In "The Window and the Mirror"; In Humility and Will: Teams and Level 5 Leadership

OK ... back to work. I've started receiving emails inquiring what happened to my blog that had not been updated for 6 weeks. I really appreciated them, actually ... at least somebody is missing my postings, but dude! Bloggers need vacation too!

Six weeks ago I discussed how "teams and good performances are inseparable: You cannot have one without the other ..." But actually there's also something more to it. "We were lucky, to live in such a community where the concern for the environment is quite high..." I've heard them saying. "It forces us to be aware of what we use and what we discharge, and this puts us in an advantage in today's environment where energy prices is constantly climbing."

Harvard Business Review, September 2005 / Best of HBR 2001
Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve

"... Compare Bethlehem Steel and Nucor, for example. Both steel companies operated with products that are hard to differentiate, and both faced a competitive challenge from cheap imported steel ... (Yet) Bethlehem Steel's CEO summed up the company's problem in 1983 by blaming the imports: 'Our first, second, and third problems are imports.' Meanwhile, Ken Iverson and his crew at Nucor saw the imports as a blessing: 'Aren't we lucky; steel is heavy, and they have to ship it all the way across the ocean, giving us a huge advantage.' Indeed ... Iverson went so far as to speak out publicly against government protection against imports, telling a gathering of stunned steel executives in 1997 that the real problems facing the industry lay in the fact that management had failed to keep pace with technology.

... The emphasis on luck turns out to be part of a broader pattern that we have come to call 'the window and the mirror'. Level 5 leaders, inherently humble, look out the window to apportion credit--even undue credit--to factors outside themselves. If they can't find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck. At the same time, they look in the mirror to assign responsibility, never citing bad luck or external factors when things go poorly. Conversely, the comparison executives frequently looked out the window for factors to blame but preened in the mirror to credit themselves when things went well.": Jim Collins, coauthor "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies"

... in new languages, new cultures, and new friends ... in paperworks, confusions, frustrations, and well ... fun!! Ieper: Third Month

Welcome to Europe. Where children's merry-go-round plays "Fuck Me Like a Whore" as a background music and where Brussel's dark alleys and certain Germanic "lifestyle" could make New Orleans, Cancun, and even the walletjes look like some humble theme parks.

Where life is almost all about savoring (when you're not doing bureaucracy papers), and where "moral" stands for the culture of caring for the weak and the future generations and has less to do with sticking your nose in something none of your business.

Where I still struggle to answer the seemingly simple question: 'Where are you from?'

Someone once told me that "home is where your heart is". But my heart does not belong to a specific location or a specific person within a location. It is with the people, the experience, and the enjoyment of the things that I do. I don't really own a "home" that I crave to return to. But in many corners of this planet, I have someone who will gladly meet me in hour's notice.

This is my curse, my blessing, ... my life.

Some think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and some think that the grass is greenest on their side of the fence (hence a taller fence is needed). It's just hard to appreciate life until you walk on someone else's shoes, isn't it? But I've walked the footsteps of many strangers, and I've learned that there is no grass that is greener or greenest; they all simply have different shades of green.

... eastern Italian Alps: and the journey concludes ... for now.

in canals, canals, and more canals ... (and overpriced gondola)

in Chiantis, ancient towers, nude statues, vineyards, olive trees, rolling hills, and mighty mountains ... Under the Tuscan Sun, Italia!

... then we were off for a week of Tuscan relaxation staying in a beautiful farm 'La Presura' in Chianti... visiting Firenze, Sienna, San Gimignano, Pisa, Lucca, and of course, the garden of Toscana: the Chianti's vineyards and rolling hills ...

'La Presura'


















Firenze























Firenze


















Pisa


















San Gimignano

in beautiful cities, french wines, and french food: we started the trip through Paris and Geneve

After spending the night in Sheraton CDG (the best airport hotel I've ever stayed in, right in the terminal), I met a friend the next morning and we began our journey.

in German Food, French Wine, and Belgian Beers: Luxembourg

In The Many Different Ways of Doing Things ... Ieper: Second Month

What make great leaders great? Socialist Europeans will be quick to answer: the team. True, but then, why are some teams better than others? To this, they will say: 'well, we have good, hard working people here in Flanders, ja?'

OK, fine. They are mostly right; at least based on my first impression. But we do have some good, hard working people in Memphis too.

Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005 / Best of HBR 1993
The Discipline of Teams

"We found that there is a basic discipline that makes teams work. We also found that teams and good performance are inseparable: You cannot have one without the other. But people use the word 'team' so loosely that it gets in the way of learning and applying the discipline that leads to good performance ... Teams differ fundamentally from (other) working groups because they require both individual and mutual accountability ... Think of it as a working definition or, better still, an essential discipline that real teams share: A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. The essence of a team is common commitment ... This kind of commitment requires a purpose in which team members can believe.": Jon R. Katenbach, founder and senior partner, Katzenbach partners / former director, McKinsey & Company, and Douglas K. Smith, organizational consultant / former partner, McKinsey & Company.

First, I don't think the people in Ieper are better, per se, but I strongly believe that we have a stronger team in Ieper. First, we are a small number of people. More importantly, we are all committed, and we all hold ourselves mutually accountable. If there's a problem, any problem, it's not uncommon for our support structures--such as lab, maintenance, or HR--to come forward, without being asked, and asked the production group what they can do to help remedy the situation. People seem to understand: it's not how many touchdowns he/she scores that wins the game.

From then on, it's just a virtuous cycle. When you know you can count on peers to do their part, there's the social pressure: you do not want to be the drag of the team. I've always wondered why in a country with such strong socialism influence, the company still felt highly entrepreneurial. I think I've found the answer.

The second--and more obvious--thing was that many people have been around for longer than I have lived. Not only this keeps all the expertise in house, but time also has helped the team gel together. I will assign this mostly to the fact that mobility in Europe is fairly limited and that the unemployment rate is a bit higher. But still, I also feel that the people-centered management style must have also helped.

And third, yes, I can see the work culture in general is a bit better. Again, with higher unemployment rate, there are a lot of reality checks going on.

However, although without doubt Ieper is the highest-performing facility in our company, I can always make a defendable case that Memphis is the most innovative. So it's not that the people in Memphis are of lower quality. I will always challenge this assertion. Memphis simply had to evolve to its different sents of challenges. We had to learn how to do twice as many product changeovers yet still scored a decent downtime. We had to figure out how to keep track the ten times the number of raw materials, five times inventory level, and twenty times different processes and product types. We had to manage the complexity. And I can say that we did this better than anyone else in the company (nobody else had had to do it). But as the cost of growth, Memphis simply has grown too big, too fast. See the definition of "team" again.

Simply put: Ieper's resources have been deployed to skin the few products that it makes; Memphis's resources have been deployed not to "solve the world's hunger" but to find creative get-arounds that work ... Ieper may know the science better, but Memphis knows the engineering better.

Managing for Creativity

In my previous post that had generated some buzz, I wrote that most people are not (directly) motivated by money. They work because they feel appreciated for what they do.

In today's environment where almost everything is outsourced, is heavily commoditized, and is highly deregulated, most competitive advantages no longer come from access to certain technology, certain raw materials, railroad access, or political connections. They often come from how effective an organization can "exploit" the only thing that's internally controllable: its own "creative capital". Though "exploit" might sound to be a negative term, it really is not. Take SAS.

Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005
Managing for Creativity

"Creative people work for the love of the challenge. An InformationWeek survey of tens of thousands of IT workers confirms that theory: On-the-job challenge ranks well above salary and other financial incentives as the key source of motivation ... SAS recognizes that 95% of its assets drive out the front gate every evening. Leaders consider it their job to bring them back the next morning. It takes roughly six months to get a new worker up to speed in terms of technical knowledge, but it takes years for the employee to truly absorb a company's culture and forge solid relationships.

(And) people who are preoccupied wondering 'When can I fit in time at the gym?' or 'Is that meeting going to waste my whole afternoon?' can't be entirely focused on the job at hand. The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, and lots of newspaper and magazine articles have publicized the perks SAS lavishes on its employees, but the company isn't just doling out treats willy-nilly. Not only do the benefits make workers more productive, but they also help retain those workers, reducing the company's expenses for recruitment and replacement ... the managers (in SAS) clear away obstacles for employees by procuring whatever materials they need. Larnell Lennon, who leads the software-testing team, describes his job as 'Go get it, go get it, go get it'. When his people come to him asking for a software package or financial support, he doesn't pepper them with questions. If it's a reasonable request, he takes care of it. If the outcomes aren't up to snuff, it's a different matter ... Some have described SAS's philosophy as 'Hire hard, manage soft.' But 'Hire hard, manage open, fire hard' is more apt.": Richard Florida, Professor, George Mason University, and Jim Goodnight, CEO, SAS Institute.

Moments of Greatness

Each time I was asked: 'what was your career-best moment' or 'what was your greatest leadership achievement'; my answer had always been: 2003 Zhengzhou, China, production facility start-up. That was my defining moment. More than two years ago. This is not to say that I accomplished nothing since then--though I probably did slack out a bit since then :) It was just ... different. I believed this moment had helped my career advances in many big ways. People saw what I did and remembered me for what I did; despite--and not for--how young and inexperienced I was. Ask anyone involved; and they will tell you just that.

There I was, in Zhengzhou, China ... given the opportunity and responsibility to support a plant start up. I was only 23 years old, barely 18 months out of school.

Harvard Business Review, July-August 2005
Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership

"I call it the fundamental state of leadership. It's the way we lead when we encounter a crisis and finally choose to move forward. Think back to a time when you faced a significant life challenge ... First, we move from being comfort centered to being results centered. Second, we move from being externally directed to being more internally directed. That means that we stop complying with others' expectations and conforming to the current culture. Third, we become less self-focused and more focused on others. Fourth, we become more open to outside signals or stimuli, including those that require us to do things we are not comfortable doing. We are adaptive, credible, and unique ... By entering the fundamental state of leadership, we increase the likelihood of attracting others to an elevated level of community, a high-performance state that may continue even when we are not present ... When leaders do their best work, they don't copy anyone. They draw on their own values and capabilities.

To get started (to reenter the fundamental state), we can ask ourselves (the) four questions ... Am I results centered? ... Am I internally directed? ... Am I other focused? ... Am I externally open?": Robert E. Quinn, Professor, University of Michigan Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor

In Belgian Beers and French Wines ... Ieper: First Month

Dear Friends:

By the way, Ieper is with an "i", not an "L". And those are not all cathedrals. The big buildings are the cloth halls that are used for trading clothes in the middle ages; now they are being used as stadhuis--townhalls. Though you are right; they have found other uses for the Cathedrals. Have you heard the expression: it's so obsolete it must have been "a" museum? Now you have. It's ironic I know. Just wait until they turn the Cathedrals into a Science Museum.

I was supposed to have a walk in closet--have to admit these things are a luxury around Ieper--but the apartment that I wanted was snapped out before HR could make a decision on my living arrangements. I am not too happy with my apartment now, but anyway it's fairly cheap. No, they do not have satellite dishes here. Why would you want the ugly dishes on top of these "cute little dollhouses" (as a friend called them) anyway?

I love it here, though I have to admit that I am homesick already. Missed my big-ass fridge, Costco, 24 hr neigborhood Kroger's, AC, SUV, cheap Chinese, American (sized) steaks, golf course lot, Best Buy, cheap(er) gas, free reward credit cards, and all other American (hedonistic) "cultures" (but NEVER mention the phrase "American Culture" in front of a European unless you're mentally ready for some verbal abuses). Shoot; but I won't complain about the cheap reliable train (did I mention 1 hour train ride to Paris?), friendly and sociable people, downtown living and free concerts, Belgian beer, French wine, mild weather ... who needs AC? Come to think about it, at least I will never have to wear sweater in my office in the middle of the summer anymore.

And I missed y'all. Hope you will come visit soon, since I've planned so much travel I won't get to set a foot in the "States" within the next three years!

Gentse Feesten!

To tell you the truth, I think the real celebration was in Gentse Feesten!

Brussel: 175 Jaar Belgie

(I've had my lesson ... from now on ... I'm taking the train and walk everywhere! And keep a detailed map handy, just in case!)

The show of Belgium's military might. Yeah ... an oxymoron. Well, at least their people could say 'our army does something for us (entertainment)'.



and a pretty neat parade ...interesting displays ... horse-powered grain grinder ...


and of course ... got to take the picture of this stupid mannekin pis ...

Antwerpen, July 2005

"My Belgian husband has told me a helpful rule: when there is no sign, go straight. This works much of the time, but one day, I was driving with him when we came upon a roundabout. There was a road going at a 90-degree angle to the right and one at about 11 o’clock. No signs, of course ... Memory told me that I should go right, but I was testing the 'go straight' rule. I asked where I should go and he said: 'To the right, of course — that's the straight road' ... Natives already know their way, don't travel much and don’t need street signs. This is great if you grow up, get married and die in one town ...": Miriam Levenson

Yep ... I spent half the day trying to figure out how to navigate this "medieval maze of Belgian streets and equally medieval signage". Luckily I finally found the "Centrum" sign again, which, took me to the Centraal Station instead of the Grote Markt (about half an hour walk). Luckily, Belgian cities are fairly small. Oh yeah, by the way, to add to Miriam's list: the signs do not necessarily point to the direction you want to go, especially in a 5-way-roundabouts. They make 30-degree angle, sometimes.

And no, I'm not the father who's afraid to ask for direction. The problem was--which I learned the hard way--summarized nicely by a colleague:

"Don't ask them whether you should go North, South, East, or West! You'll confuse them! Besides, there is no such thing!! You need to know all the directions of the big cities. Then you have to know all the major street names ... That's how we explain directions!": Peter

Easy to say, when you've lived here the whole time.

Ieper, Belgium, 6 July 2005

So, this is what Ieper looks like. My first day I spent walking through the city, which is very walkable.

Happy Birthday, USA!

Some found it an irony that I booked my flight to leave USA on July 4th. Well ... Chicago's big fireworks were set for Saturday July 3rd, when tourists and citizens could pack the entire Magnificent Mile before and after the celebration!