[Vnbiz] Staying to be a leader - the de facto leader

Thu Apr 19 18:11:16 PDT 2007

All,

Look at the US company Gore (GoreTex).  40 years ago it started in a mans
basement.  Today they have sales of 2 Billion USD a year.  They operate in
45 countries and have 7000 employees.  They have no leader, a President
because they must, but no leader, rather they have a tough employee
selection process and expect all to be leaders.  Let me explain more.

The founder didn't believe in hierarchical organizational structures, rather
Gore maintains a lattice structure emphasizing horizontal lines of
communication, decentralized decision-making, and employee development.
They focus on innovation.

When hired one gets a sponsor (maybe more, who are more senior associates,
all employees from the top to bottom are associates, 20 years at Gore, an
Associate, 1 year at Gore an Associate).  They expect employees to spend 80%
of their time doing the job they were hired for, their commitment, and 20%
of their time seeking out opportunities.  After you have found an
opportunity you recruit other associates to work on it with you, you get
advice from your Sponsor (not approval, advice).  Your salary is dependent
upon your innovation, what value you add (which is decided by committee,
where Sponsors and Associates you worked with decide the value that you have
added whether you succeeded or failed).   Gore is  a privately held
corporation with high levels of employee ownership.

Sites of operation are kept small so that everyone knows everyone else.
They use information and communication technologies to share knowledge,
advertise opportunities other associates are pursuing, and create a
community of practice (worldwide) but emphasize face to face meetings for
associates who work on teams (even if that means flying in associates from
Asia, Europe and South America).  They invest in  their people, but expect
them to be leaders, innovators.

Their entire culture is based on individual and team effort.  Each
individual is not only expected to do their job but to innovate.  If you
innovate and fail you may still get more money than last year because it is
all about effort.  This type of firm will excel in the future as technology
based firms operate in unstable environments and require innovative and
motivated staff to stay at the forefront.

As the archetype of what a leader is may stay firm in our minds, the reality
of what a leader is changes by context (further who is a leader).  In the
best of organizations, leadership is a self-selected choice, rather than a
position which bestows power or which extends from likeable traits.

Leadership is a choice and a responsibility (a responsibility to yourself,
your team, your organization, your family, your community).  Would we all
choose to lead at least ourselves then we would live in a better world.

Craig

On 4/19/07, Tran Ba Thien <tranbathien at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>  Dear brother Hoanh and friends,
>
> this is not my argument against your points. I want to look at your points
> in opposite direction.
>
> first, how about the role of leader? Why do we need a leader? what do we
> expect him to do for us? what do he require us?
>
> when people come together and create an organization, they must have the
> same needs. they must expect the organization to have activities able to
> meed their need as much as it could. thus, they need to have a
> representative to lead the organization to fulfill their dreams. Leader
> takes that responsibility from his members. the role of leader is to lead
> his organization to achieve their goal. He doesn't need to know the want of
> each member.
>
> If your boss always asks about your want, you will feel upset. If your
> mother always looks for your wants, you will feel tired. You want them
> listen to your voice. But you never want them to take over your life. it
> means that you want this person to do this thing for you and want the other
> to do other for you. You don't want only one person to do all. Because when
> someone can know all about you, you will be slave of them.
>
> me too, I don't want my wife to be my trusted friend, my colleague and my
> classmate, my old neighbor friend and etc. she should play some roles on my
> life but not all roles of my life. She should be a very and very important
> part of my life but not all of mine. the one, who know all about me can be
> very dangerous person against me. Leader, who can knnow all the want of his
> member, can be a dictator.
>
> when you are leader of a group with 20 members, you don't need to know all
> the want of each person but you need to learn their voice. What they really
> expect from the organization, what they really expect from you what mission
> that they expect from you. We can see that, besides the main goal of the
> organization, members want to be free,, want to perform their member role
> independently and want to work and to live in social values, social
> standards and etc. they want to develop their skills in inside the
> organization. They want to improve their qualify of living from the
> organization.
>
> There are 3 method of leading:
>
> -When members' skill and knowledge are lower than leader, leader needs to
> use dictatorship.
> -when members are at the same level as leader, leader can use democratic
> leading.
> -when members are very skillful, leader can use free leading.
>
> What is good leader? Good leader is the one, who can achieve the goal of
> his organization. good leader doesn't need to know all but need to know
> exactly how to achieve the goal. it's  No matter of his method of leading,
> no matter of each member thinking. Remember that's not only the achievement
> but also qualify of the achievement is very important. We should not
>  achieve materialist values of our goal but lose human values.
>
> Best luck,
> Tran Ba Thien
> tranbathien at gmail.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com>
> *To:* vnbiz at vietlinks.net
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 17, 2007 11 <javascript:void(0)>:41 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Vnbiz] Staying to be a leader - the de facto leader
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> Dear Brother Viet & CACC,
>
> Thanks for the very good note, brother Viet.  It is true that
> leadership skill, the ability to convince other people and the negotiation
> skill have a lot in common--the skill to convince other people.  That is the
> gist of the study and that is where many different roads start.
>
> How to convince others?  There are a million ways to do that.  You can
> convince someone with a gun to his head, with a bunch of money, with a
> promise of heaven, a promise of love, a promise of future good things or a
> pie in the sky.  Thus, there are a million kinds of leader:  Good leader,
> bad leader, ugly leader, sleazy leader, honest leader, dumb leader, smart
> leader, loving leader, cruel leader, etc.
>
> And that would be our problem:  Studying "leadership" in the abstract is
> almost an impossibility.  We study to be some kind of leader--good or bad,
> honest or dishonest.  There is no such things as "leader" in the abstract.
> This is important because if we don't know what we are studying for, we may
> end up learning things we should not learn.
>
> Now, let's go back to what brother Viet was saying.  I think basically
> what we have is "Give to people what they want and they will agree with
> you."  Very much this is the truth.  But my experience is that from this
> simple truth come out so many different kinds of leader, depending on their
> attitude when they apply this simple truth.
>
> I remember reading an article by this lawyer named Dennis Something (I
> forgot this last name). He was Clinton's chief negotiator on Iraq or
> something like that.   He wrote this article on "Washingtonian," the
> magazine for Washington, reciting his experience as Clinton's
> chief negotiator. And his attitude is very much: "Give people what they
> want, and you will win."  He sounds very much like he can manipulate people
> into doing anything and it is just a matter of him knowing what they want.
> I was upset when I read the article, because he sounds like (1) typical
> egoistic lawyer and (2) a guy who looks at other people merely as something
> he can manipulate.  (But I was not surprised, because Washington is full of
> people like that).  You know the result:  The Arab conflicts got worse over
> the years and today they are worse than ever.  What was lacking is "the true
> respect for the human heart."  When a leader or negotiator lacks this
> respect element, they cannot see other people's hearts.  They only see
> things in the outside:  They see that these people don't have money, don't
> have life conveniences, but they can't see that these people need respect,
> need true understand of the heart, and care little about death.
>
> So, yes, give people what they want.  But how do we know what everyone
> wants?  Sometimes it is easy to know what someone wants--He says he needs
> money for lunch, chances are he wants money for lunch.  But most of the
> time, it is not easy to know what someone wants.  Say, invite a lady out to
> dinner, she replies: "I am busy tonight."  Do you know what she wants?  Does
> she want some other night instead?  Or does she want a more elaborate
> invitation? Or she just want to refuse the first invitation?  Or she wants
> you to leave her alone?
>
> And when you lead a group of 20 persons, how easy is it to know what
> 20 persons know individually?
>
> How do we know what someone wants?  How does your mother always know what
> you want?  How do you always know what your spouse wants?  How do
> you always know what a friend wants?
>
> How do we know each other's heart?
>
> Each of us may have a different way into each other's heart.  But here
> is some suggestion from me:
>
> 1.  We really have to train our heart and mind to CARE for others.  Say,
> if we think "I want to know what you want, so that I can give it to you, so
> that I can get what I want."  Such ultimate selfish motive may bring you a
> lot of result in life, but you will not be able to lead like a great
> leader.  Great leaders always care for others first.
>
> (Of course, it is OK if you only want to be a "minor leader."  But keep in
> mind, great leaders--for great works--have to be selfless).
>
> 2.  We have to train our heart and mind to really RESPECT others.  Say,
> whenever I talk to a much younger person, I never think that I have much to
> teach him/her.  I always think that this person may have so many fascinating
> things that I may learn from.  If I keep talking to him/her, I may learn so
> many things from the hearts and minds of another generation.  (And I am not
> saying this as a matter of flowery speech.  I am so serious about that kind
> of attitude that my mind refuses to think otherwise).
>
> 3.  We have to learn to PAY ATTENTION to others.  This is the hard part
> for me, because my head is usually in the air.  But it is crucial to pay
> attention to others. Meaning, when they speak listen carefully and try to
> understand what they feel.  And I say "What they feel."  What they feel may
> be different from what they say. Someone may say, "I'm OK" while he is not
> OK.  He may say, "We need to be a little more innovative" while he means
> "You need to be a little less dictatorial."  Here we go again; we are going
> back to the crucial issue that we have spent so much time in this series:
> "How do we really listen to someone?"
>
> *  Put yourself in the other's shoes.  Imagine if you are her, how would
> you feel about it?  What would you wish for?  What would you dislike?
>
> *  Listen carefully with the ears.
>
> *  Listen carefully with the eyes.  Body language is a big part of
> communication.
>
> *  Listen with the heart.  If someone cries when he is talking to you and
> you feel inside like you are watching Hong Van's comedy, then you must ask:
> "What's wrong with my heart?  Why am I so insensitive to his pain?"   You
> have to be able to "feel" what the other person is feeling in order to
> listen with the heart.
>
> Once we know how to listen and understand others, it will be very easy to
> structure things in a way that would make everyone happy.  Say, you have a
> meeting with 20 people in your group.  You sit and listen (with ears, eyes
> and heart) to all 20.  And of course you have your own idea and
> vision.  After all the listening, you should be able to structure a program
> in a way that you would satisfy all 21 concerns and wishes.  The deeper your
> understanding of everyone's heart is, the better your proposal would be.
>
> (You will realize that in this scenarios your proposal comes last, after
> you have listened to everyone.  If you give out your proposal first and try
> to convince everyone about your proposal, you may have a very hard time.
> But if you listen first, then come up with a proposal, your proposal will
> get a much better chance to be approved by everyone).
>
> It is that simple.  And it may sound like so many techniques are involved
> in this leadership skill, which really scares us off.  But actually it is
> much simpler than that.  Great leaders don't care much about techniques.
> They care about their heart.  When the heart is right, everything comes out
> right.
>
> If we train our heart to truly care about others, truly respect others,
> automatically we will know how to understand what they say, what they feel.
>
> Of course, as a leader you must have a clear vision. Say, you want to do
> an English club, or a community project, you must tell other very clearly
> about your vision and the people who agree with your vision will be with
> you. Others will not be with you.  But now that you have a group of
> "comrades" (chie^'n hu+~u), how do you talk in a way that they would agree
> with you every time.  The answer is: Listen first with your ears, your eyes
> and your heart (full of care, respect and humbleness). Then come up with a
> proposal.  You will have a great chance to come up with a great proposal.
>
> Thanks brother Viet and everyone. Keep brainstorming.
>
> Hoanh
>
>
> On 4/17/07, Viet Le <viet.aikidorb at gmail.com > wrote:
> >
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear CACC and bro Hoanh,
> >
> > Thank you for sharing bro Hoanh. I agree with you to concentrate our
> > studies on the "de facto leader phenomenon".
> >
> > In respond to your questions, I'd like to share some observations
> > (pretty basic). I will analyze audience and the status quo. Analysis of
> > negotiator, who actually plays key role in any negotiation, will be
> > addressed in later emails.
> >
> > How does a person get convinced? He steps into an agreement as he
> > believes that the terms and conditions fulfill some of or all his
> > requirements (ethically-correct, politically-correct, interest-guaranteed,
> > ego-fulfilling). What do you think about lobbying? I think that is a
> > classical example of how negotiations are done. You promise to share profits
> > appropriately to the parties in order to get voted as a leader. In short,
> > convincing means promising/guaranting to give a person his desired (or
> > at least deserving) part of profit (moral, monetary, political) or even
> > desired relationships (just recall the fair tales, where princesses will be
> > married to knights once those men accomplish their missions). From that we
> > draw a conclusion: know your audience. Just think what you will give fish: a
> > dirty worm or a piece of well-branded Pizza Hut?
> >
> > Another question: Why do we need to negotiate? Negotiation is made in
> > order to keep to change the status quo to the desired status. So the next
> > study subject is the status quo. It is very important to know the current
> > context and current situation and current relationships between the parties.
> > Too abstract! Just think: ain't it much easier to offer a job to a the guy
> > who is unemployed than to the guy who has a fulfilling job? Different
> > context will require different sharing agreement of the profits. If you want
> > to recruit a talented guy (only you discovered his talent) who is earning
> > 3000USD/month and you offer 3500USD/month. Most probably, he would turn you
> > down. But an offer of 7000USD/month and a managerial position will help him
> > to think more "logically".
> >
> > Knowing well the audience and the status quo will enable us to find
> > appropriate stategy. Have been participated in some fundraising campaigns
> > for a student organization, I experienced how to approach the sponsors.
> > Convincing the sponsors is not an easy job as they know the status quo very
> > well. At first we find "native contacts" (those who are related to us
> > somehow, such as alumni/those were we know/...) and people who are in charge
> > of the relevant issues. Then we study their needs. Like for a telco, they
> > wanted to promote new technologies (SMS-related, RFID, broadcasting). Then
> > we worked out plan how to "exhibit" those technologies in action with our
> > talks, roadshows and workshops. In our turn, we asked cash and
> > goods-in-kind. In short, all we have done, doing and will do is to draw the
> > path between their needs and our abilities/capacities, to show them that we
> > have solutions for their needs/problems and demonstrate those solutions.
> >
> > I also want to note that in some cases, where status quo doesn't allow
> > people to make any choice. For example, winning countries dictate post-war
> > conventions.
> >
> > Before finishing, just want to ask: Is the one who is able to convince
> > people will rule the group as a de facto leader?
> >
> > Looking forward to your sharing, dear CACC and bro Hoanh.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Viet.
> >
> > Viet.
> >
> >
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Attorney of Law
> Washington DC
>
> ------------------------------
>
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