Center for Creative Leadership

APRIL 24, 2019

I recently spoke with the CEO of a medium-sized manufacturing company about his new CFO who was poised to attend our flagship program for senior executives, Leadership at the Peak. She was respected by colleagues and employees, and over time had become the right-hand assistant to the CFO. No one turned a head. What can be done?

Charisma 65

Charisma CFO CEO Execution 65

Lead on Purpose

DECEMBER 6, 2010

Product management — at every level — is a leadership role within the organization. Here are the key roles that are crucial to your success as a product manager, and why they are important: Engineering/QA: The relationship with the engineering/development team is paramount for product managers.

Productivity 182

Productivity Products Management Leadership 182

Lead Change Blog

JUNE 24, 2015

You cannot dare do the same thing as an entrepreneur when you are still the HR manager, marketing guru, office manager, janitor, tech guy, sales staff, CFO and CEO. Moreover, there is simply nothing as good as seeing the product you’ve tirelessly developed begin to excel. It is an opportunity to create and be innovative.

Entrepreneur 150

Entrepreneur CFO Maturity Long-term 150

The Empowered Buisness

JULY 14, 2015

Your underlying (and often unconscious) attitudes and motivations determine what you pay attention to and focus on in your leadership role. Orientation toward innovation and creativity. Before delving into 7 key leadership motivation patterns, let’s first look at 3 often-missed truths about performance. Decision making style.

Motivation 100

Motivation Leadership McClelland Long-term 100

N2Growth Blog

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

When you started out you rightly focused on developing your unique new product, service, or solution. There are warning signs you may be stuck in founder-mode and not making the turn to leadership. Maybe your CFO is a family friend. Leadership is uncomfortable sometimes. How do you avoid this fate? Make the turn.

Delegation 208

Delegation Maturity CEO Execution 208

Mike Cardus

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The cooperation loop is a mindset of working to find cooperation …any size large and small and develop practice of building from that cooperation. We know the Resistance Loop. For that loop to exist the Cooperation Loop must also exist. I argue that it works way better than the resistance loop and the results are greater for everyone.

Cooper 139

Cooper Succession Finance Resistance 139

N2Growth Blog

JUNE 29, 2010

Creating a framework for decisioning, using a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help even out the uneven. Where there is disagreement there is an inherent potential for growth and development.

Blog 286

Blog Brand CEO Consultative 286

N2Growth Blog

AUGUST 22, 2010

If your CFO handles all communications with your banking relationships, and your Chief Investment Officer handles all of your investor relations, you’re flat out missing the boat. moravecglobal Here's another example of disconnected leadership and the consequences for, in this case, students, faculty and taxpayers.

Blog 412

Blog Gordon CEO Consultative 412

Persuasive Powerhouse

JULY 7, 2010

What shared interests can you learn about that you can combine to catalyze innovation for your organization? An enterprise business model was developed that takes in all the processes across all the business areas. The CFO owns a couple. The improvement of the economy is slower than most would like.

Greenleaf 200

Greenleaf Maslow Goal Goleman 200

Marshall Goldsmith

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Jim Kim (President of the World Bank), Peter Drucker (founder of modern management), Paul Hersey (noted author, teacher, and personal mentor of mine), and Warren Bennis (one of the world’s greatest leadership thinkers of his time). Has been recognized as the World’s #1 Leadership Thinker. Co-founder Partners in Health.

Executive Coaching 70

Executive Coaching CEO Magazine Banking 70

CO2

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Your org chart can tell a more informed story by adding compensation information, date hired, communication/leadership style, potential successors, and the development plan. Development Progress & Complicating Factors: In general, adding “date hired” will give you a better sense of employees’ developmental progress.

Leadership Styles 87

Leadership Styles COO Learning-by-Doing Planning 87

CO2

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Your org chart can tell a more informed story by adding compensation information, date hired, communication/leadership style, potential successors, and the development plan. Development Progress & Complicating Factors: In general, adding “date hired” will give you a better sense of employees’ developmental progress.

Leadership Styles 78

Leadership Styles COO Learning-by-Doing Planning 78

Tanveer Naseer

JULY 12, 2016

Only those interested in leadership as more than mere ego gratification have a chance to build something that outlasts them. The hubris displayed by Skilling, along with founder Kenneth Lay and CFO Andrew Fastow, didn’t just destroy Enron. When a CEO becomes a household name, that CEO may well need to get his own house in order.

Kaplan 100

Kaplan CEO Real Estate CFO 100

Lead Change Blog

JANUARY 9, 2017

Welcome to the January 2017 edition of the Leadership Development Carnival! Chris Edmonds of the Purposeful Culture Group contributed Culture Leadership Charge: The Right Culture Matters. David shares a better way to meet your leadership challenges.” ” Find Beth on Twitter at @bethbeutler.

Leadership Development 150

Leadership Development Development Leadership Ethics 150

Lead on Purpose

JULY 10, 2009

Too often we leave the worries and cares about money to the CFO’s office. Of the three P’s listed above, the one that typically receives the least focus by product managers is profits (or perhaps more clearly stated, revenue ). 2 Responses Leadercast , on July 12, 2009 at 7:39 pm said: I totally agree with your three p’s.

Succession 133

Succession CFO Ethics Taylorism 133

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2014

It’s not easy for big companies to innovate. Moreover, the skills that are cherished and rewarded for achieving current results differ from those that aid in discovery and experimentation, both of which are needed to drive innovation. To reverse this, senior leadership took a number of steps.

Innovation 9

Innovation Metrics Christensen Workshop 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2015

A new study by The Bridgespan Group, based on a survey of more than 400 nonprofit C-suite executives and dozens of interviews, surfaced this surprising finding and discussed how to address this leadership development deficit. Another example of successful talent development and mentoring is Good Shepherd Services in New York.

Development 8

Development Mentor COO CFO 8

Miles Anthony Smith

MAY 2, 2018

While many equate strong personal branding only to powerful leadership, there's a lot more that goes into crafting a personal brand statement. Establishing a personal brand carries even more weight when you’re responsible for developing and leading others. They are all killer personal brand examples. ​ ​1.

Brand 68

Brand Examples Career Godin 68

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 6, 2013

But this makes the still lingering CMO-CFO disconnect even more significant, as both executives are now stewards of that critical corporate data. We found that we shared a passion for finance, the stock market, innovation, and marketing (and, candidly, politics). Can (and should) you track results instantly?

CFO 8

CFO Advertising Finance Marketing 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 13, 2015

After a morning innovation workshop at the bucolic R&D campus of a top-tier but tradition-rich technology giant, the lunchtime conversation with the Lab’s leadership turned strategic. How should they better prioritize innovation? “We’re really not budgeted for that,” the leadership team explained.

CFO 8

CFO Innovation CEO Airlines 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 1, 2018

And sameness blocks performance and innovation. Diversity, on the other hand, spurs innovation. In research spanning decades, Columbia professor Katherine Phillips has repeatedly found that, when tasked to innovate, teams that include diverse members and that value the contributions of all their members outperform homogenous teams.

Power 12

Power Management Diversity CFO 12

Harvard Business Review

JULY 4, 2018

Instead, the new employee needs a discrete role — and path for development — of their own. Hiring a new person is an opportunity to do something differently than before — to innovate. This isn’t leadership. You’re thinking of onboarding someone to share your learning curve.

Learning Curve 14

Learning Curve Management CFO Delegation 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 25, 2015

What they don’t do well enough is reinvent and innovate. Sure, there are exceptions who are both visionary CEOs and innovators — Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, for example — but there are very few companies that can stomach that sort of leadership. Introduce innovation accounting. Where do you look?

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur CTO Business Model CEO 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 10, 2013

The appointment of Mary Barra as CEO-to-be of General Motors is a signal to car-lovers everywhere that the company is serious about its products and vehicle innovation. The centrality of innovation to the future — electric cars, hybrids, self-driving cars, and beyond — makes her experience pivotal. Start early, and go far.

Engineering 11

Engineering CFO Industry Bureaucracy 11

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

For example, GE has created a digital platform in the energy sector that its own and third-party software developers can write applications to. He built a team to develop Predix, a cloud-based platform that underlies all of GE’s industrial businesses. Balancing the short-term and long-term is a dynamic leadership challenge.

Short-term 8

Short-term How To Venture Capitalist CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

The same investment logic holds for Apple's innovation ecosystem; the flow and fortune of its third-party apps development alone would yield valuable insight. But those are exactly the kinds of values conversations (privacy, exclusivity, fairness, and intellectual property) innovative organizations need to have.

Hedge 15

Hedge Core Competence CFO ROI 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 7, 2012

In my last post , I argued that you should start process innovation by asking front-line workers how to improve their jobs. It's not easy, to be sure, but some companies have managed to spur their employees to innovation by observing a few principles. Protect the Downside — Demonstrate a Commitment to Continued Employment.

Attrition 15

Attrition CFO Deming Outsourcing 15

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

It is time to connect these groups, elevate analytics to a strategic corporate practice, and assign executive leadership to oversee it. The CAO should be under an executive that naturally spans all of the business units that have analytical needs, such as the Chief Strategy Officer, the CFO, and the COO.

Company 8

Company COO Information Technology CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 26, 2014

We have reviewed hundreds of corporate announcements and websites, interviewed numerous leadership experts, and conducted an analysis of CEO changes and successions over the past five years at S&P 500 and Global 100 companies. Through this effort, we have observed certain characteristics of this emerging trend. Succession planning'

CEO 13

CEO Contingency Plans Telecommunications Planning 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

The question is how to equip employees with the skills to handle complexities such as creating innovative solutions to emergent problems, understanding new markets, and pushing back on the "status quo." They too have struggled to operate in complex environments, and have developed the skills and expertise to overcome these challenges.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Company Six Sigma Franchising 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 7, 2012

In my last post , I argued that you should start process innovation by asking front-line workers how to improve their jobs. It's not easy, to be sure, but some companies have managed to spur their employees to innovation by observing a few principles. Protect the Downside — Demonstrate a Commitment to Continued Employment.

Attrition 12

Attrition CFO Deming Outsourcing 12

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

For example, Tim Sheahan, Chief Financial Officer for a large division of a multi-national corporation, aspires to become CFO of a Fortune 100 company in the future. The manager of product development on the team that Ann inherited was Tom Shelton, a long-time employee who was well-liked within the company.

Execution 14

Execution Team Chief Financial Officer Finance 14

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

It is time to connect these groups, elevate analytics to a strategic corporate practice, and assign executive leadership to oversee it. The CAO should be under an executive that naturally spans all of the business units that have analytical needs, such as the Chief Strategy Officer, the CFO, and the COO.

Company 8

Company COO CFO Analysis 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 24, 2016

Recently, I was talking with a senior leader from a world-class global learning and development company. We were discussing his firm’s approach to teaching leadership. ” This is a fundamental gap in leadership approaches. ” He thought for a moment and replied, “No, we really don’t.”

Influence 8

Influence Six Sigma Open-book Diversity 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 16, 2015

And as an HBS white paper points out, even some of today’s most mainstream executives — from the CTO to even the CFO — were once just new positions created to deal with “significant opportunities and risks emerging from technological or social disruptions.” Insight Center. The Future of Operations.

Constraint 8

Constraint Supply Chain Resources Operations 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 6, 2011

The leadership got impatient waiting for demonstrated results. The company in our story got so excited by its process blueprints that it forgot to develop a clear financial case. Process champions must have them ready for the day when the CEO or CFO effectively says, "Show me the money.". What can we learn from this failure?

Process 15

Process Six Sigma Finance Short-term 15

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 18, 2018

I’m going to push more responsibility onto them, which should help them develop faster. “I’m not sure when I first asked if I thought it would be successful,” said Hickox, now CFO of Independent Bank in McKinney Texas. He had to sell the idea to both his family and the other managers at work. That was in 2008.

Banking 15

Banking Conference CEO Bottom-up 15