using us.  Are you using these tools or are they using you?  The choice is yours to make.  And, both the choice to be in denial and the choice to do nothing are active choices.

Over the weekend someone paid me a compliment about my children: ‘Your kids are as smart as they can be.’ I appreciate the compliment but I hope my children are not as smart as they can be. I hope that they become smarter. This compliment immediately made me think of Carol Dweck and her book Mindset. She uses the word mindset to refer to one’s view regarding one’s own ability. A fixed mindset means that success is based on innate ability. A growth mindset means that hard work and the ability to learn are more important to success than innate ability. A growth mindset can be fostered by praise: ‘Wow! You worked so hard on that’ as opposed to ‘Wow! You are so smart.’ A fixed mindset leads to fear of failure. A growth mindset will keep trying despite failure.

I suspect that the person that complimented my kids has a fixed mindset. I also am guessing that they have no awareness of the concept of mindset. An awareness of the concept of mindset is a huge first step on the path to developing a growth mindset. I believe that with some effort, a growth mindset can be learned. With a growth mindset, you will have an edge in life. In hiring, I look for a growth mindset. I consider those with a growth mindset to be more valuable team members.

Awareness is the first step. Become aware and you will start to see it everywhere, even in the compliments of others.

Start the path to a growth mindset by visiting Carol Dweck’s website.

Or listen to Dr. Moira Gunn talk with Dr. Carol Dweck.

created for the 24 Hours of Innovation event

I work with independent schools.  In the first half of 2009, their worldview has been disrupted dramatically due to the shift in the economic climate.  While this new environment is stressful and exhausting because each leader is having to work hard to understand the New Normal, I think this environment presents many unique opportunities if you can see them, if you can sell them to your organization, and if you have the courage to implement them.  Big if’s because they all involve fast and furious adaptive thinking.

1) The most important conversation to have and act upon internally and externally right now:  how do we create value for our users?  Sounds easy enough?  Who are all of your users? What are their wants and needs? What are their unarticulated wants and needs? What are their current value expectations? Are they purely transactional? How can you exceed them?  Can you make your value arguments authentically - will the user experience what you say he or she will?  Can you seed value thinking throughout the organization, top to bottom?

2) The second most important conversation to have right now is how can we do more with less - across the board in every department, every employee, every job function etc etc.?  This calls from expansive creative thinking and most organizations are not well-practiced in thinking or creativity.  Not practiced in thinking because schools are habitually bad about running on automatic pilot and their industry model has been unchanged for decades.  Not practiced in creativity because besides being status quo guarders, school leaders/people are dangerously risk and change averse.  Ask why not? a minimum of 50 times a day! You will benefit from it. New efficiencies are necessary and good.

3)  The world has changed and no industry is immune.  This is not a disputable idea anymore! Look at GM, Chrysler, the newspaper industry, book publishing, etc.  What are the destructive forces nipping at your heels that you just don’t want to see? Time to face the nightmare!  I would be asking this every week and trying hard to adapt to the many New Normals that are emerging proactively and strategically.  I would look to young and pliable companies like Google and Linux and Wikipedia and new pricing models/partnerships like Priceline to see how they  think and build new organizational intellectual capacities that are more aligned to the needs of the new economic marketplace.

The first half of 2009 is a great wake-up call for the education industry. Those that work to solve the puzzle, will benefit greatly for many years to come. Those that play the victim role are creating their own future.

Act wisely.

In the morning, I drink coffee, watch my kids get ready for school, and chip away at my email. A daily post from Zen Habits is there every morning.  Today’s was about learning to focus on and enjoy the process in order to get, paradoxically, a better end product.  Wow - less stressful!  Another great gem and my time well spent in the morning, learning. It’s a small thing each day, but they add up, like drops in the ocean!  (and they make me philosophical each morning - not a bad way to start the day!)

Six Small Thing You Can Do When You Lack Discipline

Posted via email from jamiereverb’s posterous

Posted via email from jamiereverb’s posterous

Posted via web from jamiereverb’s posterous

I work as a consultant. It is difficult for me to find just the right adjective to pinpoint what type of consultant, as in a management consultant, or a business consultant, or an IT consultant. I am okay with that. In fact, I think the ambiguity of it all is a great barometer for finding the type of client that I want to work with.  If the person I am talking to does not have the mental patience or the listening skills for me to fill the blank, it is just as well in my book because I don’t get on well with people whose whole world has to fit rigidly and neatly in little mental categories and boxes.

Last night I was filling out the bio portion for a conference presentation.  I put “innovation consultant” because that is what I am most interested in right now, and that is what I think is needed most right now as all types of businesses figure ways to align to the New Normal of our economy.

I was in New York a few months ago.  At the place I stayed, The Pod Hotel, I made all of the reservations by email. No talking to anyone, no repeating all my info a few times, no waiting as the checking of dates etc happened on their end.  I sent in a room request, my dates, my non-smoking preference, my ETA, and in a few hours, I was welcomed as a soon-to-be guest. As a former boutique hotel owner, I was wowed because I could imagine the freedom that this email reservation system created for the hotel and their employees not having to be slave to the phone, yet still not missing business. This was a small innovation, inexpensive, yet radical in its disruption to hotel reservations system as we know them.

Consultants get a bad rap. I am sure some of it is justified.  But, some of it is hubris and short-sightedness.  Some people are DIY at heart, even if their DIY effort yield a lesser result. They cannot cede control. This is a type of hubris that is hurtful to self and to system.

There are some excellent reasons to work with a consultant especially if you are considering change and innovation as a competitive necessity.  Consultants are detached from the politics and emotional baggage of your system.  They can see through the “if we make that change, Susan will have her feelings hurt.”  Building systems in deference to people who won’t or can’t adapt is not only bad business, I think it is irresponsible and unethical, placing all the rest of the stakeholders’ needs and desires and aspirations as a lesser priority.

Consultants are not comforted by the status quo and complacency in your system.  They are not deriving their sense of identity and security from maintaining the same protocol as some of the internal people are.

What consultants can do is help the pathways for communication and service delivery develop strongly and effectively and for the human element to adapt to support and enhance those pathways.  Consultants cans see things that everyone else cannot see because it has been part of the backdrop for so long.  These things can be negative things like the first impression an area makes on the senses (sight, smell, touch, hearing..) and positive things like the stories that are in the midst of what you do and the heroism with which you do it.  Consultants can push the limits of discussion that go on in all areas of your endeavor because their questioning is free from power politics and not harnessed by social mitigation.  This can have many expansive effects including more elevated and focused dialogues, new insights, less delusional escapism, less guarding of the status quo.

Consultants can also have more expertise in a specified domain like innovation or knowledge-sharing or systems which you might need but does not reside in the talent within your system.

Consultants can make great ad hoc members to your strategic thinking teams. I love working with leaders and managers to influence and enhance their thinking because through them, the whole system can be stimulated.  If the leader and the manager are not open to expanding, the best consultant in the world cannot create desire where fear has taken root.